by Clare Lydon
Holly swung a leg over the picnic bench. “Why aren’t we drunker, then?”
“Go to the loo, get us another cider on the way back and we’ll work on that.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Several hours and a vat of cider later, Tori was dancing with Holly, Shauna and Trudi in the Women’s Tent, a lazy, drunk smile playing on her lips. After a few false starts, Pride was finally going well. Tori swayed, sweat on her skin, as all around her, women moved their hips and lips in time to the music.
She leaned over to give Holly a kiss, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar figure. Jen. Now looking slightly more dishevelled than she had a few hours ago, her face red, her dark hair matted to her head, her eyes glassy. Jen was chatting with Trudi, who then threw her head back, laughing. Hang on, Jen knew Trudi? How on earth did that happen?
Seconds later, though, Tori’s eyes clouded over with horror and she had to do a double-take. She stared at the space in front of her where Trudi and Jen were currently locking lips and kissing, but she couldn’t be sure she was seeing things right. She banged her head with her hand, then closed her eyes. But when she reopened them, Trudi still had her eyes tight shut, her mouth was still on Jen’s. And Tori could swear there was tongue being used, right there in front of them.
She had to shield Holly, who would totally freak out at this.
Too late.
Holly had seen Tori’s face, had turned her head, too, and was now gawping at Trudi and Jen. Tori winced as her girlfriend turned back to her, mouth ajar, pointing.
“Have you seen this?” Holly’s voice was piqued. “Why is she kissing Trudi? Have I stepped into an alternate universe?”
Tori shook her head. Really? Of all the women at Brighton Pride, Trudi and Shauna had to pick Jen to get jiggy with? And did Jen have some kind of homing device when it came to Holly and the damage she could cause? It certainly seemed that way. Tori had to try to calm this situation down. “Hang on.”
Tori leaned over to Shauna.
“Hey — what’s going on?” She inclined her head towards Trudi and Jen.
Shauna simply grinned at her. “We were just trying out the polyamory bit on our app, and we met Jen a couple of hours ago. She seems nice, so.” Shauna shrugged. And then, as if terribly choreographed, Jen turned from Trudi and leaned in to Shauna, and began snogging her instead. Tori’s insides churned as her mind spun. She almost didn’t dare turn around for fear of what Holly may or may not be doing. And today had only just turned around, too…
Tori glanced at Trudi, who gave her a thumbs-up, before being sucked into a kiss from Shauna, now with Jen the willing watcher. Tori’s eyes boggled.
She turned, grabbed Holly’s hand without saying a word and dragged her out of the tent, sobering up at breakneck speed.
It wasn’t until they got outside and they could hear each other properly that Holly finally spoke. “What the actual fuck? Is Jen just doing this to play with my mind? Why is she in there kissing Trudi and Shauna?”
Tori sighed, shaking her head. Sometimes, life was just a bit too comical, wasn’t it? “Believe it or not, they met via the polyamory bit on their app.”
“But Jen said she wasn’t into that.”
“I think Jen lied.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Holly shook her head, her breathing all over the place. “You know, this is exactly how I found her kissing that other girl at Pride all those years ago. In a tent, snogging her, when she was going out with me. Talk about history repeating.”
“She wasn’t kissing me, though,” Tori pointed out, holding up her index finger. “Key difference.”
“No, but she was kissing my friends, infiltrating my life again. I mean, really, why does Pride do this to me? Why does it mess with my life so much?” Holly threw both her hands in the air, vexed beyond belief.
Tori grabbed an arm and caught her gaze, not saying anything for a moment, just trying to calm Holly down by being calm herself. She wasn’t sure it was working, but at least Holly stopped ranting for a few seconds.
“You know, like I said, this has nothing to do with Pride being out to get you, this is just a weird, odd coincidence.”
“No, this is Pride doing its worst.”
Tori sighed. “It might seem that way, but I’m telling you, it’s not true.”
“I beg to differ. So my new plan is to get through this Pride, then never go to another ever again. It’s safer that way. Trust me on this.”
