Recipe for Love

by Aurora Rey

  “Yes. Now. I want you inside me.” Hannah’s demand was breathless but confident.

  Drew eased far enough away to slide a hand between them. Normally, she would have taken a moment to caress, to tease, to allow the woman she was with to acclimate to the intimacy. But Hannah’s eyes locked on hers. The need reflected in them was urgent, both a challenge and a command.

  Drew slid her fingers into Hannah’s wetness. The silky heat of her threatened to snap the thread of Drew’s self-control. She circled her clit once, twice, before moving down. She pressed one finger into Hannah, felt Hannah clench around her.

  “More.” Hannah’s voice was ragged, but no less demanding.

  Drew swallowed the wave of arousal that swelled up and threatened to pull her under. She obliged, adding her index finger to the one already inside. She turned her hand, curling her fingers slightly each time she pulled out. She shifted, bringing herself to more of a kneeling position. She needed to see Hannah’s face. She wanted to watch Hannah’s body pull her in over and over again.

  She used her new vantage point to graze her free hand over Hannah’s breasts. She moved the hand down Hannah’s torso and into the patch of light brown curls. She pressed her thumb to Hannah’s clit, gently at first.

  Hannah arched into her and groaned. “Harder.”

  Drew smiled. Clearly, she should have taken Hannah’s assertion about not being gentle to heart. She increased the pressure of her thumb, but also the force behind each thrust. The undulations of Hannah’s body became less fluid. She rose to meet Drew’s hand, swallowing Drew’s fingers each time. She was fine letting Hannah call the shots, especially since it was their first time, but a little voice in Drew’s mind told her not to. “Can you handle one more?”

  Hannah’s movements stilled for a moment, her eyes opened. Drew could literally get lost in those eyes. Hannah didn’t speak. She merely nodded.

  Drew shifted her hand again to accommodate the addition. Hannah’s body took her in, expanding and then contracting around her fingers. She could feel Hannah’s pulse, feel each curve and contour. Drew swallowed and closed her eyes for a second, not wanting to show just how in awe she was.

  Hannah began to move again, breaking the weird spell that threatened to overwhelm Drew’s emotions. She started to moan with each thrust of Drew’s hand. Drew focused her attention on Hannah’s body, her pleasure. She returned her thumb to Hannah’s clit, circling it in time with the movement of her fingers. Hannah’s hands fisted in the sheet, her noises became louder and more urgent. Drew continued to push her, wanting her to come, but not wanting the moment to end.

  When Hannah’s whole body arched, Drew pushed into her one final time and held her there. The way Hannah contracted around her, the flood of liquid heat that poured from her, sent an arrow straight through Drew’s body, lodging between her legs. It was exquisite and left Drew in an almost painful state of arousal.

  Drew slowly eased her hand away, sending a tingling rush of blood and sensation back to her fingers. She let her gaze linger on Hannah’s body—long, lean, and with the tan lines of someone who worked outdoors. “Damn, that was hot.”

  Hannah’s eyes fluttered open. She smiled in a way that reminded Drew of a contented cat, basking in the sun. “It really was.”

  Drew dropped onto the bed next to her, aching with need but content to lie together for a moment. She expected Hannah to take a while to recover, but she almost immediately rolled over, draping herself across Drew’s body. Drew tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Hi.”

  “Hi, yourself.” Hannah leaned in and kissed her, slower than before, but with plenty of heat to it. “I’m going to do my best to reciprocate that, but I just want to state for the record it’s a tall order.”

  She laughed, enjoying the compliment implied in the assertion. “It’s not a competition.”

  “Says the chef who I’m pretty sure is competitive about everything.”

  Before she could respond, Hannah propped herself up and wrapped her mouth around one of Drew’s nipples. Given her already turned-on state, her response was immediate and intense. “Fuck.”

  Hannah gave her a devilish grin. “And this time, it’s my turn.”

