Marnie

"I wish I could have met them. They look like a lovely couple."

Marnie brushed away a tear. "Let me show you the rest of the cabin."

The ceilings were low. Lauren had to duck through the six foot doorway openings, also being mindful of the exposed beams. There was a wood plank stairway to a second floor that was clearly added this century. The bedrooms were upstairs, along with an updated bathroom, though the central feature of the bath was an old fashioned cast iron clawfoot tub.

Lauren dipped her head as they climbed the stairs, avoiding a beam holding up the second floor. She spotted the tub as they got to the top of the stairs.

"A clawfoot tub ... it's beautiful." The American was a sucker for romance, and many of her bedroom fantasies revolved around a clawfoot tub.

"It was my grandmother's. We saved it from the original downstairs bathroom and relocated it upstairs. The lock doesn't work that well so there's a hook and eye that we usually latch."

Marnie moved down the hallway to show Lauren her room.

"You're staying here. I used this bedroom when I visited here as a young girl. My grandfather taught me how to hunt rabbits," Marnie said, remembering her grandmother tucking her into bed. Marnie stayed in the bedroom that used to belong to her grandfather and grandmother. It featured a 17^th century four poster bed.

Marnie put her things down in her bedroom and returned to Lauren's, who was unpacking her travel bag and trying to remember if she packed any underwear.

"I think I'm going for a walk before it gets dark. Ordinarily I'd ask you to go with me ..."

Lauren sat on the bed and dangled her ankle, as if to show her friend that her ankle was sore. "No ... no ... you go ... I insist. I'm a bit tired and my ankle is still pretty sore. I think I'll read for a little while and then go to bed if that's all right with you."

"I can stay ..." Marnie started to say.

"No Marnie ... this is your land. Go for a walk. I'll be fine here. Please."

"OK. I shouldn't be too long ..." Marnie made no movement to leave.

"Go Marnie, before it gets dark."

* * * * *

"Hey, I'm back," Marnie called out, kicking her walking shoes off and padding across the plank floor in her stocking feet. Hearing no response she figured Lauren had gone to bed.

She trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. She left her bedroom door slightly ajar in the hopes that Lauren would visit. She changed into her nightgown and sat in front of her grandmother's mirror. Her reflection framed by ancient hickory woman showed a woman and not a small girl. It looked to her that it would be another lonely night, them thinking about one another but doing nothing. She shrugged her shoulders, picked up her toothbrush and went to the bathroom to finish her preparations for bed. The door was ajar and she pushed it open.

Lauren looked over from the old fashioned clawfoot tub, startled to see Marnie.

"Oh sorry," said Marnie, standing there and staring at Lauren's fair skin covered with tiny soap bubbles. Marnie could see Lauren from the waist up. Her breasts were large and pendulous. Goosebumps erupted on the inside of Marnie's thighs.

Lauren attempted to cover her breasts with her forearm. "I thought I'd soak my ankle ..." she muttered. Her voice trailed off.

Marnie's willpower crumbled at seeing a nude Lauren covered in bubbles. It was exactly the type of erotic image she was trying to avoid thinking about, and Lauren wasn't exactly startled, or offended, at Marnie's intrusion. Bowing to the inevitable, Marnie lifted her nightgown over her head and shook her mane of red hair, her creamy white breasts lifted and then bouncing when freed from their covering.

Lauren's attraction to Marnie was already irresistible, and now seeing her alabaster skin, big drooping sumptuous tits with long pinkish brown nipples and areole the size of a half dollar, her hand, as if it had a mind of itself, went under the hot bath water to touch herself. Lauren sat up straight to make room, and Marnie lifted her leg to get into the tub. Bare skin touched bare skin under the seductively hot water. Marnie's legs were on top of Lauren's feet floated to the surface next to Marnie's shoulders.

"Lauren, we should make sure we maintain a professional relationship," said Marnie, her eyes half closed, her mind filled with nothing but lustful thoughts.

"That's Dr. Byrne to you." Lauren leaned forward and her fingers found the tightly curled hairs and then the swollen lips of Marnie's pussy.

Marnie shuddered at the touch. "Mmmm ... more ... please ... Doctor," Marnie murmured, surrendering completely to the older woman.

Lauren pressed a second finger inside Marnie, flexing them to stretch open the lips and then finding a well lubricated passage that allowed her to go in to the webbing of her fingers.

