Best Lesbian Erotica 2013

LESSONS FOR LEONA Tenille Brown

If her daddy had had his way, there would have been a party. Something big and nice to welcome her home from six years down South, but Leona had told him no.

She knew he meant well, but she also knew that she was too old for parties. Leona hadn’t had one since her Sweet Sixteen and hadn’t enjoyed one since she was twelve. Now she was grown, twenty-four in fact. She could drive and vote and smoke and drink liquor. And she had done all those things and more. She’d had five lovers and had even broken a heart or two.

But she couldn’t really tell her daddy about that.

She couldn’t really tell her daddy anything right now, as he sat across the table from her, scooping them generous servings from a salmon casserole.

“Tell me if you like it,” he said, as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.

And Leona forked up a small bit off her plate and chewed, nodding.

“It’s good, Daddy. Did you make it?”

She figured it might have been something he took up while she was away, like his pottery and the woodworking he had dabbled in after her mother died. After all, Leona had been dabbling in body painting and snapping nude photos of gorgeous women in her own spare time.

But her daddy responded, “I didn’t make it. Ida did.”

A new girlfriend? No. He would have said something.

Leona’s eyebrows wrinkled in vague recognition. “Oh, yeah. That caterer,” she said.

Her daddy nodded. “Right. I get her to bring the food in for our meetings.”

Leona took another bite of the casserole and said, “Well, she did a great job.”

And her father was as excited as if he had made it himself. Then he said, “She’s agreed to give you a few pointers in the kitchen.”

Leona swallowed her bite of casserole. “Agreed?”

“Well, yes. I saw her in town one day and I mentioned that you would be coming home soon and you weren’t too familiar with the ways of a kitchen so she suggested—”

“She suggested?”

“Okay, I asked. Anyway, what’s the harm? It wouldn’t hurt you to make a potato salad and fry a few pieces of chicken now and then.”

Leona dropped her fork and folded her arms. “Then this is about your ongoing love affair with deep-fried poultry?”

Her father half smiled. “What can I say? I like my fried chicken.”

And that was okay, Leona supposed, since everyone had her weaknesses. Tall, golden women with nice, strong legs happened to be hers.

She realized her father was talking again.

“Surely you made friends with some of those girls down in Georgia, and not one of them baked a chicken in front of you or made a bowl of macaroni?”

Leona twisted her lips in thought. Yes, she had met Southern girls indeed, many Southern girls, and they had taught her many delicious things, but none of them involved a pot or a stove.

And none of them, not one of them cared that she couldn’t cook, not Mindy or Sylvia, or even Bethany, but her father wouldn’t want to hear that.

It would be nonsense in his eyes, some foolishness she learned at school, so Leona let it be.

Besides, he was so pleased with himself that it was almost cute and the hopefulness in his eyes and the twitch at the corner of his lips let Leona know that he was seeking the same excitement from her.

So, Leona smiled wide and took another bite of the creamy casserole.

Then she shook her head and said, “Just tell me when, Daddy.”

Leona wasn’t exactly sure what to wear to a cooking lesson, so she settled on a tank top and jeans. Ida, who lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of town, came to the door in shorts and a T-shirt.

Leona decided that shorts really suited Ida, the way her long legs extended from beneath them. In fact, Leona thought as she studied Ida’s brown knees, she might mention to her that she should consider never wearing a pair of trousers again.

Leona had never noticed the rebellious kink of Ida’s hair, the way it sprouted from her scalp in fuzzy curls that she had dyed strawberry blonde. And Ida’s lips were full, pink without any lipstick, moist without any gloss. She wore a tiny diamond stud in her left nostril and two silver hoops in each ear.

Ida smelled like lilac. Leona assumed it was powder. And she might have asked, but she didn’t know Ida that well, only that she was a few years older and minded her own business.

So, instead of saying all these things, Leona extended her hand and introduced herself.

“I’m Leona,” she said. “My father tells me I could learn a thing or two from you.”

Ida smiled. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I told him I would show you some of what I know.”

She let Leona in.

Leona observed Ida’s vibrant choice in furnishings, the orange wing-backed chairs, the golden loveseat. The wood of her coffee table and curio were dark. Her hardwood floors were clean and glossy.

Leona lingered behind Ida, her ears attentive to music playing softly in the background, something jazzy by a woman with a deep, raspy voice. They made it to Ida’s roomy kitchen where she had various bowls and pans set out.

“I don’t normally give classes, but your daddy was persistent, carrying on about the duties of a lady and whatnot. You planning on getting married or something?” Ida arched an eyebrow.

Leona laughed and shook her head.

Ida continued. “Well, at any rate, I figured I could keep it simple and show you meat and potatoes, fried chicken and gravy, but that would be a blatant waste of time and energy. I’d much rather show you those really special dishes for those special occasions, for romantic nights when you want to impress someone special. Like this.”

