by Clare Lydon
She wrapped her legs around Tori, drawing her body in and pressing down on Tori’s hand. Through half-closed eyes, Holly glanced over at the beach, with all the people still talking and laughing, but the beach looked otherworldly, a relic of a different time.
Around her, the waters moved back and forth as Tori’s body ground out a motion. Holly hugged Tori tighter, wanting her as close as she possibly could be, as deep as she possibly could be. But however deep Tori went tonight, it was never going to be enough.
Holly pulled back and kissed Tori’s lips; her girlfriend responded by filling her with another finger.
Holly groaned into Tori’s mouth as she was spread wide. “Oh fuck,” she said, revelling in this moment. “I love you so much.” And Holly did. Too often in her past relationships, it’d been her taking the lead when it came to sex, her calling the shots. But with Tori, it was a level playing field.
As if proving that, Tori thrust into her again, taking her mouth from Holly’s nipple so she could watch her lover’s reaction. “I love you, too,” Tori replied as the waters around them began to shake that little bit more.
When Tori’s thumb began an insistent rhythm on her clit, marching in time with her fingers, Holly shut her eyes and gripped Tori’s shoulders, breathing heavily over Tori’s shoulder as her orgasm built. It started in her stomach, then spread with a charged current through her limbs, down to her groin, igniting the fire at the very heart of her.
“Come for me,” Tori whispered in Holly’s ear.
And Holly, only wanting to please Tori, gave a final, grand shudder, before she threw back her head into the murky darkness, as Tori’s blissful rhythm worked its magic.
“Fucking hell, yes!” she shouted, as her orgasm ripped through her like a thunderbolt, exploding in her centre and shaking her whole body. Her cunt wrapped itself around Tori’s fingers and Holly came so hard her foundations shook, groaning over Tori’s shoulder as she slipped into oblivion, the water swirling around her as Tori didn’t let up.
Tori drove her point home even further, and a second thunderbolt, then a third crashed through Holly as she trapped her moans in Tori’s mouth, gloriously ravaged and totally spent. Holly ground down into Tori and gave a final shudder as her body sunk into a trail of aftershocks.
In response, her girlfriend kissed her neck, then slowed her rhythm until she stopped.
Holly hung her head over Tori’s shoulder, gasping, taking down huge gulps of air.
They didn’t say a word for a few moments, both getting their bearings back, Holly letting her gaze focus on the beach, allowing her brain to reset. Her vision was clouded with black spots, so she shut her eyes, her brain out of breath. But when she reopened her eyes and took in what she was seeing on the beach, her mouth dropped open.
“Tori,” she began. Her clit was still pulsing, her mouth dry, Tori still inside her. But what she was seeing — at least what she thought she was seeing — had her muscles clenching all over again, this time for different reasons.
“Uh-huh?” Tori leaned in and kissed her on the side of her neck.
But Holly was still focused on what she was now sure she was seeing. Positively, definitely. “There are some people on the beach and I think they’re near where we left our things.”
Tori whipped her head around and glanced to where Holly was looking.
“Shit,” Tori said. “Are they stealing our stuff?” She extracted herself from Holly swiftly, lifting both hands above her head, waving.
Holly lurched forward in the sea, such quick abandonment by her girlfriend leaving her bereft. She could still feel Tori inside her, was still rocking back and forth.
“Hey!” Tori shouted. “That’s our stuff!” She began wading towards the shore, leaving Holly standing, dazed. The bereft feeling was now mixed in with rising panic as the reality of what was happening sunk in. Holly began wading towards shore, too, not moving at quite the speed of Tori, who was now out of the water and running towards the men, who’d already taken off up the beach carrying their belongings.
“Come back! That’s our stuff!” Tori shouted, her toned body an ode to the power of regular gym sessions. Water slid off her skin as she pumped her muscles, running up the beach with bare feet. It had to hurt. Even though Holly was now 90 per cent freaked out, the other 10 per cent could still admire her girlfriend.