Tori went to say something, but she could see it was pointless. Boycotting Pride wasn’t the answer: dealing with Jen and her buried feelings was the answer. But Holly wasn’t going to listen tonight, whatever she said.
“Okay, let’s go with that for now. Let’s get through this Pride and see where we are, okay?”
Holly nodded her head. “One thing I know is, I’m not going back in that tent. Can we get out of here?”
Tori nodded — it was probably for the best. “Let me just let them know, then shall we head down to the beach?”
“As long as we’re not here, anywhere else is fine.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The beach was still very much alive at just gone 10pm, with clutches of friends strewn across the hard pebbles like confetti, plumes of smoke lacing the air and laughter reverberating all around. To their right, a tanned surfer type was playing The Eagles on a well-loved guitar, while straight ahead, a bottle of Smirnoff Red was being passed around a group of five, all slurping it neat. Straight ahead, the sea was a portrait of inky black, the water swaying back and forth in a laidback groove, kissing the sand and pebbles before retreating back to where it’d come from.
The walk down to the beach had been punctuated with expletives, but now Holly had calmed down marginally, ready to breathe in some salt air and reset her mind. How easy that would be she wasn’t sure: the world was just too weird right now. They clip-clopped down the stone steps from the promenade, past the bars and restaurant under the arches, and then slalomed across the hard curves of the pebbles underfoot, hand in hand. When they got close to the sea, Holly pulled Tori down onto the beach for a slow kiss, before letting her go.
“Thanks for being such an amazing girlfriend today.” And Holly meant it. They’d worked through so much today, and then Jen kissing Trudi and Shauna had knocked her for six. But whatever happened, Tori was always in her corner.
“No problem. It’s part of the job description.” Tori paused. “But that really was a turn-up for the books, wasn’t it?”
Holly laughed. “You could say that.”
Tori kissed her again. “I mean, I don’t blame them — she is still pretty good-looking and charming. There was a reason you fell for her in the first place.”
“True. But she was never a patch on you.”
“Now who’s the charmer?” Tori said, a smile coating her words.
Holly paused for a moment. “You think they’re going to bring her back tonight? If we have to have breakfast with her, I might cry.”
Tori chuckled at that. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, but don’t worry about that for now. If she’s there tomorrow, we can bugger off and get our own breakfast. I promise I won’t make you sit through that.”
Holly sighed. “Good.” Pause. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t offer them free dental treatment in exchange for being a permanent third wheel in their relationship. Everybody knows dentists are hard to come by.”
“It doesn’t stop her being an idiot — she let you go, after all.”
Holly draped her arm around Tori a little tighter. “She does have a good job, though. Way better than mine.”
“You can sort your job out when we get back — if it’s not what you want, get another. You’d walk into another job.”
“Hmmm,” Holly replied. “I’m just a bit miffed that Gordon’s driving me out when I was perfectly happy.”
Tori gave Holly a kiss on the cheek, before getting up and running down to the water’s edge, turnin
g as she reached it. “And you will be happy again, but no more Gordon talk, remember?” Tori inclined her head towards the sea. “Fancy it?”
“Fancy what?”
“A little Pride adventure and spontaneity.”
“Pride skinny-dipping?” Holly tried to keep the incredulity from her voice, but it wasn’t working. Going into the sea and getting wet? Yes, it was still warm, but she didn’t have any great desire to do that. Holly turned her head — they were hardly the only ones on the beach. “Haven’t I suffered enough today?”
“You’ve suffered?” Tori’s tone was laced with incredulity, which made Holly laugh. “I’ll make it worth your while.” Tori held out a hand, an unmistakable glint in her eye.
Holly glanced to her right, as the group of friends nearest to them emitted gales of laughter at something one of them just said. Beyond them, a couple were huddled together with a bottle of red wine, currently lost in each other’s kiss. Nobody was paying much attention to them at all.
