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  Chapter Four

  Rick opened the door to his suite, and the sound of Outkast's 'Hey Ya!' drifted into the hallway. With his shirt unbuttoned halfway, he grinned at the three of us and stepped aside, clearing a path into the room.

  "Welcome, ladies," he shouted over the loud music. "Make yourselves comfortable. Help yourselves to champagne, or anything else you want," he urged, pointing to the large curved bar in the corner of the spacious suite.

  However, my focus didn't dwell long on the fact his room was twice the size of ours; with white leather couches, sheepskin rugs and tinted windows that spanned the entire length of one wall. Instead, my jaw dropped open slightly as I took in the sight of Lise on one of the couches, her tongue tangled with another man's.

  Curious gaze moving back toward Rick, I noted that he was watching the pair kiss with an odd smile on his face. Then, from a small crowd on a makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room, a long-legged blonde sashayed from her friends and approached Rick. Draping an arm over his shoulder, she whispered something in his ear, before he twisted his face and claimed her lips hungrily.

  "What the...?" I whispered, dragging my eyes away from our host.

  "I don't think this is your average party," Dione chuckled, murmuring the words to me.

  Over by the window, there were two very attractive young women; one with long brunette hair that reached the small of her back; the other with a pixie crop of platinum blonde with streaks of vibrant pink. The rail thin blonde reached up to stroke a lock of hair from the other woman's face, smiling broadly at her. Taking a small step forward, the brunette pressed her hourglass figure to the blonde's body and dipped her face. Meeting her halfway, the short blonde lifted her head, and their mouths melded gently together. As they continued to smoothly kiss, their hands began carefully exploring the other's body.

  Locked in a tender and passionate embrace, the women were watched by a blue-eyed man with a clean shaved head. Standing just to the left of the blonde woman, he gradually lifted his hand and curled his fingers over the contour of her ass. Breaking from the kiss for only a moment, she cast her eyes back to him and giggled.

  Too absorbed by the scene, I didn't realize Lise had seen our arrival and got up from the couch.

  "Hi there," she said, greeting us all with slightly unfocused eyes and a girlish grin. "So glad you could make it," she added.

  Dione was wearing an amused smirk along with her red strapless dress. Karly, on the other hand, was scanning the room with wide eyes, as if her brain was about to explode. I felt sure the color of my face was matched Dione's dress, and I didn’t even know where to put my gaze.

  "We only have two rules," Lise continued. "First, no means 'no'," she stated. "And second, be safe."

  "Um," Dione grinned. "We didn't exactly know what to expect, so I haven't come prepared."

  Amazed that she was actually considering taking part in the “party”, my face snapped around to study hers. I had known that Dione was no prude, but this was...well, it was a step further.

  "No problem, you'll find plenty of condoms in the glass bowl on the bar," Lise replied, as she motioned casually in that direction. As she did so, the large strong hand of the man she'd been making out with, grabbed her and tugged her back toward him. She chuckled as her back struck his hard chest, while his fingers smoothed around her torso and cupped her breasts.

  "I have to get out of here," I whispered, turning on one black, three-inch heel.

  Dione's quick reflexes halted me. Before I was able to take a step, she had hooked an arm around my waist. "Where are you going?" she demanded as Outkast faded and 'Striptease' by Danity Kane took over.

  "I'm going back to the room," I said, leaning close so I could say the words into her ear and ensure that she heard me.

  "Why?" she shouted back.

  "I can't..." I muttered, shaking my head. "I'm not comfortable with this," I explained.

  "Oh, come on," she chuckled. "It'll be fun. You're gonna stay, right, Karly?" she yelled over her shoulder.

  Karly was still fascinated by the spectacles of the room and the twenty-or-so people that occupied it. In that moment, she seemed focused on a man and woman who were dry humping as they danced. Not bothering to twist her face in our direction, she nodded. "Oh, yeah," she smiled.

  "See?" Dione stated.

