The Secret Lives of Emma: Distractions

by Walker, Natasha

  Now Sally stood shivering in the shallows. ‘I’ll race you back,’ she shouted to Emma.

  ‘You go, I’ll follow,’ Emma replied, handing over the sarong. She was stiff from sitting in the cold.

  Sally dashed off through the shallow water. She looked funny to Emma, like a streaker running across a stadium. Emma made her way back so slowly Sally was showered, dressed and already in the kitchen by the time Emma entered the house.

  They flopped in front of the TV for a few hours. Sally laid her head on Emma’s lap, then they headed for bed.

  Emma fell asleep almost immediately. But Sally was wide awake. She switched on the bedside lamp and started to read a magazine, but this was no help. Since arriving at the beach house she’d been feeling very unsatisfied. There was something profoundly wrong with her marriage.

  Frustrated as she was, sleeping next to Emma had been an unexpected joy. A silent one. Though it was completely innocent, they behaved like old lovers who had tired of the physical. Her love for Emma was intense at times. She wanted to look after her. To care for her. She wouldn’t let Emma do a thing. And all she required in return was to be held so that she may sleep. But Emma lay so quietly beside her. Her breathing was regular and deep – her repose complete. Emma seemed to hum with satisfaction, and Sally couldn’t bring herself to disturb her.

  She wrongly attributed the hum to David’s prowess and had become fixated on him. He now disturbed her thoughts and kept her from sleep.

  How can one woman be calm around another woman who emits a satisfied hum?

  FIVE

  Emma was awakened by a noise. She lay still for a moment then she heard it again. There it was – a sharp intake of air. The bed she shared seemed to be shaking slightly. Emma opened her eyes. It was still dark but she could make out the shape of Sally in the bed beside her. She listened to Sally’s breathing. It was irregular. There was movement too. Emma suddenly realised what Sally was doing. She smiled in the darkness.

  Sally was lying on her back and Emma could see that both of her hands were busy. The more she watched the more excited she grew. Sally was being very quiet. Emma wondered how often she had done this while her husband slept. She wanted to reach out but feared her friend’s reaction. Would she be embarrassed?

  Emma started to touch herself. She couldn’t help it. Sally’s breathing turned her on. And her sudden shudders, and her raised nightie, her bare stomach, her wrists and that one knee slightly lifted. She was so close to Sally, too. She wanted to lift her nightie up further and take a nipple in her mouth.

  Then Emma saw the dildo. Sally had been using it and it now lay down beside her. Emma reached for it, making sure she wasn’t spotted. It was enormous. She grinned at her friend’s appetite. It was wet and felt heavy in her hand.

  Sally had stopped. Emma couldn’t decide whether she had come or not. Emma could smell Sally on her fingers. She had to use the dildo. She didn’t know how Sally would react, but it didn’t seem to matter any more. She rubbed the soft head of it against herself.

  Emma moved closer to her friend. She ran her hand along the underside of Sally’s raised leg. Sally was silent. She ran the tip of the dildo along Sally’s thigh as she laid her head on Sally’s shoulder, then pressed the dildo into her. Sally gasped and started to touch herself using both hands. Emma kissed the side of Sally’s face as she brought the dildo out and then pressed it back in. She began to fuck her with it slowly, keeping the rhythm she kept herself, and listening to her breathing.

  Sally turned her head and tried to find Emma’s mouth with her own. They stumbled in the dark, noses bumping and lips finding chins, until lip met lip and Sally expressed her urgent desire by pushing hard against her friend’s mouth. Emma slid her arm under her neck and grabbed her, pulling her closer.

  Their kiss was heated. Fire made. Emma left the dildo in, and rolled over on top of her, spreading Sally’s legs so that she could lie between them. She kissed and rubbed and pressed her body against Sally. Her hands were everywhere. Sally in turn wrapped her legs around Emma, as she would a man, and squeezed against her.

  Sally hadn’t been expecting any of this. She and Emma hadn’t done anything together for years, and when they had there had always been a man present. She hadn’t been able to sleep and as a last resort had decided to do what she had done many times before to the accompaniment of her husband’s snoring.

