***
There were a lot of different things taking place on that sand – from dancing, to volleyball, to lovemaking on towels and blankets.
Of course, Adrienne was used to seeing anything and everything at DuPont’s. But walking down the amorous beach, with Dora Wakefield at her side, was a strange experience. It was like passing through the open-air temple in Greece, with mattresses thrown beneath the olive trees, and a great monument set up beneath the moon to pay tribute to a cult image of Aphrodite.
“Hmmm,” Dora murmured thoughtfully, as they passed by a particularly passionate young couple. “Nice technique,” she added with a laugh.
She made this joke genially enough, but Adrienne sensed that she only said it because she was feeling uncomfortable. She was standing far away from Adrienne, and holding herself rigidly. She was drinking her iced tea very quickly.
“Are you all right?” Adrienne asked her.
“Oh, sure,” she answered quickly. “I’m fine.”
She downed the last of her drink, and then hurried back up the beach to get another. “I’ll race you!” she called back.
Adrienne went after her, as quickly as she could in her dress, and they refilled their drinks. Adrienne was used to drinking heavily, and the tea didn’t have as much effect on her, as it did on Dora.
But pretty soon, Dora was flying high. She was on her third tea (and they were fairly tall). She’d already jumped into the volleyball game, scored two points for one team, and then ran around to the other side to score three more.
“Hey, no fair!” a young man called, when she started on her way back to Adrienne. “Stay on our team! We hadn’t scored all night before you came.”
He flashed a grin at her, but she shook her head, and clung to Adrienne’s arm. “No, thanks,” she replied. “I want to be on her team.”
She looked pointedly at Adrienne, darted forward to kiss her cheek, and then sprinted back up the beach for her fourth iced tea. She ended up spilling most of it, though, when she took hold of Adrienne, and pulled her into the crowd that was dancing in front of the bar.
Salsa music was blaring, and people were writhing madly. The sweat ran down their bodies, and the heat of so many ardent dancers was almost overwhelming. But Dora held Adrienne close, and laid her chin on her shoulder.
After a few minutes, Adrienne thought that she was going to burst. The fire in her breast was blazing out of control, and she was sure that Dora could feel it. Dora’s chest was pressed up against hers, and their hearts thrummed so close to one another, the entire space between them was pulsating thickly. Adrienne could feel the steady beating, but she couldn’t tell which beat belonged to whom.
She couldn’t take it anymore. She placed her finger gently under Dora’s chin, and raised her face up to her own. She looked into her eyes for a long moment, and was surprised to see a tear trickling down her cheek.
Dora pulled away suddenly, wiping madly at the wet spot on her face. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, dashing away through the crowd.
Adrienne chased after her. But Dora was fast, and she didn’t catch her until they came to the gate that led to the private part of the beach. Dora reached to open the gate, and Adrienne snatched at her hand. She laid her own fingers over Dora’s, which were clutching fearfully at the gate.
Dora sank back against her for a moment, and buried her face in her neck. Adrienne could feel her lips against her throat – when suddenly, she let go of the gate, and began to run again.
“Dora!” she cried.
But the other woman didn’t stop, until she came to the water’s edge. It was lapping a little more roughly now, surging against Dora’s bare toes, and soaking the bottom of her pants. She looked out over the water, which was sparkling so brightly in the silver moonlight, it almost hurt your eyes to look at it. Then she glanced back at Adrienne, and smiled bitterly.
“I get so tired sometimes,” she said. “Don’t you, Annie?”
At the look of confusion of Adrienne’s face, she smiled more brightly, and added: “That’s what I think of, when I try to say your name. I try to say Adrienne – and all I can hear is Annie. Has anyone ever called you that?”
“No,” Adrienne whispered.
“I feel so tired,” Dora repeated. She looked back out at the water, and stood still for a long moment. Then she started taking off her clothes.
“I want to go for a swim,” she said. “Maybe it will wake me up. I’m usually too afraid of the sharks – but I think I’ve had enough alcohol to make me brave.”
Her sweatpants were lying on the sand. She pulled off her T-shirt, and tossed it aside.
Then she just stood there, in her panties and bra, looking seriously out at the water. Whether or not she was thinking about sharks, Adrienne couldn’t tell.
But suddenly she let out a loud shriek – it sounded like an Indian war-cry – and splashed into the waves. She dove down into them, and disappeared for a few long moments.
