Richie’s prediction was in fact, accurate. And Jon was finally able to tell him the news.
“Man, you’re really knee deep in the mud, aintcha”, was Richie’s verdict.
“Try the waist…”, Jon added, even though he hadn’t considered prudent to tell his best friend that he thought he might even be in love with June. “I just hope I can keep my head out”, Jon added,ironically, mostly to himself.
A few days later and back from London, Jon found himself sitting once again with brother, sister and a group of their friends during dinner at June’s house, dinner that she and her brother had organized and at which Jon had been able to participate by means of conveniently “dropping by” June’s house in the afternoon. How memorable that afternoon in June’s bed had been was a piece of information they secretly enjoyed sharing during the course of the evening
It was the previous day that the idea had occurred to Jon to ask his friend Kevin to let him use his mansion in an island near the Florida Keys, and June had accepted with unexpected readiness.“Take me to the moon…”, she’d said a few hours before, even when both of them knew that making a longer escapade would be playing with fire. Presumably, though, it was a “safe” place (if there was anywhere they could be), and it was definitely better than staying in the city.
“But you can’t leave tomorrow, for three days”, John replied to Jon’s sudden announcement that he was leaving, destination still unknown, just three days before the show to launch his soloalbum. “The preparations are in full swing, the staff’s working overtime…”, he continued but trailed off, knowing by Jon’s expression that what he was saying was completely useless. His mind, however, continued the list. Meetings, interviews, photo sessions, voice training, sound-checking…
“I’ll take care of that on Friday when I get back”, Jon patted on his friend’s shoulder, reading his thoughts and John sighed, defeated, an instant before he was finally able to put two and two together: Jon’s trip was for the purpose of a love affair. Crystal clear, and it only meant one thing: the PR team would have to juggle Jon’s divorce and his new romance all at the same time. In Jon’s eyes he found nothing but confirmation. “I need to go now, pal. Got an early plane to catch”, he grinned before turning to June who was standing next to her brother. “Wonderful evening, as usual, babe”, he smiled warmly and encircled her waist with one arm, then planted a kiss on hercheek. “Thanks for everything…”, he spoke against her ear. “You comin’ on Friday, right?”, hesaid, perfectly sure that they’d actually be meeting in a few hours. In seeing over her shoulder that there were no curious eyes scrutinizing, he kissed her ear, letting the tip of his tongue caress the earlobe. She felt his warm and moist breath and nodded with a smile, secretly thankful that her brother had turned away to talk to another guest and couldn’t see the blush in her cheeks.
“Sure…”, she cleared her voice, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world”
…
Her apple green suitcase was unnaturally minute for a woman, Jon thought when they met at the airfield at the crack of dawn. “What kind of pajamas did you bring?”, he whispered almost absentmindedly, after throwing a cautious look behind him to make sure he wasn’t being overheard.
“Not much”, June winked, with a faux-shy smile, to which Jon replied by stifling a devilish smirk, his inner thoughts betrayed by the twinkle of his eyes. “Besides”, she began as she walked up the metallic stairs into the small aircraft, “You didn’t tell me where the hell you’re taking me to, so I justfigured I’d pack nothing and just improvise”, she smiled knowing that Jon wouldn’t be able to reply since the airhostess was waiting for them inside the aircraft. By the manner in which Jon greeted her, June figured Jon was already familiar with her.
They sat side by side on two of the six cream-upholstered seats and fastened their seatbelts. The horizon was already bright orange, and the sky a deep blue.
“So you heard my excuse, what was yours?”, he asked.
“Well, that was easy”, June stifled a yawn, “I just told Carl I needed a break after finishing the book…Everything else can take care of itself”, she grinned, “I got better things to do”.
Jon responded to her smile and briefly kissed her forehead. “What about John?”
“When he’s busy he forgets about me”, she shrugged and bit her tongue, “It’s you who has to worry about him”.
The captain greeted each of them with a handshake and briefly explained them the technicalities of the trip. It would take them about six hours to arrive, but something told June that the landing place wasn’t actually their final destination. When the plane started to take off and they were pressed against the back of their seats, knowing how much June hated take-offs, Jon pulled June closer against him, inhaling the pleasant smell of her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder.
