WET
Elise Gower
I think great erotica is like a fabulous dream. You should be carried away from all your sensibilities and be open to experiencing new ones.—Elise Gower
Adrienne Corley sat in her corner office, tapping her finger against the high-tech keyboard trying to open her unrelenting schedule. She was, as usual these days, oblivious to the swirl of activity on the trading floor just outside her door. How had things gotten so far out of control? How had she already reached this one birthday that would take her smack dab into middle age? This couldn’t be all there was to her life. There had to be something more.
There are about a hundred ways of dealing with a midlife crisis. Fast, expensive foreign cars and insatiable, hot young women came to mind. That’s great for the guy trying to get his 007 on, but what if you’re a woman—a black woman? Black women aren’t supposed to be swept up in crisis, midlife or otherwise. We don’t have the time.
Go with a younger man? Not likely, unless you are in deep cheddar and don’t care that you’ll have to finance the whole damn thing. Wealthy older man? Hell no, because for women like Adrienne, all you’ll get is the old. Old and rich want the twentysomething girls, not REAL women knocking down forty’s door. Damn! This whole mired-in-midlife-muck thing had snuck up on her, and Adrienne didn’t like surprises. She lived her highly demanding life in tight order, managing the people and things around her and making them work to her satisfaction. Control was the secret to her success.
But this gnawing discontent was growing stronger every day and beginning to disrupt her well-oiled machine of a life. She was going to have to stop shoving it aside and deal with it. But how? And when? Running the sales and trading floor for a small but profitable boutique investment firm left her very little time to do anything other than eat, sleep, exercise (to maintain her alpha-female status) and work. She needed time to regroup and figure out how to get back control of her life.
It seemed the only option that made sense was to finally use some of the vacation time she’d accumulated over the years for some sort of total getaway. Yes, a trip complete with exotic venues and nonstop adventure. Maybe if she went hiking in the Himalayas she could eat and exercise and become enlightened as to why, despite nearly four decades of living, she had little of what really mattered to show for it. No husband, no kids, and, to be honest, not even the career she’d envisioned for herself. Just a high-paying job on Wall Street that saw to the bills and kept her busy during the day.
STOP! Adrienne tried to clear her mind of the pitiful and refocus on the possible. Maybe a walk around the trading floor would help. She slipped on her Manolos, got up and headed out of her corner office to check on her staff. That’s when she noticed the screensaver on her assistant’s desk. Was that Jada…on a surfboard?
That girl really has lost her mind, she thought, but the image stuck with her.
When she got home that night, she put on a little Mary J and stretched out on her overstuffed sofa. She was cracking the latest issue of O Magazine to check out the Halle Berry profile, when…WHAT? Halle, in the photo spread, was working a surfboard and looking nothing like forty. Maybe there was a message in this. According to the article, the hottest surfing school around was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The five-star resort, with a surfing school right there on the premises, sounded perfect. Maybe this was just what she needed. So despite an intolerance for the unknown, the fact that she had bathing suits older than the average surfer dude, and her concern that even the best of weaves might not stand up to a gnarly wave, Adrienne picked up the phone and made plans toward the sun and away from the familiar. She was going to Cabo, to the Sonrisa Surfing School. Hell, if Jada and Halle could do it, so could she!
Trying to make it through the last hour of an insufferable layover in Houston, Adrienne put away her book and put all her attention into being part of the world around her instead of her usual act of disappearing in plain sight. Observing her fellow travelers, it was apparent that only two types went to Cabo—and neither was middle-aged sista. Blonde boys with perfect teeth and starry-eyed honeymooners filled the waiting area. One couple was so caught up in the rapture, Adrienne wondered if they would just say the hell to everyone else and fuck each other right there at the gate.
Both looked to be in their twenties, and the lust that radiated from them burned hotter than any Mexican sun. DAMN! Right before her eyes, with no regard for who might be watching, the man slipped his hand under the woman’s skirt and began moving it in an in-and-out motion. He was clearly hitting some hot spot exactly the right way because a moan escaped her lips as she threw her head back, arched her back and lifted her pussy to meet his caress. She turned in, brushing her hand against his crotch, and whispered something in his ear that caused him to grunt, his swelling dick fighting the restriction of his shorts.
