by Mandy Baggot
‘I wasn’t going to say anything,’ Beth answered. She didn’t want to say anything. Saying something would ruin the moment and she wanted a moment with Alex. She wanted as many moments with Alex as she could get.
‘You were going to say that this cannot work between us,’ Alex said. ‘You are on a holiday.’
‘No,’ Beth said, sliding up from her laying down position and getting up onto her knees. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’ She crawled to the bottom of the mattress and began to unfasten the ties on the gauzy curtains that were currently billowing round each of the four posts of the bed. One of the side panels dropped down.
‘You were going to say that I live in Corfu and I want to live in Ibiza some day and you do not live or even want to live in either of those places,’ Alex carried on.
Beth smiled to herself and to the beautiful sea scene she could see from her position at the end of the cabana. She let the curtain fall and cover half the open space then reached forward to the small wooden table in front of their decked area, picking up one of the glasses of ouzo and water they had brought down to the shore with them earlier. She took a swig of the aniseed liquid and enjoyed the way it burned her throat as she gazed out at the sea, the shadowy mountains across the water, pinpricks of light from towns in another country. The humidity was warming her skin, exhilarating her on the outside as her feelings for Alex worked on her insides…
‘No,’ she replied to him again. ‘I wasn’t going to say that either.’ She replaced the glass on the table and then her fingers made quick work of the ties on the other side of the curtain. It fell into place and blocked out the view in the way a bathroom window obscures for dignity. She un-looped the other side and another section of curtain came loose.
‘You were not?’ Alex asked as she turned back round, still on her knees, crawling up the mattress towards him.
‘No,’ she said, moving past him to reach for the other ties. ‘I was going to say that admitting we love each other doesn’t have to mean anything other than that.’ She watched the voiles fall, going a little way to shutting the rest of the world out. Now no one could see them, the ivory drapes providing a soft, romantic cocoon. She straddled Alex then, looking down at him and letting his gorgeousness very nearly overwhelm her. ‘We both have so much we should have done earlier. We should have been honest with each other in 2009, but we held back because convention says holiday romances can’t be anything more than no-strings sex. I should have found another way to get my mum the treatment she needed, not married the first man who offered to pay.’ She held her breath at that thought. Why had she done that? Because she’d been terrified and sad and desperate… She didn’t want the sadness to overtake her now. ‘But none of that has any bearing on how I felt…’ She stopped, then carried on. ‘How I feel about you, Lex. And it shouldn’t change what we do next.’
Forty-Nine
Alex didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything. She was sat astride him, her wavy brown hair framing her petite features, her green eyes looking down at him, lips curving as she spoke. She loved him. Like he loved her. They loved each other. Had always loved each other…
‘I agree,’ he finally said, realising his lack of response might speak of reticence and that was not what he was feeling at all.
‘You do?’ Beth asked.
‘You know I do,’ Alex replied, shifting his body a little, his torso rising up. ‘Where you are sitting you should feel that I do.’
He was harder than kolokythokeftedes was to say for a non-Greek speaker and, if he was honest, he had been getting more and more turned on as the evening progressed. Talking to Beth, having her close, watching her dance, simply being together, was the biggest shot to his libido he had had in a very long time.
‘So…’ Beth said, sounding the short word deliberately slowly, her lips forming a perfect ‘o’ before she moistened them more with the tip of her tongue.
‘So,’ he replied. He had tried to say it slowly, but his body was willing him into action. He wanted to touch her and taste her. To have all those sensations he had experienced years before… or maybe new, subtle differences would overtake the reverie and mix a fresh cocktail of feeling.
And then her fingers were at the buttons of his shirt, tugging the fabric apart, hands eager to touch skin and he did not want to halt her. She eased the cotton from his shoulders and regarded him like she might be looking at an impressive piece of art. Quiet, not speaking, her eyes were trailing over his form. Did she still like what she saw? He lifted up her sundress and, in one movement, he had it up her body and over her head, discarding it on to the sand below.
