FOUR

Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. -1 Corinthians 7:1-4

The sanctuary was crowded. Leah couldn't tell if that was because there were really that many more people in attendance or if it was because the Christmas decorations had shrunk the empty space. Christmastime already? she shrugged to herself. Where did the fall go? She had worked Thanksgiving and now all of the sudden it was December. She felt like life was passing right before her eyes, a hazy dream she was vaguely aware of but which could not be controlled.

The worship band was warming up on stage and she heard the drummer drop his stick on the snare drum, crashing against a cymbal on its way down. After the subsequent metallic echo faded, she heard the bass guitarist pluck a few strings. The song leader was checking microphone cords to make sure everyone was plugged in. She witnessed some signaling to a couple of men in the sound booth at the back of the church.

Even with three Christmas trees aglow and the nativity set on the altar, not to mention the abundant boughs of greenery adorned with burgundy velvet bows and affixed to the brass sconces along the perimeter of the room, Leah was having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Even when the pianist began to plunk out a jazzy, contemporary rendition of “Angels We Have Heard On High,” it all seemed forced and fake to Leah. Maybe I'm just going to be a Grinch this year, she sighed to herself.

She was still thinking about the conversation she'd had with her mother the day before. Despite what she'd told Aimee about her mother being too distracted by her brother's engagement to miss her for the holidays, Mrs. Miller laid a thick, sticky guilt trip on Leah. “It just won't be the same without my baby girl here!” she had whined.

“I know, Mom, but I don't have that many days off and besides I feel like I really need to go to Philly to help Aimee out with the baby when he or she arrives. She really wants me there.” Leah felt bad about lying to her mother, but wasn't this justified? Wouldn't her mother let her off the hook if she thought she was taking care of someone else in lieu of visiting?

“Well, do you think you can come home later in the winter? Maybe in February or March? You can help us with the wedding plans. I don't think your brother's future mother-in-law is going to do much and besides, you're so knowledgeable on these types of things being in the biz and all,” Mrs. Miller coaxed her.

Hearing the word “biz” come out of her mother's mouth like that cracked Leah up. It always amused her when either one of her parents attempted to speak colloquially. “Sure, Mom, I'll see what I can do.” It pacified the woman for the time being.

Leah shook the memory of the conversation out of her mind and closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for worship. She sat with her legs primly crossed, her skirt pulled down conservatively over her thighs and covering part of her knee. She had noticed that one member of the worship team's black velvet dress fell a good three or four inches above the knee. “That's scandalous!” her mother would have screamed, outraged. Leah noticed the girl wore an antique filigree cross suspended from a gold chain around her neck which she probably felt excused the short hem. Aimee would have called that look “slutty religious.” Leah smirked and closed her eyes again, still trying to focus on worship, but her leg was bouncing almost uncontrollably.

What is my problem today? she wondered. I am clearly not feeling this worship thing. Her church was down near the inlet and in moments her mind was wandering over to Captain Sheldon's shop. I can't imagine what he does on Sunday mornings. I'm sure it's not church. She envisioned him sprawled in bed, tangled in the covers with Keeper curled up at his feet. But is there anyone else in bed beside him? her mind couldn't keep itself from journeying in that direction.

Ever since she'd run into him on the beach a few days before, her interest in him was renewed. He asked me out but I said no, she realized. That was my gut reaction, to say no. But why? Would it really be wrong to go out with him? Then she remembered her remark to Aimee regarding the notion of dating a swinger. “It was completely ridiculous,” she had said. But still, her curiosity was piqued. What was it like...being a swinger? How did people become swingers? How in the world am I daring to have these thoughts in church? She glanced around at the worshipful faces of the congregation. She would have bet money that none of them were thinking of swinging.

It had been a very long time since Leah had gone on a date or even had an extended conversation with someone bearing a Y chromosome. She couldn't really count work-related discussions with Barry or anyone on staff, and she rarely dealt with male guests who had complaints. Most of the time, those came from females. She had gone on a few dates when she first arrived in Ocean City, but those were during summertime; most of those men were visiting from other states. Some of them didn't live terribly far away, but all major cities were at least 2-3 hours from Ocean City: Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia. They were pretty isolated out on the Delmarva Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Chesapeake Bay. She didn't relish the idea of a long distance relationship, especially when it was so hard for her to get off the shore and away from work.

