“Still, I went. I was more curious than anything at this point. I knocked on her door, her husband answered, nodded and then he silently left. She took me into her sitting room, where my upper body lay in her lap while my lower body trailed on the sofa. As I curled into her tiny lap, I nursed on her sweet, small tits. She would often stroke my hair back from my forehead, rub the rim of my ears, and sing softly to me. We never talked, yet it was an amazing bonding experience. I would get a sucking and tugging rhythm going and she would enter a place of deep maternal love while I suckled and drew on her nipples like the child I was in my mind. I honestly felt that I was getting the contact, love, and nurturing that had been missing from my youth, that I was making up for the time that I hadn’t had at my own mother’s breast. From the first time I took one of her nipples into my mouth I never had a desire to put a cigarette into it and I never felt deprived. Not once.”
“You smoke cigars,” I reminded.
“And I need to be cured of that. What are you doing at ten and four for the next ten days?”
I laughed. “I can’t believe that man let you suckle his wife’s breasts.”
“I couldn’t believe it either. But apparently the instructors for Tantric are very involved with their student partners, married or not. I did hear that he divorced her a few years later.”
“I don’t suppose there are many marriages that can survive various partners sucking on your wife’s breasts.”
“No, mine wouldn’t have, that’s for sure.”
“Did she want to have sex with you after your sessions?”
“She never spoke to me, not one word. So I don’t know.”
“Well, I am extremely horny and will be counting the hours. Three you said, right?”
He laughed and it was a delightful sound. “Go put your suit back on and I’ll teach you how to windsurf, that’ll take your mind off your troubles. Use a lot of sunscreen, you’re pinking again. In fact, throw on one of my T-shirts from the bottom dresser drawer. If I’m going to be sucking on those tits for ten days, I want them milky white.”
He followed behind me, snapping my naked bottom with the damp beach towel. “Oooh, gotcha good that time,” he said as I hollered from the sting. “Gonna leave a fine mark, too.”
I spun, grabbed the towel and ran after him. I was leaping the sofa to head him off from escaping to another room when the doorbell rang.
We both spun to look at the door at the sound. I had never actually been in or out of the front door. It had a frosty stained glassed pane in the center shaped as a sunburst. I ran into the bedroom before I could be spotted through the glass.
Roman grabbed the towel I had dropped, wrapped it around his waist and went to the door.
“Who is it?” he called.
“The police.”
I heard Roman say, “Shit,” before fumbling into the bathing trunks he’d dropped in the hall just before we’d begun our shenanigans.
He opened the door and I heard an officer making introductions. Then I heard Roman say, “Give us a few minutes to get dressed.”
He came back to the bedroom and said, “The local police are here and Carlos is with them.”
It was my turn to say, “Shit!”
“Exactly,” he muttered as he pulled clothes from his dresser drawers.
“We can’t tell them where she is,” I said. “She’s not ready to face him yet.”
“I know.”
After we were both dressed, he took me by the shoulders and kissed my forehead. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
And I stopped worrying, because I knew that he would.
As soon as we walked into Roman’s living room, Carlos jumped up from the chair he’d been sitting in. “Well hello, Testa,” he said snidely.
“How did you find me?” I asked, returning his tone quid pro quo.
“It was pitifully easy. The police checked the computers for plane tickets and then yesterday you used your charge cards. According to the passenger list, Amy flew with you. Where is she? Where is my wife?” His lips were curled and his voice hissed between clenched teeth.
“What you really mean is, where’s her money!” I snapped at him.
Roman stepped between us and said in a controlled soft voice, “Well, she is not here.” He looked over at the two officers, “You are welcome to check, but she has never been here.”
One of the officers began searching the rooms.
“Where is she Testa?” Carlos snarled.
The other officer put his hand on Carlos’shoulder to quiet him and said, “We are looking for Mrs.Diaz. She was abducted from the nursing home where she was residing and it appears you flew with her here. We can clear all this up if you would just tell us where she is.”
“And don’t tell us she’s in Italy, because I’ve already been there, and she’s not in Italy!” Carlos growled.
“She is in another medical facility and she is being well taken care of there,” Roman said quietly.
The officer took out a small notebook and pen. “If you would just tell us where, we can be on our way.”
“I cannot tell you at this time. Maybe in another week?” he asked, looking at me.
I nodded.
“Yes, in another week.”
“I’m afraid that will not do, Mr. Byrnes. Mr. Diaz believes his wife was kidnapped, drugged and taken against her will. He has filed charges against Mrs. Jameson. We need to find Mrs. Diaz and talk to her, or I’m afraid we’ll have to arrest Mrs. Jameson.”
“Fine, take us to the station. I will meet with the police chief. I will tell him where she is, and him alone,” he said looking dagger eyes at Carlos, his voice terse.
“Then we will go, we’ll escort you both.”
“I will not ride with him!” I stated, pointing at Carlos. “He tried to kill his wife!”
