Northern Proposals

by Julia P. Lynde

Table of Contents

Heading North

Settling In

In A Daze

Shopping For A Cabin

First Time

Cuddling

Morning

The Truth

The In-Laws

Offer

Moving Forward

About The Author

Heading North

"It's not happening," Jessica said to me. "I am not giving up my weekend to work on this. I have plans."

Frustrated, I stared into her green eyes. "I only need a few hours from you," I told her. "You can come in for three hours."

"No, I can't," she said. "I have plans."

"I'll come to you then."

"I am going out of town," she said. "I have been working my ass off, I begged my sister-in-law for the use of her cabin, and this was the only weekend I can get it. I am not giving it up."

We were standing in her cubicle at work. Jessica and I weren't exactly friends at the office, but I thought we got along. The project was due Monday, and it had taken longer than I expected to finish it. She had waited all week for me to finish my part so that I could hand it over to her for the portion she needed to do. I needed her statistics expertise to wrap up the presentation in a shiny bow.

And now she wasn't going to do it.

"Please, Jessica. It's due Monday."

"I have been bugging you all week to get it to me." She looked at her watch. "It is now 3:30 on Friday. I wanted to leave a half hour ago. I still need to stop by my house then pick up my date for the weekend. It's a long drive, and I didn't want to drive during rush hour, but now I either do that or wait until after six. Thanks a lot."

Her phone picked that minute to ring. She picked it up from her desk and looked at it. "It's Susan," she said. "Probably wondering why I'm standing here arguing with you instead of picking her up." She answered the phone. "Hey," she said with a smile. I watched the conversation. First, her features froze. Then the smile began to evaporate. "I thought we were doing well. I know we haven't known each other that long, but-" She paused for a while. "Oh." Her features finished dissolving into sadness. "No. I hope it works out well for you."

She hung up her phone. "Fuck."

"I'm sorry," I told her quietly.

She turned away for a moment, staring into space, then turned back. "It's not like we were in love," she said. "But I was looking forward to this weekend." She sighed. "Well, I'll find someone else to bring. It should only take a few phone calls to find a fun playmate." She paced around her office for a while before turning to me. "As far as I am concerned, it is not my fault you didn't get this to me yesterday. I could have done it today."

"I agree," I told her. "Entirely my fault. I should have stayed late earlier in the week. Please, Jessica."

She looked me up and down, and I felt she was evaluating me for something. "What is my help worth to you?"

"Anything."

"Do you really mean that?" she asked.

"Yes."

"All right," she said. "Pack up your laptop. You are my date for the weekend."

"What?"

"My companion for the weekend just cancelled. I had to grovel to get the cabin. My sister-in-law doesn't like me, and the kissing up I had to do to get the cabin was humiliating. I am not giving it up. I want a nice weekend. I hope you like to swim."

I looked at her. "Your date?"

"Oh don't be so shocked," she said. "You knew I was gay."

"Yeah, but I'm not," I told her. "I like boys."

"I'm not asking for sex. Think of it as an extended slumber party."

I thought about it. I could do the remaining work from a laptop, so that part wasn't a problem. I couldn't finish the project without her, and she was right. It wasn't her fault I'd gotten to her late.

"Tell me about the cabin."

"Four hour drive," she said. "Quiet lake in northern Minnesota." She smiled. "Small cabin. One bedroom. But Marcy told me I could was free to use the pontoon boat, and the swimming is good. We can bring laptops out on the boat. It will be nice. When have you worked from a boat? I already bought all the groceries. It's not going to cost you a dime. We'll take my car, and you can work on the presentation during the drive if you don't want to talk to me."

I looked at her hesitantly.

"Jade, it's not like I'm going to turn you gay if you spend a weekend with me," she said. "And you might have fun."

I offered a droll look.

"Look, keep me company. Flirt with me a little. Enjoy the cabin. It's really very beautiful. We'll finish the presentation. I won't have to give up my weekend. I promise I won't seduce you unless you look like you want me to."

I laughed. "You know, it actually does sound fun, Jessica. Thank you."

She offered a smile that lit up her entire face. "Really? And you'll flirt with me?"

I laughed again. "Yes, I'll flirt with you. But it's just flirting."

"I knew I liked you," she said, reaching out and touching my hand briefly. Her smile was infectious, and I soon found myself smiling back. "I have all our food at my place, and I'm only ten minutes away. I'll go home and pack up the car then meet you at your place." She turned to her desk and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, handing them to me. "Address."

I wrote it out for her. When I was done she handed me a business card. "It has my cell number on it." She looked at the address. "Oh good, you live close, too." I nodded. "I'll head straight there, and if you're not ready to go, I can help you pack."

"What do I need?"

"Casual clothes, pajamas, swim suit, personal items."

I thought about it. "One bedroom cabin. Please tell me it has running water."

She laughed. "Indoor plumbing. You won't have to use an outhouse. There is even a shower. And cable internet. It's my sister-in-law's cabin, but my brother insisted on internet." She reached out and touched my hand again. "Thank you, Jade. You wouldn't believe the groveling I did to get it, and I didn't want to go alone."

"You said you could make a few calls to find someone. I'm not really doing you a favor. You could probably find someone who would do more than flirt."

"Probably, but you're outdoorsy. Anyone else I might find, well. My type tends to be pretty feminine, and someone who looks as stunning as you but likes it outside, well."

I laughed. "Thank you. And yes, I know what you mean."

* * *

On the drive home, I thought about whether I was making a mistake. The reality was simple. I needed Jessica to finish the proposal, and she was right. She shouldn't have to give up her weekend because I took too long.

I got home and was shedding clothes by the time I was in the house. I was wearing a business suit but quickly had it hanging up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a casual blouse. I wasn't going to wear silk, after all.

I was still packing by the time the doorbell rang. I ran to the front door, and Jessica was standing there. She had changed, and my jaw dropped. She was wearing a black leather skirt, boots, a white blouse open halfway down the front, and a stylish leather jacket. She looked good.

She grinned at my reaction. "I thought you weren't gay," she said.

"I am reevaluating my choices," I told her.

She cocked her head, and her smile reached her eyes. I hoped she realized I was just teasing. Then her smile faded a little. "I'm trying too hard," she admitted. "I was feeling a little rejected. I know you're just teasing, but I appreciate it." She paused. "You don't have to go, you know. You could email everything to me. We'd have to share a bed. There are two bedrooms, but we can't use Jon and Marcy's bedroom. Marcy would have a cow." She looked away. "I don't want a sexual harassment lawsuit."

I could tell she really wanted me to come, and I decided perhaps it wouldn't have been as easy as she had suggested to find someone else to go. And to be honest, if I had to work for a weekend, doing so at a cabin on a lake sounded like more fun than going to the office.

It was my turn to reach out and touch her hand. "Jessica, I was leery at first. We aren't exactly friends. But I think it'll be a nice weekend. May I come?"

She turned back to me and smiled again, and I couldn't imagine she had much trouble finding dates. "Are you packed?"

"Not quite. Come on."

I led the way to my bedroom. The suitcase was on the bed, and I had tossed a few things in it. She looked through it. "Undies," she said. I went to my dresser and found underwear, handing her three pairs. She put them into the suitcase. "Swim suit." She listed a few more things and I handed them to her. "Something to sleep in," she said. I went into my closet and came out with a black teddy. She looked at it.

"Jade, if you wear that, I will take it as a message you want to be seduced."

"Oh, right. Sorry." I went back into the closet and found a pair of granny jammies. She took one look at them and sighed. "You could give me a LITTLE eye candy."

I grinned and pointed to my dresser. "Second drawer on the left has my swim suits. Pick two." I paused. "Not the thong."

I put the jammies into the suitcase. I'm not sure why, but I still had the teddy, and I hid that in the suitcase too.

"How about these?" Jessica asked, holding up two swimsuits, a bikini in one hand and a one-piece in the other. They weren't my sexiest suits, but I looked good in both of them. "Eye candy without being too suggestive," she said.

I nodded and she put them into the suitcase for me.

I looked at her in her hot outfit and I came to a decision. "Turn around," I told her.

She turned her back to me and I stripped out of my jeans and blouse and tossed them at the suitcase. I went into my closet and found a summer dress. I slipped into it. I wouldn't look as sexy as Jessica did, but it was comfortable, and I thought she'd appreciate it.

"You can turn around again," I told her. She smiled when she saw I had changed clothes. I packed the rest of the clothes and grabbed some things from the bathroom.

"Jacket," she said. "In case it gets chilly. And do you have beach shoes of some sort? Sandals? And how about hiking boots or tennis shoes?"

"Front closet," I told her.

She carried my suitcase for me and I grabbed everything I would need to work. Soon we had everything in her car, and she was holding my door for me. I slipped into her car and watched her climb into the driver's seat. We buckled up and were soon on the road.

"Thank you, Jade," she said again.

* * *

We made small talk while she drove us out of town. Traffic was heavy but not terrible, and I decided she was a good driver.

Once we were clear of the city I asked her to tell me more about the cabin.

"It's a four hour drive," she said. "It's a modest, quiet lake, big enough for water skiing, but Marcy specifically told me I couldn't use the ski boat. But the pontoon boat is my brother's. We can't ski behind it, but it makes a good boat to sit out on the lake. Jon bought it used. It's very old, actually, and when he bought it, I thought it was a piece of junk. But he stripped it down and rebuilt everything. It's not fancy or stylish, but it's very practical, and I'd rather use it than the ski boat any day."

She thought about it. "The water is nice. Clear. It might be a little chilly. At night, you can hear the loons. There's a fireplace, and Jon cuts the firewood, so he told me to use all I want. I brought all the food, and we won't touch any food up there. We need to make sure the place is spotless when we leave. If there's one grain of sand, Marcy will make sure I hear about it."

"What's with your sister-in-law?"

"She's a homophobe."

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry."

"She hates me, but she treats Jon very well. He apologizes to me for her, but they do love each other, so I don't go out of my way to bait her. We mostly stay out of each other's way."

"You really groveled to her to get the cabin?"

"Pretty much. She wasn't actually being a bitch about it, but she was put out that I asked. We were together at mother's day. I hadn't actually planned on asking her, but you know what work has been for all of us over the spring. We were both in the kitchen, doing the dishes together, and it just sort of slipped out. Marcy, could I use the cabin sometime in the middle of June? She didn't respond right away, but once it was out, I realized how much I wanted it."

"So what happened?"

"She didn't say anything right away, then she just said, 'Jade.' I swear, that woman thinks I can turn her gay just by getting her to say my name. I'm sure she thinks I'm going to leave gay germs all over the cabin. You know, she won't let me babysit the kids or spend any time around them unless she's watching."

She looked over at me, and I could see the pain in her eyes. "It's not like I'm going to have any of my own anytime soon. I like kids. I could, you know, make arrangements to make a baby, but I want a stable relationship first. A real family."

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I know what you mean about kids."

"So anyway," she said. "I told her how much we've been working. I rented a cabin at a resort last year, but it wasn't remotely as relaxing as going to her place, and I told her that. I probably babbled for a while, then I promised to do whatever she asked in exchange." She paused. "When I was done, I realized I had embarrassed myself badly, and I wished I hadn't asked. We were both quiet for a while and then she offered this weekend and told me to make sure it was spotless when I left. Then she gave me restrictions. Stay out of her bedroom. Don't touch the ski boat, and do not act all gay in town."

"She actually said that?" I asked her.

"Yes. And it was 'my bedroom' not 'our bedroom'."

"I thought you said she treats Jon well."

"She does." Jessica paused. "I don't get all their dynamics, but they dote on each other, and it doesn't look like an act. I think he's the only one she lets her hair down around. She doesn't have to prove anything to him." She paused again. "She's brilliant and has a good job. She's a good mother. She doesn't have anything to prove to anyone. I'm not sure she has good parents. I met them a few times, and they seemed like the disapproving type. They certainly didn't like me, and I've been pretty conservative around them."

"Family can suck." I said.

"Yeah. But you understand how I wasn't going to give up my weekend."

"We'll have fun. What will we do when we're not working?"

"Flirt."

I laughed.

"Seriously," she said. "I like to take the boat out into the middle of the lake and use it as a swimming platform. You can swim off shore, too. It's a nice swimming spot. But swimming off the boat is fun. Jon has it rigged great for swimming, partying and fishing. He thought about it a long time before he rebuilt it. He keeps two large coolers up there with wheels. You can roll them all the way from the cabin down onto the boat and into a cubby underneath two of the benches. There are spots everywhere for putting your drinks. He built a platform that folds up against the side of the boat most of the time, but you can lower it and it sits right at water level when lowered for climbing out of the water. It's great."

She talked for a while about making s'mores and listening to the loons.

We continued to talk as we drove up Highway 169, eventually reaching Lake Mille Lacs, a large lake that can be considered the gateway to lakes country in northern Minnesota. We talked about family; mine was all still in Iowa. Hers was all local. We talked about friends and our social lives.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked me at one point.

"No. I did, but after a while all he wanted to do was computer game. I would come over to his place, dressed a lot like you are now, and instead of paying attention to me, he'd play his game."

"Did you ever play with him?"

"No."

"I had a girl friend who was a gamer," Jessica told me. "She had all these online friends, all undersexed boys, and when we would voice chat while gaming, you could practically hear them drooling."

I laughed. "So you game?"

"I did with her. It was fun, but not something I could obsess over. She was into it a lot more than I was. She went to conventions and would dress up for them. She was very popular."

"I bet that's why she did it."

"Partly. She did like the games, but she liked the attention more. She didn't get much of it in high school. Even I found it was flattering, and some of the guys were kind of cute, if guys are your type." She paused. "Hang on, need to make this turn."

We had reached the northern end of Lake Mille Lacs, driving up the west side of the lake. She pulled into the left turn lane, waited for an opening, and made the turn. "How about a quick stop?" she suggested.

"Sure."

We pulled into a full service station and she drove to the pumps. "We don't need gas, but I may as well fill up anyway." We climbed out. She began pumping the gas then switched to cleaning the windshield. I watched and talked to her.

Right then I decided something. I decided I liked her. Not wanting to have sex with her sort of like, but just liked her. And admired her. She was dead sexy, I had to admit, especially the way she was dressed, but she wasn't paying attention to anyone else while she was taking care of her car. Plus she didn't act like she needed someone to take care of her. I liked that about her. She exuded an aura of quiet competence, I guess.

She paid for the gas at the pump but then headed towards the store, giving me a playful little bump as she stepped past me. "Salt," she said. "And maybe some empty calories. Calories don't count this weekend."

"Yeah, right," I told her. "You don't keep that figure with that attitude."

"I'm going for a ten mile run in the morning," she said. "Will you join me?"

"Ten miles? Seriously?" She nodded. "You know, I'd like to go with you, but I don't know if I can keep up, and ten miles might be more than I would like."

We stepped into the convenience store. We each found some salt, some empty calories, and things to drink. When we got to the register, Jessica took everything I was holding and paid for it.

"I should have paid for that," I told her when we stepped outside. "You're paying for everything else."

"I promised you a no-expenses weekend," she said, smiling at me.

"But-"

"I'm happy you're here, Jade." She put an arm around me and hugged me, shoulder to shoulder. Then she held my car door for me again. Most of the guys I dated didn't open my car door, but she did. It was nice.

She got us on the road and said, "About two more hours. I have picnic style food in the cooler behind you. Hungry?"

"What was all the salt and sugar for then?"

"Mostly I wanted a stop. But don't worry, I'll go through all the salty treats I bought and half of yours."

"Have you just admitted your weakness?"

"Oh, I have more weaknesses than that," she said. "Hang on, another turn." It was a right turn. We were heading north again. "Okay, can you reach the food? It's all on top. Finger food."

"Sure," I said. I unbuckled and turned around in my seat, stretching to open the cooler. She had the food in three large ziplocks, so it was very easy to grab it.

"Napkins and wet wipes in the glove compartment," she said.

I turned around, buckled back in, then looked at what we had. She had sandwiches in one bag, cut up fresh vegetables in the second, and grapes in the third.

"I hope you're not a vegetarian," she said. "Susan is definitely a carnivore, so I made sandwiches accordingly. Two of the sandwiches are turkey, two are roast beef."

"Carnivore here," I told her. "What sandwich do you want?"

"One of either," she said. "And if you can open the bags and put them where I can reach them, that would be great."

We ate quietly for several minutes. "Sorry," she said. "I kind of wolfed the sandwich."

"Did you want another?"

"No thank you." She paused. "About the morning. We can walk if you don't want to run. Or I can go alone. Across the road from the cabin is a state park. There are a bunch of hiking trails. It's just through the trees and pretty flat, but it's still pretty."

"I'd like that," I told her. "Mosquitoes?"

"Probably. I brought spray. I'm the only girl who gets to bite you this weekend."

I laughed. "I don't think you'll be biting me, either."

"Ah, but you left a window of hope wide open for me. I will bask in the knowledge you didn't flat out say 'no'."

"You wouldn't want to bite me, anyway," I replied. "I taste like straight girl."

She glanced over at me. "You're okay. For a straight girl."

We rode quietly for fifteen minutes. It was a beautiful evening, and traffic was now much lighter, the road narrower, the trees closer.

"Jessica?"

"Yes, Jade?"

"How did you know you were gay?"

"Is that what you were thinking about for the last fifteen minutes?"

"No, I was thinking how beautiful the drive was, and how relaxed I was starting to feel, and then suddenly I wanted to talk to you again."

"So you asked about the hardest question you could ask." But she was smiling. "For me, it was a process. I dated guys in high school, and I had fun with some of them, but when I got to college, and they wanted to step up the physical intimacy, I found I just wasn't interested. So I continued to date, but casually." She paused, remembering. "Then, during my junior year over winter break, I was at a New Year's Eve party. And you know how it's traditional to kiss right at midnight?"

"You kissed a girl?"

"Yeah."

"And that's how you knew?"

"No, but the seed was planted. It was a really nice kiss. She was a little drunk. Not a lot drunk, just a little, enough to have lowered inhibitions, and she decided to really make it a nice kiss, not just the little peck I was expecting. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and she was able to raise my blood pressure by several notches before she let me go."

"Wow."

"That's what I said," Jessica said, laughing.

"Was she gay?"

"No, straight as the road is long. She called me the next day, completely embarrassed, and we both got teased about it for a long time afterwards, but I realized I had enjoyed kissing her more than I had ever enjoyed kissing any guys. By senior year I was actively trying to find women to date, although I was pretty stupid about it."

"Oh?"

"I didn't do anything stupid, stupid. No bad choices. I was just bad at it. I didn't know how to find them. I could find the militant lesbians, you know, the ones who hate men, but I found I didn't like them. And I didn't act gay. I wouldn't have known how. So dating was a frustrating experience for me."

"And now?"

"It's still a frustrating experience."

"Picky?"

"Yes. But not the way you might think." She paused. "I appreciate a woman who looks nice. I think you're totally hot." She paused. "Does it bother you that I said that?"

I laughed. "No. It's flattering. Thank you."

"But what's important to me is that she has a brain and she is kind. I can find women who are hot. I can find women with brains. And I can find women who are kind. But trying to get two out of three can be difficult unless I really compromise on the third. Is that shallow?"

"It depends on whether being totally hot is the most important part," I told her. "You're basically describing yourself though."

She looked over at me. "Did you mean that?"

"Sure. You have an amazing body."

"I work hard for it."

"It shows. And you're brilliant at work. And what I've seen, you're kind. That girl dumped you on the phone today right before you were going to pick her up for a weekend you'd put real effort into, and you weren't a bitch to her. I might have been."

"Thank you." She was quiet for a while. "She also needs to be open minded and a little adventurous. Not reckless, but someone who, for instance, would go hiking in the woods with me."

"So if I were gay, I'd be your dream girl?"

She laughed. "Probably. Depends upon whether you enjoyed what I would want to do to you in bed."

I laughed nervously. "Would I?"

"If you were gay you might." She smiled. "Heck, even if you weren't gay, you might enjoy it."

"Are you going to tell me more than that?"

She thought about it. "No. It would give me too many ideas, and then I'll spend the entire weekend thinking about what could be rather than enjoying what is."

"Well then," I said, picking up my diet soda. "Here's to what is."

We clinked soda cans and drank, then rode along quietly for a minute.

"What about you?" Jessica asked. "What's your story, Jade?"

"I was born a poor farmer's daughter twenty-nine years ago," I said. "My parents believe I am saving myself for marriage and are deeply worried about the corrupting influence of the big city."

She laughed. "Do they have cause to worry?"

"Some," I told her. "But I'm not stupid and rarely make stupid, dangerous mistakes."

"So your dating life?"

"I have one. It's okay." I paused. "I like doing outdoorsy stuff, but I haven't found a guy who doesn't get all competitive about it. Or at least they're always either not interested at all or else so much better, bigger and faster than I am, that going with me is settling. I've never had a guy offer to go for a hike instead of a run, and I can't keep up with any guys who want to go running, so I'd end up running alone or feel guilty I was holding him back. You get what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do."

I laughed. "This is so funny, but you're more a gentleman to me than the guys I've dated lately."

She smiled at me. "Why is it funny?"

I thought about it. "You know, I don't know. I guess because you're not a gentleman." I stressed the last syllable.

"Do you like the way I treat you?"

"Yes, I do. It's weird having a woman hold a car door for me, but I liked it."

She nodded once. "So, tell me about the last guy you dated that you liked and didn't break up with because he was a dork."

I laughed. "Let me think." I thought about my last boyfriend. He was a dork. What guy would want to spend more time with his games than with me? And the one before that had wandering eyes. I'm not necessarily any more jealous than the next woman, but I didn't trust he'd stay faithful. I didn't want to spend my entire life wondering when he was going to cheat or whether he already was. The one before had been kind of dumb. Big and cute, but dumb, and he'd only been fun for a while. Last I had heard, he was dating a bimbo, and the two of them were very happy together.

My smile fell while I thought about it.

"Jessica," I said quietly. "Maybe someone in college. I don't know."

"Oh honey," she said. "I'm sorry."

Neither of us said anything for a while, then I decided that was enough of that mood. "I don't care," I said. "Okay, I care, but this weekend, I'm here with you, and you promised to flirt with me."

"You know," she said. "Now that I fed you, I expect you to sleep with me."

I laughed. "I brought my granny jammies."

"Oh hell," she said. "I didn't. I packed expecting to be with Susan." She started to blush. "I am so not letting you see what else I brought."

"Jade! Did you bring scandalous sex toys?"

"Yes." Her blush deepened.

"Seriously?"

She nodded.

"Anything good?"

"They're all good, Jessica, in the right hands."

"Tell me."

"No way," she said. "I've blushed enough for now. And then I'd be thinking about using them. On you." She paused. "I can borrow one of Jon's shirts to sleep in. Or I suppose one of us can take the sofa, but it's not going to be as comfortable."

"Tell me about one of them and I'll agree to share the bed with you."

She glanced over at me.

"What?" I asked. "You said I had to flirt. I'm flirting."

"You're playing with fire."

"How many did you bring?"

"An exact count depends on whether you count the silk scarves."

I wondered how far I could tease her. I decided a lot further than I had so far. "What would you do with those? To me. If I let you."

She looked at me again. "Jade," she said quietly. "Please. If you want to tease, find something else. I was looking forward to a pretty decadent weekend, and I'm fucking horny. I don't need it to get worse."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm not mad. But if you bring this up again, I am going to consider it permission to show you what I would do with them." She opened her car window, making it difficult to talk for a few minutes and, I presume, to cool off a little. She rolled the window back up after a few miles.

"We should talk about the proposal," she said.

I gave her a status update. "I could give you what I have now, but you'll probably have to redo some of it. I think I need about another three or four hours, then it'll be complete until you do your part. Depending upon the final numbers, I might not have much more to do."

"Let's work late tonight," she suggested. "We can make a fire and sit in front of it with our laptops. We can see how far we can get done. It would be nice if we could play the rest of the weekend."

"All right. I can give you what I have so far and tell you what I'm still working on."

We talked a little further about it before things grew quiet again. I had enjoyed teasing her, but teasing is only fun when both people are enjoying it.

* * *

"We're here," she said, pulling up to the back of a cute little cabin. It was going to be dark soon, but I was happy we had arrived during the daylight.

Jessica climbed out of the car and popped the trunk of the car. She pulled the cooler out of the back seat and rolled it on its wheels to the back door of the cabin. I got both our suitcases from the trunk, and by the time I reached the door, she had it unlocked and was holding the screen door for me. I stepped past her, and she followed me into the kitchen. We walked down a short hallway and arrived at the kitchen.

"Bathroom," she said, pointing to one door. "Our bedroom." She pointed. "Keep that door closed. The living room is through there. If you can put our suit cases in the bedroom and fetch the rest of the groceries from the car, I'll make sure the water is turned on."

I nodded and slipped into the bedroom.

The cabin was cute. It wasn't very big, but it was attractive. It was very rustic and clean. In our bedroom was a queen size bed and a large dresser as well as a closet. I set both suitcases down then gave the bed a try. It felt comfortable.

It took several trips, but I got both our laptops and the remaining groceries into the house.

The cabin had an old fashioned root cellar door like the type you see in some movies with an exterior door in the ground. The door was flipped open, and on my final trip through, I heard some swearing. I dropped the groceries off and went back outside to see what was going on.

"Everything okay?" I hollered down.

"Just trying to start the pump," Jessica hollered back. "I think I've got it now." A minute later she appeared at the bottom of the stairs and started up. "I think that did it. The hot water heater is on and the pump is pumping. We'll see if there is water up here. We won't have any hot water for a little while, although it might be warm just from the pilot light."

We stepped inside, and she tested the kitchen sink. Water was flowing.

"Marcy has complicated directions written on everything down there or I never would have figured it out."

"Kind of like a guy trying to figure out everything 'down there', huh?"

She looked at me for a moment then began laughing. "Not that I would know," she said. "I'll take your word for it. I never had any trouble figuring that out myself. Maybe if the guys aren't giving you what you need, you should try something different. You know the definition of insanity: trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

"Does that line work for you?"

"I'll let you know at the end of the weekend," she said, leering at me. Then we both broke into giggles.

We put the groceries away. I found a squeeze bottle of chocolate and a fresh container of honey. I held them up while looking at her. She took them away from me and put them in the cupboard. "No comment," she said.

"That's kind of a cliche," I told her.

"There's ice cream," she said. "I told you. Calories don't count at the cabin."

"And the honey?"

"For your tea."

"Uh huh."

"You can put the chocolate in your coffee, too."

"Eww."

"It's like a mocha."

"Right. I'll try one after you do."

"Deal."

I looked at her. "You are so full of shit."

"I don't know what you're talking about. What would you use chocolate syrup for?"

"You know exactly what it's for," I told her.

She offered an innocent look. "Tell me."

"I thought you didn't want me to tease you."

"I love being teased," she said. "I tease back. Are you teasing me? I thought we were talking about chocolate sauce."

Her attempts to look innocent were somewhat damaged by the outfit she was wearing.

"We were talking about what to do with chocolate sauce."

"Right."

"You can, you know-"

"What?"

"Pour it."

"Of course you can," she said. "That's why it's in a squeeze bottle."

"You are being deliberately obtuse," I accused her.

"Maybe you're just being too cryptic. Maybe you should show me what you are trying to allude to."

I took the chocolate bottle back from her. "You could, you know." And I gestured with the chocolate bottle as if I were pouring it on my chest."

"Ohhhh," she said. "Wouldn't that get you all sticky?"

"You'd have to lick it off."

"Ohhhh," she said again. "Is that what you want me to do? Pour some on you and lick it off?"

"No!" I said. "Not on me!"

