“No, of course not,” I answer immediately. “I’m just playing the scenario out. Just explaining it aloud. To get you up to speed.”
“Are you sure?” she asks boldly, coming to a stop. She plants her feet and crosses her arms as she gazes at me in calm, confident challenge.
I’ve never seen her like this. What did Cal say to her?
“Am I sure about what?” I answer cagily.
“Are you sure you don’t want to make the investment,” she repeats simply.
To my surprise, she begins to walk toward me. Her boldness is astounding, but also mesmerizing. What does she want? This seems so out of character.
But I can’t look away. The pink shirt flutters around her collarbones with every step. Her hips rolls seductively beneath the fabric of her trousers. When she takes a step, her thighs press against the seams, speaking of the lushness barely contained.
“What does Veronica say about it?” she asks softly.
“Veronica… is not on the island. She had another… engagement she had to attend to.”
“That’s interesting,” Opal replies, and I know that is exactly what she means.
It’s so strange; everything she says is so believable. I can’t imagine her ever lying to me. But there is something different about her than there was this morning. I can feel it. What is it?
One more step, and she’s within the borders of my personal space, such that mental perimeter alarms start going off. She’s very close. Closer to me than I let anyone get. Staring at me with an intensity that almost makes me want to turn away. Certainly I would’ve expected her to turn away just yesterday.
But she is not.
“You could take the chance,” she says simply.
“The... chance?” I repeat. “It’s an enormous risk.”
She smirks boldly. “Isn’t that the best kind?”
“I may have said things to that effect in the past, yes,” I admit carefully.
“That’s the biggest reward. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“Opal,” I begin, a warning in my voice.
She takes another step and my objection quickly vanishes.
Her fingers reach up and twist around the buttons of her blouse, undoing each of them from top to bottom. She slides the blouse from her shoulders, revealing a peach silk camisole that shimmers against her smooth skin.
I’m completely enchanted by this display. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next. It is so vastly different than the demure, nearly frightened young woman I knew just yesterday. And yet still so honest, so forthright. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next.
“Irving,” she whispers with a half-smile playing on her full lips.
My hands catch hers in midair, and with only a moment to consider, I pull her closer, fastening her arms around my neck so that I can take her in mine. The bed is only three steps away and I carry her across, lifting her lightly off her feet to bring her body next to mine as we lie over the white, pristine coverlet.
She doesn’t close her eyes. Instead, she gazes at me as we come so close to kissing, I can almost taste her. But not yet. The tip of her nose brushes mine. She smiles vaguely, a playful expression that looks like she is savoring this delayed satisfaction, this mutual tease.
She fits me perfectly well. My hands stroke the undulating outline from her rib cage down to her waist, across her swelling hip, and over her generous thigh. It is like a map under my palm. A journey I want to memorize.
And still, she doesn’t look away. She doesn’t close her eyes. She smiles as she gazes at me, staring so deeply into me that I feel we are crossing a passageway with a series of locked doors that open, one after another, each leading deeper and deeper into a shared space. A connection is so vivid, it is as though it has a sound. I feel myself—literally feel myself—dismantling every contrived obstacle I ever put up. Together we seem to descend to a secret place, one where we connect on a primal, chemical level.
And finally, we kiss. I take her mouth in mine and let her taste explode on my tongue. Shivers run through me as her life force meets no resistance in me. I don’t have the strength to construct defenses. It would be futile; she is already well beyond them.
Her tongue is soft and curious, yielding against mine. She allows me to open her mouth, to explore her geography, to suck the breath from between her lips and use it in my own lungs. She sustains me with her body. She gives herself to me completely.
We stare at each other. It feels magical. It feels like sorcery. For a moment, I begin to panic and my mind flips through a series of emotions I could be having right now: fear, panic, aversion. But no. I only want more. I want to hold all of her. I want to explore all of her.