Love Candles

The next morning Trudy woke up to find her right arm was 'asleep' positioned under Della's sleeping form. She carefully extricated it and lay there waiting for circulation to be restored. Her left arm was still draped over Della. Light shone in through the curtains and she managed to make out the time on Della's watch - 7.24. After a couple of minutes, Della stirred, groaning and lay on her back, eyes blinking before turning around to see Trudy beside her.

"Good morning," Trudy began, smiling into her eyes, "No, you weren't dreaming. You and I did indeed have great, orgasmic sex together." Trudy leaned down and kissed Della on the lips before lying back down beside her.

"I'm so glad. I had such a really great time as well." Della then rolled over to face Trudy and gently traced her hand across Trudy's face.

"This is a really comfortable bed you know. It's going to take an effort to get up." Trudy said.

"Well don't, it is Saturday after all." Della replied. Trudy smiled and went to kiss Della who initially consented but when Trudy began to get frisky, Della pulled back.

"What's wrong, don't you want to?" Trudy asked.

"Remember, I want to save my energy for the party tonight." Della explained.

"You know, if you're primarily going to that party to pull, there's no need to, I'm here. Why not stay in bed all day and night and fuck each other till our pussies are red raw?"

"Any other time I would like nothing better. That being said I do have to go shopping later for food. But, I really want to go to this party, bear in mind it will probably be the last one I ever get to go to and I really enjoy them, they're a real hoot."

Della's tone was apologetic. Trudy suddenly felt selfish and a little foolish after all it was only a one-night stand.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. It's just that I can't get enough of you. Last night was some of the best sex I've ever had. And besides that, I enjoy your company anyway. When I catch my train tomorrow evening, that'll probably be the last I ever see of you."

Trudy looked to Della as if she would cry.

"Hey, it's okay. I really like you to. I just wish we could have gotten together sooner, and lived in the same city." Della embraced Trudy, holding her against her. After a few moments in which she looked to be debating her next words, Della finally said:

"And the candle, did you like the effect?" Trudy shook her head.

"It certainly made the sex even better, but I'm sure it would have been good anyway. Though if you have a power cut in the night I'm not sure it should be my go to choice for illumination." The two women laughed at that.

"True, but if you're not alone, inhale enough of it and you'll soon be too occupied to notice the power is out." Della replied, setting off peels of laughter.

"But if you're worried I think that you forced it on me or tricked me. Don't. I just wish I knew how to get hold of some for myself."

"Well, it's funny you should say that. The party tonight, it's being held by the people who came up with the candle. That's how I discovered it. They give attendees a box of them as a memento. Depending how often you use them and how sparingly, they can last you for months." Della explained. "Now, based on your reaction, you're not feeling hung over or very tired are you?"

"Nope, I'm fine" Trudy reassured Della.

This pleased Della greatly.

"Well then, why don't you come with me as my 'plus one' to tonight's party? It's not as if you've any other plans for this evening. In case you haven't guessed by now the party will be an orgy and the candle plays a key role in getting things going."

"It is? Tell me more." Trudy asked.

"That woman from my student days I told you about, well she and I keep in touch and one day she told me about this party she'd been to. She wondered if I'd like to go with her as she usually went with her girlfriend, but they'd broken up a couple of months earlier and she really wanted to go. Well although the prospect of having casual, consequence-free sex with lots of different women appealed - at that point in my life I'd had one threesome and that was it - with that woman and her ex back when they were together."

"But I thought you'd said that you'd never slept with her?" Trudy pointed out, confused.

"I said she wasn't my first. Anyway when I expressed some doubts about having sex in the presence of more than one or two women she reassured me that my inhibitions would be taken away..."

"...By the candle." Trudy guessed.

"Precisely. She explained the effects and added that I may feel a little groggy after a night's sleep, but it would pass. I mentioned I didn't want any men and she told me the hosts were a girl-girl couple who were homoflexible and hosted these parties about thirteen times a year -- twice in December with an extra one on New Year's Eve. Only the two in December include men and it wasn't December when she asked me. Anyway I mulled it over for a day or so and then agreed. For the record I had a great time and I didn't suffer any side effects."

"Anything else I should know?" Trudy asked.

"You only had a mild dose last night from one candle which if you remember I blew out partway through our play. Tonight, if you go with me, you're going to get the full dose. Now the fact you didn't suffer any side effects tells me that you'll be fine with it."