"Oh God ... Lauren ... fuck ...". Marnie shook, splashing bath water over the edge of the tub. The eroticism of the moment, and her pent-up feelings for her teacher, made her emotions spiral completely out of her control. Her body went rigid, then shaking, a puppet to Lauren's fingers.

"Cum baby," Lauren whispered. "Cum for me." To Lauren, Marnie was such a tender young thing -- so delicious, with creamy white skin and small groupings of freckles dotting her tits. Now the sex was mental as well as physical with Lauren watching Marnie drift away in orgasmic bliss.

Marnie slumped in the tub, limp and exhausted. A popular song ran through her head, which made her smile. She was tight in Lauren's arms, tight enough to feel the soft, invisible hair on her forearms tickling the bottom of her drooping breasts. Her cupped hand spilled water on Marnie's rounded breasts. Lauren watched the water erotically drip off.

"You're bad, Marnie."

She said it as she nuzzled that soft place at the base of Marnie's neck, nibbling lightly and using her tongue to lick the soapy skin. Pamela Wentworth's face flashed quickly in her mind at the unpleasant taste. Lauren exited her euphoric state to ponder what she was doing. The thought only lasted a moment, and there was nothing in heaven or on earth that would move Lauren from that precise place.

"I want you," Lauren said with certainly. She pressed her lips against Marnie's, her blonde hair, clumped and dripping, and her delicate hands cupping her new lover's plump, inviting breasts.

* * * * *

They were lying in bed, basking in the afterglow of their unexpected, and pleasurable, tryst in the antique bathtub. Marnie reached behind herself, trying to rub her shoulder blade.

"Sore?" Lauren asked. She reached and grabbed a knot of Marnie's hair, and then rolled the bundle of hairs between her fingers, feeling the fineness of the strands. Such beautiful red hair, Lauren thought. Her mind drifted away.

Lauren felt content, maybe for the first time since college. Her failed marriage and ugly divorce left ten years of scorched earth. She felt entitled to some happiness, even if it meant playing outside the lines. She had just made love to an adorable and incredibly sexy local -- and her student. Unfortunately for Lauren, forbidden sex made it hotter and eminently satisfying.

Lauren's mind faded back to Marnie's voice.

" ... and that's how I think I hurt my shoulder."

Marnie looked at Lauren's radiant face, finding a vacant expression.

"Have you heard anything I've said?"

Lauren raised her eyebrows, as if awakening. "Huh?" she mumbled.

"I've got this knot in my shoulder," the younger woman complained, pointing to the source of the pain. "You haven't been listening to me. Make it feel better please?"

Lauren hunched over her prone partner and started massaging Marnie's shoulder, laying into it with both hands. Marnie arched her back, which allowed her fingers to roll her own nipple between her fingers. She sighed, and then laid face down, nuzzling the cool sheets, as Lauren continued to knead to aching shoulder muscles.

Lauren put one hand on top of the other to provide extra pressure on a small muscular knot in Marnie's shoulder blade.

"Owww ..." she winced at the initial pressure. Then, as the muscle started to release, relief flooded her body. "Ahhh ... thank you."

"You're welcome."

Lauren was on top of Marnie, kneading the back of her thighs, when the mischievous redhead, with sinful intent, spread her legs, allowing Lauren full access to her wet and wanting pussy. Lauren starting massaging her ass cheeks, the motion exposing her pucker of rippled skin. Lauren's fingers went closer to the center, touching the pubic hairs that guarded her labia. The gentle touch made Marnie open her legs wider, inviting more.

"I'm going to love you somewhere else," Lauren whispered in her young lover's ear. There was no controlling her darker sexual urges, nor her desire to ravish Marnie's supple body.

Lauren dipped her head down, her tongue gliding between the parted cheeks, then rimming her exposed asshole, small and inviting. The older woman gasped as Marnie's anal ring tensed, accompanied by a cry from the redhead.

"Oh ... no ... oh no ... I ... I ... I ...," Marnie panted. No one had ever licked her down there. There was something primal and taboo about what she was feeling, yet the intensity of emotion was too delicious to relinquish. Lauren sensed as well, as Marnie's thighs tensed and her breathing became erratic and shallow.

"You want this ... you want me ..."

"Yes ... yes ... please don't stop ..."

Lauren was in the dominant position, Marnie face down in the bed and Lauren straddling her back. The older woman forced her face between Marnie's ass cheeks, slathering her asshole with saliva, her pucker glistening.

