The Legend of Arturo King Read online

  The engine started with a soft roar and I motioned for Guinevere to sit in the seat opposite me in the old Criss Craft boat. It was an antique practically, restored to its original wooden gleam and glory, and one of the few items I retained from the inheritance of my father. The boat had too much potential to get rid of it and I hired someone to refinish the wood exterior and replace the red canvas interior. It was a gorgeous boat for a gorgeous day on a gorgeous lake. The denim-blue water spanned ahead as I kicked up the accelerator and sped across the open water.

  Guinevere seemed content, and with the noise of the engine, it was hard to make conversation, which made me realize that this ride was similar to the car ride from the day before. We were in silence and I wanted to talk. I wanted to learn more about her. I slowed the engine to a crawl and asked her if she would be interested in just stopping to hang out in the sun for a while. The lake was deep and I suggested we simply drift for a bit.

  Guinie moved to the bow of the boat and I joined her. We lay side by side, and I looked at her shining eyes. Her face was angled toward the sun. Her hair seemed to glisten in the sunshine. I skimmed her lean body, full breasts, and long legs. Her red bikini was leaving nothing to the imagination. She barely had anything covering her. Strings at her hips. Strings around her neck and across her back. Four slips and I could have the suit off her and take her.

  “I heard you playing last night,” I began to distract myself.

  Her gaze shot in my direction; however, she didn’t respond.

  “You’re very good.”

  She twisted her lips as if she had something to say but wasn’t sure how to say it.

  “Have you ever considered playing for a group? Not an orchestra, but a group. Like a band.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me, still not responding.

  “I have a friend who plays in a group of women. They travel. They entertain. They headline with famous bands, at times.” Here I raised an eyebrow at her. “They are based in New York, which I know isn’t Boston, but still … it could be a good start.”

  She continued to look at me and I wasn’t even sure she had blinked.

  “What are they called?” she finally spoke.

  “4G. They’re a string quartet. Quartet. Four. And all girls. G.” I smiled after my explanation.

  “If they already have four, they won’t need a fifth for a quartet.”

  “They might want to be the 5G,” I joked.

  She smiled, but didn’t laugh.

  “Okay. Let me just call. Maybe they know someone, although to be with them would be ideal.”

  “Ideal for whom?” she bit and it was my turn to blink. Was I insulting her? I reached for her, tracing a finger down her arm.

  “Guinie. I’m not trying to offend you. I’m trying to help you. If it isn’t what you want, just say. It was only a suggestion.”

  She sighed.

  “I’m sorry.” An unexpected tear slipped from her eye. Suddenly flustered, I propped myself up on my elbow and moved closer to her. Less than an inch separated my bare chest from her side breast and I longed to be closer to comfort her, but wanted to kick myself for making her cry and my punishment was not to touch her.

  “I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, it’s just I don’t know what I want anymore,” she said softly.

  “I can understand that,” I said and now I did touch her by stroking her arm again with my fingers as I had a moment ago.

  “I appreciate the offer. I really do.” She turned her head to look at me now and her face was inches from mine. Another tear escaped from her other eye and I reached for it at the same time she did. I wiped it with my thumb, stilling my hand on her cheek. She rested her hand over mine, holding it in place. We stared at each other for a moment before I leaned down to kiss her gently.

  It was a soft kiss. Her lips were warm and moist, and I felt tortured as I brushed my lips over hers for the briefest of seconds. With her hand still holding mine on her cheek, I pulled back slightly, but she leaned toward me as if following me on a pull string. I pressed my lips to hers again, this time more firmly. I actually tasted her this time. Sweet. Delicious. A sumptuous fruit.

  When a small sigh swept against my mouth from hers, I deepened the kiss. Forcefully my mouth covered hers and her sigh became a moan. Taking that as an invitation, I pulled back on her lower lip gently with my teeth and her lips parted. My lips devoured her again as my tongue entered her and stroked hers. Her hand slipped off mine, which had made its way to her hair, tugging gently to angle her head for better pressure. Her own hand slid up my bare chest, sending a shiver across me, and I closed the inch separation by pressing my body against hers. Her hand burned a trail up my hot skin and wrapped around my own neck, threading her fingers through the hair at the back. She tugged on it as well and pressed her body against mine in response.