"Well, then why did you bring it up?"

"I didn't bring it up, you did. It was in the groceries."

"Right. For the ice cream."

"You intended to use that chocolate on Susan."

"So then Susan would have been all sticky?"

"Not after you licked it off."

"Why would I need such a lame excuse to lick Susan?" She smiled sweetly at me. "Well, I might now, because she's with someone else, but I wouldn't have known that when I packed it. For, you know. The ice cream."

"And coffee."

"Exactly." She took the chocolate away from me again and put it back in the cupboard. "I suppose there's something kinky about the oysters I brought, too."

"You did not bring oysters."

She sighed. "You're right. I only have oyster crackers. Susan doesn't like oysters. She said they slip out."

"Slip out?"

"Well, sure. You sort of, you know."

"What?"

"Well, they're raw, right? On the shell. And you can, you know. Slide them in. Then slurp them back out."

I started laughing. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"As ridiculous as pouring chocolate over your chest?" She paused. "It's called Venus on the Half Shell."

"Oh my god," I said, laughing harder. "You are so full of shit."

"Shouldn't knock it until you try it," she said to me with a straight face.

We finished putting away the groceries, including the very soft ice cream from the cooler, without any more opportunities to tease each other.

"All right," she said. "Let's go down to the lake, then I'll set a fire while you get started working."

"Alcohol," I said.

"I brought one bottle of wine," she replied. "If we want anything else, we can run into town. It's only a few minutes. I am happy to open the wine or run to town."

"Wine would be great," I told her.

We went out the front of the cabin. It was immediately beautiful. I stopped and stared. "It's gorgeous."

"Yes, it is," she replied. "I love it up here. I'm saving my money for my own." She paused. "It's sort of a shame. Marcy and Jon only come up about once a month. It sits idle a lot. But that's how it is."

Then she took me by the hand and pulled me towards the lake, letting go once I was following after her. We stepped down to the water and onto the dock, walking to the end. "There are chairs to put out, but I'll do that tomorrow," she said. We stood next to each other, looking out over the serene water.

In the distance I heard a loon. It's such a lonely sound and so beautiful. Jessica listened to it and smiled. "I love that sound," she said quietly when the loon grew silent. "If we have the windows open, we'll hear more tonight."

We stood there for a while, looking at the water and listening to the sounds of nature. Jessica took a deep breath of air. I looked over at her and thought how beautiful she was. She caught me looking at her.

"What?"

"Thank you for inviting me."

She smiled. "You are welcome. Thank you for coming. I think I'm going to have more fun than if Karen had come."

"Why is that?"

"You have a brain."

We stood there for a few more minutes, enjoying the night air, before we turned around and headed back into the cabin.

Settling In

I settled down in the living room with my laptop. Jessica puttered around me, opening the windows, building a fire, and opening the wine for us. Then she joined me with her own laptop, and we used a thumb drive to transfer what I had for the proposal. We went over it, and I pointed out the parts that weren't done.

We settled down quietly, sitting side by side on the sofa, each doing our portion of the work on the proposal. Jessica was the numbers person. I had raw sales numbers for her, but it was her job to do the statistics on them and generate projections. Then she'd give those numbers back to me and I would tie a pretty bow on them for presentation to the client next week.

While she was working, she found some typographical errors, pointing them out to me so I could fix them. She set up her spreadsheets she would need for the calculations and was soon waiting for me to give her the final numbers.

Finally, shortly after ten, I had the final numbers. I shot them over to her.

"I'll need maybe an hour," she said.

I set my laptop aside. "Okay. I'm going to go listen to the loons some more." She nodded. I got up and stepped outside, standing on the deck, but instead of loons, I heard the sound of what we refer to as the Minnesota state bird. Mosquitoes. I sighed. I didn't feel like smelling like bug juice all night, so I let the annoying mosquitoes drive me back inside. Jessica was crunching numbers, so I let her be and decided to unpack my suitcase.

I stepped into the bedroom and tossed my suitcase on the bed, opened it, and began pulling things out. I hung things up, put them into the dresser, or moved them to the bathroom as appropriate. It didn't take long. When I looked, Jessica was staring at her laptop screen.

I glanced over at her suitcase. It was sitting right there, and I hadn't been able to stop wondering whether she'd really brought kinky sex toys. I looked, and she couldn't see the bed from where she was sitting. What she didn't know would never hurt her.

Quietly I moved her suitcase onto the bed and put mine on the floor of the closet, ready to be repacked Sunday when it was time to leave. Then quietly I opened her suitcase.

She had a lot of the same things I had brought. Spare jeans, toiletries, two bathing suits, that sort of thing.

I also found a collection of silk scarves. I picked one up and rubbed it against my skin. It felt nice. I wondered why she needed more than one. They were all black, so I didn't think she had brought them for different fashion statements. I counted. There were six.

Underneath the scarves were more mysteries.

I pulled something out of the suitcase. It was purple, long, slender, and with an unusual reverse hourglass shape. It felt like it was made out of some type of rubber. I didn't know what it was for, but I realized I hadn't as much sexual experience as I thought I had. Was I really this sheltered?

"Someone is being naughty," I heard Jessica say quietly.

I screamed in surprise, my heart immediately pounding furiously in my chest, then turned to look at her, standing in the doorway watching me. "Don't do that! You scared me."

She raised an eyebrow, then looked pointedly at what was in my hand.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Lying compounds the offense," she said. "The only thing you're sorry about is getting caught." Her tone was cool. I couldn't tell how angry she was.

"I'm sorry I couldn't contain my curiosity."

She didn't respond but continued to stare at me.

"Are you mad?"

"I haven't decided yet," she said. Her tone hadn't improved.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop lying. Lying pisses me off far more than snooping does." She crossed her arms over her chest, still leaning against the doorframe.

We stared at each other. I hadn't moved and was still holding, well, whatever it was I was holding. Finally she looked away, sighed heavily, then looked back. "If I choose to get angry, it will ruin the weekend. If you were my girlfriend, I would be obliged to punish you for snooping. But you're not." She paused. "You look like you don't have a clue what that is."

"I don't."

"It's a butt plug."

"It feels like rubber. Or plastic."

"Latex."

"Why?"

"Why is it made from latex?"

"Why would you use this on someone?"

"Because she wants me to, as part of everything else I'd be doing."

"Why?"

She paused. "I don't even know how to answer that, and I don't think you'd want me to demonstrate."

I immediately shoved it back into the suitcase.

"That's the kinkiest thing in there," she said. "I didn't bring that much. The plug, a vibrator, and the scarves. Pretty tame."

"Tame?"

She nodded.

"The chocolate?"

"It's really for the ice cream. And the honey really is for the tea and the biscuits I'll make tomorrow."

"Are you mad?"

"Frustrated. I'd like to be able to punish you for snooping."

"If I were Susan, what would you do to punish me?"

"A lot worse than I'd do to you." She paused. "For you, I'd make you wear it."

"I thought that was the whole idea in the first place."

"I imagine it would be distracting long before you finished your work tonight."

"But we don't have that type of relationship. I shouldn't have snooped, and I'm sorry."

"Please don't lie about it. You were curious. I guess that's natural. No real harm done. But if you're feeling guilty, I know how you can make it up to me."

"What?"

"Backrub when we go to bed tonight. And I'm wearing what I brought to wear with Susan."

"Some sort of dominatrix outfit?"

She laughed. "No. Undies and a black teddy like the one you almost brought."

I smiled. "Deal. Thank you for letting me off so easily." I paused. "Why so many scarves?"

"Do you have no imagination?"

"Apparently not."

"You can't be this innocent," she said, looking a little exasperated.

"Please just tell me."

She sighed then stepped forward, crossing the room to me. "Turn around," she ordered.

I looked at her. "What are you going to do?"

"Almost nothing. Turn around." She spoke firmly, and I found myself obeying. After a moment she stepped up behind me. "Don't move." Then she reached over me, holding one of the scarves in her hands, and placed it over my eyes, tying it off behind my head. My heart started speeding up.

"Turn around again," she said.

I turned obediently. She grabbed my hands, crossed them in front of me, then tied them in place with one of the scarves.

"Get the idea?"

"Yes," I said, then licked my lips. "Would you have hurt her?"

"No. That's not my thing, and it's probably why she left."

"She wanted you to hurt her?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Good question. I don't know." I felt her hook the silk around my wrists with her fingers and she began tugging. "Come."

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the living room before I find it difficult to stop."

She led me carefully, and I didn't bump a thing on the way. She turned me, pushed me backwards gently, and after I had taken a small step backwards, said, "The sofa is behind you. Sit."

I sat carefully and I felt her settle down next to me. "Have you ever let a boy tie you up?"

"No. I had one ask. When I told him no, he asked if I'd tie him up. I thought it was weird. We didn't go out much after that."

"Prude." But she said it gently, and I thought perhaps she was smiling.

"Probably. Or just sheltered. It was a long time ago."

"How do you feel now?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Excited?"

"A little."

"Only a little?"

"I don't know what else you're going to do."

"You were awfully curious," she observed. "If you lie, I will know. Are you hoping I'll do more than I have?"

I thought about it. My heart was pounding, and I thought she could tell. She placed her hand on my chest, not groping me, just feeling my heartbeat. I didn't pull away.

"Answer me," she ordered.

"Jessica, I don't know."

She didn't say anything right away. I felt her shift on the sofa, then she said quietly, "Perhaps I should give you more to think about."

I didn't respond, but then she shifted again. Her hand went to the back of my neck, and then I felt her breath against my lips from maybe an inch or two away. "Last chance to tell me to stop," she said.

I didn't tell her to stop, and then she was kissing me.

It was a firm kiss, but soft at the same time, and she meant business with it. At first it was just lips, but then she parted her mouth slightly and caressed my lips with her tongue. I opened for her. She hesitated just a moment, then her tongue began to explore my mouth.

She made a noise, perhaps of hunger. I made a similar noise.

She tasted amazing.

Then she withdrew her tongue and pulled away.

I sat there, stunned. Jessica shifted on the sofa, then her hands were at my wrists, untying them.  I felt her reach up and remove the blindfold. She dropped both pieces of silk in my lap.

I opened my eyes and stared into hers, still too stunned to say anything.

"When you are able to think again, please put the scarves away, then hang my clothes up. It'll give you something to do for me while I work on these numbers."

She turned away from me, settling back onto the sofa, and picked up her laptop from the coffee table where she had set it before discovering me snooping through her things. I watched for a while as she worked on the numbers for me.

"Jessica?"

"Yes, Jade?"

"That's the first time a woman has kissed me like that."

She glanced over at me. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

Jessica turned back to her computer. "Good. So did I."

"Am I gay?"

She turned back to me and looked at me. I thought perhaps she was going to laugh, but then she said gently, "I doubt it. Being curious is natural. We're having a nice time, we've been flirting, and I'm kind of sexy."

"More than kind of."

She smiled. "I could pour a little more alcohol into you and probably talk you into letting me do more. But that doesn't mean you wouldn't regret it in the light of day. And even if you enjoyed every minute and we had a wild, amazing weekend, you still might prefer guys. It would just be a fling on the gay side, then back to your prudish, straight life."

I thought about it.

"Are you going to do that again?"

"I don't know. I didn't know I was going to do it that time, but you just looked so amazingly tasty that even if you got mad afterwards, I wanted a taste." She paused. "You're giving out huge 'seduce me' vibes, and I suspect you would let me if I tried, but there's a problem. You're pretty much my dream woman, and on Sunday when you tell me it was fun, but it won't happen again, it would break my heart."

"So you aren't going to kiss me again?"

"Honestly?" I nodded. "If you don't stop me, yes, I probably well. I've had one taste, and it wasn't remotely enough."

She turned back to the computer. "Go hang my clothes up, Jade."

Obediently I rose from the sofa and, still in a daze, began putting her clothes away.

In A Daze

I didn't know what was going on with me. I was straight. I knew I was straight. What was I doing? I was intentionally begging her to seduce me, and I didn't know why.

Furthermore, if what she said was true, it was cruel. I was playing with her. I had to stop, go out there and tell her, it was a nice kiss, but please don't do it again. Then I picked up her panties from the suitcase. They weren't any different from mine, but I caressed my cheek with them. Standing in the bedroom of this cute little cabin, I was caressing my cheek with another woman's underwear.

Maybe there were such things as gay germs after all, I told myself in a moment of self-amusement.

I picked a drawer in the dresser and put her things away.

I put all the sex toys in the nightstand drawer. I hadn't gotten to the vibrator before, but I looked at it before I put it in the drawer. I began to blush just holding it, and I quickly stuffed it into the nightstand. I left the drawer open a little so she would notice where I put everything. I could just imagine us forgetting something and her sister-in-law finding it.

I put her toiletries in the bathroom near mine and put the empty suitcase in the closet next to mine. I hoped the two suitcases would breed and make a small purse or something.

I was definitely in a weird mood.

I decided I had stalled as long as I could. It was a small cabin, and there weren't a lot of places to go think. I walked back out to the living room and looked at her. "Did you want anything?"

She looked up at me and smile. "Oh, yes," she said. "I do."

"I meant. Um. To eat."

She leered, eyeing me up and down. "Definitely."

I immediately began blushing. "Food, Jessica. Do you want any food?"

"No thank you, Jade. I think I've had enough wine, too. Unless you want more, can you cork the bottle and leave it in the kitchen?" She bent her head back to her computer. I put the wine away and rinsed both our wine glasses, leaving them on the counter. I headed back to the living room and sat down, watching her work. Somehow she managed to ignore me.

Didn't she know how confused I was? How could she sit there and work instead of helping me work through my feelings?

I must have been fidgeting, or staring at her too hard, or something, because she looked up at me, and her expression softened. "I know you're confused. I am trying to finish this as quickly as I can so it's not hanging over our heads. It's refreshing to know the gay germs are working."

I laughed weakly. "I was thinking about that in the other room. But I know you're trying to distract me from the truth. It's not the gay germs, it's something you put in the sandwiches."

She sighed. "You're onto me, and it takes three doses to become permanent. However am I going to get you to take the other two doses?"

It was disappointing when I couldn't come up with a smart-ass suggestion for her.

She looked down at her laptop and sighed again, then closed it and set it back on the coffee table. "It's taking longer than I thought to finish, and I can't concentrate. Would you like to give me that back rub you owe me?"

I smiled. "Yes, I can do that."

"Go get ready for bed. I'll turn out the lights and join you in just a minute or two."

I got up, used the bathroom, and climbed into my granny jammies. I was sitting on the bed with the covers pulled back when Jessica entered the bedroom after turning off the lights in the rest of the cabin. "Do you need a night light?"

"I'm not afraid of the dark."

She smiled. "I was thinking more about middle of the night trips to the bathroom."

I returned her smile. "I'll be fine."

Outside a loon howled. We both listened to it, cocking our heads to hear it better.

"Where did you put my clothes?"

"I hung up some. The rest are in the dresser, third drawer." I pointed.

Jessica walked to the dresser and pulled out her teddy, then headed to the bathroom. She was in there for several minutes. When she returned, she was wearing her black teddy and undies, and I could tell she had removed her makeup. She looked amazingly sexy. I watched as she hung her clothes up in the closet, then she turned to me.

"I can borrow a shirt of Jon's," she said.

I shook my head. She nodded before walking over to the bed. She was holding a small bottle and handed it to me. "Lotion," she said. "Please warm it in your hands before you use it."

"Of course."

"There is a clock on the night stand," she said, pointing.

"How long is my penance?"

She lied down on her stomach, pulling her hair out of the way before answering. "However long you feel guilty."

I laughed gently.

"You may massage anywhere you want," she said. "But I am going to free to touch you anywhere you have touched me. Please don't tickle."

"I won't." I set the bottle of lotion on the nightstand then rotated on the bed so I could lean over her. She was wearing the teddy, so I began by lightly caressing her back through it. I did that for just a moment or two, getting used to her size. I'd never given a massage to a woman before. "It's up to you, but this will be nicer for you if you take off the teddy."

"I know," she said. "But I didn't want to freak you out."

"I won't freak out."

So she rolled over on the bed and removed the teddy, dropping it on the bed next to her, and rolled back. I adjusted her hair for her and admired her back and shoulders for a moment. Then I poured some of the lotion into my hands, warming it up, before I began to massage her back in earnest.

It didn't take me long to have her moaning in pleasure. The noises she made were actually turning me on. There was something primal about them that touched me to the core. She had such an amazing body. I massaged her shoulders and arms, and she wasn't remotely flabby.

From the moment I touched her, it was clear she carried her stress through her shoulders and back, but she was very reactive to my touch. I felt the tension ease out of her. "Harder?" I asked her.

"A little," she responded.

I was careful to avoid pinching, but slowly worked out all the knots while I myself was getting wetter listening to her moans of pleasure. I paid particular attention to her lower back just as it dived into her buttocks. Those are large, strong muscles, and I knew from my own past experience how nice it feels when they get attention.

I looked at the clock once I felt she was a pile of jelly on the bed. I didn't feel I'd fully paid my penance, so I shifted down the bed and began massaging her feet, using more lotion.

"Ohhh," she said, whimpering a little in pleasure. I gave each foot several minutes of attention, then worked her calves for a while, not sure how she might enjoy that. She was far less vocal, so I moved back up to her back. I was firm with her for a minute or two, then started dialing it back to more relaxing caresses instead of deep massages. She made noises of pleasure, but then as I dialed back the pressure, I could tell she was relaxing with the hypnotic nature of what I was doing.

Finally, I leaned over and whispered, "I shouldn't have snooped."

"I'm glad you did," she said quietly.

I lied down next to her, lying on my side and continuing to caress her back with one hand. "Did I miss anywhere?"

"Mmmm," was all she said.

"Let me rephrase. Did I miss anywhere that the straight girl should have paid attention to?"

She chuckled just a little. "That was divine, Jade. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Jessica." I stopped caressing, pulling my hands to myself. I was willing to continue to caress, but I waned her to put her teddy back on before she fell asleep. I told her that.

She moaned in displeasure.

We lied there quietly for a while. I continued to watch her. She hadn't moved.

"Are you falling asleep?" I asked quietly.

"No." She rolled towards me so she was on her side, her back to me, then shifted away a little to give me more room. She lied there for a moment before sitting up, facing away from me, and slipped into her teddy. She lied back down, rolling over to face me.

"Thank you," she said. "That was the best massage I've ever had."

For some reason her praise warmed me more than I would have expected. I smiled. "You are welcome. Too bad you're out of things to snoop in or my curiosity would get the better of me, and you'd get another one tomorrow night."

She smiled.

I rolled over to the nightstand and turned off the bedside lamp, then rolled back to face her. We faced each other in the dark.

"Are you still nervous?" she asked.

"I was never nervous. Excited and unsure." I didn't tell her my panties were wet. I wasn't sure I wanted her to act on that information. Even worse, I wasn't sure how I would feel if she didn't.

"When I asked you to come, I was expecting an innocent weekend."

"I know."

"Did you want to talk or sleep?"

"It's up to you," I replied.

She thought about it. "Unless you stop me, I am going to kiss you. Then I am going to roll over and try to sleep. If I look at you any more, I'm going to seduce you, and I think you're vulnerable enough you would let me."

I didn't say anything, but my heart was pounding again. I nodded.

She moved closer, then reached to me and brushed my hair out of my face. She moved very slowly. I stared into her eyes in the dim light, then closed my eyes and waited for her. She continued to move slowly, then pushed me onto my back, pressing herself against me, before her lips found mine.

Her lips were like a jolt of electricity, and when her tongue slipped between my lips and began teasing me, I moaned.

Her free had caressed my cheek while she kissed me and kissed me, one long, soul-wrenching kiss, unlike any kiss I'd ever received before.

Finally, to my disappointment, she withdrew, caressing my lips with her hand. She leaned over me. My eyes were still closed, and I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding.

"You taste wonderful," she said. "The next time you let me kiss you, I will not stop with a kiss. You need to decide how you feel about that."

Then she withdrew, rolling over and pulling the covers over her shoulders, her back to me.

It took a long time to get to sleep.

* * *

I woke at some point in the middle of the night. I had rolled over and curled up into Jessica. I breathed in her scent and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke it was still full dark, but the bed was empty. I wondered why she had left. Perhaps she had simply gone to the bathroom. I listened for her and heard small noises coming from the direction of the bathroom. But the noises didn't sound like the normal noises one might hear. I lied awake, listening. The noises were subtle, I couldn't really hear them, and it sounded like perhaps she was trying to be quiet.

Then I heard a sigh, and the other noises stopped. A minute or two later I heard the sink for a moment, then the bathroom door opened and she came back to the bedroom. I lied there quietly. She walked around to my side of the bed, slipped something into the nightstand drawer, and closed the drawer. I watched her shadow in the dark as she walked back to her side of the bed and tried to slip into bed without waking me.

As soon as she settled back in I asked her, "Did it help?"

"Oh god," she said. "I'm sorry. I tried not to wake you."

"Did it help?"

"A little. Not enough." She rolled over and looked at me. "I've been anticipating this weekend, intentionally getting myself worked up for it."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted."

"I'm not," she said. "Even if you don't let me kiss you again, I'd rather be here with you than with her."

"We both know you slipped me more gay juice with that bedtime kiss," I told her.

She laughed. "That's why I'd rather be here with you. You're a lot more fun."

We stared at each other in the dark for a moment before she said, "If you roll over, I can scratch your back for a while. We can both go back to sleep."

Dutifully I rolled over. Jessica snuggled closer then began scratching my back through the granny jammies. I began to drift off, barely noticing when she cuddled up closer.

* * *

I woke up to full daylight. Jessica was gone, and the bed felt lonely without her. I blinked myself awake for several minutes before I levered myself out of the bed. I felt really good.

I used the bathroom then headed into the living room. Jessica was on the sofa wearing a bathrobe I hadn't seen before. She glanced over at me. "There is coffee or you can make tea."

"With chocolate?"

"In the tea? Eww."

I offered a droll look.

"It's way too early in the morning for chocolate in my coffee, but suit yourself."

I wandered into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee, adding cream from the refrigerator, then wandered back to the living room and sat in a chair facing Jessica. She had her laptop in her lap and was deep in thought. "I'm almost done," she said without looking up. "Just a few more minutes."

"Wow. How long have you been up?"

"Look at the time, Jade."

I looked around for a clock. "Oh my god, it's nearly ten. What happened to our hike?"

"I went for a run," she told me. "But I'd love a hike later if you want one. It's a beautiful day!"

Then her attention was fully back on what she was doing. I turned and looked out the window. It was beautiful, truly beautiful. A hummingbird was hovering at a feeder. I watched her for a while. She took a sip from the feeder, then backed out and looked around. Sip, look, sip, look, then she was gone.

Two squirrels were cavorting in the yard. I watched as one of them chased the other up a tree and disappeared. After another minute, the hummingbird was back. Or maybe it was a different one. I didn't see a name tag, so I couldn't be sure. Regardless, she was pretty with her invisible wings and bright colors.

"We'll need to fill the feeder," Jessica said. I glanced over at her to see that she was watching me.

"Where did you get the robe?"

She offered a guilty look. "If Marsha caught me wearing it, she'd have it burned. Gay cooties, you know. I'll have to wash it and hang it up again before we leave. I took a picture of it before I took it down so I could put it back exactly the same."

"Is she really that bad?"

"I'm probably exaggerating," Jessica said. "She might be satisfied having it fumigated." She paused. "I'm done." She pointed to the thumb drive, sitting on the coffee table. "Everything is on it. You should look through it to see if I forgot anything before we do anything else today."

I thought about it. "Is it safe to bring my laptop on the boat?"

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Yes, it's safe."

We made plans. We were both going to shower and get dressed, then we'd go out in the boat for a while. I could look through the numbers Jessica had done and see if I could finish my last bit for the presentation. Then we could swim for a while before coming back for lunch. We'd go hiking after lunch followed by more swimming.

"I'm going to pull rank and shower while you have breakfast," she said. "Then I can get the boat ready while you're showering."

A half an hour later had me walking down to the dock with my laptop in its case. Jessica was wearing shorts and a tee shirt. She'd told me her swimsuit was on underneath. I had done the same thing.

"I have everything here," she said. "Camera, suntan lotion, a cooler with things to drink, and towels. It's going to be warm today."

"It's beautiful," I agreed. I stepped aboard the boat. I sat where she pointed. She started the motor then stepped off the boat and untied it before climbing back aboard. Soon she had us backing away from the dock.

She didn't drive fast. I wondered about that.

"It will go faster. Not fast, but faster. We're not in a hurry to get anywhere, but I can show you if you like."

"Sure."

She pushed a lever forward and everything grew louder. The boat picked up speed. Jessica raised her voice to be heard. "It isn't fast enough to water ski, but I can pull you on the inner tube later, if you want."

"I've never done that."

"It will be fun, then," she said. "You should go once just so you can say you've done it."

Then she slowed us back down. "I like to look at the cabins and imagine which ones I wished I owned and wonder what they must cost," she said. "This one here is my favorite on the lake." She pointed to the right. "It's not a good swimming beach. It's too steep. But the view from up there out of all those windows must be stunning." We rode around the lake counter clockwise, discussing the pros and cons of the cabins we could see.

"I like that one," I told her. It was a small cottage on a shallow lot, but it had a good view up the length of the lake and looked well kept up.

"I do too," Jessica said. "And it's available for the low, low price of two hundred thousand dollars."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm ten thousand short of a proper down payment." She smiled. "Marcy would have a cow if I bought a cabin on her lake, but Jon quietly told me he hopes it doesn't sell before I can buy it."

"Have you thought of buying it with someone else?"

She looked at me suddenly. "Hell. No, I hadn't."

"You should think about it. I don't know that much about cabins, but I know they're a lot of work. It would be nice to share the work along with the expenses."

"I'd have to find someone who was compatible and not afraid of work."

"Yep." She paused. "There are a lot of lakes. Are you set on this one?"

"Set? No. But I love my brother, and it would be nice to be close. Even if I don't want to spend time with Marcy, he and I could meet out in the middle of the lake and shoot the shit while fishing."

Jessica nodded at the cabin we were discussing. "Have you been inside? It might be gross."

"It might, but it's so nice on the outside, I don't believe it. I bet it's charming. A little small, but charming."

"Can you come up here in the winter?"

"Marcy and Jon come up after Christmas, but a lot of cabins aren't heated or insulated."

"If I were buying one," I told her. "I'd want one I could use in the winter, too. I bet it's beautiful and peaceful."

We talked about the features we would want. We agreed completely on all of it. We finished our tour of the lake, and Jessica turned us out to the middle of the lake, shutting off the motor when we were out in front of Marcy's cabin.

"I'm going to see what the water is like," Jessica told me. "I'll make sure I don't splash." She paused. "Do you want a table to work at or just use your lap?"

"Table? Really?"

She nodded. She made me move, then unfolded one of the benches and did something to make a table. "Jon is very clever," she said. "The one bad thing about having my own cabin will be not having his clever pontoon boat. I'll have to live with whatever I can afford to buy. It won't be much."

"You can borrow it when they aren't here."

She smiled.

I grabbed my laptop and set it up, watching Jessica as she slipped out of her shorts and tee-shirt. She looked amazing in her bikini. She slipped into the water with nary a splash then turned to me.

"It's cold, but feels good."

I watched as she set off in a strong crawl across the water. She was a good swimmer. She swam about fifty yards away then turned around and swam back.

"Is this safe?" I asked her.

"Sure. Why not?"

"What if you have a cramp or something. I don't know how to start the boat to come get you."

"Don't worry, Jade," she said. "I won't drown on you."