  Without further discussion or warning, Hannah slid her hand down Drew’s body and between her legs. Drew couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so aroused. Her whole body bucked.

  Hannah’s mouth was at her ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.” She nipped Drew’s lobe. “At least at first.”

  Drew let her head fall back. She laughed again. And then she let Hannah take charge.

  That’s exactly what she did. Hannah straddled one of Drew’s thighs, reminding her just how hot and wet she was. And then she played Drew’s body like an instrument, winding her tighter and higher than Drew thought possible. Not aggressive, but confident. More force than Drew was accustomed to, but in a good way. Hannah managed to make her feel strong without giving up an ounce of control.

  Drew came with a force she felt all the way to the tips of her fingernails. The orgasm exploded from her and left her quaking. But instead of easing her down, Hannah started again. She was gentler this time, but there was no mistaking her intention.

  Drew was about to tell her she rarely came twice in such a short span. Her body, it seemed, had other ideas. It was as though Hannah knew her better than she knew herself.

  Lazy strokes that avoided her hypersensitive center, teasing around her opening without pressing inside. Before she knew it, Drew was moving with her, wanting more. Hannah shifted, touching her more directly, easing fingers into Drew. Her pace quickened. Drew followed her lead, letting her body trust where they were going.

  The second orgasm rocked her more slowly, deeply. It emanated from her core in a pulsing wave, more bass notes than treble. It left her sweaty, breathless, and exposed.

  Hannah crawled up the bed, kissed her lightly. “That was even better than I imagined, and I’ve been imagining it a lot.”

  Drew chuckled weakly. “I think you’ve melted my bones. I can’t move.”

  “Perfect.” Hannah grabbed the sheet and draped it over them both.

  “I…” Drew trailed off. She wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what.

  “Same.” Hannah settled herself into the curve of Drew’s arm.

  Drew glanced out the window. Venus and a few stars dotted the sky, but the last bit of daylight still clung to the horizon. “It’s not even dark yet.”

  Hannah lifted her head. “Close enough. Especially since we have to get up at five.”

  Five. Right. Because she was dating a farmer and it was the middle of summer and farmers got up at five. “You’re right. Close enough.”

  Despite the early hour and the dusky sky, despite the tickle of worry over just how powerful a hold Hannah seemed to have over her, she slid quickly toward sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Not only did Hannah bound out of bed at five in the morning, she seemed completely happy about it. Despite the early bedtime, Drew wasn’t able to muster anything close to her level of enthusiasm. It rubbed off a little, though, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen such a beautiful sunrise. Hannah headed off to the farm and Drew went home. Although tempted to crawl back into bed for a couple of hours, she decided to start her day. She might regret it come the eight o’clock dinner rush, but she’d powered through worse before.

  Instead of taking a shower, she mixed up an iced coffee and changed into work clothes. Once outside, she tackled the weeds in the small garden where she’d planted herbs. After that, she fired up the little push mower that came with her place and gave the lawn some attention. She showered, dressed, and was still on her way to the farm an hour earlier than usual. Maybe getting up early wasn’t all bad.

  No sign of Hannah in the barn, but her sister was there, at the register and tapping away on her computer. “Hi, Clare.”

  Clare looked up and offered her a wide smile. “Hey, Drew.”


  “How’s summer treating you?”

  “Really good.” Clare blushed, but Drew wasn’t sure why. “Hannah said to tell you there are some boxes ready for you in the back, but to take whatever else you want and just have me write it down.”

  “Cool. Thanks.” She tried to ignore the stab of disappointment that Hannah might be avoiding her.

  “She also told me to tell you she’s sorry she missed you, but she’s at a farm equipment auction in Hector.”

  Drew chuckled. She’d had women avoid her in the past, but that particular reason might be a first. And in truth, it didn’t even count as avoiding since Hannah probably had no control over the timing of it. That made her feel considerably better. “I wonder what she’s hoping to buy.”

