by Amy DeMeritt
“Morning, baby. I like you wrapped in my sheet like that.”
“Is that why I couldn’t find my clothes? Did you hide them from me?” She laughs and shakes her head. “You just didn’t look hard enough. I folded them and placed them on the nightstand next to you.”
“How’s the book coming along?”
“I’m on chapter fifteen. Just let me finish this page and then I’m all yours.”
“Ok.”
I move over to the other side of the couch to give her room so she can concentrate. Bailey has made great progress on the novel she’s writing. I’ve been reading each chapter as she finishes it, and I’m in rapture with each new page that I read. It’s such a beautiful book. She has already started the publication process by securing an agent and has a publisher very interested in signing a contract with her to print the book.
After a few minutes, Bailey exhales in a relieved way and then sets her laptop down on the coffee table. She turns, almost completely, to face me, and asks, “So, what do you have in mind for today?”
“Well, I was thinking we could go over to Naomi’s later to see her and the baby. But I have an appointment at noon today that I was hoping you’d go with me to.” Bailey looks concerned and asks, “What kind of an appointment?”
“With my tattoo artist.” Bailey smiles really big and moves closer to me. “You’re getting another tattoo? What is it? Where are you getting it?”
I smile and stand up. I retrieve the little sketch I did out of my purse and hand it to her. She unfolds the paper and gasps.
“Piper, this is beautiful. Is this us?” I nod my head and sit down next to her. She looks at the sketch again and then looks in my eyes with tears in hers. “You seriously are going to give me a permanent mark on your body?”
“You accepted the challenge to earn this mark over eight months ago. I think it’s actually a few months overdue, to be honest.”
Bailey smiles really big and presses her lips against mine. When she pulls back, she asks, “Where are you getting it?”
I smile and turn my back to her. I let the sheet drop to reveal my upper back to her. “I am thinking, just below the base of the neck, between my shoulders. What do you think?”
Bailey presses her hand to the spot and then presses her lips against it. She trails kisses up my neck and wraps her arms around me. “Piper, this spot is perfect. You are perfect. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. Do you like the design?” She kisses my neck, just below my ear, and then pulls on my shoulder to turn me around. When I’m facing her, she pulls me into a very passionate kiss.
“I love the design. I don’t think I could have thought of anything better than this.”
I actually had thought of the tattoo several months ago when Bailey took me into the woods to visit her grandmothers old story garden for the first time. We have since been back there several times, and each time we enter the little clearing in the woods, this same image comes back in my mind. I knew after the third trip there that I would be getting this for her.
That first day back to see that spot in the woods, Bailey had called me her field of daffodils – her daily renewal. I felt from the start of our relationship that Bailey was becoming my water – my safety and comfort. And very quickly, I felt like Bailey was helping to write new chapters in my book of me. So, the tattoo I designed in a combination of those powerful emotions. The tattoo is an open book with blank pages, a yellow daffodil above the book at its centerfold, and water pouring out of the center of the flower over the pages. In the puddle that it creates, words appear on the pages.
Bailey looks at the image again and smiles. She suddenly stands up, reaches for my hands, and pulls me up from the couch.
“I imagine that your skin needs to be clean before you go get this done. How about I help you take a shower?” She is looking at me with so much longing and so much love that I feel like I’m floating as she leads me to her bathroom.
Bailey strips down and turns the shower on before turning to me with a serene smile. She slowly removes the sheet off me and pulls me into the shower with her. When we are under the hot water, she runs her fingers through my hair, and while holding my hair tightly in her fingers, she pulls me into a powerful kiss. I run my hands up her thighs, around her hips, and up her beautiful back. While we kiss, Bailey moves her hands down my back and firmly grips my ass, pulling me in hard against her.
With one hand still on my ass, Bailey massages my breast and kisses and sucks my neck and shoulders. We run our hands and mouths over each other’s bodies while the hot water showers down on us. Steam fills the air and increases the labor of each labored breath I take from the amazing sensations I have coursing through my veins and igniting my nerves like fuses attached to firecrackers.
Just as we both slip a hand between each other’s legs, we both moan and press in closer to each other. Bailey kisses a trail up my neck, and as she inserts two fingers inside me, she coos into my ear, “How much longer are you going to make me wait before you move in here with me?”
Bailey thrusts in hard and presses her thumb against my clit, making me gasp and sway slightly. I breathe out, “I didn’t know you wanted that.” Bailey thrusts her hips against my hand, and thrusts her fingers deep inside me again.
“Piper… oh god… mmm… yes, I want you to move in with me.” She moans loud and leans her head on my shoulder, before breathing in my ear, “We hardly ever sleep apart anymore. There’s really no point to us living apart anymore.”
I smile and pinch her clit, making her moan loudly again. Bailey is saying my own unspoken words I have always thought when the perfect time to move in with someone is. I pull her into a kiss and Bailey inhales deeply. Between gasping breaths, I say, “Ok, let’s do it.” Bailey releases a small laugh and nibbles my bottom lip. “Baby, are you ready? I can’t hold back any longer.”