It didn’t take long for June to fall into a somewhat deep sleep. When she woke up, she rubbed her eyes and focused on the bunch of papers Jon was holding right in front of her eyes, they looked like a movie script.
“Mornin’”, he craned his head and smiled warmly at her.
“How long did I sleep”, she asked with a deep voice and stood up.
“’Bout two hours…”, he answered, lifting his eyes to admire her as she stood up and walked towards the toilet, her slim figure wrapped in a pair of jean shorts and a white halter top. She was also wearing a pair of strappy leather sandals.
Once they landed (some other unknown airfield), a luxurious deep blue car was waiting to drivethem to a dock were a tan-skin, grey-haired man was waiting for them, casually but expensively dressed. The summer sun was shining bright in the sky, and all of them were donning sunglasses.
“June, I want you to meet Kevin”, said Jon after greeting his friend with a tight hug.
“Kevin, this is June, John’s sister”
June and Kevin shook hands. “I read your last book…”, Kevin added with one of the warmest smiles June had ever seen. “Wednesdays are not for me, either”, he quoted June’s book’s heroin’s catchy phrase. “Nice to meet you, finally”, he offered his hand and June shook it back, reassured by both Jon and Kevin’s easiness around the situation.
“Thanks…nice to meet you, too, Kevin”.
“You shouldn’t have bothered comin’ yourself”, Jon said as they stepped on the double-decked yatch.
“Any excuse to get on this baby’s a good excuse”, said Kevin as he took the control.
In less than an hour and after enjoying assorted fresh seafood delicacies that Kevin offered them as some sort of on-the-fly lunch, they arrived at the dock of the island and said their farewells.
“The keys are on the door, pantry’s full, make yourselves at home. Just call the attendants if you need anything”, Kevin instructed and with a smile tossed a set of keys to Jon. “I thought you’d want to ride it, it’s been a while, huh? Have fun”, he waved at them from the yatch and sailed away while Jon smiled like a kid in a candy store. He might be economically capable of owning a thousand Harley Davidsons, but the opportunities to ride them were scarce, so he secretly appreciated Kevin’s gesture.
June smiled amusedly as Jon led her towards a row of cubicles that contained different cars and motorbikes. He secured their luggage to the bracket on the back and jumped on the seat before starting it with one jump. He turned to look at her with a faux-arrogant pout, eliciting a delightful chortle from June, then patted on the back seat, indicating for her to jump on.
They drove for about ten minutes along the shoreline and then Jon turned to take a gravel road that ended at an astonishing wood and glass mansion. A wide, wooden flight of stairs led to a triangular porch with equally wooden pillars on each side. As Kevin had indicated, the door was unlocked and they stepped in. The smell of wood mixed with the sea air was deliciously comforting. Standing on the entrance and looking through the floor-to-ceiling window on the other end of the spacious living-room, they could see the aquamarine sea in all its glory.
“Amazing, huh?”, Jon commented as June still gaped at the view. There was something about the bright colors of the tropical seas that had always fascinated her, the bright blue that seemed capable of keeping its glow even if the sun and all the lights in the world were to be turned off.
Afterwards, Jon took June by the hand and, each carrying their luggage with their free hand, they climbed the stairs towards the master bedroom on the second floor. Jon took June’s luggage and placed it next to his on the leather and wood luggage rack while June took a look around: theheadrest of the huge mahogany bed had panels of natural raffia and the sheets were white and cream with details in brown and olive. On the bed lay a number of fluffy cushions and a narrow,deep wine-red piece across the foot. The rich carpet was also deep wine-red and an olive-green shaded lamp stood on the far end of the room. The richness and spaciousness of everything was simply astonishing, and the bed was also placed so that whoever was lying on it could see the sea through the floor-to-ceiling glass pane. All the walls were cream, everything was exquisitely clean and smelled like heaven.
“Too much isn’t enough, is it?”, she said, her own tastes rather minimalistic and classic when it came to decoration. After she took off her sandals and sat on the foot of the bed, her bare feet barely touching the carpet.