  “She said something about a post digger for the three point hitch.”

  “Sure, sure.” Drew nodded, then shrugged. “I have no idea what that means.”

  Clare laughed. “It’s an attachment for the tractor.”

  “Right. Of course.” Like a whole new language. “Okay, I’m going to go see what she’s got for me.”

  She headed to the back and found two flats of tomatoes, one of peppers and summer squash, and a bin filled with spinach and other greens. She carried them out to her car and loaded them, then returned to the barn. She perused the other offerings and decided on green beans and some cucumbers. She brought them to Clare to have them weighed and recorded.

  “So, how are things?” Clare asked.

  If Drew didn’t know better, she’d have thought Clare knew what she and Hannah had been up to the night before. Technically, she supposed that was possible, but for some reason, it didn’t seem like Hannah’s style to kiss and tell. At least with her little sister. “Great. Hard not to love summer, right?”

  Clare beamed. “Totally. So, what are you making today?”

  She ran down a few of the dishes she’d made regulars on the menu, a couple of things she had in mind for specials. Clare made noises of approval and Drew got the distinct feeling she was fishing for something. “Do you like to cook?”

  Clare shrugged, but her face was anything but disinterested. “Yeah, but I don’t know how to do anything fancy.”

  Drew chuckled. “Who are you trying to impress?”

  As soon as the question was out of Drew’s mouth, Clare blushed furiously. “Uh, no one.”

  Drew didn’t know her well enough to tease, so she lifted both hands in apology. “Just kidding. Wanting to learn is a good enough reason. You don’t need to impress anyone.”

  To her credit, Clare recovered quickly. “Maybe if I offer to do some advertising for you, you’ll agree to give me a lesson.”

  She would have agreed even without the offer of a trade, because she was Hannah’s sister, but also because she had a soft spot for teenagers who thought cooking was cool. “Deal.”

  Clare nodded and went back to totaling the order. “Let me know when you have time. I’m pretty flexible.”

  “How about Wednesday afternoon?” It was one of the slower days at the restaurant and probably one of the less busy days at the farm stand, too.

  “That would be awesome.”

  “Can you come around two? We’ll just be starting dinner prep and I can show you a few basic techniques, then we can make a dish. Any requests?”

  Clare shook her head. “Everything you make is great.”

  She couldn’t wait to tell Hannah about this development, not because it would earn her points. No, she had a feeling Hannah would know the why—or perhaps the who—of what made Clare blush. “I’ll surprise you then. Tell Hannah I said hi, okay?”

  “I will.”

  The knowing look was back. Maybe Clare did know about Hannah and her. Or maybe she simply knew that Hannah liked Drew, that they’d had a date or two. For some reason, that made her happy. “I’ll see you Wednesday. Are you good to drive yourself?”

  “I am. Thanks. I’m going to post stuff on our channels, but if you want to get the info from Nick, I can put them on Fig’s, too.”

  It took Drew a second to process what she meant. She wasn’t clueless when it came to social media, but she probably didn’t give it the attention she should. “Sounds good.”

  A couple of women with kids came in and Drew took that as her cue to leave. She picked up the rest of her produce and offered Clare a wave. She headed to the restaurant, disappointed still that she hadn’t seen Hannah but glad to have had the chance to chat with Clare. She didn’t put a lot of stock in scoring points or palling it up with the family of women she dated, but in this case, it felt natural. Nice, even. Maybe this was just one more way life was different upstate.

  * * *

  Hannah got back from the auction, equal parts relieved and disappointed to have missed Drew. She was also the proud owner of an auger, which would make building and maintaining fences a hell of a lot easier. Clare was full of stories about her morning, including a group of tourists who didn’t speak English but bought one of everything and her planned cooking lesson with Drew.

  “Since when are you interested in cooking?” She was pretty sure it had something to do with Kristen, but she wanted Clare to own it.

