Chapter 6. #2
Some of the people were standing, others sitting, and some were even lounging on the pillows.
It could have appeared a typical party, but Sheila became nervous again as she realized the people were all talking quietly, almost in a whisper.
Ordinarily she would have expected such a crowd to be boisterous.
Frank led them across the long room, some of the people greeting Sharon as they walked, but Sheila paid little attention to them as she was more concerned about the way Frank held her arm.
It almost seemed as if he was being intimate, though he was only touching her arm. She tried to put it out of her mind, believing it to be her imagination, and forced herself to study the layout more closely.
Halfway in the room, on the wall opposite the windows, was a large natural stone fireplace, a fire blazing brightly to add to the effect of the candles.
Though the room was large, Sheila realized it felt intimate simply because of the artistic lighting; and she found this discovery to be interesting. Moments later, she found herself standing in front of a bar.
"This is an important part of this room," Frank said, and Sheila realized he had been talking the whole time they walked through the house. He had been pointing things out, but she had been too engrossed in looking to really hear.
Frank went on, pointing to a buffet covered with exotic looking food. "Over there the tidbits and morsels of palatable pleasure, and here," he added motioning to the white jacketed man behind the bar, "Here you may quench your thirst."
"You have a beautiful home," Sheila said nodding to her host. She was flattered by the extravagant manner of Frank Stone to someone he had just met. She was after all, only a secretary, and he obviously was more monetarily powerful than her boss, Charles Thomas.
"You are too kind... What may I order for you, Sheila?"
His eyes again seemed to penetrate right through her, yet in a way that was complimentary, and she felt herself blushing as though embarrassed by praise. She couldn't think of how to answer him. "Whatever you suggest will be fine," she said shyly.
Frank smiled and motioned to the man behind the bar. "Jason here makes a special drink that I am quite fond of... He keeps the ingredients a secret, but it does contain Pernod. You know, cloudy and nice!" He held up two fingers to Jason. "Your special, Jason."
"Sheila, dear?" It was a female voice -- familiar.
She had almost forgotten about Sharon, and she wondered how long the other woman had been calling her name. She turned to see Sharon approaching with two men on either side of her.
Sheila didn't recognize them until they were a few feet away, and then she thought she might faint. It's them! The men with Sharon last night. Oh my God!
"I want you to meet a couple of old friends," Sharon went on quite casually. "This is Steve, and this is Don... Sheila Park, boys!"
Sheila felt dizzy as she nodded to each, hoping she appeared unshaken, but she was sure her face reddened as each man eyed her openly. God, she had seen them naked and fucking Sharon less than twenty four hours earlier!
"How do you do?"
"Pleasure."
"Honored."
"I'm showing Sheila the view," Frank interjected before anymore could be said by either man. "Jason, fix Sharon one of your specials," he added as he picked up two tall glasses from the bar.
Sheila was glad of the chance to avoid further conversation with the two men and Sharon, at least until she regained her composure, and she happily took the offered drink from Frank and put her arm on his to walk to the porch.
She felt as if she were escaping from some terrible crime, and she took a sip of her drink to still her pounding heart.
It wasn't until she was standing outside on the porch with Frank that she felt she could again speak normally, and she felt grateful to him for having saved her from possible embarrassment.
"Thank you for this," she said holding up her drink, "It's really quite good. I don't usually drink, but this is mild and pleasant tasting..."
Frank had guided her to the railing at the edge of the balcony. He clicked his glass against hers and took a large sip of his drink, "There's plenty more where this came from, and you can be sure it won't hurt you..." he said watching her gulp down nearly half her drink.
Sheila felt warm and more relaxed with each swallow of the potent mixture, and it did seem to help her get over the embarrassment of meeting Steve and Don.
She stared out at the lighted trees and grounds below, listening to the sounds of the river nearby, a sound that lulled her senses, pleasantly. It was such a cool night, and yet here on Frank Stone's porch she felt warm.
"Are you sure this drink is mild?" she found herself questioning, as the first zephyrs of lightheadedness rippled through her brain.
Frank laughed as if she had made some joke.