“Dora?” Adrienne called worriedly. “Dora!”
She stripped off her dress, and jumped into the water, calling Dora’s name. She was afraid she’d drown.
But then, Dora appeared, in a spot of dark water a few yards off to the left.
“Were you calling me?” she asked. “I couldn’t tell. I was trying to see the bottom.”
Adrienne let out a sigh of relief, and swam towards her. She stopped a few feet away from her, treading water.
“You look like a mermaid,” she told Dora, watching the way her dark hair clung to her shapely head, with a little bit of seaweed stuck above her right ear. Her neck and shoulders sparkled like alabaster.
“I don’t think I’d like to be one,” Dora replied. “Swimming’s nice, every once in a while – but can you imagine living your whole life with pruny fingers? It’d be like living with someone you didn’t love.”
She paused, drew a deep breath, and then dove back under the water. She was gone even longer, this time. Adrienne went down to try and feel for her, but was scared out of her wits when Dora took hold of her. They bobbed up to the surface, and Dora’s laughter was a wild sound that sailed over the tops of the waves.
“Sorry,” she said. “I was just playing. Sometimes I get stupid when I drink.”
She was still holding onto Adrienne’s arms. She gazed into her eyes for a long moment, her thoughts utterly indecipherable.
Then she darted forward, and kissed Adrienne hungrily. It was as though her mouth had a life of its own. It moved frantically over Adrienne’s, sweet-tasting from the iced tea.
But it tasted like something else, too. It was like emptiness that was filling up – like a cavern that was being pumped full of something heavy and warm. It had been empty for a long time, Adrienne could tell. Maybe since Dora was born.
Dora reached frantically behind Adrienne’s back, clasping her arms around her, and holding her tightly. She kissed her with force, but there was a softness about it, a longing that was tempered with astonishment. Then, she unclasped her fingers, and ran them across Adrienne’s skin beneath the water.
Adrienne shivered, and put her hand behind Dora’s head, to work her fingers beneath her hair.
“I’ll stop if you want me to,” she whispered, taking her lips away for a moment, then kissing Dora’s chin, and her throat.
Dora threw her head back, and sobbed. “I’d never forgive you,” she said.
They swam back to the shore, and flung themselves out across the sand. Adrienne lay on her back, and Dora lay on top of her, looking pleadingly down into her face.
Adrienne reached a hand around Dora’s back, and turned her over, to lie on the sand. The lights had all gone out in the villa behind them.
“We should stop,” Adrienne reminded Dora, though she couldn’t help leaning down to kiss her chest.
“I know,” Dora replied, still sobbing softly. “I wish I knew how.”
“I’m only thinking of your family,” Adrienne whispered, pres
sing her lips to Dora’s damp throat. “I don’t want them to lose –”
“Neither do I,” Dora cried wildly, throwing her head back against the sand. “God – do you think I want that? I want to give them everything – even if that means I have to lose. But I just – I just –”
“You just what?” Adrienne murmured, looking seriously into her face.
“You make me feel like – like I’m not dead,” Dora said hurriedly, as if saying it slowly might make her change her mind about saying it in the first place. “Nothing’s ever done that for me but bourbon. I just feel like – if we could stay right here, and nobody knew where we were –”
She rolled Adrienne back over, and started kissing her passionately, from her head to her waist, sighing mournfully.
“I’d give anything for that,” she murmured, sinking heavily against Adrienne, and working her hands around her.
“Then I’ll do it for you,” Adrienne whispered, pulling her close. “I’d do anything for you, I think.”
They moved against each other, with hands that forgot about manners, their hearts on fire, for maybe the first time in either of their lives. And even if was the only time – it didn’t seem to matter.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
I just want to take a moment to thank you for reading my story. So many people have so many stories – so many people dream so many dreams – it makes me feel very fortunate to think that another living person has dreamt this dream with me.
This is the first of three parts in the Madam Tellier series. Number Two will be arriving shortly. Keep an eye on my Twitter page for more info.
Want to read my full-length mystery, Who Killed Edie Montgomery? It’s available to read for free if you participate in Kindle Unlimited. I have two editions available – the explicit version, and the clean version. If your sensibilities are more on the sensitive side, Click here. To check out the spicier version, Click here.
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