Jacqueline staggered along the lake bank under the weight of her fishing tackle, pausing to wipe a sheen of perspiration from her brow with the back of her hand. It was just half past ten in the morning but, even so early, the June sunlight blazed in a cloudless azure sky, searing the parched Lincolnshire countryside already scorched by the unusual heat wave of the past two weeks. Jacqueline turned to watch Susan, struggling ill-humouredly and muttering unladylike remarks under an even greater burden, some twenty yards behind her. Jacqueline grinned; delighted as always by the sight of her irrepressible and bewitching lover and loving her immensely. Susan wasn’t a girl that did things by half. Her contribution to the day’s efforts consisted of a reclining bed chair, an enormous bag, a gargantuan picnic hamper and, God bless her, a blasted ice box! She might have been intending to camp out on the lakeside for the next fortnight for the lack of any suggestion to the contrary.
Susan eased the straps of her bags off her shoulder and glared at Jacqueline. “Where the hell are you taking me Jackie?” she demanded to know petulantly. “”How much further do we have to sodding well walk?”
“Just another couple of hundred yards more sweetheart; past those trees over there.”
“Bloody hell! Why couldn’t we have found a place near the car?”
Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. “A little too public for our purposes today don’t you think darling? We’ll be nice and private once we get past those trees.”
“Christ! If I’d known we were setting off on a major trek like this I’d have hired a pair of fucking Sherpas!”
“Stop griping! Nobody said you had to bring all that bloody stuff with you!”
“Hey it could be a special day Jackie. We have to do the thing in style.”
“It’s only one guy we’re looking for Suzie,” Jacqueline pointed out, “Not the whole frigging fishing club!”
Susan pulled a face. “This guy better be here after all this. If I find I’ve lugged all this crap half way across Lincolnshire only to find out that the bloody bloke hasn’t even turned up I’m going to stuff one of your fishing poles up your arse!”
Jacqueline laughed. “He’ll be there. Don’t worry.”
Susan shouldered her bags once more in determination. “Next time we’ll bring a train of baggage elephants. Go on then! Lead on Memsaab!”
At least Susan had no complaints about the spot that Jacqueline had chosen for the day. The little spot by a secluded corner of the lake was charming. A gentle grassy slope, studded with meadow flowers, bathed in the sunlight by the waters of the lake where a little wooden fishing platform jutted out into the water over a margin of reed beds and compact rafts of flowering yellow water lilies. The trees and bushes formed a perfect barrier to prying eyes and would have been an equally perfect windbreak had there been but a breath of wind to warrant it. But there was no wind. The lake lay like a sheet of silvered glass, its surface rippled only by the lazy passage of mallards and coots and the occasional rising fish. There were warblers singing from the boughs of the huge Weeping Willow, arching out from the lake bank and trailing its shoots in the placid water, and a cuckoo was calling dolefully from the poplars behind them. The air was redolent with the aroma of wild flowers and, somewhere in the distance, the faint rattling of an ancient tractor was the only man made sound to disturb the rural tranquillity of this idyllic corner of England.
Jacqueline laid her bag and fishing box down on the wooden fishing platform, hefted her rod holdall from her shoulder and turned to watch Susan’s preparations. The beautiful little corner had restored Susan’s morale immeasurably. She was humming to herself contentedly as she set up camp in the grass a few feet from the lakeside; laying out her bed chair, a large blanket and even, as Jacqueline observed in disbelief, a little low folding camping table which she arraigned alongside her bed chair with plates, utensils and glasses. Jacqueline watched her with the usual hopeless love that had been the familiar accompaniment to her days ever since this extraordinary woman had first come into her life a little over two years ago. This was love then; just the sheer pleasure of watching your beloved do something as mundane as rummage about in a picnic hamper and never tire of the sight of it.
Jacqueline considered herself blessed. That she should fall in love with the beautiful little blond girl with her cute nose and mischievous and ever twinkling blue eyes was understandable. That the beguiling little imp should love her equally in return was so astonishing that it left her bereft of breath. That such a thing should happen to her seemed almost cosmic in its consequences to Jacqueline and she could never, even two years later, still quite believe that she could have been so graced that it had happened to her. Susan had moved in with her nearly two years ago and the days since then had been full of a joy and fulfilment such as Jacqueline had never known before. Jacqueline had once read about something called “lesbian bed death”; a condition it seemed that was common among long term lesbian couples when the ardour had faded from their sex lives and was replaced by a simple warm companionship. Well it hadn’t happened to them yet! Warm companionship they did have but they were still as greedy for each other as they had been the first night they had hungrily dragged each other into bed in a cheap hotel room in Cleethorpes and, given Susan’s insatiable appetite, it seemed that they would be keeping the neighbours awake and setting their dogs barking for a long time to come yet! And now of course there were new adventures to plan and this was the time of the month to do it.
Susan had opened her icebox and pulled something out thoughtfully. “Should I open this now or save it for later?”
Jacqueline blinked. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve brought a bottle of bloody Dom Perignon with you!”
Susan grinned happily. “If a thing’s worth doing it’s worth overdoing!” she intoned.
“Oh God! What are you like? Don’t you think it’s a little premature to be opening the bloody champagne?”
Susan nodded seriously in agreement. “Well perhaps you’re right. We’ll save it then; to toast our success hopefully.”
“Well you can toss me a can of beer in the meantime. Bloody champagne gives me wind anyway!”
“Yes darling. Don’t drink too much though. You’re driving home.”
Jacqueline popped open the ring pull and the can and took a deep draft gratefully. The day was hot and the beer, icy cold and refreshing. Susan removed a flask from the icebox and poured herself a glass of some orange liquid. “What the hell is that?” asked Jacqueline in bemusement.
“Tequila, orange juice and a dash of Grenadine.” Susan told her. “It’s supposed to be tequila sunrise but it’s sort of got shaken up in transit.”
“God! Have you got a whole mobile bar in there?”
“Just a little something to fortify myself for the tasks ahead.”
“Why? Are you nervous?”
Susan pondered for a second before shrugging. “Not really. I’m not scared of men. I was married to one of the bastards for over three years if you recall!” Jacqueline winced. Susan had still been married the night they had taken that hotel room in Cleethorpes. The divorce had been messy. “You’re the one more likely to be nervous I would have thought.” Susan continued, “I mean you’re not exactly very worldly when it comes to the opposite sex are you?”
“I’m not entirely without experience Suzie! I didn’t come out until I was at uni. I even had a bloody boyfriend in my first year at York!”
Susan grinned and her eyebrows lifted in interest. “Oh really? You’ve never mentioned this before! Do tell.”
Jacqueline shuffled uncomfortably. “There’s nothing much to tell really. I was pretty messed up still trying to come to terms with being gay and scared to death anyone would find out. Going out with a boy was camouflage as much as anything; trying to appear straight.”