“You nosy conniving bitch!” Carlos hissed as he leapt at me.
Roman caught him by the collar as he lunged at me and single-handedly used Carlos’forward momentum against him by shoving his face into the Brazilian wood coffee table. I heard a crunch and Carlos came up with a bloody nose. Vile cursing ensued and his fists flailed as Roman grabbed Carlos’ shirtfront, lifting him completely off the floor and ushered him out the front door. “Don’t even think about bleeding on my carpet!” he said, his eyes steely. Then he threw him out the door.
He turned to the officers, “We’ll take our own car. One of you is welcome to accompany us if you’d like.”
“No, I don’t believe that will be necessary Mr. Brynes. We’ll see you at the station.”
I went into the room for my purse while Roman locked the front door, then we left through the pool doors.
“Impressive,” I said.
“An Irishman who can’t fight isn’t worth his salt.”
“So, am I going to be arrested?”
“Not hardly. I play golf with the police chief. I suppose it’s time to explain things to the authorities and have Amy press charges though. Do you think she will?”
“I do actually. But I really wish we had a few more days.”
“We just need to make sure you’re free and clear here, if she’s not ready to press charges, that’s another matter, and that can wait until she feels up to it. I don’t imagine he’ll be all that difficult to find.”
“What if he’s allowed to see her?”
“I doubt he will be after it’s been established that he tried to kill her.”
“Well that would be preferable. Because I’m not sure she’s ready to stand up to him yet.”
“Why do you say that, aside from the drug?”
“She never really was able to stand up for herself. No matter what he wanted, he was always able to talk her into it, cajole her into changing her mind even about things she was dead set against doing.”
“What kinds of things?” Roman asked, his curiosity peaked.
“She’d kill me if I told you.”
“Come now, spill it.”
“On their honeymoon he made her parade around topless and in a tiny thong on the Mexican beach he took her to.”
“Others have done the same. I’ve paraded a few beauties on my arm along the Riviera myself.”
“She’s not a beauty, and she knows it. He did it more for humiliation than for titillation, I’m sure. And then he got her drunk and brought men to their room one night to watch them have sex.”
“My, that is tasteless. And on their honeymoon no less.”
“He tries every year to get her to go back on their anniversary.”
“And have they?”
“Twice. Each time he says it will be different but each time he coerces her into going to nude beaches with him. She refuses to go back or to even talk about Mexico anymore.”
“Can’t say that I blame her. But you think she still loves him and that he has a hold over her?”
“I don’t know. I would hope not. But I don’t know.”
“Well,” he said as he pulled into a parking spot in front of an old ornate building. “Let’s just see if we can keep you out of jail so I can enjoy you naked on my beach for a few more days.”
Roman was masterful. He managed to have Carlos separated from the group, and while he was being cleaned up and his broken nose seen to, we met with Roman’s friend, the police chief and told him Amy’s tale. Two officers were dispatched to interview Amy and when they returned they collaborated our story. To my surprise, Amy was ready to press charges, but it was decided Carlos would be allowed to return to the U.S. before being arrested. They would pick him up at the Miami airport and hold him until North Carolina was ready to transport him, where he would face the charge of attempted murder. By the time he was transported, arraigned and scheduled for trial, Amy would surely be able to handle it.
When Roman and I left the police station many hours later, it was dark and we were hungry. “Carmen should have our dinner ready by now,” Roman said as he lifted me into the Jeep.
“Hey, it’s been over three hours, I think you have a little chore to take care of first.”
He laughed. “I know my housekeeper and I know how hard she works on her dinners, I recommend we eat first and play later.”
I made a moue of my mouth and pouted.
He looked over at me and laughed again. “You look like a kid who dropped her ice cream cone.”
“I can’t help it, you’re making me addicted to you.”
“So, do you suppose I can use this power I have over you to make you do something you don’t particularly want to do?”
“You mean like Carlos did to Amy?”
“Yeah.”
“What is it you want me to do?”
“Marry me.”
I looked over and saw the seriousness in his eyes.
“Why is that so important? Why can’t we just go on as we are?”
“I don’t know. It just is.”
“I just don’t think I can handle loving you and then losing you. The grief I had after Tom died damn near killed me. One day I had a connection to someone who could practically read my mind and the next day he was gone. He was like an extension of me and it took a long time for me to realize that I could live without that part, that I could go on without it being there. But nothing was the same anymore, all my joy was gone. If it hadn’t been for Cat and Viv, I don’t even know if I would have made it. I think I might have died from a broken heart. You hear about people doing that all the time. At the time, I believed it would happen to me.”
“So you love me then?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, I’ll have to be satisfied with that, for now.”
We pulled up beside his house and saw all the lights burning brightly. We could see Carmen’s silhouette in the kitchen walking back and forth from the stove to the sink.
“She’s never cooked for me like this before.”