"Does that mean I might be tempted to do something really bad?" Trudy's doubts about the wisdom of attending bubbled to the surface.

"Good heavens no," giggled Della, "It loosens you're inhibitions and makes you very horny, nothing more than that. Might make you an exhibitionist, and be less inclined to say no to someone's advances, but given the clientele at these things, I don't think you'd have to worry about who you screw."

"Anything else?" Trudy seemed reassured by that.

"Well we have to catch a 6.50 train to Cookham and I'd recommend a light meal no later than 6.00 and no booze. Also there's a dress code for the night. Our hostesses share our nylon fetish so at the party you have to wear nylons, though I would advise that unless your willing to have the crotch ripped out of them like in a lot of those 'Strapless Dildo' videos I'd wear either stockings, hold-ups or as you wore last night, crotchless pantyhose, I mean tights."

They got up shortly afterwards, made the bed and shared a bath, bathing each other, though it was a bit of a cramped fit. They dried off, dressed and walked to the Putney Exchange Shopping Centre on Putney High Street, Trudy feeling overdressed for the time of day and cold in the same clothes she wore to dinner last night as minus her tights - which she discovered as she went to put them on that morning, were laddered to the point that she would have to throw them out, less than a day after buying them. In contrast Della wore a plain t-shirt under a baggy jumper, denim jacket, denim hot-pants, black opaque tights and black trainers. They finished breakfast and left the café.

"You know, if you need appropriate nylons for tonight, may I suggest a little place behind Shaftsbury Avenue? If you ask for a woman named 'Annette' who works in there and mention me and the party, she'll fix you up with something suitable, and fill you in with more info about tonight's proceedings." Della said indicating Trudy's bare legs and mentioning the shop's name.

They agreed to meet at the Praed Street entrance to Paddington Station at 5.30 and have dinner at one of the pubs or restaurants near there. Della walked into the Putney High Street branch of Waitrose to do her grocery shopping and Trudy crossed Putney Bridge and caught a tube train back to her hotel. Around 10.00 Trudy finally returned to the Premier Inn Hub on St. Martin's. If the receptionist noticed or cared about her attire or the fact she'd not slept in her room she didn't show it. Retrieving her key, Trudy went up to her room and stripped off her eveningwear.

Trudy changed into a sports bra and briefs, a thick blue & white striped top, blue jeans, white sports-socks, trainers and a jacket. Around 11.30 after first dropping off her dress to be dry-cleaned ready for the evening, Trudy left the hotel to go shopping. With some uncertainty about how she'd be feeling after the party, she decided to do a lot of her souvenir shopping Saturday, not Sunday and to that affect, armed with a list from her teenage brother, hunted around the comic-book shops of central London. Another ride on the Piccadilly Line took her to Harrods where she bought some items for her parents. She also hung around the hosiery department looking (and pricing the nylons) before deciding on following Della's advice to see her friend. She had a little snack in one of the many eateries in the world-famous department store and then caught another Piccadilly Line train to Piccadilly Circus itself.

Trudy made her way along Brewer Street to a licensed sex shop with lingerie-attired mannequins and discreetly-boxed items on display in the window. It appeared to be two or more shops knocked into one. The main entrance opened into a section with racks and shelves of contraceptives, lubrications, a spinner rack containing assorted pornographic magazines as well as countless toys -- dildos, double-dildos, vibrators, Feeldoes (Trudy wondered if this was where Della had bought hers), fleshlights, and other men's masturbators & dolls, including some eerily realistic looking ones, at least they looked that way on the boxes. With only a couple of people in the shop, all seemingly browsing, the shop assistant behind the small counter followed Trudy around with his eyes, doubly so when they made eye contact and she flashed a smile at him. She walked over to him, a man in his early-twenties that seemed to be the flesh & blood incarnation of 'Shaggy' from 'Scooby Doo' only he wore a white t-shirt with a punk-rock band logo on it instead of an oversized plain green one.

"Do you have a lady named 'Annette' working for you and is she here today?" Trudy asked.

"She's probably in there." The Shaggy look-alike clearly disappointed that Trudy wasn't interested in him gestured with one of his thumbs towards the adjacent section. Thanking him, Trudy made her way into the boutique portion of the shop.

