Destinbury

"I don't have a clue."

"There are several of them, all four by sixes and she, whoever she is, is by Alana's estimation, about fifty, and she's naked for every one of them."

"Now that is a mystery."

"Would you stick them on the board separate from the others?"

"Okay, and I'm sure the mystery woman will stir some interesting conversation. Speaking of that, everybody is back early, so Stephie and I will get started. She's been right there to receive the envelopes and mix them up."

"We want to be sure this is totally random."

"What does she write down?"

"Just their names so we're sure we have them all. Unnecessary, but it can't hurt either."

"I guess that's true."

"We'll turn the boards around so nobody can see what we're putting up, and then when we're ready, we'll turn them all back around so everybody can see them at the same time."

"You and Stephie have given this a lot of thought."

"We're having a great time."

Stephie joined them and said, "I just found another mysterious envelope. I've been right there, so I'm sure it isn't one from anybody here."

"What the hell is going on?" Owen asked.

"Good question," and then as she and Kate headed to the boards and turned them away from the room, eyes were on them.

Chapter One Hundred Ten

There had been a brief pause in the many conversations, but that soon passed, and that's when Kate and Stephie went to work behind the large white foam boards. "How did it go?" Kate asked Stephie.

Handing an envelope to Kate, she said, "See the two fingernail marks in the corner? That tells me this one is from Alana and Owen," and the two women, full of self satisfaction, smiled and went to work. "Next it's Perry and Linda," and they pulled out photos and using push pins, fastened them to a board and paused.

"Oh damn," Kate said as they studied their three photos, "We better move Owen and Alana toward the bottom."

"Wow, they're very erotic to say the least," and then continued to open

and mentally note who was where, but they also wrote it down and Kate

tucked the list into her shorts pocket. Down at the far end, the mystery

woman's photos were posted in a vertical line, and they tacked the photos

from the two delivered envelopes across the very bottom of the boards.

Whispering, Kate said, "Now the envelope that seemed to appear out of nowhere, we'll string across just above the bottom row."

Smiling Stephie whispered, "I rather like those mystery photos. It would appear they are of two women."

Kate kissed Stephie quickly and said, "You're right, not a man to be found in any of those five photos, but I do see two very involved women. Nice butt shots too."

"My favorite is the shot of you eating me, but too bad we had to hide your face."

"Owen is going to freak when he sees them."

"He's sure to know it's you and me though, and with you being his sister..."

"We deny it totally, and besides, which would be me and which would be you?"

"Personally I don't care if he knows which one is me, but we do have to protect you girlfriend."

"When I saw Ian enter I had other ideas though."

Stephie smiled and said, "So did I. He or Owen either one would have been just fine."

"Now where or when did Owen become a guy of interest for you?"

"I've thought of him as fairly sexy anyway, and I guess he's sort of been growing on me."

"Just be careful because we have plans for him."

Stephie smiled and said, "You hope. Judging from the pictures, Alana has plans for him too."

"I'll be here for the next party even if I get sick and have to use a hospital bed or crutches, because it's going to be so interesting."

"To me, some of these photos are pretty bland, and I think it will be those that won't show up next Saturday."

"Either that or they were waiting to see what others do. But like June and Dusty's effort is pretty light."

"But we know that June isn't afraid to raise her skirt."

"We'll see won't we."

Kate told Owen they were ready and then called out for everybody's attention, and every conversation stopped instantly.

"Stephie and I will turn the boards around in a second, but I have a couple of things to explain." Then she went on about the mysterious photos appearing and where they were located on the board. She joined Stephie at the boards, and seconds later all eyes were pouring over the photos, and seconds after that everybody was talking at the same time and staring at parts of their friends and new acquaintances. Blouses half way off, slacks gone, and hands were photographed in very intimate places. A bare ass here or there with at least one of them of obviously a guy's ass. Breasts were shown with and without hands on them in apparent exploration, but it was Owen and Alana's set along with another that was drawing the most attention.

