by ANDREA SMITH
“It’s like a meadow,” I said, totally blown away by the beautiful flowers and foliage that graced the landscape. There was a white sand stretch of beach near the pond. Cain dropped down to his knees next to the water, and took his sandals off so that he could wade in the crystal clear water.
“This water is mostly fresh water,” he said, “but there’s some salt content in it, due to the underground water feed. This pond actually sits on a large sandbar that has been here for years without being washed out.”
“It’s breathtaking,” I said, spreading my large beach towel out, taking a seat next to him. “I have another towel if you want to sun bathe,” I offered.
“I don’t do the nude thing,” he said, “But hey, feel free if that’s what you’re into. I promise I won’t gawk.”
I laughed easily with him. I’d talked more to him this past half hour than I had during the trip so far. He was actually a very charming person. He always seemed to be in the shadow of Eli though, so that was probably why I was just now seeing it.
“I’m good,” I said. “I think I’ll just leave my swimsuit on and enjoy the sun and the breeze. Are you hungry? I have a great lunch packed.”
We both stripped down to our swimwear and spread the other towel out making a large area for us to stretch out and relax together.
Later, while we ate, Cain filled me in about his life now with Eli. I filled him in a bit about my marriage to Colin. Both of us had complaints; both of us loved our partners more than life, too.
“Can I ask you something without offending you?” I said to him, picking a piece of cold chicken off the bone.
“Shoot,” he replied, with a smile. “I’m pretty sure I’m offense-proof anyway.”
“When did you first know that you were gay? I’m curious, you see, because I went to college with my best friend, Molly, and she didn’t know she was gay until her senior year. Was it like that for you?”
Cain leaned back on his elbows, sipping wine from a plastic cup. “Well, it’s a little more complicated than that with me,” he replied. “Actually, I’m bisexual.”
Now I know these clothes are staying on…
“Did I shock you?” he asked quietly.
I shook my head in denial. “No, not really, I guess. I mean, I don’t know that much about alternative lifestyles. I think I read somewhere once that bi-sexuality was a myth—”
“Oh yeah,” he said with a snort. “I think I read that same article. Was it something to the effect that people claiming to be bi-sexual were really homosexuals that hadn’t come to grips with the reality of it?”
“Exactly,” I replied, laughing. “Then it’s rubbish, right?”
“Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but as far as me? Yeah, it’s pretty much rubbish. My first sexual encounters were all female and they were great. I didn’t have my first homosexual experience until I worked for the cruise-line. I have to say, it was magnificent as well. After that, I simply alternated in my long-term relationships. I’m monogamous, no matter what. I’ve been with Eli for nearly two years.”
“So,” I continued, “does it make it difficult to only be with a man now?”
He contemplated his answer for a moment. “I think you’re under the impression that bisexuals need variety in order to be completely satisfied. It’s not like that. I can be totally fulfilled sexually and emotionally with Eli, because we’re in love. I’ve been in love with women, too. During those relationships, I was totally fulfilled sexually and emotionally with them. So, it’s not like I feel like I’m missing out by not being sexual with both men and women on a consistent basis. Does that make sense?”
“I think so,” I replied. “It’s like any relationship where there’s monogamy, regardless as to whether you’re able to love and be sexual with both genders, right?”
“Exactly,” he said, smiling. “I simply have more choices of fuck buddies between relationships.”
We both laughed at that.
“You know,” I said, still laughing, “I was totally prepared to spend all afternoon sulking and you’ve brought me out of my mood. Thanks for sharing that with me, Cain.”
“It was my pleasure, Ronnie,” he said with a wink. “So, are you still pissed off at Colin?”
“No, not really,” I said with a sigh. “I know it’s been stressful on him these past months. You see, we’ve been trying to conceive a baby going on a year now. I think it’s taken some of the spontaneity out of our love life.”
“I see,” he replied. “So you’re thinking maybe he feels under pressure because of it?”