Disgusted, but at the same time aroused, Adrienne found herself entranced by their bold display. She couldn’t imagine being so out there. Adrienne felt her breath catch and she quickly looked away. She felt a tightening between her own legs as heat began to radiate from her clit. Adrienne was embarrassed to be so easily aroused. Her nipples strained against her practical bra. It had been more than a year since she’d had sex with anyone other than her right hand. She’d just been too busy (and maybe too judgmental) for men in her life. She exhaled slowly but found little comfort in her effort to center herself.
“This will be the final boarding call for flight four-seven-eight-two to Cabo San Lucas,” a voice announced. Grateful for the distraction, Adrienne found her ticket, looked at it hopefully and crossed the Jetway to settle into a first-class seat paid for by more business trips than she cared to tally. She fell into a fitful sleep, fighting with the two waiting area lovers in her head to keep their lewd acts to themselves and allow her some rest.
A funny, little man approached her as she waited for her bags, bearing a sign that misspelled her name. “Señora Corley?” he asked her expectantly, “I am Eduardo from the Sonrisa Surfing Club. I’ve been sent to meet you. Is there mas luggage?”
Adrienne began to wonder what she had gotten herself into. He was short and on the pudgy side. His unkempt, jet black hair hung bowl-like just over his ears. Eduardo stood in stark contrast to Adrienne’s image of a hot and sexy surfer dude.
“There’s one more bag,” she said to Eduardo, nodding her head toward the baggage claim carousel. “I’ll wait in the car.”
“Sí,” Eduardo responded, pointing her toward an open-air Jeep she was not at all sure about. She swung herself into the front seat, as the backbench was a mess of sand and surfboards. With no seat belt in evidence, she reached out to hold the side of her door with one hand and the roll bar overhead with the other. The Jeep lurched under the weight of her other bag as Eduardo swung it on top of the pile behind her, before starting off with a violent rumble.
The desolate roads from the airport into town churned a virtual sandstorm around her, making her wonder if this guy could even see where he was going. She held her breath and shielded her eyes as best she could. Finally they pulled onto a long, dusty road that wound closer to the beach.
A gasp escaped her lips. Before her, completely magical in its beauty, lay the Sea of Cortez. Framed by a perfect sunset, impossibly blue waves with brilliant whitecaps rushed to greet her, barely obscuring menacing black rocks jutting up from all over.
“If I could look at that every day, I might be a different person,” she said to no one in particular. And in a completely uncharacteristic manner, she began to feel herself relax.
“What are those little puffs of white that keep appearing way out there?” she asked Eduardo.
“Whales, Señora. It is their season for mating. You picked a muy interesante time to come here. The sea is most alive en esta, ah, season.”
They finally drove through a large brick gate and entered the resort. It was beautiful beyond anything she had even imagined. Flowers hung from above, as well as all around her. The scents intoxicated her.
“Wow,” she said blithely.
She was shown to a beautiful casita, a small cottage that overlooked the resort below. Beyond it spread a rocky beach. As her host explained all of the activities that awaited her, Adrienne found herself nodding without hearing a word. Exhausted by the travel, all she wanted to do was enjoy the small meal that had been set out for her on the balcony, unpack and go to bed.
After placing the last toiletry neatly by her sink, Adrienne indulged herself with a nightcap on the balcony. She sipped it slowly, leaning over the rail, watching the brown, hard-bodied surfers-in-residence relaxing on the beach below. Her body, still feeling the residual of arousal from the airport peep show, demanded satisfaction. She told herself no, as her mind began to fantasize. But her disobedient legs spread open and let the warm breeze tease her pussy, imaging one of the men below blowing soft kisses there. She tried to resist what had become an inappropriate habit she considered completely beneath her. But once she could be sure they couldn’t see her, she allowed her hand to roam her soft, brown skin and find its familiar place around the soft bush between her legs.