She tried to erase her mind of thoughts of Cap, as if he was just a symbol of a bigger problem. She was lonely and wished she had someone outside of work to spend time with. Maybe it's time to think about an online dating site, she considered, barely noticing that the lights in the sanctuary had dimmed and the two female vocalists were singing a hypnotic rendition of “Mary Did You Know” while holding flickering candles. Leah watched the way the flames stretched and retreated, twisted and danced in the darkness. She observed how the flames highlighted the chins and noses of the two vocalists and cast shadows all across the stage. It was the first time in a long time she had admitted to herself that she was lonely. She closed her eyes and prayed, I'm ready, Lord, I'm ready now. I want to meet him.

“I did a totally crazy thing!” Leah gushed into her phone which was balanced between her shoulder and her ear. She was simultaneously trying to cook dinner and keep Glory out of the trash that desperately needed to be taken out. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't multitasking, she was fond of saying. That Sunday night was no exception.

“What's that?” Aimee inquired. “I hope it's something wild and crazy and totally out of character for you, girl, because I'm so big and knocked up right now I can't even get out of my chair, let alone go on any adventures!”

“Yeah and once the baby comes, your adventures are going to consist of cleaning spit-up and changing stinky diapers!” Leah teased her friend.

“I know, I know, but just think about how damn cute of a baby I'm baking in there!” Aimee exclaimed. “I'm sure all the icky parts will be well worth it.”

Leah's mind conjured up an image of a chubby-cheeked, cherubic baby with tufts of downy black hair springing off its soft little head. Aimee and her husband were both Italian so it wasn't too difficult to imagine what their offspring might look like. “True, true,” Leah agreed. Then she decided to stop beating around the bush. “Okay, so here's the deal: I made a profile on an online dating site!”

Her friend's initial reaction was a shrill cackle of disbelief. “I guess you really are desperate!” Aimee poked fun at her, possibly thinking Leah's admission had, in fact, been in jest. The silence on the other end of the line alerted Aimee that her response was not well-received. “Oh, sweetie, I'm just being silly. No one wants you to find a man more than I do!” There was a pause. “Well, except maybe for your mom.” Bringing up the Millers' antiquated and traditional expectations for their daughter was usually a surefire way to garner a snicker, yet silence prevailed. Aimee cleared her throat and her tone softened like caramel under heat. “So....tell me about the site you joined.”

Leah knew it was ridiculous to be upset by Aimee's ribbing, but she was embarrassed and more than a little anxious about her choice. “It's just a free site,” she said with a catch in her voice, like her larynx was being lassoed by a rope of phlegm. Yeah, just what was my thought process here? she desperately wondered. A couple of hours ago, it all made perfect sense.

“You know, I ran into that swinger guy the other day on the beach.” She felt better changing the subject. Maybe I shouldn't have created the profile. I feel like such an idiot! She buried her face in her hands as she awaited her friend's reaction to this new revelation.

“Oh yeah?” Aimee simply asked, no detectable tone of judgment this time.

“Yeah, he has a cute chocolate lab named Keeper, who went into the water to fetch my shoes which I'd dropped. He asked me for coffee...”

“The dog?” Aimee laughed, realizing that the former tension between the pair had evaporated.

“No, silly, the guy!” Leah was giggling now too. “His name is Chris but he goes by Cap.”

“Cap? What the hell kind of name is that?” Aimee demanded, but her voice was still colored with laughter.

“He's a fishing boat captain,” Leah explained. “Anyway, I said no. But I wanted to say yes....” She couldn't believe she was admitting this. “Kinda...,” she quickly qualified.

Aimee was the silent one this time as if she was considering the ramifications of her best friend agreeing to coffee with a swinger. “Eh,” came her final ruling, “Coffee's no big deal. You should have gone. You are so out of practice talking to men except in the context of work...it'd probably have been good for you!”

Leah's heart raced a bit. She'd never expected to receive Aimee's blessing on the venture. “You act like I've been living in an all-female commune or something!” she laughed. “Do you really think I'm that out of touch with the dating world?”

“I'm sure you do a great job communicating at work,” Aimee assured her. “But I remember it always took you awhile to get warmed up back when we were in college. And by warmed up, I mean drunk. And since I'm assuming you're not drinking anymore...”

As much as she hated reflecting on her year of debauchery, she knew that Aimee was right. “Liquid courage” was aptly named. “I wasn't drunk,” she defended herself. “I just needed a couple of drinks to loosen up.”

“Right. But still...when was the last time you had a drink?” Aimee questioned. “Hell, when was the last time I had a drink?”

