Surfside Sisters(37)

For the rest of the night, whether the music was fast or slow, Keely and Tommy danced slowly, locked together, kissing or smiling at each other, and then kissing again. When the night ended, Tommy kept his arm around her waist and waved to his gang of friends, and escorted Keely out of the hotel to his car. When they got there, Tommy leaned her against the door and leaned himself against her. He smiled down at her, and put a strand of hair behind her ear, and kissed that ear, and her cheek, and slowly, teasingly, moved to her mouth. She knew what was happening now. She knew she was caught in a current of sensation, like the current off the south shore of the island. You couldn’t fight it. You had to go with it, and sooner or later you’d be free and could swim to shore. If you wanted to.

    Right now all she wanted to do was to ride the current.

“Do you know what I’m going to do now?” Tommy asked.

Her lips were so swollen she could scarcely speak. “What?”

“I’m taking you to my house.”

“What about your parents?”

Tommy laughed. “I’ve got my own entrance through the back door right into my room on the first floor. My parents sleep upstairs at the front.”

“Oh…” Should she stop to think about what she was going to do?

Could she stop to think?

Tommy took her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a long, slow, honey-sweet kiss, and when he was through, he smiled at Keely, and she saw such emotion in his eyes that she trembled.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Okay.”



* * *



—

She’d never been in Tommy’s house before. A light burned at the back porch. They stepped inside, into darkness. Tommy led her to his room. He didn’t turn on a light, but she could see him and his room in shades of shadow. He tugged her coat off and laid it on a chair. He took off his coat.

He kissed her mouth gently and trailed kisses down her neck and onto her shoulders as he slowly tugged on her dress. She pulled away from him to unzip her dress and undo her bra. He touched her breasts, staring at them as if memorizing them, and then his breath came quicker, and he peeled off his clothes and kicked away his shoes. He moved her to his bed. She was frightened and excited and nervous about all of it, and then he raised himself above her. She wrapped her arms around him, she ran her hand down his back and touched the hollow of his spine. She marveled at such beauty, at the powerful muscles in his back, at the way his breath hitched and how he moaned, and she was so glad to make him happy, to give him pleasure. And for the first time, she enjoyed the experience herself.

    “God, you’re so beautiful,” Tommy said afterward, panting next to her on the blanket.

Keely smiled and ran her hand over his chest. It was thick with dark hair and a silver chain lay in the tangled black.

“What is this?” she asked, picking up the small round medallion at the end of the chain.

“It’s St. Peter. The patron saint of fishermen.”

“Why are you wearing it?”

“I told you. That’s what I want to do with my life. I was born next to the sea, and I want to be out on the sea as often as I can.”

“I understand that. It’s like I want to write novels for a living.”

“You and Isabelle, what is it with you two? You live in a fantasy land.”

Keely started to object, then paused. “I suppose we do live in a fantasy land when we’re writing. But cleaning houses is the reality of my life.”

“Yeah, like me working in Dad’s office.”

Keely laughed. “Maybe not exactly like that. I don’t think you have to clean any toilets.”

Tommy growled and roughly rolled Keely over to face him. “I refuse to discuss toilets when I’ve got you in my bed.”

And he kissed her again and again, slowly, from head to toe.





Hey, Isabelle, Happy New Year! I keep leaving voicemail. What ARE you doing?





XO K


Happy New Year, BFF! What am I doing? Taking my final semester at Smith, getting ready to move to the Berkshires for two years where I’ll write the great American novel, and spending every spare moment with Gorgeous Gordon! We’ll talk soon!





XO I



Forgive me for doing it this way, Isabelle, but I haven’t been able to get you on the phone…Isabelle, I’m, um, seeing Tommy. I mean sleeping with him, hanging out with him, the whole deal. I think it’s fine because you’re over Tommy and totally in love with Gorgeous Gordon. Right?

I know you’re graduating in a month. Your mother told me they’re going up for the big celebration. And then you go to the writers’ colony immediately? No stop home?





XO K


     Wow, you and Tommy. Really? You know he hit on you to get back at me, don’t you? Tommy and I were together for a long time. He’s having sex with you because he knows it would hurt me. You’d better get away from that guy before you get hurt.


Wow, Isabelle, that so wasn’t what I was expecting you to say. I mean, you’re “spending every spare moment with Gorgeous Gordon!” So you want Gordon but you still want Tommy?

Keely, don’t do this. You know I’ve loved Tommy all my life. Just because I’m seeing someone else doesn’t mean I don’t care about him. And about you. I think you’re both heading for a big crash. You know he’s just using you.