“You should have seen the look on my face when I first got here. I thought it was the beginning of a bad Twilight Zone episode.”

The women, still in their towels, lounged beside the waterfall, surrounded by oriental grasses and tropical plants with dark glossy leaves.

“Get enough to eat?” Baylor asked as she patted Hobie’s belly.

“Absolutely. How did you know I love Greek food?” “Your mom.”

“Well, these are the best dolmades I’ve had in years,” Hobie said. “Where did you go for them?”

“Oh, hell. I made them,” Baylor said with a satisfied smirk. “You made them? All of this?” Hobie peeked into the wicker

basket, which was still half full of food. “Were you planning on a few more people showing up?”

“Very funny, and yes, I made everything. It’s one of my hobbies.”

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?” “Let me guess. You don’t know how to cook.” “Do peanut butter and jelly sandwiches count?” Baylor dropped her head in false dismay.

“Wait! I can make macaroni and cheese, too—well, the kind that comes in a box—so there. And I can make pancakes. From a mix, though.”

Baylor couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer. She leaned over Hobie and kissed her soundly. “You are as impossible as you are beautiful,” she said after pulling away to look into Hobie’s eyes.

“I try.”

Baylor leaned down for another kiss. This time, Hobie felt an odd sensation. The only way she was able to describe it later was to say that she felt her destiny click into place. The kiss was soft and passionate, tender and hungry all at once. By the time she parted her lips to let Baylor’s inquisitive tongue enter her mouth, their bodies were pressed tightly together. Hobie moaned at the warm softness of Baylor’s tongue. She regretted that they had to come up for air.

“Good Lord, Hobie Lynn. Where did you learn to kiss like that?” Baylor asked breathlessly. She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s what I remembered, you know. As humiliating and embarrassing as it is to admit that I forgot your face, I remembered that kiss.”

She took Hobie’s face in her hands and kissed her again. She went slower this time, lingering over every subtle nuance of Hobie’s mouth.

“Baylor, touch me.” It wasn’t a command, more like a whispered plea.

“And where would you like me to do this touching?” “Anywhere.” Hobie captured Baylor’s lips with her own.

“Everywhere.”

They kissed for a long time. Eventually, Baylor allowed her hands to roam, and when she cupped Hobie’s breast through the towel and let her thumb brush back and forth across the nipple, Hobie groaned.

“God, Baylor! That feels so—”

Baylor pinched the hardened nipple lightly through the soft cloth.

“God, so...so good!”

Baylor retreated slightly. Hobie pulled her back and nuzzled her neck, kissing the taut skin there. “Baylor...please, don’t stop.”

Baylor looked down at Hobie and gently touched her lips in the lightest of kisses. Lifting her body for a moment, Baylor removed her towel, then reverently opened the towel wrapped around Hobie. She laid her body on top of Hobie, and both women gasped at the feel of skin on skin.

“Hobie, I can’t believe that a woman as beautiful as you would want to be with me. Do you have any idea, my love, how beautiful you are?”

Hobie could feel her skin flush a deep pink.


“It’s true. You are so beautiful,” Baylor continued as she let her hands explore the smooth curves beneath her. “I want to make love to you. I want to be the only person to ever touch you this way. I want mine to be the name you cry out when you come.”

“Oh, yes.”


Baylor moved her hands over Hobie’s skin as she pressed her mouth against Hobie’s lips. She sucked Hobie’s tongue rhythmically, matching it to the tempo of her movements against Hobie’s thigh. She could feel her own wetness as she rubbed her clit harder against the firm muscles.

Hobie enjoyed the feel of Baylor’s body on hers. When Baylor’s kisses turned hungry, Hobie’s passion increased until she was growling with need. Baylor’s kisses ran along Hobie’s jaw, and she pressed her head back into the blanket, giving her entire being over to her lover, instinctively knowing she would be safe and loved within Baylor’s embrace.

Baylor ran her tongue in a random design along Hobie’s shoulders and down to her chest. She took nips of skin, and Hobie gasped in pleasure and surprise with each tiny bite. By the time Baylor’s lips wrapped around an aroused pierced nipple, Hobie felt every pull directly between her legs.

The first touch was exquisite, enough to send both women out of their minds with lust. Baylor used her lips, tongue, and teeth to drive Hobie higher and higher. She alternated between breasts, and when she had her mouth on one, she used her hand to knead and massage the other. Slipping the tip of her tongue into the small gold hoop, Baylor tugged gently, pulling harder once Hobie’s breathless moans encouraged her.

Hobie’s body trembled constantly. “Baylor...please. Please, don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”


“I don’t think you need to fear that, love.” Baylor smiled down at her lover. Once she’d touched every inch of Hobie’s skin with her lips, tongue, or fingers, Baylor ran the tip of her tongue down Hobie’s belly. She slid between Hobie’s legs, which parted instantly.

The sweet, musky scent of her lover aroused Baylor even more. “Perfect,” she whispered, kissing the soft skin of each inner thigh until she reached her reddish curls. She laid numerous kisses on the soft triangle of hair.

“Oh, God!” Hobie cried out, thrusting her hips up to meet the mouth that lingered so close to her center. “Oh, Baylor,” she groaned, spreading her legs wider still.

Hobie almost climaxed at the moment she felt Baylor’s tongue press against her needy flesh. She lifted her hips again so she wouldn’t break contact. Her excitement increased as Baylor moved her tongue slowly, but relentlessly, sometimes teasing the folds with the tip of her tongue, other times pressing against the slick opening.

Hobie rotated her hips in a counter-rhythm to the persistent caresses. She pressed her clit as hard as she could against Baylor’s tongue as Baylor picked up speed. Baylor’s moans as she went about her pleasurable task did nothing to quench the roaring fire in Hobie’s belly.