"You say that now, but then Mr. Jaws comes along and eats you."

"At least I wouldn't drown."

I laughed.

"You have work to do. I'm going to swim off some energy. I promise I won't drown."

After that, I kept a half an eye on her. If she got in trouble, I could swim to her with a life jacket I suppose. She was a better swimmer than I was, but I could swim.

She'd given me all the numbers I needed from her. I plugged them in where they needed to be then started to write the summary. I looked up when the boat tipped. She was climbing back on board. She stood up, water sluicing from her body, and I tried not to stare. She caught me looking at her and smiled. I quickly looked back at the laptop.

"Don't be shy," she said huskily. "The gay juice from last night hasn't worn off yet."

I looked up at her. "There's something I need to tell you, but I don't want you to, I don't know. React to it. No teasing, no getting more friendly."

She wrapped a towel around herself, then sat on one of the cushions, keeping a healthy distance between my laptop and her dripping, wet hair. "I can't promise no reaction," she said. "But I won't tease or do anything to upset you."

I looked away for a moment. "This is embarrassing, and I shouldn't tell you. But I'm really confused about it." I paused. "Can I trust you?"

"Yes. I won't hurt you."

I believed her. "Last night, when I was giving you that backrub, and you were making those noises. It seemed like I was really pleasing you."

"You were."

"And. Um."

"You got wet."

I immediately began blushing. "Soaking. I almost changed my panties, but knew you would figure out why."

She laughed.

"No teasing!"

"No teasing," she agreed. "Just joy. Is joy okay?"

"I'm not done," I told her.

She settled back down and put on a sober expression.

"Those two kisses were the best two kisses I've ever had."

Her smile grew to epic proportions.

"When you blindfolded me and tied my hands-"

"Yes?"

"My heart was pounding a hundred miles an hour."

"I know. I felt it. I couldn't tell if it was excitement or fear."

"Excitement." I paused. "Am I a kinky lesbian now?"

She smiled. "Honey, I don't know. The silk is nothing though. Tame. Maybe not tame by your standards, and maybe kinky by your standards, but by people who are actually kinky, it's nothing."

I thought about it some more.

"I would have asked you to keep going last night if I were sure I'd feel the same way on Monday. But it would be cruel to lead you on if I'm just confused."

She looked at me for a while. "Thank you for telling me," she said finally. "I know it took a lot of bravery."

"No, it didn't," I denied. "It took trust."

Her eyes widened and then she said very quietly. "Thank you. That means even more to me."

"So, no teasing."

"I don't agree to that. Lots of teasing. Just not about this."

I laughed. "That's fair. And no more kisses before dinner."

She frowned then smiled. "Did you just tell me I can kiss you after dinner?"

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Tease."

"You said I could tease, sexy butt," I told her.

"Oh, you think I have a sexy butt?" Jessica turned her head around in an attempt to admire her bikini-clad bottom.

"Uh huh. I was admiring it last night."

"Were you?"

I nodded. "You also have amazing shoulders and arms."

"Thank you for noticing. You have a fabulous figure, too."

"It's different from yours. Less athletic."

"Maybe, but not flabby." She paused. "You need to finish what you're doing so we can swim together."

I nodded and bent my head back to the laptop, tapping away at the keyboard. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jessica retrieve a diet soda from the cooler then step to the nose of the boat. She spread her towel down on the deck then lied down, using a second towel as a pillow.

A couple of jet skis drove past. I didn't pay much mind to them, but they circled the boat more closely than I thought was polite. I closed my laptop and slipped it into its bag in case they splashed us. They circled twice then idled closer before each rider killed his engine.

"Hey, ladies," one of the guys said. "Nice day."

Jessica glanced at them and looked briefly over at me. "Good morning, boys," she said. I nodded at them. "Nice jet skis."

"Thanks. You two look kind of lonely," the second jet ski driver said.

I looked them over. I didn't see anything I wanted to deal with, and I wondered what Jessica would do.

"Not really," Jessica said. "We have a busy weekend planned."

"Plans can change," the second one said.

"Not these plans. You guys have a nice day," Jessica said. "It was sweet of you to stop by. You can bet if the motor doesn't start later, we'll flag you down for a tow back to our cabin."

"Aw, we can stick around, keep you company."

"That's nice of you to offer, but my friend has a huge proposal for work she needs to finish or we'll both get fired on Monday. We're taking turns working on it. It's her turn." She paused. "But if we finish early, we might see you in town."

"Come on, Matt," the first rider said. "You ladies have a nice day. Maybe we'll see you later when you're not too busy. Good luck with thing for work."

"I'm Matt," the second one said. I decided he was the stupid, pushy one. "This is Mike."

"It's nice to meet you," Jessica said. She didn't offer our names, which was a relief to me.

Mike started the engine on his jet ski and began slowly driving away. Matt looked like he was going to cause trouble but then followed his friend. Once they were clear, Jessica looked at me and sighed. "There's always one."

"Why didn't you just tell them we're lesbians?"

"The sort of guys who need to be told 'no thank you' that bluntly tend to be the sort of guys who don't respond well."

"Thank you for handling it." I paused. "Have you ever figured out why guys do that?"

"Get that pushy? It's a numbers game to them. It works often enough to keep them trying."

I smiled at her. "Am I a numbers game to you?"

She looked at me. "I can't tell if you're serious," she said after a moment.

"How many straight girls have you invited to Marcy's cabin?" I asked her innocently.

She cocked her head before responding. "Just the sexy ones who might put out."

I laughed. "Don't get cocky."

"If they come back, you'll want to cover your laptop. I don't trust that one. I could see him intentionally splash your machine."

I nodded and retrieved my laptop from its bag. That was why I had put it away in the first place. Jessica settled back down to catch more sun while I worked on the proposal.

It took another hour to finish. At one point Jessica got up and moved to the controls for the boat. "We're drifting to shore. I'm going to move us back out to the middle." She started the boat up and motored for just a minute before shutting it off again.

When I was finished I asked Jessica if she would look it over. She got up and came back to sit next to me. She was wearing practically nothing. I couldn't tell if she noticed she was pressed against me, but I certainly noticed. I wasn't sure whether she had done it on purpose.

She rotated the laptop towards here and began scanning it. She fixed a couple of typing mistakes. When she was done, she said, "It looks good." She asked a few questions and I realized the proposal should answer them. She watched as I updated it.

"Done."

"Done," she agreed. "Put it away. There is a safe locker there for it." She nudged the bottom of the steering console. I put my laptop in its bag and then in the safe locker. Jessica locked it using the key from the ignition then stashed the key in a little hidey hole.

"Swim?" she asked.

"Swim." I agreed. I started shedding clothes. Matt and Mike drove by on their jet skis again, but they were a respectful distance from us and left us alone.

I watched Jessica dive into the water, surfacing some distance from the boat. I followed her.

She had been right, the water was cold, and I felt an especially cold layer several feet below the surface. I swam underwater straight to Jessica, coming to the surface immediately in front of her. We treaded water, looking at each other. She paddled closer, then I felt her legs wrap around me.

"Hey!"

"Hey," she said in a more sultry tone.

"What are you doing?"

"Catching you." She used her legs to pull us closer together. We were both treading water. Her legs around my waist were pulling me down a little, but not too much. "This might be the only way you let me wrap my legs around you." She grinned.

She let me go, and I was a little disappointed, but relieved at the same time. Then she reached out and tapped me. "Tag. You're it." She immediately disappeared below the surface.

I laughed at the childish game and waited for her to surface. I heard splashing behind me, and when I turned around, she was between me and the boat. I set off after her. She squeaked playfully and began to paddle backwards. When I got to about three feet from her, she disappeared under the water again.

I ducked my face in the water and watched her, following her on the surface. She headed straight for the boat, and I saw her disappear underneath it. I ducked under the water and followed her. She had come up between the two hulls.

I came up behind her and wrapped my legs around her, almost pulling her under. She reached up and grabbed a support beam on the boat before turning around to face me.

"You caught me."

"I did," I said. I pulled myself closer, tightening my legs around her. She held both of us out of the water with her left hand on the boat and used her right to reach around and pull me closer. "I can't believe you started a game of tag."

"People forget how much fun it is to play," she said. "They think we're supposed to outgrow fun or something." She smiled. "Are you having fun?"

"Yes," I said, my voice low.

I pulled closer, intending to kiss her. Then her expression changed. "Oh hell. Hold your breath." She took a breath and pushed off the boat, plunging us both under the water. I barely managed to catch a breath before we were both under.

She immediately swam away from me, coming back up on the outside of the boat and quickly climbing out of the water.

I followed her. When I broke the surface, I knew what had spooked her. The jet skis were back. "Get in the boat," she said quietly.

Matt and Mike motored up to us on their jet skis. Jessica was watching them warily.

I climbed up onto the little platform then stepped onto the boat. Jessica handed me a towel, which I wrapped around myself, using it to brush the hair out of my face.

"We couldn't see you," Mike said, shutting down his jet ski again.

"We were swimming," Jessica said. "We were probably on the other side of the boat. Guys, it makes me nervous to swim with you coming so close on the jet skis."

"We wouldn't hit you," Matt said.

"Hit on us, perhaps," I said quietly. Jessica looked at me sharply then focused back on the guys.

"I swim under water a lot," Jessica said. "You might not see me. And to be honest, I don't know you or whether you have common sense. I had a friend get hit by one of those while swimming. Screwed her up pretty good."

"If you're done working," Matt said. "We could party."

I watched Jessica sigh. She turned to me. "When did I invite you to come with me?"

"Yesterday afternoon," I replied.

"You watched me get dumped over the phone."

"Yeah. Kind of rude."

She turned back to the guys. "I got dumped. Yesterday. I am not remotely interested in diving into a relationship with one of you right now. I'd really just like to recuperate from a broken heart for a week or two. Can you guys cut us some slack? We really just want a girls' weekend. No guys. Right now guys are not on my A list."

Matt immediately turned to me. "What are you doing this afternoon?"

"Helping my friend mend her broken heart," I said. I turned to Jessica. "You know, if you hadn't gotten so jealous all the time, maybe the two of you would still be together."

"It's not my fault I don't like my dates looking at other women."

"But did you have to key his car over it?" I asked her.

"I let you talk me out of the sugar in the gas tank, but I still think I should have done it."

"You were on a rampage. I can't believe you called his parents and said he was gay."

"He shouldn't have flirted with that waitress."

"True," I said. "I agree with you. But with boobs like she has, you could hardly blame him."

"Um. Ladies. We'll be going now. You have a nice day," Mike said. He was grinning at us. I think he knew we were putting on an act. But Matt was suddenly looking a whole lot less interested. They started their jet skis and sped off again. They left us alone after that.

We looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Good thinking," Jessica told me.

"I was just happy you ran with it right away."

"Mike figured out we were acting."

"Yeah, but Matt was the problem, not Mike. Mike seems like he might be a nice guy."

"Yeah, maybe," she said. "But you're with me this weekend."

I laughed. "Mike might be a nice guy, but he keeps poor company. I'm happy to help you mend your broken heart."

Jessica looked at the jet skis speeding away and sighed. "They broke the mood."

"I'd like to email the presentation to myself at work, just in case, then maybe lunch and go for that hike."

Shopping for a Cabin

Jessica made lunch for us. She made us each a brat and a hamburger and grilled some asparagus.  We each ended up eating half our food and tossed the rest in the refrigerator. We cleaned up a little and changed into hiking clothes before heading into the woods across the road.

There were trails. Jessica knew a loop that she said was an hour and a half. We walked side-by-side and talked. She was carrying a little camera and took a lot of photos. It felt like most of them were of me.

The attention was very flattering. Every time she pointed the camera at me, I became self-conscious. I finally told her that.

"Jade," she said. "You're beautiful, and I am having a lovely time with you."

"My hair is a mess and I'm wearing no make up," I complained.

She stepped closer and my heart rate immediately went up. "Jade, you're beautiful. Yeah, you have the wild look thing going on, but it's a part of your personality. It's part of what makes you complicated. It's part of why I'm happier here with you than I would have been with Susan. There is no way she would have gone walking in these woods with me. She is prettier than you are, but that's all she is. She's pretty. She's not as smart as you and she certainly isn't as complex as you are. This is part of you, and I love it."

"Telling me your ex- is prettier than me isn't how you get a kiss," I told her. I was trying to tease and lighten the mood, but Jessica turned away.

"Hey," I said more quietly, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to me. "I was teasing."

"Well, you're right, I probably shouldn't have said that."

"Actually," I said. "I like you more for having said it. It's flattering that you care about more than my looks."

She caressed my cheek, brushing an errant hair out of my face when she did it.

"I'll try to stop being self-conscious about the photos if you let me take some of you."

"If I point the camera at you, it's because I'm trying to catch you the way I see you," she said. "I'm not looking for a pose. I'm trying to catch the way your eyes light up, or the expression you have. If you can ignore it, I'm going to get some amazing photos."

"I'll try. Give me the camera."

She handed the camera to me. I took her hand and nudged us along the path again. I got her talking about her parents and grandparents, and for the next fifteen minutes I got a lot of pictures of her. I wasn't sure if any of them were good, but she completely ignored the camera. By the time I was ready to give it back to her, I understood what she had meant. It was a lot more fun taking photos of someone who ignored the camera. Sure, they weren't going to go into a fashion magazine, but they were going to be far more interesting.

I relinquished the camera to her. It was hard, but whenever she pointed it at me after that, I ignored it and continued to do whatever it was I had been doing. She seemed pleased by the results. The trail went around a pond, and there were ducks swimming in the pond. We stopped and watched them for a while.

"Did I cramp your style with the guys before?" Jessica asked me. "If I'd been straight, would you have wanted to encourage them?"

"No," I told her. "I was feeling vulnerable about it, and I don't like pushy guys."

"What about pushy women?"

"You're not pushy," I told her.

She grinned at me. "I am dominant."

"I don't even know what that means."

"Have you ever asked a guy out?"

"Sure," I told her. "A few times."

"Were they guys you were already dating?" I nodded. "So you've never taken the lead in the relationship?"

"I don't know what you mean."

She paused, turning to look at me. "Not counting Sadie Hawkins dances in high school, have you ever asked a guy out for a first date?"

"No. That's just weird."

She smiled. "If you were gay, and you liked another woman, would you ask her out?"

I thought about it. "I don't know." I paused. "I instigate things with my friends."

"With your boyfriends, how often did you instigate sex?"

"Never."

"Why not?"

I didn't have an answer for her.

"You don't like sex?" she asked.

"That depends upon the partner," I told her. "Sex with some guys is all right. With others it's dull."

"Just all right? Take it or leave it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then you're doing it wrong." She paused. "When I say I'm dominant, I'm kind of like the guys in your relationships. I tend to do the asking. I tend to do the instigating. I tend to be the one making sure that things are happening. I tend to take the lead. That's not an absolute. I like being asked."

"And you hold car doors."

"Yes," she said. "And I hold car doors."

"But that's not pushy," I pointed out.

"No, I wouldn't push someone into a relationship if she was letting me know she wasn't interested. Why would I do that? But in a relationship, I'm kind of pushy."

"Pushing her to do things she doesn't want?"

"No. That's not fun." She paused. "And you got a taste last night what else 'dominant' implies."

"The silk?" I asked. Jessica nodded. "That was exciting. And intimidating."

"You looked hot," she said with a grin.

"In my granny jammies?"

"Even in granny jammies you look hot."

I laughed. "No one looks hot in granny jammies."

"Granny jammies made you look all sweet and innocent. Adding my silk made you look vulnerable and trusting." She sighed.

"Seriously?"

"Now you know my deep secrets," she said with a smile. "I like sweet, innocent and vulnerable."

* * *

We finished our walk, teasing each other and taking more photos. "What would you like to do?" she asked.

"Seriously?" I asked. She nodded. "Go talk to a realtor and see if we could look at that cabin you like."

"Really? It will certainly sell before I can afford it."

"I think it would be fun, but if window shopping would leave you frustrated, we could just go swimming again instead. I'm sure looking at me doesn't frustrate you at all."

She laughed. "Jade, I'd love to go see it. I wonder if we can get in."

We each cleaned up from our hike in the woods before driving into town. There were two realtors in town. "Karen Carlson Realty sounds good," Jessica said. We parked in front of her storefront and stepped into the office.

"Be right with you!" a woman's voice came from the back of the office.

We looked around briefly. It was a standard receptionist area. There were six chairs and a coffee table full of magazines. We sat down and talked quietly about cabins. After a few minutes, a forty-five year old woman stepped out and greeted us.

"Hi," she said. "I am Karen Carlson."

We introduced ourselves, then Jessica said, "I've been thinking about buying a cabin, maybe on Reece Lake. Is this the right place?"

"Absolutely," she said. "I can help you with a cabin anywhere in the area, and there are several available on Reece Lake."

"We're up for the weekend, and there's one I've had my eye on for a while. Is there any chance at all we could see it this weekend?"

"We can try setting up an appointment," Karen said. "Let's go back to my office and talk about what you're looking for."

We nodded and followed Karen into a back office. It was small but tastefully decorated in a northern woods scheme. The walls held photos, a mix of what were clearly pictures of her kids as well as scenes from the Minnesota woods. Her desk held several examples of artwork her children would have done in school. We sat down in the chairs waiting for us.

"Can I get you something? Coffee? Water?"

"We're good," Jessica said.

Karen chatted with us for a while. "Are you two a couple?"

"No, coworkers," I replied. "Yesterday I begged Jessica's help this weekend on a project, but she had arranged the weekend up here, so we fit both in."

"Oh, how lovely!" Karen said. After that, she oriented the discussion on Jessica. She took out paper and asked a bunch of questions, taking notes. Jessica clearly had thought about what she wanted, but then Karen asked, "Do you need a garage?"

"Not really," Jessica said.

"Actually," I said. "It would be preferred. Or at least enough land to add one."

Jessica looked over at me.

I smiled.

Karen made a note.

Karen asked some more questions before finally asking, "Have you thought about price range?"

"I think I need a little more down payment money than I have," Jessica said. "But I was hoping to find something for around two hundred thousand."

"Maybe as much as three hundred," I added.

Jessica looked over at me again. "I don't want payments that big, and it would be forever before I could have the extra down payment."

"Maybe I'm looking, too," I told her. I looked at Karen. "So maybe only two hundred, but possibly three hundred." Karen nodded and took more notes.

Karen had just a few more questions. I didn't interrupt. "Well, the good news is, there are cabins in the range you want. We also have good lots available, which might give you the opportunity to have your dream cabin built just the way you want." She talked about what she had. Then Jessica described the place on Marcy's lake.

"Oh, that's a lovely cabin," Karen said. "I know just the one. The owners just lowered the price to one-ninety-four-five. There is no garage, but it's a deep lot, and you could build a garage." She paused. "I don't remember if it's insulated for the winter. Would you like to arrange a visit?"

"Yes, if at all possible."

She turned to her computer and typed for a moment, squinting at the screen. "Oh, that's right. It's part of an estate sale. The owner died, and his daughter lives in California. She's hired a local handyman to keep the place up for her, but she just wants to sell it. I have no other appointments this afternoon. Let me see if I can set something up."

She picked up her phone and dialed a number she clearly had memorized. "Hey, Lane, it's Karen. I have a couple here who would like to see the Benson cabin on Reece." Pause. "Today." Pause. "Excellent. Thanks, Lane." She hung up and turned to us.

"Did you want to look at others today?"

"Let's start with that," Jessica said. "And then while we're there, we can talk some more."

"Perfect." Karen got up and led us to her car. I climbed in back. Karen asked us where we were staying, and Jessica gave an abbreviated answer. The two of them made small talk during the ten-minute drive to the cabin Jessica wanted. Karen turned off the dirt road onto the dirt driveway leading to the cabin. There was an area for parking but no garage.

We got out and I got a look at the back of the cabin. It was just as cute as the front. I liked it. If I looked, I could see the neighbors on both side, but they weren't right next to us. There was some privacy both from distance plus trees and bushes between us, including a few evergreens. Even in the winter there would be some privacy.

Karen led the way to the back door. She did the magic realtor things to open the door then led the way inside. We followed her in. Karen passed through the cabin to the front and opened the front doors, giving us a cross breeze that quickly aired the cabin out. Then she gave us a tour.

It was small, about the same size as Marcy's with two bedrooms and a single bathroom, but it was cuter. It was bright and cheery, and I immediately loved it.

"Is there a furnace?"

"Yes," Karen said, looking at the data sheet. "There must be a basement." She looked around but didn't see a door that might lead to the basement.

I stepped back outside then hollered, "There's a root cellar door." I opened it, descended a steep set of stairs, and discovered the basement was just a utility room. It didn't extend under the entire cabin but was just big enough for the furnace and well. It was musty and had cobwebs.

I climbed back upstairs and reported that to Jessica.

"I don't care," she said. "But I want it available all year."

"Mrs. Benson lived here," Karen said. "It should do very well in winter."

We looked around some more then stepped outside and stood on the front porch.

"I wanted it," Jessica said quietly to me when Karen wasn't right next to us.

"I want to know what another hundred thousand would get," I told her.

"I can't afford much more than this one."

"I'm curious." I paused. "You couldn't write an offer today?"

"No. I don't have the down payment."

"Let's go talk to her. I'm just curious."

"All right," Jessica said.

We collected Karen and stepped back inside. I began asking questions. I started with, "How does this compare to other cabins in the area for a similar price?"

"It's always hard to judge," she said. "Lot sizes vary so much. The lakes are all different. And no one builds tract house cabins, so every cabin is unique. Some have garages, some don't. Many are larger but don't have even a tiny basement. Many aren't insulated or have a furnace."

She paused. "For similar money, I can find a bigger cabin on a smaller lot. I can find a similar cabin on a larger lot, but this is a really nice lake. This is a good size lot, and you could expand the cabin and build the garage you want, when you decided to do that. In my opinion, this is priced properly, and I'm surprised it hasn't sold."

We talked for a while. Jessica was puzzled at my questions, but I ignored the looks she gave us. Finally I was down to one remaining question.

"Do banks give loans to unmarried couples?"

"All the time, if they both have good credit."

That's when Jessica realized what I was doing. "You want to buy it with me."

I smiled at her. "Maybe. This place is really cute and I love it, but I would want us to be able to invite friends. If you and I each have a bedroom, where do our friends sleep?"

I turned to Karen. "Clearly we haven't talked about this. Until yesterday, we've never socialized together. But I think we're becoming friends. Is this weird?"

"I can't comment on your friendship," she said with a smile. "But it's not uncommon for two families to buy a cabin together. It's not necessarily common, but I wouldn't call it rare. It makes a lot of sense. Share the expenses, share the work, and most people don't use a cabin even half time, so sharing it with someone else doesn't need to be onerous, even when it's two families. Neither of you are married?"

"No," Jessica said. "So I expect we'd come up together a lot." She looked at me. "Are you just teasing me?"

"No, but I'm not ready to commit to anything, either," I said. "We don't really know each other well enough to enter into something like this yet." I turned to Karen. "Are there standard agreements for something like this?"

"I've had a few clients who have purchased houses together like this. It is common to write a contract outlining what happens if one of them wants to sell." She talked about it with us for a while.

"If we were willing to spend another fifty or a hundred thousand, would we find something much better?"

"You would find a little bigger cabin and maybe a garage. This is a beautiful lot, and you won't improve on it without spending a lot more."

"So if we come back in a few months or next year and are ready to buy something, this cabin might be available, but probably not. But you could find something we would like, especially if we're willing to spend a little more."

"Yes. Definitely."

After that we got up and roamed around the cabin for another couple of minutes. Then we locked up, and Karen drove us back to her office. She gave us a little more information, and we thanked her for her time.

In the car, Jessica turned to me. "You're serious."

"I'm not teasing. I love it up here. But we would need to know each other better. This is a big commitment." I paused. "And I would want a boat, but I don't know the first thing about them, like what they cost or how to take care of them. I don't even know how to drive one."

"You're really serious."

I smiled. "How do you feel about it?"

"I love it. Did you really want a different one?"

"I loved that place," I told her. "But unless we're sharing a bed, how would we have guests?"

She nodded.

"If you have a girlfriend or I have a boyfriend, then we can't both come up plus bring guests, unless people sleep on the sofa or the floor."

She turned away and started the car. She waited for a chance then backed out and drove us back to Marcy's. Neither of us said anything. When we got home, Jessica said, "We should fix that."

"Fix what?"

"I should teach you how to drive the boat. We have time before dinner."

"Oh, and I want some more swimming."

* * *

It was fun learning how to drive the boat. Jessica had me do everything, and it was a lot easier than I expected. "There are more complicated boats. This one is pretty simple."

"Simple is good. We wouldn't need anything complicated. Would you want a ski boat?" I asked her.

"We would have to talk about whether we wanted a pontoon boat or a ski boat first. I wouldn't mind having both. If I could only get one, I'd probably get a ski boat. If We were going to have a bigger cabin and have more than four of us up at a time, then a pontoon boat is a better party boat."

I drove us to go look at "our" cabin again. She turned to me beseechingly. "I want it."

"I do too," I told her. "But we may hate each other by this time tomorrow."

She paused and sighed. "You just told me not to seduce you. We can buy the cabin as friends, or as lovers, but not as failed lovers."

I thought about it for a bit. "If you had the down payment, could you make payments without me?"

"Yes. I wouldn't be able to buy a boat for a while though. I'd probably find a cheap canoe or rowboat. I can fish from a rowboat, and I can go motor boating when Jon takes me."

"Let's go swim," I said. She nodded. I motored us out to the middle of the lake and killed the engine. "Why don't you swim from shore?"

"I do," she said. "But this is fun, and I like sitting on the deck of the boat letting the waves rock me. It's hypnotic and relaxing."

There was a little more boat traffic this afternoon than there had been this morning, but it was still quieter than I would have expected. I stripped down to my swim suit and dived into the water. Jessica was right behind me. She followed me a distance from the boat, then I smiled at her, slowly backing away closer to the boat.

"If you can catch me, you can kiss me," I said, then immediately dived under the water and began swimming back to the boat.

I didn't bother looking back but headed straight for the boat. I didn't know if she was behind me or wondering where I was. I did her trick and came up underneath the boat, being careful not to hit my head.

Then I felt her hands on my legs, and she rose up next to me, immediately wrapping her legs around me. I slipped under the water, and she pulled me up, sputtering.

"Sorry," she said.

I smiled and grabbed the boat for extra flotation. "You caught me," I told her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Flirting."

She pulled herself closer, wrapping herself more completely around me. My heart began pounding as I stared into her eyes Her legs and arms enveloped me completely. I'd never been held like this before, especially not by a woman, and I decided I liked it.

She studied my face, watching my reactions. Surely she had to know my heart was pounding. I wanted her to kiss me.

"I don't know how I'll feel on Monday," I told her. "Right now, it's just a kiss."

She pulled closer and I closed my eyes. Her lips brushed mine tentatively and withdrew.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was studying me.

"I don't understand," I told her.

She looked away, but she hadn't stopped holding me, and my heart was still pounding, but I felt myself growing upset and rejected.

"I thought-" I said. I paused. "Never mind. I should have kept my mouth shut about the cabin. Now you're all freaked out."

She looked back at me. "You raised the stakes awfully high."

"If you were only risking a broken heart, would that have been a real kiss?"

"Yes."

"Either kiss me properly, Jessica or unwrap yourself."

I closed my eyes again and waited. Either she would kiss me or she had damned well better unwrap herself from me.

She started to loosen, and my heart began to break, but she was only adjusting her grip, and soon I felt her legs curl further around me, her body pressed more tightly to mine, and then her lips were on mine.