  But things hadn’t gone to plan. She wasn’t able to come. She had nearly given up when Emma had woken.

  Emma’s kiss had surprised her. Sally was overcome with desire. Emma’s touch, her hands in her hair, her body on hers, smashed through her reserve. She had believed she was beyond all of this, that her flirtations with Emma were just that, flirtation. A tease for the men they had shared. But this was something different. Sally felt a dull and heavy yearning deep within her. Something that she knew nothing could serve to quiet. Something that made her pull Emma against her, to feel flesh against flesh, her muscle and bone aching for union.

  She rolled Emma over and lay on her. She kissed her mouth, forever surprised by its yielding nature. Emma accepted her, received her and seemed always capable of taking more. Sally wanted to give. She wanted to embed herself within Emma.

  When Emma felt Sally’s hand against her she broke from her kiss and moaned. She had been fantasising about her friend for days now and had become fixated on the beauty of Sally’s hands and wrists. Now one of those perfect hands was on her. And now in her. She was being so gentle. Her hands were so unlike David’s. His were rough and thick, they were heavy and hurried. Sally’s were intelligent. They remembered her, they knew her.

  Ever so slowly Sally moved down Emma’s body. She kissed her way along, lifting Emma’s nightie, kissing her belly, returning to kiss her breasts. Emma lifted it over her head and Sally did the same with her own. She hungered for Emma.

  Entirely naked Sally lay herself against Emma and kissed her anew. Again she began to kiss her way down Emma’s body. Bit her. Tasted her. Coming slowly to her destination.

  The smell of Emma overwhelmed her. She remembered it so well. Memories flooded her mind. Her youth was here. All of the most erotic moments of her life had happened near or between these legs. The debaucheries they had shared together.

  Emma arched her back. Sally remembered what Emma liked. When Sally pushed her fingers into her, Emma knew she was done. The mere fact of Sally on her was enough. The way Sally had initiated the act had filled Emma with love. She knew that Sally was sharing herself completely. The week alone together had rekindled their friendship, their lost love. Sally’s tongue, her mouth, was on her. The beautiful face between her legs. Emma came. There was no stopping it. She came and it was big. She lay back with eyes closed, allowing the final waves to shudder through her body, while Sally slid along her and rested against her, kissing her breasts. Her nipples rubbed against Emma’s thigh.

  Now it was Emma’s turn to lead. She eased Sally onto her back and then straddled her lover backwards, lowering her face between Sally’s legs. Emma reached for the neglected dildo. And as she did so she felt Sally grip her hips and pull Emma down onto her mouth. Emma moaned as Sally’s tongue entered her. The dildo in her hand was momentarily forgotten. She closed her eyes and pressed her mouth against Sally and flicked her clitoris with her tongue.

  Emma could feel Sally, rather than hear her moans, the reverberations exciting her as much as her mouth. Emma picked up the dildo again. It was there to fill not fuck. Emma’s focus was Sally’s clit. The tip of her tongue lapped the bud softly, softly, barely touching. She eased the dildo in and eased it out again in long, deep slow motions.

  Sally nibbled and licked too and the women found themselves keeping the same slow beat.

  The pleasure they received from men came not from their expert attentions, not from their ability to focus in with the intuition of a woman, but from the very thoughtless nature of their wayward tongues, which teased, which tormented and left the whole experience tantali
singly close to orgasm but not there, not quite there, then … Oh! And then … Oh! So close, so close, so close, so … so … so … A torment, a torture, dripping, drop after teasing drop of … yes … yes … yes … Till, by some beautiful accident, three or four random touches ignited something a woman’s sure tongue could never have stumbled across!

  Now they were easing back into an old lounge chair of loving. Soft hands touched soft thighs, gentle tongues lapped delicate pleasures, flesh melted into flesh, their bodies pressed the other in a satisfaction of feminine curves, of breasts against bellies, of soft lips and wet lips.

