Author: Chris Cook
Rating: NC-17
Copyright: Based on characters from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon and his talented minionators, and Diablo II by Blizzard Entertainment. All original material is copyright 2003 Chris Cook.

Willow awoke to conflicting sensations. Tara was pressed up against her, her legs curled in behind Willow's, her arm draped lovingly over Willow's waist, and her hand once again softly cupping Willow's breast. This time, though, there was no robe between them, so Willow felt not only the satisfying, arousing touch of Tara's palm over her naked breast, but also practically every inch of their bodies in contact with each other, Tara's briefs and Willow's supremely minimalist underwear counting for nothing in that regard. It was the kind of awakening that angels would pray for.

On the other hand, she had a pounding headache, and when she opened her eyes she found that even the small amount of sunlight filtering through the shutters was too much. She winced involuntarily, which caused Tara to stir in her sleep.

"Beautiful Willow..." Tara murmured, as if she had held that same thought in her mind since the night before. "Mmm... morning," she added.

Willow tried to say 'morning', but what came out was more like "Mmmrrrgh." She took a deep breath and tried to sort out her vocal cords.

"You okay?" Tara mumbled, tightening her embrace.

"Got a demon in my head with a mallet," Willow complained in a hoarse voice.

"Poor baby," Tara said. "Would this demon be called 'hangover' by any chance?"

"Maybe," Willow grumbled, tilting her head as much as she dared to get a glimpse of Tara.

"I'll kiss it better," Tara whispered, lifting her head slightly to brush her lips against Willow's forehead. At the same time she squeezed Willow's breast gently, bringing a smile to Willow's lips and making her give voice to a tiny moan. Her headache beat a hasty retreat, and suddenly she felt a lot better about waking up.

"I don't think there's a demon in there," she said in a sly tone as Tara's hand continued to gently massage her breast.

"Oh," said Tara, feigning disappointment, "so you don't want me to kiss it better?"

"I love you," Willow said immediately, without even thinking about it. Tara kissed the back of her neck, then teased her ear with the tip of her tongue.

"I love you too," she whispered, the touch of her breath in Willow's ear making her shudder. "About that kiss...?" she added, before closing her lips around Willow's earlobe and sucking it gently.

"Ahhh," Willow sighed, but she hesitated before answering.

"What's the matter?" Tara asked gently, ceasing her teasing of Willow's ear. Willow heard the slight anxiety in her voice, and suddenly nothing was as important as reassuring her, letting her understand she had not done anything wrong, and as far as Willow was concerned could never do anything wrong. Tara's eyes were wide and searching as Willow turned in her embrace, facing her.

"I love you so much," she assured her, "and I love everything you do to me, everything we've done, I- the way you make me feel, everything. And, gods, the way you drive me wild, it's amazing. It's just, that's kind of it, I lose control, a-and it kind of feels like you do too... not that I don't like that! I love it, I promise, the way you- it feels like you need me so badly, like I need you, and... I'm just worried if we get like that, a-and we get, you know, so excited, um, we might, you know... go too far? Not that I don't want to, I-I do, so much, it's just that, when we... when we..." she hesitated.

"When we make love," Tara said quietly. Willow beamed at her suddenly.

"When we make love," she repeated, "yeah... um, I want it to be... this is going to sound so dumb," she said shyly, "I want it to be perfect. And I know it's going to be totally new whatever happens, and so, you know, probably a fair bit of fumbling around and figuring things out, a-and I kind of don't mind that, you know? Like, that's all part of it, a-and part of the experience, and I'm going to love it, I'm so sure... but right now, everything's so new, just touching you is... I-I get shivers, I know I don't always show it, but it's so... new," she finished with a little shrug.

"I-I understand," Tara said warmly.

"I just want to get... well, not used to you," Willow interrupted herself, "I don't think I'll ever get used to you, you know? Like, I'm always going to feel a bit like it's the first time when I touch you, a-and I think that's so great... I just think, maybe, in a little time - not too much time, of course - I'll be a bit more, you know, confident. So, I just don't want things to go too fast just yet. Do you get that? Is that okay?" she finished, looking at Tara with eyes that were almost pleading.

"Oh Willow," Tara said, her anxiety laid to rest, at once now intent on reassuring Willow, and finding her utterly adorable at the same time. "Of course it's okay, I-I'd do anything for you, and I-I understand, I feel the same way... I want it to be perfect too. It will be," she promised Willow.

"You're so wonderful," Willow said in quiet amazement. She stared at Tara in silence for a moment, radiating love, then remembered what she had been saying.

