“A few.”
“Good. You know how. You’ll tell me if I don’t do it right.”
“You will. Just let me have you. I want you much more than I wanted the others. You’re not frightened, are you?”
“I was frightened of not liking it. The minute we were together on the beach yesterday, I knew I’d love it with you. I don’t know why. I love to look at you.”
“It’s time for me to have a look.”
He slipped his hands under her shoulder straps and pulled them down. The suit was tight but yielded as he moved his hands down inside it and released her breasts. He gazed at them, enthralled. They were the most beautiful breasts he’d ever seen, not showpieces like Clarissa’s but exquisite formations of tender young flesh. They lay on his hands, impossibly soft and weightless.
He bent down to them and ran his lips and tongue over them. The nipples were hard and puckered. She held his head against her and moaned with pleasure.
“Oh, Perry. Your mouth is heavenly. I want you. I want you to do it with me. Girls say that you shouldn’t show it if you like a boy, but that seems rather pointless. It’s fun to be with someone you like. I don’t see why it should be different with sex.”
“It isn’t except that it’s better.” He pulled the suit down over her hips and with her help freed her from it. “There. We’re naked the way we want to be. Your body is a marvel, baby. We’ll be naked a lot now.”
He straightened his knees and held her exquisite breasts against him and found her mouth. Their kiss was an ecstatic meeting of lips and searching tongues. Her body seemed to awaken. She quivered at his touch and made odd little strangling sounds in her throat. Her mouth became voracious, and she captured his lips between her teeth. She writhed against him. Her breasts heaved.
He felt the moisture between her legs. He parted them and moved in between them and thrust his cock up to her. He pulled her forward until it was pressed demandingly against her.
She reached for it with shaking hands and directed it to her. She slid in on it and gripped him with her knees.
He was numb with wonder and amazement, as if he’d never had a woman before. He was in her, claiming her. She tore her mouth from his with an exultant cry.
“Oh, Perry. Oh, God. It’s you. You’re in me. Oh, lover, I’ve never felt such bliss. Your cock is inside me. Are we doing it all? Is this the way people do it when they get married? I’m not a virgin anymore?”
He held her lightly on his hands while she arched her slender body and worked her hips on him, abandoning herself to the hard thrust of him in her. He dropped back onto his heels bringing her with him so that she rode his cock, supported only on his hands. He possessed her. He looked at her stretched out before him with a conqueror’s pride. “Are you all right?” he gasped, still breathless at the suddenness of it. “I was afraid of hurting you,” he said.
“Oh, no. You’re sublime. Your cock, darling. It’s magnificent. You can lift me with it.”
“I wanted to get you onto the beach. It’d be better for you.”
“Oh, no. Nothing could be better. Is it good for you?”
“I’m just afraid I’ll come awfully quickly. I haven’t much choice like this. I’m pretty close already.”
“Does it matter? I want to do it over and over, forever. I had no idea it could be so heavenly. I’m sure it isn’t with everybody. You’re taking me. I understand what that means now. A man really takes a woman. That heavenly part of you is inside me doing what you want with me. I wouldn’t want to feel so helpless with many men. Do what you did. Something amazing is happening in me.”
She threw her arms over her head, and her mouth stretched open in what appeared to be excruciating ecstasy. Her body was shaken by a series of tremors. She moaned. “Oh, Perry. What’s happening to me? I’ve never felt anything like it. I think I came, but it was different than ever before. How can anything feel so wonderful?”
She stretched her arms out to him and pulled herself up and hung on his neck, covering his face with kisses. Her hips writhed down on him, moving him deeper into her, her body stretching and opening, insatiable.
“Oh, darling,” she breathed. “It’s all of you, all of your beautiful body. I want you on top of me. I want to feel you taking me, forcing yourself into me. Beat me if I don’t always give you what you want.”