Teasing her clit, she let herself imagine her lover’s tongue probing her and felt herself surge with desire. Squeezing her eyes tight, she allowed him to guide her hand to the places that set her on fire. And that’s when she heard the voice in her ear, from somewhere out at sea. As it whispered soft and seductive demands, she let her phantom lover work the slippery wetness of her hungry snatch. She worked herself slowly at first, but the voice drove her to a greater urgency. She pushed her fingers inside herself, continuing to knead her clit with her thumb. Her other hand pulled at her aroused nipples, pinching and twisting them, finding pleasure in the pain. She began to see colors flash before her eyes as she exploded into a breathless, shivering orgasm.
Damn, she thought, more than a little embarrassed by her behavior. She checked the men below her again to make sure that she hadn’t been noticed, shook her head to clear it and went to bed. But she couldn’t get that voice out of her mind.
“Buenos días, Señora!” Eduardo called brightly as he met Adrienne the next morning after breakfast in the reception area. “We are ready to surf, no?”
Eduardo had stuffed his pudgy frame into enormous board shorts. Adrienne’s well-toned nearly six-foot frame could still catch eyes, despite her purposely boring one-piece suit. She walked over to Eduardo with a false confidence to cover the growing fear inside her. Her hair was pulled back into the tightest bun she could manage. It was beginning to occur to her that she might not have any control down here, at all.
“You DO know I’ve never done this before, right?” she told Eduardo, staring out over huge, crashing surf.
“No worry, Señora. We no surf here. This is the time of Xocicolto . We drive to a special beach for you today.”
“What is SHO-she-COLT-o?” she asked. “Some kind of el Niño thing?”
“No. Xocicolto was the son of a great Azteca king. I tell you more on the way there. You will like it mucho. I promise you, mucho.”
Eduardo lifted two huge surfboards as if they were simple two-by-fours and hoisted them onto the back of the jeep. Adrienne reassumed her position in the passenger seat and held on for dear life. To take her mind off the rough ride, she prodded Eduardo for more about Xocicolto.
“Sí, Señora. He was the son of a muy, muy grande king de los Aztecas. But he no was a good son. He was too much with la tequila y los fiestas, comprende? He was muy fuerte. Strong, you know? And he had muy, muy women because it was said he had special powers with them. No man’s wife was safe from Xocicolto. Now, the king was so sad that his hijo was not a better man, so he told him he would give him only uno year to prove himself worthy to take over and lead their people. If he could not do this, the king would sacrifice him to their gods and adopt a new boy to be his prince. Well, this made Xocicolto afraid. But how could only a young prince do this? Well the gods knew that inside, Xocicolto was good. To give him the chance to please his father, they blew violent winds into the Sea of Cortez. The wind was so strong that it pushed huge rocks into the water and pushed all the greatest animals from across the sea into this one place. This angry sea threatened to wipe away the village where los Aztecas lived, unless one who was brave came to them. Xocicolto heard the call of the gods and knew that this was his time, si? He walked down to the beach and stood against the grande waves, the thunder and the lightning and the hard rain. He removed all his beautiful, precious clothing and jewels. His jewels became the shells we find on the beach. His clothing became the colorful flowers that grow there. He then stretched his arms out wide and raised his head up to meet the gods. A ray of el sol opened between the dark clouds to shine on him and led him on a path into the sea. As he disappeared into the sea, the surf around him calmed, and soon the sea sent wide, gentle waves to the shore. The waves are big enough to carry a man but also gentle enough to carry him without harm. Xocicolto only happens uno time each year. When the rest of the sea is wild with wind and creatures, the part where Xocicolto walked is the perfecto. The perfect place for you to learn.”
The story had been just long enough to see her to their destination. Indeed, when Adrienne looked ahead, she could see their road open onto a cove with what she had to admit was a most beautiful beach. They unloaded the car, and after a short surfing instruction on the beach with Eduardo, he placed her on her board in the water and pulled her into the brine.
As he guided her out, he continued to tell her what to expect. What she had not expected was the way it felt to ride prostrate across the living sea. Though she tried to hang on to the board, the rolling waves created undulations that took her body by surprise. She tried to focus on Eduardo’s instruction and not the sensations created by having something long and hard moving under her. She remembered her embarrassment from the night before and told herself to keep it clean.
“Señora, I will be behind you when the waves come. When the right wave is here I will push you, but you must paddle, paddle, paddle con your arms like I show you on la playa—I mean, the beach, sí?”