“You mean for you and a woman?”
“Yeah, she’s cooked for me plenty, but never like this.”
“Well, I am honored.”
“Just don’t be mad.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” he said as he lifted me out of the Jeep. Puzzled, I followed him into the house.
Chapter Forty-two
Carmen We had no sooner entered the kitchen when Carmen, quickly discarding her apron and crying out “Roman!” rushed over to us. She wrapped her arms around Roman’s neck and on her very tiptoes, captured his mouth with hers.
I stood stunned as she flagrantly attacked his mouth and he with his arms flailing, tried to back away from her ardent kiss. Finally, he managed to do so.
“I was wondering what was keeping you,” she said, caressing his cheek in the process, “you are late.”
Roman cleared his throat and said, “We, uh. . . had business in town. Carmen, this is Tessa, Tessa, Carmen. Carmen was once, er my . . . uh . . . mistress, I guess says it best.”
I turned wide eyes on him, “And you thought this would be a good idea?”
“She’s a great cook, makes really wonderful pasta dishes.”
Carmen ran her fingers over his jaw as she sashayed behind him. Her figure was lush, Sophia Loren lush, but it was obvious, though she was only in her late forties, that she hadn’t aged as well. “Yes, I am a very good cook.” She even had the accent to go with the figure.
I stared at Roman waiting for an explanation. When he kept his lips together in a tight smile, I said, “And you didn’t think this would be a problem?”
“Well, it was long ago, we haven’t seen each other in a very long time, in that way . . .” he said, his hand doing circles in the air. “And unless you two were planning on doing some comparisons, I didn’t think it would matter.”
I grabbed his elbow and pulled him from the room. In the hallway I hissed. “You didn’t think at all you mean. This woman who was your lover is now going to serve you and your new lover and you think she’s going to be happy about that? And what about after dinner, what do you think she thinks is going to be happening back there?” I pointed to the master bedroom down the hall. “Don’t you think there might be a bit of jealousy here?”
He put his hands up, “You’re right, I didn’t think this through. I just wanted you to have a nice dinner. She’s an amazing cook, in fact, that’s how I met her.”
“Well bully for her!’ I said as I slammed my purse down on a hall table. “So why did you two break up?” I asked. I just had to know.
“She was married, but I didn’t know it at the time, honest!” he said backing down the hallway with his hands up, palms out.
“And just how did you find this out, I wonder . . . did you get a black eye when he discovered her under you?”
“Well, it’s kind of funny, now that you mention it. I’m actually the one who gave him a black eye when I discovered them together in my pool. I came back early from a trip. He was doing some pool maintenance, she was my housekeeper. I had no idea that they were husband and wife. It kind of brought things to an end between us.”
“I can imagine that it might!”
Then I couldn’t help it, I started hooting with laughter. The idea of him hauling a man out of the pool and pummeling
Tessa of Crooked Gulley him when the man was merely making love to his wife in his employer’s pool while the boss was out of town, hit a funny bone. The thought of that same man questioning why Roman was being so gallant and discovering the affair, and Roman discovering Carmen was married to the man, kept me howling. This was better than the best Gina Lollobrigida farce.
Roman stared at me then he began laughing. Carmen came around the corner, then she began laughing. It wasn’t long before the three of us were at the table drinking wine and bursting into gales of laughter. You couldn’t make this kind of stuff up. And to Roman’s chagrin, we did do a little comparing.
After doing the dishes, Carmen left to go home to her much maligned husband and Roman and I settled on the sofa to sip an after dinner dri
nk.
“You were a good sport,” he whispered as he ran his thumb along the area under my ear.
I snickered. “It’s just all too weird.”
“Yeah.”
“Was she any good?”
He shrugged, “I suppose so, I don’t really remember. There have been too many women in between. I do remember she’s the first woman I ever tied up.”
“She’s into bondage, eh?
“Well, she probably is now, but I initially did it to keep her hands off me. She was none too gentle and I didn’t always have the control that I have today. I like to give as good as I get.”
“So I’ve noticed. So what’s the lesson for tonight?”
“Remember the little toy I bought the other day?”
“Mmm, yeahhh . . . .” I said with some trepidation.
“I thought we might connect the three poles of pleasure.”
“Yours or mine?”
“Yours.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that. Even though you’re the one with the pole.”
“Points of pleasure, if that makes more sense.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
“I don’t know. Because if it’s done right, you will be blown out of your mind with pleasure. You’re going to love this.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I stood and started pulling him up, “Well then, what are we waiting for, let’s go find the toy box!”
He chuckled and allowed me to pull him up. “I forgot you’re already primed from the Mother Child Meditation, but trust me, you’re not ready for the whole toy box. We have lots of time. Let’s just play with the new one, purchased especially with you in mind.” He patted my bottom and led me down the hall.
The Widows of Sea Trail-Tessa of Crooked Gulley Page 24