I wrapped my free arm around her, pulling her against me, my heart pounding in my chest. When she flicked her tongue against my lips, I parted for her, and I felt her tongue slide between my open lips.

I moaned into the kiss. So did she.

I couldn't think. I couldn't think about anything. All I could do was feel. I felt her lips and tasted her tongue. I felt her limbs wrapped around me. I felt the skin of her back, slick with the water. I felt my heart pounding.

I felt very confused.

She moaned again, pulling even tighter, and I responded, the sound of my heart beating drowning out the quiet lapping of the waves against the boat.

Eventually, disappointingly, she pulled away. I opened my eyes and looked at her. She looked very happy but a little nervous at the same time. She started to unwrap herself, but I said, "Please, keep holding me. I like this."

She smiled and tightened her hold. "I've never kissed anyone under a boat before," she said.

"Have you held someone like this before me?"

"A few times, and been held a few times. But never someone I wanted as much as I want you."

I hugged her tightly. She laid her head on my shoulder. "I want more kisses later. For now, we need to swim, and I need to think. I don't want you to let go, but you probably should."

She looked a little disappointed as she let me go.

"Wait," I told her. "One more short kiss first?"

She smiled and pulled my lips to hers. This was a shorter kiss, but still a proper kiss. Then as she finished the kiss, she slipped away from me. "Care for a race?"

"You'll win. You're a better swimmer than I am."

"I'll give you a head start. Three times around the boat, no diving underneath, and if I pass you, I have to do it on the outside."

"How much of a head start?"

"Half a lap."

I thought about it. "I could win that."

"You could. Wager?"

"Only if it's something I'm willing to give you."

"If I win, I get to blindfold you again later," she said.

"And if I win?"

"What do you want?"

"Bedtime massage."

"Deal." She pulled away from me towards the front of the boat. "On the surface, no touching the boat at any time. We'll start in front and I'll start when I see you at the back."

I paddled after her then turned left, planning to go counter-clockwise around the boat. I turned to her. "What if it's so close we can't tell?"

"Then we both win."

"Deal." I took a big deep breath then started swimming, conserving myself until I got to the back, then giving it my all.

When I swim, I breathe to my left side. As I crossed the back of the boat, I took a breath and briefly looked down the length of the boat between the hulls. I saw Jessica at the other end just starting to swim. I made the turn and headed up the side of the boat, keeping enough distance I wouldn't accidentally bump the hull. I turned left again across the front, taking a breath, and I saw Jessica directly behind the boat.

One lap, and I hadn't given up any noticeable lead.

At the back again, I got my breath, and I saw her feet kicking. She had gained a few feet on me, and the race was half over. I was going to win.

I wasn't sure I wanted to win.

At the front, when I looked down, I didn't see her at all. She had gained at least body length, but there was only one lap left, and going around me on such a short course would give her a longer trip.

As I turned towards the back of the boat for my last lap, I felt her brush my foot. She was right behind me. We bumped briefly again on both of the turns at the back of the boat. I was getting tired. If this had been four laps, she would have easily beaten me. It was going to be close.

As we swam the last length, I could tell she was slightly ahead of me, but she would have a more difficult turn around the front of the boat. We began the turn together, leaving it very close, then just one more stroke and it was over.

I stopped, grabbing the boat, panting, and turned to her. She wasn't even winded.

"It was close," I said, panting. "I don't know if you won."

"Tie?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Ready to climb out though."

She hovered around me, clearly worried about me, but I was fine. I climbed onto the boat, still panting, then grabbed a towel and lied down on the front deck of the boat. Jessica climbed up after me and lied down next to me.

She let me catch my breath and said, "I've never convinced anyone else to do something like that."

"Agree to a wager?"

"Oh, I do wagers all the time. And this one has a really tame reward. But never about something like swimming or a foot race." She paused. "I'm trying to tell you something."

"Your past girlfriends haven't engaged in athletic activities with you."

"I could get a few to go walking."

"And this is important to you."

"Yes."

"I'm enjoying it, too, Jessica." I paused. "You're a much better swimmer than I am, but that was fun."

We lied for a while, not talking, just soaking up the sun and letting the summer warmth dry us off. A few boats drove by, but none buzzed us. It was perfect.

"You're throwing yourself at me," she said.

I turned away from her, not responding. I was, and I didn't understand why. I was straight. What was it about her that meant I was throwing caution to the wind? What was it about her that made my heart pound every time she touched me?

I wasn't at all sure I wasn't going to feel like a fool, and a complete tease, and perhaps a bitch, on Monday when reality set it.

I turned my head back to face her and told her all that.

"Your heart pounds when I touch you?"

"Yes."

She smiled at me. "Then I'm not going to stop touching you until you ask me to stop."

I returned her smile.

We didn't talk about it anymore. We both knew where this was going, at least for the evening.

We sunned ourselves for a while longer. I wasn't one of those women who spent a lot of time lying in the sun for the tan, but the warmth felt good. While lying there, I realized I wanted her to propose more of her wagers. They sounded like fun. I wondered how I could encourage her, but bringing it up directly was far more direct than I wanted to be.

She must have read my mind. "I want to propose another wager."

I smiled. "What did you have in mind?"

"Want to swim some more?"

"Not another race, but swimming sounds good."

"You will dive into the water and swim somewhere on a single breath of air. I will count to five and dive in after you. If I can touch you from where I surface, I win." She paused.

"What if I want you to dive in first?"

"I thought perhaps you enjoyed being chased."

I smiled. She was right. "What do we each get to win?"

"If I win, I get permission to touch you however I want for the rest of the weekend."

"Oh, a big wager." I thought about it. "I'm not ready for the most intimate of what that could mean. And no tickling."

"All right," she said. "If you win, you get to touch me however you want, no restrictions, but I don't have permission to touch you yet. And no tickling."

"I could still tease the crap out of you." I thought about it. "All right."

"No climbing back out of the water," she said. "When you surface, you can tread water or float, and no swimming further away."

I smiled then thought about my strategy. There were two basic choices. I could simply try to swim as far away as I could and hope I could swim further on a breath than she could and possibly lose her besides. Or I could try to trick her. I decided to try to trick her.

I climbed to my feet, took two deep breaths, then held the third and dived into the water, as straight down as I could. I swam straight down into the cold water then turned and swam under the boat. As soon as I was under it, I turned again and began swimming towards the back of the boat.

I heard the splash as she dived in after me. I didn't waste time turning around to see if she was following me. If she didn't see where I was going, the faster I got away from her, the less likely she'd see me through the water and know which direction to go.

I swam in a straight line directly back of the boat until my lungs were burning before rising to the surface. I lied on my back in the water, floating and panting madly for air.

I felt her hand cup my ass as she surfaced next to me.

I grinned at her as we lied on top of the water, panting for air. Finally she said, "You played to win."

"Of course. I think I'm going to enjoy having lost."

"You didn't fool me when you went under the boat," she said. "The water is clear enough I was able to see you slip under it. I almost lost you after that though. You were right at the edge of visibility when I went in after you and turned the right direction."

"I would have won if there was a longer pause."

"Probably, but it had to be possible for both of us or it isn't any fun."

She was treading water next to me while I was floating, her hand slipping inside the top of my bikini bottom in back, her fingers just reading there.

"Let's swim for a bit?"

I nodded. We swam slowly around the boat. She lured me under the boat. "Hold onto the boat and wrap your legs around me," she said. I did what she told me to do. She let me pull her very close to me, then slipped one hand around my waist and into my bikini bottoms again. Her fingers cupped my bottom while her other hand pulled my mouth to hers.

She kissed me for a long time. She tasted of lake water, and I was looking forward to doing this again when we were both dry. Her hand on my bottom felt nice. Her hand slipped out of my bikini and began tracing a line up my spine. That felt nice, too.

I was breathless when she relinquished my mouth. We stared at each other.

"Am I going to freak out on Monday?" I asked her.

"Jade, I don't know. You're the first virgin I've kissed. But I'm not worrying about it anymore."

"I'm not a virgin," I told her.

"You are to this."

"I've never had so much as a passing thought about another woman," I told her. "Not even a single 'I wonder'. I've never even been remotely curious. It was all boys, all the time."

"When is the last time your heart pounded for a guy?"

"Is your heart pounding?"

She nodded. "You're my dream woman, Jade. Other than not knowing how you're going to feel when you wake up from this fantasy, you are exactly what I would describe. I can't begin to tell you how hard it is not to rush this so fast it would scare you."

She didn't wait for me to respond but pulled me into another kiss, one hand behind my head, the other running slowly up and down my side, brushing against the side of my breast.

I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to me. But I realized that while I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to me, and I had some ideas what that meant, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do to her.

The kiss was amazing, and when she tried to break it, I reached behind her head and pulled her back, hungry for more. She giggled briefly into the kiss, but joined fully into it.

We broke the kiss by mutual consent, and I stared at her.

"Jessica, I am having no end of thoughts about what you're going to do to me."

She grinned. "Good."

"I'm not having any about what I'm going to do to you, except more kisses. I don't think that's a good sign."

She thought about it, then her smile broadened. "You will. Besides, I'm a seventy-thirty girl."

"Seventy-thirty?"

"Seventy percent of my fantasies are about what I'd do to you. Thirty percent are about what I'd make you do for me."

"Make me?"

She nodded.

My heart began pounding harder. I squeezed her more tightly for a moment.

She whispered into my ear. "Do you like the wagers?"

"They're fun."

"Want another?" I nodded. "If I win, I get to watch you shower. What do you want if you win?"

"You have to answer any question I ask between now and when the dinner dishes are over. What's the competition?"

"I bet that you can't dive down to the bottom of the lake, but that I can."

"How deep is it?"

"I'm not answering that."

"But you know?"

She looked around for a minute. "We've drifted a bit. We're not over the deepest point anymore. I can't reach the deepest point."

"Do I have to bring something up from the bottom? I bet it's gross."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Deal."

"We start away from the boat," she said. "No kicking off the boat."

She pulled away and we swam out from under the boat a few feet. "When you come up, have your hand over your head like this," she said, demonstrating by waving her hand in the air as if she were asking a teacher for permission to talk. "It makes sure you don't hit something coming up."

"Who goes first?"

"You do."

"If I make the bottom or you don't, I win."

"Right."

"Okay." I took two deep breaths, held the third, then flipped, my feet waving in the air for a moment to give me an extra push towards the bottom. I swam hard, and after a few seconds, I could no longer see anything. Below me it was black and a little intimidating. I swam as deeply as I could, but I never saw the bottom.

My ears were hurting from the pressure. I turned around and began swimming for the surface. I came up a dozen feet away from Jessica. She turned to me when she heard me surface and swam over to me.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded, breathing hard. "Ears hurt."

"Still?"

"No. I never even saw the bottom."

"I suppose this is where I tell you that I'm a scuba diver."

"No air tanks."

"No, but I know how to stop my ears from hurting. Be right back."

She backed away from me a little, took her own breaths, then dived under the water the same way I had. She was gone for a long time, long enough I started to worry, but then she came to the surface, panting. She raised one hand out of the water and let some muck fall from her hand.

"Eww," I said.

She laughed. "A little. It's just mud. It washes off." She rinsed her hand in the water. "A little more sun, then head in?"

I nodded. We swam to the boat, and she put her hands on my ass as I climbed out of the water. I turned around and laughed at her.

"Helping," she said with a grin.

I grabbed a towel and dried my face before lying down on the boat deck. She joined me, both of us lying on our stomachs, our heads turned to face each other.

"If we bought the cabin, I want internet access," I told her. "And a pontoon boat."

"Or permission from Jon to use this one?"

"I'd feel weird using it if I'm here without you."

She thought about it. "We can work that out later. I agree on the internet access. I bet we could get our bosses to let us work one day a week remotely."

"Drive up on Thursday night?"

"Yes. Or come home Monday night. Do you have half a down payment?"

"Yes. My parents paid for my college, so I came away with no student loans, and my grandfather died, giving me the down payment for the house."

"It didn't go to your parents?"

"It was Dad's dad, and he decided to pass his share directly to my sister and me if we agreed to use it wisely. He agreed buying a house was a good choice if I listened to his opinion on the house I bought. Then my folks helped me with the things one needs after buying a house. Dad found a good, used lawnmower for me and a bunch of the other yard things I needed. I'm using my grandmother's dishes. They bought me pots and pans and knives. I had to buy a few things for the kitchen, but not that much. They gave me my old bedroom set, which I'm still using. Then mom and I went to a bunch of garage sales and I found my furniture. It's ugly, but it works. I'm still driving their old car they gave me when I went to college, and it's been remarkably reliable. So all my expenses have been low, and I've saved like crazy."

"Are you handy with tools?"

"My dad has taught me a lot for my own house. I don't hire any work he wouldn't hire."

"Jon has helped me," she told me. "There is room to expand that cabin."

I smiled. "I'd like at least one guest room, and two would be more fun. I'd like to have people come up with us. I wonder what adding on would cost."

"Less than you think," she said. "If we do it ourselves with help from your father and my brother."

"Would Jon help?"

"Absolutely."

"I can use tools, but I can only do what someone tells me to do."

"Are you afraid of heights?"

I thought about it. "Is that a non sequitur?"

"I was thinking about roofing," Jessica clarified.

"Ah. I'd be okay if the roof isn't too steep and the ladder is sturdy."

We both lied there, looking at each other. "We could do this," she said eventually.

"We could." I paused. "I would want you to talk to your brother first. If he doesn't want us here, we should look somewhere else." She nodded. "And we have to resolve what's going on between us." She nodded again. "And we would need rules."

"Like what?"

"Rules for how we're going to keep it up. Rules for how we're going to use it. If we come up together, that's sort of easy, but what if you want to bring a bunch of friends without me? What if I want to let my parents use it when we're not here? What if we both come up and want to invite friends? What happens if we have a falling out? Things like that."

It was her turn to think. "I know my answers to those." I asked her what they were. "Well, I bet most of the time, we'd both want to come together." I agreed. "I bet if we talk, we can just divide the decisions for anything more complicated. One weekend I invite some of my friends. The next time we're going to have guests, you invite them. Maybe not alternate, but communicate and aim for even."

"What if one of us wants to invite friends more than the other one wants a noisy cabin?" I asked.

"Communicate and go with the more conservative decision after that?"

"All right. That works."

"For a falling out, we would either need to share it half and half," she said. "Or one of us buys the other out. We would have to go half and half until one of us could afford to buy it."

"Whoever is buying out should make payments, but it belongs to both of us until payments are complete. How do we price it? If we had a fight this year, we could just do it based on what we've put into it, but if it's five years from now, it might be worth more."

"How about we each submit a buy out bid to the other one, and whoever's bid is biggest wins?"

I offered an example. "So I could say I'd give you forty thousand for your share, and you could tell me forty-five, so you'd keep it?" She nodded. 

"What else?" she asked.

"How do we decide when to spend money on what?"

"Mutual decision. Maintenance issues always get resolved. Improvements require mutual approval or we don't do them."

We stared at each other, grinning. "We could do this," I said.

"So we just need to resolve what's going on between us."

"And you need to talk to your brother." I paused. "I don't care if Marcy hates us, but you might. I won't do this if your brother won't support us though. It won't be fun. And our entire plan is assuming your brother and my father will help us with the work we want to do."

She moved a little bit closer so we were lightly touching. I smiled. She shifted further so she was on her side facing me and began tracing patterns in my skin. I shivered and closed my eyes.

"Is this what you want?" she asked me huskily.

"Go slow."

"Are you going to make me stop?"

"No, but go slow."

She caressed my face.

"I'm not ready to announce to the whole world what we're doing," I told her.

"I'll be subtle for now. I want to stay in the sun for a while, but I want to touch you."

Her touch was electric, and I felt my heart rate increasing the more she caressed me. I was so confused about what I wanted, but she was fascinating and sexy.

And suddenly I couldn't stop thinking about the silk around my wrists.

"Are you going to use the scarves?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes."

She'd been keeping her hands above my waist, but she began caressing my bottom.

"Jessica-"

"No one is close. No one is looking at us. If I hear any boats, I'll stop."

What she was doing felt nice, and I didn't want her to stop. I wanted more, a lot more. I opened my eyes and looked at her.

"Close them."

"This isn't enough."

"You said go slow. Close your eyes or I'll stop."

I closed my eyes.

"Jade," she said. "I am the dominant one in this relationship. Is that a problem?"

"I still don't know what that means."

"It means if I tell you to close your eyes, you close your eyes."

"If I have concerns, I am going to voice them. If I tell you to stop, I expect you to stop."

Her hand continued to caress my bottom. She didn't say anything. I opened my eyes again.

"Close them, Jade."

"I need you to respond to what I just told you." I continued to look at her. "I need to know you will treat me the way I want to be treated."

"Close your eyes and let me think."

"This isn't rocket science."

"Do you want me to stop what I am doing right now?"

"No. I want more."

"Close your eyes. You'll get your answers."

I closed my eyes and she continued to rub my bottom.

"I am not playing when I say I am the dominant one," she told me.

"And I told you I don't understand what that means."

She slipped her fingers inside my bikini bottom and lightly caressed my tailbone. I almost jumped three feet in the air with the intensity of the stimulation. "Oh wow."

"Do you like this?"

"Yes." I began squirming.

"Am I treating you the way you want?"

"Yes."

"Before I started this, did you know it was what you wanted?"

"No." I squirmed some more. "Oh, you can't keep doing that here."

"Oh yes, I can," she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. "You agreed I could touch you however I wanted until nine PM tonight, and this is how I want to touch you."

She continued to tease me without answering my original concerns.

"You haven't answered me," I said, but I gasped twice while saying it.

"Tell me to stop."

"I don't want you to stop."

"I know. Tell me to stop."

"Jessica, stop."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" She did something with her fingers, and it was twice as intense as what she'd been doing. "I should stop?"

"No!"

"I should stop. You told me to."

I couldn't even think straight, and she was barely touching me.

"More!"

"Not yet. You told me to go slowly, and I love going slowly."

"Oh god."

"If you ever tell me to stop, and I think you are serious, I will stop."

And then she pulled her hand out of my swimsuit and stopped touching me. My eyes snapped open. "No. Please," I told her.

"You're as worked up as I want you," she said, smiling. "If you behave though, I'll do it some more in a little bit. Or maybe find something else you like."

"Oh god," I said again.

"Jade, if you have concerns, of course I want to know about them. But stopping, well, you don't want me to stop."

"What if you were doing something I didn't like?"

"Do you trust me?"

I thought about it. It wasn't the sort of question that should have an automatic response. "I think so," I said finally. "But I don't understand you, so I don't know how you're going to behave."

"Do you think I have poor judgment?"

"No."

"Do you think I want to hurt you?"

"No."

"Do you trust me?"

I laughed. "Yes."

"If I do something you don't like, you'll tell me. But I might not stop."

"But-"

"What if I'm tickling you?"

"That doesn't count."

"Why not?"

I couldn't answer her.

"What if we're playing a game, and you cheat?"

"I wouldn't cheat," I told her.

"You snooped through my things yesterday. That was cheating." She was right, and I didn't respond. "If we were already in the sort of relationship that allowed it, I would have made you wear the plug around the cabin, even though it's not something you would have volunteered to do. I'd be doing something to you that you didn't want me to do, even if you want a relationship with me. Is that a problem?"

I thought about it. "I don't understand, but no, it's not."

"So for now, trust me. We'll talk more as we go, but this is the nature of the relationship I want. If you don't, then we should stop now, because this isn't something I will compromise on. I know you don't understand, but trust me that I will make this more fun for you than you've ever had."

I didn't respond.

"You told me you wanted me to use the scarves. This is part of that."

"I'll trust you."

"Close your eyes."

I closed my eyes, and it took her about two minutes to have me squirming under her fingers.

First Time

I drove the boat back to the dock. When we got close, I got nervous. "Please take over," I asked.

"You need to learn," Jessica said.

"I know, but I need to see it done a few more times. It's windy now."

She nodded and we switched places. She brought us to the dock with nary a bump, but she made me tie the boat up, checking my knots when I was done. We collected all our things and walked up to the cabin.

As soon as we were inside and set our things down, she grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. She kissed me deeply, pushing me backwards until I was pressed against the wall next to the front door, her body pressed against mine.

Her tongue demanded entrance, which I joyously granted.

My heart began pounding again, and I was soon lost in the kiss, my brain shutting down completely.  I wrapped my arms around her, and even one leg, holding onto her as the kiss went on and on forever.

She broke the kiss, pulling her lips just inches from mine before growling, "Mine." Her lips enveloped mine again, pulling the breath from me and tying my emotions in knots.

I felt my heart pounding, and I knew the dampness of my bathing suit was not all lake water. I would have let her do anything she wanted to me, right then and there.

She pulled away, but I felt her breath against me, her mouth inches from mine. I fluttered my eyes open, staring into hers.

"Mine," she said again.

"Yes."

At that word, something changed in her expression, and she pulled me more tightly to her, burying her face in my neck and clutching me tightly. She kissed my neck, setting my skin on fire.

"Mine," she repeated.

"Yes, yours."

She pulled away a little and searched my face. "Do you even know what that means?"

"It means whatever you decide it means," I told her.

Her smile grew, then it grew playful. She began stroking my sides with her fingers, her fingers teasing my bare skin. It tickled, but it felt wonderful at the same time. With one hand she reached around and unlatched my leg from behind her, moving me back onto two feet, then pulled me away from the wall, her hands slipping around me to clasp my bottom. One hand slipped back inside the back of my bikini and began teasing my tailbone again.

I immediately began squirming.

"You can't resist my touch," she said quietly.

"No."

I squirmed, pressing myself against her.

"Imagine what it's going to feel like when I grow more intimate."

"Oh god!" I clutched at her.

She shifted a hand, sliding it up my back until she came to the laces of my bikini.

"Please, Jessica, not in front of the windows. Anything you want, but not to an audience."

"Anything I want?"

"Anything, but in private." But her fingers continued their teasing, and I knew whatever resistance I had from her wasn't going to last long.

She did too. "I bet I can convince you otherwise," she said.

"I know, but tomorrow. I'll be upset tomorrow." I squirmed. "I don't want to be upset tomorrow."

She continued to tease me, but she hadn't untied my bikini top. "I will give you the weekend to get used to the idea, but by next weekend, I expect you to act like my girlfriend in public."

I gasped at what she was doing to me.

"Like what?"

"Holding hands."

"All right," I told her. "Yes."

She kissed me deeply, and I moaned and squirmed. Then, slowly, her fingers withdrew from my bikini. I whined and opened my eyes.

"More."

"You said not in front of the windows."

I laughed. "Bedroom."

"Demanding. You don't get to demand." But she took my hand and pulled me to the bathroom. She closed the door behind me and was immediately kissing me again. Her fingers strayed to my bikini top, and this time I didn't stop her when she untied it.

"Anything?" she asked, pulling away.

"Yes," I said.

She pushed me against the door. "Stay there, do not move, keep your eyes closed," she ordered.

I nodded.

"If you tell me what to do again, I will punish you for it."

I opened my eyes in shock.

"Close your eyes!"

I did, but I protested punishment.

"I thought you said 'anything'," she said. "I thought you said you trusted me."

"I don't want to be punished."

"Then don't tell me what to do."

She let me think about it, not touching me. "Jessica, I don't understand. How would you punish me?"

"I wouldn't touch you for an hour. That's for a first offense."

"What about a second offense?"

"Maybe I'd tie you in an uncomfortable position and leave you that way for a while."

"Please may I look at you?"

"Yes."

I opened my eyes and searched her face. "You wouldn't hurt me."

"I might spank you. When I do, you'll beg for more."

"I'll beg for a spanking?"

"Uh huh." She paused. "Do you want me to leave you here to shower yourself? I told you, I am not compromising on this. If you can't handle it, we should stop now."

"What if I don't like it?"

"Have you liked it so far?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps you should remember you promised to trust me."

I closed my eyes. "Please don't leave, but you have to take this part slow or I'm going to freak."

"I know," she said gently. "Are you sure you want me?"

"Yes, I am sure I want you."

"Are you sure you want me to touch you?"

"Yes."

She kissed me very gently. Her fingers slid up my sides and stripped my bikini top laces from my shoulders and down my arms. She took it from me, and I didn't know what she was doing with it, but I felt myself blush as I stood topless in front of her.

"Stop?"

"No. Slow though."

"Slow." She said. "I like slow." She stepped closer and then I felt her hand touching me, sliding along my side, coming to rest on my breast, her thumb beginning to tease the nipple. It was already erect but became even more firm to her touch.

"Ohhh," I said. Just one hand, she was touching me with one hand, and I was melting to her touch.

I felt her crouch down, and then I felt her lips settle on the other nipple, pulling me into her mouth. I arched my back and moaned. I reached for her, and she pulled away.

"No..." I said.

"Shhh," she replied. "You know where this is going. Enjoy it; don't rush it. Will you let us shower together?"

"Yes."

"Keep your eyes closed, Jade," she said. "Do not open them again until it's your turn to help me wash. That will be some time."

"Yes, Jessica."

She put her hands on my hips. My bikini bottom had laces tied at the sides, and she undid both laces. Normally I just slid them off, which she probably knew, but by untying them, they fell from my hips and landed on the floor.

"You are amazingly lovely, Jade," she said. "I am going to enjoy having you."

"Jessica-"

"Shhh," she said, placing her fingers against my lips. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

She took her fingers away and kissed me briefly, just a fleeting kiss. I wanted more. I reached for her, but she pushed my hands away.

"No," she said. "Hands by your sides for now."

In frustration, I lowered my hands to my sides.

"Good girl," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "It's hard, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"You want me to stop fooling around and get to it, don't you?"

"Yes."

"You know, I'm not going to. I am going to spend hours driving you wild."

"Oh Jess-"

"Jessica. Never Jess."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't know," she said. "Say my name."

"Jessica."

"Good girl." She kissed me again, briefly, her hands on my hips, her thumbs tracing a pattern on the front of my pelvis. I knew she was hinting where her hands would be later.

She stepped away. I whined. She laughed. "I need to get my suit off, Love." She was away from me for just a moment, then she stepped closer and took my right hand. She pulled it towards her, and then I felt her breast under my hand.

"Do mine feel different from yours?"

"I don't know," I said breathlessly.

"Keep your eyes closed and tell me, how is that one different from yours?"

"I don't know," I said again.

"Tell me or this ends."

"Jessica-"

"Keep your eyes closed. You can use both hands if you need to. Be honest."

I brought my second hand up and cradled her breast.

"Jessica, I don't know."

"Whose are bigger?"

"Mine?"

"Say it like you mean it."

"Mine. But yours is pert." I brushed a finger across her nipple. She gasped lightly.

"What else?"

I teased her nipple with my fingers and felt it become engorged and firm. I continued to play with it, eliciting a few more gasps from her. "Your nipple is firmer than mine gets."

"Do you like touching me?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Take it in your mouth. Do to me what you like done to you."

I lowered my lips to her breast, using my hands to get it to me. She gasped immediately. I sucked on her nipple, and it became even more engorged. her hands were on my hips, and I felt her waver a little. I nipped very gently and she gasped again.

"Oh, that's nice," she said.

I used my fingers to find her other breast, teasing the nipple, then I moved my mouth to that side. It took a few moments and that side was engorged as much as the first side.

She tasted like lake water and something else, something distinctly Jessica. I stepped closer, taking her more deeply into my mouth, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her closer to me. I nipped and she gasped. "Yes," she said. "So nice."

I flushed at the praise.

"Kiss me," she said. I released her nipple and raised my lips, and her mouth was on mine, devouring me rapaciously. I moaned.