Holly got up and went to Tori, taking her hand and drawing her into an embrace. “I don’t think so,” she said, before meeting Tori’s gaze. “Why don’t we just go back to the tent and get spontaneous there? It’ll be a lot drier.”
“But not half as daring,” Tori replied, before putting her hands under Holly’s blue T-shirt and pulling her close.
Holly’s clit stirred: Tori’s hands on her bare skin sent desire skittling down her body, ending up at a bottleneck located right between her legs. A lazy smile worked its way onto Holly’s face as she kissed Tori in response, the press of her girlfriend’s lips upping the ante.
As Holly sunk into the kiss, the gentle lapping of the ocean was tuned out, replaced by her insistent heartbeat in her ears. She slid her tongue into Tori’s mouth, and her girlfriend gripped her, before slipping her hand between Holly’s legs and pressing on the seam of her denim shorts.
Holly groaned into Tori’s mouth. She was no naturist, but could she be for one night only? After all, Tori had been so good today, perhaps she deserved something she wanted, too. And when all was said and done, it wouldn’t be too much of a hardship for Holly, either. As Tori pressed down again, another wave of want rolled through Holly. Now, her mind wasn’t raising many objections. Now, she just wanted Tori to wipe away all the stress of the day by undoing her zip, sliding her fingers into her and fucking her.
On this beach.
In front of everyone.
Who was she turning into?
Holly wrenched her mouth from Tori, and when she stared into Tori’s enlarged pupils, she knew she felt it, too. This insistent thrumming beat and connection, this itch that was begging to be scratched.
“God, I want you,” Tori said, her voice scraping the floor. “Are you sure I can’t tempt you?”
And when Tori looked into her eyes, it took Holly all of a second to answer.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she said, taking Tori by the hand and dragging her further along the beach, away from the groups of friends around them. And then, when Holly was sure the least amount of people could see them, she turned and grinned at Tori.
“Get your kit off, then,” she said, flashing her girlfriend a grin as wide as the promenade itself.
Tori didn’t need telling twice, and she began unbuttoning her jeans and hopping out of them, flicking off her red Converse with haste. When she tugged her T-shirt over her head and flung off her bra, Holly sucked in breath: Tori was truly a sight to behold, with full, rounded breasts, dark nipples and a flat, toned stomach.
“You look so beautiful,” she said. “And I was going to say something about the moonlight playing on your skin, but then I realised I sounded like a Hallmark card, so I’m going to shut up now.”
Tori gave her a grin. “Come on, Davis. Get naked, or I’m dragging you in fully clothed. But I’d rather you were naked. It’ll be far easier to fuck you that way.”
If Holly’s clit had been throbbing before, now it did a backflip. She wasted no time tugging off her shorts, knickers, top and bra, then finally she was naked. There was no going back now: a frisson of daring pinged through her as she walked towards the sea, the warm air massaging her skin.
Tori took her hand, the white of her teeth bright in the gloom. And then they hit the water and Holly let out a squeal: it was so damn cold.
“Holy moly!” she said, hopping from foot to foot. “It’s freezing!”
But Tori was still going forward, tugging on her hand. “Don’t stop,” she said, “or you’ll never get in. Just keep going, your body adjusts to the temperature in a few minutes.”
“You sound like you do this all the time,” Holly said, swearing under her breath. She was in up to her thighs now, the water’s icy claws gripping her, causing her teeth to chatter. She hated to think what it was going to be like when she was completely submerged. Was this really going to be amazing, or was she going to catch hypothermia?
“I’ve been known to like a spot of naked swimming,” Tori said, leaning over and planting a kiss on Holly’s lips.
They began to wade, going against the calm waters, and when the water hit her bum, Holly swore again. But Tori wasn’t letting her hang back. She tugged Holly’s hand and Holly overbalanced, her foot snagging on a rock. She let out a high-pitched squeal as she fell into the water, going under for a few seconds, before breaking the surface as she came up for air. It took a few seconds for words to escape her mouth, her brain still frozen with shock.
