He found his groove in the water.
“Am I hurting you?” He pulled out, almost all the way.
“Amazing—keep going.” To show my comfort, I fell back, floating in the water.
Weightlessness surrounded us.
In long, slow strokes, he fucked me. The sunset cast shadows across his face. His skin was illuminated with amber hues of paradise. Leon spoke to me in French, caressing my breasts, saying beautiful things to me that sounded lyrical and poetic.
For a minute, I closed my eyes, taking all of this in. Hypnotic! My senses felt intoxicated in a newfound euphoria. My hair floated around me as if petals in the wind.
The water’s level rose up past my ears, over my eyelashes. Hands at my sides, they seemed unattached to the rest of me.
Leon’s grip at my torso tightened. His penetration taught. Hips pulsating faster, he was going to come. So was I. Again.
Inhaling deeply through my nose, he impaled me. Just a small oval of air at the surface circled over my face. It felt cool. The rest of me was submerged into the sea with ecstasy.
A noise, faint at first, sent a humming sensation through the water. Leon’s orgasm brought new meaning to…feeling the earth shake. Holy shit!
Suddenly Leon pulled me against him. I thought he was going to growl naughtiness in my ear, but instead he shouted, “Aeroplane!”
“What?” Disoriented, I blinked. Hearing the plane, I rubbed my eyes and asked, “Where is it coming from?”
Leon’s fingers locked with mine. Our spirits filled with hope. Together, we glanced up at the sky. A moving light, a shooting star, soared closer in our direction.
“It’s flying over us.” My mouth hung open. “Can they see us?”
“Over here!” Leon shook his arms. “Looks like your friends sent a search team after all.”
Shouting, waving our hands, we made as much noise as possible. I felt relief. Leon was right. If I believed my friends would come for us, they would, and they did.
A moment later, the jet flew straight over us. It was close enough for me to see their logo, Americana Airways. “That’s a commercial carrier.” Grabbing on to Leon’s shoulder, I said, “Probably people on vacation, going to Eden.”
His face turned in the direction of the jet. The light faded back to a small, glittery diamond in the sky. “We are far from shore.”
“I’m gonna scream.” Pissed off, I didn’t imagine my frustration could escalate to much worse. I was wrong.
“Mademoiselle, you already have screamed plenty.” He laughed and splashed at me. “Are you rested? Shall we swim?”
“No. I need a minute.” Jiminy Criminy, we had sex, I came once, almost twice, a plane just flew over our heads, and he wants to swim. I’d like to take a hot shower, to eat cold pizza, and to curl up in his arms on the sofa. On my back, I resumed the floating position and tried to get my heartbeat under control. Okay, I wanted him to fuck me again.
“I like this sweeter side of you.” His feet came up. He rested back on the water as if it were a chaise lounge.
“Why do you say that?”
“You are difficult to work with.”
“Likewise,” I snapped, kicking the water at him.
The sunset was almost over. Shades of dark blue and night came over us.
“Gus, Fab, and I have rules about working with models.”
“Oh…what are they?”
“You are a subject to be shot. Not a woman to be played with or entertained.”
Interesting concept they had going. “Modeling aside, I’m never to be played with.”
“Noted, Mademoiselle.”
“However, you broke the entertainment rule.” I reached over tickling his naval.
He garbled water, sat up in the ocean, and declared, “New circumstances.”
“Life or death,” I elaborated, acting as if it this wasn’t happening to us. I kept my eyes on the purple sky. Darkness came in from the corners.
“Also you are much nicer now. Maybe the crash did you some good.”
“Ha!” I couldn’t believe Leon was taunting me. “I have been nothing but nice since day one.”
Gently he pulled at my arm and swam forward, taking me with him. “Your agent warned us about you.” Pushing me a few feet further, Leon then swam up ahead.
“Minnie loves me.” Not. I could only imagine what she’d told them. “What did she say?”
“The truth.”
“Spill it.” I rolled over on my stomach dog-paddling behind him.
He turned back and said, “On a conference call, Minnie told us 36C-25-35.”
“Typical, you know my measurements.” Squeezing my eyes tight, I tried not to get water in them. The saltwater stung.
“No. I know you.” He stopped swimming and came close.
“Prove it.” I held on to my life jacket. I almost forgot how stunning Leon was until I caught the tops of his shoulders and that face of his in the moonlight. I trembled.
“Minnie told us you got a bad rap, spent time in jail, hated modeling, are photogenic, and this would be a make it or break it year for you.”
The water tasted saltier on my lips than in my eyes while hearing Leon size up my so-called life. I hadn’t thought about this year like that. Come to think of it, eighteen was my make it or break it year indeed.
“Anyone can find that gossip about me online. Read a few past issues of People magazine.” I shrugged it off, making a joke. “Photogenic, huh? Are you saying I look better on film than in person?”
“I mean, your agent believes in you. You should believe in yourself too.”
“I do……in other areas of my life. I don’t care about modeling.”
“Well you should.”
“Why?”
“Taddy, you could be the next Giselle. Work with what you have.”
Giselle was soon becoming an icon to those in the industry. Minnie had said on my occasions I could be Giselle’s doppelganger. Personally, I didn’t see the resemblance. Pretty and gorgeous, she was everything I wasn’t.
“Nah.” I splashed him with a kick of my legs. “I wanna go to college. Maybe start a business. I don’t like being in front of the camera.”
“Gus could tell.”
“Really?”
“Oui. Mademoiselle is virgin doe in the woods, scared.”