  The two women brought each other to climax with unfeigned casualness. Their orgasms were long lived, rambling and deeply satisfying affairs. They lay together, in this extraordinary embrace, letting the shudders run their exquisite course. Each was full of the other. Some change had been affected in the way they thought of each other. Sally had re-established herself as an independent lover and could now allow herself some of the levity of her early years. Emma found Sally a far more mature, even wilful, lover. Such a change in so short a time.

  SIX

  There was no embarrassment when they woke. Both women felt revitalised. They’d accepted something. Something simple but hard at first to grasp. There was no going back.

  By one o’clock they were seated on the balcony eating watermelon, in the nude. The weather was at its finest. It was hot. Summertime hot. But then Sally noticed people walking from the house two doors down. A family, with young kids, crossing the dune, wandering onto the beach.

  ‘Here they come,’ she said, with a hint of resignation. ‘The weekend mob.’ She stood and went inside. After a moment she returned with their bikinis.

  ‘And I just realised, the boys will be up tonight,’ said Emma. She had been so far from all these realities. She stood to dress herself. ‘It’s silly to think of such a tiny piece of material as clothes.’

  ‘Yet I feel naked without mine on,’ said Sally, and she caressed Emma’s bum as she leant over to step into her bikini bottoms.

  Touch and love. Love and Sally. Sally and Emma, together, alone. How much could one woman fit in her life? thought Emma. She wanted to remain Sally’s lover. She didn’t want the presence of Sally’s husband, or her own, to force them to name what they had. Her desire was to have her cake and eat it too. Puritans can have the dilemma all to themselves, she’ll own a cake shop.

  ‘I think we should run over to the mall and pick up some meat. The boys can barbecue for us tonight. What do you think?’ asked Sally.

  Emma leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. ‘Brilliant,’ she said, sitting back down. ‘There’s no rush is there? I feel happy and it’s too lovely to move.’

  ‘No rush. Do you want some more watermelon?’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  Emma took another slice from the plate offered by her friend. She noticed both of them were seated in the same way, almost squatting rather than sitting on the chair, their heels on the edge of the seat, knees up and spread. They ate their fruit between their knees. She wondered who had influenced whom. The position was very childlike. Cute. Sally’s toes were splayed and the tendons in both her feet were stretched.

  Emma would have liked to see photos of her and Sally naked and entwined. The contrast of their skin tones would have been delicious.

  She couldn’t stop herself from feeling jealous of their time together. She knew such moments were fleeting. ‘I wonder if I should accept that this is how I want to live my life. I have tried being the good wife. I’m not good at it. We crossed a line last night, didn’t we?’

  ‘Does last night count?’

  ‘How can we tell what counts and what doesn’t?’

  ‘Last night shouldn’t count.’

  ‘The way I’m feeling now I think last night counts more than anything else.’ Emma looked at Sally. ‘Maybe we should just be who we are.’

  ‘I don’t think I can.’

  ‘You won’t have to give anything up, you’ll just have to make room in your life for more. We’re co-conspirators now, Sal. There’s no going back. We can do whatever we want to do.’

  Sally was silent.

  Emma stretched and yawned. In a way there were too many delights in her life. How could she fit them all in?

  She ate her slice of watermelon and began to think about David. He was loving, and yet so strong. A frighteningly attractive combination. Love and strength.

  She reached out a juice-covered hand and touched Sally’s knee, drawing on the shiny brown skin with the juice, making dark wet circles. She wanted to suggest that she and Sally try to find a way to get David into bed. They were allies now, weren’t they? But after what had happened she found the words would not come. It suddenly seemed too real. She wondered what David would make of it. Few men would reject such an offer, but David had certain scruples. He didn’t like to shit where he slept, to put it crudely.

  The reason she had never suggested a threesome had more to do with her friend’s sentiments than her husband’s scruples. The friends had married within months of each other and Sally had wasted no time becoming the very model of a dutiful wife. There would have been little chance of turning Sally’s head back then, as there really was only one man in her world, Mark. Emma found this kind of love charming in others. But was glad to see that by close and regular exposure to Mark his spell over Sally had been broken naturally.