“Holy motherfucker!” Holly spat out a mouthful of water, wincing as the salt coated her teeth and tongue. Her breath was coming in short, sharp rasps and every muscle in her body was contracting. She spat out more water before she spoke. “So fucking cold!”
Tori’s laughter pierced the air as she dunked her body into the water up to her neck, before swimming over and taking Holly in her arms. “Well that’s one way to get wet,” she said, with a grin. “I didn’t think you were going to jump right in.”
“Neither did I,” Holly replied, shaking Tori off and jumping up and down. She shivered and steadied her nerves, then went back under. And then, a few minutes later, a smile invaded her face as her body acclimatised to the water cloaking it. Tori had been right: in just a short time, she was in a different world — a wet, naked world. And the feeling of the water on her bare skin was so freeing and deliciously naughty. Holly spread her legs, then closed them; spread her legs, then closed them. The water caressed every square inch of her skin like silk.
Why had she never done this before?
“Being naked feels so decadent,” Holly said, taking her feet off the seabed and easing herself onto her back. As she did so, water flipped up over her shoulders and sloshed into her ear. She shook her head to get rid of it. “I’ve always wondered what all the fuss about skinny-dipping was, and now I understand.” Up above, the sky was a dark canvas with no beginning or end, and when she put her head in the water, the only sound was the gentle sway of the water. Having got over the temperature shock, she was now transfixed. The beach was still so near, and yet, so very far away.
“What did I tell you? Open yourself up to new experiences and you might like it.” Tori’s hair was slicked to her head and she looked beautiful, like a star of a black-and-white French movie.
Holly grinned and swam to her, getting close enough to give her a kiss. “You are so right, oh wise one. I’ll never doubt you again.”
Tori put her arms around Holly. “I can tell you some other benefits of skinny dipping, too, if you like. Want me to show you?”
Holly hooked her arms round the back of Tori’s neck, her torso now out of the water, the warm air kissing her skin. She circled her legs around her girlfriend’s body, too. “I would love you to show me,” she said, placing a hot kiss on Tori’s lips.
Tori stroked Holly’s back, before cupping one of Holly’s breasts and running her hand across the dark nipple. Then she pulled her mouth away from Holly’s warm lips, and gently sucked her nipple into her mouth, using her
teeth, too.
Holly let her head fall back and groaned. She loved when Tori bit her, and tonight she was in the mood to be rough-handled. She pushed her breast into Tori’s face, and in response, Tori bit her nipple a little harder. Then she skimmed Holly’s other breast with her tongue, warm and wet on Holly’s skin, before sucking on that nipple, too.
Holly purred in appreciation, locking her legs just that little bit tighter around her lover. “I want you to fuck me,” she whispered, her voice loaded with desire.
“I know,” Tori replied, sliding a hand between Holly’s legs.
Holly’s stomach dropped. Her breath came quickly again, but this time for different reasons. In the space of minutes, she’d gone from icy cold to burning hot.
Tori steadied her footing, then slid her tongue along Holly’s lips, at the same time sliding her fingers close to where Holly wanted them most. “I can feel how wet you are, even in the sea,” Tori muttered into Holly’s mouth.
Holly responded by pressing her lips more firmly to Tori and pressing down on Tori’s fingers. “Please,” she begged. Her body ached with unquenched desire, as if Tori had been holding out for months.
Tori kissed her back, before pressing her knuckles into Holly, then sweeping her hand up and through Holly’s hot centre.
Holly’s breathing quickened again, and she dug her fingers into Tori’s back. Exquisite firecrackers pinged all over her body, and her muscles tensed with anticipation.
Seconds later, Holly’s jaw tightened as Tori slid two expert fingers into her, feeling her from the inside. She thrust into her girlfriend, as deep as she could go, hitting the spot Holly loved so much: the spot that made her lose her mind, that Holly had never even realised was there until Tori had stepped into her life. The spot that made her fall into Tori, and at the same time, float away. Tori was an orgasmic game-changer and Holly couldn’t get enough.
