Sweet Sins (3 page)

             
“Well, then let’s get out of here.”

             
When they arrived at Adam’s place on the tenth floor, a girl in clinging skins came out of Beau’s condo.

“Looks like Beau
’s having another one of his all-nighters’. Let’s go over and check it out,” said Adam.

             
Beau answered the door to his neighbor and said, “Hey, what’s shakin’? You brought beautiful women…yes! Come in, ladies, I’ll get you a drink and anything else you want.”

He e
scorted the girls into a room where a mural of the ocean was sprawled across the length of the room’s wall. Rattan chairs were smothered with fluffy cushions with bodies laid across them. A neon beer bottle lighted the hall, accented by statues of nude woman and men.

             
Beau had that (I haven’t eaten anything in a month) look. No muscle and a chubby beer stomach, long Heidi, stringy hair and shabby clothes. He looked like a DJ—a mess, but he had a melodious voice and gobs of charm.

             
Nicole seemed to be attracted to both Jonathan and Beau. She was smiling now and enjoyed her male admirers. Two other couples stretched out by the balcony while Adam and Arianna sat on the floor against the wall.

             
“We should go over to my place. I got Dylan. He never plays any Dylan. What do you think?”

             
“Not yet, let’s stay a little longer for Nicole’s sake but tell me everything about yourself, anything and everything you want.”

             
“Well, Babe, I’m kind of a loner. People are OK, you gotta’ have them around to watch so you know your normal but mostly I just like to watch them. They are great liars. I like seeing who can outdo the other.

I love woman, particularly rich red-headed chicks. I ain’t never been in love. I’ve said the words but I ain’t never been. It’s
supposed to be like this thing that’s so great so I guess I’d know it if it happened. One of the things I love about women is they have this like super soft skin. I can’t figure that out, how it’s so soft. I like freedom, so I don’t think I’ll ever have any kids. I don’t mind them, I mean, my brothers have kids and I don’t mind them around as long as someone else takes care of them. I love red headed girls like you especially. I like…”

He stopped, tilted her chin up and kissed her so delicately it was like a whisper. Another kiss, an airbrush kiss, lifted from his lips into her heart.

              Nicole appeared smirking as if she had been watching them. Liquored up, she sat down next to Adam and placed her leg over his.

             
“You can’t really want to be with her when you could have me.”

             
Arianna and Nicole were long-time friends but the alcohol and her instant attraction to Adam were making her behave badly.

             
Adam responded, “Beau, come and pick up your girl here, or is she too much for you to handle?”             
              Nicole pushed Beau’s hand away and began grabbing Adam again.

             
“Look, Arianna and I are together tonight, besides Jonathan thinks you’re the best thing that ever was.”

             
“That’s true, Hon,” Jonathan said, “Woman, would you just get over here.”

             
“Well, it’s your loss not mine, Adam. OK, let’s go Jonathan.”

             
“That’s our exit too, Arianna, let’s go to my place,” said Adam.

             
In a few minutes, they were inside 10B. With the sliding doors open, you could see and hear the ocean (a beautiful sight). The salty night air drifted in over them as they lay on a blanket on the balcony.

             
He opened his shirt and Arianna saw his golden skin and sun fringed curly hair centered down his chest. His broad chest displayed his pumped muscles and the little Gemini neck piece. Moonlight eyes looked at her and she could have decided to stay here for the rest of her life.

             
When his mouth reached for her, her body rose like the ocean and crested against him. She kissed him as if she had been starving for this kiss, this only kiss, her entire life.

             
Wherever he touched, she felt as if her body had come alive after a Rip Van Winkle sleep. Never had a man created these sensations in her.

“Arianna, stay the night with me. Let me look at you while you sleep and see the sunrise with you by my side.”

              “A dreamer’s delight, maybe someday I will. As much as I want to stay, I have to get Nicole home.”

             
“Friday, will you both come back to Webster’s? I’ll bring Beau.”

             
“Yes, we’ll be there, that’s for certain.”

             
Christopher Cross
was smoothly singing
Sailing
as they drove back over the Bay. Fantasy, she thought, this must be a fantasy, I must be dreaming. She was sailing with Adam on an ocean they created for themselves. She hoped this would be the beginning of something wonderful. It’s not that far down to paradise, it just a drive across the bridge to Adam’s house. She would always sing this song on her way to Adam’s house; this would define how she felt about their relationship. She would never again hear that song without feeling happy and dreaming of him.
Renoir
was no longer an impressionist this morning, life was detailed, every color, every movement had become personified.

Chapter IV

Dreams of Tomorrow

             
Nicole decided she would accept Beau and was no longer pining over Adam.

             
“You’re lucky, Arianna, to have a guy like that, for however long you can hold onto him. I would have given anything to have made sweet love with him, but I guess Beau will have to do. Jonathan is a sweet little honey too, but I’ve already been with him. I do want this to be a vacation to remember so I’ll try Beau on for size. Little prissy Carl, is probably crying his eyes outright now and kicking in the doors of his car.”

Nicole had come to Tampa on the day she was to be married. Fleeing from the hounds, she had left her fiancé, Carl
, standing at the altar.

