A Baumgartner Reunion

CHAPTER THREE

If I thought I’d been unprepared for seeing Gretchen again, nothing could have prepared me for walking back into the house I’d shared with the Baumgartners that week and seeing Mrs. B in her black bikini, smiling warmly and opening the door to my tentative knock.

I’d spent the whole flight remembering that week in December, as I watched the snow covered ground give way to clouds and then eventually descend into sand. Of course, they must have planned it. I knew that now, although I hadn’t consciously realized it then. They asked me to come under the pretense of babysitting the kids, but that isn’t really why I’d been invited along. It had been planned from the beginning.

How young I had been-how naive. Mrs. B’s slow seduction had worked like a charm-sunbathing topless and encouraging me to do so, too; letting me borrow one of her micro-bikinis and offering to shave me down there so nothing would show. How had they known I would slowly acquiesce the way I did, unable to resist her softness, both of them keeping me curious and on-edge about Doc until just the right moment when he finally came in between us, as if it were meant to be?

It wasn’t until after it was all over, of course, that I felt manipulated. It wasn’t until after Gretchen and I had parted, looking back on that week in Key West, when I realized I’d been used. The reality was Doc wanted a young, nineteen-year-old piece of ass, and his wife planned the seduction. So why, then, was I sitting on a plane, flying out to Key West once again, to stay with the Baumgartners?

The thought went through my mind as I stood in front of their door, waiting for someone to answer. The truth was, I didn’t want to believe it was true. I wanted to think the Baumgartners really cared about me and what happened was as sweetly exciting and spontaneous as it felt-we were all swept away in the passion of it. Some part of me must have still believed that, because there I stood, knocking on the Baumgartners’ door, and when Mrs. B answered, squealing and putting her arms around me, I leaned into her and sighed, and almost felt like crying.

“Oh Veronica, it’s so good to see you!” Mrs. B kissed my cheek, her lips full and soft, catching the corner of my mouth as she turned her head. “Doc!

She’s here!” Mrs. B hadn’t changed at all-the same honey-colored hair falling over her tanned shoulders, the same lush curves. I swallowed hard when she turned, holding my hand and leading me down the hall, seeing that her bikini was a thong, as usual, and she was completely exposed from behind.

“Look at you.” Doc grinned as he came down the stairs, shaking his head.

Doc was a little grayer around the temples, his dark curls a little less thick, but his smile was infectious, and his eyes swept over me, just like they always did, making me tingle. “Come here, girl!”

He swept me into his arms and squeezed, reminding me how big he was. I felt tiny in his arms, in spite of the ten extra pounds I’d put on since I had Beth.

He kissed the top of my head and smiled down at me, his eyes sweeping over my outfit. I was dressed for a Michigan winter-long, gray wool skirt and a light pink sweater with soft brown suede boots.

“Did you bring your own bikini or are you going to have to borrow Carrie’s?”

I smiled-I couldn’t help it. “I’ve got my own suit, Doc.”

“Well, then, let’s see it!” He winked at his wife. “Everyone else is out swimming and we were just about to join them.”

Everyone else. Doc pulled his shirt off and headed toward the door wall that opened up to the private beach in back. I couldn’t help but notice his broad, tanned back, the thick muscles in his arms, and wondered how old he was now.

My god, how old had he been back then? I heard Gretchen’s voice the minute he pulled open the door.

”Janie, can I listen to your Ipod?”

Everyone else included Janie and Henry, all grown up. I couldn’t even imagine what they would look like. Would they even remember me? I was suddenly scared to find out.

“Come.” Mrs. B took my hand and started leading me toward the stairs.

“Let’s get you settled in your room so you can change.” I followed her up the stairs and down the hallway, a strange sense of deja-vu washing over me. The doors to what had been Janie and Henry’s rooms when I stayed with them last were closed, but the three doors at the end of the hall were open, and I remembered those rooms very well-the bathroom, Mr. and Mrs. B’s room, and what had been my room. Mrs. B stopped outside the junction of the three doors, as if we were at some crossroads, and glanced back at me.

“Gretchen normally sleeps here.” She nodded at the room I had once occupied. “But she insisted on sleeping on the sofa bed downstairs so you could have this room.”

