Elizabeth 02: Revenge

"I'd be in as well," Benjamin said. "Sounds delightful. Elizabeth? Jonathan?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Elizabeth said, taking Jonathan's hand in hers.

"I'm in too, then," Jonathan added.

"Wait," Tamara demanded. Looking back and forth between Jonathan and Irene, she asked, "Aren't you two cousins?"

"You may wear a bathing costume in the bath," Irene said.

"Besides," Jonathan cracked, "We're close."

Benjamin was only passingly familiar with the raunchy humor Elizabeth, Irene and Jonathan found acceptable among themselves, and Tamara looked as though she had no idea what to think. But as the two cousins laughed uproariously, the others slowly joined in as well.

"Are you sure you feel comfortable joining in the bath with Jonathan?" Elizabeth asked Irene much later in the meal, when the wine had loosened the conversation and Tamara was once again chatting up Benjamin while Jonathan did his best to play third wheel with them.

"Well, no," Irene admitted. "Let this be a lesson in just how much I value your friendship, dear."

"That, and it's your chance to see Benjamin naked!" Elizabeth snickered.

"You always do have my number, Elizabeth," Irene admitted. "But seriously, it shan't be the end of the world with Jonathan and myself. And like I said, one doesn't have to go nude in those baths."

"True," Elizabeth said, "You could avoid putting your body on display for Benjamin."

"I must confess that is unlikely," Irene giggled. "We shall see how daring I feel when the moment arrives, though. And whether it is necessary at all." She cast a furtive glance at Tamara.

"I sense it shall be," Elizabeth said, also regarding her adversary. "I shouldn't think Tamara would miss her chance at an intimate moment with Benjamin, even if it will also involve another such moment with me."

At that moment, the band at last burst into its first song. In a development Irene wished she could have scripted but had not been able to, Benjamin sprang to his feet. "Time for a dance, wouldn't you say?" he asked. Tamara stopped her gossiping in mid-sentence and looked starry-eyed up at him, even holding up her hand for him to take. Instead he reached across the table to Irene. "Would you do me the honor?"

Irene's heart was sailing, for she had resigned herself to watching him dance with Tamara. "I'd be delighted!"

Elizabeth shuffled aside to let Irene out of the booth, and then had just a moment to savor the shocked disbelief on Tamara's face before Jonathan stood up as well. "Darling?" he asked, holding his hand out for her.

"Certainly!" Elizabeth said with genuine pleasure -- even now, Jonathan was often a bit shy in such situations -- and soon Tamara was left alone with her wine glass and a cloth napkin to twist in her frustrated hands.

"I'm so very sorry for Tamara's behavior," Benjamin said to Irene as soon as their dance was underway. "I've only known her for these few days and she's been high strung and thoughtless throughout, but evidently she has no one else in town to turn to."

"Quite all right, Benjamin," Irene assured him. She gave serious consideration to adding that he need never apologize to her for anything so long as she was in the reverie of his arms, but concluded that would be a bit much. "Really, she hasn't been nearly as horrible as I had expected, though that's partially just because Elizabeth is handling herself so well."

"Heavens, I can only imagine what a nightmare this is for Elizabeth!" Benjamin agreed. "But I agree, she has been remarkably diplomatic all evening. Better than I could hope to conduct myself in her shoes, really."

"So Jonathan told you about her history with Tamara, did he?" Irene asked.

"He did, in the baths, but even before that, Tamara had some choice words about her."

"Really!" Irene was outraged, though not very surprised.

"Really. After our meeting at Miles this afternoon, she and I fell into discussing the friends I had invited along for the baths and dinner. I mentioned that she might even know Elizabeth from her school days, and she immediately recoiled at the name. 'Oh God, I saw her at the baths yesterday!' she said. 'Disgusting, ungroomed, hairy as an ape...we tried to put her in her place over it back at school, and yesterday I saw she still hadn't learned!' I assure you, Irene, I was outraged for Elizabeth. I told Tamara what a wonderful lady she is and how beloved she is among the ladies of the baths, not to mention Jonathan and you. But I fear I only made matters worse."

"But you still persuaded her to join us," Irene said. "That is good."

"Oh, that was never in doubt, I'm afraid," Benjamin replied.

"You're afraid?"