"I just wanted you to know," she said hastily, "that's all, I don't mean that I don't want to, you know... be with you... um, touch you, a-and you touch me, in the meantime. 'Cause I do, so much, I love you so much and when we're together, you know, intimately, like this, it feels so... I don't have words for it, it's like everything is right, everything in the whole world is, is perfect. I just needed you to know, you know, so you wouldn't get too, um, too... you know, a-and get frustrated if we didn't, um, if we had to stop then."

"I understand," Tara said soothingly, "I know... I don't w-want to take this too fast either. I-I won't do anything I can't... that would be difficult to... slow down," she finished.

"That's all I wanted," Willow promised, "I didn't want you to get frustrated, i-if you got, um..."

"Aroused?" Tara asked silkily. Willow nodded. "It's alright," Tara assured her, "I know we have to wait, until we're both ready. And until then I promise I'll be fine."

"Me too," Willow said, "I like this, when we're intimate... even when I get, um, aroused, it's a good feeling, it's so good... even if we don't make love, just the feeling is..."

"I know," Tara said, "I love how you make me feel." She snuggled closer to Willow, pressing their breasts together between them. Willow moaned and wriggled her body, loving the feel of her breasts, her nipples, moving against Tara's. She closed her eyes and delighted in the feel of Tara's breasts... 'Gods, there's so much of them,' she thought giddily, feeling them against her skin. She took a deep breath, lifting her chest, feeling her and Tara's breasts flatten against each other as their mutual tight embrace squeezed them. She heard Tara sigh, and having caused her pleasure made Willow shiver along the length of her body.

"Y-you make me feel beautiful," Tara whispered, "sexy... you make me need you... you make me hot... insatiable... and so wet..." Willow's breath caught, then without conscious thought she lunged forward the short distance between them, capturing Tara's lips in a heated kiss, her tongue thrusting in the second Tara's mouth opened for her. She heard and felt Tara moan into her kiss, and concentrated entirely on the pure softness of Tara's lips, the warmth of her mouth, the way her tongue danced with Willow's, stroking and caressing as if it had a mind of its own. She barely noticed her legs becoming tangled with Tara's, or anything at all until she felt, on her thigh, the press of silky material, with heat and wetness behind it. With a shuddering gasp, she pulled back from the kiss, halting for a moment as she felt her tongue being trapped between Tara's lips and sucked enthusiastically, before finally separating.

"I-I think this is where we go slow," she managed to say between panting, desperate breaths.

"Yeah," Tara breathed, a little smile playing over her lips. "But... that doesn't mean w-we have to let go... does it?" Willow knew that if she asked, Tara would pull back without complaint... but she also knew she didn't want that, and neither did Tara.

"I think," she said slowly, "we should stay right where we are." The heat radiating from Tara's silk-covered sex pressed against her thigh was incredible. Willow could feel herself becoming aroused by it, just by the feel of it. Without any movement or encouragement on Willow's part, her body was filling with heat, her nipples already poking with determination into the yielding flesh of Tara's breasts - and she could feel Tara's nipples doing the same to hers - and between her legs, very close, in fact, to Tara's thigh, a growing warmth and wetness. Willow felt ecstatically decadent, lying still against Tara, both of them so obviously aroused, making no effort to hide it from each other - in fact, deliberately prolonging their embrace, knowing the signs of their arousal were so blatantly evident. Willow realised that they weren't quite sharing equally yet, and lifted her leg a fraction. With no further communication, Tara shifted her thigh forwards, bringing it into contact with Willow's revealing underwear, and through that flimsy barrier, her sex.

"Oh godssss," Willow hissed, letting her leg rest on top of Tara's thigh, relaxing her body completely. She had to exercise some self-restraint not to move her hips, to grind her sex against Tara's leg to bring herself the release that would inevitably ensue. But there was a certain erotic attraction to their stillness, the way they lay together, sharing their bodies. It was, Willow realised, a step towards sharing the complete range of pleasures they could give each other, this simple act of being in close contact, of revealing in physical terms their mutual attraction, their love, and the deep, unquenchable hunger that went with it.

"So," Tara murmured, "I drive you wild?" Mostly her voice sounded utterly seductive, but Willow detected a hint of doubt, as if Tara couldn't quite believe she was capable of it, despite all the evidence.

"Remember yesterday morning?" Willow asked. Tara nodded. "After I went and stretched right in front of you, you remember how you kissed me?"

"I remember," Tara whispered.

