Tina blushed as Bette smiled at her. Tina cast a sarong around Bette’s hips, mainly to keep from being distracted. “I was hoping that today might be the day for me to share this with you. Do you like it?”

“Yes I do, very much. Where are we?”

“This is Maui. And that up there is my brother’s house.” Tina said pointing to a small house nestled between two mountains.

“It’s so remote.”

“I know. He never did like people very much.”

“Why?” Bette asked as she automatically took Tina’s hand and began walking with her down the beach.

“Because growing up was so hard for him. He got teased a lot by the other children, he didn’t know why he was so powerful and the kids teased him by calling him freak, sideshow, giant, and shit like that.” Tina told Bette and she felt saddened by Tina’s story.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Oh no don’t be, I blame my mother really. It’s her fault for trying to pass him off as normal. By the age of six he was reading and comprehending at a collegiate level. So the names changed to giant genius. He hated it, and I hated it for him. So somewhere in between all of that I became his protector. And let’s just say I got into my fair share of trouble, but people left my brother alone.”

“So big bad Kennard is all muscle huh?” Bette teased as she bumped her with her hip. Tina smiled as she stopped bringing Bette around to face her. “Only for the people I love.” she said winking at Bette. Right then Bette felt nervous she could hear her own heartbeat increase with the intensity of Tina’s stare into her eyes. She absentmindedly licked her bottom lip before tucking it into her mouth.

“Adorable.” Tina thought to herself. Bette smiled thinking that Tina still hadn’t grasped the fact that Bette could hear her thoughts.

Bette felt the tremor in her legs as she moved forward to kiss Tina. Bette closed her eyes and felt Tina’s lips on hers. The heat and power of the kiss traveled through her body in shuddering waves. She could feel Tina’s hands on hips pulling her closer, and a turn of her wrist had her hands traveling downward.