  My desire for her was evident and in her small suit and my thin swimming shorts there was no way Guinevere was unaware of what I wanted most from her, but I wasn’t going to take her on the boat, in the open, on a public lake. I slipped my leg between hers and smoothed my knee up her inner thigh, stopping to press against the juncture between her legs.

  “Arturo,” she gasped against my mouth despite my tongue inside her own. I added pressure to the position of my knee and I felt her legs open farther, resulting in one wrapping over my own.

  “Arturo,” she moaned again as she moved against my bare thigh.

  My hands didn’t roam despite the itch to touch her everywhere. Once I let my hands take control, I would be lost to my resolve not to take her in the open air. I gripped the back of her neck firmly, more as a means to keep my hands in place, but she squirmed on my leg again and I almost lost control. My hard-on was pressed firmly into her thin hip bone, and I longed to move the short distance across her lower body to match up our sensitive parts.

  “Arturo … I have to … I need to … stop … oh God…” she whined.

  I pulled back slowly. I knew ‘stop’ meant ‘stop,’ but there was desperation in her tone. I didn’t want to misunderstand, but I sensed ‘stop’ in that sigh was more of Guinevere talking herself out of something that she wanted, but didn’t think she should have.

  “Are you sure?” I whispered against her mouth, continuing to kiss her softly, running my tongue openly across the seams of her lips. I pressed my thigh firmly between her legs and heard her whimper. In pleasure.

  “Take it, Guinevere. Take whatever you want from me. It’s yours.” I continued to kiss her and caress her with my tongue. Her hand slipped to my thigh and I felt her dig her short nails into my skin, which burned from her touch. I felt her hips move, returning the pressure against my leg.

  “That a girl,” I whispered against her mouth. She was panting and gasping against me, and if I had to guess, she was close.

  “Want me to touch you, Guinie? Use my fingers? My mouth?” I said softly as I trailed a path to her ear with kisses. Those words were all it took and she went over the edge, clamping her legs around my thigh and squeezing as she pulled her lips away from me, tipping her head back, closing her eyes, murmuring my name.

  “Arturo, Arturo, Arturo.”

  Her small hand held tightly to my bicep. As she came down from the high, I felt her relax under me. Her legs unwrapped and slid from mine as if weightless. She unclenched her hand on my arm and slid it down my sun-warmed skin to my wrist. I had pulled back from kissing her and watched her come down, knowing I had never seen anything as beautiful as when she was up.

  Her eyes sprang open and she turned her head to look at me. For a moment she looked as if she had woken from a dream and then her face transformed to horror.

  “Oh my God,” she said as she pushed herself up to sit and covered her face with her hands.

  “That was so embarrassing,” she muttered into her open palms.

  I sat up next to her, stroking her bare back, stopping at the tie in the middle before continuing down to the base of her.

  “Why?
”

  “Oh my God. This is terrible. I can’t believe … I didn’t mean…”

  I sensed her panic and in response to her sense of flight, I pulled her down and rolled on top of her. She lay lifeless under me and looked away.

  “Hey,” I said as I used a finger under her chin to make her look up at me. “Why was that terrible?” I asked in all honesty.

  “I didn’t mean for that to happen. You must think…” she stopped.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “I don’t think anything. Anything terrible. You didn’t like that?”

  “Like that?” she laughed. “I’ve never done anything like that before in my life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She shook her head, refusing to speak.

  “Tell me.”

  She closed her eyes, shutting me out.

  “Tell me,” I demanded and her eyes sprang open.

  “I’ve never had an orgasm like that. And I’ve never done it like that before. And I didn’t mean for this to happen…” she trailed off again.

  I smiled a crooked smile before I kissed her again. She didn’t respond at first, but it was only for a moment before she returned my sweet encouragement.

  “Did you like that?” I asked. “Did it feel good?”

  She was blushing, I knew, despite the redness from the sun on her face. The blush had nowhere to hide in all her exposed skin.