“Never”, he said as he took a step towards her and pulled her back down on the bed. He kissed her using his two hands to pin her shoulders to the bed. Then in what it seemed like a single movement, he torn off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside before undressing himself.Without leaving June time to react, with his two hands beneath her knees he raised and opened her legs so he could press his erection against her crotch.
He slammed himself in her so hard she felt she was going to be ripped apart, and she moaned like she’d never moaned before when he started making long, slow strokes in and out of her, helped by the springiness of the bed. In a second they were anxiously all over each other, scrapping each other’s skin, burying their secret under sweat and kisses, and it wasn’t long before they joined in a gut-twisting orgasm that left them both too exhausted to move. They remained quiet for a fewmoments, Jon resting his head on her womb and his hand still on her trembling breast while she gently caressed the thin, soft strands of hair in his temple.
Jon was the first one to wake up a few hours later, a yellow ray from the setting sun fell across the foot of the bed. At first he didn’t stir, because June was sleeping with her head in the crook of his arm. He looked at her as she lay on her side, naked from the waist up, one lock tumbling cross her eyes, her breast rising and falling slowly and regularly. He needed to use the bathroom, though, and carefully tried to slip away, but failed miserably, and before he was able to get out of the bed, June flattered her eyes open and raised herself on her elbow.
They were soon naked in the bathroom, and Jon watched her in the mirror while June bent over to start the shower. The sight quickly made him hard: he loved looking covertly at her body. Their earlier sex had done little to quell all his desires, and the prospective of finally having enough timeto sate all his accumulated need was exciting him more than he could manage. June straightenedup and turned around, then chuckled softly when in the mirror she could see the effect her body had on Jon’s. She walked up to him and put her arms around his torso, splaying her hands on his recently waxed chest, softly scraping his skin with her short nails. When he felt her breasts press into his back, Jon groaned and his dick jumped again. June gave a little laugh when she saw that, and her hands dropped lower to caress his hard-on as she looked over his shoulder into the reflection of his eyes in the mirror.
"Mmm, I like doing this," she told him as she gently stroked.
“And you are fuckin’ good at it…”, he breathed throatily with low-lidded eyes and parted lips.
After a few moments, she motioned for him to turn around and get in the shower before she joined him. She was in front of him this time, so he put his arms around her to fondle her breast as his cock poked into her ass. He squatted just enough so he could slide between her legs, rubbing his shaft against her slit.
“Don’t push”, she said jokingly.
“I'm not pushing. I'm just getting comfortable," he told her, emphasizing the point by sliding his dickback and forth against her lips. He entered her easily this time, and they slowly drove each other into orgasm.
The first night, however, they were both restless and sleepless, as if some call or unexpected visit would come to take them away from each other again. But the phones didn’t ring, and the onlything that visited them was the sound of the waves as they crashed on the nearby shore. They lay side by side on the bed, naked for the sake of coolness, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to the peaceful sounds that came from outside.
Late in the morning of the following day, they found a stretch of beach were they felt absolutely alone. June was bathing and Jon, who lay on the sun, had lost sight of her for a moment. The weather was baking hot, and the sand scorched their feet. Then, locks dripping and cheeks aflame, she emerged from in between the waves in her orange two-piece swimsuit. Her skin looked as if it was sizzling under the powerful sun and Jon was invaded by a genuine feeling of privilege at being the only one to witness such scene. She swayed her hips purposely when she noticed his admiring, appreciative stare.
There was something else sizzling other than her skin as she observed him as well: a god under the sun, his tousled up hair, rendered almost blonde once again under the hot sun and stiffened by the salty water. June couldn’t bring herself to remember ever being in such a constant state of turn on. When she arrived at his side, he got on his knees and looking around to be perfectly sure no one was near enough to see, he pressed his hand to her crotch and even took the opportunity to work a finger into her slit trough her suit. She groaned but immediately removed his hand to practically drag him to his feet and across the sand towards the house. On the way, Jon’s knees sagged in anticipation.
