H. C. Hawkes

For couples only

CHAPTER ONE

A naked woman in her early thirties came out of the house. She closed the door behind her and turned, watching the couple out near the pool. They too were naked, dancing belly to belly and cheek to cheek. The portable tape player was too loud now. All the neighbors were in bed. She stooped and turned down the volume, balancing a tray with four fresh drinks carefully on her tanned thighs. The eight-foot-high concrete fence around the back yard kept out prying eyes from the Leatherman patio, but the sound of sweet music from back in the big band days could antagonize their new neighbors. She didn't want that. The high fence had set tongues to wagging and acted as a barrier down here in the South. Montgomery, Alabama, the Heart of Dixie. She chuckled at the lack of Southern hospitality they'd received. The only thing warm about Alabama was the weather.

It was the middle of summer, almost midnight on a Saturday night. The air was still. Leaves hung limp in the big elm by the side of the patio. Crickets chirped softly in the thick grass beyond. A few lightning bugs flashed as they flew silently across the yard. Lucia stood up, congratulating herself for spraying the insect repellent about the patio before their across-the-street neighbors and only local friends, the young Dunstons had arrived for the back yard barbecue. All four of them had been nude for well over an hour, and not one had suffered even a hint of a mosquito bite. She made a mental note to get several cans of the spray as she walked quietly to the glider, where Boyd Dunston sat transfixed, his eyes glued to the dancing couple. The girl swaying her midsection against the man's hairy abdomen was Faith, his innocent bride of less than a year.

His face retaining its sullen expression, Boyd accepted the drink from Lucia with a grunt. He had been against swimming in the nude from the first. He was still against it. He'd been afraid it would lead to something like this. Now that it had, he was sorry he'd let the Leathermans talk them into it. Faith thought it was daring, thrilling. But what did she know? She was only eighteen and had never been outside the state. He'd known better, being a man of twenty-three and not long out of the Navy. Why had he finally agreed to the nude swim?

The drinks, he decided. And the calm way both Lucia and Dirk Leatherman had kept bringing the conversation back to how healthy nudism was. Maybe nude swimming is healthy, he thought, but things can fast get out of hand when the drinks come continuously and nobody bothers to count.

The glider jerked as Lucia sat down beside him. Ice cubes tinkled as she sipped at her drink. She sighed and set her glass on the patio table. She got two cigarettes and lit them both, handing one to Boyd as she leaned back and ran her soft hand lightly over his thigh.

"Thanks," Boyd said. He pulled deeply on his smoke, then exhaled forcefully, his eyes never leaving the dancing couple.

"Ten minutes," Lucia said in a hoarse whisper.

"What?"

She smiled, letting her cool fingers walk up the inside of his thigh. "From the looks of things, it'll only take about ten more minutes."