"I rather suspected she wanted to join Elizabeth in the bath to criticize her over you-know-what. Then, when Jonathan told me of her history and your plans for her, I realized I was right."

"Well, I'm pleased to report we put her in her place," Irene said. "But yes, she was horribly nasty to Elizabeth nevertheless, and in the most frustratingly polite way."

"Then I am very pleased to participate in your plan, Irene." His face cracking into a relaxed smile, he then added, "I must admit, though, it is an interesting twist to the evening to dance with a lady in pants."

"Well, kind sir," Irene replied. "You know if you play your cards right, you may very well have the opportunity to see me without my pants."

Wordlessly, Benjamin drew Irene close for the final strains of the song, and she was delighted to feel his stiff cock against her hip through both their clothes.

Across the dance floor, Elizabeth recounted the confrontation in the baths as she relaxed in Jonathan's arms. "The bitch hasn't changed at all," she said. "But I do wonder if she sincerely believes what she said about me 'struggling' with my body, as if she were not the one who caused the struggle."

"Bullies rarely do understand the damage they do," Jonathan said. "I have heard that many times. I do hope you can stand one more bath with her, though. I'll understand if you don't want to go through with the plan, but it will be necessary if you do want to."

"Dear God, Jonathan, do you really think I would endure this afternoon and then drop my plans?"

"Not for one moment," Jonathan assured her. "That is one of the many things I love about you, Elizabeth. It's only that you have suffered far more than you should have to at her hands already, and I would understand if you chose to walk away from the plan now."

"The same goes for you, darling, should you decide you aren't comfortable being nude with Irene," Elizabeth said.

"Oh, we have been on occasion in the past," Jonathan said. "At the pond on our grandfather's land, all of us youngsters used to swim in the altogether. That was some time ago of course, but this will be nothing Irene and I cannot handle."

"I wonder why she never told me that?" Elizabeth mused.

"She may choose not to recall what I look like without my clothes," Jonathan quipped. "Or maybe she wants you to believe you have that knowledge to yourself."

"Heavens, Jonathan," Elizabeth laughed. "I, who am famous for how I look naked, what care I about that?"

"Excellent question," Jonathan admitted. Casting a glance across the floor, he added, "Speaking of Irene, it would appear she's got what she wanted tonight!"

Elizabeth followed his gaze, and saw Irene in a tight embrace with Benjamin, her eyes inches from his, both of them dancing much slower than the music called for and clearly oblivious to their surroundings. "It certainly is about time, isn't it?" she asked Jonathan.

"Indeed," Jonathan said. "I rather suspect Tamara will be at her own devices back at her hotel tonight." The couple both looked back at their table; Tamara had already left. They would later learn she had not paid her share of the bill.

Chapter 5

Irene was thusly deprived of her opportunity to have Tamara witness Benjamin leaving with her; but that was of no consequence as she gripped his hand in the cold night air. "It is only two blocks off Main," she assured him. "I wouldn't keep you out here in the cold for a long walk!"

"A long walk to your home would be well worth it, I assure you," Benjamin replied.

Normally Irene would have laughed uproariously at such a line; but not with Benjamin and certainly not tonight. Rather, she squeezed his gloved hand more tightly as she guided him up the side street to her cluttered but neat bedsit. She turned on the electric light, explaining to Benjamin that it was one feature that had drawn her to the room, and set about lighting the fire. "We'll be toasty warm in no time," she assured him as he sat on her sofa and removed his shoes.

"Yes, we doubtless shall be," he replied. "But you can light the fire anyway."

Now, Irene allowed a laugh. Benjamin joined in. After a look around the small room, he asked her, "Pardon my nosiness, but where is your bed?"

"You are sitting on it," Irene said. "It folds into a sofa for the daytime, perfect for such a small room. When you unfold it, your feet are just before the fireplace and they stay delightfully warm all night."

"May I unfold it then?" Benjamin asked, standing up.

"You'd better!"

By the time Irene had the fire lit, Jonathan had unlocked the mystery of the sofa and was waiting seated on the newly-unfolded bed. He rose to meet her as she turned back from the fireplace. There was no hesitation on either part as they eased into one another's arms and their lips met. She slipped both her hands under his coat and rubbed his back through his shirt, her cold hands causing shivers of more kinds than one. Soon they were intertwined on the bed and he was caressing her still-clothed breasts, and her months of pent-up loneliness and frustration melted in his gentle touch. She soon had his coat off and grazed his chest through his shirt while he kneaded her breasts, but neither tried to undress the other any further until the fire had warmed the room suitably.