At that moment, a large but surprisingly gentle wave crashed across the front of them. As it splashed over Adrienne’s head and down her back, she heard a voice say, In my hands, your body feels like the ripe flesh of a delectable mango—succulent and juicy.
“Eduardo? WHAT?” she asked, more than a little alarmed.
“Señora? Que hace? What happened?”
“I thought I heard you…”
“No, I no say nothing.”
Eduardo turned his attention back to piloting his student to an advantageous point facing the beach. Soon another large yet gentle wave washed over her, this time from behind. She could feel it first tickle her toes with a warm surf, then work its way up the back of her thighs, between her legs and over her back. As the water passed her ears, so did the voice.
I will make you open for me…then I will taste your goodness.
Despite her strong will otherwise, the suggestion caused her nipples to swell. Or was it fear, as Adrienne heard a stronger surf building behind her? The sound built as it grew closer, louder and louder as it drew upon her.
“Señora!” Eduardo called excitedly. “Señora this is it! Remember I push you and you paddle. When you feel the wave take you, you try to stand up.”
The first crumbly water of the surf began to gather at her sides. As it rushed past her, the sound grew louder, completely drowning out Eduardo’s encouragements. Then she felt his strong push, paddled madly, and the wave began to take her.
Feel my desire wash over you, she heard the voice say.
She felt her board lift with the crest of the wave and drive her forward with a speed that blew her hair away from her face. Too unnerved by the voice in her head to let go of the sides of her board, she held on to the surfboard as the back of the wave again tickled her toes. An unnatural warmth inside the wave’s curl seemed to reach around her, grasp at her waist and pin her to the board. A surge of cool water worked its way between her and the board, filling the front of her swimsuit. A caress of the swirling currents teased her clitoris as the board’s vibration banged rhythmically between her legs. A second wave cresting next to her crossed over her, encasing her in an azure tube of heat and light that turned her board over and over again. She felt one breast free itself from her suit. The cool water pulled against it as the board continued to turn, sucking mightily against her hard, erect nipple. She couldn’t scream for fear of taking in water, and she couldn’t stop herself from going with the ecstasy she felt growing inside her. Hanging on, unable to let go lest she lose this sensation, she felt the second wave passing her with a great roar. She was unnerved and confused and still unsatisfied—but she was sure now what she’d heard. It was the voice from the night before.
“Señora! Señora! Estas bien? You okay, Señora?” Eduardo sounded panicky as he tried to locate his student.
Adrienne lay gasping in knee-deep water, adjusting her suit, her board still attached to her ankle by its cord. She sat up confused, unnerved and carnally alive. What the hell had just happened? A need she did not completely understand called her back to the sea. Everything in her told her to run from this, but she knew she could not. The temptation was too great. She had to go back.
“I’m okay,” she answered boldly. “Let’s try that again.”
Eduardo lifted her board, turned it around, and after she climbed back up on it, he pulled her back out toward the place where they had begun. A new wave washed over them as they worked their way to deeper water.
You have the breasts of a goddess that react like those of a whore. You like pleasure, though you fight against it.
She shuddered, still raw and desirous from her last ride. So that had been foreplay. What would happen next? Smaller waves passed them, lapping against her skin like a warm tongue, teasing her and building her need. When they reached the place they had been before, Eduardo turned her board toward the beach.
“Eduardo?” she asked. “Do people ever say they hear—well, hear strange things out here?”
Eduardo laughed. “Maybe, Señora, perhaps you hear Xocicolto . The legend says when his time comes, he is here in these waters. But it is only an old story. I think you are not used to the sound of the waves.”
Adrienne laughed. She felt so silly. Of course she was imagining it all. It was one thing to get older, but did she have to be crazy, too?
Eduardo buoyed himself at the back of her board with one arm and focused his gaze out into the beyond. Facing the beach, Adrienne could feel the smaller waves passing under her, teasing her with vibrating shudders from the board between her legs. She began to feel hot and dizzy, despite her contact with the cool water. Ringlets of currents continued to tease her between her toes. She lay down again, stretching her full frame against the board to rest and recover.