“Was he nice?”
Jacqueline nodded thoughtfully “Yes I suppose he was a pretty decent guy. Actually he was the very first person I ever told I was gay.”
“Oh God! Did he flip out?”
Jacqueline shook her head. “No not really. Oh sure he was a bit upset and sad but when he came to terms with it he was very understanding and sympathetic about it.”
Susan laughed shortly. “Good grief! A caring and sensitive man! Are you sure he wasn’t taking oestrogen or something?”
“Not all men are arseholes Suzie! We stayed friends for the rest of my time at uni and he was a sight more understanding and considerate than the bitch I dated in my second year!”
Susan took a sip of her drink. “I suppose you’re right. Some men are acceptable as long as they bathe regularly, mind their manners and keep their mouths shut when there’s anything important to be said. Still they seem a little redundant to requirements sometimes. I can’t think of anything more useless than the average male!”
Jacqueline snorted. “I hate to point this out at this juncture my darling but they do have some fundamental use. Until the human race perfects the art of parthenogenesis we are more or less stuck with them for their input for the purpose of propagating the species!”
Susan giggled and nodded to acknowledge the justice of Jacqueline’s remarks. “You’re right honey. Today of all days I shouldn’t be down on the male of the species. I just have bad experiences of them. I suppose most men are alright just so long as I never have to live with one of them again.”
Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. “Suzie darling, with a bit of luck, there’s a fifty-fifty chance we might be obliged to live with one and that for a very long time!”
“That’s different!” Susan smiled to herself. “So this boy in York... did you sleep with him?”
Jacqueline blushed. “Well yes...a few times.”
Susan raised her eyebrows in interest. “A few times?”
“Well I suppose so... maybe half a dozen or so.”
“You are a dark one! You’ve never told me about this before!”
Jacqueline shuffled in embarrassment. “Well I told you it was before I was out. I was still in the closet and agonising about my sexuality. I just sort of ended up sleeping with the boyfriend because that’s what straight girls were expected to do at university.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What was it like you muppet? I mean did you enjoy it or anything. Come on let’s have some details!”
Jacqueline ran a hand through her short dark hair uncomfortably. “Well... it was... well alright I suppose.”
“Alright?”
“Yeah... sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well yes I suppose so.”
Susan groaned and rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “God it’s like trying to get blood out of a stone. Come on you can do better than that. Let’s have the sordid details! I mean how did it rank up? What exactly did you do? How did he compare? Was it as much fun as with a girl?”
“I didn’t exactly have any basis for comparison at that time Suzie! I was a scared little closeted dyke and my sexual experience at that time was limited to trying peer up my art teacher’s skirt to catch a glimpse of her knickers when she sat on her desk and joining the girl’s hockey team!”
Susan laughed delightedly. “Oh God! The hockey team?”
Jacqueline smiled ruefully. “Yeah I know! Girls’ boarding school, bloody hockey team; it’s a fucking cliché isn’t it? I wouldn’t mind but I was crap at hockey! I couldn’t play to save my life! I just liked to ogle the girls in the dressing room and showers.”
“So you never got to bully off then as it were?”
Jacqueline shook her head. “No way! I was too scared. Oh I daresay there were a couple of girls there that were that way inclined. Our goalkeeper fancied me I’m sure but she was built like a Russian weight lifter and started shaving before most boys do! She scared the shit out of me! The one I really had a crush on was the team captain. She was gorgeous! I remember one day I scored a goal...God knows how! It must have been a fluke. The captain came and patted me on the backside to congratulate me and I nearly peed myself! I didn’t so much as wash my knickers that night as wring them out!”
“So schoolgirl crushes aside was there anybody else?”
“No. I was pretty repressed in those days.”
“Oh my God! Are you saying then that this guy in York took your cherry?”
Jacqueline blushed to the roots of her hair. “I... I suppose so.” Jacqueline ventured hesitantly. “I hadn’t slept with anyone until then; boy or girl.”
Susan shook her head in amusement. “My God! Who would have believed it? But you enjoyed it then?”
“In a way. It wasn’t so bad but I didn’t think it was all it was cracked up to be. I mean he was gentle with me.” Jacqueline laughed. “God! Listen to me; a fucking blushing virgin! Anyway it wasn’t so bad. I mean I didn’t actually find it repulsive or disgusting. It just sort of left me feeling that there should be more to it. Well there was more to it but I didn’t find that out until the first time I slept with a girl. Then it was all bells ringing, lights flashing and the full fireworks display and I stopped pretending to be straight.”
Susan nodded sagely. “Well your past experiences might come in useful today so I hope you took on board your extra-curricular studies in your first year at uni. You need to get a bit hetero today.”
Jacqueline sighed and shook her head. “We’ll see. Anyway I’m going to set up my fishing gear.”
“You mean you’re actually going to do some fishing?”
“Of course! We have to maintain some sort of credible appearance honey. Anyway it might be some time before we get a nibble from the big one so I have to have something to while away the time while we’re waiting.”
“Well suit yourself just as long as you don’t get too involved in your fishes and forget about the big trophy we’re trying to land.”
“Don’t worry darling. I’ll keep my eye on the prize.” Jacqueline slid her fishing rod out of her holdall and took the rod from its bag, stroking the smooth carbon of the blank lovingly. It was an old rod but still her favourite; a fourteen foot float rod that her grandfather had given her when he taught her to fish as a young girl. Jacqueline had loved the old man and the days she’d spent with him by lake and riverside were the happiest memories of her childhood. He’d passed away when she was just a teenager and that loss still stung in bitter sweetness. As she stroked the rod lovingly she could still hear his gruff voice and deep chuckle; still smell the aromatic tobacco he always smoked in his old pipe and remember his gentleness and wisdom.
“You do that very well.” Susan observed with a giggle, “Stroke that pole I mean. It shows that you must have had some experience of it!”
Jacqueline shook the blank at her. “One more remark like that young lady and I’ll throw you in this bloody lake!”
Susan giggled happily. “Now, now! Wouldn’t that scare all your little fishies away?”
“Hmmph! I might just content myself with putting you over my knee and spanking your backside until you squeal for mercy!”
Susan’s eyes lit up gleefully. “That’s more like it! Sounds a hell of a lot more fun than trying to stick a bloody great hook in the mouth of some fish that’s never done you any harm in its life.”
Jacqueline shook her head and sighed; reminding herself why she so rarely ever took Susan fishing with her. “Look just go play with yourself while I tackle up, ok Suzie.”