"A-and then how you kept glancing at me all morning until I had to go back to my room," Willow went on, "you know, those little looks? The ones that said 'I know you're not wearing anything under that skirt'?"

"You made me so excited," Tara said.

"Every time you looked at me, I felt so... so sexual. A-and it was like, you and I were sharing this thing, this experience that was so intimate, in the middle of a room full of people, and none of them knew. Just you and me, our little secret... none of them knew what you knew, or knew how you were making me feel just by looking at me like that."

"I-I felt it too," Tara admitted, "every time."

"When I got back to my room," Willow whispered, making an effort not to let her shyness overcome her, "I closed the shutters... I took off all my clothes... stood in front of the mirror in just my boots, looking at myself... I-I imagined it was you there with me, touching me... I-I touched myself, thinking of you... I- my breasts... a-and... m-my sex." She could feel Tara's breathing become shallow, and her own as well, but as she spoke words that, a short time ago, she could never have imagined saying to another person, she felt a boldness stir within her. She wanted Tara to hear this, to hear these words from her, this intimate moment she was sharing.

"I-I lay down," she went on, her voice shaking slightly, "on the bed... I thought of you, of you naked, a-and your breasts... I-I imagined kissing you... there..." She licked her lips unconsciously. "I felt so... thinking of you, like that, made me so... I-I lay down, a-and I... squeezed my breasts... one after the other... hard... I-I dug my fingers in a little... a-and my other hand... I... between my legs... I stroked myself... I-I rubbed m-my clit... a-and... one finger, I... I put it... inside myself... f-first just the tip... in me... just a little... a-and then... deeper... all the way... a-and... I-I... I came..."

Tara's breathing was fast and shallow, the heat against Willow's thigh intense, and Willow could feel little tremors running through Tara's hips and legs as she held herself still.

"I love you Willow," she whispered, "I love you, just don't move... I need... I just have to... calm down... a little... oh goddess I love you..."

"Tara," Willow murmured, trembling at what she was about to suggest, "do you want... do you want to...?" Tara stared into Willow's eyes, her gaze a mix of concern and desperation.

"I don't-" she said haltingly, "I mean, if you... we should go slow..."

"I-it's alright," Willow said, "if you want... I-I want you to."

"Oh goddess Willow," Tara breathed, "I want to... I'm so close..."

"I want you to," Willow repeated firmly.

"Hold me," Tara pleaded, closing her eyes. Willow tightened her arms around Tara, holding the entire length of their bodies together, and edged her thigh upwards just a fraction, increasing the pressure on Tara's sex. Tara breathed in short gasps, her hips rocking against Willow - whether by chance or by foresight, Tara's thigh between Willow's legs had moved back just a fraction, which Willow was grateful for, otherwise things would have gotten out of hand. As it was, Willow felt gloriously, deliriously alive as Tara moved against her, rubbing the warmth of her sex on Willow's skin through the inconsequential barrier that separated them, spreading her juices on Willow's thigh. Willow leaned in to whisper in Tara's ear.

"When I came," she breathed, her voice steady as a rock and purring with desire, "when I buried my face in the pillow to keep from screaming, it was your name on my lips. When I felt my sex squeeze my finger and get so wet, I was thinking of you."

Tara froze, her mouth open but not a sound issuing from her, even her breathing stilling for a second. Willow felt an incredible tension in the body pressed against her, then a deep shudder ran through Tara, her arms and legs trembling, her body shaking, all the air in her lungs coming out in a long, exhaustive sigh. She buried her face in Willow's neck, in her hair, and her whole body relaxed completely, as if she was in a deep sleep. Willow held her tightly, feeling the warmth and wetness spread through the fabric against her thigh.

"Willow," Tara whispered eventually.

"I've got you baby," Willow said, "I love you."

"I love you Willow," Tara murmured, "I love you... I love you... oh Willow..." She took a deep breath, and Willow felt her body coming back to its senses.

"Willow," Tara said gently, "a-are you okay? I-I mean... you don't think I... went too far...?"

"No, baby," Willow assured her, "no, you were... gods, that was amazing! No, I'm absolutely fine with it. I don't... there's nothing to regret, nothing at all."

"I just... what you told me," Tara went on, "it made me so... oh, goddess, you made me so hot..."

"I love you baby," Willow said, "my Tara, my warrior... that was the most beautiful experience of my entire life." Tara's body shuddered again, and Willow felt a different wetness on her skin, as tears slipped from Tara's closed eyes onto her neck.

"Tara?" she asked.