Leather, lace and PVC outfits, from knickers to cat-suits swung from clothes racks and one whole wall was hidden buy rows and rows of nylons -- tights, stockings, hold-ups in sheer, opaque, fishnet, whale-net from low to high deniers and just about any colour under the sun. For a nylon fetishist like Trudy it was seventh heaven. She spotted Annette -- at least she assumed it was Annette - coming into the shop through a door at the rear which she assumed led to a storeroom. Annette was roughly a size sixteen, well-proportioned with a cherubic like face and hazel hair in bangs that came down to the nape of hair neck and curved inwards. If the man at the counter looked like a live-action Shaggy, Annette looked like a sexy, live-action 'Meg Griffin' from 'Family Guy'. She wore a plain white t-shirt tucked into jeans, the effect accentuating very large and inviting breasts. The jeans were turned up at the ankles, the exposed inch or two of skin above white trainers covered in black whale-net nylon.

"Excuse me, but is your name 'Annette'?" Trudy asked, moving towards her.

"Yes, yes it is." She confirmed. Annette's hands were full of packs of assorted nylons and as she replied she placed them on a small, frosted window that looked out onto Brewer Street. She began sorting through them and placing them on racks.

"Della suggested I come here for some nylons. She told me to mention it's for a party near Maidenhead that the two of us are attending tonight. She also told me that you could give me some more information about it." Annette smiled as she quickened her pace loading up the shelves with nylons. After a few minutes of silence in which Trudy patiently waited for a reply as Annette finished her task, Annette turned to her, raised one of her forefingers to her and said: "If you just wait there for a moment." She took the now empty boxes into the back of the shop and returned, a black leather jacket and a black handbag now added to her outfit.

"Shall we?" Annette made a sweeping gesture with her hand in the direction of the door and Trudy followed her.

"I've finished putting out the stock we got from Cotelli and I'm off to lunch." Annette explained to the man who merely grunted an acknowledgement.

The two women exited the shop, Trudy somewhat confused as she'd expected Annette to help her pick out some nylons to wear to the party and perhaps chat a bit about the party as she did so. Were they going to some other shop they had? But then Annette had told her colleague she was off to lunch. They turned onto Green's Court, a narrow alleyway where Annette bought a baguette from a delicatessen and ate it as they continued up the street into Soho. They turned onto Berwick Street and passed another comic-book shop which served as a reminder to Trudy that she hadn't got everything on her brother's wish list. Opposite the comic shop was a rather soulless 1960s or 70s multi-storey building, the ground-floor of which was obscured by screens set up to allow building work to go on behind. Still eating her baguette, Annette opened a door that led inside. Annette paused in the lobby and finishing her lunch, threw the remains and packaging in a wastebasket, wiped her hands with a handkerchief she extracted from her pocket and proceeded up several flights of stairs.

"It's a good way to work off my lunch and get some exercise." Annette remarked over her shoulder, breaking the silence. They emerged onto the second floor and entered a flat. There was a combined living and bedroom with three tall, slim windows for illumination and two doors at either end, one leading to a bathroom and the other to a small kitchen.

"Make yourself comfortable." Annette said as she draped her jacket and handbag onto a circular folding dinning table near to the kitchen door. The flat was surprisingly nice and cosy and stood in stark contrast to the building it was situated in. Trudy sat on a large settee and saw her trainers sink into a thick pile carpet. She noticed the base of a folding bed in the space currently taken up by the table and chairs and upon closer inspection noticed that the chairs were also folding.

"When I want to go to bed I just fold up the chairs and table & put them somewhere out of the way and bring the bed down from the wall, though I often leave one chair out to put my clothes on. Would you like me to show you?" Annette explained as she emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands in a towel. Trudy suspected, based on Annette's tone of voice and they way she was looking at her that if she'd had more time to spare, Annette would have liked nothing better than to demonstrate the bed to Trudy, though not for purposes of sleeping.

She disappeared back into the kitchen and Trudy could once again hear the sound of taps running. Annette called out to Trudy asking her if she'd like a drink but Trudy declined. When Annette rejoined Trudy she was holding a glass of water. She took a couple of swigs of it before placing the glass on the table and began appraising Trudy.

"How do you know Della?" Trudy asked as the two women mentally undressed one another, literally in Annette's case.