“No.” I shook my head, hefting my bag up over my shoulder. From this angle I could see into all three rooms-the huge Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom; the vanity with the tall mirror where I had watched Mr. and Mrs. B have sex; the bed I had slept in, often tossing and turning as I listened to the sounds of their lovemaking-and it really did feel like some sort of crossroads now. I had a decision to make, and it was suddenly clear to me. “I’m sorry, Mrs. B, but I can’t do that. This is Gretchen’s room. I’ll sleep on the sofa.” She frowned, showing the lines around her eyes and her mouth more clearly than I remembered. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Our eyes met and I saw disappointment in them. “I’ll change in the bathroom and meet you out on the beach, okay?”

She nodded, turning and starting down the hall. I didn’t watch her, but I was aware of her curves, the soft sway of her hips as she went down the stairs.

In the bathroom, I made sure to lock the door behind me before I began to undress. I was Michigan-winter pale, but I didn’t have any ambitions of getting a tan this time. Now I was old enough to concern myself about things like skin cancer and wrinkles and instead of lathering myself with baby oil, I slathered SPF all over my nude body before pulling my suit out of the bag.

In spite of what I’d said to Doc, I didn’t wear a bikini anymore. My suit had a low back and the front was an X that tied up around my neck, but it was a rather sedate brown one-piece that thankfully covered any hint of my stretch marks. I pulled my long, dark hair back into a ponytail with a Scrunchie and took a long look at myself in the mirror. The woman standing in the mirror was ten years older and wiser than the young girl who had once stood here in Mrs. B’s borrowed orange bikini.

“Here goes nothing,” I said to no one at all, shoving my discarded clothes back into my bag and carrying it downstairs. I left it at the end of the sofa along with my purse, like an announcement. I stood at the door wall for a moment, knowing the sun glinting off the glass would shield me from their sight, allowing me to watch unnoticed until I could get up my nerve to go out there.

Gretchen, wearing headphones and sunglasses, was stretched out on her back on a big beach blanket. Mrs. B had undone the straps to her bikini top and stretched out on her stomach beside her. I saw Doc wading out into the surf in the distance, and there was a young couple laughing and splashing each other down at the other end of the beach. I shivered in the air conditioning, pressing my hand to the glass, warm to the touch, wondering if I was ever going to gather enough nerve to open the door.

I wondered where Janie and Henry were when the young couple stopped their play and began running down the beach toward Doc. The woman was blonde, her hair almost the color of Gretchen’s, but with a little more warmth, like honey. The way she moved, her hips swaying, her body’s gentle curves, reminded me so much of-

“Janie!” I whispered, pressing my forehead to the glass. And behind her, of course, was Henry, tall and dark and broad like his father, with those same disarming curls. It can’t be—even as my mind denied it, I knew it was them—even before Janie threw her arms around her father’s neck and he swung her around, tossing her into the waves. I could hear her squeal, even through the glass. Both Doc and Henry laughed as she came up sputtering and wet, eyes blazing at her father.

“Daddy!” It was her voice, still, but different, older. Both Gretchen and Mrs. B looked up as I opened the door and stepped out onto the hot sand. “I didn’t want to go in yet!”

“Too late!” Henry grabbed his sister by the waist and wrestled her back into the surf as she howled in protest.

“There you are!” Gretchen stood and held a hand out as I advanced. I took it, letting her kiss me, but turning at the last moment, so that her lips landed on my cheek instead of my mouth. She raised her eyebrows and then glanced down at my suit. She was wearing a black thong and matching bikini top, very like Mrs. B’s. “Ugh, what’s with the granny suit? How are you going to get a tan?” I shrugged. “It’s serviceable.”

Mrs. B shaded her eyes, looking up at us. “You look pretty, Veronica.” Her words sounded hollow to me, though, and she closed her eyes again.

“Come on, let’s go in.” Gretchen led me over the hot sand toward Doc and the kids. The kids-ha. Except they weren’t such kids anymore. Henry was almost nineteen, and Janie had to be drinking age now, although just barely.

“Guess who’s here!?” Gretchen’s announcement was full of excitement, and I waited as they turned toward us, sure for a moment that neither of them would recognize me, or remember.

“Ronnie!” Henry exclaimed, his grin very like his father’s. I smiled back at him, relieved.

When I turned to meet Janie’s eyes, her mouth smiled, but her eyes didn’t.

She gave a little nod and just said, “Hi.” It had to have been at least ninety out there on the beach, but I suddenly felt cold. Gretchen squeezed my hand and I looked at her, puzzled, but there was no time for any communication.