Susan nodded as if the suggestion was a serious one. “Yes I suppose I’d better get stripped down for action.” With that Susan lifted her dress over her head revealing the tiny, hot pink bikini beneath doing an altogether wretched job of concealing her modesty. Jacqueline paused in the action of fitting the sections of her rod together to admire the lithe curvaceous body of her lover. Susan was an unrepentant sun worshipper. Her body was deeply tanned. During the recent heat wave she had spent hours in the back garden, laid out on her bed-chair wearing even less than she was currently attired in. There was, Jacqueline knew, a thin wisp of paler flesh as a result of the bikini bottom she wore as a sop to the sensibilities of outraged neighbours but her full firm breasts were tanned an even biscuit brown all over. Mr Gilberdyke, next door, had spent an unnecessary amount of time trimming the garden hedges over the past two weeks it seemed.
Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. “How much did you say you paid for that bikini?”
“Eighty five quid.”
“You were robbed! There’s bugger all of it!” Susan put on her sunglasses and reclined back in her bed-chair, poking her tongue out at Jacqueline; content that she had set her stall out for the day. Jacqueline smiled and turned her attention back to her fishing tackle. She fastened a reel to the grips on the rod butt and passed the thin monofilament line through the eyes on the rod. From her tackle box she selected a long thin red tipped float and connected it to the line by the bottom ring only. Her preparations were interrupted by the sound of music. Susan had turned on her CD player and was humming along to what sounded like Lady Gaga. Normally Jacqueline disliked music disturbing the peace when in the countryside fishing but she tolerated it today. Mercifully Susan had the volume low.
Jacqueline spent some time plumbing the depth of the water in front of her and adjusting her rig carefully. She was intent on using her favourite still water system called the lift method which she’d read had originally been invented by some now deceased angler called Fred J Taylor back in the nineteen sixties. It was a simple method but it took some fiddling around to balance it correctly. At the end of her line she attached a size twelve barbless hook and positioned a single weight a couple of inches from it. The float she fixed to the line at a distance above the depth of the water so that when the line was slack it floated on its side. As she tensioned the line to her rod tip however it cocked up against the drag of the weight on the bed of the lake and with further tension she could pull it down until just the red tip was visible at the water surface. Any fish picking up the bait would disturb the balance of the rig and cause the float to rise out of the water. It was a deadly and effective method her grandfather had shown her and she was expert at it. Jacqueline loved her fishing and took it seriously, much to the amusement of Susan who thought the whole thing ridiculous but nevertheless tolerated her girlfriend’s passion.
Once satisfied with her rig, Jacqueline reached into her tackle box and pulled out some bait tins. Susan regarded them with alarm. “I hope to hell you haven’t got some horrible, disgusting maggots in there Jackie!”
“Relax darling! It’s just some chopped luncheon meat, sweet corn and carp pellets; nothing to get your girly squeamishness in a tizzy about.” Jacqueline baited her hook with a small cube of luncheon meat and a single grain of sweet corn before casting out to the edge of the lily beds and tossing a handful of corn, meat and pellets around her float once she had adjusted its balance with her rod in the rest. She set up her landing net and placed her folding camp chair firmly on the wooden fishing platform; sitting back happily and picking up her can of beer.
In spite of the nature of their mission today Jacqueline could not entirely suppress the thrill of anticipation she felt whenever casting her line into the water. The thrill was further enhanced today for she knew very little about this lake. It was bigger than some of the ponds she normally fished, being around twelve acres in size, and it was reputed to hold stocks of fine carp, bream, tench, roach, rudd and perch. It was even supposed to hold large eels. Jacqueline grimaced to herself. She hoped she didn’t catch one of them. Susan would run screaming all the way back to the car if she pulled a big writhing eel ashore! But she didn’t know what she might catch and that added to her anticipation the mystery of the unknown.
She was disturbed by a rustling noise in the rank vegetation at the water’s edge and turned in time to see a water vole plop into the water and disappear into the reeds. She didn’t mention it to Susan. To the uninitiated, water voles looked uncommonly like small rats and rats were another of God’s creatures that fell squarely into Susan’s category of nature’s unacceptable creepy crawlies. To Jacqueline however it was a fitting accompaniment to the harmony of nature around her.
“So where is this guy anyway?” demanded Susan.
Jacqueline sighed. There was rarely much opportunity to contemplate the peace of nature in the company of her garrulous beloved. Nevertheless she felt smug. “You’re not being very observant Suzie. He’s on the far bank nearly opposite us. That’s his bivvy among those bushes there. I saw it as soon as we arrived.”
Susan peered uncertainly. The camouflaged bivouac was difficult to make out amidst the bushes on the far side of the lake’s corner. “You mean that little camouflaged tent over there? God I thought that was the camp of some ancient Japanese soldier who was still refusing to believe the war was over! What the hell’s he doing fishing with a tent?”
“He’s a serious carp angler Suzie. He’s probably camping out by his rods for the whole weekend.”
“Well where is he? I can see his tent but bugger all sight of him.”
“I don’t know. He might be in his bivvy catching some sleep if he’s been awake all night fishing. The heat of the day isn’t the best time for carp fishing.”
“Well maybe I’d better turn the music up and see if we can wake him.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort! You’d make a terrible angler Suzie! You’ve got to be patient waiting for your quarry! Just relax. He’ll be out sooner or later.”
“Will he come round to this side?”
“It’s a very good bet Suzie. I talked to him at the angling club when he told me he’d be here this weekend and, when I said I’d be there too, he said he hoped to see me at the lake. When he emerges I’ll catch his attention and he’s almost sure to come around to chat to us. Then it’s up to you.”
Susan sat upright and glared at Jacqueline. “Hey! You said you’d help out! You did say that! You promised!”
Jacqueline pulled a face. “Are you sure that’s a good idea honey. I mean I’m not very good at this sort of thing and this whole mad scheme was your idea in the first place. Wouldn’t it be better if I just vanished off into the woods for a while?”
Susan shook her head firmly. “No way! We agreed we were going to do this together. You’re not bottling out of it now!”
Jacqueline groaned. “Alright, alright! God knows how I let myself get talked into this!”
Susan leaned in her chair. “Ok so tell me about this guy again.”
Jacqueline regarded her with exasperation. “I’ve been over this with you!”
“Well remind me! I want to get psyched up for this.”
Heaving another sigh, Jacqueline reached into a side pocket of her fishing bag and pulled out a small notebook. Jotted down within were the fruits of her research. “OK he’s six foot one, blond hair, blue eyes, thirty two years old, healthy.....”
“Good looking?” interrupted Susan with a question.
Jacqueline puckered her brow thoughtfully. “I suppose so. Certainly the bar maid at the club meeting seemed to think so. She was all over him with her eyes and couldn’t stop flirting with him the whole night. I’d say he’s got those rugged good looks and easy charm that most straight girls would wet their knickers over and...”
“Hung like a stallion?”