“I know he does. If nothing happens in the next two months, my doctor has suggested fertility testing for us. Colin will be tested first because it’s simply easier to check sperm count. On females, well it’s a bit more invasive.”
“Ouch,” he said. “That’s got to jab at his ego a bit if it gets to that point, no doubt.”
I nodded. “I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that. What about you and Eli? Are children in your future?”
I had moved over towards the bank of the pond in order to immerse myself in the shallow water, taking a seat in the wet sand where the water would lap against my back. Cain had started to reply to my latest question, when all of a sudden, my ass felt as if I had sat smack dab on a pin cushion. Prickly shocks of pain invaded my butt, causing me to jump and screech in agony.
“Oh my God!” I screamed, launching myself up out of the water. “Something’s bit me!”
“Hold still, hold still,” Cain ordered, coming to me quickly, examining the next-to-non-existent fabric covering my butt.
“Shit,” he said. “You must’ve sat on a jellyfish.”
“Oh God, is that lethal?”
“It’s not a box jellyfish,” he replied, looking into the water as the creature drifted away. “You’ll be okay. But Ronnie, you have to lie on your stomach and hold still so I can neutralize the tentacles. You have a couple of them stuck through your suit.”
“Oh shit,” I shrieked, totally losing it. “Pull it out, Cain, please!”
“I can’t pull them out until I neutralize them, otherwise, they’ll fire off the venom and you or I will be worse off, so chill, babe.”
I laid flat on my belly wondering how the hell he intended to neutralize the little fuckers. Then it dawned on me.
I gasped audibly, turning my head, fully expecting to see him whipping out his dick. I had seen this very thing happen to Monica on Friends.
“Relax,” he said, trying to hide a grin. “You watch too much television, girl. I’ve no intention of pissing on your ass. Sorry about your luck.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched him out of the corner of my eye grab the bottle of the red merlot wine we hadn’t finished. He squatted down beside me, and poured the warm wine slowly over my ass, where it felt like needles were embedded into my skin. Within a few moments, the stinging stopped and just a dull throbbing pain was left. At least I could cope with that.
“Okay,” he said, “Hold still. I’m going to pick these out of your behind.”
I did as instructed until I heard him say, “Operation, successful. You’re going to need to put some Lanocaine on this when you get back to the ship. They’ll have some there at the infirmary for sure.”
“Thanks, Cain,” I said, sheepishly. “I’m sorry I was such a baby, but it hurt like hell.”
“Hey, no worries,” he replied, helping me stand up. “I’ve tangled with a jellyfish before and it hurts like a mother-fucker, I know.”
I was standing up right in front of him now. I shivered at our closeness, not sure why. He peered down at me through his thick, dark lashes, and for a moment, we were frozen in time. I watched as he lowered his mouth within inches of mine, his hands now bracing my shoulders. He intended to kiss me.
Oh God!
Instantly, I knew what I had to do, pushing back from him, and looking away quickly. “Let’s get packed up,
Cain. I’m sure the others are done shooting clay pigeons by now.”
“Hey, Ronnie,” he said, softly. “I don’t want you to—”
“It’s fine, Cain,” I interrupted. “Let’s just forget it, okay?”
“What if I don’t want to forget it?” he asked, stepping closer to me once again.
“You have no choice,” I replied, tersely, shaking my towel out. “I want to go back to the ship now.”
We returned to the ship in silence. Once we reached our deck, Cain pulled my arm, forcing me to look at him.
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” he said, calmly. “But I don’t regret spending the afternoon with such a beautiful person. I hope we’re still friends.”
“Sure,” I said, giving him a quick smile. “See you, Cain.”
When I got to our suite, Colin had just come out of the shower, still towel-drying his damp hair.
I hurriedly shed my swimsuit thong, peering at my backside in the full-size mirror on the sliding closet doors. There was a reddened area where the jellyfish had stung me, but it didn’t appear swollen. Evidently, Cain had done a good job with his emergency first-aid.
