“Where was Brian all this time, while you were out with Gary?”
“I was here,” Brian said, walking through the large sliding glass door. “It doesn’t have to be a couples thing with us. I’ve had my…adventures too. Solo. It’s really okay with us.”
“And what did you think of Eric?” When Jessica blushed, Steph continued, “Did he ask you out?”
“We’re having dinner on Friday,” Jessica said softly.
“That’s great,” Brian said. “He’s one of the nicest people I know and you two should get along well.”
“I liked him a lot. He’s bright and so open about things.”
“Well,” Steph said, “I’m beat.” She closed the dishwasher and turned it on.
Jessica glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Holy cow. Is it really after one?”
“Yup,” Steph said. “Time sure rushes by when you’re having fun.”
Brian grabbed Steph by the arm and dragged her toward the sliding glass door. “Let’s go out by the pool so I can ravish you before bed.”
Steph giggled. “Weallll suh,” she laid on a thick southern accent. “What kahnd of a girl do you tahke me foah?”
“I know what kind of girl you are,” Brian said, still tugging. “That’s why I want to take you out to the pool.”
“Nighty night, Jessica,” Steph said as Brian dragged her out the door.
“Good night, folks,” Jessica said. “I love you both.”
Brian blew her a kiss and he and Steph disappeared into the darkness.
Upstairs, Jessica pulled off her bathing suit, took a quick shower, and collapsed onto her bed. Despite the late hour, she couldn’t sleep. Images of the people she’d met that evening and an image of herself so different from anything she could have imagined a few weeks before crowded her brain. Finally, she dropped into an exhausted slumber.
In her dream she rode on a merry-go-round. The calliope played random notes that didn’t combine into anything she recognized, but surrounded her and filled her head with erotic music. Multicolored lights winked and flashed in a primitive rhythm.
She was gloriously naked. The snow-white horse rose and fell between her thighs, cool against her heated flesh. She leaned forward and pressed the cool metal bar against the valley between her breasts, against her flaming forehead.
As the merry-go-round turned, Jessica closed her eyes and let the wind blow her hair until it flew behind her like the tail of the horse she rode. Up and down the horse moved, carrying her with it.
Suddenly, there was a man seated on the horse with her, the fronts of his thighs against the backs of hers. She felt the prickle of the coarse hairs on his legs against her delicate skin. Just ignore him, she told herself. But she couldn’t. When she started to turn to look at him, he placed his hands gently on the sides of her head, effectively preventing her from seeing who he was. When he lowered his hands to her waist, she didn’t try to turn again. Around and around they rode, his hands on her waist and his thighs against her legs.
Gradually, he leaned forward until the length of his chest pressed against her back. Hands splayed on her belly, he used the tip of his tongue to tickle the hollow just behind her right ear. Holding her against him, he bit the tip of her earlobe, then sucked it into his mouth.
As the erotic power of his mouth held her against him, he slid his hands up to cup her aching breasts. He filled his hands with them, weighed and massaged them. Jessica looked down and admired the contrast between his dark fingers and her white skin. She watched in fascination as the hands kneaded her soft fullness and moved ever closer to her fully erect nipples. Squeeze me, she whispered to herself. Pinch me. Make me feel you.
“I will,” the man’s voice breathed into her ear. “I will give you everything you want. But at my pace.” He caressed her breasts lightly. “Just ride the horse. Feel the wind in your face. Close your eyes. Feel.” His fingers reached her nipples and he held the left between his finger and thumb. “Feel.” He pinched and pulled, causing a sensation that was almost pain.
Erotic heat knifed through her body, stabbing deep into her secret spaces. Don’t stop, she thought. Oh God, don’t stop. She wanted to tell him, say it out loud, but she couldn’t. The words echoed in her head.
“You don’t have to say it,” he whispered. “I won’t stop.” One hand pressed her belly and forced her buttocks to cradle his mammoth erection. The other hand shifted to her right breast, grasping it tightly and twisting.
“You’re hurting me,” Jessica said, not sure whether it was true.
“No, it doesn’t really hurt although you think it should. It gives you pleasure; hot demanding pleasure. It makes you hungry. So hungry that you are being devoured by it. Aren’t you?” When she remained silent, he moved his hips so his cock slid more deeply into the crack between her cheeks while his fingers worked on her nipple. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “Oh yes.”
He shifted his hips and lifted her body. Suddenly his cock was touching her hot, moist entrance. “You want this,” the voice whispered, the heated breath tickling her ear. “But you’ll have to take it.”
Between Jessica’s thighs, the merry-go-round horse continued its unrelenting up and down movement. She supported her weight on the stirrups and held herself above his cock. Her thigh muscles quivered from the effort of holding herself up.
“Take it,” he whispered. “Let your body go. Take what you and I both know you want.”
Yes, she admitted to herself, she did want this. Slowly, she lowered her body so she filled herself with his cock. The merry-go-round went faster and faster and with each note of the calliope the horse rose, carrying him deeper inside. She rode him, synchronizing her movements with the rhythm of the horse. Her mind splintered, sensations darting from the fingers on her nipples to his mouth on her neck to his cock, filling, caressing. Faster and faster she rode until she was a bubble about to burst.
And burst she did, a million colors surrounding her. The lights of the carousel flashed, penetrating her lowered eyelids. She screamed, but then couldn’t get her breath. She flew, then plunged with the horse and the man beneath her, the wind unable to cool her body. On and on they rode, climax after rending climax, until she collapsed.
Jessica awoke in a pool of sweat, the sheets tangled around her naked body. Her breathing was rapid and her heart pounded. She could almost hear the music and see the lights. She lay in the darkness until her body calmed, then took another shower. Afterward, she climbed back into bed and slept dreamlessly until morning.
Thursday evening Eric called and he and Jessica talked for almost an hour. “About tomorrow evening,” Eric said. “If you agree, there’s a concert at a place I think you’d enjoy called Caramoor. There’ll be a small jazz group playing in a part of the estate called the Venetian Gardens. I thought we’d have a little picnic on the lawn before the music.”
“That sounds lovely.”
“Great. Wear jeans and something long-sleeved. It’s supposed to be cool and it does get a bit buggy. I’ll bring the dinner and the bug spray and pick you up around six.”
“I’ll see you then.”
Jessica flopped back onto her bed. She was both jittery and excited, looking forward to the following evening with a combination of terror and delight. Okay, she thought, jeans. She mentally flipped through her small collection of clothes and selected a soft buttercup-yellow silk shirt. Should I take a jacket? It’s only a