Embracing Ellie: Chapter 19

If Hemi were to go fetch the bubbly, he'd stand up before her, oversized manhood bouncing around in her face. Or he could turn his bare ass toward her. Leave it bare and cover the front (a two-handed job) or cover his ass and let his hose swing and dance. An awkward event all around. She said, "Look away, I'll get it," and backed out of the tub, dried off a reasonable amount and returned inside.

Danny had champagne delivered to them. Okay, it was interesting, lubricating against potential friction, get them loose—until the sight of the stark, upright and proud bottle on the empty fridge's shelf reminded her of what she'd said to Danny about the photo Genevieve sent her. The grotesque thought arrived: Danny wanted her to place Hemi's penis next to the bottle and see if they matched. Ha ha, Ellie, would you dare? Was she supposed to take a picture and send it to him?

She retreated from the fridge and set the bottle down on the counter and began to laugh to herself. Her elbows went on the counter and so did her forehead, laughing in honest humiliation at her own perverted thought. That thought had come to her and she'd attributed it to Danny.

"You do share some responsibility," she said to herself.

With that, she hefted the big and frigid bottle and returned outside, two glasses in her other hand. Hemi saw her. This time she didn't even cover up, just showed him a well-here-it-is face, the skimpy suit my hubby bought me. And Hemi was kind enough not to ogle, just acknowledge her sheepish expression and the message it conveyed, then lazily turning away to give her some privacy as she slipped back into the tub.

Hemi laid his head back, letting the sun heat his angular face while she settled, putting the bottle of champagne on the deck by the tub's edge.

Hemi said, "I'm getting the real Danny experience, aren't I? Danny lives like a king."

She laughed and said, "You think he does?"

Hemi stretched his muscular arms out and groaned with deep content, then leaned his head up and regarded her. "I think he's got it made, don't you?"

"Don't ask me," she said. "I'm biased. Danny's got me, so, yeah, so like my sisters, my aunts, and my mom—and I—would say he's got it made, for sure."

"You're close with your family?"

"Of course," she said, like there was no other option. Not everyone was so lucky, though, as she and Danny. She said, "How about you?"

"Oh, yeah, for sure," he said without saying much more. He ran his hand through his damp and tousled hair, smoothing it back. The guy could model, what with his cheekbones and sculpted brow. "We all live near abouts."

"Same as Danny and I. Our parents are in the neighborhood." She thumbed over her shoulder, saying, "You want to do the honor?"

"Pop the top, you mean?"

"Think you're man enough?" She reached behind her, knowing her barely-covered breasts would be on display, and not caring (maybe even liking it a little), and then passed the chilled bottle over to Hemi.

Hemi took it in two hands, his good-looking mitts wiping off most of the condensation. He read the label. "Quartz Reef, eh?"

"Is it any good?"

"Talk about biased—they're not far from here," he said, peeling off the black-foil wrap. "I'd say world class. One of the best."

He twisted off the tin-wire cage, pushed with one thumb and caught the popping cork in his free hand, one easy movement. She asked him if he'd ever worked in a bar before.

"Yeah, I've done some time behind the bar." She passed him the glasses and he set them on the deck and poured.

"You could be a bouncer, too," she said.

"Aw yeah, done that. Been a doorman in my younger days."

"Big bloke like you, eh."

"There's lots of big blokes round here."

"Get in a few tussles?"

"Yeah-yeah, you know, here and there." He squeezed his nose and held it. With a nasal voice, he said, "Had the honker busted a few times."

She laughed. "Moved your hand," she said, and when he did she surmised his face with a comical squint before declaring, "Well, whoever they were, they did great work."

He turned his face left and right, showing off his looks. "You think they made it better?"

"You're looking good. I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

"Awful kind of you," he said, and then raised his frosty glass in a toast to his broken nose.

She said, "To broken noses."

And Hemi clinked their glasses, adding, "And to cute little button ones."

The compliment surprised her and made her shiver. Her nipples hardened unexpectedly and her skin went to goose flesh despite the hot tub's luxurious heat. "Button nose? Me?"

"You say that in California, yeah?"

"Button noses? Yeah, sure. Like a cute nose."

He winked and they both imbibed. The champagne went down ice cold and began to warm her. Just one sip and her shoulders loosened up and a certain easiness settled her nerves.

"Poor Danny. Look what he's missing."

"He's certainly missing out. And you thought he had it made."

"He's allowed to slip every once in a while, I suppose."

"Any word from him?"

"Not since the last I told you."

"I wonder where he's at." She sipped more wine, regarded Hemi with devious eyes. "If you're even talking to him."

He raised his chin and made a low an equally devious sound in his throat. "How you mean?"

"You lured me out here to the middle of nowhere—"

"I didn't lure you." He took a big drink of the bubbly and smiled wide. "Your Danny did."

"True. But you don't miss an opportunity. Right? Poor Californian woman, naive and unseeing, comes out to the mountains without her husband. You could do anything you wanted…"

"Could I?"

She chuckled and looked away. "No. You couldn't." Then she regarded him. "But you could try."

He raised his brows. "Is that a request?"

She feigned great shock and moral offense, mouth going wide and rolling her eyes around. "How dare you, Hemi Armstrong. You're so bold." She settled again, smiling to herself, and Hemi chuckled. "What I'm saying is," she continued, "you could tell me anything and I'd believe it. All these suggestions coming from my husband on the phone you won't let me see."