  “Tell me you liked it, Guinie,” I whispered, letting my breath kiss her lips. I hovered above her mouth waiting for her answer.

  “I liked it,” she sighed. “I liked it a lot. It felt … amazing.”

  I captured her warm lips again, forcing them open immediately with my tongue, dancing with hers. When I pulled back from her, sucking on her lower lip before breaking the kiss, I could feel her eyes staring at me.

  “What about you?” she swallowed, looking nervous.

  “What about me?” I paused. “I’m fine. That was for you, Guinie. Anything for you.”

  She smiled slowly, quirking up one side of her lips. “The gossip is right. You are generous.”

  My mouth opened with a pop and I pressed myself up on my elbows, releasing some of the weight I had placed on her.

  “What?” I laughed. She didn’t answer, but she laughed as well.

  “That’s it. In you go.” In one move, I wrapped my arm under her back, pulled her to me, and rolled us off the edge of the boat and into the water. I needed the shock of the cold to calm my own body down. I didn’t want to be selfish, but I was anything but fine with her under me. I needed her. Her kiss. Her touch. Her release. For my own.

  Coming up to the surface of the dark water, I heard her scream.

  “Oh my God, that’s cold,” she shrieked as she wiped her hands over her face to clear some water. I shook my head to the side to move my hair as I wiped my own face. She was treading water and I laughed.

  “We needed to cool off.”

  “Cool off. This is fricking cold.”

  “Guinie. Did you almost swear?” I laughed again.

  She laughed as well.

  “If I didn’t know better, I think you might like a little dirty talk. Come on, Guinie. Say it. Say fucking,” I teased. Her mouth opened before she dove for me, placing her hands on my head as she spoke.

  “That’s it. Under you go,” and she pushed me down into the cold darkness. I pulled her with me, placing my hands on her slender hips. We were only under for a moment before we both broke the surface again. My hands remained on her hips as we treaded water, occasionally tangling our legs together.

  “I wasn’t supposed to go under with you,” she giggled again, wiping her face. I had slipped my hand around her waist and pulled her to me. Instinctively she placed her arm around my neck to hold herself up and I used my other hand to wrap her leg around me. Both legs went up and suddenly I was balancing her in the water. Her legs wrapped around my waist, her arm around my neck, she used the other arm to try to tread.

  “I want you to go wherever I go,” I said, looking at her. She stared at me and I had to kiss her again. We were too close. As I caressed her lips with my own, I felt her shift. It was hard to tread water for both of us and I used my hands to move her hips, lining us up to one another under the water.

  The cold had done nothing to sooth my hard-on, as it returned almost immediately when I teased her about talking dirty. With her legs wrapped around me, it was too easy to push her downward and hold her against my most vital part. I couldn’t continue to kick, kiss, and press, though, and we slipped under the water. Guinevere let go of me to push upward.

  “I’m going to drown you,” she sighed, moving away from me to tread on her own.

  “I’m okay,” I said as I took in a mouth full of lake water and immediately spit it back out. I saw her shiver and her teeth chattered twice.

  “Let’s get out and have some lunch,” I suggested, the intimate moment now over.

  Guinevere

  I tried to ignore my spontaneous orgasm, but my body kept reminding me each time I thought of it with a pulsing sensation in my most sensitive area. Arturo certainly did a good job of trying to distract me the remainder of the day as we ate lunch, swam again in the water, laid on the boat, and took a lazy late afternoon cruise around the large lake.

  As we were returning back to the dock, I shivered. It wasn’t that the air was cold, but the spray off the lake was cool as the day began to turn to evening. Arturo pointed to his bag, telling me that he had an extra sweatshirt if I wanted to pull it on as our towels were too wet to cover me and keep me comfortable.

  As I finished pulling the warm, dry clothing over my body, I noticed Arturo watching me. He smiled slowly.