"It's okay," Tara murmured, "it's okay honey... I'm so happy, I just... I can't hold it in," she laughed.

"I love you," Willow said again, wondering if she would ever get tired of saying it, and deciding no. "Um, you're not... bothered, that I... when I was alone, I mean...?"

"No, gods no," Tara said, "if I hadn't had to go down to the negotiations right away, I would've... I would've brought myself to... to, um, climax..." she admitted shyly. Again, Willow found the quality of innocence to her utterly adorable - Tara, who she had just held in her arms, to whom she had whispered her most private, intimate memories as she orgasmed, was now blushing at saying 'climax'. It was... well, it was uniquely Tara.

"'Cause I wouldn't want you to feel left out," Willow went on cheerfully, making Tara laugh again.

"No," she said, "no, it's good. It's good, Willow," she continued seriously, "it's a good thing. It means we can... explore... a-and not get so worked up over time that we stop thinking properly."

"Yeah, it's good," Willow agreed. "So, you didn't get to?"

"No," Tara said, "and after the morning, I didn't need to... sitting in meetings has that effect," she grinned. "But I promise, if I do, when you're not there, I'll tell you all about it."

"What if you need to, and I am there?" Willow asked mischievously.

"In that case," Tara purred, "you get to watch."

'Heaven,' thought Willow.

"We should get up," Tara murmured, her ears and stomach perking up at the muffled sounds of breakfast from the common room beyond the thick oak door to the bedroom.

"Do we have to?" asked Willow playfully, as she continued her hobby of the last ten minutes, using her fingertip to 'draw' messages on Tara's belly, hampered slightly by her tendency to use an elaborately decorative script that made it difficult for Tara to work out which letter she was drawing. Tara hadn't complained, though, because it did result in Willow's fingers spending a lot more time stroking her abdomen, occasionally teasing up towards her cleavage for a high vertical stroke, or down to the waistband of her briefs for the low tail on a 'y' or 'g'. Willow suddenly paused in the middle of 'Amazon beauty' and sniffed the air.

"Is that nutbread?" she asked, suddenly alert. "We have to get up." Tara chuckled to herself as Willow scrambled around in bed, trying to sit up. Her laughter stilled as Willow managed it, the blankets sliding down around her waist, and Tara remembered she wasn't wearing a top. She gulped, her mouth going dry, and Willow glanced at her. Tara tried to drag her attention away from Willow's breasts, which she had woken up to find cupped in her hand, and felt pressed against herself as they lay together in bed. Seeing them, though, was new, and to Tara the sight gave a new appreciation for how perfectly formed Willow was. She was just the right size, Tara thought, large enough to have the tantalising curves of a woman, but small enough that, if Tara wanted, she could encase Willow's breasts in her hands, without needing to splay her fingers too far. 'Just right to hold her,' Tara mused happily, 'squeeze her, tease her, then lean in and kiss...' She had a sudden urge to do just that, but she knew that now wasn't the time. It was quite an effort for Tara to finally meet Willow's gaze.

"Um," she said, unable to quite think of what to say.

"Like 'em?" Willow said in a hushed, aroused voice. Tara could only nod.

"I-I d-didn't mean to stare," she whispered, not really concerned that Willow minded too much, but slightly embarrassed by the strength of her own reaction. Willow moved her legs, knelt in front of Tara, and leaned down close to her. She glanced down for a moment at herself, which made Tara look too - her breasts were hanging just a little, changing shape only very slightly as she crouched over Tara, the position of her body enhancing her curves that last little way to Tara's idea of perfection.

"I like the way you look at me," Willow murmured. She leaned down a fraction more, kissing Tara lightly on the lips, then on the forehead, which brought her breasts close to Tara's face.

"So," Willow continued, leaning back, "whenever you want to look at me... I'm yours to look at. Among other things," she added with a sultry smile. She got to her feet and slowly walked across the room, keeping an eye on Tara who watched her all the way. Willow opened the shutters, then crossed the room again - with her back a little more arched than necessary, her arms held a little way behind her, and a seductive sway in her step. 'She's performing,' Tara realised with a thrill, 'she's showing herself to me.' Willow paused in front of Tara's clothes trunk, turning her body this way and that with her hands on her hips, making a show of deciding what to wear, and assuming a determined frown that Tara found cute beyond belief. Finally she picked a mid-length robe, made of modestly thick fabric, and wrapped it around herself, covering herself quite adequately to venture outside without drawing too much attention.