Benjamin caressed Irene all over her body, but he touched her between her thighs only once, to determine if she was wet. Finding that she was, he then set about unbuttoning her trousers. He soon had them down around her knees, and eagerly she kicked them off. "Told you you could see me out of them," she whispered, unbuttoning his shirt.

"Happy to see how right you were," he replied, and followed suit with her blouse.

Irene's closeness with Elizabeth, and their many discussions of the latter's past, had imbued her with a great deal of admiration for her friend's recovered self-confidence, but it had also inspired a fair bit of insecurity about her own very-different body. Didn't her bigger breasts seem to sag a bit much when unsupported compared to Elizabeth's dainty ones, and weren't her nipples a bit too large as well? What about her round belly? And she not only had a big vulva, but it was ever-so-prominent under her sparse pubic thatch whereas Elizabeth's was so very well-hidden. One by one, she found each of these on full display for Benjamin in the bright bedside light she now wished she had turned off. But her self-consciousness was blissfully fleeting as his gentle caresses and admiring looks melted her into contentment.

"You're beautiful, Irene, I hope you know that," he whispered in her ear as he guided her to lay flat on her back on the bed.

"Thank you," and in that moment she believed him wholeheartedly.

As for Benjamin's own body, she eagerly drank in the sight of his broad chest with its dark hair sprinkled everywhere. Her eyes wandered hungrily all the way down across his flat midsection to a treasure trail leading down from his navel to a massive forest of curls -- quite possibly even larger than Elizabeth's, and Irene now realized to her titillation that she might well get the chance to compare the two side by side at the weekend! Protruding from it all was the lovely thick cock she had spent the evening imagining inside her, pointing rigidly at her like a soldier at her command.

But Benjamin was in no hurry to give in to that command. After whispering the compliment in her ear, he grazed his way down to her breasts, suckling between them while his hair grazed her hard nipples. He lingered there for a few delightful minutes before working his hands down to her belly. Irene felt one last wash of insecurity as he touched her least favorite part of her body, and it receded just as quickly as his tender kisses and caresses all around it put her once again at ease. She let out her first loud moan in appreciation, and he responded by rubbing just a bit faster, before finally making his way downward once again.

Irene gasped in filthy anticipation as she realized what was about to happen, for no man had ever pleasured her thusly before. She scarcely knew what to expect, but she was nevertheless breathing loudly and heavily even before his whiskers tickled her vulva so deliciously for the first time. His hands resting on her hips, he kissed her lower lips lightly, teasingly at first, then reached his tongue tantalizingly just inside. Irene exulted in the waves that ensued, and encouraged him with her enthusiastic grunts and ground her hips down toward him as best she could. Soon she was aware of him helping out with his fingers as he kissed and sucked and licked. She had no sense of how long it all went on, lost as she was in the sensation, and was almost relieved when the dam finally burst and the first orgasm washed over her.

Though elated, she was now a ball of nerves as he stood up and admired her body. She wanted him inside her more than ever. "Thank you," she whispered huskily, scooting up to lay her head on the waiting pillows. She spread her legs out wider in anticipation.

Benjamin went to the doorway and shut off the lights, leaving a beautiful glow of firelight on Irene's waiting body. She was aware of him fiddling with something from his clothes on the floor, and eventually realized he was wiping his mouth off with his handkerchief. "I made a mess on your face, did I?" she asked with a sultry laugh.

"All well worth it, I should say," he reassured her. Returning to the bed, he climbed gently atop her and they shared yet another kiss. Irene could still taste traces of her own fluids on his tongue, and to her surprise she found the turn arousing rather than repulsive. Of course, nothing about Benjamin could have repulsed her at that moment as she felt his hard cock teasing her hungry thighs.

"Right, then," she said, "In you go!" She raised her knees to better accommodate him, and reached down with both hands. With a gentle but firm grasp that brought a welcome sigh from Benjamin, she guided him inside. Her eyes were wide open and locked on his as they shared the sensation of her enveloping him, and soon their lips were locked once again as he pushed his way slowly in and out. Irene soon found herself once again worked into a lather of sensation as his pumping grew harder and faster, and she stretched out her arms and rubbed his buttocks to encourage him along.

