Home > Books > Coming Out > Early Embraces

Early Embraces

Tender. Nasty. Loving. Embarrassing. Thrilling. This collection of real-life first-person stories by women from around the country describing their first sexual experience with another woman sparkles with laughter, awkward moments, and plenty of hot sex. 2 Books for ?10 - Offer ends 3rd Sept 2007 These sometimes naughty, sometimes nice stories take a tantalizing and illuminating peek at how lesbians begin the process of exploring their sexuality. Occasionally poignant, sometimes funny, always unflinchingly real, Early Embraces is an original collection not to be missed. An excerpt: Catherine and I met in grad school, became immediate friends, and moved to Nebraska after getting degrees. I was twenty-eight then; she must have been about twenty-five. I don't think she'd ever slept with a woman, either, though she thought about it too. We were just sitting there, talking about the women we had crushes on. And then I said it. The falling light at dusk brought out her cheekbones, gave a glow to her hair that in ordinary daylight looked neither blond nor brown but a kind of dirty cross between. Freckles that I'd never noticed before spilled across her face. I said "Don't you wonder why we never got involved?" The minute I said it, I knew it was a mistake. Her features froze. Panic swept across her face like a windstorm. The gin and tonic trembled in her hand. She was out the door so fast, the ice was still clinking in her glass when I heard her car outside. I shut the door behind her. I felt big and clumsy, suddenly, stupid. The gin made my brain fuzzy. I resolved never to bring it up again. Then, two weeks later, the night before she was leaving Nebraska to move back east, we met at a local bar for a drink, then a couple more. She leaned across the table. "Before I leave," she said. "I want to kiss you" I felt a trembling in my heart - like standing on the edge of a diving board, poised for the plunge. "Ok," I said, pushing back my chair. We headed for the bathroom, the nearest available place, my heart pounding. My life was about to change, momentarily, in a toilet stall. - From "Making Love with Catherine" by Louise A Blum