Ida offered Leona a small bowl with dark, oval shaped fruit and thinly shaved nuts scattered about. The sweet smell of coconut rum wafted through her nostrils.

“They’re figs,” Ida said. “I let them soak in the fridge overnight. Take one.”

Leona took the fig and bit into it. The juices from the fruit and the rum danced on her tongue, tickled her throat and warmed her chest. The almonds were crispy and were a nice effect to the sweetness of the figs and the rum.

“I’m going to use them for a fig rum loaf.”

It was a simple lesson, in which Leona spent only an hour and a half in Ida’s kitchen. Leona giggled when she left, because she was starving.

The loaf would need to sit for twenty-four hours before it could be eaten, Ida had told her, so Leona walked home, figuring that she’d have a turkey sandwich later.

And maybe it was the rum. Or maybe it was the jazz. But late that night after Leona had eaten her sandwich and she lay alone in her bed, she remembered the taste of rum and the smell of coconut, she remembered pretty brown legs and a head of curly, golden hair and she parted her legs and reached down and thinking of Ida, she pleasured herself until she grew tired.

Ida was a wonderful teacher. She’d been on this earth thirty-one years after all. She had seen things, tried things, and Leona felt like her little stint in Georgia was nothing in comparison.

Leona smelled the fresh herbs Ida waved back and forth in front of her nose. She had never even heard of thyme, couldn’t quite tell the difference between cilantro and parsley, and Ida had decided that since Leona was still scorching rice after two weeks of lessons, maybe they should meet three times a week instead of two.

Not that it bothered Leona. She had grown comfortable being in Ida’s house, sitting at her table, standing in front of her stove, leaning on her counter.

And now, she was watching Ida set aside the herbs and squeeze a lime over a pan of shrimp.

“You have to be careful cooking with citrus,” Ida said. “It tends to dry out your food. But the shrimp will cook fast anyway so we don’t really have to worry about that.”

But Leona was more interested in rubbing the lime across Ida’s lips and licking the remnants off.

She realized that she was still admiring Ida’s lips when Ida said, “You know, Leona, if you don’t start paying attention, you won’t be any better a cook than the day you walked in this kitchen.”

Leona shrugged. She playfully pinched at Ida’s waist and continued to ignore the comment. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re remarkably thin for someone who cooks so well?”

Ida tucked her chin. “I suppose it’s because I nibble.”

“And you never stop moving.”

And Leona never stopped watching her. She watched Ida walk from the stove to the island in the middle of her kitchen, from the table to the sink. Leona watched the perspiration roll down Ida’s neck, watched her calves flex and release, watched the muscles in her thin arms contract as she lifted pans and casseroles.

“What about you? You work out to keep in such good shape?”

Leona sucked her teeth. “My father seems to think I’m getting bigger by the minute.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think that I like to eat and everything I put in my mouth sits on my hips like a couple of saddlebags.”

Leona couldn’t be sure, but she thought that maybe Ida glanced down at her hips for verification.

And it was then that Leona decided she should kiss Ida.

It was a simple kiss on the neck. Leona was certain it wouldn’t hurt anything. And maybe Ida wouldn’t even notice it. And if she didn’t notice that, surely she wouldn’t mind a tongue on her velvety collarbone or a hand on her elbow that slid down her arm and locked loosely around her wrist.

And as it turned out, Ida didn’t mind any of these things. Ida sighed as if these very things were what she had been waiting for all along. So, Leona held her by the waist and brought her close. She kissed her on the lips. They shared the taste of lime on each other’s tongues.

Leona knelt in front of Ida, brushing her cheek against the front of Ida’s flowery dress. Leona lifted the dress, held it in a bunch at Ida’s waist. She kissed each side of Ida’s stomach and sucked gently on her navel.

And somehow, finally, they found their way down to Ida’s kitchen floor.

Leona slowly lifted Ida’s dress and pulled it over her head to expose her red panties.

Leona was wet at just the sight of her, at the thought that she was seducing Ida. And Ida, she was smiling.

Ida’s back arched at the feel of Leona’s tongue on her nipples. She giggled at the light sensation of Leona’s breath on her lobe.

And when Leona smelled the hint of lime and could barely smell the shrimp anymore, the telltale sign that the meal was done, Ida came on her own kitchen floor.

Leona kissed Ida on her knees, ran her fingers across the softest parts of her thighs.

She whispered, “I’m hungry.”

Leona was sitting in her father’s kitchen thinking of Ida when he asked, “So, you learning much over there?”

And Leona smiled and said, “Yes, I’m learning lots.”

In fact she had learned just recently that Ida was quite ticklish, that the tile on her kitchen floor had six different colors in it, that Ida’s favorite color was blue, that her cottage had been handed down to her from her great-grandmother and most important of all, she learned that Ida loved strawberries.