"Oh, Willow," Tara said, suddenly realising she was still lying under the blankets - had barely moved the whole time. Willow turned, about to open the door. Tara fixed her with a stare and slowly slid her legs out of the bed, then drew back the blankets and stood up. She couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious as she turned, but the way Willow's eyes suddenly widened, and then her eyelids half-closed in an aroused stare, the way her mouth opened on its own and she ran her tongue over her lips without realising it, made Tara feel truly special. She put a little extra swing in her step as she moved around the end of the bed and walked towards Willow, feeling her breasts sway gently as she did - Willow's eyes were riveted, unblinking, on her chest.

"Wow," Willow breathed as Tara stood in front of her. After a long pause, Willow met Tara's eyes, an expression of something like wonder on her face.

"Get me some fruit, if there's any," Tara asked.

"Sure," Willow said quietly, a contented smile playing over her features. Tara caught Willow's wrist and brought it to her chest, pressing Willow's hand to her cleavage, then lifting it and kissing her open palm.

"I love you Willow," she said simply.

"I love you," Willow replied. Tara let go of her hand, but instead of going outside, Willow pulled free the sash around her waist, took hold of her robe in both hands, pulled it back over her shoulders to bare her chest, and then enveloped Tara in a crushing hug, kissing her as if she had never tasted her lips before. The suddenness of it took Tara by surprise, and even as her mouth opened instinctively she staggered back a step, ending up with the backs of her thighs against the table in front of the mirror. Tara felt very much aroused by the way Willow was taking the lead in no uncertain terms, and allowed herself to give in completely - her tongue invited Willow's into her mouth, lavishing attention on it, her lips parted wide, letting Willow kiss her as deeply as she wished, and she leaned back a fraction over the table, her hips pressing into Willow's as she did so. Willow had an arm around Tara's waist, gripping her tightly, possessively, and Tara let her hands stroke up and down Willow's sides, letting Willow be the one to do the holding. For a moment, as Willow tilted her head sideways and kissed Tara so deep that she was sure Willow was tasting her soul, her hips and Willow's found their perfect angle, and through two thin layers of silk, Tara felt Willow's sex press against her own.

Tara whimpered into the kiss, her eyes fluttering open and closed. Willow slowed, and gently straightened herself and Tara, finally ending the kiss with a lingering caress of her tongue on the inside of Tara's lips.

"Um, breakfast," Willow said, blushing slightly. Tara nodded, catching her breath. Willow took a deep breath, pulled her robe back around herself, tied her sash, and disappeared through the door with a final radiant smile. Tara remained smiling at the door for a moment, then sat down on the table, one hand idly toying with her nipple.

'Well, if she wants to watch me, um... relieve my tension,' Tara thought, smiling shyly at the thought, 'she may get her wish before long.'

"What'ya doing?"

Tara smiled at Willow, still polishing off the last morsels of breakfast. She had finished her own a moment earlier, and had got up from the bed and sat at the table, retrieving a slim leather case from the shelf beneath it.

"Writing a letter," Tara said, opening the case and drawing out a sheet of paper. "We're sending a courier back to Kingsport with reports from Tryptin and the emissaries. It'll go on the next ship heading for the islands. I'm writing to Eponin. She's the mistress of my clan's house, um, sort of like the head of an extended family."

"Okay," Willow said, "so your clan is your family?"

"Clans are groups of families," Tara explained, dipping her pen in the inkpot. "Back in the old days, before the Amazon nation was really a single entity, clans were how we were organised. A family wasn't always big enough to defend itself on its own, but a clan could always band together, and there'd be enough warriors to see off any threat, or enough farmers and woodsmen to feed everyone, if food was scarce, that sort of thing. Our families aren't very big, compared to here - two children is usual, four is seen as quite a lot. Clans are like big families, all the children and adults live close to each other, and share everything."

"Uh-huh," said Willow, nodding. "And the clan house?"

"That's a political thing," Tara said as she wrote, "the house represents the clan, in government and among the warriors. The mistress of the clan's house - or master, sometimes - is the person the clan chooses to speak for them."

"So," Willow went on, "is Eponin part of your family as well as your clan?"

"Sort of," Tara said, "I was taken in by her family when I was very young... um, my parents died, in the Reckoning." Willow was on her feet in an instant, her arms going around Tara from behind, holding her gently.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said quietly, resting her head against Tara's shoulder. Tara half-turned in her chair and gave Willow a smile.