Before he had a chance to take in the vision of her – shrouded in lingerie – she was reaching behind her back to unfasten her bra. He swallowed, watching, waiting, until the catch was undone and she took off the cotton and lace and let that drop to the ground too.
She was still so beautiful. More beautiful than ever. He reached up and traced her skin with his fingers, from the base of her throat, down her centre, one finger grazing over each breast in turn. Seeing her nipples respond to his touch was like an ignition switch on a fierce molten volcano he was fighting to contain.
*
Beth was full of heat, but when she took off her bra she couldn’t help but shiver. Alex’s look and the feel of his hands on her body was almost more than she could stand. This was something she had been missing for so long. The absolute mutual longing. The powerful throb of need and desire coming from inside her, wanting to initiate that feeling and take control of it.
His dark eyes were like a midnight sky, looking back at her as he explored her skin with his hands, tiny smooth motions making her move to beckon the touch. She shifted a little, fingers at the waistband of his jeans, tugging at the buttoned fly. There was nothing she wanted more in this perfect moment than to reconnect them, to honour their feelings for one another.
‘Beth,’ Alex breathed as she dragged his jeans from him, ripping them off his legs and discarding them. And she wasn’t stopping there. She went straight for the only thing remaining at his waist now, his Hugo Boss style black stretch boxers. She hooked her fingers into the waistband and eased the material down.
‘Beth,’ Alex said again, raspy, sultry. It only urged her on. Underwear gone, she rested herself directly over him again, taking time to look and admire. Her stripping of him had had exactly the effect she had hoped for. Now she wanted to surprise him. Do something different. Not think about what had gone before between them. Be the woman in charge she wanted to be. She lowered her head, keeping her eyes locked on Alex’s, and touched her lips to his penis in a feather-light kiss.
She heard his tight breath inwards and it only served to empower her more. She opened her lips wider and took him in – short shifts to begin with then longer lunges – letting him fill her mouth. He felt so good. This felt so right. She could hear the soft sea sounds, the distant hum of the music from the party and Alex’s breath, catching in his throat as she controlled their rhythm.
‘Stop, Beth,’ he called out. ‘No more.’
She raised her head, mouth wet, eyes greedy, smiling as she prowled panther-like on her knees to settle her torso over him again. Her underwear was wet, her heart racing with arousal. Stopping was the last thing she had in mind. And, as if reading her thoughts, Alex moved. In one swift flip he had her on her back on the cabana bed, the surprise written all over her face.
‘You are wearing too many clothes,’ Alex breathed, holding her arms above her head with one hand, his gorgeous, taut, olive-skinned body hovering just over her, not quite touching.
She didn’t answer, just blinked and looked back at him, every part of her filled with lust.
His free hand stroked along the band of her knickers, each fingertip setting off a chain reaction of sensations that sparked through her entire body. She was torn between closing her eyes and letting the feeling ride above everything else or looking directly at Alex and watching him touch her. The t
hought of watching thrilled her immediately and her eyes dropped down her body.
He gently worked her knickers off her hips, using the elasticity to move them down over her thighs, past her knees and then she didn’t want his body to move away. She pulled one leg up and unhooked it, kicking the underwear off her other ankle, uncaring where they fell. She was completely bare now and fizzing with expectation. She shifted her wrists beneath Alex’s hold, but he gripped firm.
‘Tell me what you want, Beth,’ he whispered to her, all Greek-accented sultriness.
She had no reply apart from a groan that hadn’t ever been emitted from her mouth before. She pulled at her hands beneath his hold and finally he released his grip, allowing her to reach up and drag him down to her, her mouth eager to hold him prisoner.
She kissed him hard, crashing her lips into his, combining their mouths, the thought of him, tasting him on her sending her rolling to the edge of a metaphorical cliff of desire.
‘Lex,’ she said, writhing up from the bed, her vagina greeting his perfect arousal.