We had barely begun, and I was ready to do anything she asked.

She broke the kiss then turned us around.

"Jade, remember, keep your eyes closed. I will be upset if you open them. Even if I surprise you, keep them closed."

"Yes, Jessica."

She began pushing me backwards until I was backed up against the tub. She rotated me again, and I felt her lean into the tub. She turned the water on. She let the water flow, adjusting the temperature, then switched it to the showerhead.

"Reach in and tell me if that's okay for you."

I did, and it was perfect.

"Step in." She gave me a hand to steady me, then she followed behind me. I heard the shower curtain close, and I thought perhaps she adjusted it.

"Turn around," she said. "Face the water with your hands against the wall. You may adjust the shower head if you need to." I obeyed her. Then she slipped her feet between mine. "Spread your legs as wide as they fit inside the tub."

I felt her press against my back as she reached past me. Then she was soaping my back, her hand with the soap sliding over me. She washed my arms, my pits, my sides. Then she pressed against me and reached around to wash my front.

She took her time, teasing my breasts as she washed them.

"I want you," she whispered into my ear. "And I am going to have you."

"Yes," I said breathlessly.

She moved her attention to my hips and my pelvis, her hands continuing to move over me. She washed my ass, her hands cupping me and rubbing against me.

"You may say no to this next part if it's too much, Jade."

In response I wriggled my butt at her. She laughed. Then the hand with the soap was between my legs, and she was cupping my vulva. I squirmed and jumped a little.

"Is this okay?"

"Yes." I moaned a little.

"More?"

"Yes."

Her fingers parted me, slipping between the lips of my labia, and I almost collapsed from the sensations. She found my clitoris and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.

She teased me, then her finger slipped inside of me. I squirmed more, pressing against her hand.

Then she withdrew.

"No..."

"Patience."

"I don't want to be patient."

She kissed my spine. "You're not all clean yet."

I felt her kneel behind me and she washed my legs, then slowly stood up. Her hand slipped between me again, teasing for just a moment.

"Yes," I told her. "Please."

"Not yet," she said, slipping away again. "Jade, I'm going to do something now that is going to surprise you. Just for a moment. Don't stop me, even if you want to. Trust me."

Her hand slipped between my legs again, but then she began sliding it back, along the crease of my buttocks until her fingers were tapping against my anus.

"Jessica?"

"Shhh. Trust me."

Every time she tapped against me, it sent the strangest sensations through me. My squirms grew more desperate. She teased me, but never entered me. She just teased me, then her fingers moved on.

"I thought-" I thought she was going to penetrate me there, and I didn't know at all how I felt about it.

"I know," she said. "You're not ready yet. I made you nervous, but you liked it."

"Yes and yes." I paused. "That's where your toy goes, the one you caught me looking at."

"Yes."

"Are you going to use it?"

"Not for a while," she said. "Not until you're ready."

She pressed her body against mine, leaning against me for a moment. I was still leaning against the wall. She reached for something.

"Stand up straight now, Jade," she said. "You can keep a hand on the wall next to you for balance. Wet your hair. I am going to wash it."

I pushed off against the wall and stood up straight then soaked my hair. I felt her hands, pushing my hair through the water, pulling my hair from my face. Then I leaned away from the water. I felt as she poured shampoo directly onto my head, and she used far more than she needed to. She giggled.

Her hands felt amazing as she lathered up the shampoo and massaged it into my scalp. "Ohhh," I said, moaning. "Oh, that's nice."

She spent a long time washing my hair. I felt the soap sliding down my body. Periodically she encouraged it, reaching around me to caress my breasts or tease my nipples. Every nerve ending in my body was alive, responding to her touch.

"Do you understand what you're doing to me?" I asked.

"Oh yes," she said. "I very much know what I'm doing to you." She kissed my shoulder. "I am wrapping you around my finger."

I laughed. "Yes. Please don't stop."

"Jade, you understand you're going to have lesbian sex tonight."

"Good."

"You understand there's a lesbian playing with you in the shower. Doing things to you. Turning you into a lesbian."

I laughed. "I thought you couldn't make someone gay."

"Were you a lesbian yesterday when you got up?"

"No."

She let me think about it, but not for very long, because then her hands were roaming up and down my body, washing me a second time with the soap from all the shampoo she had used. She reached between my legs again, teasing me, driving me more insane with need.

"Jessica, I don't know how much more I can take."

"How much more of this?" she asked, flicking my slit with a finger. I jumped. "Or this?" she gently pinched my clitoris. "Do you want me to stop?"

"No!"

"Do you want more?"

"Yes," I said, moaning. "More."

She switched hands, reaching around with her left to tease my sex. Her right collected more soap, and then it was at my anus again. Her left flicked my clit. Her right tapped against the opening of my anus. Flick, tap, flick, tap.

"Ohh," I said, my brain shutting down again.

Flick, tap, flick, then her finger pushed very slightly inside of me while her other hand pinched my clitoris. I practically jumped out of my skin.

"Jessica-"

"Enjoy, Jade. Relax and enjoy. We're in no rush."

Flick. Press. slide a little deeper. Flick, pinch, and I was riding both of her hands, begging for more with my body.

Then slowly she slid back out of me. I felt her fingers depart, but still her left hand continued to tease my engorged and sensitive clitoris.

"Tell me if you liked that."

"I did, Jessica.

She gave me an especially good flick, sending shivers through my entire body.

"Normally I'd finish you here in the shower," she said. "But you're not anywhere near worked up enough."

"What?" I squeaked.

"My turn," she said. She washed her hands under the water. "Rinse your hair."

She took soap suds from me as I rinsed my hair. I imagine she was washing her hands. Well, one finger in particular. I started to blush.

"Did you like it, Jessica?"

"It's dirty."

"Did you like it?"

"It's dirty."

"Did you like it? Answer my question."

"Yes, I liked it. But now I'm embarrassed."

"Don't think about that. Think about how it felt. Think about how much you enjoy what I do to you. I like doing it. I like it a lot. I like knowing it's especially intense. I like knowing it makes you feel more vulnerable, more like you belong to me. I like knowing you let me do it. I am going to do that to you. A lot. And it's going to get more intense, once I know you can take it. You're going to love it. You are going to melt in my hands. You won't be able to help yourself."

"But-"

"No," she said. "You enjoyed it. I enjoy it. I like claiming you, and invading you is part of claiming you."

"But I don't think I can do that to you."

"Good. I don't like it very often. Sometimes, if I'm in just the right mood, but it's not something you ever have to do."

"What kind of moods."

"Needy and submissive. You'll know when I'm open to that, but you will never be obligated. I am going to do it to you a lot though. Not every love making session, but a lot. Sometimes with my hands, sometimes with toys. How does that make you feel?"

"Vulnerable."

"Good."

She turned me around and kissed me, just a brief kiss. When she broke it, she said, "My turn. You may open your eyes."

I opened my eyes to look at her. She was smiling, and I wanted her so badly.

"You may wash me however you want," she said. "If you aren't ready to be quite as thorough with me as I was with you, that's all right."

"All right," I said. I shifted past her further so she was between me and the water, then I backed her up so the water was running over her head and down both her front and back.

She faced me while I washed her. It was so strange. I'd showered with a couple of men before, and I'd never really gotten into it. It was so different with Jessica. I enjoyed touching her, exploring her body, and I used the shower I was giving her to explore thoroughly. She smiled at me, although her eyes lidded halfway when I got near any of the erogenous areas.

"Mmmm," she said a few times. "That's nice."

I washed her everywhere except between her legs, then moved up her legs slowly, my hands soapy. I looked up into her face. Her eyes were closed, and she spread her legs a little further for me.

I knelt in front of her and let my fingers caress her vulva, tangling in the hairs. I looked up and she was biting her lip. I turned my attention to her crotch, then used my fingers to part her labia. She caught her breath when my fingers slide along her slit, sliding inside, then back out.

"Is this good?"

"Yes," she said. "Whatever you do is good."

"I don't know what I'm doing."

"Enjoy yourself," she said. "You're just teasing now anyway."

So I did. I had never before touched a woman like this. I wondered whether she enjoyed the same things I did. I imagine she did. I teased her clit and she gasped.

"Good?"

"Yes."

"More?"

"Yes."

I used more soap, then tested and flicked her clitoris, pinching it, playing with it. She began to squirm. Then I slid a finger inside her. She was tight, and she squeezed my finger. I slipped out of her then slipped two fingers inside, pressing against her engorged clit with the heel of my hand while sliding my fingers as deeply insider her as I could.

She pressed her self more deeply against my fingers. I thrust deeper inside her, as deeply as I could, then curled my fingers to caress her G-spot.

"Oh!" she gasped.

I slid my fingers in and out of her, teasing her clit and the wall of her vagina, then pressing and teasing her G-spot. With my fingers still inside of her, I stood up, cupping her, and took her breast into my mouth.

Women have much better parts to play with than men!

I nipped her nipple lightly, then pulled away and finished standing up, curling my fingers inside of her. She opened her eyes and looked at me. She was panting lightly. "Do you *gasp* enjoy doing that?"

"Yes," I said. "I want to do more."

She smiled. "Good." She reached out for the back of my neck and pulled me into a kiss. My hand dislodged from inside of her, and I whined into the kiss. She broke the kiss and said, "We have all night. Taste me."

"How?"

"From your fingers."

"Eww."

She took my hand and pulled my hand to her mouth, wrapping her lips around my fingers. Her eyes closed and she looked pleased to suck on my fingers. Then she opened them. "That's how I taste," she said. Then she slipped her fingers down my stomach until she reached my curly fur. "Spread for me, Jade."

"No. You're going to taste me. It's gross."

"No, it's not. Spread for me or we don't have a relationship."

"Jessica, please."

"I'm serious, Jade. I want to know what you taste like. Right now."

Slowly I spread my legs enough she could slide to fingers between my legs. She easily parted my labia and I felt her enter me. "Don't close your eyes. Watch me," she said. "Don't look away or I'll be angry."

I gasped then as she slid her fingers in and out of me several times, teasing me badly, then she withdrew and slowly drew her fingers to her mouth. She slipped her lips around her fingers, staring me in the eyes the entire time. She sucked on her fingers, smiling and moaning a little in pleasure. She slowly withdrew her fingers then said, "Oh, you taste amazing, Jade. I am going to enjoy you a great deal."

"It's gross," I said quietly.

"No, Jade, it gives me a high, tasting you. But I understand you're not ready yet. Please don't ruin my fun though. I like it."

"Seriously?"

"Oh yes. Very much so." She smiled. "Will you wash my hair now?"

I nodded and reached for the shampoo. I took my time, washing very thoroughly. When she was clean, I turned her to the water and rinsed all the soap from her hair, then sluiced it down her body, cupping her breasts a few times while doing so. She leaned back against me and laid her head on my shoulder, turning to kiss the side of my neck.

Once we were both soap free, she turned off the water for us, opened the shower curtain, and reached for a towel. She began drying me, then wrapped that towel around my head for my hair before wrapping me in a second towel. She took a third towel, and I used it to dry her.

* * *

She kept her hands away from me for a while. We went to the bedroom together, holding hands, but dressed separately. She watched me the entire time.

"I thought-"

"Dinner," she said. "I'm starving."

"But-"

"You said go slow."

"That was hardly slow!"

She laughed. "Complaints?"

"Not one, except you stopped."

"Paused. Don't worry, you'll be screaming my name over and over soon enough."

"I'm not a screamer."

"We shall see," she said with a mischievous look. Once we were dressed, she took my hand and led me to the kitchen. We divided up the food and began washing and cutting things up for dinner. She stepped outside to light the grill. We ate outside, sitting side by side looking out at the lake. I leaned against her and laid my head on her shoulder.

"This is what our life together would be like?"

"Not a bad life."

"No, not a bad life. But you're a tease."

She laughed. "Yes, I am." She paused. "I am at least as worked up as you are, Jade."

I squirmed a little. "How can you stand it?"

"I love it. You are going to learn you get the best orgasms when I am completely crazy with desire for you."

"Oh?"

"Un huh. It's to your advantage to keep me constantly worked up."

"Like this?" I slid my hand down between her legs. She was wearing jeans. I tried teasing her through the jeans. "I don't think this is working very well."

"What are you going to do about it?"

I fumbled at it, but I unzipped and unbuttoned her jeans and slid my fingers inside her pants, outside her panties. I began scratching over her labia.

"Ohh," she said. "Yes, that's good for getting me more worked up."

She let me continue to tease her for a while. I liked listening to her catch her breath. But then she said, "It's time for dessert."

"What's for dessert?"

"You."

I began to blush.

"I am going to blindfold you."

"Oh, I like that."

"And take off all your clothes."

"What about your clothes?"

"We'll see. Then I am going to tie you to the bed."

I flicked my fingers in her crotch again, and she caught her breath.

"Then I am going to spend a very long time driving you crazy."

She stood up, zipped up her pants, and collected both our plates. "Come, Jade."

Obediently I followed her into the cabin. We cleaned up together, then she began pushing me towards the bedroom, kissing me every few steps.

"Last chance to say 'no'," she said.

I smiled at her. "I want this."

"I want you. I want to see you helpless and squirming, vulnerable. I want to hear you beg. I want to know you need me."

We arrived at the bedroom. She slipped past me to the nightstand. She withdrew one of the scarves, then turned to me. "Come here, Jade."

I walked up to her, looking her in the eye.

"Mine."

"Yes."

She wrapped the silk around my head and tied it securely, then adjusted it. "If that falls off accidentally, I won't punish you, but if you help it, you won't like what happens."

"What will you do?"

"I don't know, but you won't like it."

Then her hands were on my clothes. She took her time undressing me. Soon I was standing in front of her, naked. Twice I had reached for her, but she clasped my hands and set them on top of my head. "Clasp your fingers together, Jade." So I spent the rest of the time while she undressed me with my hands on top of my head.

Then she took me by my wrists and moved my hands to her hips, stepping up very close to me. She reached with a hand and lifted my chin to her, kissing me. It was a sweet kiss. My heart was pounding from everything she was doing, but I had long ago given up any pretense. This is what I wanted.

"If you start to freak out, Jade, I'll stop."

"I'm not going to freak out."

"I am going to tie you do the bed. You'll be helpless."

"I trust you."

She took one of my wrists, and I felt her wrap silk around it, tying it firmly but not too tightly. Then she tied silk around the other wrist. She used the two tethers to pull me to the bed, then arranged me the way she wanted me.

I was nervous and excited. In some ways, I knew what she was going to do, but in other ways, I didn't. My first lesbian lovemaking, and it was going to be a little kinky besides. My heart pounded harder.

The bed had a wood headboard with spindles at the top on the ends. That's what she tied my wrists to. I was soon lying on the bed, pillows underneath me, my arms spread wide and pulled over my head. Then she wrapped silk around each ankle and pulled them wide with my knees bent. She tied them off to something.

I heard cloth fall to the floor.

Then she was sitting on the bed, touching me, stroking my sides, my face.

"If you try rushing me," she said. "I will gag you."

I licked my lips. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"You may say my name. If you say anyone else's name, I will be forced to punish you. It is only you and me here."

"Yes, Jessica," I told her.

All the while she talked to me, she was stroking my skin, teasing my nipples, or brushing her fingers across my labia, causing me to squirm. I realized that with my knees bent, it changed the angle of things, making me more open to her.

"If I ask a question, I expect an answer. If you fail to answer, I will punish you."

"Oh god," I said.

She immediately reached up and pinched one of my nipples painfully hard.

"Owww! Owww!" She released me. "What did I do?"

"Whose name are you allowed to say?"

"Yours."

"Whose did you say?"

"I didn't."

"You said, 'oh god'. God is not here. Anything that happens now is between you and me."

"I'm sorry."

I realized suddenly I was in trouble. Not bad trouble, as I trusted her, but she completely owned me, and I was falling for her. I didn't want her to abuse me, but I didn't want her to stop what she was doing, either.

"That's the way this is, Jade. Do I need to stop?"

"Please don't, Jessica," I said. "But please be gentle. I am learning."

"I will be however I want, Jade." Then she leaned down and kissed me, and my mind shut down. I moaned into the kiss. When she pulled away, she said again, "Should I stop?"

"No," I said breathlessly.

Her hands never stopped stroking me, caressing me, teasing me, waking every nerve ending in my body.

"This is my fantasy, Jade," she said. "Do you like it?"

"Yes."

"I like to be in control. I like to see you vulnerable. I like to see you trust me. To hear you beg. To see you squirm. To see you unable to resist me."

"Ohhhh..."

She shifted, and I felt her lips on my right nipple. She nipped lightly, then sucked until I was fully engorged. She nipped gently once more before switching to the left. Soon they were both engorged and very sensitive. She pulled her mouth away, but then her fingers were caressing me, and it was the most exquisite fire.

I arched my back, moaning and squirming, struggling against the silken bonds.

She shifted again, and she kissing my feet and nibbling my toys, her hands on my pelvis. She began kissing her way up my legs.

"Oh, you smell amazing," she said. "I love your deep, musky, natural scent, Jade."

"Oh Jessica, no."

"Yes, Jade." She lowered her head, her hairs tickling the insides of my legs, and I felt her mouth settle over my vulva.

"No, Jessica."

She sucked, and my lips parted. I gasped. It felt amazing.

"Oh...Oh..."

She stroked me with her tongue, and all thoughts of asking her to stop fled, never to return.

I tugged against the bonds, wanting to pull her more tightly to me, unable to move except to squirm and arch my back.

She pulled away. "You taste amazing, Jade. So amazing. I could taste you for hours." Then her mouth was over me again, her lips wrapping themselves around my clitoris.

I yelled her name, struggling against my bonds, unable to resist what she was doing to me, becoming more deeply lost.

Then her fingers were teasing my clitoris and her tongue lapping at my slit, then thrusting inside my vagina, teasing me. I knew I was practically gushing with my juices, and I knew she was lapping them up. Part of me was deeply embarrassed, but the rest of me was screaming, "Yes, yes, yes."

She pulled away. "When I've had my fill, I am going to kiss you," she said. "And you will see what you taste like from my mouth."

"No, no."

"Yes." She took me in her mouth, and then I was yelling, "Yes, Jessica, yes."

Her tongue thrust inside me again, and I beat my hands against the headboard in frustration, desire, and deep surrender.

"Yes, Jessica, anything you want!"

"Yes," she said into me. "Mine." The last was a growl, the vibration sending shivers through me.

"Yours, yours, yours!"

I felt the crest rising, and I was completely lost in what she was doing. I was open to her, utterly vulnerable, and my only thoughts were, "Hers, hers, hers."

She shifted, her mouth still over my clitoris, sucking, and I felt two fingers slide inside me. I clasped around them. She pressed them against my g-spot, massaging it, while her mouth continued to stimulate my highly sensitive clitoris.

She brought me to a peak, then held me there for a very long time, then she said, "Come for me, Jade. Come for me."

She flicked at me with her tongue and buried her fingers deeper inside me, and my body finished surrendering to her. As I came, I screamed her name over and over.

She continued to stroke, lick, and suck me until the quivers subsided, her motions growing slower and more gentle as my shudders faded away.

She pulled her mouth away from me and withdrew her fingers. "Mine, Jade."

"Yes," I gasped.

She slithered up my body until I felt her breath against my lips. "Open for me," she said. I parted my lips, and she thrust her tongue into me.

I immediately began squirming as she filled my mouth with my own taste. I struggled lightly, but my mind was still shut down, and she owned me completely.

She kissed me until my struggles disappeared. Her mouth withdrew from mine, and I felt her hands on my ankles.

"No!"

"Yes, Jade. I want to cuddle for a while. Your hands will remain tied."

She untied my ankles, and I stretched my legs while Jessica curled up against me, her head on my chest. She lied like that for a few minutes while I caught my breath, my heart still pounding. Then she withdrew. "I am untying your wrists," she said.

"No."

"I'll tie them again, but I want to cuddle for a while, and this isn't comfortable for you."

She untied the silk from the headboard but kept it around my wrists. Then she arranged me and cuddled against me, lying on her side, her head on my shoulder while I lied on my back. Her top hand rested on my breast, not moving. It felt very possessive.

"Are you freaking out?" she asked after several minutes.

"No," I said. "Yours."

"Good." Her hand began tracing patterns on my breast, teasing the engorged and sensitive nipple.

"Jessica, will it always be like that?"

"Tied up?"

"No, silly. That intense an orgasm?"

She laughed lightly. "Oh honey, I was impatient."

"That was you being impatient?"

"Yes. Sometimes I go for quickies, quicker than that, and they can be nice and intense, but I love spending hours teasing you until all you can do is quiver and beg."

"I don't know if I could take that."

"At the time, you'll think you can't, but the next day you'll ask me to do it again."

I thought about it and giggled nervously. "I think I believe you."

We cuddled quietly for a while before I asked, "Am I supposed to do you now?"

"Jade, this is where my demanding a dominant role in the relationship is an advantage to you. You'll always know what you're supposed to do, because I'll tell you. Right now, I want to cuddle. In a while, I am going to retie you, if you let me, and find more delicious things to do to you."

"Do you still taste like me?"

"Yes."

"Please kiss me."

So she did, climbing above me and pressing me into the bed. I could taste my musk on her mouth. The kiss was very thorough, and I moaned into her mouth. I tried following her mouth when she withdrew, but she pushed me back to the bed with her hands, kneeling over me.

"I love how you taste, Jade," she said.

She caressed my face before settling back down.

"Do we taste the same? Do we smell the same?"

"Similar. A little different. It can be subtle." While lying next to me, she continued to caress my face, teasing my lips with her fingers. I kissed them, and she slipped them into my mouth. I could faintly taste myself on her fingers, not as intensely as when she kissed me.

She withdrew her fingers then used her dampened fingers to tease one of my nipples. I squirmed a little under her touch.

"I'm not going to be able to be patient tonight," she told me. "I'm sorry. I'm just too horny."

"Are you going to let me help with that?"

"Tonight is about your pleasures and my kink, Jade."

"I want to know what you taste like."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

She shifted on the bed, rolling onto her back, and her hand left my chest. Then she squirmed around a little more for a moment before rolling back.

"If you're sure, open."

I opened my mouth, and she slipped two fingers into me, brushing them lightly over my tongue. I closed my lips around her and sucked. Her fingers were damp with her own juices, and I caught the scent of musk, and her taste. I sucked greedily. Then she slowly withdrew her fingers, but she let me kiss them before pulling her hand away.

I rotated my head towards her, although I was still blindfolded and couldn't see.

"More."

She laughed. "Demanding, cheeky girl."

"Please."

She shifted again, and then she was kneeling over me. She took my right wrist and rebound it to the bed, then the left. "Okay?"

"More, please, Jessica."

"This might be too much for you, Jade."

"I won't freak. I promise. Please, Jessica. More."

She shifted again until she was straddling me. I realized she was facing my feet. She shifted up my body, then lied down along my stomach. Her scent filled my nostrils. My face was surrounded by her legs.

"We won't do this long," she said. "You'll start to freak. Normally I would control this more. If you lift your head, you will find me waiting." Her voice was coming from over my own pelvis.

I lifted my head and found her sex inches above me. I inhaled deeply, the musky scent filling me. I lifted further and found her, my nose and mouth pressing against her folds. I placed my mouth over her, but I couldn't open her.

I fell back. "Jessica."

"I'll help, honey," she said. I felt her arm snake down between us. "Try now."

I raised my head again, my chin bumping against the back of her hand, but then I stretched and found she had opened herself for me. I buried my mouth in her folds.

I wanted this! I wanted her. Her taste filled my mouth, and suddenly I didn't think I could get enough.

I licked tentatively, not at all sure how to bring her pleasure. I slid my tongue up and down the length of her slit, then pulled away for a breath of air.

"Enough?" she asked.

"No!"

I raised my head again, my lips searching for her clitoris. I found it along with some of her folds, and I pulled her into my mouth. I heard a gasp. I pulled away. "Was that wrong?"

"No," she said breathlessly. "That wasn't wrong."

I lifted my head again, tasting, sucking, lapping at her greedily, then fell back again, gasping for breath. She withdrew from me.

"Come back!"

Instead she turned around and kissed me deeply, our tastes mixing together in my mouth. We moaned together before she pulled away.

"I want more!"

"You're about to get more," she said. "More of what I intend to give you.

Then her mouth attacked my breast, causing me to arch my back, pressing my breast deeper into her mouth. I struggled under her. She shifted, and I felt her hand between my legs. I clamped my legs together, denying access.

"I want you," I told her.

"Behave, girl. You will get what I give you. Let me take what I want, or I'll tie them again, and I won't be gentle."

"But-"

She lowered her lips to my ear and spoke quietly. "Jade, if you fight me, it pushes my kink buttons really hard, and you're not ready for how I'll respond."

"Good buttons?"

"I become more aggressive, honey. Yes, good buttons, but not good for you tonight. Behave now, honey. Please."

Slowly I relaxed my legs, opening myself to her invasion.

"Good girl," she said, licking my ear as her fingers slide down, parting my labia. I was already hypersensitive, and I hissed in desire when she touched my clitoris.

She began talking to me quietly as her hand teased me. "Mine now, Jade," she said. "See how good it feels to obey me?" Her fingers ran the length of my slit, and I loved it.

"Yes."

"This is what I want," she said. "You are what I want. You are mine now."

"Yes."

She continued to tease and talk to me, and I felt myself growing increasingly docile while my body continued to squirm, waves of intense pleasure rolling through me.

"Surrender to me completely," she said, and the first shudder drove through my body. "Tell me you are mine, Jade."

"I am yours, Jessica!"

A second shudder arrived, then a third, then waves and waves of pleasure tore through me, and all I could do was gasp and clench my muscles.

"Mine now, Jade. Mine."

"Yours," I whispered. "Yes, yours."

Cuddling

She untied me again. I was too worn out to protest. Then she lied down and pulled me into her arms, my head on her shoulder. I clutched at her.

"Yours," I whispered.

"Yes. Mine."

She reached up and removed the blindfold. I blinked at her, settling in further, still clutching at her.

"Am I a lesbian now?"

"Do you need a label? The only label for you that matters is that you are mine."

"Did I get my last dose of lesbian love juice?"

She laughed. "Not yet. You have to wait a week."

I stiffened a little. "You think I'm going to change my mind."

She pulled me more tightly to her. "No, I wouldn't say that."

"You think I might."

"Yes, I think you might. But I don't want to think about it. I want to hold you. I want you to think about what we just did together. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel good?"

"Yes."

"I want to cuddle for a while, then if you want, you can try to take the edge off me. If you can't, I'll help you."

We cuddled, murmuring at each other for a while, the endorphins still rushing through my body, telling me how good it felt to be held by her.

"I'm still confused," I admitted eventually.

"But perhaps also more sure."

"I don't understand myself."

"Something about me and this weekend resonated within you. I represented something you wanted. I may be the only woman you will ever want. Maybe just enjoy what we're having and not worry about it. Labels will just screw you up."

"What now?" I asked.

"Now, we cuddle a little longer, then we see if you enjoy touching me."

I laughed nervously. "What tomorrow? Monday? Next week?"

"We go slow. We date. We see each other a lot."

"We buy a cabin."

"Maybe. We'll see."

"You don't trust me."

"I do trust you, Jade. But you don't know what you want yet. You know what you want now, but you don't know if you'll still want it by Tuesday. When we get back to the cities, you may wonder what you were thinking. Or if you were thinking. You may be mad at me for seducing you. You may wonder if I tricked you with secret lesbo pheromones."

"These secret lesbo pheromones," I said. "Do they come in a bottle or do you secrete them?"

She laughed. "I take a little pill and secrete them."

