Pendelton Manor (8 page)

The ocean breeze felt wonderful as Sophie walked along the worn paths on the cliffs and gazed down along the beach. That was a view you couldn’t get in Arizona, she thought as she wondered if the water was cold. Since this was all private property, there were no people swimming or sunbathing, but she knew there were some similar beaches in town that were probably pretty crowded today even if it wasn’t warm enough to swim.

When she came upon the lighthouse, she heeded Ash’s advice and simply walked around the outside, marveling at its size and the way the thick stone walls had held up after decades of weather damage. She’d love to climb to the top and look out over the ocean and as she headed back to the manor, she decided to ask one of the guys to do just that with her.

It was early afternoon and Sophie had just finished a salad when Nora and Rachel came breezing in, the two of them dressed in shorts and tee shirts. “Hey, Sophie, want some company this afternoon?” Nora asked as she went straight to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine.

“Sure. What’d you have in mind?” Sophie was actually glad to see them. She had been trying to decide what to do with the afternoon, and hadn’t come up with anything yet.

“Croquet,” Rachel said as she found some paper cups.

“And wine. You can’t play croquet without wine. Well, I suppose you can, but it’s not near as much fun.” Nora giggled and by the glazed look in her blue eyes, Sophie figured she had already started on the wine.

“I’ve never played, but I think I know how. You just have to hit a wooden ball through a hoop, right?”

“You’ve never played? You have led a deprived life, girl.” Rachel slung her arm around Sophie and headed outside. “Come on, Nora; let’s show Sophie how to play croquet.” Whispering to Sophie, she said, “I’m trying to take Nora’s mind off Adam, that gravy sucking pig.”

“He didn’t come home last night. Does he know how she feels?” Sophie asked quietly as they went down the path to the courtyard.

“He’d have to be blind not to, but he hasn’t been the same since Nicole’s death.”

“Hey, quit whispering, you two,” Nora complained behind them.

“I’m just telling Sophie what pigs men are.”

“Oh, well, that’s okay then. You don’t think James is a pig.” Nora’s look on her best friend was accusing, but her blue eyes were sad.

“Today, all men are pigs.” Whispering again, she told Sophie, “But not James.”

Sophie grinned then volunteered to pour the wine while the two of them got the croquet set from the solarium and set it up. The rules, she soon learned were pretty simple. Every time someone knocked a ball through a hoop, they downed a half of cup of wine. After an hour of hitting balls, chasing balls, picking up and tossing balls, going through two large bottles of wine and laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face, Sophie decided she really liked this new game as much as she liked her new friends.

Maybe it was because she had downed her fair share of wine or because she was enjoying Nora and Rachel’s company so much that Sophie found herself not being totally shocked when, after Nora hit a particularly lucky shot, she threw her arms around Rachel and kissed her. That was her story and she was sticking to it, she thought, especially after seeing the two of them deepen the kiss, their mouths opening to allow their tongues to meet and feeling her pussy contract in response.

Both women had taken off their tops earlier to reveal bathing suit tops and, as Rachel scooped Nora’s right breast out of her cup, Sophie swallowed convulsively at the erotic sight of her kneading that plump, bare flesh. Torn between wanting to stay to watch and wondering if they wanted some privacy, the decision to stay or go was taken out of her hands when they broke apart, laughing as they removed their tops before picking up their mallets as if nothing had happened.

“Come on, Sophie. You’ve seen our tits before, so it’s no biggie. Trust me, this warm weather is a fluke and won’t last so feel free to join us and get rid of your top if you want, but either way, it’s your shot,” Rachel told her.

Temptation beckoned and when she saw how the other two resumed the game as if doing so topless was no big deal, she shoved her insecurities aside and allowed her wine dulled senses to override her common sense and pulled her shirt over her head, glad that she hadn’t put a bra on this morning. She never could have imagined how erotic it would feel to walk around outside, her breasts bare, the warm breeze making her sun softened nipples pucker while she found the gentle sway of her breasts each time she took a step distractingly erotic. Grateful for the other two’s indifference and the happy effects from the wine, Sophie picked up her mallet and managed to hit her ball through the next hoop with one swing.

“Great shot, Sophie,” Nora called out. “I think you like being half naked outside. I know I do.”