“Hop on babysitter!” Henry announced, lunging for me. I squealed and ran, going purely on instinct and habit, and just barely escaping the hand that grazed my arm. Unfortunately, he was taller and stronger than I was now, and caught up with me easily, wrestling me to the sand and pinning me under his big body.

”Good Lord, what have they been feeding you?” I gasped, barely able to breathe, but I was laughing, and so was he. The game was over much quicker than I anticipated as he rolled off me, sitting up and hanging his arms over his knees as he smiled down at me. I saw Gretchen, back on the blanket with Mrs.

B, and Janie and Doc in the water.

“How ya been?” Henry asked, nudging me with his toe. “How come you never called us or wrote or came to see us or anything?”

Breathless, I half sat, looking over at where Janie was wading further out into the water away from us. Because of Henry’s characteristic bluntness, which he clearly hadn’t grown out of, it dawned on me why Janie’s reception had been less than enthusiastic. I felt a twinge of guilt, biting my lip as I watched her dive beneath the waves.

“I…” My words felt caught in my throat and when I looked over at him and saw the confusion and hurt on his face, my heart lurched in my chest. “Oh Henry, I’m so sorry. I meant to, but… well, my life has been kind of… complicated… and very busy… since you were little…”

“Yeah?” He picked up a stick and started drawing circles in the sand. It reminded me of when they were little and we spent hours making sand castles.

“I guess you’re not so little anymore.” I knew I was stating the obvious.

“Mom said you got married and had a kid?”

I nodded, thinking of TJ and Beth for the first time since the plane had landed and I’d called to let them know I was safe. “She’s five now.”

“I guess kids make your life pretty complicated?” It was half question, half statement, and I didn’t know how to tell him the truth, how to even begin.

I just shrugged. “Sometimes…” We were quiet for a while, watching Doc and Janie swimming, listening to the sound of the waves. All the time I’d stayed away, it had never occurred to me what they would think, how they would feel…

I’d been too concerned with how slighted I felt.

“I’m glad you’re here.” The pressure of Henry’s hand on mine surprised me. His hand was big, his fingers long, like his father’s.

I smiled back at him. “I am, too.” Even as I said it, I knew it was true.

“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Henry was racing toward the water before I could even take another breath and I swore softly, stumbling to stand in the sand.

“No fair!” I called after him, but he was already halfway to the water’s edge, laughing over his shoulder at me.

The water was so much warmer than I expected and I groaned as I rolled to my back and floated in the waves. If nothing else, it was nice to float along with nothing else to do. It had been years since TJ and I had gone away somewhere together-since before Beth was born-and we never could have afforded something like this, a private beach on Key West.

“I miss that orange bikini…”

I opened my eyes to see Doc swimming toward me. I quickly stood, the water coming to my navel here.

“I’m too old to wear a bikini.” I smoothed my hair back.

He gave a little laugh. “With a body like yours, sweetheart, you’ll never be too old to wear a bikini.”

The way he looked at me brought back the memory and the feeling of that week so long ago. I felt a slow heat spreading through my middle. Part of me wanted to be insulted by his comment, but another part of me was both flattered and excited by it.

“I guess I’m more self-conscious now than I was… then.” He raised his eyebrows, his eyes dark and knowing. “Well, we’ll have to fix that then, won’t we?”

“Hey, let’s play a game!” Henry called over to us from where he was periodically splashing his sister just to annoy her. Janie had retrieved one of the floats and was sunbathing on it.

“I’m not it!” I called immediately, out of habit.

“Me, either!” Doc chimed in, winking at me.

Janie lifted her head, shading her eyes and looking toward me and her father. “I don’t feel like playing.” She rolled off the float and started wading toward shore, dragging it behind her.

Henry frowned as he watched her go, swimming over to us. “Maybe mom and Gretchen want to play?”

I sighed, watching Janie open the door wall and go into the house. “Maybe tomorrow, Henry.” My eyes met Doc’s and I looked quickly away. I didn’t like the look in them, the questions or the knowing. “I think I’m going to go take a shower-wash off the jetlag and the salt water.”

I didn’t look at either of them as I began to wade toward shore, although I felt their eyes on me and was glad that my suit was so unrevealing. Gretchen lifted her sunglasses as I passed them and Mrs. B shaded her eyes.

“Where are you going?” Gretchen asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

“Shower.” I opened the door wall, glancing back at them. “I’m tired.” I stopped at the top of the stairs, hearing music coming from Janie’s room.