This made no sense. This was not who she was, yet the movement of the board and the coolness of the water licked at her pussy, tasting her juices, just as the voice had said it would. It worked up a passion in her she could not separate herself from. The pleasure was too intense and certainly too difficult to fight. She feared Eduardo turning his head and finding her thus, but there was no stopping now. In this position, the smaller waves washed over the back of her as well, continuing to move the board in its lusty fashion. Finding herself moved to an uncontrollable precipice, she felt a massive increase beneath her as water rushed more quickly past her head.
Don’t fear me. I will set you free. Come with me. Come with me…
She felt Eduardo turn and prepare to push her.
“Ahora, Señora, NOW!”
As he pushed her toward land, the tumescence of the swell raised her higher than before. White water danced more passionately at her sides before pushing past her. She paddled as strongly as she could, taxing her wind and lightening her head.
On your knees… the voice demanded.
Adrienne, despite anything that had ever made sense to her, gave in and raised herself to her knees, gripping the front of the board to hold on. As the crest behind her rose, she felt a powerful undertow reorient her board, sending a surge of cold wash hard into her hot, aching cunt from behind. She felt the water between her legs, like a kind of forceful spout, fucking her from behind with a hard, cold member that plunged into her, giving her more pleasure than she had ever felt before. As the board shuddered up and down against the wake, she felt the sensation of the waterspout force in and out of her, throwing currents through her body. All the while, the wave roared its building passion in her ears.
The wave grew louder, and with each thrust she managed new angles to turn and adjust to stay abreast of the careening flow. This time both breasts were freed from her suit. Cold, wet hands seemed to grasp and pull at them as she felt the cold water dick drive deeper and deeper inside her. The sea boiled around her. Finally, unable to hold on to the feeling any longer, she let a guttural scream escape from way deep inside her, as she burst into a briny spray.
And then all was calm.
The voice whispered to her from under the surface. Her board floated gently over soft eddies, halting only when its rudder caught the sand below. She lay there, floating and pulling against the bottom, letting the sun splash over her and embrace her with a glow she could feel everywhere.
“Señora, maybe this is enough for today?” Eduardo asked when he finally reached her. His face showed worry that he had failed with this client. His concern brought her back to reality. What the hell had just happened, and what part had she had in it?
“Yes, that’s enough for today, I think,” she answered curtly. Eduardo showed her to the smaller casita the resort kept at this beach. A long, delicious dinner of fresh fish, tortillas and beer on the beach was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Between the surfing, her full stomach, and the time difference between Cabo and the East Coast, Adrienne was more than ready to retire to her bed and fall immediately to sleep.
She awoke to find a cool wetness wrapped around her. A sexy, salty smell she could actually taste filled her nose. She realized with a fright that she was not alone in her bed. She jumped up, gathering the bedding around her, covered her nakedness and shivered in fear. There was a man in the bed next to her, a very big man. He was naked and hard muscled; his long, wet black hair fell down his back. He moved slowly, turning to her.
“Why do you cover yourself? You are beautiful.”
She tried to speak but was too frightened for any sound to escape her. He spoke again, looking into her eyes.
“Why do you show fear?”
Adrienne shook her head, despite an understanding growing inside her. He touched the sides of her face with cool hands, drawing one slowly down the side of her body.
“You know me. We are already lovers.”
“Xocicolto,” she whispered with confusion as he slipped his hands under her and lifted her to him with no effort at all. She squeaked in mild protest as he pulled the covers away from her naked body. He smiled at her beauty, before pulling her closer to him and burying his head in her breast. This mythical man began to kiss her and whisper softly in an ancient tongue. She let him gently ravish her, afraid to move, but mostly because she was too tempted to resist.
“Why do you fear what your body does naturally? I saw you the first night, you know. You hide from your desire. You tie it up inside you. I knew if I could free you from this, you would become more than any woman I’ve had before. I have been here for hundreds of years, with many women, but I have not had anyone like you.”
She shuddered with desire as he continued to explore her body. His tongue, his fingers, his lips found her, tasting her in places that she had never realized could be so alive. From time to time, he looked deeply into her eyes, as if asking how far she would let him go.