“How the fuck would I know? I don’t usually ask people to drop their pants and show me their tackle on short acquaintance!”
“You could have looked at the bulge in his trousers.”
“If you think I am going to spend my time perusing men’s genitalia at the District Angling club’s Annual General Meeting then you are so far off your trolley you’re out of the supermarket Susan Oldfield!”
“Ok we’ll table that one until I get a chance to look at him properly. Carry on.”
“Well he’s obviously highly intelligent as his medical degree would suggest and he’s a qualified doctor; the junior partner in a small rural practice.”
Susan nodded in satisfaction. “I like that Jackie. Doctors tend to take good notice of their health. It’s very unlikely he’ll be carrying any STDs.”
“Yes but he might be too careful about that for our purposes Suzie.” Jacqueline warned. “I mean he wouldn’t want to be picking something up would he?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’ll tell him I’m a screaming great baby dyke who’s never been with a man before and wants to try it or something.”
Jacqueline rolled her eyes to heaven. “I could almost start to feel sorry for this guy!”
“Well carry on. What else?”
“Well he’s charming, well spoken, polite and generally civilised. He’s possessed of high moral principles and has a moderately left wing social conscience. He has a caring nature as evidenced by his concern for the welfare of his patients and seems sensitive and compassionate.”
Susan nodded. “Ticks all the boxes there then! Family?”
“He comes from healthy stock on both sides of his family it seems. All his grandparents are still alive and mentioned in conversation that he was thankful that there were no major health issues with his family.”
“Excellent. He’s happily married you say?”
“Yes it would seem so. He’s been married for six years and they have three kids. He showed me the photos of them.”
“Ah!”
“Yes and his wife is pregnant again with their fourth.”
“A bit of a dead shot Dick in other words?”
“He’s a one man Malthusian trap; a walking over population disaster!” Jacqueline bit her lip and shook her head worriedly. “This worries me Suzie.”
Susan raised her eyebrows in surprise. “It does?”
“Yes. I mean this guy is obviously a family man and very fond of his wife and kids. What makes you think we can seduce him into being unfaithful to them?”
“Leave that to me sweetheart! After all, at the end of the day, for all his intelligence and moral principles, he’s just a man and that means, when faced with a pair of eager willing tarts like us, he’s going to think with his gonads instead of his brain!”
“I hope you’re right!”
“Relax. I know men better than you do.” Susan stretched out luxuriously on her bed-chair, basking in the warmth of the sun and smiled. “All we have to do now is wait for the star of the show to make an appearance. You’d better get stripped down.”
“Eh?”
Susan frowned at her. “You did bring your bikini didn’t you? You did promise me you would.”
“Well yes I did but...”
“Well then get out your clobber and let’s get you on dress parade! You look about as alluring as one of the carp in that pond in that old fishing jacket of yours!”
“Why the hell do I have to strip down? You’re supposed to be the main focus of attention.”
“Why did you throw those bits of bait in the water around your float?”
“It’s ground bait; free offerings to attract the fish to my hook bait.”
“Exactly! You’re ground bait! One gorgeous, barely dressed tart... attractive... two of them.... irresistible! So stop fucking arguing and get your kit off!”
Jacqueline groaned but complied; stripping down to an aquamarine, halter topped bikini. It wasn’t quite as inadequate as Susan’s but it was skimpy enough. It was the first bikini Jacqueline had ever owned in her life. Susan had bought it for her the last week when they were laying their plans. It was the first time she had worn it. She wasn’t exactly comfortable in it. “I feel like a complete prat!” she grumbled, “The last time I was as naked as this in public a frigging doctor slapped my arse for me!”
“Well let’s hope our doctor over there has similar urges!” Susan looked at her admiringly. “Anyway I think you look gorgeous!” Susan would not have been the only person to express that sentiment. Beneath the rather masculine cut clothes and floppy outfits that Jacqueline habitually wore was the body of a beautiful girl; slender but well shaped with a firm rounded bottom and high pert breasts. Her legs were long and slim and her belly flat, firm and well muscled. She was by anybody’s standards a lovely girl. Sadly Jacqueline was the last person to exploit her physical attractiveness. She wasn’t exactly butch but she did nevertheless tend to wear casual clothes, keep her hair short and rarely wore make-up. Her usual attire consisted of trousers or jeans and shirts. Susan campaigned ceaselessly to try and lure her into wearing a dress once in a while and her efforts to coerce Jacqueline into more feminine appearance was one of the few minor bones of contention between them.
One positive aspect about being stripped down to a bikini, as far as Jacqueline was concerned, was that she was finally able to get an unimpeded finger nail to the infuriating itch that had been driving her crazy all morning. Susan glared at her. “Stop scratching your fanny!” she ordered.
“I can’t help it! It bloody itches! Why the hell did I have to shave my sodding pubes off today?”
Susan shook her head exasperatedly. “God help us! You can’t walk about in a skimpy bikini with something that looks like badly maintained topiary sprouting between your legs sweetheart! Don’t you know anything about being a woman?”
“I do have XX chromosomes I would like to point out.” Jacqueline declared huffily.
Susan snorted. “Yes and you’ve also got a bloody power drill that you spent nearly a hundred and twenty quid on and you don’t how to use that either!” she observed pointedly.
Jacqueline winced. “Anyway I’m going to do some fishing.” she said, changing the subject hastily. The power drill was a bit of a sore point at the moment. Jacqueline’s ventures into the field of DIY home improvements had been less than successful of late.
Jacqueline perched on her camping chair over her fishing rod as Susan, deciding that she was hungry, began to prepare food. Susan was a phenomenum in this respect for she was blessed by the kind of body that, for reasons unknown, never seemed to accumulate excess fat whatever she seemed to eat. That was a good thing too because she loved food and simply looked blank when anybody mentioned dieting. Jacqueline also had a healthy appetite and not an ounce of excess fat but at least, in her case, she could point to her active lifestyle to explain it. Susan preferred to take the car to the village shop and wouldn’t have been seen dead in a gym.
Jacqueline looked over her shoulder at the picnic Susan was laying out; little sandwiches, canapés, rye biscuits covered in goat’s cheese or slivers of smoked salmon sprinkled with chopped onions and capers, bowls of olives, cold chicken breasts, a salami sausage, a loaf of crusty, Italian style, rustic bread, a bowl of cherry tomatoes, a tub of potato salad, a wedge of Brie cheese, pickled onions, some Granny Smith apples, slivers of raw celery and carrots, a tub of tzatziki and, in case they might still feel weak with hunger, a large custard tart and a cherry pie. Jacqueline regarded the offerings on display with incredulity. “Where are the grapes?” she demanded sourly.
“Grapes?” asked Susan in surprise, “You wanted grapes?”