Leona had fed them to her last night after they had rolled around naked in Ida’s bed for nearly two hours. They had eaten strawberries and drank champagne and Leona had stayed the whole night.

Her father nodded, satisfied. “Good,” he said. “You’ll have to cook me something soon.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Leona said. “I will cook you something very soon.”

Then he lightly pinched her arm.

“Looks like you might be doing a little more eating than you are cooking in my opinion, though.”

And Leona had to keep herself from blushing. Ida had said that she liked the extra fluffiness on her. That it made her warm and juicy.

And warm was what Leona felt as she thought about seeing Ida in three hours. Juicy was the feeling between her legs as she thought of Ida coming to the door and greeting her naked.

Leona leaned back in her chair, stretched, and waited.

It was supposed to be almond-crusted tilapia, but Leona had let the thin pieces of fish bake too long and they stuck to the bottom of the pan because she hadn’t used enough olive oil, so the only thing salvageable were the almonds.

Leona watched Ida place them on her lips and swipe them into her mouth with her tongue.

“I burned Daddy’s ribs, too,” Leona said.

Ida laughed. “I’m sure he didn’t mind.”

Leona shook her head. “No, he was pretty pissed. He loves barbeque. He told me in about three different ways that I had ruined a damned good slab of meat.”

Ida chuckled. “You’ll make it up to him. I’ll fix you up a tray and you can pass them off as your own.”

Leona shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know if it’ll fly, though. I’m going to have to start explaining myself soon. All these lessons and the only thing I’m really learning to do is set off smoke detectors.”

Ida came closer. “Surely that’s not all you’ve learned to do, Leona.”

And she reached for Leona’s hand and placed it between her thighs. Ida lifted it up so that Leona’s palm was resting against her cunt.

Leona felt she was warm there. And Leona, she was warm, too.

And soon, Leona was no longer worried about the fish. Soon, she lay with Ida in her bed kissing Ida’s fingertips, shoulders and knees.

Ida tasted better than anything Leona had ever dreamed of putting into her mouth. Ida was bitter and sweet, she was tender and moist.

And when Ida came against Leona’s mouth, Leona was full, full as if she had dined five times at the center of Ida’s hips.

They often talked after, which was how Leona learned that Ida was a Gemini and grew up in Syracuse and was never formally trained to cook. It was also how Leona learned that in six weeks, Ida would be leaving for Paris.

Leona had reached up and smoothed out Ida’s thick eyebrows. But now she brought her hand back down, quickly, as if she had been scorched.

Ida would be personally trained by French Chef Something-or-Other and as Ida went on and on about it, Leona looked at her, looked for some sign of remorse that she had to say the words, or even better, that suddenly she thought she might change her mind and stay after all.

But Ida just kept talking.

“A spot suddenly became available. And all this time I’ve been telling myself that it’s just too late, that I’m too old for any more lessons and I already know everything I need to know, but it’s a very coveted position. I’d be a fool to turn it down.”

The excitement in Ida’s voice made Leona smile in spite of herself.

So, she said, “I understand, honey. I would go for it if I were you, definitely.”

Leona said the words only because she knew she had to say something. She said the words because, otherwise, she would cry. And Leona was twenty-four years old, and that was simply too fucking old to cry.

Ida was talking again. Her voice was soft and raspy now.

She turned to Leona and said, “How do you think your daddy would feel about it?”

Leona hoped Ida couldn’t detect the change in her voice. She hoped that the tears wouldn’t roll down her face and fall onto Ida’s arm.

Leona said, “Well, I know he loves your fried chicken, but he’ll find another caterer for his meetings.”

Ida laughed. “Silly girl. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about you taking off with me. What would he think about that?”

Leona tucked her head in the crook of Ida’s arm and inhaled the light scent of lilac from her skin.

No, Leona wasn’t sure how her daddy would feel, but she was already imagining herself awakening with Ida in a foreign land, eating new and exciting foods that Ida would cook for her and feed her from her hands. Already Leona was imagining whispering words in broken French in Ida’s ear.

As she chopped red potatoes, tossed in fresh scallions and added sour cream and mayonnaise, Leona agreed that maybe, yes, every young woman should learn how to cook. She herself had caught on, finally.

She stirred her pot of green beans. She covered the pound cake she had left cooling.

Her father would be happy with the meal, and he would most certainly be proud of her. And he would love the fried chicken.

He’d be just tickled about the whole thing.

And Paris. He’d get over that eventually and maybe one day he’d even be happy. Leona set up the dinner table nice and pretty with a six-pack of her daddy’s favorite beer in a bucket of ice.

Leona wished she could be there to see the look on his face.

But instead she would be sitting in the passenger seat of Ida’s convertible. And by the time he found the note, she and Ida would be on the plane.

And seven hours after that, Leona and her lover would be in Paris. They would both learn new things: Ida the ways of French cooking; Leona, new ways of loving Ida.

And that, Leona knew, was the most important lesson of all.