I thought about going in and talking to her, explaining…but what would I say? I knew I would have to address it at some point this week, probably soon, but I felt

suddenly exhausted and overwhelmed. I took a towel out of the linen closet and went into the bathroom. I intended to take a shower, but the big tub looked so inviting that I started to run the water in it, peeling off my wet suit and tossing it into the sink.

When the water was high enough, I turned on the jets and slid in, groaning as the water churned around me. I was tired, although less from the plane trip than from the anxiety and tension of the past few days. It had felt as if I were holding my breath, waiting for the moment when I saw the Baumgartners again, and now I felt deflated, like an empty balloon.

I floated in the warm water, closing my eyes and trying to block out my thoughts. But I was alone with them, and they were insistent. I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen this week-or next, when TJ finally arrived. Mr. and Mrs. B’s lifestyle clearly hadn’t changed, and Gretchen… I remembered the way she looked at me, the comment she had made about Doc still “making a great sandwich.” I knew all I had to do was ask-not even ask-just hinting or suggesting an interest would be enough to get the ball rolling.

I remembered the excitement in TJ’s eyes when I talked about a threesome and I knew he wanted it. Maybe… I sighed, rolling my head around the back of the tub. I knew TJ loved me. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere-he’d said so. What was I so afraid of? Opportunities like this one didn’t present themselves every day. Maybe, I reasoned, we should just take advantage of it this once. Part of me believed that it might be enough to just… get it out of his system. Then we could go back to the way we were.

But could we?

The idea of opening my marriage scared the hell out of me, although I didn’t want to admit it. Being part of a threesome, the way things had happened with Mr. and Mrs. B… it was different. I was young and single. I’d had nothing to lose then. Who was it going to hurt? But now…

I sat up in the tub, eyes wide. What about Mrs. B? Was she ever jealous?

Did she worry that Doc was going to fall in love with the nineteen-year-old babysitter and leave her? The thought startled me, and had honestly never occurred to me. How had she reconciled it in their marriage? I wondered if I’d been the first girl they’d ever seduced. How many others had there been? They were obviously still together, and they still cared about each other.

Confused, I leaned back in the tub, closing my eyes again. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel, seeing TJ with another woman. But how had Mrs. B

felt, seeing me with her husband?

I jumped when a knock sounded at the door. “Veronica?” It was Mrs. B, her voice concerned. “Can I come in?”

I glanced down, seeing the water churning around my breasts, my rosy nipples floating in the water, and smiled to myself. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen it before.

“Sure,” I called.

She was still wearing her bikini, her body slick with oil as she came in and leaned against the sink. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged and nodded. “Sure, I’m fine.”

Frowning, she cocked her head, her brow knitted. “Are you sure?” I nodded again, not looking into her eyes. “Yeah. Just tired from the plane ride, I guess.”

Mrs. B shook her head, coming over to the tub. She threw a towel down on the floor and knelt, leaning against the edge. I still didn’t look at her, but I felt her eyes on me, searching. She rested her chin on her folded arms with a sigh.

“I don’t think you’re okay.” Her voice was insistent and I swallowed when she touched my hair, smoothing it back from my face. “I think you are most definitely not okay.”

I shook my head, denying it, a lump growing in my throat so I couldn’t say the words.

“Hey…” Her voice was soft and kind, as it always had been, just like I’d remembered it. “It’s me…you can talk to me…”

I shook my head again, blinking back tears. “No…Mrs. B… I…”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, can’t you finally call me Carrie?” Startled, I looked up at her, meeting her eyes. They were teasing, but serious, too. I laughed, I couldn’t help it, and she laughed with me.

“I mean, come on…” She smiled, cocking her head again. “We’re both big girls, now, right?”

“Right.” I laughed again, shaking my head. “Okay…Carrie…” Her name felt odd in my mouth, but somehow it was right. “I’m fine. Really.” We looked at each other and both burst out laughing at once, knowing it was the biggest lie in the world. And before I knew it, I was crying instead of laughing, tears streaming down my face, and Mrs. B-Carrie-was leaning into the tub to hug me.

“Oh sweetheart, it’s okay,” she murmured, stroking my hair. “Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not!” I sobbed, clinging. Her skin was slick with oil and my hands slipped on her shoulders, but I grabbed onto the strings of her suit. She did her best to comfort me, but I was crying hard, now, all the fear and emotion I’d kept inside for weeks pouring out over poor Mrs. B’s shoulders.