He felt his orgasm gathering in him. She was his. Her slim, young untouched body was only for him. She was giving herself to him as she would never again be able to give herself to anybody. He had a family of his own creation. He had made a place for himself at the center of a tiny universe. The Vernons existed in him.
He drew back and watched her while she moved on him, intent on finding all the satisfaction she was discovering he could offer her. Her face was alight and exultant. She was making herself his.
“I’m about to come, honey,” he said. “Do you know what that means? You’ll be mine. We’ll be lovers. I’ll take you whenever I want you. You can try others. I don’t care. You won’t find anybody. I know that now.”
She looked at him, her eyes dazzled. “I wish I didn’t have that gadget. I can’t help feeling that it’s keeping some part of you from me. I just want you in me. I want your baby. I can’t bear to think that I’m about to lose it. Oh, darling, your cock is getting huge. I’ve never felt such power. Don’t let anything stop it. Give me your baby.”
“Now!” He gripped her and then lunged into her, shouting his conquest as he delivered himself inside her. Their bodies were flung about against each other, and then they slowly grew still.
“My lover,” Bet murmured. “How glorious. That was more thrilling than anything I’ve ever imagined happening to me. Is your cock getting soft now?”
“I should think so. I hope that damn gadget of yours does what it’s supposed to do.”
“Who cares? We can get married. Nobody can stop us.”
“That’s true. Who needs a fortune when you can make love? I’m going to let you up, baby. Let’s get out of this boat.”
“I don’t want to let you go. Your cock doesn’t feel that soft.”
“It isn’t. We’ll just take a minute to get to the beach, and then you’ll make it hard again.”
“I’d like to see it happening.”
“You will. Okay? Here I go.” He withdrew from her, springing up and dropping quickly into the sea. He submerged and swirled water around himself, then stood beside the boat, looking down at her. She lay back in the bow, voluptuously at ease, her long legs stretched out in front of her, enticing him.
His cock was elongated, still partially rigid, stirring slightly with a hint of lift returning to it. Looking at it now, she might not have great hopes for it, but he knew it wasn’t a lost cause.
He ran his hands over her and circled her breasts with his fingertips. Her parted lips were waiting for him. Their kiss was long and indolent. They sucked each other’s lips, feeling their teeth on one another, and thrust their tongues deep into each other’s mouths until they were sharing the same breath. Their hands trailed over each other, and she held his cock, stroking it, squeezing it, watching it over the side of the boat as it sprang up once more.
“Such a heavenly man,” she murmured, pulling him closer so that she could look up at it as it soared above her. “I love to watch it. It’s so beautifully mysterious. I don’t see how you do it.”
“You did it. Now you know how. It’s nice to be able to count on a little expert help after I’ve just come. Your hand feels as if you like it. That matters.”
“I adore it. It’s the most thrilling thing I’ve ever known.”
He pulled the boat up higher on the beach until it was wedged in the sand and reached for a towel. “You carry the towel, and I’ll carry you. We’re finally going ashore. I know you’re perfectly capable of getting out there on your own, but this seems like the right place for my Tarzan act. We can’t be naked outdoors every day.”
He lifted her out of the boat, and she
lay back in his arms, holding his cock with breathtaking familiarity. Everything about the way she entrusted her naked body to him confirmed that she belonged to him. Despite her height she was a mere slip of a thing, beautiful and touchingly childlike.
He set her down, then took the towel and flung it out on the tiny beach. The sand was damp and hard-packed. He turned to her with an arm out to bring her in against him and dropped down to the towel with her. He stretched her out and lay next to her, half covering her. “Now you can be comfortable. I’m going to have you here for hours.”
He lifted himself over her, spread her legs, and drove hard into her, letting her imagine that he was capable of beating her. He suddenly made the connection with Billy. Did masochism run in the family? Peculiar but intriguing. He made her whimper and shout with joy and beg for more. He made her more his than anybody had ever been. She wanted him in any way he would take her. She made herself his by wanting to be his. Their desire met and fulfilled itself in long, tremulous moments of total physical satisfaction.