Owen and Alana made frequent eye contact, but the more he looked, Owen was drawn to the two naked women. A sweet and gentle embrace, exploring hands, and tempting shots of their butt, and Owen couldn't help but wonder if he might be looking at Stephie and Kate, simply because of them being the only two women in the room. But there was nothing to say that almost any of the women in the room could have planned to get together for a few shots just to stir up the party. In fact, Kathy and June popped into his mind, but he had no real reason to suspect them.

Slipping her arm around his waist, Linda asked him, "Okay stud, which is you?"

"You first Cuz, show me your nakedness and we'll talk."

"But it's different with guys."

Putting his lips to her ears he whispered, "It sure is, we have dicks."

"Yes, and that's what you think with."

"If you're here just to be abusive go away."

"Okay, which one do you think is me?"

Smiling he looked down at her breasts, and then stepped back to stare at her body as he said, "Pretty damn nice all things considered."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

Whispering again he said, "Well you're my cousin so I can't be too serious about how good you look."

"Then I'm going to pretend that you think I'm hot. Now tell me which one is you."

"Look for the best looking guy on the board."

"You know there isn't a face showing you jerk."

"Oh. Okay look for the hottest male ass."

"Go away," but she smiled and kissed him before she left him standing there at the boards of photos.

Kate took over again saying, "Okay, we changed something. Everybody votes, so get your voting forms and let's see who gets what title. Pick a category and enter the couple's number that you want to vote for. One for each category, and yes you can vote for a couple for more than one category. Stephie and I will count the votes."

It took the group less than five minutes to cast their votes, and another five for Stephie and Kate to count them. Owen wasn't surprised when he and Alana won the most erotic category, by a large margin. That was all he knew though, other than photos number three won the most romantic, and number six won the most daring, because they photographed some guy staring at the woman naked to the waist and her shorts unfastened. Owen guessed that was Candy, but that was a guess at best.

The party continued as guests sipped drinks, talked and laughed, but there was always at least one couple looking a the bank of photos of the people right there with them, and yet it was impossible to know who had done what.

Alana and Dan were home just after midnight, but neither of them asked the other what trouble they had gotten into. They were both feeling pretty amorous as they undressed for bed, and that's when Dan discovered a single broken blade of grass still sticking to her back. "Look at this baby," and he smiled as he held it in front of her. Bet I know a little more about what you and Owen did now."

"Oh no, damn it now that's not fair, and besides...never mind."

"It was you and Owen that won all of those votes for most erotic with that photo of you two naked in the grass, and I have to say, you two deserved to win. That one photo in particular was very sexy and smoking hot."

"Then you have to tell me about you and Rita."

"Just because I figured yours out? I don't think so."

"Are you mad at me?"

"Did you two make love?"

"No, but God I don't know how we kept from it, and I don't think I would be that good again."

"You two had quite an adventure today."

"So did you and Rita."

"But you don't know that do you baby."

"If I was wrong you would have calmly shared everything you two did. Besides, Owen knows Rita pretty well, and he told me some pretty hot and interesting things about her," she said trying to bluff Dan into talking.

"If we're going to confess to each other, I think we should be in bed and the phone shut off so we can sleep as long as we want in the morning."

"That's a good idea, because it could take you awhile to put out my fires."

"Oh, so you and stud didn't share orgasms."

"In bed lover, we'll talk about orgasms and other things in bed when I can have your balls in my grip."

Chapter One Hundred Eleven

Owen staggered out to his kitchen in his underwear Sunday morning and was surprised to see Char there doing the last of cleaning the kitchen. "Guess you forgot you asked me to come in this morning for a couple of hours."

"Yeah, guess I did, sorry," and he poured his coffee and nonchalantly dropped onto a kitchen chair while she smiled at him.

"I saw the photos of course."

"Oh shit, sorry about that too."

"I had a choice to look or not. I chose to look, and it would appear that your party went pretty well."

"It did. Not as many people as I'd hoped, but it worked."

"Judging from the way the photos were grouped I'm guessing eight or nine couples and that's pretty good."

"Only six couples. We don't know where the hell the other photos came from."