"You do, hmm?" I started moving my hand down her body. "I wonder from where."

"If your hand keeps going that way, you'll get some of them on you."

I slid my fingers between her legs, and she parted for me. "From down here."

"Yes," she said. "Somewhere down there. I'm sure you can find it if you look."

I spread her labia and slipped a finger into her slit.

"From here, perhaps?"

"Yes," she said with a gasp. "That's the general area."

"Just the general area?" I asked. "Maybe I need to find the specific area." I found her clitoris and began teasing it under my fingers. "This feels like it's perhaps the on switch for those secret pheromones."

She squirmed and gasped.

I teased her for a long time. I did the things to her I knew I liked myself. I wanted to see her come, but all I was doing was teasing her. She squirmed and moaned, and listening to her was making me horny again, but I didn't know how to give her quite what she wanted.

Finally she reached down with both her hands. She adjusted my hand. "Inside. Curl your fingers," she ordered. "Yes, there. Yes." Then she used her other hand on her clitoris the way she wanted.

"Yes. Yes. Ohhh."

She wasn't loud, but when she came, it was obvious.  She clenched around my fingers, squeezing tightly, and her entire body stiffened, still except for quick shudders. She gasped several times then stilled. Her hand stopped moving, but her other hand continued to press my hand into her.

After a minute or two, she settled further, relaxing her hands and releasing me. When I drew my fingers out slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at me. I took my fingers and slipped them into my mouth, sucking her juices. She smiled languidly.

"Thank you," she said. "That was nice."

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I didn't know what to do."

"You were amazing. Lie down with me."

I curled into her, laying my head on her shoulder. She caressed me quietly, then reached down and pulled the covers over us both. We fell asleep like that.

I woke a while later. Jessica was turning off the lights we'd left on then came back to bed. She rolled me onto my side and spooned me from behind. I fell asleep again.

The next time I woke, I was groggy at first. I'd been having an odd dream. I couldn't remember what it was, but it was odd. As I woke a little more, I realized Jessica was kneeling over me. She had already tied my nearest wrist to the headboard and was just finishing tying off the other wrist. She finished, then lowered her lips to mine and kissed me. It was a nice kiss, soft and gentle. She pulled away. "One word. Yes or no?"

"Yes."

She tied my legs the same way she had before and then she began touching me.

She touched me for a long time, reducing me to a quivering pile of need.

"Jessica, please!"

"Please what?" she said, then flicked my clitoris again. I arched my back and made some sort of involuntary sound every time she did it. I didn't want her to stop, but I needed her to finish me.

"You know what I *gasp*-" she had slipped her fingers inside of me. "What I want."

"You want to belong to me," she said.

"Yes!" I squirmed into her hand, trying to get more of what I needed.

"You want to obey me."

"Yes."

"You want me to spend hours doing this to you."

"I want you to finish me!"

"Aren't you having fun?"

"Oh god!"

She pulled her hands from me.

In the dark I looked at her in horror. "I'm sorry. Please, Jessica, I'm sorry. Oh please, don't stop!"

"I warned you about that, Jade."

"Please, Jessica. Finish me, then you can punish me however you want."

"Promise?"

"Yes!"

Immediately her hands were back on me, both hands, and it took her brief seconds before I was insane with the sensations she was giving me. Then the orgasm came, and it came fast and hard.

Her hands rode with me as I bucked and squirmed, milking a long, deep orgasm from me. She didn't still her hands until I collapsed against the bed, spent. Then she pulled her hands away from me. She leaned over me and kissed me gently as I panted.

Then she gently stroked my body with her hands while I caught my breath, calming me and letting me feel good. Feel loved.

I opened my eyes again. It was hard to see in the dark bedroom. She was little more than a dark form in the dark room.

"Are you going to punish me?"

"I have to," she said. "But the only thing I want to do is too intense for you."

"Would it hurt?"

"No, but I might scare you. You might like it. If you don't freak, I would definitely like it."

"I told you anything."

She kept petting me. "I'm going to let it slide this time, Jade."

"But you don't want to."

"No." I actually heard some pain in her voice. "But I don't want to scare you, not now."

I paused then said clearly and slowly, "Oh god. Oh god. Oh god."

The room was silent for a moment. "You little shit," she said. "I can't ignore that."

I didn't say a word after that.

She rotated around into a position she'd been in before, sliding herself up over my chest until her crotch was positioned over my face. "I am taking an orgasm from you now, disobedient girl."

Then she lowered her sex to my mouth and pressed against me, smearing my mouth and nose with her juices.

I opened my mouth and began sucking and licking, but I began to panic a little. I couldn't breath.

She raised herself and let me catch a few breaths, then pressed herself against me again, rubbing herself all over my face. She was dripping wet with need, and it took only moments for her juices to cover my face.

She lifted, letting me breath, then ground herself into me. Again, and again. She pressed herself against me firmly, staying there until I was on the edge of panic, then allowing me to breath for only a few moments. Still, I felt myself growing closer and closer to panic each time. I began banging my hands against the headboard and trying unsuccessfully to escape from underneath her. In response, she let me breath, then ground against me again.

She was panting with me and moaning, but still in absolute control. Finally when she pulled away I said, "Please, no more. Please."

She pulled away from me and turned around, kissing me and petting me gently. I panted, near panic, slowly subsiding. Once I was calm, she lied down next to me, still petting me.

She reached up and untied my hands, then my legs. She still hadn't said anything. I curled away from her. She gave me room.

"Please hold me," I told her. I think that's what she was waiting for, as she immediately enveloped me in her arms, spooning into me like we had before.

"Would you have come like that?"

"Yes. It's one of my favorite ways."

"I ruined it."

"Shhh. You lasted longer than I thought you would. I thought you would panic as soon as you realized you couldn't breath except when I let you."

"Is that part of what excites you?"

"No. It's an unfortunate byproduct."

"How close were you?"

"Close. A few more minutes, but you wouldn't have made it. I was about to stop. I just." She paused. "I'm sorry, I just really need another orgasm. Don't worry about it."

"I can-"

"No, Jade. Cuddle." She paused. "This is what it's like with me. I don't think you can handle it."

I rolled over. "I'm not freaking out. How much worse does it get?"

"Worse? Is that what it is for you?"

I sighed. "No. I wouldn't change a minute. How much more intimidating does it get? I'm sorry I used the wrong word. It's not what I meant."

"More intense. Longer. More severe punishments. More creative and complete ways to restrain you." She paused. "What we're doing now will seem tame for you if we keep it up for a few months. You'll ask for more, if I don't step it up before you ask."

I rolled back over and wriggled into her as tightly as I could. She wrapped her arms around me and held her.

"Yours," I told her. "Don't stop."

And then we went to sleep.

Morning

In the morning, I woke first. Jessica had rolled over and was facing away from me. I lied there for a while, not sure how I was supposed to behave. I still had silk wrapped around my wrists and ankles, unattached to anything, and I still felt a glow from our nocturnal activities.

I looked over at her, and I wanted her.

I stopped caring whether I was gay, or whatever title I was supposed to use. I wanted this woman. I wanted her in my life. I definitely wanted more of what we had done last night.

But I didn't know how to behave. I didn't understand this dominant thing of hers. Was I supposed to be submissive? That wasn't my personality type. Was I supposed to wait until I had permission to do anything?

I decided I wasn't going to wait for permission to use the bathroom.

I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could, almost tripping on the scarves as I shuffled to the bathroom. I untied the scarves while sitting down, then washed up, brushed my teeth, and wandered back to the bedroom. Jessica was still asleep, so I left the scarves on the bed and quietly grabbed some clothes. I closed the door and moved to the living room, getting dressed, trying to be quiet so she could sleep.

I made coffee then grabbed my laptop and did some leisurely surfing out on the deck.

It was a beautiful morning. We had been granted an amazing weekend of weather. There was a very light breeze, causing small waves on the lake. A couple of jet skis went past; Mike and Matt were up early.

An hour later, I heard Jessica making noise in the cabin. "There's coffee," I said, yelling over my shoulder.

After a moment she wandered out, wearing a bathrobe. I stood up, expecting her to walk over and offer a proper good morning kiss. She started at me before walking over, but all I got was the most perfunctory of kisses. She turned around and disappeared back into the cabin.

I frowned after her. Maybe she wasn't a morning person but she'd seemed awfully chipper yesterday morning. I decided she needed to wake up more. I sat back down and did more surfing.

She reappeared fifteen minutes later wearing a swim suit with a towel wrapped around her. "Bedding is in the wash. I'm going for a swim." She headed down to the lake.

She hadn't invited me.

And I'd planned on using that bedding a few more times before we washed it.

I stared after her. It had all been a one-night stand for her, and now she just wanted to be rid of me? All that talk, and all she'd wanted was a one-night stand?

I stared at her as she dropped her towel on the dock, dived in, and began to swim across the lake. She never looked back.

That's it? I wasn't kinky enough for her or something? I thought I was her dream girl, but clearly not.

Pissed off, I stormed into the cabin. I took a shower, washing away the smells of what we'd done the night before. By the time I was done, I couldn't smell her on me anymore.

I got dressed then went through the cabin and packed my things. If she was in a hurry to leave, I would be sure not to delay her.

Then I sat down and started to cry.

The washing machine buzzed about the same time my crying wore down. I got up and cycled the laundry into the dryer. I cleaned the kitchen, washing the few dishes and putting everything away. When I was done, I couldn't tell we had been there. I stepped out onto the deck. Jessica was halfway across the lake. I could have sworn she'd had plenty of time to swim across the lake and back. Then I realized she was doing a second lap.

Anything to stay away from me, I guessed. Or maybe she was waiting for her slave to clean the cabin for her so she wouldn't have to. If that's what she expected, then that is what she would get.

I started fuming.

I found the vacuum and vacuumed carefully. I wandered through the cabin, looking at everything we had touched and putting it back the way it was before we got there. I moved my suitcase into Jessica's car.

Back in the bedroom, I pulled Jessica's suitcase from the closet and packed her things, leaving out clothes for her to wear home. I left her toiletries in the bathroom in case she chose to shower after her swim, but I packed the rest.

I ran out of things to do, and Jessica was still swimming. I sat down in the living room with my laptop, staring at it instead of doing anything at all. Movement from the windows caught my attention, and I saw Jessica walking up from the lake. By the time she got to the cabin, I was crying quietly.

She came in and looked at me. She walked halfway to me and said, "I don't blame you for being upset. I never meant to hurt you."

I turned to her. "Well you did."

"I'm sorry."

I turned away and continued to cry, hating myself. I hadn't done anything wrong, and I didn't deserve to feel like this just because she decided I wasn't for her after all.

"I'm going to shower," she said eventually.

"You're packed except for clothes to wear and your toiletries. The dryer will be done soon. We can leave whenever you want."

"Half an hour," she said.

She left for the bathroom, and I started sobbing.

* * *

I had myself back under control by the time she finished in the bathroom. The dryer dinged, and I was making the bed by the time she entered the bedroom, wrapped in a towel.

"We have to wash the towels, I suppose."

"I'll take them home and drive them over to my brother's this week," she said. "You won't have to stay here with me any longer than necessary. I'm sorry."

I finished making the bed then fled the bedroom, retreating to the living room.

She appeared from the bedroom several minutes later, pulling her suitcase after her. She took a couple of trips to her car. I ignored her. Then she roamed around the cabin for a few minutes, I presume checking the quality of my work. I ignored her for that, too.

"Everything looks good," she said quietly. "We can go."

I stood up, staring at her for a moment. She looked numb and sad. This was all her fault, and she had the gall to look sad. I hope she understood how much she had hurt me.

I didn't say anything but collected my computer and purse and headed for her car.

* * *

We didn't talk on the way home. She eventually asked me to put some music on. It covered the silence. Four painful hours later found us in my driveway. I looked over at her.

"You hurt me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I trusted you."

"I know."

I didn't say anything else but simply climbed out of her car and collected my things. I didn't watch as she drove off.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day consoling myself with empty calories. Friday and Saturday had been so amazing. I didn't understand how she could have become so different. I really believed she wanted me, and for a lot more than a one-night stand.

Finally I decided she was like those guys who can't wait to run away once they get laid. I never would have thought that about her.

* * *

I tried to avoid her at work on Monday, but we both were called into the VP's office. "Good job on the proposal," he told us. "When I saw you on Friday, Jade, I thought our delivery was in trouble."

"We worked on it over the weekend," I said. "Jessica went above and beyond. It was my fault it wasn't ready for her on Friday, but she worked several hours over the weekend so we could have it done."

Outside the VP's office, she grabbed my arm.

"Don't touch me," I hissed.

She dropped my arm. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to thank you for what you said in there. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," I said, not at all meaning it, and stormed away from her.

* * *

For the rest of the week, as much as I tried to avoid Jessica, we kept bumping into each other. Twice it was literally. The second time I actually found myself in her arms when I turned around and practically ran into her. From inches away I stood staring into her beautiful eyes.

All I wanted to do was lean forward those last few inches and kiss her.

All I wanted was for her to wrap her arms around me and tell me she was sorry, that I had misunderstood.

All I wanted to do was get as far away from her as I could.

She stepped back from me, and I fled around her.

* * *

I had a miserable weekend. By Sunday I called my friend, Beth, sobbing. All she said was, "I'm coming over."

I was still crying when she got there. She let herself in, took one look at me, and sat down on the sofa, wrapping me in her arms. I sobbed into her shoulder for a long time. She said kind things and held me.

When I finally calmed down, had blown my nose, and somewhat cleaned up my tears, she asked, "Honey, did someone die? Is it your parents?"

"No. It's a girl."

"A girl?"

I told her the entire story with most of the details. I even told her about the sex. I told her everything. She listened, somewhat surprised at first, almost shocked at times, but at no time did she make me feel like I was some sort of kinky weirdo.

"I don't understand," I said when I was done.

"Jade," she asked kindly. "Could it be miscommunication?"

"She was pretty damned clear."

"Jade, honey. Did she at any time tell you she didn't want you?"

"She wouldn't kiss me. She wouldn't touch me. And she apologized."

"Did she say she didn't want you?"

I looked into Beth's eyes. She repeated herself. "Honey, did she say she didn't want you?"

"No." I started sobbing again. "Oh god, what if this is all my fault?"

She let me cry out again then pushed me away and looked into my face. "I don't think it's your fault. But it may have been miscommunication, not lack of desire. What if something you did sent her a message you hadn't intended?" She paused. "Tell me about the scarves again."

I started at the beginning, but she said, "No, at the end. What did you do?"

"I took them off. I was tripping over them. I left them on the bed. In case she wanted to use them again."

"Honey, what if she thought you were sending a different message?"

"Then she should have asked."

"Yes, she should have. But you understand, this could be miscommunication. I still blame her, but it might not have been rejection. It might have been she thought you freaked."

"She admitted she had hurt me. And she did."

"Maybe she thought you were freaking out, and that's the hurt."

I sat there numbly for a while, staring into space. Finally I turned back to Beth. "Do you think that's it?"

"Jade, I don't know. This could have been exactly what you think. But it seems like you might both have been assuming. Maybe you assumed right. But she never told you she didn't want you. Maybe she doesn't, at which point she's a bitch and not worth this heartache, especially cause she dumped you in such a cruel fashion."

I looked away again. "It doesn't matter. It's too late. She's undoubtedly with someone else by now."

"If she was honest when she called you her dream woman, she is at least as upset as you are."

"She's probably consoling herself between some other woman's legs right now."

Beth smiled. "You're jealous."

"I'm angry. I deserved better. She had no business taking us down that path if she didn't mean it. She had no business snubbing me if I had just done something unintentionally wrong. Either way, she was wrong."

"Yes. If it's miscommunication, are you able to forgive her?"

"I still want her. I want the things she did to me. I liked them. Oh god, I'm a sick pervert."

Beth shook me a little. "No you're not. Everything you did is tame compared to what I did Friday night."

"You?" I said, my eyes growing wide.

"Yes. And no, I'm not going to tell you."

I stared at her for a while. Then she said, "Jade, I think you should talk to her. Either she's going to tell you that you interpreted her correctly, and if so, then you know she's a bitch and not worth your heart. Or she's going to offer a different explanation, and maybe it's something you can fix. Either way you'll know. Right now you don't."

I nodded. "You're right." I hugged her. "Thank you."

"Honey, don't pin your hopes on this. But you owe it to yourself to at least be sure."

I nodded. "Did I take you from anyone?"

She smiled. "No. But there's a sale today."

"Let me clean up. What are we buying?"

The Truth

I couldn't find Jessica at work on Monday or Tuesday. I found out she was on an off-site project.

Wednesday I called Karen, the realtor. I introduced myself and reminded her who I was. "Is the cabin we looked at still available?"

She said she'd find out and call me back. Ten minutes later, she did.

"There's been an offer on it," she said.

"Oh. All right, thanks."

"Wait. It was too low. There was a counter-offer, but it's still more than the buyers can pay. They are trying to find more money for a down payment, but right now, the cabin is still available. However, if you want it, I recommend you move quickly."

"I don't know," I told her. "But I wanted to know the status. Thank you."

I went into my boss and asked for Thursday and Friday off. She granted it.

That afternoon, I waited until late afternoon, then I went to find Jessica. She was in her cube with her boss. They both looked up when I stepped in.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'll come back. Jessica we need to talk."

"We're done," said her boss. "She's all yours."

I stepped outside the cube while Jessica's boss finished with her, then stepped back in. Jessica looked at me sadly.

"Conference room," I said. "You owe me this talk."

She nodded and followed me. The small conference room was busy, but the big one was empty. As soon as we were inside, I closed the door.

"Jade," she said, as soon as the door closed. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You did, and I want to know why."

"My kink-" she said. "I'm sorry."

"Your kink is to find a straight girl, feed her a bunch of lies about how she is your dream girl, make her fall in love with you, then in the morning, throw her away?"

She stared at me. "You're the one who freaked. I told you the punishment was too much, but you just had to push my buttons until I couldn't help myself. You knew I couldn't resist."

"I liked the punishment!" I told her firmly. "I freaked when you wouldn't touch me the next morning. I freaked when I got that shitty kiss. I freaked when it was clear you were dumping me."

She stared. "You-" she paused. "You left."

"I had to go to the bathroom. Then I was wide awake and wanted to let you sleep."

"You took the scarves off and left them where I'd find them. That was pretty clear."

"Yeah. I left them where you would find them so you would know where they were when you used them to tie me up again." I glared at her.

A look of horror crawled over her face. "This is all my fault."

"We're agreed on that," I said curtly.

"You-"

"Wanted you." I paused. "Still want you. The question is, were you lying about how you felt about me? Or are you going to grovel and beg my forgiveness?"

She didn't respond.

I sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

I was halfway to the door before she stepped forward and grabbed my arm. "I don't know how to grovel, Jade."

I turned and looked at her.

"This is my fault," she said. "I was so sure you were going to freak. I was positive of it. When you weren't there, I was sure you had run as far from me as you could. I saw the silk and assumed it was a message."

"You should have asked. You owed me that."

"I know."

I turned away. "Are you seeing anyone else?"

"No."

"Are you going to apologize and that's it? We agree to be civil to each other at work? Or are you going to grovel and beg for another chance?"

"Grovel and beg for another chance."

My heart leapt with joy, but I wasn't going to forgive her without a proper grovel. I turned back to her, staring at her again, waiting for her to grovel.

She stared at me for a moment, then lowered herself to her knees, then all the way down to my feet and began kissing my feet, the little bit she could reach through my shoes. "I am sorry, Jade." Kiss. "Please forgive me." Kiss. "Please can we try again?" Kiss.

Staring down at her, I almost started to laugh. Well, at least I knew what she was going to expect from me at some point in the future.

"Stay there, but stop kissing," I told her firmly. "There are rules. You will agree to them."

"Yes, Jade."

"One. You will never again assume you know what I am thinking based on some action that is easily misinterpreted."

She looked up at me and smiled. "Agreed."

"Two. You will go slow with me."

"Agreed."

"Three. You will see to it I get at least an even dozen orgasms by Sunday evening."

Her smile grew. "Agreed."

"Four. You will never again forbid me from giving you one."

"Agreed."

"Five. You will love me. That is also rules six through ten."

"Agreed."

"Eleven. You will call your brother and ask if he supports us buying the cabin. Get up."

She stood slowly, looking at me. "It sold," she said. "Karen called me last week and asked if we would be putting in a competing offer. I told her no."

"Kiss me."

And she did. We were both breathless by the time she was done.

"Call your brother. I have talked to Karen more recently than you have. The offer was too low. If we move quickly, we can get our own offer in. I have the next two days off. You are going to ask for them off. You are going to call your brother. If he supports us, I want to drive up there tonight and have an offer in as soon as we can get Karen to write it."

She stared at me. "My phone is at my desk."

* * *

I listened to the conversation.

"Hi, Jon. It's Jessica." Pause. "Actually, I'm suddenly doing really well. There's someone I want you to meet." Pause. "No, I think this one is permanent."

I smiled at that.

"Jon, you know that cabin I keep lusting after. What if I bought it?" Pause. "I know, I was waiting, but if it's okay with you, I'm going to write an offer in the morning. Jade and I are writing it together." Pause. Her smile grew bigger.

"Ask Marcy too," I ordered.

"Jon, what is Marcy going to say?" Pause. Pause. She turned to me. "Marcy refuses to comment until she has met you."

I held out the phone. "Give."

She handed me the phone.

"This is Jade."

"Hello, Jade," said a male voice. It was a friendly voice. "This is Jon."

"Jon is your wife there?"

"Yes."

"Please, may I talk to her?"

Jessica immediately tried taking the phone from me. I backed away from her.

"Um," said Jon. "Sure."

I danced away from Jessica and told her to knock it off.

"Hello?" This time it was a woman's voice.

"Hello, Marcy. My name is Jade. I want to thank you so much for the use of your cabin a week ago. It was a lovely place, and I truly enjoyed myself."

"You're welcome. It's been in the family a long time. I spent most of my summers up there. Jessica is the only person I ever let borrow it, and it's really hard for me. I'm glad you had a nice time."

"Jessica and I are driving back up either tonight or in the morning," I said. "And we're placing an offer on another cabin."

"The old Benson place. That's such a sad story." She paused. "I won't give my blessing until I've met you. I know I can't stop you."

"I'd rather have your blessing, Marcy. I don't want this to be a point of contention between you and Jon, and frankly, I don't want that cabin if we can't get Jon's help from time to time."

She paused. "Come to dinner tonight."

"We'll be there," I told her. "Two hours from now? Should we bring something?"

"Thank you for offering," she said. "It'll be something simple. Just bring yourselves, dress is casual."

"Thank you, Marcy. I am looking forward to meeting you."

I found the hang up button, then gave Jessica her phone back.

"Are you insane?"

"Take me home and take me," I ordered her. "We have just enough time to make it to dinner."

* * *

I never ran so fast to a car.

* * *

She took me. Twice.

The In-laws

Jessica and I hadn't stopped touching each other. We rang the doorbell at Jon and Marcy's house. The door was answered by a little girl of about seven years old.

"Auntie Jessie! Auntie Jessie!"

The door flew open, and suddenly Jessica had her arms full of giggling girl. Seconds later, another girl of about five joined the first one, almost knocking all of them off the steps. I had to offer a steadying hand.

A woman in her low thirties came to the door.

"All right, Dawn, Laura, let your aunt and her friend in the door."

Jessica set them both down. They each took a hand and pulled her into the house after them. I followed them into the house.

Marcy and I faced each other. "Hello, Jade," she said offering a hand. We sized each other as we shook tentatively. "I'm Marcy."

"Hello, Marcy."

Marcy was of average height with short, professional-hair, perfectly cut. She was wearing light makeup, a blouse and skirt.

I looked around briefly. We were in a foyer. To one side was a formal dining room. To the other side was a living room. Nothing was out of place.

"Jon is in back grilling," she said. "We'll eat out there, if that's all right."

Jessica nodded and let the girls pull her through the house. We stepped through a great room, which was also perfect, then out the back door to the deck. Marcy and I followed.

Minding the grill was a tall, slender man. He and Jessica hugged fiercely. The love in his eyes was clear. Then he turned to me and held out his hand.

"Jade," Jessica said. "This is my big brother, Jon."

Jon knew just the right way to shake hands with a woman. Some men are afraid of shaking with us, and I admit a lot of women don't know how to shake hands, so they've been taught to be afraid. But he was just right about it.

I met the girls, too. The older one was Dawn, the younger one Laura. They were both very cute. I smiled at them, but I didn't really know what to do with them. That didn't matter. They only had eyes for their aunt, and Jessica was brilliant with them. She stepped into the yard and began playing with them.

I watched Marcy. She was watching the interplay with concern.

"She won't turn them gay, Marcy."

She turned to me with a harsh look. "Don't be ridiculous. I know that. But if one of them is gay, that will be okay."

I didn't say anything. I shouldn't have said what I had. We were there to make peace.

We turned back and watched Jessica play with the girls. Then Jon turned to me. "How did you two meet?"

"We are co-workers. We were working on a project together." I told them a very abbreviated version of the story, the clean parts version.

"So you came together at my cabin," Marcy said.

"Yes."

She smiled. "Yours wouldn't be the first relationship to begin there. That's how Jon and I began dating. I had invited a number of friends up for a mixed gender slumber party. We made the boys sleep in tents and the girls slept in the cabin. I hadn't paid much attention to Jon before that, but by the end of the weekend, I knew I'd make him marry me."

I turned to Jon. "She's not kidding," he said. "I didn't even see it coming. She invited me out the next weekend."

"If you haven't guessed, Jade, I am a control freak. Jon lets me control whatever I want and says, 'yeah, whatever' and just doesn't care. He's like a big dog around some yappy little puppy. I love him for it. No one else would put up with me."

I stared at her. I hadn't ever heard someone offer a self-assessment like that before.

"Oh please," she said. "You just walked through my house, and you've been to my cabin. You already knew I was a control freak."

I smiled, but didn't say anything.

"You don't know how hard it is to let anyone use the cabin," she said. "People. In my stuff. Moving my stuff. Leaving dirt behind. Breaking something. Touching my private things. Jessica is the only one I can stand to loan the cabin to, and even then it's hard for me. I have to keep reminding myself she is very careful with everything. The two of you did a nice job erasing any evidence you had been there. Thank you."

"Thank you so much," I told her. "I have never been somewhere more lovely."

We turned to watch the kids and Jessica for a while. They were playing tag. Jessica was it, and the girls were running around her, screeching.

"Which of you wore my bathrobe?" Marcy asked quietly.

I looked over at her. "How could you tell?"

"It was washed. That meant one of you must have worn it."

"Jessica."

She nodded.

"Are you angry?" I asked her.

"No. I told you, it is hard, but Jessica is very respectful."

"When we went up, we didn't have that kind of relationship, and Jessica had packed for a trip under the assumption she was bringing a girlfriend. She was trying to be kind to me by covering up more than a teddy and underwear."

"Like I said. She's very thoughtful," Marcy said.

Jon was quiet through all this. I didn't think he was the strong, silent type, so I wondered what the dynamic was.

I started to wonder if Jessica and Marcy needed to have a proper conversation. And I started to wonder if Jessica made a habit of misunderstanding silent communication.

"Do you know a couple of guys named Matt and Mike?"

"Oh lord," she said. "Did they bother you?"

"A little. Mike seemed okay. Jessica dealt with them."

She looked at me. "Did she say you two were a couple?"

"No, we told them Jessica had a freshly-broken heart and we were up there to get away from guys for a weekend."