“Yes, it will, I promise,” she whispered, letting me pull her closer, so she was leaning half over the tub. “It’ll be okay.”

“You don’t understand!” I croaked. “TJ wants to have an open marriage and I don’t know what to do!”

She pulled back and looked at me, her eyes soft with understanding.

Cupping my face in her hands, she kissed my tear-stained cheek, shaking her head. “Oh sweetie… yes… yes, I do understand.”

“No!” I cried, feeling the desperation crawling up my throat with the words.

“Carrie, I feel so caught! I’m scared to death of losing him if I do it and I’m scared to death of losing him if I don’t-I don’t know what to do!”

“I know.” She nodded, sliding the rest of the way into the big tub, suit and all, and putting her arms around me. “Oh sweetie, trust me, I do know. I know just what you’re feeling.”

I curled myself against her, the water churning around us, and she rocked me, stroked me, cuddled me against her breasts and let me cry until my breath

was hitching in my throat like Beth’s did whenever she had a long tantrum and couldn’t stop. When it finally ebbed, she pressed her mouth to my ear and whispered, “Ask me anything you want.”

I looked at her, startled. It had occurred to me earlier that Mrs. B-god, I was going to have a hard time calling her “Carrie”-was perhaps the one person in the world who might really have a solution to my problem. But the first question out of my mouth wasn’t about TJ or my marriage. It was something I’d wanted to know, something that had haunted me for years.

“Did you plan it?”

“Yes.” She knew what I was asking, and she answered honestly. I sighed, feeling something in me shrinking. “But not in the way you think.” Puzzled, I looked at her.

“We loved you, Ronnie.” Her fingers pushed my hair behind my ears, her eyes soft as they looked at me. “We still love you.” Her words made tears come again and they fell silently into the bath water. “You were like part of our family, you’d been with us for so long. And yes, both of us… we were attracted to you.

I’m not going to deny that.”

“But inviting me here…”

“Yes.” She nodded, touching my cheek. “We hoped…but if it hadn’t happened…Ronnie, that would have been okay, too. We would have still kept loving you anyway.” She smiled and then bit her lip. “Just… differently.”

I didn’t know if it was the truth, or if she was just saying what I wanted to hear, but it was important for me to know, especially because what I was about to ask her would affect me and my marriage for the rest of my life.

“Did you have it all planned out?” I asked, feeling a lump in my throat. “Did you talk about how… how you were going to…”

“No!” Her eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. “God, no! Of course not! We just… we just let nature take its course. And, thankfully… it did.” My feelings were a little assuaged. “Was I the first?”

“The first woman we were ever with, together?” she asked. I nodded. “No.

We’d been to a few parties… we had a few… professionals. But you were the first… real person. The first one we’d ever cared for… aside from the physical.”

“Really?” I blinked at her, surprised. I’d been sure, somehow, that I was just one in a long line of seduced babysitters along the way.

“And now we have Gretchen.” She smiled, her eyes warm. “Who we also love very much.”

I sighed, resting my head under her chin. “It’s hard not to love Gretchen.” She chuckled. “True.”

“Who wanted it first?”

After a moment, she said, “He did.”

“What did you do when he told you?” I was remembering TJ telling me, my shock, my fear. “What did you say?”

“I was hurt,” she admitted with a sigh. Her hand massaged my shoulder.

“Confused… but the thought was exciting. We’d fantasized about it a lot, having another woman in our bed.”

I nodded, swallowing hard. “We have, too.”

“But you’re afraid the fantasy is better than the reality?”

“Isn’t it always?” I sighed.

“Was it with us?” I felt her lips brush the top of my head and smiled.

“No.”

“I think it depends on the people involved.” Her fingers moved through my hair, stroking, petting, and I felt my body melting against hers, finally relaxing. “I think it can be a big mess, or it can be an amazing experience.”

“I don’t want to clean up a mess.”

She laughed. “I don’t blame you.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“I know.” She kissed my temple. “It’s okay to be scared. I’d worry if you weren’t.”

I shook my head, feeling tears stinging my eyes again as I choked out the words. “I love him so much.”

“I know.” She cupped my face in her hands, her eyes searching mine.

“And that’s what you need to trust.”

“What do you mean?” I felt that desperation rising again.

“When it came right down to it, I had to trust that my love for Doc, and his love for me, was stronger than anything else.” Her words were sweet, so sweet I could almost taste them.