We both release a loud moan and cling to each other as the ecstasy explodes inside us, leaving us reeling and gasping for air.
Washing our bodies became an afterthought the instant we were in the shower. So, now we quickly wash as the water begins to lose temperature. We rush to beat the slowly increasingly colder shower of water pouring down on us. Just as we are reaching to turn the water off, it turns to ice cold and we both get pelted with the icy water.
We laugh and quickly wrap up in a couple oversized towels and huddle together. Bailey smiles at me and kisses my lips.
“So, did you agree to move in with me because you were at my mercy in the shower, or do you really want to live with me?” I smile and kiss her lips again. “Remember that tattoo I’m getting today?”
Bailey cheeses and pulls me after her to the bedroom so we can get dressed.
While I’m buttoning my jeans, Bailey comes up behind me and gently presses her hand against the spot that am getting our tattoo on. She wraps her arms around me and kisses the side of my neck.
“How long will it be tender for? How long before I can touch it?”
“A few weeks. It will be tender and sore for about a week. Then it will go through a scabbing phase for a couple weeks where it will itch like crazy. The first couple days are the worst. It feels like really bad sunburn and I will have to change bandages a few times a day.”
“I can do that for you if you tell me how. Does it hurt? Getting the tattoo, I mean.” She presses her lips to the spot and kisses it several times.
“It feels different for everyone, but I guess for me it feels kind of like… well, have you ever tried to hand sew something and stick yourself in the finger with the needle? That’s what it feels like. Over and over again. This one will probably be the longest session I’ve sat through because it’s the biggest and most detailed.”
“Are you sure you want to put yourself through that kind of pain for me?”
I turn around to face her and she immediately wraps her arms around my neck.
“It may seem silly or self-mutilating or whatever to some people, but t
his is how I keep the most important people in my life close to me at all times. Getting a tattoo tribute for someone is like making them a permanent part of me. Of course, that already happens by knowing them; they became a part of my mind and my heart. But a visual part of them on my person really just makes that bond even more real for me.”
Bailey pulls me into a kiss and when she pulls back, she says, “I’m going to buy you so many pounds of Himalayan coffee beans. I guess we better finish getting ready and eat something so we aren’t late for your appointment.”
After we finished getting dressed, Bailey makes us some really delicious grilled cheese and ham sandwiches with tomato soup. It’s the middle of winter so this is the perfect meal to warm us up before we head out into the cold.
Since we live in the valley, we actually experience a bit of a break from the winter in comparison to our neighbors in the mountains and on the other sides of them. When the cold moves in, it seems to act like a bit of a ceiling and holds the summer heat down in the valley, extending our warm months. The mountains also act kind of like a shield, limiting the amount of snowfall we receive. While our neighbors may receive six to eight plus inches overnight, we may only receive two.
The downside is that it does the same thing in the spring. The warm air moves in and traps all the cold air from the winter, which creates some amazing fog for a month or two while the temperatures battle each other for the valley territory.
When I was a kid, and my mom explained to me why we have the fog every spring, I always imagined a legion of sun warriors literally battling a swarm of winter cloud yetis, as if they were playing capture the flag with our valley.
It’s actually a pretty nice day out. It’s not too windy, not blistering cold, and there’s no snow on the ground. Bailey insists on driving so that I can be comfortable after I get my tattoo. I laugh to myself a few times while we are on the way to the tattoo parlor because Bailey just looks so conflicted. She appears to be both excited and worried.
When we pull up outside the parlor, Bailey looks at me confused. “Where is this place?” I point to the storefront we are parked directly in front of and her eyebrows rise a little bit, making me laugh. “You were expecting some graffiti and tribal art and rock band posters to be covering every inch of the storefront, weren’t you?”
She laughs and nods her head. “Yeah, actually, that’s exactly what I was picturing.”
“If you’re confused now, wait till you meet Crazy Betty. She’s the artist and she owns the shop. She has a respect for her art like it’s something almost spiritual. Her personality can give you whiplash though if you try to keep up with her.”
“That’s mean to call someone crazy.” I laugh hard and shake my head. “She calls herself that and insists that everyone else do the same. Don’t call her Crazy Betty and she will turn you away. Come on, you’ll see.”
When we get inside, Bailey looks around in awe and giggles to herself. The place looks more like the inside of a spa than a tattoo parlor. The walls are painted white with bamboo accents, live plants scattered throughout, a beautiful rock garden in one corner, and nice comfortable chairs throughout.
Crazy Betty is by appointment only and does not take any walk-ins – at all. She is so good and so popular that it can be months to be able to get an appointment. I have been coming to her since my first tattoo so she usually bends her schedule to accommodate me sooner. I only had to wait two weeks for this appointment.
Before she comes out from behind her bead curtains, some quiet monk-like music comes on and she comes out with a bowl of incense lit and smoking – filling the room with frankincense and myrrh.