“It’s only a dream, it’s only a dream.” She said it aloud to reassure herself. It was time to come back to reality, but did she want to? Did she really have to? His touching and probing rendered her incapable of anything other than seeking the pleasure in him that he was determined to find in her. His cool ocean fingers entered her hot places as they had in the sea, but in her bed they were more focused and real. He flicked her clit until she wanted to scream. Abruptly he stopped licking until his cold tongue found her nipples and his teeth bit them gently, coaxing them forward and making them hard. Soon, she was teeming, pulsing and set for detonation. He pulled away from her for a moment and, again, looked at her deeply, asking her questions and telling her things that needed no words. He was not old or young. He was, at once, timeless and of this time. As he was set away from her for the moment, she could read his rich, red skin. He ran his fingers through her thick, dark hair. She could see the life pulsing in his enormous manhood as he prepared her, pulled her close to him again, then entered her hot, wet cave that hungered for his every twitch and shudder. He moved in and out of her slowly at first, then, finding a rhythm between them, he quickened his thrusts. He reached a strong arm around each of her thighs and pulled her legs aside him, then lifting her up as he had on the sea, he drove into her, physically and metaphysically deeper than anyone—real or imagined—had before.
She felt herself rise higher and higher, his guttural utterances and her cries confirming their collective fervor. She felt something let go inside her. That thing that had been tied up within her was giving way. His earlier words echoed in her mind as she bucked wildly against him, no longer afraid of following and enjoying temptation. An unfamiliar wildness drove her as they tickled and tortured each other into a swollen, painful pleasure knot.
Outside, the wind rose with their jutting spasms, carrying first their groans, and finally their fiery screams across time. He ground his head into her chest to anchor himself against his passionate release, sending her into an uncontrollably pleasurable orgasmic fit.
Then they lay still, in the dark, for what seemed like an eternity. Neither dared speak, lest they break the spell.
Then he rose from their bed to stare out the window before turning to her, staring in her eyes long and hard. He then removed a leather rope that had been tied to his arm. He tied it tenderly around her arm and kissed her passionately.
“My time is short. I have only a few days, but I will come to you,” he said softly and then faded away.
Adrienne woke with a start. She took inventory of the small casita, anchoring herself in reality before it all began to come back to her. That was either one hell of a dream or I am losing my mind, she thought. She cracked the door to peep outside. Along the beach, things were coming to life. Gathering locals limbered their bodies before heading out on their surfboards. Eduardo sat in the sand just outside her door with several travel cups that smelled, she noted gratefully, like coffee.
“Señora, you are awake early. Do you wish for some breakfast or do we have waves first?”
Adrienne giggled, then surprised herself with a full-on blush. It didn’t matter anymore what was real and what was fantasy. All she knew was that she could not stop, and that if it was within her power, she would never let it end. Never had she felt more alive or sexual. Her midlife muck had turned into an out of this world midlife fuck!
“Waves,” she answered, unequivocally. “Give me a minute to get dressed.”
For two more glorious days, Adrienne road the waves like she’d been surfing her whole life. No longer needing Eduardo’s help, she maneuvered her own board to great heights and through complex turns. She was convinced that Xocicolto’s strong hands held her safe, giving her the confidence to push herself more with each ride. Sometimes, she would surf all they way in, forcing the back of her board downward to stay atop the crest like a queen. But sometimes she still took the whole trip to shore on her knees or lying flat on her board.
And for two more nights, the Aztec prince came to her. They made love boldly, craving each other with zealous, overpowering emotion. He sought out all the secret places on her body that sent her soaring and pleading for him to fill her with his cold, salty essence. And when they could bear the prelude to their passion no longer, he drew her on top of him, skillfully maneuvering her up and down against his roiling crested member, just as he did with her each day in his watery form.
That third night, sensing that this could be their last, they pushed the limits of their beings. With a new and uncharacteristic boldness, Adrienne tickled and teased the places within him, draining him of his godliness and in her bed, turning this Mexican royalty into a mere mortal. As her bravado blossomed, Xociolto relinquished control, allowing an exquisite, mutual exchange of reawakening pleasures. She saturated him with her warmth, as he cooled her with his deep sea touch.