  ‘It will be strange with the boys around,’ said Sally.

  ‘Shall we call them and tell them to go to hell?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Sally, putting the watermelon rind on the table and stretching out. She looked across at the family on the beach. They were all down at the water’s edge. The two adults stood facing the ocean while three little ones splashed and dashed about at their feet.

  ‘But do you know what I was just thinking?’ asked Emma, her heart began to beat wildly. She liked that feeling. Life burst open.

  ‘No, what?’

  ‘I was thinking how lovely it would be to have you on your knees between my legs kissing me here,’ she said. How strange it felt to talk like this now that everything was back to normal. She wondered if she would tell Sally the important bit.

  ‘You’re a beast, Emma. Do you know what you’ve just done to me? Just like that?’

  Emma looked across at Sally, every nerve in her body felt as though it had fired.

  ‘I will do it. I’d love to do it,’ continued Sally.

  ‘But wait there’s more,’ added Emma, standing on the fence, quivering.

  ‘Tell me, Emma,’ said Sally. She wasn’t lying, she would love to do it, she had gone from idle, relaxed, and sleepy, to hot, wet and horny in the time it took for Emma to finish her sentence. Had you pulled her aside two minutes before, she would have told you she’d think twice before doing anything sexual with Emma again. Once was fun. Very exciting. But she wasn’t a lesbian, and she knew Emma respected that.

  ‘I don’t know if I can tell you,’ said Emma, truthfully. She was so excited and nervous she could hardly speak. She felt herself blushing bright red. How silly to feel like this with Sally! She had been so flippant about it only days before. But she couldn’t help it. The suggestion was far harder than she had thought it would be. To share her husband. To lower her husband in Sally’s eyes. To reduce her marriage to the level of one of her flings. She had been flippant about sharing David with Sally before, but this was different. Things had changed. Sally would know she was serious now. Sally would think of the past – how lightly Emma had treated those men of hers. But she did so want the three of them to be together. At least one time. At least. To prove that life could still be as it was.

  ‘You have to now, Em!’ said Sally, leaving her chair and crawling on her knees till she settled between Emma’s legs.

  Emma could imagine David behind her, his face sporting his appreciation of Sally’s wiggling arse. Did she dare tell her? What would Sally think of her? Sally had already shown intere
st in David. But how would her wifely side react?

  ‘Tell me, please!’ Sally added. She wasn’t thinking at all now.

  Emma’s mind was racing, her body was trembling nervously. Would David want this? Should she drag Sally along with her? Should her own wishes always be met no matter what damage might be done? But what damage could possibly come of this? Are you a blind fool? Ah! To have begun so strongly and now to hesitate, stupidly, wavering like a fool, this was not like her. She stomped when others tip-toed. Didn’t she?

  ‘Baby, will you use your dildo on me?’ she asked, having thought nothing of the kind before the words fell from her lips. Sally was up and gone before Emma really understood that she had chickened out.

  SEVEN

  Emma was asleep on one of the lounges in the main room of the beach house. Sally hadn’t the heart to wake her, she seemed so peaceful, like a child, on her side, knees raised, hand under her chin. But the boys were coming up for the weekend and there was nothing for them to eat. Someone had to get some groceries. She’d have just as soon curled up beside her friend, but duty called. Before leaving to go to the local mall Sally had thrown a rug over Emma’s naked form.

  That had been over an hour ago. The sun had set. And still Emma slept. The room was much darker than the world outside, beyond the glass, which was luminescent. A bluish-white glow was softening the landscape, blurring the lines, accentuating the shadows.

  Emma’s first thought on waking was that the sound she’d heard must be David getting ready for work, then she remembered where she was. The noise was Sally. But as she opened her eyes and found that the room was dark, she thought it strange that Sally would potter around the place with no lights on. She felt something sticking into her side and shifted ever so slightly to remove whatever the object was. Sally’s dildo. She lay still again. She felt nice and cosy under the blanket.