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Reluctantly she turned over and began to swim towards it. Drew kept
pace, and eventually they reached the shallows and walked up the
beach to where the rug and their towels still lay. Karen was panting a
little, pleasantly exhausted and cool, but ready to enjoy the sun again.
She didn't bother to dry herself but lay on her back, one knee slightly
bent, and watched Drew with unconscious pleasure as he stood
rubbing a towel over his wet hair and face, with salt droplets coursing
down his body. He threw the towel on the sand and lay beside her on
his stomach. 'You're losing a pin,' he remarked casually, and lifted a
hand to push it back into her hair. 'And getting a little pink at the
edges.' His finger brushed her shoulder. 'Where's your sunscreen?'
'I can't be bothered,' she said. 'It's over there.'
He reached across her and picked the bottle up and unscrewed the
cap. Pouring some of the liquid into his palm, he spread it over her
shoulders and down her upper arms. 'Here, too,' he said, touching her
again, just above the top of her bikini.
'I'll do it,' she said, trying to take the bottle from him.
He smiled, but there was a scarcely hidden ruthless quality in it.
'Don't be such a prude.' His fingers smoothed a line of lotion across
the soft flesh, moving with exquisite slowness. 'There.' He put back
the cap and tossed the bottle on to the sand and lay down again, his
head turned towards her.
Her skin tingled pleasantly where he had touched it, and her pulses
were hurrying. She groped for her sunglasses and put them on,
wishing he didn't disturb her so much, and so easily, hoping that he
wouldn't know the effect he was having on her.
'What's the time?' she asked.
'I don't know. Does it mater? I left my watch in the house.'
'When will Holly be home?'
'Probably lateish. About six, maybe seven. It'll still be light.'
'Is she invited to the barbecue?'
'Yes. Leo asked me to pass an invitation on to Suzie and Sandy and
their kids, too.'
She should finish her book but she realised that she had taken it back
to the house at lunchtime and forgotten it. She closed her eyes, and
lapsed into silence. The sun was still hot, although it was after three.
She supposed it would be wise to move into the shade of the tree, but
the sun was pleasant, and the water was always there to cool off in.
Later she had another dip, and came back to find Drew sitting up and
watching her. 'I've become habituated to supervising,' he explained.
'Anyway, you shouldn't really swim alone. No one should.'
'There are other people about,' she pointed out.
'They're not watching. You could easily be missed if you got into
trouble.'
'I'm a pretty good swimmer.'
'Yes, I know. School champion, weren't you?'
'Fancy you remembering that.' She put a towel about her shoulders
and said, 'I'm thirsty, I think I'll go back to the house for a drink. Can
I bring you anything?'
'I'll come with you.'
Drew poured fruit juice and placed ice in the glasses, and they sat on
the step where the house shaded them a little, and sipped thirstily.
'I think I'll have a shower,' Karen said when she had finished. 'My
hair needs washing again.'
'Why did you bother doing it this morning?' Drew asked.
She had done it mainly to avoid him, she remembered.. 'I couldn't
bear it any longer,' she answered. 'Besides, this morning I gave it a
proper treatment. This time I'll just shampoo it and use an ordinary
conditioner. It really needs to be pampered every day, with all this
sand and sun and salt water.'
When she had showered she pulled on a pair of bikini briefs and a
short towelling wrap, and peeped into the living area to find out if
Drew was about. Seeing no one, she decided he had probably
returned to the beach, and she went out to the steps, holding her hair
brush.
She had sat on the lower step where the sun still warmed the wood
and would dry her hair, before she saw him lounging against the
outside wall in the shade, another glass of juice in his hand. He
wasn't wearing his shirt, but had donned a pair of jeans.
He turned and smiled at her, a smile of intimacy such as they used to
exchange when they were married.
'I thought you'd gone back to the beach,' she said. She looked down
at the brush in her hand, decided it was silly to change her mind now,
and began smoothing it over her hair. Drew ambled over to sit on the
top step behind her and after a while the brush was removed from her
hand, and he took over.
Karen sat with closed eyes, enjoying the sensuous feel of it, the firm,
regular rhythm. She was almost asleep when he said, softly, 'It's
nearly dry. Is that enough?'
'Mm,' she said, unwilling to break the spell by talking. 'Thank you.'
He put down the brush, and spread the long hair over his denim-clad
thighs, lifting the strands gently, feeling the texture. 'I'd forgotten,' he
said, 'how fine and silky it is.'
She didn't move, and he went on, keeping his voice low. 'I'd forgotten
the feel of your skin ... like a pearl, firm but with a satin surface. This
morning, I wanted to go on stroking your skin forever. But I hadn't
forgotten what kissing you was like. It's still the same. Your mouth
was always so soft I was afraid of hurting you, and so responsive that
I couldn't help doing it. I remember how it used to look after we'd
made love like a bruised rose. And I always felt guilty over it, and
you always laughed and said "Don't be silly, darling, I love the way
you kiss me, I love everything you do to me".'
Karen began to tremble. She kept her eyes closed tightly against the
flood of memory he was evoking.
'I guess I've been fantasising today,' he said, 'pretending that we'd
always been together, after all, that you still wanted me.
Sometimes like this morning, when I touched you and you didn't
resist you seemed _ to be entering into the fantasy, too. When you
reminded me that nothing is really the same, it was a bit like waking
a sleep-walker. I was having a nice dream, and you shattered it. You
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