Seashells Ch. 05

Silence.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, finally, breaking the silence that was at the table like a third person.

"Everyone knows what we're doing."

"Everyone?" he said, knowing what she meant and not caring.

"Yes, everyone at the house, if they didn't know before, they know now. And, the people, here, looking at us. They know."

"Does that bother you?" He took another sip of water.

"I don't know. Sometimes."

"You look wonderful in red," he said, changing the subject as his eyes wandered over the dress he had picked out for her at the store.

"I look like a tomato."

"You look like fire."

Georgia swallowed hard. She forced a friendly laugh. On several occasions during dinner, she had tried to steer their almost silent conversation away from what they both knew was coming.

"Georgia..." He signaled to the waitress for the bill and then laid down the money.

The last vestiges of twilight were still clinging to the sky as they walked from the inn's dining room to their room. The night, full of tall pine trees, with its beauty and its implications, heightened her awareness of what was to happen. For some reason, this time it was different.

When they reached their room, she entered first and saw the flames dancing in the fireplace.

"I asked them to light a fire while we were at dinner. Even in spring the nights can be cold here." He walked past her, loosening his tie. "I'm going to fill the tub."

Georgia's head swiveled round as he brushed by her on his way to the bathroom. "But..."

Jack halted on the threshold of the bathroom and turned around to look at her quizzically.

She clasped her hands in front of her, pressing them tightly together. "I'm sorry," she said, "it's just that I'm a little nervous... a lot nervous. I'm just a little..."

Grasping her by the shoulders, Jack pulled her toward the bed. Seeing her eyes widen, he quietly swore, shook his head and took her to the sofa.

"Sit down."

She obeyed and he sat beside her. Carefully, gently, he took her hands in his.

"Georgia, I know you're nervous. We're not going to do anything you're not comfortable with. I just wanted you to relax in a warm bath... by yourself."

She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered as if the walls had ears. "I don't mean to be..."

"You're nervous. I understand. It feels different and new to me, too."

"It does?"

"Yes." His hands moved over the tops of his. "I'm going to run that bath for you."

True to his word, he prepared the bath and that was all. She got undressed alone and climbed into the tub alone. She was acutely aware of his presence just beyond the bathroom door, but as the hot, soapy water swirled around her hips and back, relaxation came quite naturally.

She could see her body, warm and supple and café au lait in color, beneath the water.

She remembered suddenly the times in her teens when she would stand before a mirror as naked as she dared, which meant she was wearing a brassiere and panties, and study her own body. What she discovered was that she felt herself nothing special, thinking her breasts were too small but her legs were long and slender and her arms were graceful like a dancer's. How, she used to wonder, would a man see her?

After a while, though, she had stopped looking at her reflection, ceasing to wonder what a man's opinion of her body would be, because it didn't seem likely that there was going to be a man, any man to worry about.

Now, she cared again. The veil of water was kind to her, she thought, softening the look of her body, but she still felt nothing had changed. How could he find her attractive?

Soon, she was surrounded by snowy mounds of soap higher than her chin, hiding her body from her.

Leaning back, the bubbles popping and crackling beneath her head, she tried to clear her mind but visions of his eyes and hands teased her behind her closed eyes.

She stayed in the water for more than an hour, letting the water lull her. She might have fallen asleep if not for the knock on the bathroom door.

"Georgia? How are you doing in there?"

Jerking straight up, she inadvertently sloshed watery bubbles over the side of the tub and onto the floor. "I'm... I'm fine."

"You forgot your nightgown in the closet. You want me to bring it in to you?"

Her gaze darted around the bathroom. All she saw was a towel and her evening clothes.

"Georgia, I'm coming in."

"Just a minute!" She could either wrap herself in the towel or hid beneath the bubbles.

"All right. Come in."

Surprised, Jack straightened away from the door. He glanced at the lacy material in his hands and to his amazement felt his heart beat harder in response.

Opening the door, he stepped inside the warm bathroom. His eyes sought out the tub and the woman in it. His breath caught and held.

No vision could have pleased him more. What he saw was not a nymph, naked and visible beneath the water, but a chocolate sprite, covered in a creamy white froth. The soapy bubbles revealed only her shoulders, neck and face but it was enough to make him hunger to touch her.

"Uh, here," he stammered, wondering why seeing her this way was affecting him so. He set the negligee down on the toilet seat and left, closing the door behind him. She wished for perfume but settled for the clean scent of the Ivory soap.

The nightgown went over her head like a symbol of her womanhood, changing even the way she looked at herself. The lace seemed to highlight her best features, a nightgown that her lover had picked out... for her.

More importantly, she felt beautiful. The lace wrapped around her body and her hair that she had never thought anything about suddenly became a glorious thing... and for the first time in her life, she really felt beautiful.

