I shake my head and start to laugh.
“But I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything. I should’ve told you. But I told my ex and he was not very happy.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, tilting my head toward hers.
“One day, I sort of brought it up. Said how sexy I thought it was to watch other people have sex…you know, in porn…and I mentioned that I know about this one party. But he totally freaked out.”
I give her a brief nod. Her ex was traditional and closed off and spent ninety percent of their time together belittling her and the rest pining for her.
“I kept a lot of things away from him, as you know, so this ended up just being another thing I put into a little box under lock and key,” Sydney says.
“Your sexuality?”
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “I just rationalized it as I didn’t need the parties. I could get what I needed from him. But that wasn’t true.”
“So, what happened after you broke it off?”
“The first thing I did was call Tommy and Elise.” She laughs. “You remember that weekend trip I took to Vermont to pick apples and get some time to myself?”
I nod.
“Well, I went to Connecticut instead and went down on three guys while their girlfriends ate me out.” She laughs. “Plus some.”
“I was really concerned about you,” I say, starting to laugh, too. “You were so fucking depressed. I wanted to go with you, but you wouldn’t let me.”
“Now, I wish you had,” Sydney says, running her hand down the length of my arm.
“So…how did you end up here?” I ask, pulling my arm away from her.
“When I met James, I decided to be honest. I really connected and I didn’t want to start out another relationship with this secret. So, I just came out and told him. And he was super into it!”
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah, I was shocked, too. I mean, I thought he would get mad or just at least push me away. But he was really into going. He has never been but it sure didn’t feel like it when we were in there.”
“That’s awesome,” I say. “I’m really happy for you, Sydney.”
She crosses her arms and looks at me. When I don’t respond, she sticks her chin out and waits.
“What?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders pretending to be as innocent as possible.
“Your turn.”
“What do you mean?” I look down at my hands and twist the ring around my thumb in a clockwise manner.
“Why the hell are you here? What’s the story? I need all the details!”
11
When I tell her part of the truth…
I bite the inside of my cheek. Glancing back at the porch I try to imagine what Nicholas would want me to say. I can’t tell her about the con. I don’t even know much about it but that part of the story must remain a secret.
“What’s with the ten thousand yard stare?” she asks, grabbing my hand.
I look down at my shoes. With the weight of my body concentrating at the balls of my feet and my heels, pain starts to shoot up my legs. I shift from one foot to another, but it does very little to alleviate the agony.
“Olive, c’mon, you can tell me.”
“Why didn’t you pick me up from the airport?” I ask, buying myself more time to think. “You were supposed to get me.”
“I know, but Nicholas asked me for a favor. You came all the way back here. I thought that you’d want to see him as well.”
I rub the back of my neck and look down at the ground.
“What happened? Did he force you to come here?”
There’s a real look of concern on her face.
“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” I say. “You’re right, I…was interested. Am interested.”
She nods.
“Can we sit down somewhere? I have to take these shoes off. My feet are killing me.”
We look around the garden for a bench or a rock to sit on but it is all lush bushes and wild tropical flowers. There’s a dew over the grass so it would make everything wet were we to sit down. Sydney tries to usher me back to the porch but I can’t manage to take another step. Kneeling over, I slip off the heels and carefully place my bruised feet onto the cool wet lawn.
“Ahhh,” I moan from pleasure. “Now, this is what I’m talking about.”
Sydney follows my lead.
Neither of us says anything for a while and then she kicks at me with her bare foot.
She wants to hear the story and I have no choice but to tell her.
Not knowing exactly where to start, I start at the beginning.
I tell her about Nicholas surprising me at the airport and the way I felt when our hands happened to touch on the drive down.
I skirt over the forbidden details (how I helped him steal the diamond bracelet to get it back to his client). Instead, I bare my soul about the chemistry that I feel burning between us.
“So, how did you end up here?” she asks.
Ah, the sixty-four thousand dollar question. We’re here for a job, playing a married couple who likes to experiment in the bedroom.
“He invited me here. It’s part of the game…to make me really want him.”
“Oh, really?” Sydney raises her eyebrows in excitement.
“Well, you know how he made that promise to me? That he wouldn’t have sex with me unless I begged him?”
Her eyes twinkle as she nods.
“Bringing me here is part of that.”
“Have you ever been to this kind of party before?”
I shake my head.
“How do you feel?”
“Well, I’ve seen them in porn but you know how it is, it’s kind of like that but completely different, too.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she agrees. “Real sex is a bit different from how it’s portrayed on the internet.”
“Anyway, he didn’t tell me where we were going, but I had kind of an inkling about it since he did dress me up in this outfit,” I say.
“Which is exquisite!” She enunciates every part of the word, savoring it in her mouth. “How did it all happen? I need details.”
“I found the box on the bed in the cottage. He dropped it off while I was swimming. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find in there but when I saw this…it was so beautiful, I had to try it on. I’ve never tried anything like this on before.”
Sydney’s eyes sparkle and her mouth opens in a wide grin.
“Then he walked in.”
“What?” she gasps. I shrug as if that sort of thing happens all the time. “So, what did you do?”
“I let him help me with the corset.”
“Ohhh!” she squeals, pointing her finger at me. “You…you’re a bad girl!”
“It just sort of felt…right. I mean…okay, promise me that you won’t tell James…
She nods.
“Say it out loud.”
“I promise.”
“Nicholas just makes me so…whenever I’m around him I feel like the ground is shifting under my feet. I never know what he’s going to do next and that makes me want him so…much.”