"It's okay," she said soothingly, "I sat memorial for them a long time ago. I was too young to remember them, really. Um, anyway, orphans are always taken in by someone from the clan. There's no such thing as a family of one... we're never really alone. Eponin had to travel a lot when I was young, before she became mistress, so I was raised by her husband, and her eldest daughter. Sothim, and Jenavria. And a lot of the other families were very welcoming, so I was sort of raised by the whole clan, in a way. I was never alone." 'Except when you wouldn't let yourself be otherwise,' she thought. Then she looked into Willow's eyes, and saw the concern there, the intensity of her gaze, her determination to face whatever needed to be faced, so that they would be happy together. 'Not alone anymore,' Tara thought.

Willow gave her a last squeeze before releasing her, then crossed back to the bed and the last bite of breakfast vanished. Tara continued to write, as part of her attention followed Willow around the room, watching her clean up both their plates and leave them on the side table by the door, then smooth down the blankets on the bed. She stopped writing altogether and watched Willow openly as she slipped her robe from her shoulders and dropped it back in the trunk, and retrieved her discarded dress, brushing it down before slowly stepping into it. Tara paid particular attention to the way Willow wriggled the skirt up her thighs, then put down her pen and went to help Willow do up the laces behind it, which she could reach herself, but not entirely comfortably.

"I was thinking," Willow said, holding her arms out of the way as Tara tightened her bodice, "I'll go pack up my stuff from my room and bring it here. I mean, the satchels can just go in the corner, they won't be in the way. And I know we're only here for a couple more days, but... I'd like this to be my room, you know? If that's okay?"

"Of course," Tara assured her. "I'd love that. How tight do you like this?"

"Depends how excited you want me," Willow quipped. "That's fine for now. Maybe some other time," she added in a seductive purr, "you can lace me up nice and tight."

"Maybe I will," Tara murmured in her ear. Willow turned and kissed her, letting her tongue play just a little before she sat on the bed to pull her boots on.

"I might be out when you get back," Tara said, "As soon as I finish this I'm going to have a wash, then meet the ambassadors on the Duncraig caravan. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but it shouldn't be too long."

"That's okay," Willow replied, "I'll just stay here and think of you. Work up an appetite for lunch." She licked her lips, blew a kiss to Tara, then practically skipped out of the door, leaving Tara grinning all over her face.

'She's insatiable,' Tara thought to herself, returning to her writing. 'Good thing you can't get enough of her either. Appetite for lunch, indeed.' She finished her letter, re-reading it just to make sure she had said exactly what she wanted to. She hoped a reply might reach them at Duncraig - it might take only three weeks or so, if she was lucky. Wishing for luck, she folded the letter, noticing she had accidentally pulled two pages at once from her writing case. An idea occurred to her, and she opened the case and chose a good pencil, then shrugged off the robe she had put on for breakfast and went and sat on the bed, pencil and paper in hand, glancing up at the mirror.

Willow got back to their room twenty minutes later, dumping her book satchels in the corner as promised and walking over to the table, sitting in Tara's chair. She noticed a folded piece of paper on the table, and wondered if Tara had forgotten her letter, but then she noticed something written on it, on the outside of the fold. She picked it up and read it:

'Thinking of you. - T'

With a grin she unfolded the paper, then nearly dropped it. Her eyes widened, and her legs suddenly felt weak. She unconsciously licked her lips as she studied the drawing on the page. It showed only Tara, no background, though Willow guessed she had been sitting on the bed, drawing herself from the mirror. She was naked, completely naked, not even a single line across her hips to show her briefs, and Willow was sure that wasn't artistic license. She imagined Tara posing as she had drawn herself - one arm delicately cradling her breasts, half-covering them, her hand holding her right breast firmly, the nipple of her left peeking out above the crook of her elbow; her right leg stretched out along the edge of the bed, with her other hand resting on top of it, her fingers touching her inner thigh; her left leg down, off the end of the bed, giving a perfect view as she sat side-on of the seductive curve of her waist, hip and thigh; and just visible between her legs, a couple of short strokes of a pencil, just the hint of curls of hair, tantalising Willow's imagination.

Willow stared at the drawing for a long time, feeling her heart race, trying to memorise every detail. Her free hand started to sneak towards the slit in her skirt, but she stopped herself. 'No, not yet,' she told herself. She was pleased that she and Tara had reached an understanding about relieving their tensions, but for the moment she wanted to feel the fluttering in her stomach, and the warmth lower down, to tease herself, and wait. She folded the paper back up, and carefully placed it in the centre of the journal she had started with Tara, promising herself that she would keep it close always.