Angel Food and Devil Dogs (28 page)

I just had to say, "Tell me what you're going to do to me."

She laughed.

I'd figured that when she'd said,
It has to be safe,
she'd meant safe sex. We both knew that it would be statistically easier for a lesbian to win the powerball lottery six times in a row, than to give her lover AIDS, but there are some skin to skin transmitted things like herpes that anyone can get if their partner is infected. So we used latex to be safe.

In fact, it was fun. I'd gotten as a loft-warming gift, a whole bunch of safe sex protection from a friend at the health department. I hadn't had a lover since I'd moved in. Truthfully, it'd been longer than that. Kathryn teased me for having the sex stuff in a drawer right by my bed.

She used some of the latex gloves, and a dental dam. She took her rapture filled time. When I became desperate for release, she made me have three separate earth shattering orgasms. The last one had been so intense, I'd blacked out for a moment. When it was my turn to try to satisfy her, I was a little intimidated, but her body was so supple and responsive I felt encouraged. I used the latex too. She led me exactly where she wanted to go. The only word she said was,
slowly
. She said it twice. So I slowed. It was magnificently sweet.

Finally she was so ready that using the latex glove was smooth and sensual. I used my other hand to stimulate her. When she came, she gave a long low groan that started out quietly and built to a surprising crescendo. Her body arched suddenly as if a bolt of lightning had hit her. She grabbed my shoulder and held on so hard I nearly cried out. Her climax lasted a very long time and seemed to surge in waves. She finally gasped, "Yes," then let go in complete exhaustion.

I knew a woman once who would fall asleep the minute her orgasm ended, but Kathryn was taking long deep breaths. She wasn't asleep.

She said, "Oh Maggie," and reached out to me. I put my arms around her and felt her body tremble. I leaned my head back to look at her face. She was crying.

"Kathryn?"

She turned to me and smiled, she sighed, "It's all right... I... it's just that ... it's been so long."

It happens that way sometimes, after a long period alone. That huge rush of release can bring uncontrollable tears. I held her in my arms and stroked her hair.

She brushed my cheek softly with her fingers. Watching me closely, searching my eyes, she touched my mouth. She held her hand there until I slowly parted my lips and bit the tip of her finger. She immediately put both her hands on the sides of my face and drew me to her in another deeply passionate kiss. Where did she learn to kiss like that? Maybe they had a course at Smith. We began all over.

We'd gone into the bedroom fairly early in the evening. Even with many hours of love making, we had much of the night left over to sleep. Which was a blessing because by then we were both totally exhausted.

I woke from a dreamless doze at about 6:00 AM. I heard Kathryn's soft rhythmic breathing beside me. I could feel her warmth. I wanted to wake her up and tell her how happy I was. I wanted to make love to her again. I let her sleep. I looked at the changing colors of the sky through the wall of windows.

I was propped on a pillow against the headboard with my head turned to the right looking out at the sunrise. Kathryn stirred. She touched my bare shoulder. Her hand was soft and warm. She was so beautiful I could barely believe she was lying next to me. We both smiled but didn't speak. She took one of the small pillows and put it on my stomach resting her chin on it so she could watch the sky too. I reached down and touched her hair.

After a while she shifted her body to lie alongside me. She kissed the side of my neck. I was suddenly afraid she was going to leave. I was afraid it might all have been just a one-time adventure for her. I put my arms around her and didn't want to let her go. Her hand trailed over my sheet-covered body and made me shiver.

"I want you to tell me everything about yourself," she whispered in my ear.

"I feel the same way about you," I whispered back.

"That's a good start..." she murmured on the edge of sleep.

She leaned her head on my shoulder. I could feel her relax and become heavy.

I thought,
She can fall asleep in my arms and she wants to know everything about me. Yeah, it is a good start.

I fell asleep too.

The clock said 9:00 AM when we woke again. I was a little stiff because we were still lying in each other's arms. The sun was much higher in the sky. It cast a warm square of light across the bed.

Kathryn whispered with delight, "Look, there's a rainbow."

I shifted my attention from her to the sky. I saw it. A pale rainbow clearly visible in the morning sky.