Once in the living room, June smiled shyly and reached behind her neck to untie the top of her bikini before Jon hugged her, kissing her passionately. He dropped to his knees and kissed her crotch through the damp bikini bottom before pulling it down. June fell back onto the ethnic-pattern-upholstered couch and, after waiting for Jon to get rid of his board shorts, pulled him downwith her. She instinctively spread her legs and cooed as the tip of his shaft passed over her clit. Her hands slid along his sides as he penetrated her. Once fully inside her, he dropped softly onto her, but holding him close to her, she guided for them to roll over while he was still inside her, and they successfully ended up her on top and his dick safely inside her. She immediately started to ride him hard, impaling her slender body on his cock. When the two finally came it was sograceful, so unhurried…They dropped weary and complete on the couch.
“I once read about a guy who said that after orgasm came sadness”, June let out an indignant chuckle, her breathing still somewhat ragged.
“I think that he could use a good fuck himself”, Jon chuckled huskily and took a deep breath. They were both still laughing at Jon’s remark when they joined for a kiss.
Jon woke up from the nap to the smell of roasting coffee that came flowing out of the kitchen, and in a few minutes he had joined June there, where she was systemizing some sort of brunch that consisted basically in a selection of things cut in cubes and pieces. They sat on the terrace and ate rather silently.
But would there ever come a time when sharing a meal seemed ordinary? When they’d both be able to fall in the pleasant monotony of everyday life and its enchanting ease? The more they enjoyed the simple things, the more these questions appeared, unspoken, floating in the air around them.
There were certain moments when they had the illusion of permanence, when time felt more like a friend and not so much like an enemy, so they held on hour to hour that fell into place pleasantly one behind the other, playing, resting, strolling, swimming, lying on the sand, tearing their clothes off and fucking with sweating bodies whenever they felt like it, talking about whatever they felt like, sharing, feeling…. There were others when they couldn’t elude the fact that what was happening wouldn’t last long, couldn’t last long. At times the impending end seemed so palpable that they clung to each other with the desperation of a prisoner in the death row having his last meal, aware that he’s spinning out a present that has no future.
For people that live under the public eye, having a place where they can be “alone” (sort of speak) occasionally was a valuable thing, and among the selected and frequent guests of the island, it was common courtesy if anyone else knew who else was staying there, that they would keep that knowledge to themselves. If Jon and June were to feel safe anywhere, it was there.
However, living as they’d had, in the assumption that every gesture was picked up and scrutinized, they had decided against being seen in the island’s “neighborhood”, since it was not easy to movearound without attracting some kind of attention. They had gone to the one seafood restaurant in the whole island the previous evening late at night, and most people had paid no attention to them, but a few had eyed them with a sort of guarded curiosity. They were all guests, of course, and Jon trusted their discretion, but June seemed to not feel as comfortable as he did.
The last day was a perfect one, as far away from real as they could fathom. They’d have to be at the dock by 10 p.m., so late in the afternoon and after having showered and put on fresh clothes, Jon pulled a bottle of wine and two glasses from a drawer in the kitchen. He walked towards the terrace where June sat on a rattan lazy chair, peacefully listening to a selection of 80’s songs. He stood by her and extended his hand. “Come, let’s find some quiet corner, shall we?”, he suggested, lifting one eyebrow.
“You really think I’m that easy?”, she asked and looked up at him with a playful smile
“I waited almost ten years, remember?”, he stifled a smirk. “I’m a patient man, you’ll see”. He wiggled his fingers and let his head fall to one side persuasively.
June acknowledged his irresistibility with a soft smile, then took his hand and with the other pickedup the small radio that rested on the coffee table next to her chair.
As they started walking down the beach, the soft warm breeze made June’s short white summer dress flap against her thighs and Jon had one arm around her waist as she hummed to Billy Jean.The idea of the two of them walking as they were now but on the street, any street, anywhere,without having to hide from anyone, died a hopeless wish in his mind.
“Man, you’re really outta tune”, he teased her, and she smacked his back in return.
“Excuse me?”, she chortled with faux-indignation and he let out a proud laughter at his own success, but then stopped and after placing the glasses, the bottle and the radio firmly on the sand, he made her stand upright in front of him.
“You now you blow my mind, don’t you?...I know you do”, he said as he looked deeply into her twilight green eyes and knew, more certainly than ever before, that he loved her. Almost immediately, his heart sank at the thought of losing her, followed by a sense of helplessness and frustration that took hold of him and that he tried to bury with a simmering kiss. “Answer me, baby”.
