Jess shifted in her recliner, paused her reading for a moment to look over at her husband. Scott was also in his recliner reading on this cloudy afternoon, and she thought for a moment that, for newlyweds, their life was not that exciting. Sure, they have a loving relationship, and even when they're both reading like this, they frequently stop to hold hands or check in with each other - sometimes just touching the back of her hand to his. Small moments of affection.
She knows he isn't really getting enough sex from her. Jess has always had a strong libido, but unfortunately that libido is usually reserved for her vibrator. Sex with Scott tends to be brief, always leaving her aching for more - more penetration, more time, more everything.
The book she's reading is not wonderful, but getting better: "The Glass Virgin" is a cross-class tale set in 1800s England. Throughout the novel, there's been an increasing tension between the two central characters, Manuel and Annabella. Jess begins to drift off and closes her eyes for a few moments.
Annabella at 16 has been raised to be the most refined of ladies, but her newfound knowledge that she is the bastard child of a prostitute and a boxer has shocked her delicate senses. She wonders if maybe, just maybe, this explains some of those forbidden and dangerous feelings she has sometimes experienced at bathtime, or in the deepest parts of night when her body feels like she has been struck by lightening. She wonders if there is anyone she can ask about these feelings - certainly not Mama, or the woman she has always called Mama - and she can't really think of anyone else who would be able to listen to her. Except, perhaps, Manuel.
Manuel Mendoza is a giant of a man. Standing a head above most men, and as strong as the horses he tames, his Spanish darkness seems incongruous with his Irish brogue. Though raised in servitude, he has always made his own future, and calls no man his master. He has cared for Miss Annabella since she was a wee child of 10, taught her to ride horses like a man, and been a friend to her in the darkness of the castle she calls home.
"MβManuel?" Annabella appeared before him in her finest riding clothes one Saturday morning.
"Why Miss Annabella, what are you doing about so early on a Saturday morn?" replied Manuel, startled to find her in his quarters.
Eyes downcast, Annabella slowly came forward, until Manuel cleared a stool for her to sit on. "Please have a sit, Miss. What can an old groom help you with today?"
Annabella, still moving slowly, cautiously, raised her head and met his eyes. He was startled by the fiery look he found in them. "Manuel, what is to become of me? Will I become a prostitute now that I know this is my true heritage? Will I continue to feel more fire between my legs when I ride Stormy, and feel such forbidden things when Watford gives my bath? Will you help me banish these thoughts forever? Mama can't help me, she already thinks I am the devil, and I'm not, Manuel, I'm really not -- I want to be a good girl and don't want these thoughts in my head anymore, andβ"
"Miss Annabella, stop!" Manuel stood, pulling her arms up with him. "Please, Miss Annabella. You are not a devil, and you are not going to hell. You are the lady your mother raised you to be. But, Miss, as for helping you, well..." he trailed off, thinking he may say too much.
He was growing uncomfortably aware of her body, and its undeniable curves in the still-childish dress. She is so beautiful, he thought... but no! He must send her back to the House. "Miss Annabella, I think you should go on now and spend the afternoon at tea with your Mama. She will know best."
Jess woke with a start, one hand between her legs. God, if only she could just come as easily as men seem to. Once she gets going, she is hot hot hot and nothing can seem to really quench that fire, and she'll just want to eat up every man she comes into contact with... but, it just seemed like that didn't happen much anymore. Not like in the beginning.