"Make a wish," she whispered, "rainbows are better at granting wishes than stars. Stars are over worked." I made a silent wish.

I had to go to the bathroom. So I slipped out of her arms. She watched me cross the room. I pulled on a T-shirt and shorts before I came back.

In the bedroom, Kathryn was propped on a pillow against the headboard. She'd pulled on her flannel shirt. "What are we going to do now?" she said cheerfully.

I slipped back into bed with her and said, "It depends on what you mean by now... as in: Do we have coffee now? Do we have breakfast now? Do we make passionate love again now? Do we rent a U-Haul now? Do we try to take over the world now?"

"I think, A, B, and C and we can talk about the rest later..."

"A, B and C in what order?" I grinned.

"First, I have to use the bathroom, then I think, C, A and B. How does that sound?"

"Very nice... I left a new toothbrush and some towels next to the sink for you," I called after her.

When she lay back down beside me she said, "What's that scar on your back?" She looked concerned.

I didn't want to talk about my gun shot wounds, but she'd seen the evidence. I couldn't pretend they were bee stings. I pulled off my T-shirt and lay on my side facing away from her so she could see. I felt her fingers touching the older scar on my shoulder. The one near my waist was newer and still pink, although it didn't hurt much anymore. The bullet had gone all the way through at my waist, so there were two scars there. Entry and exit.

"The shoulder one was
friendly fire
, as they say."

"You mean you were shot by another police officer?" she asked in a quiet but shocked voice.

"Yeah, he said it was an accident. That was when I was in the state police in Indiana."

Then she traced a path with her finger to the other, more recent scar. "And this one?" she sounded sorry and sad.

"The price I paid for this building."

"Oh Maggie," she said with profound concern, "you paid too much."

"I don't want you to think this kind of thing happens to me all the time." I turned toward her and pulled her closer.

"Someone shot at you two days ago!" she said pushing me back with her palms, to look at me directly.

"Kathryn..." I said seriously, "sometimes people are threatened by what I do. Everyone who tries to make change sometimes puts themselves in danger. I help people who need my help. I can't stop doing it because someone might hurt me. You do what you do, and people threaten you. You've told to me that threats made you double your efforts, that you couldn't compromise your commitment."

She touched my face softly, "Oh Maggie, I've just found you and the thought of losing you..." she held my hand in hers. "But you're right, I wouldn't compromise. I can't ask you to... I like who you are." She kissed the back of my hand, then she said very seriously, "So far, you've kept all your promises to me. Will you promise me that you'll be as careful as you can be?"

"Yes, I can promise you that." I lifted her hand to my lips, then said, "There's something else, since we're on the topic of health and welfare... and being careful. When I was in the hospital last spring, I had them do a full screen for STDs and everything else. I was free of everything. I haven't been with anyone since then, so..."

"So, we don't have to use latex?" she said smiling. "Well, I'm clear of everything too. I had a full check-up before I went to Europe in September, and I've been
alone
longer than you have."

Kathryn's tone became more sensual, "But had you ever used those things before?" her half smile was returning, "did you... enjoy them...?"

"You mean the gloves and stuff, no I've never used them before, but honey after last night I think from now on just the smell of latex is going to make me wet," I laughed.

"Hah!" she laughed too. Then she noticed my other shoulder, "What about these bruises?

"Yeah, well, you did that to me last night. What an iron grip! It just goes to show that injury can come when you least expect it."

She looked horrified. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I don't remember..."

"If you don't remember, then I'll take it to mean I was doing a good job."

Her voice dropped to that deep register, "You were wonderful to me last night..."

"Kathryn, some of the marvelous things you did to me... I've only read about them in books..."

"Well," she laughed, "I am a literature professor."

"Hah!" I pulled her closer and kissed her. Then slipped down along her body under the covers. We spent a while doing an abbreviated version of the night before. Variations on a theme,
sans latex
.

"I'm hungry," Kathryn confided as we lay together in the tangled sheets.

"I'll turn on the coffee," I said pulling my T-shirt and shorts back on. "We can go out to eat or I can make you something."

She'd gone into the bathroom. I could hear the shower running. I opened the refrigerator to see what I could pull together. The phone buzzed, it was the building intercom. I picked up the mobile.

