Richfield & Rivers Mystery Series 3 - Venus Besieged

by Andrews

  Barrett walked past me, never more than a foot away from Ramona, and whispered, "Got your new story idea—love it. I'll call Jacowitz. It's a much better twist than the alien, and moviegoers adore Hollywood. Two strong women executives...Sigourney, maybe."

  Callie giggled when Barrett was out of earshot. "I knew she'd love it. You can call it Narcissus."

  "Looks like we could be shooting in New York after all." I high-fived Callie when Barrett wasn't looking.

  The morning's activities drawing to a close, I offered to buy Callie lunch, telling her we'd stop at a deli and get a small basket of sandwiches and drinks. We hopped into the Jeep with Elmo in tow and collected our repast from a local gourmet shop, then headed up to the ceremonial site for one last look over the gorgeous land that was Sedona.

  "Do Native Americans believe in astrology?" I asked as we drove.

  Callie said there were books on Native American astrology. "By their chart, I'm born a woodpecker," she said, grinning at me, and I bit my lip to avoid making jokes about her occasional hammering on me. "Do you know what you are?" When I looked blank she said, "The wolf."

  "You're kidding!"

  "Nope, and it might interest you to know that Woodpecker and Wolf together have perfect harmony of heart and soul."

  "What about Woodpecker, Wolf, and Hound?"

  "Magical," Callie said as I parked the car, patted Elmo, and whispered for him to keep an eye out for intruders. Then I took the blanket and a picnic basket and walked up the last fifty yards, invigorated by all that had been accomplished.

  Callie stood on the edge of the plateau, her arm around me, and we let the soft breeze blow over and through and around us.

  "I have something for you." I squeezed her waist.

  "And would that be—wine or cheese?"

  Reaching in my pocket I pulled out a small box and flipped it open. Inside were the matching Indian wedding rings we had tried on together in the store. Callie looked down at the rings and then up at me. I could tell the rings were unexpected.

  "When did you buy these?"

  "When you weren't looking."

  "What does this mean?" she asked, smiling.

  "Whatever you want it to mean," I said, lightly mocking the way she always talked to me.

  "Are you proposing?"

  "I'm proposing we wear matching wedding bands."

  "Even though we don't live together yet."

  "Our hearts live inside one another, our souls were mated eons ago, and our minds are one." I took the smaller ring and slid it onto the fourth finger of her left hand, then handed her the larger ring, extending my hand. She slipped the ring on my finger, and the sensation was one of strength and protection and love. We placed our hands side by side like two wings of a small bird, and the sunlight glinted off the gold and reflected into our eyes and our hearts.

  Callie tilted her head up and kissed me, her arms tightening around my neck, and I grew weak: wet from love, dry from the winds, enveloped in desire. I pulled her down on the blanket I'd arranged, anchored with stones from the ceremonial circle. What could be more fitting than my lover’s bed being anchored by ceremonial rocks?

  "You can't make love to me here on the ground," she whispered.

  "It's been done for centuries," I said, lying on my side facing her.

  "And what if someone comes up here?"

  "Elmo's positioned to watch the trail, and you know he always gives a fifteen-minute warning for approaching visitors. So there's no getting out of this. What better honeymoon than being naked on a Sedona ceremonial plateau high above the gorgeous Native American land? Love is energy, beautiful energy. You either believe it or you don't, so let's see some energy," I teased.

  And with that, Callie Rivers stood up and yanked her clothes off, in seconds standing naked in the wind. I had never seen her look so magnificent, majestic, powerful, as if carved from the great rocks that formed this valley, and I stared at her in awe as the sun streaked across her body and she smiled down at me. "Take off your clothes," she commanded with a twinkle in her eye, and her mere presence shot electrical charges through me.

  I leapt to my feet and stripped faster than a firefighter. "Marry me!" I yelled into the wind, unable to contain myself.

  She knelt on the blanket and I knelt beside her. "I have. I will. I do."

  Amid the mysticism of this sacred place, we made love in a beautifully primal way, inside one another, coupling and uncoupling like the great red stones that come together and pull apart over centuries. And in the heat of passion, our bodies wet and souls throbbing, I caught sight of something blowing over the edge of the mesa, a two-legged kite sailing away.

  "My pants," I panted.

  "You won't be wearing them now, darling," she said and kissed me deeper, and for a moment I wondered if she meant that literally— simply because they'd blown away—or figuratively, because she would be wearing the pants in this relationship.

  But I quickly wiped those earthly thoughts away, because love was all that mattered now—Callie Rivers belonged to me.

  About the Authors

  Andrews & Austin operate several large entertainment business ventures but still find time for one of their biggest passions—writing. Their strong lesbian characters, witty storytelling, and distinctive style derive from years of writing for television and film. Their goal is to help lesbian fiction be appreciated and embraced by everyone. They were 2007 Golden Crown Literary Award winners for debut author with their first work, Combust the Sun.