When he could no longer contain himself, they lay together, shuddering with ecstasy and the stirrings of renewed desire. Her mouth fluttering softly against his face and neck and shoulders kept him keyed up for fresh discoveries. She took it for granted that he could go from orgasm to orgasm the way she could.
“What’s it like with boys?” she asked, tangling her fingers in his hair.
“How do you mean?”
“Well, if you have fun playing with them, do you like it as much as with girls?”
He chuckled. “Something to tell Monique? Well, not often. I don’t guess I’m a poof, as you call it. They don’t like girls. I like both. I’m beginning to find out lots of people do. You learn a lot in New York.”
“Oh, tell me more. I want to know everything about you. What do you do?”
“With boys? Oh, honey, there aren’t any rules with sex. I might tell you I don’t go in for one thing or another and discover tomorrow that I was missing something.” He was glad to get it out so that she wouldn’t start prying into what he was doing here with Billy. “I like guys’ bodies. I was with a boy on the boat coming over. He’s a queer. I had him. I was May be sort of in love with him.”
“People are fascinating. You’ve transformed me already. I wouldn’t mind your being with a boy. Especially if he wanted me too.”
“You’re crazy.” He laughed, not missing the implications.
“May be. Do you suppose we’re in love?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to matter. We’ve just got each other.”
“What’s his name?”
“The boy on the boat? Timmy. You’d probably like him. He has a big cock.”
“As big as yours?”
“More or less. I’m nothing special. Just willing. Let’s have a swim. I love stopping and starting all over again. It’s always like getting you for the first time.”
“Am I going to be your mistress?”
“I guess so, whatever that means.”
“It means being your particular girl. You have me for sex without being married to me. You’re supposed to have only one mistress. Boys don’t count.”
“I see. What am I called?”
“You’re my lover. My one and only. My honored master. You may have to make allowances for one or two others so I can find out if you’re as perfect as I think you are.”
“Help yourself. May be you’ll find one who likes me.”
“How heavenly. We’re going to have such fun. Do you really want to have a swim?”
“May be not. Everything feels awfully good the way we are.”
“That’s what I thought. If you want me all the time, I won’t have time for anybody else.”
They made love with unhurried thoroughness, and Perry felt as if he were entering into a lifetime alliance. Jealousy seemed a pointless nuisance. May be he’d never cared enough about anybody to be jealous. He’d been jealous of Mrs. Rosen, but only until he’d made other arrangements for his life. Perhaps he’d been jealous of Billy, but again it was because he’d felt briefly threatened. He didn’t see how Bet could do anything to threaten him.
Being parted from her in the fall would probably hurt, but it probably wouldn’t be for long. She wanted him, and she wanted to be in New York. She would know how to manage it, and he would help from his end without letting it be too obvious to Billy. If he were less eager for her when the time came, it would be only because he’d found somebody to replace her, which he couldn’t imagine, just as he couldn’t imagine her finding somebody else. Unlikely as it seemed, they were irreplaceable to each other. He could feel it.
Ecstasy didn’t undermine his sense of time. He was nervous about arousing Billy’s suspicions so soon. An hour and a half was already pushing it. “We’ve got to go, honey. It’s too good to last,” he said, kissing her eyes and cheeks.
“Do you think it’s 5 already?” she asked reproachfully.
“It must be. Even if he doesn’t suspect us of anything, he’ll be thinking of getting back.”
“Would it be so awful if he found out?”
“God, yes, you know that. He might send me packing. It’s not just because they think I’m unsuitable, as they put it; he doesn’t want his darling daughter led astray by anybody. He doesn’t know you might lead me astray. We have to let each other go.”
“I know. Would it be too much of a risk in our cabins?”
“You mustn’t come to mine. Everybody goes past the door. If I’m careful, I might be able to sneak into yours. We’ll see.”
“You feel as if you’ll want to,” she said, grasping him once again.