“I like you bare too,” Rachel told Nora before leaning forward and taking her left nipple into her mouth, taking her time as she suckled that small rosy bud.

Sophie watched them with unabashed curiosity, glad it was just girls today. She didn’t think she could stand here and enjoy the sight of the two of them pleasing each other if any of the guys had been around even with her senses clouded by alcohol.

“Are you two going to play or make out?” Sophie asked with a smile wishing she had more experience when it came to sex. Watching was one thing, participating, indulging in some of the scenes she’d seen these two in was another.

Lifting her mouth from Nora’s breast, Rachel downed the rest of her wine, grinning as Nora did the same. “I’m for making out.”

“Me too. You’re welcome to join us,” Nora invited Sophie as she took Rachel’s hand.

“Uh, thanks, but I’ll pass. I’ll just put this stuff away while you two… uh, do whatever,” Sophie stammered.

“I wonder how much longer you’ll have to be here before you quit blushing,” Rachel teased. “Leave everything and we’ll help you in a little while. Right now one of the chaise lounges in the solarium is calling to us.”

Sophie watched the two of them run hand in hand into the glass enclosed solarium, strip off their shorts and fall together on a lounge, their naked, writhing bodies clearly visible through the floor to ceiling glass windows. Unable to keep her eyes from straying towards the two of them, Sophie started to gather up the croquet equipment and store them in their carrier, her own body reacting distractedly to the sight of them dipping their fingers into each other’s pussies as their mouths clung together.

Adrian stood in the same corner of the house that Sophie had stood in the other day, and just like she had, found he was unable to move away from watching the three of them, the sight of three pairs of naked, bouncing breasts too much to resist. Even though he had been witness to Nora and Rachel pleasuring each other before, he was a guy and he never tired of watching girl on girl action. He remembered how turned on he used to get watching Nicole with them, even after they had become a couple.

There was no headier feeling than bringing the woman you cared about the ultimate pleasure. After they married, Adrian had become more possessive, not allowing the other guys to penetrate his wife, but he had no qualms about allowing them, or the girls, help coax her to climax. Whether she was free to participate or restrained and unable to do anything except take what he, or they, dished out, it always heightened his own pleasure to see her come apart.

But today, his eyes feasted more on his little housekeeper than the other two, the sight of her surprisingly plush breasts with their dusty pink nipples now contracted into taut peaks, being responsible for the hard on kissing his zipper. Her hair was windblown around her pink cheeked face, her blue eyes lit with a mixture of arousal and unease, as if she didn’t know how to accept the fact that watching Nora and Rachel together turned her on. She had an expressive face, one that held delicacy and strength that, at times, bore signs of unbearable sadness. Right now that grief was masked, hidden behind a façade of innocent lust, a look that turned him inside out as much as the one of sorrow did.

He fought against it, knew he shouldn’t give in to the urge to go to her and touch her, give her pleasure he knew she both needed and wanted. But ever since he had talked to Ash earlier and he had told Adrian about Sophie watching them again, only this time naked and out in the open while she pleasured herself, he couldn’t get the image out of his mind. The image obsessed him enough to piss him off and he had every intention of avoiding her when he arrived home this afternoon, having headed out back in search of Nora and Rachel without knowing Sophie had joined them. Now, as he saw her reach out to pick up her shirt, he found himself automatically going to her with every intention of forestalling her dressing, his body ruling out over his mind.

Sophie picked her shirt up off the fountain bench, shivering slightly when a light mist started to fall, the clouds having snuck in while she had been absorbed in watching Nora and Rachel, cooling her heated, bare flesh. Taking a step back, she once again bumped into a now very familiar hard body, an equally hard arm snaking around her waist, holding her tightly against him. “Adrian?” Mortified, she attempted to bring the shirt up to cover herself, but his arm kept her arms pinned to her sides.

“It’s getting to be a habit of yours, this backing into me,” he said dryly as he nipped lightly at her earlobe. “Don’t get me wrong, I like feeling your ass cuddling my dick. I hear you like to get off while you watch.” Adrian kissed her neck when she struggled against his hold as he coaxed, “Stay, Sophie. Watch and enjoy.”