             
“My Mom went so crazy at the thought of what I was about to do that she begged me to still marry him and just get a divorce after. Imagine that, that’s how much pressure and embarrassment she was going through that she would rather see me divorced than to leave Carl at the last minute. What a mess it is going to be when I get back and have to return all the money and gifts and I am sure Carl will be waiting for me. No one should be married when they have just turned 21. That’s just ridiculous. I’m glad to be rid of him. So, OK, you can have Adam, but I’ll take Jonathan, Beau and whoever else I fancy.”

             
“I know you will be happier without Carl, he’s not the type to spend the rest of your life with. He was such a Mama’s boy, and you would have had a cold-hearted mother-in-law that gnaws on girls like you. I’m glad we are talking again. Yes, Adam is incredible. He is a once in a lifetime. I know I am treading in uncharted water and I shouldn’t even be there but I can’t help myself. No matter what the consequence, I have to be with him,” said Arianna.

             
“You know there will be consequences. You are going where you have no right to be. Are you sure you are prepared for what it will cost you? You will have to make significant changes to be with him,” said Nicole.

             
“I know. I know. I don’t want to think about that right now. This ride on my Peter Pan carpet is my own fairy tale. Sometimes in life, a fairy tale or two sneaks into reality, why not my reality? Let’s just go, there are a couple of boys waiting for us at Webster’s.”

             
Whenever she saw him, everything but him seemed to disappear. His presence in any room was always noticed.

             
“Arianna, you look great, come on over here close to me, stay with me a while.” Adam spoke in a soft, tender voice. She knew she would sell her soul to be with him and somehow, she thought, she might just have to do that.

             
“Adam, you know I’ll always be yours,” she answered him with a wink.

             
This must be paradise and she would stay here as long as she could. They stayed at Webster’s until the lights came on. Somehow this slight action made her uneasy. It’s the end of the night, a night that will never come again. She hoped this time she had found a love that would not end.

             
They went back to Beau’s condo where Nicole and Beau drifted off into another room. Adam and Arianna exited to his condo. They put Dylan on and she lay with her head in his lap while he stroked her face. She felt like a nymph. His hands caressed her while his lips kissed her shoulders. He pulled his white polo over his head and laid his bare chest up against her. They kissed again and again, but neither touched the other in any intimate way. There was something holding them back, an unknown abyss they would fall into should they be that close.

             
Each evening for the duration of Nicole’s stay, they partied. They used the night as their vehicle to the moon. Like holding onto a whip, while licking the cream off the strawberries, these were the times of remembering.

Chapter V

Revelations

              After Nicole returned to Chicago, Adam and Arianna were alone for the first time to explore each other. Adam would talk of his secret passions.

             
“Almost every Sunday since I’ve been 16, I spent digging up dirt on a motocross field. My Dad bought me my first bike the summer we moved to Florida from Pennsylvania. My Mum hated it. She always put her hands up to her face and yell,
Jesus Maria
. She still does, I’ve had so many injuries, but that’s all part of it. The pain lets you know you’re alive. I’ve never won a race yet, but I’ve placed many times. There’s nothing like the feeling I get when I’m racing. Long before the race starts, all I can think about is being on that track. Sometimes you have to wait all day for your race, but I watch the other riders and work on my bike. They have some incredible spills. Yet everyone here has an addiction to the sport, they just keep on pumping away. Someday I’m gonna’ be a great racer, maybe in Daytona, on the motocross field. Someday I’m gonna’ be somebody great. I know that. Let’s see, I’m 24 now, so girl, by the time I’m 25, that’s when it will be. Where ever you are, I’m gonna’ lay down in your front yard and say, “Top of the world-look at me now!”

             
Arianna hoped she would be there with him when he was 25 and 85 and all the years between. “To me, you’re already great. I don’t have to wait until you’re 25.”

             
He smiled and pulled her on top of him. Drifting fingers touching her back so deliciously she thought she would melt. “I have to have you tonight. Tonight, darling, tonight, I have waited so long to make love to you. It seems like an eternity since the first time I touched your hand. You are my dream, my lady.”

A thousand thoughts tumbled into her head. She had to tell him. She wanted him more than oxygen to breath
e, but…

             
“I want nothing more than to love you, but I have to tell you something first before I can get that close to you. I’ve been living in a
Cinderella
story with you where reality has no place, where the only light comes from dancing prisms and rainbows I’ve created.”  She hesitated then continued, “I don’t know how to say this that will make any sense and I wish I didn’t have to tell you but…I’m married.”

             
Adam eyes dropped and he said nothing for a few minutes.

“Go on.”

He flipped some Dylan on. She could always tell by what Dylan tune he played what he was feeling
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
came on while he turned the lights low.

             
“There’s something else…I have two little precious boys, 2 and 3 years old. They’re my treasures, my life. I remember what you said about children and it made me so sad but I kept blocking out everything to live in the moment and the joy of you and I. I’m separated from their father and we have thought of divorce but because of the boys have never followed through with it. I was married at 18 and had the boys soon after. I was too young, sometimes I feel I am still too young. We take turns going out and partying and we don’t confide in each other what we doing but we both take care of the boys.”