“Was it?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “It still is.”

“Carrie…” I whispered her name and I knew my eyes were a question.

Hers answered them, soft and bright and open.

Her voice was thick, like honey, like the color of her hair falling wet over her shoulders. “I like hearing you say my name…”

“Carrie…” I whispered again, leaning in to capture her mouth. She made a soft sound in her throat at the touch. “Carrie… Carrie… Carrie…” I whispered her name as I kissed my way down her throat, pressing myself between her thighs, feeling them open.

“Yes…” she whispered back, her hands moving down my sides, over my hips, pulling me between her legs. It was like coming home, and she welcomed me with open arms. I rubbed my face against the slickness of her breasts swelling over her bikini top. Her breasts were as bronze as the rest of her, and when I undid the straps and pulled them down, I found her dark-tipped nipples hard in spite of the warmth of the water.

“Oh god, Veronica,” she moaned as I sucked one of them into my mouth.

Her half-closed eyes watched my tongue trace a path around and around her areola, and she jumped and gasped whenever I flicked her nipple. Her breasts were incredibly full and lush and I used my hands to press them together, getting her nipples as close together as I could and licking back and forth between them.

Her hips bucked in response, her head going back and lolling on the edge of the tub as I worshipped her breasts. She was a goddess of flesh, and some part of me had always knelt at this altar, even in the years we’d been apart. My memories of her were nothing compared to the reality-wet, slick, luscious, moaning and arching against me, begging me for more. My whole body responded to her-not just my pussy, which was beginning to ache-as if it had come alive at her touch.

I hooked my fingers in the strings of her bikini, tugging them down the generous curve of her hips. She helped me, undoing the final strings on her top and tossing it aside, so we were both naked in the tub together. The feel of her body against mine was like slick velvet and my mouth sought hers as we slid together, limbs entwined, trying to get as close as we possibly could.

She tasted sweet, like oranges, liquid sunshine in my mouth as we kissed, our tongues playing together. Her thighs gripped my hips, strong and tight, pulling my pussy into hers, the heat of us together almost too much for me to bear. Panting, I broke the kiss, looking into her eyes. They were filled with lust, as deep and blue as the water we swam in, and I thought for a minute I was going to drown in them. There was no question what we wanted, what we were doing, and the excitement of the moment made my whole body hum with anticipation.

“I want you.” Her words were soft but clear, her thighs tightening their grip.

“I want you so much, Veronica… I haven’t thought about anything else since you called.”

“I know,” I breathed, leaning in to kiss her again, tasting her sweetness.

“Me, too.”

Whatever darkness had been between us was gone, melted in the heat of our kiss. My body still felt so slight next to hers, all long limbs and arch, as if I could get lost in the plump softness of her flesh-and I tried, kissing her hard, pressing her to the far wall of the tub, rocking us in the heat of the swirling water.

Her hands moved over my body, just accentuating our differences. My hips were fuller now than they had been then, my breasts, too, but they nowhere near matched her lush curves. My nipples were hard, pink, and pointed, and I moaned when she cupped my breasts, aiming them, rubbing our nipples together as we kissed.

“Oh, yes, Mrs.-“ I stopped myself and felt her smile before she captured my mouth again, this time slipping a hand down between my thighs, cupping my mound.

“Oh sweetheart,” she whispered, her finger probing between the smooth flesh of my lips. “You shaved…”

I smiled, searching between her thighs and finding her just as smooth, her lips fatter, fuller, filling my hand as I cupped her flesh. “Mmm, so did you.” She gasped when I slid a finger inside of her and moaned when I put in another, twisting them in her flesh. “Oh god, honey…”

“Stand up,” I said, watching as the water slid off her body in sheets as she stood above me, her belly soft and tanned, her breasts heavy, her nipples hard.

Water dripped between her thighs, down her legs, and I imagined it was her juices and longed to taste her. I knelt up in the tub, my hands kneading the curve of her hips, moving around to the swell of her ass.

Her clit liked to hide in the pink folds of her flesh, and I had to search it out with my tongue, making her squirm and moan. Her lips were swollen, completely smooth, and I kissed her pussy like a little mouth, sucking at her clit as if it were a tongue, flicking it, probing it. Her hands were in my hair at first, fisted in the wet length of it, pulling me to her, guiding me, but when she realized I wasn’t going to stop, that my tongue was going to keep licking her, searching for her pleasure, she reached up to cup her own breasts, twisting and tugging at her nipples.