Sophie glanced from the naked girls embracing each other in a sixty-nine position, Nora’s blonde hair and pale skin a direct erotic contrast to Rachel’s darker coloring, to the grey skies. “It’s starting to rain.” Even though it was barely misting, she’d use any excuse to get out of this embarrassing situation, no matter how good he felt against her or how turned on she was by watching Nora and Rachel.

“Just a light mist. No lightning, no thunder. You’re safe with me.” His arm tightened around her. “Remember that, Sophie, no matter what you may hear, I promise you’ll always be safe with me.”

Sophie recalled the cashier at the grocery store telling her that Adrian had been a suspect in his wife’s death and she also remembered how quickly she had refused to believe he was capable of hurting someone he had so obviously loved at one time. She prayed she wasn’t being naïve, then or now, because she wanted to stand here with him and see where this was going.

“Adrian.” Turning her head to look up at him as he loosened his hold on her waist and cupped her breast, she whispered, “I not only like working for you, but I need this job.”

“I, and my cousins, have looked for someone who wouldn’t high tail it out of here at the first sight of bare skin for a long time. Trust me, baby, your job is as safe, if not safer, if you decide you want to play.” Adrian rolled her nipple between his fingers, eager to distract her from everything except the pleasure he intended to give her. As her eyes glazed with lust, he smiled and turned her back towards the solarium. “Don’t they look pretty all entwined together? Do you wonder what it feels like, having all that soft skin against yours, a soft mouth between your legs bringing you to orgasm instead of your own fingers?”

She did, Sophie thought but refused to acknowledge that out loud. Adrian’s hand shifted to her other breast as his free hand went to the snap on her shorts. Leaning her head back against his hard shoulder, she blamed her fuzzy, wine clogged senses as she gave in to the inevitable and allowed him to push his hand into her panties, gasping as his fingers came into contact with her moist, swollen flesh. Burning, helpless need exploded lightning fast as he slid easily into her pussy while his hand kneaded her breast, the dual stimulation almost more than she could stand.

“Adrian, please,” she begged in a voice she didn’t recognize as his talented fingers barely brushed her clit before moving away from that swollen, needy bundle of nerves.

“Not yet, Sophie. Watch the girls, see how their bodies are straining towards each other, imagine how slick they are, how close they are to orgasm. Imagine it’s me going down on you, my mouth sucking on this tight little knot.” He rasped over her clit again, tempted to press and linger, but resisted a little longer. Thank God she was so wet because her sheath was tight and he wouldn’t have been able to get three fingers inside her comfortably unless her juices were thick enough to ease their way. “Been a long time for you, hasn’t it?”

Sophie didn’t want to talk about how long it had been since she had been with Emily’s father or the reasons she hadn’t felt a man’s touch since that one night stand. Her hair had dampened slightly from the mist, her body glistening and cooling from it, but her nipples burned as did her pussy, making her shiver from the contrasting sensations and the need Adrian continued to build within her.

“Please, Adrian, just let me come.” Thrusting against his hand, she urged him to finger fuck her with deeper, harder strokes, to touch her clit long enough, hard enough to let the climax she felt building roll through her.

Damn, he thought as she bucked against him, who would have thought she would be so responsive, so hot and greedy from just his fingers? He was starting to regret giving in to the temptation to go to her, giving in to the desire to make her come that had been plaguing him for the past week. He had no wish to hurt her, but he also had no desire to get involved either, at least not until he found out which one of his cousins had betrayed him. Avenging Nicole’s death had to come first and with that thought in mind, he pushed his fingers deep into her pussy, exploring every inch of her vagina with nerve stimulating strokes as he returned to her clit, using his thumb on it like she had begged him to.

“Come, Sophie,” he demanded, angry with himself for giving in to the temptation of her. “Come on my fingers and my hand. Let me feel you spasming around them like you would my cock.”

Sophie barely registered his angry tone, wondered at it then forgot it as the crescendo built until it filled her with the wonder of it, her hips grinding against his hand as she pushed her breast against the hand palming her flesh, the fingers pinching her nipple until the slight sting made her rupture in pleasure. Crying out, she let the climax wash over her, let it steep her in pleasure so intense she gave no thought to anything except losing herself in it for those few blissful moments.