“What the hell happened to your bum?” Colin asked, looking concerned, as he closed the distance between us.
“Jellyfish sting,” I replied. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. Cain poured red wine on it and removed the tentacles.”
“Thank God for that,” he replied; totally comfortable with the fact that another man had administered first-aid to my bum. Maybe it was because Colin trusted me without question; or maybe it was because he thought Cain was gay. I wondered if his reaction would have been different had he known what I now knew: Cain was bi-sexual. And it appeared he was also attracted to me.
It really didn’t matter because I loved Colin more than anyone else on earth, and no matter what, I’d never put that love at risk.
“Listen, babe,” he said, pulling me up against him, and gently stroking my hair. “I was a total wanker earlier. I’m sorry, sweets. Will you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Colin. This is your vacation, too. I shouldn’t have been so controlling about it. Maybe that jellyfish sting happened for a reason. Forgive me?”
“Nothing to forgive, love. And, if it makes you feel any better I totally humiliated myself at the shoot. Why the fuck did I ever think that either Easton or I stood a chance against those FBI blokes?”
On the fourth day of vacay my true love and I gave to one another:
A lesson in contrition.
chapter 5
On the fifth day of vacay…
~ Darcy ~
Hot damn! It was New Year’s Eve! Sammie, Lindsey and I had spent the better part of yesterday afternoon with Jo Anna, the event planner for the New Year’s Eve masquerade ball. She had taken all of our measurements for the costume planning, using mine for Ronnie’s since we were about the same height and build. We’d provided the sizes for our men to her as well, so that she could select their attire.
The really beautiful thing about it was that everyone’s costume would be a secret. None of us would know what the other was wearing. The same applied to the men.
A huge dressing room had been set up behind the stage of the large ballroom for the ladies to change into their masquerade gowns provided as rentals by the cruise-line. The men’s costumes would be delivered in a wardrobe bag to their suites a couple of hours prior to the ball.
The masks we would be given hid the whole upper part of the face. Jo Anna had shown us a few and they were extremely ornate and detailed. They were fairly comfortable though, allowing for easy communication and eating. The whole point was to leave them on throughout the cocktail/appetizer social hour in order to seek out your date or mate as Jo Anna had put it.
Wigs were optional, depending upon how difficult we wanted to make it for our men to pick us out of the crowd. We had all decided to wear them and were permitted to select the ones we wanted and give the stock number to Jo Anna, so that she could put them with our costumes in our assigned dressing rooms on New Year’s Eve.
This ball was, by far, the most lavish event scheduled for New Year’s Eve on the ship. There were several other New Year’s Eve events taking place, but I had reserved this event when we booked our passage. There was a maximum limit of fifty couples.
Of course, Eli had begged off before we had left, saying he and Cain were going to attend another event less “stodgy” as he had put it. He wasn’t receptive to the antebellum theme of the masquerade ball, claiming he would be tagged a “dandy” whatever the hell that meant.
Cocktail hour started at 8:00 p.m. Dinner was served at 9:00. The object, during happy hour, was for the men to seek out their date or mate, and slip a garter that matched their cravat or tie onto her leg, making his claim. Women were encouraged to seek their man out if they so desired, but once the garter was put into place on the woman’s thigh, no talking was to take place between the two of them until the masks came off.
Once seated at the dinner table as a matched couple, the masks could come off, and dinner would be served. I thought it sounded like an absolute hoot. Easton wasn’t exactly sharing the sentiment.
I was taking a leisurely bubble bath in the sunken tub of our suite when he sauntered in, a frown creasing his forehead.
“Darcy,” he said; his tone serious, “I’m all for having fun at tonight’s masquerade ball, but I think we need to work out some sort of a silent signal so as to make sure we end up together, don’t you?”
I lathered up my leg, running my razor down the length of it.