“Piper, it is so good to see you again. And you brought a friend to watch?”
Crazy Betty is a very tall slender Chinese woman in her fifties, but she takes such good care of herself and eats so well that she actually looks like she is only in her early thirties. She is an amazing artist, but she is very judicial in tattooing her own body like I am. She has few tattoos and each of them hold some form of meaning. For those reasons, I will not go to any other artist, even if she made me wait a year to get the tattoo I want.
After setting the bowl of incense down on a table next to the chair she will have me sit in to do my tattoo, she comes over and takes both of Bailey’s hands to greet her.
“You have good energy. I like you. What’s your name pretty girl?” Bailey smiles, and answers, “I’m Bailey. I love your studio. It’s very calming being in here.”
Crazy Betty smiles in a mischievous way, and says, “It’s to trick your mind to relax before I start grinding a sharp needle through your flesh. Piper, did you trick me and bring this needle virgin to try and squeeze in two tats in one session? Are you taking advantage of our friendship?”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, Bailey is just here to watch. Actually, the tattoo I’m getting is for her.”
“Yeah? Let’s see it.” I hand her the sketch and she looks it over with a small smile on her face. “I sense deep beautiful meaning here. I approve. Ok, let’s get started, this one will take a while.”
I take my sweater off and Betty has me straddle the massage chair with my face laying in a padded circle. Before she starts, she gives my shoulders, back, and arms a gentle massage to relax my muscles and relax my mind. Then she cleans the area to be tattooed with some rubbing alcohol.
Before she starts with the needle, Betty draws the image on with a marker. After a few minutes, I hear the buzzing of the needle turn on and take a deep breath.
“Happy place now, Piper.”
I smile and start thinking of every possible happy moment and beautiful place – my waterfall in Green Pine forest, Bailey’s face and body, that story garden in the woods, the beach in California, walking through the vineyards hand in hand with Bailey, talking to Bailey, eating with Bailey – there is a lot of Bailey in my catalogue of happy, beautiful moments.
It takes her about an hour to finish the outline. When she finishes, she has me sit up and stretch my neck and drink some water. I take a few gulps of water and then lay forward for her to finish with the color details.
Over an hour later, Betty is cleaning the tattoo and doing final inspections to make sure she is happy with her work.
“Ok, you’re done. I must say, I did a pretty damn good job.”
When I sit up, Betty hands me a hand held mirror and holds one behind my back so I can see her handiwork. I smile really big.
“Wow, its more beautiful than I imagined.” I turn around to look at Bailey to see what she thinks. She is sitting in a chair slightly to the side where she could watch the whole time. She is smiling, but also wiping tears out of her eyes. “What do you think, babe?” She nods her head and clears her throat, before saying, “It’s gorgeous. I love it.”
After we both admire her work for a bit, Betty covers the tattoo with clear plastic and goes through her special care instructions that she always gives, even though I have been through this so many times already. She also gives me a special bottle of lotion that I am to start using after the first week of healing.
When we get back in the car, Bailey gently kisses my lips and takes my hand in hers. “Piper, thank you so much. That was such a beautiful experience and the tattoo turned out amazing. Are you in any pain?”
“A little bit, but it’s worth it. Having you here to watch actually makes the bond this tattoo creates even stronger.”
“I love you, Piper. Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to become a part of you in such an intimate and meaningful way. With each new stroke of the needle on your skin, I felt like the same image was being permanently branded on my heart and mind. It definitely was a very unifying experience.”
“I’m glad, because that was my hope in getting it done – to unite us in a permanently intimate way. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone before, Bailey.”
Bailey pulls me into a beautiful kiss, and when she pulls back, she runs her fingers through my hair smiling. �
��Let’s go home now so I can take care of you.”
About the Author
Amy DeMeritt is a lesbian romance author and poet. Check out her other published works. Love Triumphs Pain is a young adult coming of age romance. And Poems to Sketches is a book of poetry guided sketching exercises.
You can also follow Amy on Twitter @Amy_DeMeritt and check out her website www.AmyDeMeritt.com for news on upcoming novels and blog posts.
Next project, The Perfect Right Hook, will be released soon.
When she was a kid, Jordan’s parents enrolled her in boxing to learn how to defend herself against the bullies that picked on her because of her petite size. As a working adult, Jordan’s no longer facing bullies in the schoolyard, but still hangs onto boxing out of habit. When an enemy from her past shows up in a terrifying way, and is the only person that knows why she can’t remember the day before, Jordan has to do some deep soul searching to remember on her own, or face her enemy in the ring to be given the answers. Trying to learn the truth about her missing time sends Jordan on a journey of self-discovery, learning she is more than just a boxer and a girl that works in IT. With the help of the beautiful and fascinating Alex, Jordan learns the many beauties and wonders in life she has been missing out on and starts to uncover clues to her missing day in her own memory. When she finally learns the truth about what happened to her, will she be able to survive it, or will it destroy her and the beautiful bond that forms between her and Alex?