She laid him back, never removing her eyes from his. Then, taking his member gently in her hands, she leaned down to lick the length of him. She could feel a pulsing begin deep inside the emerging organ. She inhaled his cold, salty scent, following the quivering veins back down to their base with her tongue and nibbled at the fruit there. He began to whisper the ancient words, raising a heat in her that she had come to expect. He sensed the connection, and his speech became broken. He raised himself from her and looked into her soul. He knew she was changed. He knew she was his. He knew he was hers. Rolling over onto her back as he pushed into her, Adrienne raised her legs high above her head, sending them thrashing with abandon into a shared rapture.
But once they were still, she could tell something was different with him. His skin felt warm and dry. Unable to speak, barely able to breathe, they lay twisted together. Finally, he turned to her and kissed the place where he’d tied the cord to her arm. He removed it, held it in his hand, then pushed her arm up above her head, kissing her gently up the inside of her arm. When he reached her face, he gazed at her with a drained sadness that made her start to cry. He licked the tears from her face that were soon mingled with tears of his own.
“I am weak at the end of my time. I am called back to the place where I must go.”
With that, he produced an oddly shaped golden bead.
“This is something that was once precious to me. It held great value to my people. It is as old as I am. Perhaps older than you can comprehend. If you will wear it, it will connect you to me for all time.”
He threaded the bead onto the leather cord, and this time, tied it around Adrienne’s neck. He tried to sit up but faltered. She sat up in their bed to hold him, leaning him back slowly against her, cradling him in her arms.
“Stay with me,” she pleaded, knowing before he spoke what his answer had to be.
He smiled softly at her, raised a weak arm and began to gently caress her cheek.
“I must return to the place where I belong or I will be no more.”
A golden light appeared from the heavens, illuminating a path into the sea. Xocicolto left her and walked into it, seemingly gaining strength once the sea closed in around him. He looked up into the light, stretched his arms out wide and cast a loving glance back at Adrienne. Then he and the light were gone.
Eduardo knocked on her trailer door, as he had done two mornings hence.
“Señora, we surf?” he asked.
“No, Eduardo. Today we go home.”
On the way back to the resort, Adrienne kept one hand at the hollow of her neck, touching the beautiful bead her lover had placed there. Returned to her casita, she packed her things and prepared for tomorrow’s flight home. She sat alone that night on her private balcony, staring out to sea. She marveled at her experience over the last few days. Opening her heart had opened her senses. She no longer felt old and bored with life as she had on her arrival. She was leaving with a new lease on life, a new sense of curiosity, adventure, and lustfulness. Adrienne wept softly through her smiles, as heard the surf sing its message of Come to me. Come to me…
A blissful knowing pull drew her to walk down to the beach. Unlike the day of her arrival, the sea in front of her resort was as smooth as glass. The jutting rocks stood out as silent sentinels, basking in waves that slowly rippled around them. She walked toward the sea, allowing the surf to wash over her toes. Feeling a strange vibration at her neck, Adrienne reached for the bead, momentarily afraid of the power pulsating around her neck. She panicked and clutched at the cord.
You are mine. You will always be mine. The sound of his whisper enveloped and calmed her, and forever awoke a sensuous awareness within her.
The bead around her neck began to glow. Its vibration intensified and ripples of pleasure reverberated throughout her body. She could feel his breath not cold this time, but hot against her neck.
You will always be in me. I will always be in you.
“You will always be in me. I will always be in you,” she repeated into the wind.
Then, as the bead began to darken and cool, she knew he was gone.
The next morning, with only a couple of hours to make her plane, Adrienne rushed about the casita throwing everything of hers into anything she could carry as Eduardo waited by her door.
“Señora, it is the time that we must go to the aeropuerto.”
She smiled at him and handed him the heaviest bag. Before following him, she turned and took one last look toward the magical Sea of Cortez. Adrienne felt a small tingle at her neck, and somewhere else, deeper inside.
“Eduardo?” she finally asked, feeling a million miles away. “The sea is very different here from the way it was when I first arrived, isn’t it?”
“Sí, Señora. It was Xocicolto. But he is gone now. I told you, it is a special time. He comes only una vez every year.”
“Yes, Eduardo. Every year. And you know what? From now on, so will I!”