“You have my cock well-trained.”
“The only nice thing about your taking it out of me is that I can look at it. I have a man now. How wonderful! I’ll dash off a quick note to Monique on the way back. She couldn’t have won. She’s going to be driving to Italy with her family tomorrow.”
“That’s no guarantee. Italians don’t waste time.”
“Not in front of her family.”
He withdrew from her and jumped up and ran the few yards to the water. He waded in and washed himself. In a moment she tossed the towel into the dinghy and joined him, as beautiful as nature in the sylvan setting. The cicadas sawed rhythmically at the air. Bet and Perry knelt on the sandy bottom and splashed water at each other, stroking it over their bodies with their hands.
“You like to keep me wanting you all the time,” he said.
“Men are so strange. That lovely thing is no earthly use except to give pleasure to others.”
“The pleasure’s mine.”
“It’s not very restful for you. I can just lie and enjoy it.”
“The exercise is undoubtedly good for me.” They lay their foreheads against each other and murmured their contentment. “What a nuisance to have to cover up again. You’re so beautiful this way.”
He rose from the water and went to the dinghy, then turned back with their swimming things. They wriggled into them. He rocked the dinghy free of the sand and pulled it out until it was afloat in a couple of inches of water. He swung the stern around to her, and she stepped in and sat with long-legged ease.
He went to the seat amidships and clambered in without quite upsetting them. “Such grace and balance,” he commented.
“You’ll learn in time.”
He placed the oars and pulled them out of the cove. They were much closer to the Belle Époque than he expected. “I thought I’d rowed for miles. All is well. We won’t keep them waiting.”
Henri was waiting at the rail, and he caught the line Perry threw him and pulled them around to the steps. They accomplished the transfer without mishap. Billy wasn’t waiting on deck with an eye on his watch. They’d inaugurated their affair in good order.
“Leave your door unlocked,” he ordered in an undertone as they went below. “With any luck I’ll be there in a minute.” They touched hands briefly at the foot of the stairs and parted.
Perry opened his door and was confronted by Sylvain. He was studying the array of Laszlo’s beauty aids that Perry had left in a row on his chest of drawers. Sylvain looked up at their owner with a relaxed smile.
“I should put those things away in case we have rough weather,” Sylvain said unconcernedly.
“I guess that’s a good idea, but it won’t be rough today, will it?” Perry heard the engines start, followed by the rattle of the chain being brought in. He thought unwillingly of last night and tried to shrug off embarrassment. With Bet, he’d almost forgotten it. “Did you want anything? I was about to clean up for the evening.” He tried not to sound dismissive. The cabin boys had the run of their quarters in the performance of their duties.
Sylvain’s smile broadened with a reminder of intimacy. He had the right to assume that the barrier between servant and served could be ignored. “I saw you coming out of the dinghy. I came to find out if you wanted anything. Shall I bring you a drink?”
“That’s an idea. You’re brilliant. Pastis with plenty of ice and water.” He moved quickly out of the way to avoid any possibility of physical contact as Sylvain started out. He didn’t want to be touched by anyone but Bet.
He was in the shower when he heard Sylvain coming back, and he called out to him to leave the drink. “I won’t want anything else,” Perry said. “Miss Bettina says she is going to lie down and doesn’t want to be disturbed for half an hour. You don’t have to worry about us for a while.”
That should give them a moment’s peace and privacy. He was reminded of his parents’ phobias about small-town snoopers. You had to watch your step on a yacht.
He dried quickly, then slipped on his dressing gown and went to the door. He opened it a crack and listened. He opened it wider and peered out. Nobody. He slipped out quickly and closed the door behind him, making a silent dash for the foot of the stairs. He felt safer when he was past them. He paused and looked back. Still all clear. He wondered if he had chosen the wrong approach. His elaborate stealth just called attention to himself. If he sauntered casually to her door and knocked and went in, he might bluff people into thinking that the visit was innocent.
The Good Life Page 27