"Take off your coat... It's not the drink, it's radiant heat out here," he said tapping his shoe on the floor of the balcony. "Tiles under the floor."
"Oh my gosh," Sheila giggled feeling silly. She set her drink down on the railing and slipped out of her coat with Tom's help, and she still felt warm and comfortable. "That's amazing!" she added, picking up her drink again and taking another large gulp. "You have a remarkable home, Mr. Stone."
They talked, Frank mostly, about humorously unimportant things that made Sheila laugh a lot. She drank too, and each time her glass was nearly empty, Jason seemed to be standing by with a fresh one.
She lost count after the third drink, but by then she no longer cared. The liquor, or whatever, did have an effect on her, but it came gradually, barely recognizable for what it was.
She felt warmer and more aware of her own physical presence, and everything seemed all right, including the slightly off-color jokes that Tom told her.
She laughed openly, surprised that she felt no embarrassment or shame, but instead, she felt a pleasant tingling in the pit of her belly, especially when he looked at her in his special way.
When they walked back inside the large room, it was darker... the only light now coming from the fireplace. Gliding, not walking, they moved to one side where she saw Sharon stretched out on a large pillow, smiling up at her.
Sheila returned the smile as she, too, made herself comfortable on one of the large pillows next to Sharon.
Again Sheila had a drink in her hand, and Frank was beside her, not threateningly, just there. Music was playing from somewhere, everywhere, while the room danced with the flickering light of the fire, and her very aware body seemed to pulsate with it, the tempo increasing toward an infinite point.
"Wow!" Sheila heard herself say, and she laughed as Frank nodded in response. She sipped more of the insidious drink, her mouth feeling dry, and she looked over to where Sharon was lying back on the large pillow, noting without surprise that her dress had slipped far up her firmly smooth thighs.
Almost casually Sheila saw that she was wearing no panties; oddly enough, it seemed funny and nice at the same time.
Then Steve came over and said something about a movie to Frank, and everyone was smiling and nodding in anticipation.
Steve was gone and back again, this time settling down comfortably on the same big pillow with Sharon.
Sheila turned, looking away to discover that somehow a large motion picture screen had descended just before them. Other people in the room were settling down, becoming even quieter than before, and she drank more of the cool liquid in her glass, feeling as though she could never get enough.
Vaguely, she was aware of Tom's hand around her shoulders. It seemed innocent enough, a reminder that they were sharing some special secret, and she relaxed against his arm, convinced that she couldn't be hurt.
Her senses were fine-tuned, alert and ripe for any sign of warmth and comfort, and the large pillow under her body seemed to press up into her loins, making contact with the softly parted lips of her tingling vagina through her sheer panties.
Sheila turned her head toward Frank, and his face was close, very close, moving like a descending sphere as his eager warm lips met her.
She wanted him to kiss her, to press his mouth and tongue into her to draw out the raging heat that poured through her fiery body.
It lingered, held to a boiling pitch of passion that made her mind blank out what she knew was a very real danger.
His wetly quivering tongue flicked into her open mouth, touching the roof of her mouth like a hot poker, and she began sucking on it hungrily, feeling a warm inviting promise of fulfillment that she had never felt in a kiss before that moment.
It was good, too good, and she searched through the alcoholic haze in her mind to find reason for it all being wrong.
But when the kiss ended, she felt only disappointment.
He had kissed her, and she had let him. It was kindness, a secret understanding formed in the privacy of a room full of people.
Frank raised his hand as if signaling someone in the distant darkness, and almost immediately Jason was there with fresh drinks.
Frank took a sip, as did she, and he was talking to her, telling her about a film they were about to see, but that was unimportant compared with the depth of his eyes.
How could she have ever been afraid of men?
There was a sudden tenseness in the room, as if everyone was waiting anxiously for an event, and she, too, became excited... but for what reason, she couldn't guess.
Then she saw a pin-point of light across the room, and she followed the beam with her eyes to discover that the screen in front of her was brightly lit. The music that had been playing faded out, and on the screen a close shot of a beautiful girl appeared.