“Oh please,” she whispered, her thighs trembling, her pussy clenching around my fingers. “Fuck me, baby, Finger my cunt!”

“You like that?” I murmured, sliding my fingers deeper inside of her, making her arch with pleasure.

”Yes, yes!” she panted, pushing her hips forward, wanting more. “Harder, oh, please, please!”

“Turn around,” I said, using my hands to shift her, bend her over the edge of the tub. I spread her legs wider, looking at the smooth, swollen slit between them, the slightly creamy sign of her juices showing at the opening of her pussy. I put my fingers there, feeling her arch and press back onto them, sliding down past my knuckle, deep onto my hand as far as she could go.

“Ohhh yes,” she moaned, fucking back on my hand. “Like that… fuck me, baby, yesss.”

Still kneeling in the tub, I slid my tongue between her lips, slowly parting them, and then flattened it, using the tip to ease back and forth at the top of her crease while my fingers pumped in and out of her pussy.

“More!” she begged, her muscles tightening, releasing, squeezing my fingers. I slid another finger into her, feeling her shudder as she fucked back on me even harder, her breasts swaying beneath her, using her hands against the wall for more leverage. “Ohhhh god, fuck me hard, baby, hard, hard!” I shoved my hand deeper, my tongue lapping between her legs, swallowing the wet sweetness of her cunt. She was making thick, guttural sounds with every thrust. I ran my other hand over the curve of her bronze, bucking ass, feeling the muscles there quivering with her effort. My pussy throbbed in response and I ached to touch it, but I slid my finger down the crack of her ass instead, finding the tight, puckered hole of her ass.

“Ohhhhhh fuck!” she whispered when I probed her there, making encouraging noises in my throat as I licked her, three of my fingers plunged deep into her pussy. Her asshole tightened around my finger, but her skin was wet and there wasn’t enough resistance to keep me out. I slid my finger in to the first knuckle, feeling her whole body beginning to quake.

“Oh baby, baby, baby!” She moaned, moving her ass in circles now, rotating my fingers in her pussy, the one in her ass, and using my tongue against her clit to take herself there. “Yeah, that’s it, baby, get me off! Ohhhhh god nowwww!’

I swallowed as much of her as I could, her pussy gripping my hand, her asshole a tight ring around my finger. I kept my tongue rolled over her clit, like a cup to catch her juices as she came, her hips bucking back, fucking me, her muscles squeezing every last bit of her come from her body.

She moaned softly and sank to her knees, panting, when I withdrew my fingers from her body. I smiled, sliding up behind her, putting my arms around her waist and resting my cheek against the damp honey of her hair. My nipples were hard against her back, my pussy throbbing, sopping wet now, after making her come, but I didn’t care. I could have stopped right then and been satisfied, feeling her melt in my arms as she turned over, pulling me close to her.

“You always made me come so good,” she murmured, brushing my hair out of my face and pulling my head to her breasts. She reached for the drain with her toes and pulled it, allowing the water to start to go down. I wasn’t done with my bath, and knew she would want to wash the oil off her body, but I didn’t say anything as we waited for the water to drain, the warmth giving way to chill everywhere my body wasn’t touching hers.

When the water was just a few inches deep, she began to kiss me down onto my back in the big tub, her body soft between my thighs, her belly pressed against mine, our nipples touching as we kissed. Her tongue made hot trails over my neck and chest. I gasped when she found my nipple, sucking and licking first one and then the other.

"Touch yourself,” she whispered as she settled herself between my thighs.

“I want to watch you.”

I bit my lip, but my pussy was on fire, aching to be touched, and I slid my hand down to part my lips, opening my slit and showing her pink. Her eyes were full of lust as I began to pet myself, rubbing the hood back and forth, easing the skin over the sensitive bud of my clit. I used just one finger, first back and forth, then around and around, moving faster as the sensation swelled.

“You like it so sweet,” she murmured, kissing my thighs as she watched.

She raised her head and cocked it, smiling down at me. “Do you want me to lick you?”

I whimpered, arching, and spread myself wide for her. “Please… yes, please…”

She lowered her whole mouth down into me, her tongue flat and sweeping over my pussy, up and down my slit at first, spreading my juices. I heard her swallowing them, making soft, hungry noises in her throat as she worked her way through my flesh. I moaned out loud when she found my clit, moving her tongue back and forth now through my lips.