He kissed her once more then broke away, leaving her feeling bereft, lips cooling. She felt his body move from hers and she reached out for him. Her fingers only met with the crown of his head and before she could gain enough traction to drag him upwards her breath was stolen. His lips were on her labia and she was shaking with need. She wanted to moan, the need to release tight in her every fibre, but nothing would emanate. She was thrumming all over as Alex’s tongue delved deeper, hard then smooth, slow then fast then slow all over again, taking her to the point she thought her head was going to explode, then pulling her back again. She screwed her hands into fists, thumped the mattress, shook her head. She wanted him to stop as much as she wanted him to carry on. It was an infernal jumble of utter joy and work of the devil.
Oh my God. She was going to come. She was going to come in literally seconds if he didn’t stop rolling his tongue like that. It was building in the bottom of her stomach like her belly was one of those stretchy exercise bands and a ballet dancer was dancing en pointe all over it. It had been so long… but you didn’t forget the signs, did you? She needed to stop thinking and focus, no, not focus, relax. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t think about anything. Her body was taking over now. Her body was saying ‘it’s my turn now, my desires and needs have been ignored for years and you are not going to fuck this up for me.’
And then all the time for thinking was gone and Beth was quivering as a super-hot wave of exaltation smothered her. She cried out. It was divine. It was deep. Then it was like lightning. She was seeing stardust. Her fingers went to Alex’s hair, digging in, caressing his scalp as he drew himself up, dropping kisses on her hips, her stomach, her breasts, until finally his mouth was back to hers.
‘Lex,’ she spoke into his mouth. She was hazy, her orgasm still beating through her.
He kissed her again, his delicious lips coated with her. It was almost too much.
‘Be with me,’ she begged.
He said nothing but got down from the bed and for a brief second Beth doubted what was coming next. She watched him pick up his jeans and remove his wallet from the back pocket.
‘Condom,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘That is not a sexy word in English.’
‘What is it in Greek?’ Beth asked, watching him tear the wrapper and take out the contraceptive.
‘Profylaktiko,’ he replied.
God, it did sound sexier. She watched him roll the sheath up that gorgeously firm erection then turn his body back towards her. Ten years ago they had made love on a much flimsier beach bed, never expecting to see each other again and here they were, their passion still as strong…
He parted her legs as he returned to the bed and she held her breath, pushing her bottom down into the mattress, wanting to take in absolutely everything – the feel of the cotton beneath her, the gently swaying voiles all round them in their four-poster sanctuary, the warm breeze, the clink of glasses and muffled chat from the beach bars, Alex. Naked Alex, right in front of her, the only man she had really loved…
He scooped her up into his arms and she positioned herself where her body was telling her to go, her legs either side of him, half-sitting, half-laying. He was between her now and she drew him in, closer and closer until finally they were as one.
She held onto him, her body moving slowly, finding his rhythm then guiding him with hers. They were somehow matching the back and forth sway of the waves that were rolling up to the shore just a few metres away and Beth held Alex’s shoulders, each thrust bringing his body deeper into hers.
She was going to come again! She drove towards it, feeling Alex’s breathing change, his movement intensifying too. She wanted the stardust back. She wanted to roll round in the stardust and share it with him. And then it captured them both. Beth cried out and Alex gasped her name. She was shaking, squeezing him tight, begging for the feeling to end and yet continue all at the same time.
He smoothed down her hair with his hand, breath still ragged in her ear. ‘Beth.’
‘I know,’ she answered, teeth juddering with emotion. ‘I know.’
Fifty
The buzz of a mosquito in his ear had woken Alex up and, as Beth continued to sleep, he had got up, parted the nets of the cabana and headed down to the sea. He should be thinking about work. Toula would be expecting him. He should be thinking about his mother. He hadn’t gone home last night. But all that filled his mind was Beth and their night together.