"Good. The townspeople are pretty nice, but some of them are total rednecks. If they found out you were a lesbian couple, I don't know how they would have treated you. Maybe forcing them to confront their own bigotry is the better choice, but I wouldn't have wanted guests at my cabin to come away with a bad experience."

I was going to have a long talk to Jessica about assuming what other people are thinking.

"What do you do for a living, Jade?" she asked me.

"I'm a technical writer. Right now means I write a lot of business proposals."

"Does that pay well?"

"Everything is relative," I said. "Jessica and are about ten percent apart."

Marcy nodded in understanding.

"Food is almost ready," Jon said.

"Jade, will you help set the table?" Marcy asked.

"Of course."

She led me back into the house. Sitting on the counter were plates, cups and silverware. "Those need to go outside. The girls will want to sit on either side of Jessica. I'm sorry."

I smiled. "It's all right."

"They're going to fight who you sit next to."

In the end, Dawn won that fight. Dinner was grilled chicken and vegetables with rice that Marcy made on the stove. Everything was lovely.

Throughout the meal, Dawn tried to draw me into conversations, but it was always about some topic I knew nothing about. Eventually Marcy said, "You're not used to little children."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Not this age. I'm a big sister though. Allison, my little sister, is fourteen. I've been her sister since she was eleven."

"You have a little sister?" Jessica asked.

"It's the big brothers, big sisters program," I explained. "Basically I'm a mentor or role model."

"That's an excellent program," Marcy said. "It's very good of you to volunteer."

I nodded. "I'm better with young teenagers, I guess." I turned to Dawn. "But I hope to get to know you and your sister very well."

"You're pretty," Dawn said. "Are you Auntie Jessie's girlfriend?"

I looked at Marcy, unsure how she would want me to answer.

"Yes, honey, she is," Marcy said.

"Do you bake cookies?" Dawn asked. "Auntie Jessie's last girlfriend wouldn't bake us cookies. She said they would make us fat."

"Oh, I make totally excellent snicker doodles," I told her. "And my chocolate chip cookies are pretty good." I paused. "But I only make them when your mother says it's all right."

The rest of the meal went without any terrible incidents. Finally Marcy told the girls, "You may go watch one short movie."

"We want to play with Auntie Jessie," Dawn said.

"Yeah!" said Laura.

"Auntie Jessie and her friend Jade need to talk to Mommy and Daddy," Marcy said. "If you are good girls and let us talk, maybe they'll join us this weekend at the lake. Would you like that?"

"Yes!"

"Go watch your movie now. Auntie Jessie will say goodbye before she leaves."

The girls scampered off. Marcy waited until they were inside before she turned to us. "Well, now we can have the serious conversation. You want to buy the Benson place. You will want Jon's help from time to time. I suspect more than time to time. You may want to borrow a boat from time to time as well. And if you want to write an offer tomorrow, perhaps you could use a place to stay, as driving up and back in one day is a long ride."

"Yes," said Jessica. "Marcy, I know you don't approve. We can find somewhere else if having me that close is going to upset you."

"If you are further away, it is more work for Jon to help," she said. Marcy turned to me. "You are being foolish."

"Excuse me?"

"My sister in law has a horrible track record with her girlfriends. They don't last. Now, I will be the first one to express glee in that, and I have good reasons for it. You have been together less than two weeks, and you are committing to an expensive purchase. Have you decided what will happen if you are not dating the day after you close?"

"We'll share it, fifty-fifty," I said. "Or one of us can buy the other out. We've talked about it."

"I suspect neither of you has the cash to do this alone."

"No," said Jessica. "But I could make payments against her down payment. We would share until I'd paid her back."

"So you've talked about this? You recognize the risk?"

"Yes," I said. "We recognize the risk."

"And you can both afford this?"

"Yes. It will drain most of my non-retirement savings, but not dangerously low," I said.

"I almost have enough to buy it alone," Jessica said. "But then I wouldn't have any funds to buy a boat or anything else."

"Is the cabin furnished?" Marcy asked.

"It was when we were there," Jessica said. "So I think so."

Marcy tapped a finger against her lips. "The cabin is small."

"Yes," I said. "And there's no garage. But it's an amazing lot, and we can expand. I want a garage first, and I want enough space to have guests."

"The last time I was there, the dock was not in the water. Do they even have a dock that comes with the property?"

"Yes," I said. "Or something that looked like one, rolled up on shore."

Marcy pursed her lips. "I do not want Jon slaving away on your cabin all the time when we go up. He is going up to relax and slave away on our cabin." She smiled.

"Marcy, we don't want him to slave away," Jessica said. "We'll do the work. We just don't know how to do it all. We'd want him to be our foreman, I guess, and help us for those things that require his muscles. I won't ask for more than that."

"And my father will also help," I said.

"If the well breaks, you will fix it yourself or hire a plumber," Marcy said. "Jon hates plumbing and it ruins his mood for hours afterwards."

"You're saying yes?" Jessica asked.

"Jon, I presume you will let them use the pontoon boat when we're not using it ourselves."

"Actually, Marcy..." he said to her.

"Oh hell, you want to make another one." She was smiling at him, and it was a smile filled with love.

"I have some ideas I wanted to try. Is it okay if I give them our old one?"

"Yes, as long as we may use it until your new one is done."

"We can buy it," Jessica said. "And I'd absolutely love it. I love that boat."

"No," Marcy said. "Housewarming gift. Or cabin warming gift." She smiled warmly at Jessica. "I would have fought you about this when with your earlier girlfriends, Jessica. I did not care for them one bit, and I didn't want them around my children. But this one I like." She smiled at me. "You may use the cabin. I'll give you the key before you go. I hope you'll stay the weekend with us."

"Marcy, thank you," Jessica said, smiling.

"I do not want you using the ski boat," she said. She turned to me. "Do you water ski?"

"I've been once."

"If you like, we'll teach you when we get up there. Jessica is a very good skier, Dawn is learning, and Laura is upset we haven't let her try it yet."

"How about you?" I asked her.

"I have been water skiing since I was four," she replied.

We talked for just a few more minutes before Marcy said, "It's a long drive. I'll get the key. Jessica, please don't get the girls all worked up before you go."

We all got up. I started helping to clear the table.

"No, no," she said. "I have a particular way I like it done. I know it's weird." She looked at both of us. "I expect you both to pack bathrobes if you intend to stay the weekend."

"Oh hell," Jessica said. "I didn't hang it up properly? I'm sorry, Marcy, but-"

"Jade already explained. It's fine."

Marcy led the way into the house, Jon taking the rear. Jessica went to find the girls and say goodnight. Marcy disappeared to collect the cabin key. This left me with Jon.

"Wow," I said to him.

"Marcy is amazing. She and Jessica are so much alike. That may be why I love her so much. Do you have any idea what you're getting into?"

"No."

He laughed.

"Jon, Jessica thinks Marcy hates her."

He sighed. "I know. She doesn't. But I can't get the two of them to just talk honestly with each other."

"Was she just playing nice in front of me?"

"No. You got a pretty good view of what she's like."

Marcy appeared with the key to the cabin. "Jessica knows all the normal things," Marcy said. "The well is still turned on. You only need to open the supply to the house. If either of you know how, check the LP tank. It was supposed to be filled this week. If not, I want to call the supplier and yell at him to fill it by Friday."

"LP tank?"

She smiled. "It's the big silver tank in the back yard. Call tomorrow during the daylight and I'll explain how to check it."

"I have so much to learn."

"We'll help with that," Marcy promised. "And Jessica knows a lot already."

Jessica reappeared.

"You didn't get them worked up, did you?" Marcy asked her sternly.

"Maybe a little, but that's just from walking in. I'm sorry."

Marcy looked at her for a moment. "I expect you to be discrete in front of the girls. If you have anything to get out of your systems, please finish it by mid-afternoon on Friday."

"We won't be staying, Marcy," Jessica said quietly.

"Yes, we will," I said. "I am looking forward to it. Don't worry, Marcy, you won't have any strange activities to explain to the girls."

"Jessica, the last time you were up with us with one of your girlfriends, I had to explain the contents of the nightstand. I did not appreciate the conversation."

"They snooped?" she asked.

"You should be used to little girls snooping through your toys," I told her with a grin. I turned to Marcy. "Don't worry. I will personally guarantee there is nothing for the girls to find that you will have a difficult time explaining." I paused. "We'll have to think about a solution for our own cabin. I do presume you will allow the girls to visit us."

"Of course," she said. "And thank you for understanding."

After that, Marcy and Jon ushered us to the front door. Jon tried to shake my hand, but I hugged him. Then I hugged Marcy. She was surprised, but she hugged me back. Jon and Jessica hugged too, but Jessica didn't hug Marcy. The two of them really needed a straight conversation with each other.

We got in the car and drove to my place. We'd gotten a block before Jessica said, "Man, she is such a homophobe."

I sighed. "No, she's not."

"Of course she is. You heard her lecture us."

"I heard her ask us not to expose her five and seven-year-old daughters to adult situations. If I were a guy, I can't imagine she would want you having sex with me in front of the girls, either."

Jessica didn't respond to that. I waited two more blocks and told her, "I liked your brother. He's quiet."

"Only around Marcy. He'll talk your ear off without her."

"Well, I liked him. I liked her, too."

"You better be on my side, not hers!"

"Hey," I said, reaching over and setting my hand on her leg. "Of course I'm on your side. But I'd rather all four of us were on the same side. Okay?"

She glanced over at me. "She intentionally embarrassed me in front of you, Jade."

"No, she didn't. She was telling me the rules and why. Who left the toy where a child could find it?"

"That was Eliza," she said. "She brought it. I didn't know she had it until she told me to look in the nightstand."

"A vibrator?"

"Worse. A dildo."

"And you wonder why Marcy might have been unhappy her seven-year-old found it?"

"She was six at the time," Jessica said. "And I see your point."

We rode quietly for a minute. "It's kind of funny though," I said.

"What is?"

"What sort of story do you think Marcy came up with?"

Jessica began to grin.

"I couldn't have come up with a story on short notice, and I sure wouldn't have told the truth." I thought about it. "Hell, I can't come up with a story now. I have no idea what I could have said. Now I'm going to have to ask her about it this weekend sometime when I'm alone with her."

Jessica began to giggle. "Marcy the prude explaining a dildo to a six-year-old. Okay, you're right, that's funny."

"I don't think she's a prude, Jessica. I think she's very controlling, but that makes her a lot like you. And I think she's trying to raise her kids right. But she likes the way you play with the girls."

"Why won't she let me babysit?"

"You should ask her. If you don't, I'm going to."

"No."

"Yes."

"Jade, no. Stay out of it."

I didn't respond.

"I mean it, Jade. Stay out of it."

I thought about it.

"Jade!"

"Jessica," I said calmly. "I won't go out of my way to bring it up. But if it comes up naturally, I am going to use my own judgment. You will either trust me or you won't. If you want my trust, then you have to give me some in return."

We arrived at my house. Jessica was quiet, but as soon as we were in the door I turned to her. "Please kiss me, Jessica."

She turned away.

"No, do not do this. Kiss me and let me know you want me."

"Of course I want you!" But she wasn't facing me.

"Then why aren't you kissing me?"

She turned to me. "I am the dominant one in this relationship, Jade."

"I have a brain and will not stop using it," I replied. "Although you did a good job shutting it off earlier tonight. Please kiss me. I need to feel you."

She stepped closer and pulled me into her arms. "Mine."

"Yes, Jessica. Yours. Please kiss me."

She did.

She tried to do more. "We could drive up in the morning," she said.

"No. We're driving up tonight."

"I bet I can change your mind," she suggested.

"Jessica, I will let you do anything you want to me when we get up there. But if you bring any toys more incriminating than scarves, you must have a plan for the kids to not find them."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"You have three minutes to pack."

I laughed. "We have to call Karen first and tell her we're making an offer." I still had Karen's information in my phone. I retrieved the phone from the purse and called her number.

"Karen Carlson," she said.

"Karen, it's Jade Hampton."

"Hello, Jade. How are you doing?"

"Very well," I said. "Jessica and I would like to make an offer on the Benson place. Tell me it hasn't sold."

"It hasn't sold."

"We're driving up tonight. It will be late. We would like to make the offer first thing in the morning. Will you be available?"

"Yes. I'm so happy! It's a beautiful cabin, and I'm glad it will go to two people who loved it as much as you two did. Is nine AM good, or would you like later?"

"Nine is perfect, Karen."

"Bring identification and a checkbook," she said. "You will need to write a check for the earnest money."

"We'll see you in the morning, Karen."

I hung up. "We're on."

Jessica was grinning broadly.

* * *

At her house, Jessica wouldn't let me help pack. Instead she gave me her car keys and directions to the grocery store. "Go buy whatever you think we'll need until at least Friday morning. Remember to get ice for the cooler and things to eat and drink in the car."

When I got back, she was waiting for me. We carried the groceries in, piled things into the cooler as necessary, and carried everything to the car. It was after eight before we were on the road.

* * *

"We're really doing this," she said, shortly after we got on the road.

"Jessica, you will never assume you know what I am thinking again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Jade. I'm sorry."

"Yes, we're really doing this. What are you going to do to me tonight?"

"Oh honey, you are going to be walking funny tomorrow."

I laughed.

"I'm serious," she said.

We spent the rest of the trip talking about the cabin. Once we were out of town she asked, "Can you drive?"

"Of course. Tired?"

"I want to drive after Mille Lacs," she said. "But I'll be fatigued if I drive the whole way. Long, intense day."

She pulled over and we switched drivers.

"We'll stop at the same gas station. Can you handle it that far?"

"Of course."

We began planning what we would do with the cabin. "Is Jon really giving us a boat?"

"We should pay for it," Jessica said.

"We should offer again," I said. "But it is rude to turn away a gift." I paused. "Honey, I may deal better with Marcy than you do."

I caught her glancing at me.

"Will you trust my judgment?"

"I'll try."

"I will talk to Marcy in private about the boat, and we will do whatever she and I agree. All right?"

"All right," she said.

"So," she said. "Basics. We need to make sure it's equipped. Kitchen stocked. Dock is in good condition. Wood for the fireplace. Have Jon and your father help determine any necessary maintenance." She paused. "We should make a list."

"Paper in my computer bag," I told her.

She reached behind her and fumbled for a while, finally retrieving the paper.

"Fishing poles and stuff," I said.

"Water toys."

"A safe chest for adult toys."

She laughed. "With a lock."

"How much do you know about things like the heating system?"

"You turn it on with the thing on the wall," she replied.

"Marcy said something about a tank. A big silver thing out in the yard. It's filled with gasoline?"

"No. Propane. For the furnace."

"I don't remember one at our cabin."

We talked about that for a while and agreed we didn't know enough.

"There was a shed," she said. "I wonder what is in it."

"It's in bad shape," I told her. "I want to build a garage and get rid of the shed."

"And we want two more bedrooms."

"I'd like a TV room separate from the living room."

"Why?" she asked.

"So we can have adult conversations when the kids come over with their parents, and the kids want to watch television for a while."

"So expand for a TV room and two bedrooms."

"Right," I said. "And a second bathroom."

"With a shower for two."

"And a tub for two."

"This is getting expensive," she observed.

"Yes," I agreed. "We can do the expansion but rough in some of the rooms without finishing them."

"I want a ski boat and a non-powered boat. Canoe, kayaks, sailboat. Something like that."

"I have a canoe," I told her. "It's in my garage."

"Really?"

"It's a nice one. I take it to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area."

* * *

We traded drivers at the gas station. The fresh air felt nice. Jessica bought salty treats and diet sodas at the grocery store there while I filled the car with gas. I spent the rest of the trip popping potato chips and peanuts into her mouth whenever she wanted. She would open her mouth like a baby bird, and I would pop something into it.

By the time we reached Marcy's cabin, we had all the plans for the cabin we didn't even own yet. I was so excited.

We carried everything into the cabin, opening windows for fresh air. Jessica took care of the water. I hung our clothes up. She also had a gym bag that was locked. I could only imagine what was in it. I left it on the bed.

She came upstairs. "Put your swimsuit on," she said.

"Midnight swim?"

"Midnight boat ride."

I smiled and changed into my swimsuit. She did too. We grabbed towels. She also grabbed her gym bag.

"Why are you bringing that?"

"Get your ass down to the boat, Jade."

I looked at her.

"We are partners when dealing with the rest of the world. And I will accept rules for how you wish to be treated. But within the relationship, you will do what I tell you. You understood this when you initiated the conversation today."

"Yes, Jessica. Getting my ass to the boat."

"Good girl."

I wriggled my ass at her.

When we got down to the dock, the boat was on its lift. "Do we need one of these?"

"We'll talk to Jon," she said "Not everyone uses them, but there must be a reason for them." She lowered the boat into the water and ordered me aboard. She started the motor and untied us.

"Is this safe at night?"

"There are lights," she said.

She backed us away from the dock then got us headed into the middle of the lake. There were no other boats. It was after midnight and very quiet. We heard a loon cry, but nothing else. There was a sliver of a moon.

When we reached the middle of the lake, she shut off the motor.

"Come here," she ordered me.

I stood up and walked to her, She turned around in her chair and pulled me to her, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me. I opened for her tongue.

She tasted of salt and the taste I'd grown to recognize as Jessica's mouth. I loved that taste. By the time she broke the kiss, my heart was pounding again.

She kept her hands on my ass.

"I have a fantasy," she said.

"You have a lot of fantasies."

"I've never done this one."

"Why not?"

"Because it's special to me, and I wanted it with someone who is special."

I hugged her. "Yours," I said into her ear. "What do you want me to do?"

"Strip."

I pulled away and looked at her. "Here?" She nodded. "People can see!"

"Look around."

"Someone could boat past."

"We'll see them coming for five minutes, and you'll be below the level of the railing. They can't see you unless they're right next to us." She paused. "Strip, Jade."

Slowly I slipped out of my swimsuit and stood in front of her, stark naked. I tried to cover myself.

"No," she said. "Hands on your head, Jade."

I raised my hands and laced my fingers together.

She began caressing me and teasing my nipples. "You are so beautiful, my lovely, lovely piece of Jade."

The night air wasn't cold, but she gave me goose bumps.

"Spread your towel there," she said, pointing. "And lie down on your back. Feet near the doorway to the front deck of the boat, head up this way.

I did what she said. She gave me her towel for under my head. Then she opened the gym bag. I couldn't see what was in it. The first thing she did was slip a blindfold over my eyes. It had some sort of complex buckle arrangement I didn't understand, but I realized it wasn't coming off.

"Jessica-"

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No."

She took one of my wrists and wrapped something around it. I heard a snick. She did the same with the other wrist. Then she did something to attach them together and pulled them over my head. She fumbled around for a moment, then she pulled my arms tightly above me.

She moved down to my feet, caressing me with a finger on her way. She wrapped something around one ankle, then the other, then she pulled my legs wide and secured them that way. When she was done, I couldn't move.

"Do you want me to let you go?"

"No, Jessica. Please touch me."

She began stroking my body. "Tell me what you are feeling emotionally."

"Nervous." I said. "Excited." I paused. "Wet."

"That's physical," she said, laughing. Then she dipped her fingers between my legs and brushed them across my labia. "But accurate."

She reached up and smeared my own juices around my lips, then licked them off me.

"What else?" she asked.

"Vulnerable," I told her. "You could do anything you wanted to me, and I am wide open to you."

"Do you like that feeling?" The entire time, she was stroking my body, little touches up and down my skin. I started to squirm a little.

"Yes. And I like the touches."

"What else?"

"Happy."

She bent down and kissed me.

"Trusting," I said. "Lustful."

She lied down next to me, her body stretched along mine. "Are you glad you obeyed?"

"Yes, until we get caught. I don't want to get locked up for indecent exposure."

"No one can see us," she said. "If anyone comes, I'll cover you and either untie you or start the motor and drive us around until they leave."

"You would drive me around like this?"

"Yep." Then she pulled away and I heard her rummaging in the gym bag. "Do you want me to keep going?"

"Yes."

"May I make this very intense?"

"Are you going to scare or hurt me?"

"No. I am going to drive you insane with desire. You may not come without permission. If you do, I will punish you."

"How?" I asked, gasping as she flicked a nipple.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe I'll find some mosquitoes."

"You wouldn't! Jessica, don't even tease like that."

She giggled. "Punishments aren't supposed to be fun."

"I would freak. I swear, I would freak."

"All right. If you come without permission, I'll make you wear a butt plug to the meeting with Karen tomorrow."

"Oh-" I almost broke a rule.

"Yes?"

"Take me."

She bent down and kissed me ravenously. Then her hand traced a line down my body to my crotch. I arched my back as her fingers spread me open.

She shifted, and then I felt something pressing against me. She slid it in slowly.

"What are you doing?" I squirmed. "What is that?"

"Shhh," she said. "Accept it, love."

I squirmed and tried to escape whatever she was sliding into me. She stopped, then two of her fingers moved to my clitoris and began teasing me. Soon she had me squirming, and every time I squirmed, whatever she was using slid a tiny bit further into me.

"Jessica, what is it?"

"You are safe, Jade," she said. "I won't hurt you."

"Please, tell me what it is."

"Honey, if you ask again I will tell you, but it will ruin the mystery a little."

"Please kiss me."

"You are safe, Jade," she said. Then her lips were on mine, kissing me softly. But she still held a hand over my crotch, and something continued to slide deeper into me. I tried to escape from it.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "This shouldn't be freaking you out, Jade. Do I have to stop? I won't hurt you. You're going to like this, Jade. It feels really, really nice. I had this inside me two nights ago."

"What?! Who was running it? Stop!"

"Honey, I was alone. I was thinking about you at the time. I picked this because it had just been in me while I was thinking about you, and now I want to share it with you."

I squirmed, unable to escape. "Go slow."

"I will. It's not big. I know it feels that way, but it's not big. It can't hurt you."

Soon she had me filled. Whatever she was using was curved, and I felt it pressing against my G-spot. There was something else pressing against my clitoris, and the sensation was strange.

Then she did something, and it began to buzz. I almost exploded out of my skin.

"Oh my god!"

"I'll forgive that one, but if you do that again, you're getting the gag I brought, Jade, and it's a cruel gag. You won't like it."

"I'm sorry."

She began pressing the invading toy against me. Press, relax, press, relax, and all the while it was vibrating. Her other hand was stroking my body as she knelt over me, caressing my nipples, my skin everywhere, my face, my lips. She reached down and played with my clitoris for a moment, then her hand returned to my mouth, and I opened to accept the two fingers, now filled with my scent. I sucked on them and squirmed.

She did something, and the vibrator changed vibration pattern. I jerked. It had been vibrating steadily, but now it was starting out barely vibrating, then increasing in amount before decreasing again. It was doing that over and over.

I squirmed. "Yes," I said quietly. "Oh, Jessica."

"You will learn to trust me," she said quietly. "Do you understand? I need you to trust me."

"Yes. Ohhh."

"If you come, you know what happens tomorrow."

"You couldn't," I said. "It would pop out."

She laughed. "She of little faith."

I gasped and squirmed.

I felt her shift, and I heard her digging through her bag. Then I heard small clicking that sounded like a necklace.

"This is going to sting a little," she said. "If it's too much, I'll take it off, but try to last a minute first."

She teased my nipples, both of them, until they were fully engorged, then she clipped something to the left, then the right. I hissed. It more than stung, it hurt!

"Hurts."

"Try to hold on, Jade," she said.

"Trying." Then the vibrator changed again into a higher, faster pulsing, and I squirmed, quickly forgetting about the violation of my nipples. But she leaned over and licked one, and it was exceptionally intense.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm not going to last long! Oh Jessica."

"The butt plug has a remote control to make it vibrate," she said.

"Oh god!"

"Oh honey. You know what happens now. Do I need to release your nipples?"

"No."

She removed both her hands from me and fumbled in her bag. "If you accept this without fighting me, it will go easier on you. Open your mouth, Jade."

I obediently opened my mouth. I had broken the rule. She slid something into my mouth then somehow attached it to the harness she'd put on me earlier. Then I heard something that sounded like a blood pressure cuff they use at the doctors, and whatever was in my mouth began to expand and expand.

"Mmmmm!" I complained into the gag.

She pumped it a few more times, and my mouth was completely full.

"Mmmmmm!"

"Jade, are you asking me to stop? Nod or shake your head."

I shook my head.

Her hand returned to the vibrator, and she pressed it firmly into me. I jumped.

If I hadn't felt sufficiently vulnerable before, the gag drove the point home. I moaned and squirmed, helpless and vulnerable.

And I wouldn't want her to change a thing.

I'd never felt like this before, and I'd never been with a man I trusted the way I trusted her. I would never have let a man do this to me. I would never have trusted a man to protect me if I needed to be protected.

I moaned again.

She continued to touch me, continued to talk to me, continued to let the vibrator fill me with its pulsing pleasures. I felt my mind shut down as I surrendered more and more to what she was doing to me.

"More," I tried to say. "More," I tried to moan.

She continued to whisper into my ear. "Mine. You will trust me, Jade."

"Mmmmm."

"You will obey me. You will be mine. Trust. Obey. Surrender, Jade. Surrender."

And all the time, she continued touching me, caressing me, and driving me insane with desire. I tried to drive my pelvis against her hand, trying to gain greater pleasure from the vibrator, but I was stretched as far as I could

"Uh huh," she whispered. "I set the pace, Jade."

"Mmmmmm."

"I promised to go slow. Don't come now, Jade.  You better obey me. I never bluff."

Just the thought of wearing the plug in private increased my sense of helplessness. The idea she could make me wear it in public started to push me over the edge.

"No no no," I tried to say into the gag as the orgasm began to take hold of me.

"Don't come, Jade! Not yet!"

And then I was gone, the shudders filling my body, the orgasm exploding through me. I screamed into the gag, shuddering and thrashing before I grew still.

"Oh Jade," she said quietly. "You weren't supposed to do that."

She did something and the vibrator grew silent. She kept it inside me for a moment as the aftershocks rode through me. Then, slowly, she withdrew it, and I felt empty.

"Mine," she whispered to me. I nodded.

The gag was next. First she deflated it, then gently removed it. As soon as my mouth was clear, her mouth was over mine, inhaling me. I moaned, lost in her.

Slowly, she released me from the bonds, my ankles, then my wrists, then the blindfold. I wrapped myself around her, and she held me, spreading a towel over me as a blanket.

"Thank you, Jade," she said.

"I'm sorry I disobeyed," I said. "I could hold it back any longer."

"Oh honey, you lasted longer than I thought you would."

"What?"

"You, my dear, were never going to receive permission for that orgasm."

I opened my eyes and looked up at her.

"That was my fantasy," she said. "The whole thing, including the punishment for coming." She paused. "Does that make you angry?"

"No. But paybacks are a bitch."

She laughed.

"My fantasy isn't over," she said.

"I know. I have to wear the plug tomorrow."

"The part tonight isn't over. I want to go skinny dipping with you."

I opened my eyes and looked at her again. "Serious?"

"Yes. Please."

"All right." I paused. "I want something."

"Oh?"

"Never stop."

She laughed. "I promise."

"Seriously, I want something."

"What?"

"I don't know. Just make me feel safe, and that this isn't just kinky sex for you."

"Oh honey," she said. "I am falling in love with you. I'll do anything for you."

"Hold me, then get naked and I'll swim with you," I told her.

So she did, pulling me into her arms and lying down on the boat with me. She was warm and it felt so good to let her hold me. "Jessica, have you ever been on the receiving end of any of this?"

"No. I would freak out."

"Do you know what it feels like?"

"I have asked my lovers. I asked you. I know that's an incomplete sense. I also can read your body language. You are feeling vulnerable, but being in my arms makes you feel safe."