Feeling her lover’s increased wetness and the quick shudders of her muscles, Baylor eased one finger inside her, never slowing the movement of her tongue.

“Yes. Just like that.” Hobie relaxed into the exquisite touch, letting the flames of their passion carry her to her destination. After a moment, grasping Baylor’s shoulders, then her hair, Hobie forced her to increase the pressure of her tongue. “Baylor...Oh, Baylor, yes...please...more.” She moaned.

In one fluid movement, Baylor slid another finger inside. Hobie’s hips froze for a few interminable seconds, and Hobie tried to catch her breath at the sensation of penetration as, at the same time, Baylor wrapped her mouth around the sensitive area of nerves and sucked it in gently.

Hobie’s hips resumed their motion, now with an intensity that surprised her. Baylor slid her fingers almost all of the way out and moved them in again. She repeated the action as she sucked harder on the bit of flesh between her lips. Finally, Hobie shivered and her legs parted as wide as they could go. Baylor sucked harder and flicked her tongue quickly across the tiny area that would bring her lover the most pleasure. Hobie’s back arched and she took in a deep breath. One shout of pleasure escaped her lips.

“Baylor!”


Suddenly, Hobie saw stars. She opened her eyes and looked through the ceiling of the greenhouse. Stars surrounded her. The two brightest were the stars that had come together during their ceremony, but this time, she was flying with them. Surrounded by shooting stars and the blue-black night, the two stars raced toward each other. At the most intense moment of her pleasure, as her release shot through her entire being, the two stars collided. The resulting explosion caused rings of color to burst forth.

She gasped. When she opened her eyes, the vision was gone. She cried out again as one orgasm blended into another. She felt Baylor’s tongue replace her fingers and slide deep into her. Just when Hobie thought she could take no more, Baylor pulled away and once more entered her with two fingers, causing more waves of pleasure. Slowly, she came back to reality. She felt the gentle touches of Baylor’s tongue as she lapped up the juices Hobie’s excitement had created.

Baylor slid her fingers from her lover’s satiny warmth and felt Hobie tremble with aftershocks of desire. She licked at Hobie’s sweet juices, taking care to avoid the too sensitive area at the top of her cleft.

It was gentle and relaxed, and Hobie couldn’t help becoming aroused again. Almost unconsciously, and with the vision of the stars still floating before her, she gently rolled her hips in an easy rhythm against the strokes from Baylor’s tongue.

“Oh, yes,” she soon murmured as Baylor feasted again on her willing flesh. Hobie felt Baylor’s strong arms wrap around her parted thighs, and Baylor’s tongue replaced her fingers. There was less of a rush for Hobie this time; instead of racing toward her climax, she waited for it to come to her. It was slow, almost luxurious, and she cried out as another release engulfed her.

Baylor moved up and wrapped her arms around her still-trembling lover. She whispered her love as Hobie cried. Baylor understood the tears, as well as Hobie’s inability to articulate the reason behind them. She couldn’t explain them any better than Hobie could.

“Okay.” Hobie wiped the tears away. “It’s official. We’re both pathetic.”

Baylor laughed and held Hobie tighter. “You okay?” She didn’t know quite how to phrase it. How did one ask if one’s partner just had the most mind-numbing sex of her life or if it was just a “that was very nice” on the sex-o-meter?

As with most of Baylor’s abbreviated language, Hobie understood exactly what she meant. “It and you were and are incredible.”

“Really?” Baylor brightened considerably.


“I wouldn’t have thought you, of all people, would have doubts about your abilities in that area.”

“Well,” Baylor’s cheeks showed an uncharacteristic flush, “we’re going to be doing this for the next fifty or sixty years. It would really suck if we’d waited till now to find out that we’re no good together in bed.”

Hobie laughed and shook her head, then pulled away from Baylor and leaned on one elbow. “The things you find to worry about scare me. And what do you mean fifty or sixty years? You sure do plan to be an active old broad, don’t you?” She laughed again. “That will put us pushing a hundred.”

“Funny you say that,” Baylor said as she settled comfortably on her back.

“Say what?” Hobie sat up and reached for the picnic basket, having worked up an appetite. She grinned in embarrassment when she saw Baylor smiling at her.

“Can I get you any more?”


“No. These are fine.” Hobie popped a piece of cheese into her mouth. “So what was so funny?”

“Actually, it was something Jules mentioned today. Then you just made the comment about how old we’ll be in fifty years.” “And?”

“Did you know that Tanti and Aimee were the last—well, I don’t know what to call it, but the supposed saviors of Ana Lia? Like we did tonight. They had their ceremony fifty years ago.”

“I had no idea. Is it significant in some way?”


“That part isn’t, but I found out about it before we left Rebecca’s and forgot to tell you. No, what Jules pointed out was the average age of the members of the Ladies Guild. I know Tanti’s ninety-two, and I think JoJo said Rebecca was, what? A hundred?”

“Ninety-five.”


Together they came up with a half-dozen names of women in their nineties.

“Now let me ask you the same question Jules hit me with,” Baylor continued. “Do any of these chicks look over seventy or even eighty to you?”

“I’m not sure, but once you’re that age, I guess it gets harder to tell, right?”

“You’re the doc. You tell me. Do any of these gals get sick much? Aside from Tanti’s hip, has she ever had anything wrong with her?”

Hobie stopped eating to seriously think about Baylor’s question. With the possible exception of childbirth, she could hardly recall any of the local women being ill. Doc Elston had spent more days in his fishing boat than in his office. There was the usual kid stuff and accidents, but the women of the island were a surprisingly healthy bunch.