Leah reflected back on the past few months and had trouble accessing any memory of alcohol consumption. “Um, I think I had a daiquiri when I came up to visit you right before I got Glory...does that sound right?”

“Seriously, Leah, you need to cut yourself some slack. You haven't had a drink since the summer, you haven't had sex in like three years. Girl, you are wound so tight it's amazing you haven't exploded yet! I don't know how you do it...all this deprivation! It's all I can do to abstain from alcohol for the baby but at least I'm still getting laid regularly!”

“I know, I know,” Leah conceded. She knew Aimee had a valid point. In some ways, when she'd started at The Pearl she felt like she'd made a bargain with God, still trying to atone for the sins of her college days. If I just walk the straight and narrow, God will bless me, was the conclusion at which she'd arrived. And for a few years now, it had held true.

“So what do you recommend?” Leah cut to the chase, although parts of her were reluctant to fix something that wasn't broken. I'm not broken, she thought. I'm just lonely.

“I'm glad you joined that dating site. I hope you really meet some nice guys, and hopefully even Mr. Right, but honestly it wouldn't hurt you to date around and just go out and have fun. You're not going to be in your twenties forever, you know.”

“Yeah, maybe I should just head down to Seacrets this weekend and get wasted,” Leah suggested sarcastically. Seacrets was a huge nightclub that attracted a decent-sized crowd even during the off-season but was downright gridlocked with both locals and tourists during the summer months. It was a well-known spot for “hooking up.”

“Atta girl,” Aimee replied. “Have a few drinks for me too!” Leah knew she was kidding, that Aimee did not, in fact, condone her best friend going out to a club by herself, getting wasted and going home with some random stranger. Leah sensed that Aimee had grown bored with the conversation and was ready to talk about her aching back, swollen feet and false labor for a while.

Later, after Leah had gotten the dinner dishes cleared and the bag of trash removed without too much damage from Glory's ever-curious snout, her phone buzzed with a notification that she'd received her first message from someone on the dating site.

The conversation Leah had with Aimee the night before was still ringing in her head as she drove the short distance to work in the morning. The few emails she'd gotten on the dating site were not from men she'd consider dating. She couldn't stomach the poor grammar and spelling, let alone the proliferation of users' pictures where the central feature was a huge fish caught in local waters. Being from the Midwest and a land-locked state, Leah had never learned to like seafood, let alone fishing. Yet that's how Cap makes his living, she thought with a smirk. She wondered if any of the profile photos she viewed had been taken on his boat.

She went to Barry's office first thing to discuss Casey's group and her request for leniency about nudity and “displays of affection” in the ballroom. All weekend, she'd been mulling over how to approach her boss and what sort of terminology to employ and “displays of affection” seemed to be the most tasteful phrase she could devise. She had a feeling there was no need for euphemisms with Barry, but still, she didn't want to be indelicate. She wanted to handle this situation with as much decorum and tact as she could muster, as she knew it would reflect upon her ability to handle tricky matters in the future.

“How was your weekend?” Barry promptly asked after she'd sharply rapped on his door and then stepped inside, as was her custom. The huge grin on his face instantly revealed the impact of the short vacation he'd taken over the latter half of the prior week and the weekend. It was the type of grin that said he didn't care so much about her weekend but was dying to share details from his own.

“You look great, Barry, you must have had a relaxing trip!” Leah beamed. A relaxed and happy boss is a good boss, she reflected. She wondered how often her staff wished she'd take a vacation solely to reap the benefits of her refreshed state.

“Oh, it's amazing what a few days in Florida can do for you in the middle of the winter,” he gloated. “I played golf, I sat on the beach, I flirted with young ladies in all the finest alcohol-serving establishments! Made me wonder why I don't get a job down there so I can enjoy that atmosphere and climate all year round!”

“Well,” Leah played devil's advocate, “here we have that atmosphere in the summer and it's ridiculously busy. Don't you think it's nice to have the off season so we can recuperate? You'd never really get an off season in a Florida resort town. And where would you go to get away from it all?”

“Oh, look at you being all rational and logical!” Barry teased her. “So, what's up? Problems while I was away?”

Leah straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. “No problems whatsoever! I just wanted to touch base with you about Casey Fontaine and her group that rents out the ballroom for their charity events.” She took a seat in the cushy, upholstered chair next to her boss' desk. He took his hand off his mouse and looked at her expectantly. “I met with Casey on Friday and she was very pleased with The Pearl, both the accommodations and the staff. She had a request though, and I didn't feel comfortable giving her a firm answer until I'd discussed the matter with you.”