Holly stumbled as she emerged from the water, now fully exposed. She was fine being a naturist in the sea where nobody could see her, but doing so on dry land with an audience? That wasn’t such an appealing prospect, especially with so many people and smart phones around. If anybody filmed this and they went viral, she’d kill Tori. This was her idea, after all.
Holly glanced over to where only 20 minutes ago, they’d been spiritedly stripping off. Now, where once there were clothes, there was nothing. Just a pile of naked pebbles. Their phones, wallets and clothes were all gone, and the men responsible were now climbing the stairs to reach the promenade above them.
Tori, for her part, having gone to give chase from the sea, seemed to have suddenly realised it wasn’t something she could fully commit to, what with being stark naked. And so she stopped now, putting her hands on her bare thighs and leaning over, catching her breath.
Holly’s cheeks burned as she assessed their situation, and she cowered, dropping to her haunches. The speed at which tonight had gone from such a high to such a low was breath-taking. Her orgasm was still pulsing through her and her legs were weak. But now, instead of luxuriating in that feeling, Holly was horribly, literally, exposed. She just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her, whole.
CHAPTER NINE
One of the groups of friends on the beach were pointing and staring now, but Tori paid no heed. Rather, she turned and walked back to Holly, not quite believing what had happened. Who got their clothes stolen when they went skinny-dipping? She’d done it loads of times and it’d never happened, not once. Only, Holly wasn’t going to believe that, was she? Just when she’d got her into thinking this weekend could have a positive outcome, this happened. Tori shook her head: life was a trial, sometimes.
When she got to Holly, her girlfriend was crouched down in a foetal position, an angry scowl on her face. Sex in the sea was now a very long time ago, and Tori could see she had work to do.
“We’ve been robbed,” she said, with a sigh. “I was going to run after them, but then I looked down.” Tori swept her hand down her body. “I can hardly run down the promenade with no clothes on, can I?”
“It’s not ideal.”
“Any suggestions for what we do now?”
“Never come to Pride ever again?” Holly said, steel in her tone. “My brain is still processing the fact I just had sex and now I’m naked, in public, on a beach. So much for spontaneity if this is where it gets you. Being naked in the sea was daring; being naked on the beach just seems like a stark lack of forward planning.”
The wind whipped around them and Tori’s skin tingled with goosebumps. She felt the wind everywhere — and she meant everywhere.
Tori sighed, before crouching down beside her. “I’m well aware of that, and I take full responsibility,” she said. “But I couldn’t have predicted this.” She paused. “Why are we crouching down, by the way?”
“Less of us on show while we formulate a plan?”
“Good point.”
Neither of them spoke for a while, just crouching, unsure what to do next.
“What time is it?” Holly asked eventually.
Tori sighed. “No idea, I don’t have my phone. Or my watch, it was in my jeans.” She paused, regret rippling through her. Her watch: she’d lost the watch Holly gave her for Christmas “I’ve lost your watch,” she said, pouting. “And we’re going to have to cancel all our cards and our phones.” Tori put her head in her hands.
“And you can add on dignity to the things we’ve lost tonight,” Holly said, shivering. “I was so warm before, and now, I’m freezing. Hard to believe that five min
utes ago, you were inside me.”
“I know,” Tori replied. “It’s definitely unfortunate.”
“You can say that again.”
“It’s definitely unfortunate,” Tori repeated, giving Holly a wry smile and nudging her with her elbow. However, Holly wasn’t expecting that nudge, and the sudden jolt meant her weight shifted with speed. Alarm sparked through Tori as she watched Holly overbalance for a second time that night, sticking out an arm too late.
Tori’s mouth dropped open as Holly toppled over, going down with a thump onto the pebbles, her arms instinctively going out to her sides to break her fall. Her right elbow hit something hard and she swore, her eyes tight shut in pain. And then she was lying, naked and prone on Brighton’s pebble beach.