"Hi... it's me, who's up there with you?" My nosy sister Sara.

"Hold on," I said.

Kathryn had called from the bathroom. I went in the bedroom to answer her, carrying the phone. I raised my voice and asked through the closed bathroom door, "What did you say?"

"Do you have a blow dryer?"

"Second drawer in the sink cabinet."

I heard her open the cabinet and turn on the dryer.

"What?" I sat on the bed and said in a low voice back into the phone.

"Who's up there?" Sara whispered.

"Are you downstairs?"

"Of course. I'm in my office. I saw the purple dot and... I just heard the shower." Now who was being Nancy Drew?

"It's a friend..."

"A friend you just fucked or you'd be telling me who she is," Sara chided, "is it..."

She named someone so far fetched I snapped, "Of course not, will you get real!"

"Then who? I really want to know... I'll come up and find out if you don't tell me."

This is what it's like having a younger sister. On the other hand, maybe they aren't all as nosy. Both my sisters Sara and Rosa are notorious snoops. They should be the P.I.s. They have to know everything. Sara wasn't kidding when she said she'd come up here.

"OK, I'll tell you, but be nice... it's Kathryn Anthony..."

"Woo hoo! I want to see her. Is she great looking? She works at the College, doesn't she? Has she been there all night? Hey, I got bakery croissants and donuts. I left them at the door. I didn't come in... Hello?... Maggie?"

I'd stopped because Kathryn was standing in the doorway to the bathroom watching me talking on the phone. She had one elbow resting on the door frame, with her head against her fist. She was wearing her black flannel shirt again and nothing else. I could see the swell of her breasts at the open vee of the collar; the material clung to the contours of her damp body. Her shirttail hung to mid-thigh. She was smirking at me with mock exasperation.

I said to Sara, "Gotta go," and disconnected.

"Lesbian chivalry is dead?" Kathryn said shaking her head. She folded her arms and began walking toward me.

"I've been bad and you're going to punish me?" I asked with amusement.

She pushed me hard onto the bed and climbed on top of me, straddling me at the hips. She was leaning over me laughing and saying, "You're shameless! The minute I turn my back, you call a friend to kiss and tell?"

I was laughing too and saying, "No, no..." in protest. She had her hands on my shoulders pushing me back against the bed. She was trying to pin my arms down.

"Listen," I said, "you're gonna have to learn to trust me and you're gonna have to face an unpleasant fact..."

"What?"

I dropped my hands to the soles of her feet and tickled. She squealed, shifting her balance. I easily flipped her off me and was on top in a second. Martial arts training comes in handy in many situations.

Now I was straddling her. I held her wrists pinned over her head with one hand. The look in her eye was encouraging, her breathing deepened. I undid the first button of her shirt. She didn't complain so I kept talking as I unbuttoned.

"I come with family baggage. See, that was my sister, and I didn't call her, she called me on the intercom phone. The phone buzzed while you were in the shower. Her office is downstairs and sometimes when she has to work on weekends, she brings her laundry over here to do," I undid the last button, "and we have breakfast together. She has a key and just comes in, but she knew someone was here so she didn't... interrupt us... until she heard the shower running..." I explained while spreading Kathryn's shirt open and brushing my fingers over her lightly from throat to navel. She enjoyed the sensation. She arched into it.

"But, how did she know I was here?" asked Kathryn who was panting now because I'd begun to caress her breast.

"Well," I said a little sheepishly," I left a colored magnet on the outside of the fire door. It's a signal not to come in..." I was teasing her nipple between my thumb and forefinger.

"You mean it's like a red sign saying Do Not Disturb?" she gasped trying to keep up the conversation, struggling against the tickle of my touch and savoring it at the same time. That nipple had grown full and erect, so I began to work on the other one.

"Not exactly. A red sign means Do Not Disturb, but I used the purple dot, which means I Have A Date In Here, and believe me, if I'd just used the red sign she would have come in anyway. Sleeping late is not enough to keep her out." I stopped talking and leaned down to suck one nipple while I rubbed the other with my hand, then I said, "Sara brought assorted croissants, she left them at the door. I think she said donuts too but..."