“Okay, what kind of request?” Barry asked, his eyebrows raised with curiosity. His skin was glowing from the Florida sunshine and Leah thought he looked five or ten years younger than he had before prior to his vacation. Barry was divorced; he'd never had kids. Leah always had the impression that the long hours he'd worked to pull himself up through the ranks to senior management had contributed to his marital demise, but he'd never confirmed her suspicions. Leah knew he had gotten divorced long before moving to Ocean City. He'd worked all over the country, most recently in Las Vegas before landing his position at The Pearl. He originally hailed from Pennsylvania, as did many of the people who resided on the Delmarva Peninsula year-round.

“Well,” Leah began, trying to access that part of her brain where the script she'd written for this conversation was stored. “I am not sure how much you know about Casey's group. It's a charity group, yes, but they also practice an alternative lifestyle.”

Now she had captured Barry's undivided attention. He was leaning forward, his elbows on his desk, his mind visibly spinning with various interpretations of Leah's words. “Um...okay...alternative how?” He took a sip of coffee while he awaited his young protégé's response.

Leah tried to explain without any tone of judgment: “They're swingers,” she simply stated.

She thought Barry might spit his coffee clear across the office. “What?!” he sputtered with evident surprise. She was sure he was blushing, but he was so tan, it was difficult to tell if the color was from the sun or embarrassment. “Well, isn't that interesting?” he finally said, rendered unable to formulate any other intelligible response.

Leah had managed to stay calm and collected. She had known for so long now that the element of shock had completely vanished. Now it was just a reality that needed to be dealt with. Would The Pearl be able to accommodate this group's wishes without alienating their other patrons? That was really the question at stake. “They seem like a very close group and Ms. Fontaine seems committed to making sure we maintain a good relationship. They're just asking for a little leniency...”

“What do you mean by 'leniency?'” Barry asked. She'd never seen his eyes so wide.

“Well, they have the ballroom rented and they want to be able to do some contests and other things that might require some nudity or public displays of...um...affection. They just want to make sure that the parameters are agreed upon beforehand. Ms. Fontaine is extremely conscientious and respectful of The Pearl and our other guests,” Leah explained. She was trying to maintain a neutral stance so she could get Barry's unbiased reaction, but she couldn't help revealing her pro-Casey's Group slant. And no one was more surprised by that slant than Leah herself.

“So, what are your thoughts on the matter?” Barry asked, also trying to display his best poker-face.

“Since the group is contained in the room and all the doors are shut, in other words, there's a great deal of privacy, I think we should grant their request...within reason, of course. I mean, if we aren't able to meet their needs, they'll pull out from The Pearl and some other hotel will claim all that revenue. From what I understand, that is what happened with their last contract.” Leah tried to drill down to the heart of the matter, the heart being money, a concept near and dear to her boss' heart.

“That seems like a legitimate concern,” Barry agreed. “I would hate to lose their business. If the group members really enjoy The Pearl, it could spawn more business, the group could grow, and word will get out. I think it's very important that we do whatever is in our power to please the group.” He was running different scenarios and contingencies through his mind. “Okay,” he finally said, his fingers interlaced on the surface of his desk, “how about if you tell her we will accept nudity from the waist up and PDAs are okay, just not public sex. And only in the ballroom, not in the hallways or other public areas of the hotel.”

Leah typed a few quick notes on the tablet she carried with her to meetings. “That sounds reasonable,” she stated, folding the cover back over the electronic device.

Barry's vacation grin returned. “I have to say I'm a little intrigued about what some of these contests might entail!” He laughed and gulped down the rest of his coffee, jovially slamming the mug back down on his wooden desk. “You just never know what you're going to run into in this business, do you?”

Leah had to admit that she'd seen a lot of unusual things in her time in the industry: the good, the bad, the ugly, she thought, the funny, the sad. Maybe I'll have enough material to write a book someday, she considered as she headed back to her office to call Casey Fontaine. She had a feeling Casey would be pleased with what she had to relay.

Leah was restless in her bed that night, contemplating the fact that she'd had quite a productive day at work, but a rather fruitless one on the dating site. She was starting to wonder why she had even bothered. If I get one more email saying nothing but “hi how r u,” without even the decency of proper capitalization and punctuation, I might scream, she thought. Tension gripped the muscles in her neck like the talons of a hawk grip its prey. Her body stiffened, but she took a deep breath, trying in vain to relax.