Tori knew that was another thing to add to the list currently marked: Tori’s Fault.
Her thoughts were broken by a bearded man standing over them, his hand outstretched.
“Are you okay?” the man said. Tori moved to cover Holly, but then realised it wasn’t ideal, what with her being naked, too. She did the best she could.
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Tori said to Holly, concern and fear mixed on her face. “I didn’t mean to push you over.”
“You didn’t intend a lot of things tonight,” Holly snapped, squinting upwards. “Who’s he and why is he staring at us?”
“Are you hurt?” Tori said.
“No, falling on a rocky beach is a really soft landing.”
Tori couldn’t fail to catch the bite in Holly’s tone. When she looked back up, the man had disappeared back to his friends, and was talking animatedly to them.
“Can you help me up?” Holly put out an arm and Tori took it, easing her into a sitting position.
“Sorry babe, I’m not trying to make tonight any more difficult, honest.”
In response, Holly gave her a withering look.
The man then reappeared within seconds carrying a blanket. He dropped it over Holly’s naked body, smiling at her, embarrassment written across his face.
“Best I can do to help out, at least it gives you some coverage,” the man said, rubbing his hands together. “I’m Richard, by the way.” He held out his hand.
Tori glanced up at him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I won’t get up to shake your hand.”
“No worries,” he replied. Richard had an air of geek about him, which probably meant he earned vast amounts of money programming a killer app. He’d staggered slightly on the pebbles as he approached them, but his smile was friendly, and that was as much as they could ask for tonight. “We caught the end of that, but we were too slow to give chase — those blokes were fast.”
Tori nodded. “They were, but thanks for the blanket.”
Richard nodded too, unsure what to do next.
Tori touched Holly’s arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live,” she mumbled.
“Can you stand up so I can share the blanket?” Tori was still crouched down, still very much naked. And what she most wanted in the world was to get some coverage, too, so she could think straight. Too much had happened in the past hour, and her mind was too foggy with it all. She’d never before bothered to appreciate the protection clothes gave her, but she’d never take them for granted again.
“Take my arm, and we’ll stand together, okay?”
Holly nodded. She winced as she got onto her knees in what could only be described as the most ungainly ascension ever. Some small bits of stone came with her, and she tried to brush them off; Tori gave her a hand.
Richard was still staring at them.
Tori glanced over. “Thanks, we can take it from here.”
Richard was in a trance, but eventually, Tori’s words registered. “Okay — if you’re sure.”
“Positive,” Tori replied.
He gave them a hesitant wave and set off back to his friends.
“Okay, on three. One, two, three.” Tori heaved herself and Holly upright, then hastily wrapped the blanket around the two of them.
Inside the blanket, Tori snaked an arm around Holly and leaned into her, sighing.
“How we doing?” she asked, not looking at Holly. “I know you’re blaming me right now, and I agree, it was my suggestion. But we’re here now, so shall we just try to get out of this the best way we can and chalk this one up to experience?”
Holly sighed. “We’re going to have to, aren’t we? But the next time you suggest trying out a new experience, I’m going to clonk you over the head with a frying pan, goddit?”
Tori laughed, then gave her a squeeze. “I still think trying new things is a good thing,” Tori replied. “But I promise, the next one will be fully clothed. Deal?”
Holly shook her head. “It’d better be.” She shifted the blanket up on her shoulder, and as she did so, it rode up, exposing Tori, who shrieked.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you a new experience of having less blanket.”
Tori glanced over at Holly. “Can we call a truce while we’re sharing this blanket, please?”
Holly laughed. “I guess if we want to get home, we’re going to have to. Okay, truce.”
“Good,” Tori said, pulling the blanket around her a little more. “So any ideas as to what we do now?”
Holly squinted ahead, eyeing up the row of bars under the promenade, built into the arches. “Shall we aim for over there?”
Tori nodded. “Sounds as good a plan as any.”