She smiled and with her almost empty cup in her hand she sat down and said, "That sounds interesting. Are you awake enough to tell me about that mystery?"

"I think so," and he proceeded to tell her those stories.

"So two sets of photos arrived by a...well a courier we'll say, but the other two sets are a total mystery."

"That's it. I have suspicions though."

"Oh really? Who? I mean for which group of photos and who?"

"The two women, but I'll leave that alone."

"Then there was one woman...by herself? Did she do her own photos?"

"Hell, I don't know."

"What did you think of her? Young, old, fat, dumpy...what?"

"Pretty damn nice actually, and they are some pretty daring and sexy pictures. I have a bad feeling that I'll never know who she is though. Hell, I know they weren't here through most of the day because I was here, but then there they were. I don't know how they got here and I can't see her face, so what are the chances I'll ever solve that mystery?"

"Pretty slim. Okay, I have the house livable again and I'll be back tomorrow for my regular cleaning."

"Thanks Char, I appreciate your efforts."

"Thanks for leaving the photos out for me to see. Bye boss," and she left him sitting there in his underwear to nurse his coffee and think about the party.

"Hi Owen, it's me," Nila said when he answered the phone.

"Oh...yeah hi."

"Is this a bad time to call?"

"No...um, no I'm just nursing my first cup of coffee."

"Sitting in the chair nearest the coffee pot."

He wasn't even aware that he smiled as he said, "That's right."

"Owen are you still mad at me?"

He took a breath and slowly let it out before he said, "I'm not mad at you Nila." He was surprised by what he had just told her. Wasn't he furious with her that night she got home from New York? Why else would he have exploded the way he did? Even Kate seemed to agree that he had good reason to be furious, though they never really did talk about that whole mess.

"Okay, I just wondered. I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to come get my things this morning if I could."

"Sure, okay."

"Thanks, I'll see you in half an hour or so."

After putting the phone down he leaned back and closed his eyes. He had known this time had been coming, but he'd been pretty effective in blocking that whole idea. He also had to accept the fact that he was both fearful of seeing her, and at the same time he was so anxious to see her that his heart was racing. It was almost automatic for him to go clean up and put something on. Then he almost laughed as he realized that he and Nila had been naked around each other so many times that the thought dressing for her seemed like false modesty.

When Nila got there she automatically reached for the doorknob, but caught herself at the last second and rang the bell. When he opened the door they were wooden statues as they stared at each other. Owen suddenly stepped back and said, "Sorry, come in. I brought your things out for you, but if you want to make sure I didn't miss anything that's fine too."

"I'll just check the dresser drawers if that's okay."

"Of course, Would you like coffee? It's fresh."

"Sure if you have time."

"I'll pour while you check," and he stood there and watched her go toward the hallway. Then he shrugged his right shoulder up to catch a single tear slipping down his cheek and then hurried to the kitchen.

Nila sat on the side of the bed and caught her tears with a tissue and took a deep breath as she struggled to get control of herself. She didn't need to check the drawers because it didn't really matter. Though she could use them, she wasn't the least bit desperate for the clothes she was there to get. She needed to see him and to make sure he didn't forget her.

When she went out to join Owen he didn't notice that her eyes were red because he was too busy dealing with hiding his own emotional crisis. She sat down where she always sat, and tasted her coffee as though nothing bad had ever happened between them.

"How did the party go?" She asked him for something to say.

"It went fine. I think four couples declined the invitation, though two of them sent photos."

"Are you serious?"

"I am. I can only guess why that was. Maybe I'll hear from them later."

"That's so strange, unless they really did have other commitments."

"That's possible, but I don't even know who it was, because they arrived totally anonymous. Some guy delivered them I guess. Kate and Stephie were here and they didn't have anything more to add."

"So did...never mind. I'm glad it went okay though."

"Thanks. Remember how we were going to pick judges?"

"I remember," she said and tasted her coffee.

"Kate had everybody cast a vote on the three things you and I had come up with."

"That was probably better."