A few minutes later, she left the brightness of the bathroom as she came back into the bedroom to see flickering shadows dancing on the wall from the fireplace's light. Jack was lying on the bed, wearing only his pants. His arms were folded behind his head and his eyes were focused on the ceiling, watching the moody shadows move around to their own rhythm. When she closed the door behind her, he shifted his attention to her.

For a moment as he stared, he remained absolutely still. Then slowly he lifted his head, lowered his arms and rose from the bed. Then, there was less than a foot between them when he stopped before her.

"Georgia," he said, his voice low, "may I have this dance?"

He extended his left arm and with his right, reached for her waist.

Georgia could feel her own pulse, it was beating that hard; the whole room seemed to be pulsing with it. Carefully, she placed her hand in his and as he drew her forward, she summoned up her courage and told him, "I've never danced before."

"You'll love it."

With his hand on her back, he guided their steps. She didn't have to take many, they mainly swayed but she felt giddy as if she were dancing in a ballroom.

Jack pulled her closer in the silence, the only music playing in her heart. Jack pulled her closer. As her breasts pressed lightly against him, she stiffened and stumbled a step. Their bare feet tangled. He dropped a kiss into her hair and then lightly set her away from him and kept dancing.

She wanted him. She wanted him to make love to her. She knew he was seducing her... but her experience was so limited. They had only made love twice, three times if she counted the time in the car and suddenly what he wanted wasn't enough. She wanted more.

As her thoughts tumbled and crashed into one another, her feet grew clumsy. Finally, after several awkward attempts, Jack stopped and held her still. "Are you tired?"

His eyes held concern and she thought, a resignation. "I am getting tired, yes," she told him, and then realized, 'I have started my life with him with a lie.'

Jack merely pushed a dark curl away from her face and said, "Let's go to bed."

He stepped away from her, leaving her to climb into the bed on her own while he pulled new pajamas out of a drawer and retired to the bathroom to change.

Georgia lay in the bed with the covers tucked under her arms and her hands folded on her chest... and then on her stomach, because she thought that would look less... what? And then on her chest, again, because she didn't want him to think she was putting him off.

She closed her eyes when she heard him open the bathroom door. The mattress barely gave as he got in the bed but she felt the warmth of his body as he moved under the covers. Feeling silly for closing her eyes when she was wide-awake, she opened them. There was something she had to say to him.

"Jack?" she whispered into the fluttering shadows of the night.

"Hmmm?"

Georgia felt, rather than saw him turn his head on the pillow and though it was too dark to see clearly, she turned her head, as well.

"This was the nicest day I've ever had."

The words barely left her lips when his arm pulled her close. Turning her so her back was snuggled against his chest, he curved his body around her.

"Me, too," he whispered against her ear.

Georgia learned two things then as she lay against Jack, their bodies touching from head to toe... one, her lover did not wear pajama tops; and two, being held in warm, solid arms while you drifted asleep was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

The first full day of their new life dawned fresh and crisp, as spring mornings along California's central coast were apt to be. They ate breakfast in the inn's dining room and then at his suggestion, went for a walk. That afternoon was spent walking through the town. They bought sandwiches, pastries and drinks at a small shop and took the food with them along the beach.

If the couple had felt the lack of sexual expression on their first night publicly together, neither of them was aware of it. The entire day was marked by easy laughter and teasing touches. They looked for any excuse to make contact, heightening the sensations they both sought.

At one point they held hands and the sensuousness of it was so heady, Georgia thought she might faint.

More than once, Jack caught himself looking at his lover and thinking, 'this is the way it is supposed to be.'

The sun had begun to descend into the Pacific by the time they returned to the inn and they sat on a bench watching it grow dark.

He reached out to touch her hair. It felt wonderful to his fingers. He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to turn the innocent touch into a full and sensual caress. He rested his hand on the back of her neck, just for moment and then...

She turned and before he could react, her arms were around his neck and her lips were flush with his. Unprepared, he fell back against the bench. Suddenly, every nerve was centered in their lips as they kissed. Georgia kissed him hard. She felt his surprise and realized that she was kissing him harder than she had intended, not that she had had a lot of time to think about it and then, she lunged at him.

All day long, he had teased her, touched her, looked at her and all day long, she had tried to concentrate on something other than how wonderful it had been to sleep in his arms.

The moment she felt his fingers on her neck, she lost all control. Now, with her lips pressed against his in public, albeit a darkened public, it was the way she had always dreamed it would be.

For a moment, they stared at one another and then he reached up and brought forward the back of her head. His fingers tangled in her curls and he pulled her to him.

His arm tightened around her waist and this time it was he who guided the kiss. He urged her lips to part and soon his tongue was engaging hers in a dance as old as time itself.

"Sun's down," Jack said, looking at the sky.

She nodded.

"Way past dinnertime."

"Way past."

"Too bad. We might as well go back to the room."

"Might as well."

Pushing himself off the bench, Jack stood up and reaching out, helped her up and without a moment's hesitation, Georgia took his hand in hers and followed him back to the room.