"A bit lower ... yes ... that's it ... yes ..." Marnie moaned as Lauren rimmed the crinkled skin. She used her hands to spread her cheeks farther apart. Lauren's tongue pushed inside.

"Yessss ... "

"Fuck me with your fingers"

Lauren pressed two fingers between the redhead's slippery lips, curling them upwards against the soft "G" spot while licking her clenching asshole until the room was filled with Marnie's moans. Her fingers danced on that slippery pulpy flesh, wringing every ounce of Marnie's lustful desire while satiating her own.

"OhGodohGodohGod," Marnie chanted as she experienced her first anal/vaginal orgasm. The intensity was off the charts, and she thought for a moment that she'd pass out. Lauren couldn't help but finger herself to completion as she watched her young lover flail underneath her. Lauren stopped, breathless, as her young charge gasped for air. They both lay there exhausted from their lovemaking, the bedspread laying in a heap on the floor and the damp sheets twisted together.

Marnie was on her back, looking at the ceiling, fully content. She suddenly remembered the smell of her Nana's fresh baked scones, and a smile drifted across her face. She absentmindedly skimmed the palm of her hand against Lauren's tummy, and then traced the curve of her hips, softer and rounder than herself, the body of an older and more mature woman. She couldn't believe that she had breached the self-discipline she thought she had instilled in herself, but then looking over at Lauren, and touching her again, it was worth the risk to experience true sexual passion with a highly intelligent and sexy woman.

Lauren looked over and smiled at Marnie as she felt the touch of her hand, exploring her body. Lauren rolled on her side facing her lover, spreading her forefinger and middle finger apart and capturing Marnie's pink, erect nipple between them. She loved the contrast of the nubby texture of the nipple and the smooth, supple skin of her youthful breast. Marnie sighed as she pinched her fingers together.

Lauren moved her head towards Marnie's breast, planting a tender kiss on the white, freckled breast.

"I want to kiss every one of your freckles," she said partially in jest, the two of them laughing as Lauren planted wet kisses on the redhead's plump tit.

"And I want to make love with you again," said her young lover letting her hand find its way to Lauren's sex, teasing the slickened skin and finding the wet channel to explore.

I'm in love, the American thought. For her, this moment would last forever..

* * * * *

Chapter Ten

True Love

Fiona was in a managerial position at the postal service. She was naturally a resourceful person. Marnie was still tight lipped about her dealings with Lauren, and her best friend's assurance that she would keep her relationship with Lauren a professional one rang hollow to her. Fiona used her skills to extract the information Marnie was unwilling to share. Plenty of students and faculty members frequented Ramblers End, and some knew Lauren Byrne. Most that knew her commented on her attractiveness. Fiona even heard that Lauren was at Dominion because of a nasty divorce. She wasn't sure if she believed the story, but she heard enough to be concerned when Marnie was still seeing Lauren at least twice a week as her advisor, if not more. Fiona would never forget walking in on Marnie, with Lauren's pants open and Marnie's hand inside it. There were scant few opportunities for Fiona to pin her friend down, as Marnie spent most of her time either working on her dissertation or attending class. Fiona remained both frustrated and concerned.

* * * * *

The pub's office was one interior room that doubled as a storage closet. There were cases of beer piled up against the walls. Blaine's large wooden desk (he thought it belonged to a ship's captain) and filing cabinets took up the remainder of the space. Blaine was out that day so Marnie took the opportunity to use the office (and it's computer) to continue her research. The pub hit a lull after the lunchtime rush so Fiona went to the office to eat her late lunch in private. She opened the door and was surprised to see her friend.

Marnie was in the middle of sending a text, and put her phone down to acknowledge Fiona. She felt guilty, as she was texting Lauren to finalize a trip to a local attraction, Dalkey Castle, one of two castles that remained from the seven that originally graced Dalkey. They were planning an outing for that afternoon.

"Fee, I'm so glad to see you." Marnie's voice was tinged with guilt, both at giving little time for her best friend, and concealing her ongoing relationship with Lauren. "I've been so busy lately, I'm so sorry we haven't been able to spend time together."

Fiona sat down in the guest chair and cleared a space for the cup of coffee she was holding. "I'm off at two. How about we get together then?"

Marnie was supposed to meet Lauren at two. She was torn, because her friendship with Fiona was important, and she had been anything but a good friend these past few months. Fiona was as good as a friend could be after Marnie's parents died. She resolved to be a better friend.