"Yes."

"That's my kink, too, knowing my arms are a safe place for you. You don't know what that does to me."

I snuggled in more tightly. "Tighter."

She squeezed me tighter. I suddenly couldn't get close enough to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"No. Hold me."

"Did I hurt you?"

"No, just. I can't get close enough."

She pulled me tighter, and I clutched at her. I trembled a little.

"Cold?"

"Scared suddenly."

"Oh honey."

"I shouldn't need someone this much. It's scary."

"Oh honey," she said again.

"Take your top off, Jessica. I need to feel your skin."

She released me. and soon was as naked as I was, then pulled me back into her arms. I laid my head against her chest, breathing in the subtle scent from her chest and wrapping my arms around her.

"Thank you," I said. "That's better. I'm okay, just needy."

"Good. You're supposed to be needy. It's because you still feel vulnerable."

She held me for a while, and it felt so good just to hold her and be held by her.

"Take me swimming," I said eventually. "Please." I paused. "You must never violate my trust. No tricking me. I couldn't stand it."

"I tricked you a few minutes ago."

I paused. "That wasn't the sort of laugh at me for being a fool type of tricking. But you could tell me to jump in naked, then not jump in after. I would be very hurt. That kind of tricking."

"I promise. Swim now?"

"Yes."

We got up together. I clutched at her as we stepped to the front of the boat. She lowered the platform we could climb out on, then she looked around. "We haven't moved hardly at all. It's very deep here."

"Go in together," I told her. "I'll be okay once we're in the water."

So together we stepped to the edge of the boat, and together we took one step, leaning forward as we stepped off the boat.

The water was cold and shocking, and it woke me the rest of the way to my sense.  We treaded water together, and I turned to her and kissed her quickly before letting her go.

"Race," I said.

She laughed.

"If I win, I get a backrub tonight before bed."

"And if I win?" She asked.

"I'm not giving you a backrub tonight. I'm tired, scared, needy, and vulnerable."

"All right. If I win tonight, you will wear a collar I brought."

"Collar?"

"Yes."

"Is this collar symbolic?"

"Yes."

I thought about it. "I'm not ready for that in front of others."

"At night when we're home alone, for a week, until morning. It locks. You'll need me to take it off you."

"All right," I agreed. "I want a one lap head start on a four lap race."

"That's a big head start."

"I'll get tired sooner than you will."

"Three fourths of a lap. So we aren't jostling just when I get started."

"Agreed." We moved to the front of the boat. "Race from this pontoon," I said, touching the one I'd swim around first. "You start when you see my first splash near that one."

"Go whenever you're ready," she told me.

I took two breaths and began swimming slowly around the boat. Once I rounded the back, I started to speed up and was swimming full out when I turned the front. She was right in front of me, and I brushed her feet with my hands once, but then she started to pull away. She was a lot faster than I was.

When I finished the second lap and turned into the third, she was already out of sight. My lap advantage was now under a half lap.

By the time I finished my third lap, I knew I was going to lose. I was slowing down. Halfway down the boat during my fourth lap, her hand brushed my foot. I gained slightly going around the back, as she had to swim wider, but she was beside me before I'd gotten very far on the last half lap.

She made it to the front of the boat and beat me by a body length at the end.

She was breathing hard when I got to her. We panted at each other for a while. Finally I had enough breath to say, "You weren't this winded after the last race."

"I really wanted to win this one. I was looking for an opportunity to collar you." She paused. "I'll give you a little pampering when we climb into bed though."

I reached for her and pulled her into a hug. "If the collar is itchy or uncomfortable, you have to find something else."

"You already agreed," she told me.

"If it's uncomfortable, I'll resent it, then I won't take more wagers."

"If it is uncomfortable, I will give you the choice of wearing it anyway or satisfying me in some other fashion. You will be allowed to pick."

"All right. I'm cold."

"Me too."

She helped me climb out and followed me. We dried off quickly and put our suits back on, then she started up the boat and headed in the direction of Marcy's cabin.

* * *

The collar didn't itch.

The back rub was very nice, and I fell asleep in her arms. I'd never been happier.

Offer

We woke early the next morning, facing each other. She looked into my eyes, then down to my neck, and her look was one of pure joy. She reached up and fingered the collar. She took on a faraway expression.

"You're trying to come up with a new wager."

"Uh huh. But not for today."

"What do you want?"

"I'm not ready to tell you yet," she said. "But I will."

"Time to get up. Shower. Get dressed. Buy a cabin."

She smiled. "The collar is washable."

"Honey," I said with a small whine.

"For me. Wear it for me until it's time to leave. Please."

"All right."

* * *

Before I got dressed, she made me bend over the bed. "Relax, honey," she said.

I bent over, my chest resting on the bed, my legs on the floor and spread. She made me clasp the bedspread. "Raise your butt as high as you can for me."

"I don't think it's fair," I said. "You set me up."

"Yes, I did." She started pressing something against my anus. "Relax now."

"You relax!" I said as I felt something begin to slide into me. "Ohh..."

"Shhh," she said. "It will feel good."

She hadn't let me look at the plug. I only knew it wasn't the one I'd seen before. Slowly, she slid it in, filling me.

"Relax," she said. "Surrender, Jade."

I wriggled a little.

"There you go," she said. "Good girl." She continued to slide it into me, filling me, until finally I felt her press it home.

"See? How does that feel?"

"Please don't make me wear this," I said.

"Jade. This is important to me."

I looked over my shoulder at her. "Please, Jade. It's important to me."

"It's going to slide out in some embarrassing fashion."

"No it's not. Face forward. If you turn around, I will punish you."

I looked at the far wall. She left me. "Don't move," she said. And then she was rummaging through her bag of toys. She stepped back to me and reached under me. She wrapped a belt around my waist, then she reached between my legs. When she was done, there was a strap pressing snugly against me from front to back. She bucked everything.

"You can't be serious," I said. "What is it?"

"Chastity belt. It doubles as a means of holding things in place. Stand up."

I stood up. She turned me to face her, then she applied a lock to the buckle.

"You're not serious. You locked me into this."

She smiled at me, looking into my eyes. "I won't do this to you very often. Just once in a while. Please, Jade, let me have this. I promise you'll enjoy what happens when I take it off. And you are going to be so amazingly horny."

She pulled something out of the gym bag and pressed a button. I almost jumped out of my skin when the plug began to vibrate. She only let it vibrate for a few seconds before she stopped it again.

"Please, Jade," she said. "I promise I won't embarrass you."

"I'm going to walk funny."

"I did tell you that."

* * *

Karen met us at the door to her agency, unlocking the door for us. We had arrived a few minutes early. We had dressed professionally for this. So had she.

Jessica had hit me with the vibrating plus three times while I was getting dressed and twice more in the car, the last one lasting a long time once we pulled up in front of the realty agency. I was already squirming from it. Jessica was smirking about it.

"Hello Jessica," Karen said, shaking hands. "Jade. I am so excited."

"So are we."

She ushered her into her office.

"Before we get started, may I ask a personal question? It has absolutely no bearing on what we do, and you don't have to answer."

"You can ask," Jessica said.

"Are you two a couple?"

"We weren't when we met with you the first time," I said. "We are now. Is that a problem?"

Her smile broadened. "Are you going to be open about it up here?"

I looked at Jessica. She answered for us. "Karen, I don't know. There are a lot of bigots in this town. I don't know if I want to deal with them. Is it a problem?"

"No. It's just."

"You're gay," I blurted out.

She began blushing. "No one knows. If you're out, maybe I could be."

"It will cost you business," Jessica said. "It shouldn't, but it will."

"The people who wouldn't do business with a lesbian don't do business with a woman, either," she said.

I turned to Jessica. "I don't want to hide. We don't have to announce it in the paper, but if I want to hold your hand, I'm going to hold your hand."

"There is your answer," Jessica said.

"Thank you for answering," Karen told us. "My girlfriend is threatening to dump me. She is tired of hiding and she wants to move in with me."

"Call her right now and tell her yes. We'll wait," I told her.

"Email is better. She can't talk at work." Karen turned to her computer. She spoke aloud as she typed. "Honey. May I hold your hand at dinner tonight? I thought O'Callahan's sounded good. My treat. Yours. Karen."

She looked up at me and I nodded.

"All right," she said. "The Benson property, the cabin I showed you. I've told the selling agent I am writing an offer this morning. He is expecting a call from me by eleven and will fax the papers to the daughter in California. She is expecting them. Depending upon the strength of your offer, we could have a completed purchase agreement today. Have you decided what you will offer?"

Jessica and I looked at each other. "I can't believe we talked about everything else, but didn't discuss the offer."

"We spent the entire car ride talking about what we would do once it was ours," Jessica told Karen. "And not once did we talk about the purchase process. Do you have a recommendation?"

"Do you feel the current price is fair?"

"Should we tell you that?" I asked her.

She smiled. "I am here representing you," she said. "I want you to buy the property you want at a price you think is fair." She paused. "I do not enjoy presenting offers I consider unfair."

I turned to Jessica. "Full price, but she fixes anything terribly wrong found in an inspection, except the shed. We're going to tear it down anyway." I turned to Karen. "I want a full inspection including well and drainage field. If the furnace is in bad shape, I want it replaced. You get the idea."

"You will have to pay for the inspection," Karen said.

"Of course."

"Shouldn't we at least offer something under full price?" Jessica asked.

"It's a cabin," I told her. "There's always something wrong. She's going to have to spend money." I turned to Karen. "It was furnished. Are the furnishings included?"

"If you want them. They aren't worth much, and the owner would donate them to charity if you didn't take them. She doesn't want them, and it would cost her money to haul them away."

"We'll take the furnishings then. So everything on the property is included?"

Karen nodded. "She's already taken away the things that mattered to her."

I turned to Jessica. She asked me, "Are you sure?"

"It's a good price. She'll walk away happy. We'll know we got a solid cabin. We can afford it. And really, how much could we knock off? A few thousand? I promise you she's going to have to spend something. I don't know on what, but something."

"All right," Jessica said. She turned to Karen. "What do you think?"

"I think it's an excellent offer. And Jade is right. Cabins always have something wrong. But this was a house, not just a cabin, and it's in good condition as far as I can tell." She paused. "I'm not an inspector. They always find something."

After that, it was just a matter of doing all the paperwork. It was all automated, but she had to enter the information into the computer, then print it out and go over it with us. We signed everything then she asked for an earnest check.

"Half from each of us, or do you need one earnest check for the entire amount, and we deal with it?"

"Either is fine."

We each pulled out checkbooks and wrote a check.

It was a few minutes short of eleven by the time we wrapped up. "I'll walk over to the selling agent. We could have an answer very quickly."

"We're going to O'Callahan's for lunch," Jessica said. "You could call or stop over there. We'll make sure we're near phones this afternoon."

* * *

Outside, we hugged fiercely. As soon as we were in the car, she hit me with the vibrating plug and kept it going during the three block drive. O'Callahan's was a nice restaurant on the shore of one of the other area lakes. She turned off the plug once we parked. It took me a minute or two to stop panting.

I looked over at her and was about to ask her not to do it again when she hit me with three brief shots. Then she grinned and got out of the car, but she got me once more on the way into the restaurant.

We sat at a table, adjusting the seating so we were sitting at adjacent chairs. I reached under the table and found her hand.

"I can't believe what we're doing," I told her.

"Scared?"

"No."

Then I took her hand out from under the table and set it down on top of the table, resting between us, my fingers wrapped in hers.

"Are you sure about this?"

"You have better judgment about this," I told her. "If this is a bad idea, I won't argue with you. Marcy was concerned about it."

"She's afraid everyone will know I'm gay."

"Yes. Because she knows there are bigots in the world, and she is afraid for you."

"She's afraid of her own reputation."

I sighed before looking at her hands. "Your judgment here, Jessica."

"I don't like hiding, either."

I smiled.

The waitress came over and didn't even acknowledge our hands. We asked for diet soda and asked her what was good.

* * *

Later, when we were just finishing lunch, Karen stepped into the restaurant. I looked up and saw her. I waved, and she walked over, beaming. I immediately took Jessica's hand again.

Karen's first words were, "Congratulations! Your offer has been accepted with no revisions."

Jessica and I began squealing. We stood up, hugged each other, then pulled Karen into the hug. Soon the three of us were squealing together.

Our waitress came by. "Sold another house, Karen?"

"The Benson cabin," she said.

"Oh, I loved old lady Benson," the waitress said. "She used to hold picnics for the young kids, and she helped me learn to read." She turned to us. "You take care of that house."

"We will."

She left us our bill. Jessica handed her a credit card. We turned to Karen. "Is there a banker in town that wants our business?"

"If you don't mind a little nepotism. It's my mother."

We laughed. "So she'll be motivated to make the sale happen. Call her," I said.

"I already did. She's expecting us when your lunch is done."

We finished paying our bill and walked out, Jessica and I holding hands. "We can ride together or you can follow me," Karen said.

"We can walk. It's two blocks," Jessica said. "And it's a nice day."

"I would rather drive," I said.

"Don't be a pansy, Jade. You need to walk that stiffness off."

We got a block before I asked, "Will your mother mind if we're holding hands?"

"No," she said. "When I said 'no one knows' earlier, that wasn't fully accurate, of course. My mother knows. She loves Lydia and has been telling me for two years to stop screwing around and let her make an honest woman of me."

We got to the bank. Karen held the door for us then introduced us to her mother, Linda. We all went into a conference room. Karen gave her mother a bunch of paperwork then said, "Call me when you're done here."

Linda took all our information and ran a credit and background check in front of us. We were there for an hour. "I am going to submit this to underwriting," she said. "We will order an appraisal. The tax value is greater than what you paid. Underwriting is going to approve this. We're a small bank and we don't allow a backlog, so you will have an answer the day after we get our appraiser out there."

"When will that be?"

"No later than Monday. Perhaps as early as today. "

"Oh, I could grow to love small towns," I said.

She laughed. "June isn't a good fishing month or the answer might have been longer."

"So we can close, when?"

"Late next week, if there aren't any problems. There is no title company in town though. We usually use one in Walker, but we can use one in the cities if you insist."

Moving Forward

"Take me," I told her. "Right here on our new bed."

"Our new old bed," she said, sitting on it. "We're replacing this bed with something a little better."

I laughed. "You mean something with more places to tie me."

"Isn't that what I said?"

"Take me, Jessica. Now."

"If you take that tone with me, you know what's going to happen."

"Yes, you'll do things to me that make you want you even more."

She laughed then pulled me into her arms and began kissing me.

She took me. Three times. But she got two orgasms of her own.

Later we sat on our chairs on our deck looking across our lawn at our lake. I turned to her. "Jessica, I love you."

"I love you, Jade."

We held hands, and I brought my chair closer to hers so I could lay my head on her shoulder.

It was late afternoon on the first Friday in July. Our closing had gone extremely quickly, surprisingly so. The daughter in California had paid to fix a few things, but the cabin had been in very good shape. She had even hired a handyman to install the dock in the water for us. We had gotten a good deal, but the daughter was pleased, too.

We weren't quite exactly opposite the lake from Marcy's place, but we could see her dock. I looked over and there was motion.

"Marcy and Jon are up?"

"I didn't expect them this early," she said. "They must have taken the day off work."

We watched as their pontoon boat pulled away from the dock. Then the ski boat did, too. Both boats headed in our direction. When they got closer, we could see Jon and the girls in the pontoon boat, and Marcy was driving the ski boat. They came to an idle off the end of our dock.

"Well?" Jon yelled. "Going to help us dock?"

We got up and ran down. Jon came in first. "You need bumpers," He said. "I brought ours, but you need your own."

The girls started squealing and ran to their aunt, but then Laura ran to me instead. Soon we each were holding a squirming girl, and Jon was left to tie his boat up. He turned to Marcy, who pulled the motorboat in.

"Both boats?"

"We're leaving the pontoon with you," Jon said. "It's yours now. I have the title with me."

We set the girls down and accepted hugs from Jon. Then Marcy joined us on the dock, and we got hugs from her.

"I want a tour now," Marcy said.

I took her hand and pulled her to shore. "I need to talk to you about the boat."

"No you don't," she said. "Jon and I agreed. It's a gift. You are not buying it. Unless you don't want it."

"Are you kidding? I love that boat!"

"Have you made love on it yet?"

I immediately began blushing.

"Jon and I have, too. He was scandalized. Do not tell his sister. He would be mortified. His parents were staying with us, and we don't get much opportunity with the girls always around, so I told him to take me for a midnight trip. We got out to the middle and did it right out there." She turned around pointed.

I laughed. "That's where we did it," I told her. "Marcy, we're going to be friends, aren't we?"

By now we were on the deck, and I opened the door for her.

"I do hope so," she said.

Suddenly I realized what Jessica and I had been doing. "Oh shit. Keep the girls outside for a minute."

"Why?"

"We weren't expecting company. And we've already broken in the bed."

She began laughing. "Go take care of it."

I ran to the bedroom, finding all the toys. I couldn't find one. It had fallen under the bed. I stuffed everything away and into the closet, making sure the bag was locked.

When I came back out, Jessica caught my eye and smiled.

After that we gave them the tour. Jon seemed very impressed. Then we told him our plans, and that got him going.

"What do you need?" Marcy said. "It looks well equipped, but there's always something."

"Firewood," I said. "There must be someone in town that can sell us some."

"It's not always dry," Jon said. "We'll give you some, but you'll need to have some delivered. I'll wander around and make a list. Do you have paper?"

"Yes."

Then, with two children in tow, Jon and Jessica started wandering around, Jon making notes.

"We have tea or diet soda," I offered to Marcy.

"A diet soda would be great," she said. I got two from the refrigerator, and we stepped out onto the deck. We sat down together.

"It's a lovely cabin, and I'm glad you're so close," Marcy said.

"We weren't sure you would be."

"I know. Jessica and I don't seem to communicate very well. Everything I say comes out the wrong way. I know it's half my fault. I love my sister-in law, Jade."

"She thinks you're a homophobe."

"She does not."

"She's absolutely convinced of it."

We sat quietly for a while. "If it weren't for all the memories growing up, I might like your cabin more than mine."

"They are both nice."

"Yes, they are." She paused. "I would like you to come to dinner tonight."

"That would be lovely. Can we bring anything?"

"I will make you a deal," she said, patting my hand.

"All right."

"I am a control freak about meals. If ever I want you to bring something, I will tell you. You don't have to ask."

I laughed. "My mother would berate me endlessly if I didn't ask. I'm not sure I can bring myself to forego asking. Maybe we should bring some wine."

"Actually, normally that would be lovely, but not this time."

"Are you pregnant?"

She laughed. "Yes, and it drives me insane if everyone else is drinking and I can't. Please don't tell anyone. I haven't told anyone, not even Jon. It's only three weeks, and I only know because I'm usually regular as clockwork. I'm going to tell Jon tonight. We'll tell Jessica and the girls tomorrow."

"Another girl?"

"I won't know for a while. I hope it's a boy for Jon, but he loves our girls, and if we have a third girl, he'll be very happy."

The girls came racing around the corner of the cabin and ran down to the lake, Jon and Jessica following more slowly.

"Jon is in heaven over this," she said. "I don't let him do much to our cabin. I want it to stay just the way I remembered it from growing up. He's allowed to do maintenance, but I won't let him change anything. He's going to take his handyman urges out on your place. And you wouldn't believe the boat he's planning." She paused. "We'll want to borrow this one occasionally, but he'll finish our new one over the winter."

"Of course."

Shortly after that, we watched Jon give the pad of paper to Jessica, and the two adults and two scampering children headed back towards the cabin.

"We just stopped by briefly," Marcy said, getting up. "We know you have a lot to do. There are several other rooms to break in."

I laughed and blushed.

"It would be nice to spend tomorrow together," she said. "We can picnic on the boat, and we can teach you to ski."

"We can arrange times over dinner. I suspect Jon gave us a shopping list."

"He did," Jessica said, stepping up. She kissed me briefly.

"We're invited to dinner," I told her. "What time, Marcy?"

"Five would be nice," she said. "Dress is exceedingly casual. An after dinner swim would be lovely."

"We'll be there."

* * *

We drove the boat over at five and sat drinking ice tea and talking while Jon grilled dinner. Over dinner, Marcy said, "We have a huge favor to ask."

"You've never asked me for a favor before," Jessica said.

"First I have to ask, how long are you up?"

"We took next week off."

"So did we," Marcy said. "We were wondering if you would like a couple of small house guests for a few of the nights. I know it's a huge imposition, but I would really like it if tonight were one of them."

Jessica stared at her. "You would let me babysit?"

Marcy looked her straight in the eye. "Jessica, the only reason I never let you babysit was because I never trusted your girlfriends around my daughters."

"They would never have hurt them!"

"No of course not," she said. "That's not what I meant. But every single one of them was a user. Not a single one of them was good enough for you. Some of them smoked. There was that one who I swear was, um. Under the influence all the time. There wasn't a single one I would trust with my child's safety. That has changed."

Jessica stared at her.

"Jessica, I love you to pieces, and none of them was good enough for you. Do you hear me?"

I saw tears begin to collect in her eyes. I thought about comforting her, but this was between her and Marcy.

"I thought you hated me."

"And you also thought I hated your lifestyle."

Jessica nodded.

"I did. Your lifestyle involved untrustworthy women who used you badly. I didn't like that at all. Jade is the only woman you've introduced me to that was worthy of you."

I smiled and nodded to Marcy. She returned the gesture.

"I could have come over alone to babysit."

"I tried that once. Some girlfriend showed up at the last minute, and you brought her with."

"You could have told me."

"I know. For that, I am sorry. I should have."

"What about the cabin? I had to grovel to use it."

"No you didn't. You thought you did, and it's understandable why. Jessica, you are the only person who I have let borrow it since I bought it from my grandparent's estate. I don't even let my brother use it unless I'm here. I can't stand the idea of anyone going through my stuff. I'm a control freak. We know that. But I let you use it and no one else. Every time you ask, I freak. Someone is going to be going through my stuff. Moving things. Making messes. Then I remember, hey, it's Jessica, and she'll take care of it. That's why I react the way I do. I'm sorry, I can't help it."

"Mommy's a freak!" said Dawn. "Mommy's a freak!"

Marcy turned to her daughter. "Mommy is a control freak. And Mommy will control freak you right to bed without dessert if you don't say it properly."

I had to slap my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing.

"And the ski boat?"

"The ski boat is broken half the time. I hate that boat, and we're selling it this fall and buying one I don't hate. I don't want you going out on the lake and having it break without knowing how to fix it."

Jessica stared at her sister in law, and I saw the tears begin to slide down her cheeks. "I thought you hated me."

Marcy stood up, walked to Jessica, and pulled her into a hug. The two of them held each other like that, and I saw Marcy whispering into Jessica's ear.

Jon looked over at me and mouthed the word, "Thank you."

I shrugged. I hadn't done anything.

Finally they separated, but they held hands while sitting down. "We'd love to have munchkins overnight, whenever you want."

"Don't say that or you'll never have any alone time," Marcy said, laughing. "But tonight would be great, and maybe Monday or Tuesday. We'll see after that."

"Slumber party at our cabin tonight, girls," Jessica said to her nieces.

The two girls looked at Jessica then at Marcy. "Really, Mommy?"

"Yes, really," she said.

"Can we make s'mores?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, honey," Jessica said. "But only a few."

"Four."

"Two."

"Three."

"Two. Each. And you can help make them for Jade and me."

"Okay," Dawn said.

Marcy said, "Bring them back for breakfast. We can all have breakfast here, then you can borrow Jon for that shopping list. Jade and I already arranged a picnic for tomorrow, so I expect you back here and ready to party on your new boat by eleven."

* * *

That night, after the girls had finally settled into sleep, Jessica and I climbed into our own bed.

"Having girls is hard!" she said.

"They are darlings."

"Jade, did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make her talk to me?"

"Nope. That was all her."

We cuddled together in our bed, wrapped together and facing each other. "This is our place now," I told her. "I want a rocking chair for two for the deck."

She laughed. "Tomorrow night we're taking the boat out again. I have another fantasy."

"I will not wear naughty adult toys around your family. Never. Do not ask. Period. Do you hear me?"

"We'll see," she said.

* * *

"Jade, are you awake?"

"Yes, Jessica."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

"Jade, are you awake?"

"No."

"Mine."

"Yours."

"Do you know what a forever collar is?"

* * *

"Jade, are you awake."

"Jessica, stop that. The girls are right next door."

"Then you better not make very much noise."

* * *

I'd never been so happy.

About the author:

Julia P. Lynde lives and works in the American mid-west.

Julia is older than most of the characters in her books. She has blue eyes and grey hair. She enjoys hiking in the mountains (difficult to do in the mid-west) and hosting dinner parties.

Julia can be reached via email as julia.p.lynde@gmail.com.

Julia's other works include:

Novels

Rewind:

Emerging from traumatic events of her past, Shane is left dealing with newfound self-revelations until she seeks help from an unexpected quarter.

Veronica is a stunning and powerful businesswoman who knows what she wants and lives for the seduction involved in getting it.

Complicated doesn't begin to describe the results.

Rewind features graphic sex between consenting women and some light BDSM.

Pulled to the Dark: The Siriena Series Volume 1:

Felicia Conner begins having recurring dreams of the woman who gave her a great new job. Night after night, Petra appears in her dreams. Petra begins to teach Felicia the wonders of the dream world she inhabits while Felicia begins to wonder how she can have such lifelike dreams night after night.

Petra welcomes Felicia to the world of Siriena, where the world may just very well be as it seems.

This complete novel of 95,000 words contains swords, magic, intriguing characters, an easy-to-hate villain and graphic sex scenes between Felicia and Petra.

Novellas

Unwilling

Alexandra and Melissa are coworkers who entirely hate each other, each for her own reasons. One Friday night, Melissa desperately needs Alex to save Melissa's job.

Alex gives Melissa an offer: be her servant for a month or join the unemployment line, believing Melissa would rather take her chances than bow to Alexandra. Instead, Melissa accepts.

This 30,000 word novella (about 100 printed pages) features domination, submission, bondage, and just a touch of some hot sex.

Shorts

Bound in Arrogance

"You wouldn't last two hours of my attention," Penny told me, turning it into a wager. Foolishly, I rose to the bait.

Bound in Arrogance features Veronica and Penny several years prior to the events in Rewind. It features light BDSM.

Emily's Gift

Succubus Volume 1

Emily's daughter has taken a bad path, and Emily turned to the fae succubus, Anita, for her own brand of help.

This short story of 9400 words features intriguing characters and some steamy female on succubus sex.

Snow Bound

First in the 5-part Snow Bound Series.

After a near experience with a deer, Allison is pulled from her car by Sarah, troubled twenty-five-year-old photographer. Sarah drives Allison to Allison's secluded cabin on a lake, where the two become snow bound.

Allison finds Sarah deeply attractive. Will Sarah's troubled past interfere with a possible future?

This short of 10,000 words contains graphic sex, light bondage, domination, and a mind game or two.

Holiday Escort

Madeline Burnet is out of work after ten years as the highly-skilled personal assistant to the owner of a luxury travel agency. During a job interview, she meets Karen Green. The job requires skills Madeline doesn't have, but Karen offers an unexpected alternative arrangement.

She needs a fake girlfriend to help her get through the holiday season. Madeline's affections are not aligned towards women, but she accepts for the money and the chance to make more contacts.

It turns out that being a fake girlfriend can be a very confusing job.

Holiday Escort is a delightful tale involving two very different women. This story is sure to bring pleasure to the reader.

Northern Proposals

Copyright 2013 by Julia P. Lynde

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

* * *

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.