  “You look good in my clothing,” he said as he raised his chin in my direction. I looked down at myself and laughed. The shirt was long and covered me, but it also made me look like I didn’t have anything on underneath. Arturo motioned for me to come to him and he held his arm open for me to step in front of him. He drove the boat slowly back toward the dock with me balanced between his legs. I leaned back against him and he would occasionally push my hair to the side and kiss my neck. Sometimes he would pull the sweatshirt off my shoulder and kiss me there. Other times he would wind my hair in his hand and tug my head back to lean on his shoulder. Whatever he did, he could continually touch me and I felt worshipped for the rest of the boat ride.

  I worried that once we reached the dock the enchantment of the day would be over. After all, the lake had been private despite it being open public property. No one noticed us on the water. Back at Arturo’s home, I was certain things would be different. He wouldn’t want to be associated with me publicly.

  I recalled that three times the day before there had been implications from his friends that I was with Arturo in some manner, when actually I hadn’t been. But now? I wasn’t sure what to label what had happened throughout the day. Certainly he would think me silly for having an orgasm on our first, and probably only, kiss. The spontaneity of it showed my inexperience and innocence, and I tried not to think about it as I savored what I assumed would be our last moments together.

  “Did you have fun today, Guinie?” he asked in my ear, sending a shiver of pure excitement down my spine.

  “Yes. Thank you for taking me on the water, Arturo.” My words were suggestive, but my voice was sad and he turned my chin so I could look at him. He scanned my face, his eyes showing he questioned me before he kissed me chastely on the lips once then returned his attention to the approaching dock. I made to move so he could have better control as he slowed the boat to a crawl.

  “Not yet,” he hissed as he placed a hand on my hip, preventing me from stepping away from him. I turned to smile at him over my shoulder before straightening toward the dock, where I saw Ana standing next to Lans.

  I pulled myself forward, but Arturo kept his hand on my hip, squeezing his fingers to keep me in place. I held my breath and didn’t move. Arturo skillfully maneuvered the
boat into the slip as Lans reached down and grabbed the rope off the front to tie it up.

  “We came down to help,” Ana stated, “but it seems you landed perfectly.” Her smile was evil, in my opinion. Unlike most smiles, there was nothing friendly about Ana’s. She was eying the position of me between Arturo’s thighs. Lans, on the other hand, was not looking at either of us. He worked diligently on securing the water vessel, then stood and brushed off his hands on his long shorts.

  Arturo cut the engine, gently pushing me forward to release me, and I moved on shaking legs. Whether from the sudden stop of the rocking motion or the removal from Arturo, I couldn’t be sure, so I held onto the seat to steady myself as I gathered my things. I went to remove Arturo’s sweatshirt, but he stopped me, giving me a serious look.

  “Leave it on,” his voice demanded.

  He helped me out of the boat, but dropped my hand immediately, picking up the picnic basket and his backpack, then walked in front of me up the dock. For a moment I felt like I was walking my last mile before a death sentence. I suddenly felt very alone.

  At the street, Lans fell into step next to Arturo, leaving Ana to drop back next to me. We crossed the road as a foursome and began the slow climb up the gravel path to Arturo’s home.

  “I see Arturo has taken you for his famous afternoon boat ride,” Ana spoke, whipping her hair over one shoulder. Her raven-colored hair was shiny and sleek, and I knew that my messy bun of wet, lake-smelling hair did not compare to Ana’s. Her legs were long as she took purposeful steps and I felt I had to walk twice as fast to keep up. I didn’t wish to reply to Ana’s comment, though.

  “He took a picnic? Sweet. I bet you swam and splashed in the water. He told you a secret about the enchantment of the woods surrounding his home and the lake. I’m sure he kissed you, right?”

  Despite my fresh sunburned skin, I knew a blush was forming on my cheeks. The blush would be a confession and an affirmation to all that Ana had said. He had told me many things throughout the day that he did claim to be secrets, including more details about his fatherhood to Morte. I fought the image of Arturo doing the same things we had done today with Ana. After all, wasn’t I in Ana’s room? Surely there was more to the story of Ana and Arturo simply having baby Morte. I suddenly felt bile rise to my mouth and I swallowed hard as I gripped the bottom edge of Arturo’s sweatshirt.