She could hear her puppy snoring in the next room. Glory had fallen asleep on the sofa, her body curled so that her head and tail nearly met. She had one long, floppy ear draped over her cheek and part of her muzzle, concealing the dreamy smile she often got while she slumbered. Leah was used to having her warm body snuggled against her on the bed but tonight she was cold and alone. She was sure Glory's absence was contributing to her inability to usher in the sandman.

She had gone back to work late in the evening to finish up some paperwork that needed to be faxed first thing in the morning. When she left she decided to stroll through the lobby to check on the front desk night staff rather than her typical exit through the back to the parking lot. After being assured all was well, she made her way out the marble-tiled entrance of The Pearl and cut back through the gardens and the patio adjacent to the pool area on her way to the parking lot.

In the thick shadows, she saw two entwined black silhouettes. It was a pair of lovers embracing, moving gently in the pale moonlight, eclipsing each other so that at times it was impossible to discern where one body began and the other ended. She paused behind a tree to watch them.

In the darkness, she could not tell if the couple was young or old, beautiful or ugly, but her overactive imagination pictured a dashing younger man with thick dark hair and piercing, intense eyes and a striking young woman with alabaster skin, flowing raven tresses and full berry-colored lips. She was paralyzed in the shadow of the tree, holding her breath and straining to hear if the lovers made any sounds. She could have sworn she heard a sigh as the woman arched back, her white throat exposed to the cool night, offering her tender flesh to her lover's hungry mouth. Leah thought she could hear their heartbeats growing stronger as their arousal deepened, but she soon realized it was her own heartbeat quickening in response to the show.

The man held the woman by her waist, his hand gripping the small of her back and pulling her into him. Their mouths met, unifying their shadows again. This time when the woman pulled away, she fumbled with the buttons of her blouse, exposing her round breasts which matched her white throat in color. The man bent his head, his hands still around her waist, lifting her toward him so that he could taste her. Leah heard her moan echo through the still air and imagined his teeth had raked against her nipple.

She remembered the image, the mostly black and shades of moon-drenched gray parts as well as the parts her mind had colorized as they were held up to a fantasized light. She reheard the sounds, both real and imagined, and the memories set off a dull ache that radiated through her body. She felt her thighs quiver as she moved her hand between them. It had been so long since she had been touched like the woman in the garden. It had even been quite a long time since she had touched herself. Thus, her body seemed surprised to feel slim, nimble digits parting the soft flesh between her legs, and likewise her fingertip seemed equally surprised to find the warm wetness that seeped onto her skin.

Leah sighed at the feeling of her own touch, wondering what it might be like to be caught up in a passionate rapture, devoured like a last meal in the arms of a lover. She longed to feel those strong hands encircling her own waist, to feel the hardness of her lover's teeth as they bit into her breast.

She gasped as her index finger slid all the way inside her sex, feeling the walls of it wrap around her like an embrace. It had been awhile since she had pleasured herself. It wasn't that she felt it wrong – although she wasn't sure her parents or their church would agree – it was that she worked so hard that by the time she realized she had a build-up of tension requiring a release, she had collapsed into bed with Glory snuggled up against her, both pet and owner succumbing to slumber before her mind could wander through the land of make-believe lovers and salacious trysts.

Leah began to rub her fingers against her swollen clitoris as her other hand found her breast. She squeezed her nipple between her fingertips and felt a jolt on the verge between pain and pleasure surge through her, a line of electricity that flowed from the one hand on her breast directly to the other that massaged her sex. Pressing her eyelids shut and throwing her head back against the pillow, she went back to imagining herself in the position of the woman in the moonlit garden. She felt her thighs begin to tense and her breaths begin to quicken as the pressure mounted toward its peak.

The shadowy figure to which she'd originally ascribed dark hair and youthful features began to morph under the influence of her imagination. She pictured him hovering above her, poised with his erect cock throbbing against her lower abdomen. “I want you, Leah,” he grunted, pushing his hips into her and shifting until the head of his member rested directly at the top of her slit.

The voice, she had heard it before; it sounded so familiar. Her thighs were trembling beneath him as she pressed her backside into the bed to give him access. She opened her eyes to see if he was looking at her and they were the deep blue of the ocean. He slowly sank into her and she felt herself explode, the walls of her sex squeezing the two fingers that had been moving inside her. As the waves dissipated, it became apparent that her imagination was making love to Captain Chris Sheldon.