  "I'm not saying you have to come with me," I quickly assured her. "I just don't think it's right for me to be here."

  "Why not?"

  "I'm a married woman," I sighed.

  "So is Lise," she argued, laughing.

  Rolling my eyes, I shook my head wearily at her.

  "You owe him nothing, Hollie," my friend insisted, her features suddenly serious. "He's the one who asked for a divorce, and you can't spend your whole life clinging to something he's already let go of."

  "I know that," I breathed. "I'm just not ready for..." Allowing my gaze to slowly move around the room, I discovered the kiss between the women by the window had grown more intense. "I don't think I'd ever be ready for something like this," I told her flatly as my attention returned to Dione's face.

  "Don't knock what you've never tried," she urged. "Besides, nobody's saying you've got to hook up with someone. Just stick around and have a drink."

  "I don't know," I protested weakly.

  "Please, Hollie," she replied, her head dropping to one side and her wavy black hair sweeping over her shoulder.

  "All right," I relented reluctantly. "I'll stay for a while, but I-"

  "That's all I'm asking," she quickly interjected. "Let's go get a drink," she grinned, tugging me through the cluster of dancing couples and toward the corner of the room.

  Karly followed behind, wide eyes continually moving in wonderment.

  Fifteen minutes later, with a glass of champagne inside me, I was beginning to feel slightly less warm-cheeked. The ease with which everyone around me kissed and touched each other had started to seem less embarrassing, and, despite myself, it had even kindled a slight spark of arousal in me. It was nowhere near powerful enough to drive me to throw myself at one of the men in the room, but it did cause me to be a little envious of the women who shamelessly could.

  Because sex had always been with Mitch, it had always been inextricably linked with love. For me, at least. I didn't know what it was like to seek out physical pleasure in and of itself. I didn't know how it felt to act on the pure desire that could be ignited by a stranger. I had no experience of throwing caution to the wind and acting on primal sexual impulse. And although I'd always assumed I didn't want those things, there was a small part of me that wondered what it would feel like to do something completely out of character. Did I want to be the same Hollie I'd always been? A quiet voice reminded me that, if I wanted to reinvent myself, now was a perfect time to do it.

  Nevertheless, long-held fears and self-perception prevented me from doing any more than watching the scenes that unfolded. The main living room was slightly less crowded now, as a handful of couples had left for the comfort of one of the suite's bedrooms. Meanwhile, in the living room, as people became looser, inhibitions and clothes were being shed.

  Rick had found himself tugged into the middle of the room by the nubile blonde he'd been kissing. Grinning from ear to ear, she lowered herself to her knees and began unfastening his pants.

  Intrigued by how Lise would react to the unabashed display, I tossed my eyes across the room. She was back on the couch; fully clothed, she was laying on her back while the man-mountain she'd paired up with settled between her parted thighs. As he massaged her breasts in both large hands, he kissed his way down her neck. Clearly enjoying the sensation, Lise was not so swept away that she didn't notice what was going on a few feet away from her. Face twisting toward her husband, she watched with a soft smile as the young blonde peeled open Rick's fly and reached inside.

  Rick's eyes found his wife's and something seemed to pass between them, but as the girl on her knees freed his erection, his
eyes fluttered closed.

  Unable to take my focus off the straining, smooth member the blonde held in her hand, I felt my mouth go abruptly dry. Wasting no time, the eager young woman extended her tongue and circled his tip with fervor. Clearly pleased with herself when Rick's hips responded with an involuntary jerk, she wrapped her lips around him and began to gently draw him back and forth.

  "Damn," Dione mumbled beside me, her grin growing wide, "that girl sure likes to suck cock."

  "Don't you think this is weird?" I asked lifting my voice slightly, so I could be heard over the pulsing beat of a dance track I'd never heard before.

  "I think this is hot," Dione replied unflinchingly. "Don't tell me you're not turned on by this, Hollie," she added, peering over her shoulder at me briefly, before her gaze shot back to the middle of the room.