“Well since we’re gearing up for an orgy I thought grapes were de rigeur. I mean you can’t have an orgy without grapes can you?” Jacqueline glanced up across the lake. “Oops! Contact! Target now visible at one o’clock, three hundred yards range!”
Susan sat up in interest. “Ah! So that’s our man is it?” The angler on the far bank had just emerged from his bivouac and was fussing over his fishing rods. Jacqueline was gratified to see that he wasn’t clad in the usual haut couture of the serious carp angler which consisted of camouflaged combat gear that made them appear as if they were setting off on manoeuvres rather than going for a spot of fishing. Instead he wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and nothing on his head other than his tousled blond hair. Susan appraised him approvingly. “Well he looks ok from here; just about perfect in fact. I hope he doesn’t pong too much. I don’t suppose there’s much opportunity for taking a shower by the side of a lake. What’s our next move?”
“We wait.” Jacqueline decided. “He’ll spot us sooner or later and come around for a chin-wag. Our only problem will be if the bloody fish start biting because then he’ll be too fixated on his rods to notice us.”
“He’ll notice us!” declared Susan firmly. “If he doesn’t notice two drop dead gorgeous bits of fanny with next to no clothes on we’ll have to have him declared clinically dead and have him removed before the smell becomes offensive.”
“I don’t see it as a problem anyway.” decided Jacqueline. “This is just about the worst time of day to be fishing in hot weather like this. He’ll soon get bored and come wandering around.”
“We could always drift around there to talk to him.”
Jacqueline shook her head. “We’ll leave that as a last resort. We don’t want him on the business in hand only to have him distracted when he gets a run on one of his carp rods. Let’s just be patient and wait for him to bite.”
And wait they did. But it seemed after some time that their patience was misplaced for the man settled down over his rods and showed not the slightest sign of rising to the temptations on the far bank. Both the girls stood up and walked about, displaying their wares in full view but with no visible results to show for it. After two hours of this impasse Susan’s patience was wearing thin. I might have known it!” she grumbled ill-humouredly, “You’ve picked out a closet gay for us! We’re just going to have to go round there and ravage him!”
“Just a second!” Jacqueline cautioned excitedly, “He’s getting up!” The man rose from his reclining chair next to his rods and evidently seemed about to become more active. He picked up a spare fishing rod leaning against his bivouac. “Ah!” noted Jacqueline with interest. “He’s picked up one of his spares. He might be going stalking in which case he could drift around this way.” But Jacqueline’s optimism appeared groundless for on the end of the line on his spare rod was a curious looking cylinder with small fins attached. The man busied himself over a bucket with this odd apparatus before standing up and casting the cylinder out into the lake where it landed with a mighty splash some seventy yards from his bank. Almost immediately he reeled the contraption back in and repeated the process.
“He’s making a hell of racket!” Susan observed sourly. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Jacqueline looked disappointed. “He’s spodding.”
Susan blinked. “Well don’t you think you ought to go round and tell him to stop before he goes blind!”
“Spodding... it’s a carp fishing term Suzie. It’s a technique for chucking lots of ground bait out long distances. That thing on his line is called a spod. It’s a sort of open ended cylinder which you fill up with ground bait and cast it out. It floats but it’s weighted at one end so it turns upside down and drops the bait down into the water. You fill it up with pellets, particles and boilies.”
“What the fuck are boilies? It sounds like some sort of horrible medieval disease!”
“It’s just a sort of carp bait Suzie. Anyway that thing is called a spod and you use a special sort of fishing rod to employ it called a spod-rod.”
Susan rolled her eyes helplessly to heaven. “Why do I get the feeling I just stepped into the fucking twilight zone!”
Jacqueline looked concerned. “This is not good Suzie. Spodding is a long process. He could be ages doing this.”
“Oh great! Now what do we do?”
In the event it seemed that St Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, must have intervened and took the problem out of their hands. Jacqueline’s float had remained motionless at the edge of the lilies throughout the duration of their vigil but now, completely without warning, it lifted half out of the water and then bolted decisively beneath the surface. Jacqueline, with her attention fixed on the far bank, was taken completely by surprise and was only just in time to snatch up her fishing rod before it was dragged bodily off the rest by the fish on the end of the line. As she raised her rod the pull the hook home her rod arced over into an agonised curve and the clutch on her reel sang out as the fish stripped line from the spool bolting thirty yards out into the lake. From the second that Jacqueline felt that powerful surge she was in no doubt whatsoever as to the identity of the fish on the end of her line. Only a carp generated that initial mad dash.
“What the hell’s happening?” yipped Susan in alarm.
“I’ve got one! I’ve hooked a fish!” Jacqueline cried in delight, the man on the far bank now forgotten as the adrenaline rush of the powerful fish gripped her attention.
“Just great! That’s all we need!” moaned Susan. But in fact she was right. Her sarcasm was wholly unjustified because it seemed now that this was exactly what they had needed. Having apparently failed to attract the man with their feminine charms it appeared that the sight of Jacqueline playing a good fish was just what was needed to grab his attention. He was stood at the edge of the water watching intently as Jacqueline fought her fish. It was a protracted business too. Jacqueline was using fairly light breaking strength line and dared not put too much pressure on for fear of snapping the line and the fish was certainly a strong fighter making run after run out into the lake.
Jacqueline was excited. She could tell that the carp, although not a real monster, was nevertheless a good fish. Her excitement transmitted itself to Susan who became interested in proceedings in spite of herself. She came to stand next to Jacqueline on the wooden platform; forming as pretty a picture as one could wish for as the two bikini clad girls hopped about excitedly over Jacqueline’s fish. The carp boiled on the surface about ten yards from the back and the girls saw a glimpse of a great broad golden flank as the fish turned and surged away once more. “Jesus Jackie! It’s massive!” breathed Susan.
Jacqueline nodded excitedly. “Yes it’s a good fish. Easily a double!”
“But there’s only one on surely.”
“Double figures in weight you plonker! I mean it’s over ten pounds in weight.”
“Don’t let it drop off!”
“I’m trying not to! I’m just hoping it doesn’t get into these bloody lily beds. I can kiss it goodbye if it does that!”
But the carp’s mad dashes were getting weaker as the fish tired and soon Jacqueline had the fish doggedly pulling her round in circles beneath her rod tip in the margins. It rolled several times and Susan was becoming more and more excited. “Bloody hell Jackie! It’s huge! How the hell are you going to get it on the bank?”