"Oh, Irene." It was all Benjamin could say in his own state of arousal, and all she needed him to say. A fleeting memory of that afternoon's displeasure at seeing Tamara on his arm made her laugh with delight as she now felt him gliding lovingly in and out of her body. Pleasant, but fleeting, as were all thoughts as he worked her up to a second climax, followed closely by his own. It was hard and loud and masculine, and she drank in all the sensation as she admired him from underneath while catching her own breath.

In her mansion suite on the outskirts of town, Elizabeth was enjoying her second round with Jonathan in her own bed. The first had been on the carpet just beyond the roaring fireplace, and they were both flush with lingering heat. She was more aroused than ever with the thrill of victory. "Did you see the look on Tamara's face when he asked Irene to dance?" she asked between grunts, for what Jonathan suspected was the third or fourth time. "Did you see how her face fell?!"

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Jonathan moaned breathily, pushing up inside her from underneath. "He showed her!"

"We showed her!" Elizabeth corrected, rocking back and forth atop him.

"Yeah..." Jonathan agreed. "You close?"

"What, you want to sleep?" she demanded.

"No!" he said. "Just want to know when you come so I can too."

"Silly boy, you know you can come anytime you like!" she exclaimed, and clamped her feminine muscles tightly on his captive cock.

"If you're coming too," he gasped.

Elizabeth picked up his hands and placed them deep in her bush. "You know what to do!" she said with a heavy sigh. Jonathan did indeed know what to do, and soon all of his fingers were grazing her delicate hidden skin while his thumbs went to town on her clitoris. Once again grateful to be the only one with a bedroom on that floor of the mansion, Elizabeth leaned back and gave in to an uninhibited scream as his magic fingers brought her off the deep end. He was still stroking her expertly when she came back down to earth and sat back up straight atop him. Seeing he hadn't crossed the finish line yet, she leaned down and kissed him hard on the mouth while grinding into him as hard and fast as she could.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" his moaning was quieter than hers as always, but she knew the moment had arrived and gave him one last gentle internal squeeze as his orgasm crested and passed. Then she stopped and sat back up, but did not release him. As he lay back on the bed and regained his own composure, she gazed down at the lovely sight and felt more tears welling up...tears of joy this time.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking both her hands in his as she finally pulled off him and lay down beside him.

Elizabeth buried her face in his chest. "Beautiful, that's all. So gentle and beautiful."

"You are," he agreed.

"We are," she corrected. "And to think Tamara tried so hard to destroy my ability to enjoy this sort of thing."

"She'll be sorry," Jonathan said, "If she isn't already."

"I wish I could be that sure she would ever learn," Elizabeth said. She put her arms around Jonathan and cradled him until she was sure he was sleeping, then lay back and stared at the flames from the fireplace dancing on the ceiling. She was blissfully happy, but she wasn't sure.

Chapter 6

Irene didn't need to tell Elizabeth of her encounter with Benjamin when next the two best friends met, at Elizabeth's office the following afternoon. Her girlish joy told all that needed to be said: she was beaming as she stepped into the office, and rather than their usual chaste kiss on the cheek she threw herself at Elizabeth with an uninhibited tight squeeze.

"Well, congratulations," Elizabeth said.

"On what?" Irene didn't even know why she pretended to be ignorant; but she felt she had to.

"On the very obvious reason why you're so happy," Elizabeth replied. "Anyone could see what was in store for you and Benjamin last night."

"I am that easy to read, am I?" Irene mused.

"For us, you are," Elizabeth said. "Jonathan and I couldn't be more delighted for the both of you, but especially for you, dear. I know you've been lonely recently." She hugged Irene again. "I know what it's like, and I know how good it feels when it's over."

"Yes," Irene admitted, "And I get the sense you're very happy today as well. How many times?"

"Twice," Elizabeth laughed.

"Any word from Tamara?" Irene asked.

"The rumor mill at lunch had it that she was dancing with Ronald Stevens, from the bank, and he took her off for drinks somewhere else. I haven't heard from her because, thank heavens, she doesn't know where I work."

"Well, I guess someone will have to get in touch with her to see if she still wishes to join us this weekend. Shall we draw straws for the honor?"