"It was, because that got everybody involved. Oh, and they...correction, I found a packet of photos on my desk. Again anonymous, and those photos were of a woman only. Five or six pictures, I don't remember for sure."

"That's even more bizarre than the two that were delivered."

"Well there was also a set of two women that..."

"No. How was that possible?"

"Just between you and me, I think it was Stephie and..."

"Oh my God no, not...you saw your sister...well naked or whatever?"

"I don't know, but I had to consider that possibility, because of the two of them...well you know."

"Yes, but still."

"Plus of course I wouldn't know which was which, though I don't know that mattered all that much. I don't know, and I don't think I want to ask either of them."

"You might want to leave that one alone though, because if it was them what was their reason other than to have fun at your expense."

"But would Kate have the nerve to pull something like that? You know her almost as well as I do."

Nila looked down and said, "Well I thought I did. Sorry...anyway, I don't know what to think about Kate, though I can see her being that bold I guess."

"That would be beyond bold and crazy. Nila...they were almost...well one of them had her lips on the other...well just above..."

"Wow, I'll bet the guys loved seeing that picture."

"I was too stunned to look anywhere but the photo."

"I just happened to think. Nobody dared to take their photos with them because that would have revealed their identity."

"I still have them. Would you...no you probably don't want to see them."

"I'd love to if you have time."

"Kate and Stephie put them on my desk so I don't know that they're in order now."

"If not that's fine, because I won't know the difference anyway."

A minute later Owen gestured to his chair and she sat down as he perched on the edge of his desk and handed the stack of photos to her. She looked at him for a brief moment and then pulled her attention to the top picture. "Nice enough, but milder than I expected to see."

"I know, some of them are like that."

"I guess I can understand that too though." She flipped through a couple more pictures she asked him, "What do you think the women got out of this game?"

"Well a hell of a lot of attention that's for sure. First from the guy they were paired with, and then of course, though in a different way, when everybody looked at her in the posted photos. The men...us men were secondary actually. We were the photographers, more than anything else, unless like in a few of photos, he was in the them too."

"Oh, now this one is sexy."

"I thought so too. Suggestive for sure."

"Considering that nobody had any real photography skills, most of them were out and about with somebody they either didn't know well or didn't know at all, and...well I'm pretty impressed with how bold most of them were."

"I guess that's true."

When she came to the photos of him with Alana he closed his eyes and almost held his breath as she studied them. "Oh honey...sorry, Owen, this one is so erotic."

"That one got the most votes for that category."

"I should hope so, my God. So close to making love and yet...I can feel an emotional connection between them too."

"I think what you see is raw passion more than any kind of emotion nearing...well love or anything close to that."

"There's certainly enough passion in the pose," and she flipped to the next. She came to the mystery woman then and said, "Oh, this is the unknown one."

"Right. I don't have one damn idea who she could be."

"It isn't as though everybody would just strip, photograph herself and leave...well how did they get here, is another question."

"I think somebody in the group dropped them in my office."

"That could be it. It's kind of fun though, in a way at least, to have her to wonder about and even admire. Admire her nerve and even her looks."

"And I do admire her for those reasons."

She suddenly put the photos down and said, "Well I better go. Is the second party set to go?"

"Yes, that went out with the first invitation, so realistically I'd have to go through with it even if I didn't feel like it."

"Would you mind if I called you to see how that one went?"

"Of course not."

He had the large box and was going to follow her out to her car, but he set it down, and putting his hand on her arm he asked her, "What happened between you and Kate? Is it something you can talk about?"

"She...tell her I'd like her to tell you okay? If she will you'll understand why I'm hesitating."

"Okay."

Then she pulled him into her arms and holding him close she half whispered and half cried, "I'm so sorry things went to hell for us, and I still love you so much Owen," and then headed outside. His eyes were wet instantly, but he blinked quickly and rubbed his eyes, grabbed the box and caught up with her at her car. Tossing the box in her trunk he said, "It was good to see you again, and I'll call you next Sunday."

"Okay, and good luck with the party. I hope you're paired with somebody you can relax with and have fun."

Chapter One Hundred Twelve