  "I...I..." I gabbled quietly, my own eyes moving about me. Where the hell was Karly? Temporarily forgetting the half-question Dione had posed, I scanned the room. Eventually, down a hallway to the left, I spotted the white mini dress Karly was wearing. Being pressed against the wall by a man in a tux, she lifted one leg until her knee reached his hip. Automatically, he looped his fingers beneath her leg before trailing a slow pattern up her thigh.

  Had everyone gone insane? Feeling like a spectator at a Bacchanalian orgy, I did the only thing I could do: turned back to the bar and reached for another glass of champagne.

  By the time, I had the flute gripped in slightly trembling fingers, I turned back to find that Dione was no longer alone. A tall man, of at least six foot-three, had settled by her side and was smiling down at her. No words were said between the pair, but Dione's grin mirrored his. It was seconds before she had her hands wrapped around his neck and was tugging his head down for a kiss.

  And, it wasn't long before the handsome guy was taking her hand. However, she stalled him with soft fingers on his chest.

  "Don't run back to the room, will you?" she said, her dilated pupils meeting my face.

  "I..." I mumbled, shaking my head.

  "Just stick around and soak up the atmosphere," she urged, hurriedly as the man clutching her hand began playfully tugging her away from me. Chuckling, she flicked a flirtatious glance at him before her attention returned to me. "Live a little, Hol," she yelled, before she was pulled too far away to be comfortably heard.

  Alone, I warred with what I should do. Neither of my friends would notice if I dashed out of the room and headed back to our suite; they were much too busy. Rich's face was tossed to the ceiling and contracted in pleasure as the blonde continued to fellate him. Lise, on the other hand, was in the midst of getting her skirt hiked up to her waist. So, there would be no awkward explanation to my hosts for my exit, either.

  Draining the last of my drink, my mind was settled, I would get the hell out of there. It was foolish of me to even try to pretend that I fit in at a party like that: I felt gauche, ignorant and way out of my depth. My very tame sex life had not prepared me for anything like this. Whether I was mildly aroused or not, and even if my marriage had nothing to do with it, I couldn't be as free and easy with my body as Karly and Dione.

  Replacing my glass on the bar, I spun quickly and my shoulder collided with a solid chest.

  "Oh," came a breath as the object I knocked into flinched and spilled his drink over his shirt.

  "Sorry," I enunciated, peering down at the dampness that had soaked through the cotton of his shirt and was causing the material to cling to his chest.

  "It's okay," his deep voice replied. "Are you all right?"

  "Yeah," I nodded, finally allowing my eyes to move up to his face. "Yeah, I'm fine," I continued, finding evenly bronzed skin, a firm jaw, deep hazel eyes, and short crop of dark hair that was shaved tight to his scalp.

  "You sure?" he asked.

  "Yeah," I insisted. "I'm just...I'm really sorry about your shirt."

  "Don't be," he dismissed, lifting an arm with the sleeved casually turned up and flicking his hand. "It's no big deal." Realizing someone behind him wanted to pass, he stepped closer, close enough that I inhaled a fresh citrusy tang that lingered on his skin.

  "Tell you the truth," he said, smiling. "It was probably my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." Resting his almost empty glass down, he reached for another, offering it to me.

  "No, thanks," I declined. "I was just about to leave."

  "Really?" he asked, disappointment causing his smile to falter. "I was hoping we could talk. See, I noticed you from across the room, and figured this isn't the sort of thing you do often."

  With a self-effacing shake of my head, I agreed. "Never."

  "Me too," he quickly stated. "This is all totally weird to me," he acknowledged. "I was brought up here by a group of friends, and now they're all...otherwise occupied," he stated smiling. "And they've left me feeling awkward as hell."

  "Likewise," I uttered.

  "So, are you really set on leaving or would you stick around and talk with me for a while?" he asked, offering me the champagne glass once more.

  Glancing at the door, then at the man in front of me, I slowly reached for the drink he held. "Thanks," I said, "that sounds nice."