He dived into the water, letting it wash over his shoulders and leaning his head back to dampen his hair. He had never made love to anyone like that. With Beth it had always been more intense, verging on spiritual, a meeting of souls amid the meeting of body parts. Except last night hadn’t been at all like anything in 2009. Last night had been deeper still and Beth had been the one in complete control – and he had loved that. Her strength. The essence of her. And the fact she said she loved him. Simply that knowledge made him feel he could achieve anything. So, what did he want? If there was nothing to hold him back?
‘Lex!’
He turned to face the shore and there was Beth, dressed, beckoning to him. He waved a hand, the water round his midriff, then beckoned her to him. She shook her head and urged him back to her. He relented and began making his way out of the water. It was another glorious start to the day, the temperature rising, a cloudless sky. And, tonight he had a performance to boss. He would check in on his mother, turn in for his shift at the hire car office, then spend the afternoon perfecting his playlist. Today he felt more positive than ever.
‘Good morning,’ he said, droplets of water falling from his body and landing on the dry sand.
‘I haven’t heard from Heidi at all and I don’t remember falling asleep last night. And, I’m sure, any second, someone is going to come down here with their beach bags and want to rent this cabana for the day.’
‘Sshh,’ Alex ordered, putting his arms round her and drawing her into him. ‘What are you worried for?’
‘I just told you what I’m worried for… worried about.’ She lifted her head from his shoulder. ‘I should have called Heidi, before I fell asleep. I’ve texted her and called her now and there’s no response. She might have no battery, or she might be unconscious on a roadside somewhere… or stuck with Charles giving her an inquisition about where I am or…’
‘Heidi is OK,’ Alex reassured. ‘I saw Elektra before they left last night. After you fell asleep.’ He rubbed her arms up and down softly. ‘They were going to stay at Paralia View.’
Beth looked confused. ‘But the ceilings will have been taken down. We aren’t allowed to stay there. The place will be full of ladders and hammers and dust and plasterboard.’
‘I got the feeling they were looking for a base with a bathroom. I think they were going to sleep on the beach too,’ Alex reassured.
‘Oh,’ Beth answered.
‘Relax,’ Alex told her. ‘Breathe.’
‘Yes,’ B
eth responded. ‘I do need to do that, don’t I?’
‘Yes, you do.’
‘But what about the tourists and their beach bags?’ She took a breath. ‘I can’t find my knickers.’
Alex laughed then. It seemed the morning-after-the-night-before was harder in your thirties. He felt it a little too. His back ached from sleeping on a slightly unforgiving mattress. But every second had been worth it. ‘You never worried about that before.’
She hit his arm then but there was a smile on her lips. ‘I only ever lost one pair in two weeks back then.’
‘It was two,’ Alex countered. ‘I am sure it was two.’
Beth shook her head, her smile a little wicked. ‘No,’ she answered. ‘That night I really wasn’t wearing any from the start.’
‘Oh, really,’ Alex said, his libido heightening at the mere thought of a repeat performance of the night before.
‘Alex,’ she said with urgency. ‘People and their beach bags!’ She pointed up the beach to where staff were showing patrons to tables for breakfast.
‘It is OK,’ Alex reassured again. ‘My friend Manos knows we are here. That is why our bed is the only one with a mattress still on it. Every evening they take them in and every morning, any minute now, they bring them back out.’ He touched her shoulders again. ‘I asked him if we can sleep under the stars… he said he would like to have a Volkswagen Touran for next weekend.’
‘Oh,’ Beth said, finally seeming to breathe more easily.
‘And the sheets, they are replaced and cleaned, every day,’ Alex said, looking towards their bed. ‘When we leave, Manos will change everything.’ A hint of a blush hit her cheeks and he kissed her quickly where both spots appeared. ‘You are amazing.’
‘I’m really, really thirsty,’ she admitted, brushing her hair out of her eyes then shading her forehead from the sun.
‘Then, come on, let us go and get a drink.’