“Ohhh yes!” I cried, my hand fisted in her hair. “Oh god, Carrie, yes!” My body was wet, my nipples hard from the chill, but I didn’t feel cold at all. In fact I felt flushed with heat, as if there were a furnace inside of me, something ignited deep in my belly. I looked down at her kneeling between my legs, her ass up in the air, her heavy breasts swaying as she fastened her mouth to my pussy and sucked. I thought I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my life, and I wanted her-I wanted more of her, all of her.

“Come here,” I urged, holding my hands out for her, eager. She understood, easing her way up and then around, the tub more than big enough to accommodate us as she spread her legs over my head. I could smell her and the taste of her cum lingered still at the back of my throat as she pulled my legs back and buried her face between them again.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out long against the sweet, aching feel of her mouth, but I tried, concentrating on her pussy, spreading it wide with my fingers and teasing her clit with my tongue. Her clit was smaller-perhaps the only thing on her body less endowed than mine-and it liked to hide, especially right after she’d come once, or when she was very, very excited. I had to wrap my arms around her full hips and pull them into me, my mouth covering her pussy, my tongue probing deep between the soft, pink folds of her flesh. Her clit was tiny, a little bud of flesh hidden in the wetness, but I found it and I stayed fastened there, determined.

I knew I’d found the spot when she began to rock her hips, moaning against my pussy, her tongue losing its rhythm on my clit, giving me a little reprieve. I was dangling on the edge, so close to coming I felt as if I might burst, but I wanted her, too, I wanted to feel her come in my mouth, I wanted the sweet flood of her juices all over my face.

“Nnnn! Nnnn! Nnnn!” It was all she could say with her face buried between my legs, her tongue taking my clit past the edge now, the first quivering thrust

driving my hips up against her mouth. I was coming, oh god, coming so hard I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think, my whole body bucking with sensation, like a hot, wet bubble bursting in my belly and flooding down between my thighs.

“Ohhhhh Carrie!” I moaned, lost in the feeling, forgetting all about her sweet, throbbing pussy, but she reminded me, using her own fingers to spread herself wide, making that same, “Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!” I fastened my mouth to her clit with a groan, licking her fast, the same lightning rhythm again and again, until she lost it, too, her mouth coming off of me as she whispered my name, followed by, “Come on, come on, come on,” and then she was there, her whole body shuddering with the force of her orgasm. She thrashed and twisted on top of me as she came, rubbing her cheeks and face over my still-throbbing pussy, making me gasp. Finally, she was still, panting on top of me, her heavy breasts pressed into my belly, her cheek resting against my thigh.

“I missed you,” I heard her whisper and I felt tears stinging my eyes.

I nodded, although I knew she couldn’t see me. “I missed you, too.” I felt it, in every part of me, how true it was.

She kissed me softly when she sat up, and then led me to the shower stall in the corner. We spent a slow, luxurious fifteen minutes soaping each other up and rinsing each other off.

She got out first, saying, “I’ve got to start dinner. We’re having lasagna.”

“Sounds heavenly!” I called through the steam, watching as she wrapped herself in a towel and went out of the bathroom.

I dried myself off, realizing then that I hadn’t brought up any clothes-I just had my bathing suit to put back on. I opened the door, thinking to ask Mrs. B-

Carrie, I smiled at the way I corrected myself, even in my head-to bring my bag upstairs. That’s when I saw Janie standing at her door, her eyes fixed on me.

My heart lurched and I opened my mouth to say something, but all that came out was, “Oh. Hi.”

Janie’s eyes darkened as she glanced at her mother’s bedroom door, and then back to me. I realized she must have seen her mother leave the bathroom and my chest tightened.

“Right.” She blinked, and I wondered, for a moment, if she was blinking back tears. Then, she shut the door, and the radio went on-loud. Too loud.

“Fuck,” I whispered, glancing at the Baumgartners’ closed bedroom door, and then shutting the bathroom door. I leaned against it, feeling sick, closing my eyes. Janie’s opinion of me was bad enough, I thought, without her seeing…

what had she seen? I wondered. What had she heard?

“Ronnie!?” It was Gretchen’s voice, calling up the stairs. I sighed, opening my eyes. I’d have Gretchen bring me up something to wear, I decided. And then… then… I looked at myself in the long, steamy mirror over the double sinks, not sure I even recognized myself.

Then, I decided, I’d figure out what to do next. Whatever that might be. I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.