  “I’ve always been interested.”

  She looked at Clare blandly, but didn’t say anything.

  It didn’t take long for Clare to get squirmy. “Kristen said something about learning from her dad. I love mom’s cooking and all, and I’ve learned plenty from her, but it’s just not the same.”

  Hannah nodded slowly. “And are you hoping to have the chance to show off your new skills? Maybe the next time you and Kristen hang out?”

  Clare winced. “That’s dumb, isn’t it? Her dad owns a restaurant. Why would she be impressed by something I made?”

  “I think it’s the fact that you went to the trouble that will impress her.”

  “Yeah.” Clare looked relieved for a second, then horrified. She must have realized the reassurance meant Hannah was on to her.

  “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

  “It’s not like there’s anything to tell,” Clare said quickly.

  “Maybe there will be and maybe there won’t be. It’s cool either way.”

  Clare nodded sheepishly. “Thanks.”

  “Do you have things under control here? I’ve got morning chores to make up and then I need to get things together for the CSA bins.”

  “I’m good. I updated all the signs with the price list you gave me and restocked from the back. I also did a fresh crop alert for the last wave of strawberries.”

  Hannah grinned at her. “You keep this up and I’m going to have to give you a raise.”

  “I’m going to remember you said that.”

  She left Clare to run the stand and headed out to the fields. They’d had a ton of rain in the last week, leaving her crops happy but everything else a muddy mess. She mucked through pruning tomato plants, then went to check on the orchard. After a late freeze had decimated her peaches the year before, it gave her an extra thrill to see the branches laden with fruit. They needed a couple more weeks, but the harvest would be a good one.

  She checked on Jeremiah, who’d managed to do most of the harvesting she had planned. That meant she could get an early start on the CSA bins. She set up twenty plastic totes on the table in her storeroom, pausing to make a list of what she wanted to include before she began filling them. She’d just finished gathering things when Jenn poked her head in. Hannah smiled. “Hey, you.”

  “I left work early so I’d be sure I caught you. Tell me everything.”

  “I made her dinner and then I took her to bed.”

  Jenn shook her head slowly. “I can’t believe it.”

  Hannah made a face. “What do you mean you can’t believe it? You’ve been telling me to go for it for weeks.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t think you were going to listen to me. You’re very stubborn.”

  Hannah crossed her arms. “I am not.”

&n
bsp; Jenn raised a brow.

  “Okay, maybe a little.”

  Still, Jenn said nothing.

  “Maybe more than a little. But I’m not unreasonable. Drew and I have chemistry. It was silly to pretend that didn’t exist.”

  “Even if you disliked her on principle.”

  “Dislike is a strong word.” Why was she being so contrary? She’d had an amazing time with Drew, wanted to repeat it sooner rather than later. If anything, she should be gloating. “But you’re right. I was hesitant at first. Thank you for giving me a nudge. It was beyond worth it.”

  It was Jenn’s turn to fold her arms. “That’s more like it. So, it was good, huh?”

  Just thinking about Drew sent a ripple of arousal through her. “Yeah. Really, really good.”

  “So, are you dating? Like, officially?” Jenn looked incredulous.

  Hannah shrugged. “I’m not sure why you find that surprising.”

  “I know.” Jenn’s brows furrowed. “I don’t know why either.”

  “You’re the one who told me to be decisive,” she said as she packed up the bins. She circled the large table, adding a pulp basket of green beans to each one.

  Jenn lifted a finger. “Hey, now. I did not tell you what to do. I would never tell you what to do.”

  Hannah smiled. Jenn was right, which was one of the reasons they got along so well. “You didn’t. But you did point out that I was being indecisive, which is out of character for me.”

  “That, I’ll take.”

  Hannah pointed to a large bin of bell peppers. “Would you put two of those in each bin?”

  “Sure.” Jenn hefted the bin and followed behind her. “You still didn’t answer my question.”