"I sort of showed her the ropes so to speak when she first moved here. I took her to her first party which led to her meeting her now ex." So this was the woman Della spoke of, who'd introduced her to the London lesbian sex scene and these orgy parties, Trudy noted -- wondering why Della hadn't mentioned that fact. Having finished her appraisal of Trudy, Annette moved to a large chest in the opposite corner of the room, next to the bathroom door, knelt down in front of it and began rifling through the contents.

"What's your preference to wear for tonight?" She called over her shoulder to Trudy.

"If you mean nylons I'm not sure. Do you have any tights without a crotch? Those are my favourite, at least where sex is involved, best of both worlds." Annette stood up, turned around and with a grin advanced on Trudy carrying three packs of tights in her hands for Trudy to review. They were essentially the same thing, but in different colours. Unlike the nylons Trudy had worn for her rendezvous the previous evening with Della which were essentially stockings with a built-in sheer-nylon suspender-belt, what Annette now brandished at first glance appeared to be regular tights, complete with a gusset. All were sheer-gloss - perhaps twenty denier. One, black, one nude and the third red. All had seems up the back and a v-shaped lace panty patterned gusset.

"Mmm." Trudy said looking appreciatively from one pair to the next.

"Here, I've got a pair myself." Annette moved to a chest of draws sandwiched between a bookcase groaning with books, DVDs and Blu-Rays and a closet. From the top drawer she took out a pair of navy-blue tights and holding them by the waste band, unfurled them. Trudy could instantly see the oval hole in the crotch. When worn the hole exposed both the wearer's vagina & anus, ostensibly to allow them to go to the toilet without taking down the tights (unless they wore panties/knickers under them), but of course also for providing sexual access.

"I'll take the red ones." Trudy declared and began fishing in her bag for money.

"Great choice! And there was me thinking it would take you forever to choose." Smiling Annette returned the nude and black pairs to the trunk and after folding up her own navy ones, put them away to.

"What are you doing?" Annette asked as she saw Trudy taking her purse from her handbag.

"Paying of course."

"Don't be silly, any friend of Della's gets a 100% discount from me. Besides, if you're going to the party tonight, there's a pretty good chance you'll be able to pay me back in other ways." She said with a lascivious tone in her voice.

"You're going to?" Trudy asked, putting her purse back.

"Wild horses wouldn't drag me away." Trudy said.

"Well, if you're going as well and seeing as how you're a regular, perhaps you can tell me more about them as Della suggested?" Trudy asked. Glancing at her watch, Annette pulled out one of the dining chairs and motioning Trudy back onto the settee, sat down and took a deep breath.

"What's Della told you about them?" Annette asked, trying to gauge Trudy's knowledge.

"They're held roughly once a month, apart from two held in December to celebrate Christmas & New Year. They're held somewhere near Maidenhead. Apart from the Christmas & New Year Parties they're strictly 'women only' affairs. Attendees have to wear nylons of some sort and there are scented candles lit around the place that give off fumes that make people who inhale them insatiable & horny."

"Well, more or less that's true," Began Annette, "About eight years ago the couple who now own the sex shop I work in had a business making candles which they would then sell on to gift, craft and Yankee Candle shops, that sort of thing. They were very successful and always trying to devise ways to improve, produce new fragrances to improve their business. Well, one day in their lab or studio or wherever they make these things, they were trying out this new scented candle, when they felt a little funny. In short order they became very randy and practically tore their clothes off each other as they made a grab for each other."

"So they stumbled onto this thing by accident like Penicillin or Viagra?" Trudy remarked.

Nodding, Annette continued, "That's right. After the effects had worn off they set to work experimenting with & refining the recipe to vary the doses and test the side affects and realised that they'd made the ultimate aphrodisiac. They quite sensibly chose not to sell these particular candles to shops because of the possible consequences for unsuspecting customers. Instead they decided to use it to enhance their own sex lives. One day they were having a foursome with two other women they regularly swung with and lit one of the candles. After an allegedly intense lovemaking session, one of these other women suggested that they should hold orgies and sell the candles to sex shops. So they started the parties and bought the shop I work in, ostensibly to sell the candles, though, they chickened out from the second bit. I guess they were afraid someone might find a way to use it abusively. In the seven years or so since they started hosting orgies and bought the shop, they've restricted distribution to free giveaways to trusted people."