“Pass me my landing net over there.” Jacqueline congratulated herself on her foresight in bringing her largest landing net today. Placing the net in the water she tentatively steered the wallowing fish toward it; her heart in her mouth as she saw the hook barely in the edge of the cavernous mouth of the big fish. Then it was over the net and she lifted the handle enveloping the fish within the folds. Whooping in triumph she laid her rod aside to grasp the material of the net to hoist the bulky fish clear of the water. She reached down with a single hand to pop the barbless hook out of the fish’s mouth and swung it up and over the fishing platform. Susan was not helping much; skipping around in excitement and generally getting in the way. “Move out of the way Suzie. Let’s lay him out on that patch of soft grass over there and take a look at him.”
Jacqueline carried the fish over and laid it out; easing it out of the folds of the net to lie glistening in the sunlight. It might not have been the biggest carp in the lake but it was certainly one of the prettiest. The flanks of the fish were a pure burnished gold so startling that it could have been taken for an ornamental variety and the fins had the pinkish hue you sometimes saw in a carp. Jacqueline was thrilled. “It’s a beauty.” she breathed. “It must be a good twelve or thirteen pounds.”
Even Susan seemed to be captivated by the size and beauty of the fish. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t expect that. I always thought carp were supposed to be ugly old things.”
“They’re not ugly!” protested Jacqueline. “Mind you I always think this variety is the nicest. This is a common carp.”
“Common huh? I’m glad to hear it. I’d hate to think I had to curtsy or touch my forelock to it or something.”
“It’s the name you give to this variety of fully scaled carp Suzie. The other sort, with irregular patches of uneven scales, are called mirror carp.”
“Well it’s lovely.” Somewhat nervously Susan reached out and touched the fish with her finger. “It’s not as slimy as I thought it would be. You’re not going to kill it are you?”
“Of course I’m not going to kill it!” protested Jacqueline indignantly. “I’m going to put it back of course.”
“Well we have to have a photograph of it. I’ve got my mobile with me so we can get a picture.”
“Yes that’s a good idea.” Jacqueline pulled a face. “What I’d really like to know is how much it weighs. It’s the biggest carp I’ve caught for the last three years but, like an idiot, I’ve gone and left my scales at home “
But Susan’s attention was distracted for the moment. She shook Jacqueline’s shoulder urgently. “Jackie he’s gone!”
Jacqueline’s attention was still on her fish and she failed to register the significance of Susan’s announcement. “What? What are you talking about?”
“The guy! He’s gone! He’s not in his fishing spot anymore. He’s vanished!”
Jacqueline tore her eyes from her fish and followed Susan’s gaze across the water. The man had indeed disappeared. There was no sign of him on the far bank. “That’s a nice fish ladies.” The two girls span around in shock. The man had emerged from behind a bush a few feet away. He was standing there smiling at them and admiring Jacqueline’s carp.
Jacqueline swallowed and turned slightly pale. No that they were faced with the object of the day’s pursuit her nerve seemed to waver.”Oh.... er hello.” she ventured nervously.
The man smiled. “It’s Jackie isn’t it? We met at the club AGM.”
“Yes that’s right... er this is Susan.”
Susan seemed to be suffering from none of Jacqueline’s nerves. She blessed the man with her most alluring smile and extended a hand. “I’m very pleased to meet you sir.” She told him in her most sultry “come to bed” voice and leaning forward to afford him a view down the front of her bikini. Jacqueline regarded her sourly. It wasn’t just the anglers around the lake today that were laying out a baited hook today evidently!
The man took Susan’s hand politely. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Adam.”
Susan held on to his hand longer than the obligations of civility required and fluttered her eyelashes coquettishly. “How lovely and what a lovely name. It makes me feel like Eve... naked in the Garden of Eden!”
Jacqueline cleared her throat loudly. “Well I’d better get this fish back in the water.”
Adam turned to her and smiled. “Decent fish! He’ll be what... twelve pounds...maybe more?”
Jacqueline pulled a face. “I wish I knew. I haven’t any scales with me. I left them at home.”
Adam nodded sympathetically. “Well if you want to hold him in the water in your landing net I can always run back and fetch my scales. It won’t take me a minute and he’ll be ok if you keep him in the water.”
Jacqueline brightened visibly. “Oh would you? That’s very kind of you. I’d like to know how much he weighs.”
“It would be my pleasure. I won’t be a minute.”
Before he could depart Susan laid a hand on his arm. “That’s awfully sweet of you.” She told him kittenishly. “Perhaps, when you return, you’d honour us by taking a drink with us, to celebrate, sir.” Susan threw everything into this effort; lowering her voice seductively and dropping her eyes demurely.
Adam seemed to be having trouble articulating. “Oh... er... er... yes... yes of course. I... I’d like that. Just give me a minute and I’ll pull my rods in and be back with you shortly.”
“Hurry back now.” Susan murmured in a low voice.
Adam turned slightly pink. “Right then! Er... see you in a minute.” Then he was gone hurrying away around the lake.
Jacqueline lowered her landing net containing her carp into the water at the side of the fishing platform and Susan punched the air in triumph. “Gotcha!” she growled between her teeth. “Swallowed the hook whole! All we have to do now is play him out and land him!”
Jacqueline waved a finger at her. “You could hardly have laid that on more thickly you brazen hussy!” she told Susan. “You were about as subtle as a street girl on a quiet night!”
Jacqueline’s admonishment bounced off Susan with about as much effect as an air gun pellet might be expected to have on an armoured vehicle. “Stop moaning Jackie! This is the whole purpose of the exercise isn’t it? You’d better sharpen up and start using a bit of feminine guile too. This is supposed to be a team effort and I don’t want you letting the side down!”
Jacqueline groaned comically. “A slut! I’m living with a slut!”
Susan ignored her. “Don’t forget to wash your hands after you’ve finished playing with your fish.” she warned Jacqueline. “We don’t want you smelling of fish do we? Well not the parts that aren’t supposed to smell of fish anyway!”
Jacqueline sighed theatrically. “I swear if it was any other day, I’d take my belt and give your arse the thrashing of its idle life when we got home!”
“Stop wingeing! Now stand by your bunk and shape up. I think I see him coming back.”
Adam returned with a weighing sack and a large round spring weighing balance. With great solemnity Jacqueline’s carp was transferred from her landing net to the weighing bag and hoisted aloft on the hook of the scales. Adam read the pointer on the dial and nodded appreciatively. “A bit more than I thought!” he remarked. “Nearly thirteen and a half.... call it thirteen pounds six ounces.” In Britain most weights and measures in the commercial world had fallen into line with European metric standards but in the fishing world they remained stubbornly rooted in old Imperial units.
The weighing formalities completed, Susan emerged from a rummage in her handbag with her mobile phone. “Right Jackie! Let’s have a photograph.” Self consciously Jacqueline lifted the fish from the sack and, kneeling on the grass, held it up for the camera. Susan frowned. “Do try and smile Jackie!” she chided her. Jacqueline’s smile was a little forced. She wasn’t at all comfortable posing for the camera nearly naked, as she put it to herself, holding a large wet fish. In truth, Jacqueline’s carp looked more stoic about the whole thing than she did. Having taken a couple of shots Susan held out the camera to Adam. “Would you mind taking one of us both together please Adam?” she asked ingenuously.