Minutes later they were off the pebbles, at the stretch of shops and bars that lined the beach, quite a few still open. Tori was aware they must have looked a comical site: a two-headed, blanketed being. But she was too busy trying to work out their next move to worry about what they looked like — it was the least of her problems.
“That bar there,” Holly said, pointing. “Doesn’t Jake work there?”
Tori frowned. “Your uni friend, Jake?” She began to nod slowly. “I think so. Why?”
Holly shrugged. “I was just thinking we could drop his name, play on their mercy and see if they have a spare T-shirt they could give us. Worth a shot?”
Tori licked her lips. “Best idea so far. You want to go in on your own?”
Holly raised an eyebrow. “You want to stand here naked while I do, in front of all these punters?”
Tori swept her gaze across the outside of the bar, around 20 tables all full. “Good point, well made. Let’s go.”
They set off to the door of the bar, drawing a few whistles from a table full of men near the entrance. Tori tried her best to ignore them and kept her head down. Once inside, the bar was dark and the music was thumping. And all Tori could think was “I’m naked!”, but she tried to ignore that thought. Calm was called for now, and she was going to be calm.
She could totally do that.
They walked over to the bar, the floor sticky on their bare feet.
“I’m trying not to think of what we’re stepping in, by the way,” Holly said.
“Best idea,” Tori replied.
“Yes, ladies,” said the barman, giving them a quizzical look.
“I wondered if you might be able to help us — we’re friends of Jake.”
The barman nodded. “He’s not working tonight.”
“I know,” Holly said. Then she turned on her widest smile possible before continuing. “The thing is, we’re a bit stuck — we just went into the sea and someone stole our clothes.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” Holly replied. “So I was wondering — do you have any clothes you might be able to lend us? Staff T-shirts, something like that? We’d be happy to pay you back for them tomorrow when we can get some money, but for now, we’re a bit stuck.” She glanced down. “All we have is this blanket.”
“That is stuck,” the barman agreed. He bit his lip; Tori could see he was trying not to laugh. “Stay there, I’ll go and see what I can rustle up.” The barman disappeared and Holly let out a long breath. She hugged Tori to her and her g
irlfriend gave her a weak smile.
“It’s just sinking in we’ve lost our wallets and phones.” Tori paused. “Being without clothes delayed my reaction.” Tori’s face slumped as she spoke.
Holly gave her a smile. “It was almost worth it,” she replied. “I mean, the beginning of it was. This bit? Not so much. But getting fucked in the sea at night? That’s going up there in my all-time sex stories. Maybe even top three.”
“What’s number one, or shouldn’t I ask?”
Holly reached down and kissed her lips. “The first time we had sex, of course, after you cooked me that dinner.”
Tori’s insides fizzed at the memory — she still replayed that one in her mind often, too.
“Glad to hear it.” Tori paused. “And number two?”
Holly reached down and put her mouth right beside Tori’s ear. “Fucking you on the balcony after our Christmas party,” she said, before kissing Tori’s ear.
Tori squirmed in reply. Yep, she’d replayed that one, too.
“In fact, that was alfresco too, wasn’t it? I never would have picked you for an exhibitionist, but you’ve definitely got a streak.”
“This is just easing you in,” Tori said. “Next holiday, we’re going to the naturist beach where we can let it all hang out.”
“We’re so not.”
Just then, the barman returned, holding up some black clothing still in plastic wrapping. “Right then. I’ve got T-shirts and aprons for your bottom halves — will that do?”
Holly reached over the bar and grabbed the clothing. “You’re an absolute lifesaver. If there wasn’t a bar in between us, I’d kiss you.”
The barman smiled. “Do you need any money to get back to wherever you’re staying?”
Holly glanced at Tori, and they both nodded.
“We kinda do,” Holly said. “If we could get home without stumbling through the town shoeless, that would be amazing. We’ll totally pay you back.”
The barman shook his head and reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out a £20 note. “I believe in karma, and also helping out damsels in distress. So don’t worry about it — consider it a gift.”