"I'm meeting Lauren at two. She wanted to see some of the local sights, so I'm going to show her Dalkey Castle. Would you care to join us?"

Fiona suspected the invitation was half-hearted, and gave her friend an out. "That's OK. I've got an errand to run for my mother." Of course she had no such errand. Then she added, "And I don't want to intrude on anything."

Marnie didn't want to accept Fiona's excuse. "No ... no, you wouldn't be intruding at all. I'd love it if you could come."

"Well ... if I'm not imposing."

"Not at all ... I insist."

Marnie and Fiona continued their conversation, talking as they did before Lauren entered the scene, as close friends. They discussed the details of the trip the next day. Fiona went away relieved that Marnie had finally opened up about her relationship with Lauren. Even though Fiona didn't approve, it wasn't her choice to make and she needed to be supportive of Marnie's decision.

* * * * *

The next morning Fiona woke up excited. It was her chance to see Lauren and hopefully get to know her better. It would be an understatement to say that they got off to a very rocky start at the pub. She felt it was up to her to repair any rift that might exist between them, as Lauren was likely too embarrassed to make the first move.

Fiona's apartment was small, but kept as tidy as a pin. She started her day with a cup of tea and toast with butter and marmalade. After finishing breakfast, she walked several blocks to a well-known cheese shop. Marnie had tasked her with bringing an assortment of cheeses as part of their lunch. She knew she was near, as the pungent smell of the cheeses floated out through the screened in windows. Once inside the store, she stood of front of the display case, and the low glass window separating her from a large assortment of local cheeses. The cheese monger let her try bits off a handful of wheels, and Fiona picked three different artisan cheeses.

Satisfied, she returned home to wait for Lauren to pick her and Marnie up. She waited in her flat for half an hour, then went out to the street. Not more than a few minutes later Lauren rolled up in her Volkswagen Golf rental car. Fiona opened the front door and got in. She noticed the new car smell immediately.

"Umm ... it smells new." The inside of Fiona's car looked nothing like the immaculate interior of the rental.

Lauren looked fetching in a yellow summer dress and high heel open toe sandals. The only time Fiona had seen her was without make-up and in a blouse and jeans (later unzipped). Fiona could see why Marnie was attracted to her.

"Thanks for picking me up," Fiona started. "Our meeting is long overdue."

"Glad to hear Marnie asked you along," she said pleasantly. "I've been hoping to get to know you better."

The car pulled away from Fiona's apartment towards the pub. Marnie was waiting for them by the road. A wisp of wind blew off her cream colored tam, which tumbled into the road. She bent down and picked it up, brushing a few flecks of dirt off it and putting it back on her head at a rakish angle. The tam matched her hand knitted sweater.

Lauren waved from behind the windshield, and smiled when she saw Marnie wave back, watching her long curly red hair ripple in the gusty breeze. The car pulled alongside her. Marnie got in the back seat, putting a picnic hamper on the floor along with a paper bag holding two fresh baguettes.

"What's up guys?" she asked.

"We're looking forward to getting to know each other better," said Fiona

"Amen," Lauren seconded, wanting desperately to put their previous meeting behind them.

* * * * *

The group took a self-guided tour of Dalkey Castle, one of the few intact Norman fortresses from the Middle Ages. Lauren marveled at the thick stone walls and battlements at the top of the impressive structure. Marnie and Fiona had seen the attraction many times before, and after Lauren had her fill, the three of them went into an adjoining park to enjoy their picnic lunch.

Marnie brought out deli meats and baguettes, Fiona the assortment of cheeses, and Lauren a bottle of California Pinot Noir. They carried on a lively conversation, soon talking like lifelong friends. Lauren could see why Marnie and Fiona were best friends.

It started getting cold, and the three friends had talked their way through Fiona's job (boring), Marnie's dissertation (coming along) and Lauren's impressions of Ireland (favorable). They finished with restaurants and food when the cool breeze made them put on their sweaters. Lauren told them about the restaurant scene in Boston, the way seafood was prepared (the Irish contingent was fixated on the lobster roll), and finally chain restaurants, and the variety of junk food available at every gas station convenience store. They hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and the talk of food made them think about dinner. None of them had made plans, and Marnie suggested they go back to the pub and cook something together. It turned out that both Fiona and Lauren loved to cook.