“No, not at all.” Susan squatted down beside Jacqueline and snaked an arm around her with a beaming smile. Jacqueline was all too conscious of the warm, smooth skin of her partner’s nearly naked body against her and she knew that the rosy flush in her cheeks was betraying the arousal that the touch of Susan’s bare skin against her own invariably excited in her. For her part Susan was only too aware of the ease with which she could stimulate her beloved Jacqueline. Mischievously she surreptitiously tickled the back of Jacqueline’s thigh with the hand she held behind her and grinned to herself as she felt Jacqueline shiver involuntarily. It was all to the good. If they were going to make this work she needed Jacqueline’s libido up and running. Adam meanwhile seemed to be having trouble taking the photograph. It wasn’t a technical problem. He was just having trouble concentrating on the task in hand and his hand was shaking slightly as he tried to hold the camera and capture the image of two beautiful girls who were probably wearing less material between them than was contained in his shorts. Susan was not helping matters by laying her head on Jacqueline’s shoulder and looking at him alluringly. The automatic functions of his body seemed to switching on and the more primitive parts of his brain were sending urgent signals to the relevant body parts. He felt his manhood stir into life in his groin and he hoped to hell he wasn’t about to disgrace himself with an obvious protrusion distending the front of his shorts. It was a futile hope! Susan noticed it immediately and her smile grew even broader.
Finally the photographs were taken and Jacqueline, with tender care, carried her carp to the water’s edge and held it in the shallow water at the margin while it recovered its strength. Within a few seconds she felt the fish begin to stir and she released her grip on it to allow it to swim away. At this point the carp showed its disgust over the whole procedure of its capture and display by giving a massive kick with the broad flat paddle of its tail by way of a parting gesture; drenching Jacqueline with a shower of lake water before vanishing into the depths. Susan thought it was funny and giggled helplessly as Jacqueline stood up wryly brushing water off herself. With the smug air of the person who has come prepared for every eventuality, Susan tossed Jacqueline a clean towel from her bag and Jacqueline attempted to repair her appearance if not so successfully her dignity.
“So let’s see about that drink!” declared Susan. She patted the blanket laid out on the grass beside her bed-chair. “Take a seat Adam. Make yourself at home.”
Adam’s eyes opened wide in surprise as Susan extracted the bottle of Dom Perignon from her ice box. “Crikey!” he exclaimed, “You girls do it in style! Champagne no less!”
Jacqueline sat down gingerly on the edge of the blanket and gave a small snort of amusement. “Oh yes!” she told him in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s an absolutely fundamental requirement for a day at the waterside! We never go fishing without it!”
Susan inclined her head and treated Jacqueline to an exaggerated smile. “Did you remember to wash your hands Jackie dearest?”
“Just open the sodding champagne alright!”
As Susan wrestled with the foil on the champagne cork Adam turned to Jacqueline conversationally. “I wasn’t sure that it was you over this side Jackie.” He told her. “I know you said at the meeting that you were going to be here today but I couldn’t tell if it was you at this distance. You er... look different.”
Susan grinned. “Perhaps you didn’t recognise her with her clothes off Adam!”
Adam swallowed and blushed. There was something endearingly shy about this man Susan thought. He blushed easily. “Er well yes possibly.” He ventured manly. “Bikinis aren’t exactly the accepted dress code at the angling club’s Annual General Meeting.”
Susan laughed. “Perhaps they ought to try instigating it. I’m sure it would do wonders for the attendance record.”
Adam grinned and scratched his head. “Erm I doubt it. Fishing’s still a bit of a boy’s thing. Present company excepted, you don’t see many ladies fishing. Most of the members are male and to be quite frank there aren’t many of them I’d care to see flouncing about in a bikini!” Adam cleared his throat. “Of course you two ladies would certainly illuminate proceedings. There aren’t many members of the club quite so er... quite so becoming as you ladies.”
Susan treated him to her most radiant smile. “Why thank you kind sir! That is most gallant of you to say.” Adam nodded in acknowledgement but felt another quickening in his groin. Susan was playing him with consummate skill. There were few quicker ways of bringing out the animal in a man than by telling him he was a gentleman!
Jacqueline pulled a wry face. “I don’t normally go fishing in a bikini.” she pointed out.
“No she doesn’t.” Susan agreed. “I had the dickens of a job persuading her to bring a bikini today. She’s so timid about showing her body in public. God knows why! She looks gorgeous in a bikini. Don’t you think so Adam?”
Adam was normally a very articulate man but he seemed to be having trouble with his diction today. “Erm... yes... er very nice.” He croaked out at last.
“Of course it won’t be anything special to you.” Susan continued. “Jackie tells me that you’re a doctor. You probably see hundreds of women without their clothes on.”
Adam thought ruefully of the elderly ladies that made up the vast majority of the female patients in his rural practice. “Er a few, “he conceded, “In a purely professional capacity of course.”
There was a loud bang as Susan popped the champagne cork. It was typical of Susan that instead of easing the cork out in a professional manner she had opted for the more flamboyant method and squeezed it out with her thumbs. The cork followed a high parabola through the air and landed with a plop out in the lake. “Only plastic glasses I’m afraid Adam.” Susan told him. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No not at all.”
Susan poured the champagne out carefully and passed the glasses around. “Anyway,” she said returning to the conversation. “Jackie ought to be grateful I persuaded her to bring her bikini. She would have been sat gradually boiling to death in her old fishing clothes otherwise. Can you imagine it in this heat?”
“It’s certainly very hot.” Adam agreed fanning himself with his hand..
It was the opening that Susan had been fishing for. “Oh please feel free to take off your shirt if it makes you feel more comfortable Adam. We’re all friends here. We won’t be embarrassed in the least.”
Adam hesitated but then relented. “Well thanks.” he said gratefully. “I think I will.” With that he pulled his shirt off over his head.
Adam’s chest was admirably smooth and hairless Jacqueline noted with relief. She wasn’t that enamoured of male nudity in the first place but she found very hirsute men repulsive. She could just about deal with a man with very little bodily hair. Susan, it seemed, had other concerns. “You have very pale skin Adam.” She told him. “You really ought to let me put some sun cream on your shoulders if you’re going to expose your skin in this heat.”
Adam looked flustered. “Oh I’m sure I’ll be alright.” He protested feebly.
