/-/
The welcome gala was in the so-called "arena" of the tourist village, nothing more than a clearing between the palm trees, with a bar counter at one end under a canopy, and a raised stage where in the evenings would have been performed concerts and variety shows.
The island was quite small and exclusive, so there were not more than forty guests, almost all young couples like them, in honeymoon or looking for a romantic holiday. The guests were greeted by the local staff with a welcome cocktail, while under the palm trees a local group played tribal music with drums and flutes. The staff was lined up on the raised platform, there were about ten people. The village chief made a short welcome speech and then began to introduce the various members of the village staff. There was the Italian chef, four young entertainers who would have diverted the guests with variety shows every evening, a DJ who would have been responsible for the musical entertainment, a scuba diving and windsurfing teacher for those who were passionate about water sports, an athletic trainer who was in charge of the village gym and of organizing various sports tournaments, a marine biologist who would have answered every naturalistic curiosity of the guests and organized trips to discover the incredible aquatic fauna of the islands, and finally an instructor of yoga and oriental massage expert.
It was the latter that captured Cathy's attention. When the village chief introduced her, he said she was called Jasmine and that she would be available every morning to do yoga classes in the gazebo on the beach, beside offering fantastic massages to all those who needed to relax their muscles. She was a lady in her mid-forties, not exactly beautiful, but with something charming that immediately attired attention. She was tall and thin, had a mocha complexion, long black hair and an interesting face with Persian features. She had high cheekbones, a slightly aquiline nose, which vaguely gave her the air of a witch, but of a sexy one, and beautiful red lips. She had deep green eyes with long eyelashes. There was something indefinably exotic and sensual about that lady, Cathy thought. At a certain point it also seemed to her that the woman's gaze rested right on her, among all those present, and that she gave her a warm smile. Cathy, without a reason, looked away quickly.
The dinner was buffet style, and both Cathy and Paul were amazed when they saw the quantity and variety of all the food available. There were so many options that they didn't know what to choose. They had just sat at the table, which they had chosen in the corner for more intimacy, when a warm voice distracted them from their conversation.
"Do you mind if I sit with you? It is habit for the staff to mix with guests during dinner to socialize and entertain them. I would like to have dinner with you, if you agree."
Cathy and Paul looked up and were amazed to see the woman, who had just been introduced as the yoga instructor, standing in front of their table with a plate full of food in her hands.
"N-no, of course not, on the contrary, we would be very pleased, wouldn't we, Cathy? Please, have a sit." Paul answered, after a momentary hesitation. Cathy actually would have preferred to remain alone with her husband, it was their first honeymoon day after all, but she didn't know how to refuse without being rude. So she nodded slightly, quite annoyed, but the woman seemed not to notice and sat down with a smile.
There was also another thing that had bothered Cathy, actually. The lady wore an elegant long evening dress, dark blue, with a light burgundy silk scarf around her neck, and Cathy noticed Paul's eyes run for a moment to the generous neckline of her dress. Damn men, Cathy thought, they are all the same, they just need to see a nice pair of boobs to lose control. "Our honeymoon has just begun and he already looks at other women!" Cathy thought. She would make him pay for it later, in private, she decided. But she couldn't blame her husband too much, Cathy had to admit. In fact, Jasmine's cleavage was really impossible not to notice, and she herself couldn't help but give it a distracted look. In fact, Jasmine's dress highlighted her large natural breasts, which seemed even disproportionately large on her thin body, but also full and soft under that light evening dress. Jasmine probably worn at least a DD cup size, if not an EE cup, Cathy thought with a touch of envy, due to her modest BB cup. She didn't mind her own firm little boobs, and she didn't understand how curvy women managed to carry all that stuff, not to mention how they could practice sports with all that bulk, yet, ever since she played volleyball and take shower with her teammates, she had admired more than once the big breasts of her most curvy mates, and had always felt an inexplicable envy and curiosity towards them.
"Let me introduce myself again, my name is Jasmine, and I will be at your complete disposal for all your stay. If you are interested in yoga or you need a massage, you know who to talk to."
"Oh yes, a nice massage would be just what I need. Working every day in front of the computer made my shoulders and neck to be very stiff." said Paul.
"Well, then come and visit me one of these days, and I'll see what I can do for you. Even if, to tell the truth, my real specialization is the female body... don't you need a massage, dear...?" Jasmine replied, smiling in the direction of Cathy.
"Cathy, my name is Cathy, and he is Paul, my husband. We just get married." replied Cathy. Without knowing why, she have felt slightly embarrassed by the comment of Jasmine, but didn't have time to reflect on it, because Jasmine continued: "Well then, tell me a little bit about yourself, you are such a beautiful couple, so young. I see the wedding rings at your fingers, let me guess, are you on honeymoon?"
And so, after some hesitations, they began chatting amiably about their lives. In fact, despite Cathy's initial distrust, Jasmine turned out to be an exquisite and delightful person to converse with. She was very nice and cultured, she laughed often and asked them a lot of questions: how they had known each other, how long they were together, why they didn't have children yet, etc... Actually, Cathy at times found Jasmine's questions a little inappropriate, but that woman always knew how to encourage their responses with a joke and a smile, and at the end of the evening Cathy and Paul felt completely at ease in telling their life to that charming woman. However, when Paul in turn asked some personal questions to Jasmine, she kept a mysterious reserve, and they could not find out much, apart that her family had emigrated to the United States from Lebanon when she was still young, that besides yoga and massage therapies she had studied Arabic poetry in college, and that she had never been married. More than that they could not extort her, Jasmine always managed with a joke to avoid explicitly answers to their curiosities.
Now, that she had a better look at her, Cathy realized how beautiful she was. It was not a classic beauty, like all those perfect but fake models on TV, but there was something incredibly fascinating in Jasmine's face. She had traits that vaguely remembered George Clooney's wife. Even if her face began to show the first signs of age, with some small wrinkles on the sides of the eyes, her tanned skin seemed still elastic and smooth, and some imperfections, such her aquiline nose, did nothing but increase charm to her traits. Her hair was long, smooth and black as a night with no moon, while her mouth was full and red, drawn by perfect soft lips always bent in a smile. Her eyes, marked by perfect eyebrows and long lashes, dark green like Indian emeralds, had the power to magnetize anyone's gaze. All in all, Jasmine seemed to come out of one "One Thousand and One Nights" tale, and had the face that Cathy would have attributed to a Persian queen.
When they finished eating the dessert and were about to return to their respective bungalows, Paul apologized and got up to go to the bathroom. The air of the night was surrounding Cathy and Jasmine, warm and full of oriental scents, who remained alone at the table. Cathy came from the city, she was not used to those exotic smells and to the warm, humid air that stuck to her skin. Maybe because of this, and maybe because of the abundant wine they had drunk during dinner, her head was spinning a little, and she felt alone without Paul.
"Cathy, my dear, it made me very happy to meet you tonight. I confess that it was no coincidence that I chose this table for dinner. I had noticed you before, during the gala, and I immediately felt the urgency to know you better. I really hope we will have the opportunity to know each other even better, in the next few days. In fact, why don't you start attending my yoga class? I'm a very good teacher, I guarantee you... "
