Once again, I'd like to thank Techsan for the marvelous editing job. I'd also like to thank everyone who rated and commented on the first chapter of my first story. This chapter contains a bit more character development, so I apologize before hand for the lack of "steamy" content. I am still getting the hang of telling the story in a way that doesn't have you going back to ask, "...but why did he/she....?" I welcome all feedback. It's the only way I can improve the story and my writing. Merci!
Chapter 2
Lu awoke from her self-induced, post-coital haze only after hearing her name called a second time. The cobwebs of inebriation had long since sweated from her system, leaving her sore and tested body resting languidly on the banks of the pond. This was the pond that she and her childhood friend used to share on hot summer afternoons like this.
He had left home. He had forgotten about her. A self-centered, arrogant man had returned in his place. Now this man was calling her from the path leading to her embarrassment; she seemed powerless to avoid the inevitable shame that would surely show in his eyes.
She had only been allowed to enjoy a few seconds of satisfaction before she heard him call her name and realized she had shed her clothes along the path to her purgatory. He would be at the edge of the clearing in a few moments if his voice accurately betrayed the distance between them.
Propping herself up on one elbow, Lu listened intently for his footsteps on the well-trodden path. It would be impossible to lie about what she was doing if he found her lying here on the bankâdrunk, naked and revealed. Her only hope was to jump into the icy waters and allow Daniel to discover only two of her secretsânot that he would have given a damn anyway. The young man had paid her scant attention these past four years.
Daniel's sour attitude and aloof behavior was what had driven her to seek the sanctuary of the cool waters and shady bank of their pond in the first place. She'd had fond memories of their friendship on this grassy shore. Using this sanctuary as a private place for sensual exploration and escape seemed only natural to her. Emboldened by her solitude and the mental lubrication afforded by Mother Carven's peach wine, Lu had honed her sensual craft into a fine art during the previous spring eveningsâher body was the canvas, her nimble fingers the artist's brush.
But she had been wrong to trust the silence and solitude of this lazy hot afternoon. Discovery of her shame lay just beyond the brush lining the shore of the watering hole; and, as she dove into the crisp, clear water of the pond, she silently prayed that skinny dipping and drinking were all Danny would discover when he reached the clearing to the water's edge.
"Goddamit, Lu, Mama is gonna beat your ass when she finds out that you've been drinking and swimming instead of weeding the back garden." Daniel's voice thundered; the irritation in his familiar southern drawl was unmistakable.
"Oh, and if you think I'm going to miss my first Sunday dinner since I got back from school just because your lazy ass can't be bothered to do what you are told, you got another thing coming," Daniel continued, his misplaced irritation rising as he scooped up Lu's discarded clothes littering the path.
Hearing himself, he winced at his words. He'd meant to sound recriminating and annoyed, not cruel and angry. But the guilt of his own sinâhis self-pleasuring at Lu's expenseâwas tying his stomach in knots, forcing him to overcompensate. He had violated Lu. Without laying a finger on her, he had intruded on her privacy and used her body. He was more than ashamed; he was crestfallen at his actions.
Worse still, his desire to touch herâto feel his naked body pressed against hers, had not been slaked. If anything, the memory of what had just transpired on the banks of the pond had begun to arouse him anew. He would have to keep his distance, or suffer the betrayal of his body. Even now as he stood at the water's edge watching Lu, the smooth brown skin of her naked shoulders clearly visible as she turned to face him from the safety of the water, he felt a familiar tightness in his groin. His only relief was in the knowledge that Lu had been sober enough to get up and dive into the water, preserving what little modesty the pond could afford her.
As he stood at the edge of the pond, Daniel lifted Lu's discarded clothes up over his head before resuming his verbal attack on the girl.
"Unless you want an ass-full of thorns and brambles, you'd better get your butt up here, put on your clothes and get up to the house," he demanded. "Your mama sent me to collect you and I don't have time to play games with your lazy ass."
Again, he inwardly winced at the harshness in his tone and hoped that the distance between them had softened its tenor.
Refusing to be intimidated by his latest tantrum, Lula ducked her head under the pond's surface only to return with a mouth full of water which she spat in Daniel's direction before responding, "You get the fuck away from here, you pervert. Just what the hell did they teach you at that military school? It sure as hell wasn't manners."
"And you sure as hell didn't learn to behave like a lady," Daniel retorted, throwing Lula's clothes into the water for good measure before turning on his heels and retreating back into the brush, feigning disgust.
"Haul your ass up to the house in fifteen minutes or Mama's going to have more than my ears to box. And when she's through with the both of us, I might just decide to kick your ass."
"Oh...is the big bad soldier boy gonna beat up a little girl? Is that what they taught you at
soldier school