“Tut, tut!” Susan admonished. “You’re a doctor! I’m sure you’re forever warning your patients about the hazards of exposing their skin to excessive ultra-violet radiation without adequate protection.” She picked up a bottle of sun cream. “Now be a good boy, turn around and let nurse put some cream on your shoulders!” Once she’d put it that way Adam had little choice but to surrender to Susan’s ministrations. Adam seemed to wilt as Susan kneaded the lotion into his shoulders. Jacqueline buried her face in her drink in an effort to keep a straight face. She knew very well that Susan was quite capable of turning the considerate act of putting sun cream on a person’s back into the sort of lascivious procedure that people would pay good money for in the dubious “massage parlours” to be found in the red light districts of European cities. Furtively she stole a glance at Adam’s crutch to see if Susan’s efforts were being rewarded. Well the answer to that was a resounding yes. She found the sight slightly intimidating. Jacqueline may have been somewhat unfamiliar with male anatomy but even she could see, judging by the ominous protuberance evident in his shorts, that Mother Nature had been lavish in her endowment of Adam’s manhood. Susan seemed to think that her travails had not gone unappreciated too for she squeezed the muscles in Adam’s shoulder and leaned forward to purr close to his ear. “You’ve got very big muscles Adam. You must be ever so strong.”
Adam had turned bright red in the face. “Er no... not really... just average I suppose.” he blustered.
Susan smiled and relinquished her hold. Nonchalantly she unfastened her bikini top and tossed it aside before reclining back on her bed-chair and picking up her glass. Jacqueline blinked at her. “What are you doing Suzie?” she asked in outrage. “Whatever will Adam here think?”
Susan looked puzzled by the question. “Why I’m just working on my tan.” she protested innocently. “I’m sure Adam here doesn’t mind. He’s a doctor after all. He must have seen thousands of perfectly ordinary, healthy women’s breasts.” Susan took a sip of her drink. “Don’t be such a prude Jackie. In the south of France hardly anybody bothers with a bikini top.” She turned to Adam. “You don’t mind if I sunbathe topless do you Adam?”
Adam shook his head hastily, aware that he had been beginning to stare. “Oh no! Er not at all.” He hastened to reassure her.
Susan ran a hand over her breasts critically. “Do you think I’ve got nice breasts Adam?” she asked conversationally, for all the world as if she were asking his opinion on the political situation in the Middle East.
Adam gulped and nodded foolishly. “Yes... er yes... they’re very nice.” He reassured her fatuously.
“Do you really think so? I’ve always thought they were a little on the big side for my build.”
Adam shook his head again quite unable to tear his eyes away. “No er... just right I would have said.”
“Of course,” Susan continued, “Jackie’s got much nicer breasts than I have. Hers are much firmer and more proportioned. It’s criminal the way she always keeps them covered up. A lot of girls would kill to have a pair of boobs like hers. Why don’t you take your top off and let Adam have a look Jackie?”
Jacqueline threw a hand across her chest. “Eh? What?”
Susan fixed Jacqueline with a gimlet eye, her penetrating stare carrying a wealth of meaning. “Come along Jackie.” She said deliberately. “Don’t be shy. Take your top off.”
Jacqueline took a deep breath, recognising the sacrifice being demanded of her. “Oh very well.” She murmured and slipped her top off timidly.
Susan lay back in satisfaction. “So Adam? Which one of us do you think has the nicest breasts?”
Adam hesitated. It was, of course, an impossibly unfair question to ask. “I think you’re both perfect in that respect.” was his diplomatic judgement.
Susan beamed at him. “Why you say the sweetest things Adam. Are you always so gallant to the ladies?”
“Er no... I mean not usually... I mean I try to er... be civil and all that and....”Adam tailed off. He was beginning to babble. Furiously he tried to think of something neutral to say all too aware of the throbbing urgency making an exhibition of itself at the front of his shorts. “Er have you two been friends long?” he asked in what he hoped was a diversion onto safer ground.
Susan grinned. “Oh we’ve known each other about two and a half years Adam but we’re not friends!”
Adam blinked. “You’re not?”
In response Susan glided off her bed-chair onto the blanket and snaked a hand around Jacqueline’s waist. “Oh no we’re rather more than that Adam!” She kissed Jacqueline tenderly on the cheek. “We live together Adam! Jackie here is my partner; my, how do you say it, my significant other half.”
Adam’s face was a comical mixture of arousal tinged with disappointment. “Oh! Oh I see.” He managed to say at last.
Susan looked at him with a smile. “Are you shocked Adam.”
“No! No of course not! Just... well a little surprised is all. I... I didn’t... I mean I hadn’t taken you for well... “
“Gay?” said Jacqueline helpfully.
Adam nodded ruefully. “Yes I suppose so. I didn’t realise you were gay.”
“We don’t all look like butch building workers Adam.” Susan admonished him gently.
Adam grinned sheepishly. “No. No I suppose you don’t. It’s just... well I guess I don’t know very many gay women.”
“Does it turn you on?” Susan asked, “I mean the thought of two women together.”
Adam blushed furiously. “I... I don’t know. I never really thought about it.”
Susan knew he was lying. There wasn’t a man alive that didn’t get excited at the sight of two women making love to each other. She laughed shortly then slowly and deliberately turned Jacqueline’s face toward her to kiss her on the lips. Gratifyingly Jacqueline knew what was expected of her and didn’t object. Susan let the kiss linger, teasing open Jacqueline’s mouth with her tongue. She felt Jacqueline begin to respond. Susan smiled to herself. She knew her Jacqueline so well; knew the explosive sexuality that lay beneath the facade she so often presented to the world and knew how just a few caresses could awaken an overpowering desire within her. Slowly she began to stroke Jacqueline’s skin. She felt the texture of the skin change noticeably to the touch as Jacqueline’s arousal mounted. Susan had often marvelled at this sensation and wondered about its cause. Perhaps it was a rush of warm blood to the surface of the skin that caused it or perhaps the raising of the tiny hairs on the skin that were the cause. She had no idea but it was electrifying and so noticeable to her that it was impossible for Jacqueline to conceal her arousal from her. Even in a dark bedroom she could reach out and stroke Jacqueline’s skin and know instantly that her partner was awake and aroused. Experimentally Susan ran her hand down Jacqueline’s chest to cup her breast.
Adam seemed to have grown very quiet. He still held a plastic glass of champagne in his hand. He seemed to have forgotten about it. He watched mesmerised as Susan ran her tongue down the side of Jacqueline’s neck exciting a shudder of pleasure from her. Susan looked at him and winked. She bent forward and stroked her tongue slowly over Jacqueline’s erect nipple. Adam cleared his throat. “Er do you two ladies want to be alone?” he inquired nervously.
Susan smiled. “Not at all.” she told him languorously. “We like having you here. Don’t we Jackie?”
“Er...” began Jacqueline hesitantly. She jumped as Susan pinched her. “Yes!” she squeaked. “Yes