“Oh Easton, come on,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Are you seriously going to stand there and tell me that you can’t pick me out among forty-nine other women of all shapes and sizes? I think I’m offended.”
He sat near the edge of the tub, gazing down at me with a devilish look in his eyes. “It’s not that,” he replied. “It’s that I know how you are, and I’ve already heard rumblings about some of the women padding themselves to throw off their husbands during this game of ‘hunt your cunt’.”
“Easton Jamison Matthews,” I said, totally incensed, “that is the crudest thing I’ve ever heard. Really?”
“It’s the fucking truth, Darcy. And to be honest, I don’t fancy having to sit with some boring old hag because I mistook her for you.”
Oh, hell to the no!
“Get out,” I fumed, sinking lower into the bubbles, to obscure his view of my naked breasts. The fucking nerve of him to say something like that to me! This was supposed to be fun and mysterious. Sometimes I believed Easton had no clue how to just have fun…pure and simple fun.
I was adjusting the red-haired wig with the shiny ringlet curls surrounding it so that it fell level to my shoulders. I actually thought I looked pretty damn good as a redhead, though I preferred a modern hairstyle to go with it.
The antebellum gown I had been given rivaled that of what Scarlett O’Hara had worn in “Gone with the Wind.” You know the one…made from the emerald green velvet drapes that were the only thing worthwhile left hanging on the large window at ‘Tara’ after the Yankees had cleaned out the plantation? Mammy had sewn quite a fetching gown out of them, complete with the gold-colored fringe that had made it look like something couture for the 1800’s. It had been my favorite gown when I watched the movie for the first time.
Anyway, mine was sort of like that except without the gold fringe. The red-haired ringlet wig was the icing on the cake, as far as my costume went. All I had to do now was to wait for my “Rhett Butler” to pick me out of the throng of forty-nine other females and claim me as his own. I had no doubt my alpha man, Easton Jamison Matthews, could do just that!
I had sulked the rest of the afternoon after my bath, leaving our suite to hang with Lindsey, Ronnie and Sammie. They knew that something was up. It wasn’t normal for me to be so quiet as they talked about the masquerade ball that night.
Lindsey
and Sammie were sure that their G-Men would have no problem whatsoever in “claiming” their women. After all, they were seasoned investigators with an expertise in “sniffing” out the prey—as they so eloquently put it.
“Taz tells me that I put off some sort of a love pheromone scent that he can track no matter how many people are around,” Lindsey said, giggling.
Sammie had done her share of bragging on Slate as well. “Slate knows every inch of my body like his own,” she said. “Even beneath a long dress with frilly pantaloons, he’ll know my curves and edges,” she said, very matter-of-factly.
It was then and only then that I started to have doubts about Easton’s ability to “sniff” me out.
Oh, Dear God!
Maybe I had been too hasty in shooting Easton’s idea down about having a secret signal. I could just imagine how irate he’d be if another man claimed me. Knowing Easton, he’d react with his usual possessive jealousy, making something short of a scene until the wrong was righted. I didn’t need the stress of all of that to spoil the evening.
I would simply find him first so that he could claim me and avoid any unnecessary conflict. I wanted this to be our best New Year’s Eve together ever, remembering back to the first one in Belize two years ago.
I sighed, remembering how totally electrifying he was that night; the mysterious E.J., giving me a mind-blowing ‘O,’ and then taking off in a limo into the night. He had been so wicked doing what he had done to me in a public place, where any number of people could have walked up on us at any moment. That was what had made it so fucking hot.
Jo Anna poked her head over the curtain of my dressing room.
“How’s it going milady?” she asked, smiling as she looked me over. “Wow, you rock that gown, babe.”
I giggled as I lifted it up a bit and gave her my rendition of a gentile lady’s curtsy. I had layers of lace-edged crinoline petticoats that served to poof the skirt of the gown out properly. They swished noisily when I walked.