But the lump on June’s throat prevented her from talking, and she was somewhat thankful for it, for if she had talked right then, she would have told him all the truth. She nodded silently.
Four weeks, that was all the time they had and it was almost consumed, only ten days left. As Jon looked meditatively at her, brushing her jaw with his finger, he realized that he would have accepted three, or even two weeks, if every moment had been like that one. They kissed again, softly and thoroughly with their arms wrapped around each other.
They both realized at once that the spot had something special, so they sat on the sand, exactly where they were standing. Jon opened the bottle of wine with a corkscrew he produced from the pocket of his deep gray board shorts and they started drinking as the melody of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the silence faintly escaped the speakers and blended with the low waves that beat rhythmically upon the sand.
The balminess of the air was absolutely delicious, and the sky was the warmest blue June had seen that year. June had lived so much in her fantasies that she realized she’d practically turned off real life and the possibility of fantastic things to happen to herself. Yet there it was, reality in allits glorious Technicolor. The view in front of their eyes was something really hard to describe.Wherever they looked, it was as if the sky was a glass bell that contained him and her alone, and the island. In front of them the distance seemed endless, but they knew there also stood theinvisible barrier of time.
A trace of sadness and melancholy ran through June’s veins, making her blood clog inside her heart, but she swallowed it up: she had decided to play a game she knew couldn’t win, and now there was no bargaining with the future, she’d have to just deal with it and endure the consequences of her decisions.
The moon was already on its way when all of a sudden, she removed all her clothes and began running towards the water. What the fuck was she doing? They were supposed to leave in two hours, Jon’s reason started the alarm, but as he gaped at her, how she ran naked towards thewater, all his rational thoughts simply disappeared. He started unbuttoning his white cotton shirt and tossed it aside just when June, from the water, turned to look at him, and their eyes met with a grin. He undid his board shorts and pushed them hastily down. He tried stepping out of them but they were momentarily caught on his feet. He almost fell with his nose flat on the sand, but finally managed to keep his balance and run towards the sea. He plunged in against a low wave and re-emerged a short moment later, shaking his head energetically from side to side.
They swam around each other in the deeper waters and laughed delightedly for a few minutes until Jon was finally able to catch her and press his chest against her back. He found the sand bottom and walked, still holding her, until the water was justo ver their navels. Her waist in the bend of his arm was soft and warm as the water, and their bodies seemed to melt together. She reached back with one hand to clasp the back of his head and looked over her shoulder, reachingfor his lips. When they moved their faces apart, they both sighed deeply.
Jon had stopped thinking and now merely felt. “I didn’t know you were so…corrupt”, he spoke seductively over the sound of the waves.
“You haven’t seen half of it”, she teased.
“How corrupt, then?”
“Really corrupt”
“Really like…”
“…to the bones”
He groaned and kissed her salty neck, then a smile appeared round the corners of June’s mouth, a faint, bold smile. When he started exploring her with his hand, she moaned.
“Not here”, she whispered.
He put his lips against her ear. “Yes, here”
He was in full erection once again, and that is kind of difficult to hide when you’re naked. With his right hand firmly around her waist, he used his left one to slide it up and down along her cleft. One finger moved into her wet, warm channel, and soon he started to pick up the pace of his caresses, feeling how June’s body surrendered to them as he took her higher and higher in the pleasure scale. His dick was pulsing in time to his heartbeat as he responded to his touch with heaving hips toward the shattering moment of surrender. She came as if it was her first time ever, and he held her tight, kissing her neck, letting the waves rock them slightly until her muscles finally relaxed and her breathing came back to normal. Then she turned around and wrapped her arms around hisneck and her legs around his waist, allowing him to enter her. That time, they didn’t know, theyfelt, that it wasn’t just fucking, it wasn’t just having sex. That was making love.
After their climax, they clung to each other, fascinated by the dreamlike scene the sunset was offering them.
“We are alright, ain’t we?”, June asked, cryptically and almost rhetorically.
“Yeah…we’re alright”, he answered with the same ambiguity mixed with a trace of sadness.
And they waited, in silence. After all, that was how it was going to be, just dream, and wait for the end.