"That's his decision, love. Not mine."

"So you say."

Now he feigned offense, showing her an imitation of her own expression back at her. "You think I tricked you out here, got you naked on a massage table, got you in this hot tub, all for my own enjoyment?"

An appropriate retort was a delicate conjuring. Now that Hemi had laid it out that way, the intent was obvious. And unsettling. No, Danny had put her here in this hot tub with a gorgeous naked man.

It sat unsaid between their narrowed eyes and sly smiles and it hit her how obvious it was. Here she was thinking how she and Danny had this little game going and Danny was so much better at it than her, and it hadn't occurred to her how plain-as-day it might seem to Hemi. Danny was offering up his wife to Hemi as some gift. She and Danny were total swingers and Hemi saw it more clearly than she did. Her cheeks began to blaze.

Hemi noticed. "Bubbly's getting to you."

She set her glass down and rubbed her sun-hot cheeks. A real embarrassment flooded her. When she spoke again, her voice was low and subdued but still held the teasing tone. She said, "How do I know you're even talking to Danny? You could be making it all up."

"I could get away with a lot doing something like that, yeah?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Make you do all kinds of things you don't want. Is that it?"

"Something like that."

Hemi retrieved his phone and texted and she waited, studying what he did.

She said, "Put him on speaker."

"Says he doesn't want that."

"You didn't even ask him."

"Yeah, he said it earlier," Hemi said, eyes on his phone screen still.

Hemi chuckled to himself and rolled his eyes.

"What?"

Hemi showed her an honest expression. "He asked how you look in the bikini he sent over and I told him you didn't show me."

"He's such an idiot."

"He says he wants a picture since he won't be here."

"What do you mean, won't be here?"

"He says not till later."

"Well, tell him he misses out then. Tell him that."

Hemi texted.

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yeah-yeah. He says you're being mean after he was so thoughtful."

"He wants a picture?"

"That's what he said."

"You ready?"

"You're gonna stand up?" He got his camera ready with an eager glee and she found a dark thrill thinking Hemi was doing all of this to play with her and he wasn't really talking to Danny, he just wanted to see her in her bikini. But he did want that. Whether Danny was texting with him or not.

"You know he tricked me in the fitting room when I tried this on. Took a picture of me."

"Dirty bugger."

"Yeah, right? Dirty bugger is exactly right."

"Kinda hot though, yeah? You and Danny like to keep it spicy."

She nodded a little, onboarding the statement as a compliment. They did keep it spicy. Or at least were exploring how to.

"All right," she said. "You ready?"

"The stage is yours, Ellie." He looked at his phone's screen and she knew he had the camera on and ready to go.

She stood up, let the water run down her ultra-relaxed body. She adjusted the bikini so it sat right. The sun shone on her drenched skin. She looked tanned and her body showed the ripple of muscle and tendon and the sweet curves of feminine flesh; it excited her like crazy to show Hemi with complete abandon. "Does he want the front or the back?"

Hemi smiled with lusty intent, liking what he saw in his screen, eyes darting up a few times to get a glimpse of the real deal.

Her tummy ached with strange desire.

"Both, I reckon," Hemi said.

"Well, here's the front," she said. "How do I pose?"

"Put your hands on your hips," Hemi said, finger poised to tap the photo button.

"Like this?"

"Aw, yeah, that's real nice, Ellie. You're a stunner. Put your hip out. Ooh, that's it. Hold that one."

Her knees trembled. Her heart raced. Her nipples ached and she didn't need to look down and check to know Hemi would see them like bolts pushing out the bikini fabric. And she wanted him to see them. He was sitting there naked under the water. Could she make a gorgeous man like Hemi get hard?

What are you even saying? What kind of married woman would think such a thing?

"Right, stay there, love," Hemi said lowering the phone. "Let me jet it off to him. Hope he doesn't see it and drive in a ditch. We'll be alone here all night." He worked at sending Danny the picture and she stood there, confident bikini girl pose beginning to sag, thinking of what Hemi said and wondering if he was saying it out loud so the dates would manifest it. Like Hemi Armstrong wanted to hang out with her alone all night.

But why wouldn't he?

He certainly seemed to.

"Hoo, let's do the back now, El." He held up the phone again.

She straightened her posture, showing Hemi her best. Turned in place and let him see the back. The thing back. Her bare ass with a string in it.

She heard him chuckle devilishly behind her like he loved what he saw. She scolded him. "Hey!"

"Sorry, El. Your Danny's one lucky lad. No wonder he bought it for you."

She laughed and lost her nerve all at once. Dropped down into the water and spun around to face him, sunk in the tub so the water touched her chin.

Hemi worked at sending the picture away. He laughed and set the phone back on the deck. "See what he says in a second. Hope he doesn't run into a tree."

"You didn't let me see them first. How rude."

"No need, Ellie. I'm a connoisseur of the female form, and yours is the finest. I got your best angles and all, but your body did all the work."

She smiled, lowered her face into the water till the heat burned her lips, looking at Hemi. Hemi looked at her the whole time.

She raised up a little so she could speak. "I know how we could get him here faster."

Hemi said, "How's that?"

"How about some shots without the bikini on at all?"