Flirting with Fire: A Summer Camp Swingers novel

“I don’t want to steal you away,” she blurted. “That isn’t it at all!”

“I didn’t think so.”

She relaxed and then nodded, although she tensed again when I chuckled.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” I said. “About earlier, when I was showing off. It’s the difference between men and women. I thought it was physical, but it was emotional all along.”

“Oh, no, you have a really nice body. Your chest and arms… mmm.”

“I used to have a six-pack,” I boasted, “but not anymore. Now it’s a couple of two-liters.”

She snorted. It was my standard joke, and she’d heard it before.

“I like your two-liters, too,” she said, “but you’re right, it was mostly emotional.” She dithered a moment, so I turned serious. She was working up to something. “God, you have no idea,” she said at last. “I mean, how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“You and me both. I wanted to before, but…”

She shook her head, and I wondered how long her ex would cast his shadow over us.

“Yeah, I know,” I said aloud. “I thought this weekend was gonna be the same.”

“Me too. I mean, I— I wanted to, but then I didn’t. I kept going back and forth. I’m so sorry.” She paused. “I guess… I mean… I had to, you know, work up the courage.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“I was going to say something…” She laughed. “I even had it planned out. Last night, when I couldn’t sleep.”

“I like this way better.”

“Ha! I bet you do!” She fell silent and slowly returned to the mundane world, the one with children who wanted lunch.

I checked my watch. “Believe it or not, it’s only been about fifteen minutes.”

“You came so quickly,” she teased.

“Don’t worry, I’ll last longer next time.”

She arched a puckish eyebrow. “Who says there’ll be a next time?”

“Me. Unless I read you wrong. I don’t think you’re the wham-bam type.”

“No.” She lowered her eyebrow but then smiled. “Not anymore, at least.”

“Oh?”

“I wasn’t always a boring housewife.”

Oh, I know, I chuckled to myself. Aloud, I reassured her, “You still aren’t. You’re a mom I’d like to fuck.”

“Oh, God… we have to stop.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’d better start making sandwiches instead, before Little Miss Metabolism comes calling.”

“I love how you are with her. I mean, she drives Christy crazy, but you handle her easily.”

“She’s a daddy’s girl.”

“They all are.” Allie leaned in for a parting kiss. “Do you have a problem with it?”

* * *

Ten minutes later we headed outside with four plates of sandwiches and veggies.

Helios gazed down on us, and his blazing chariot slowed to a crawl atop the hazy blue dome of the sky. Zephyr faltered under the weight of the titan’s attention. Instead of a refreshing breeze, the west wind clung to the earth like a lover, like Eros after a tryst with Psyche.

I gave a snort at my own imagination.

The word you’re looking for is “grandiloquence,” the little head said. Besides, Zephyr delivered Psyche to a meadow. She didn’t meet Eros until later.

Everyone’s a critic, I griped, and Allie shot me a sideways frown. “Sorry. Just the way my mind works.”

“Mmm.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“Uh-huh.”

The older girls rose from their lounge chairs by the shallow end of the pool. Emily said something to Madison, who went back for her towel. It was a nudist’s best friend, after all.

Allie and I set the food on the table by the corner of the pool house. The umbrella described a circle of shade, but it was only an illusion of cool, an island in the sweltering Sea of Celsius.

Stop! the little head cried.

No one asked you.

“Girls,” Allie said to the younger ones. “Would you care to join us?”

Susie and Carly climbed over the rocks of the waterfall instead of walking around. Madison rolled her eyes, but Emily just shrugged.

“Is juice okay for everyone?” I said. “Cran-apple?” No one objected, so I nodded toward the house. “Run and get it, please, Boo.”

“Why do I have to do it?” she grumped.

“Because it’s cool inside, and I thought you’d enjoy it.”

“Oh. Okay. In that case…”

“Mmm.”

Allie’s eyes twinkled with a grin.

The other girls spread their towels and settled into chairs. Susie returned with the bottle and four cups. She poured for everyone.

“Do you need anything else?” I asked.

Emily finished chewing her carrot and said, “No, thank you,” very politely.

“Thanks for lunch,” Susie said.

Carly chewed her sandwich and beamed with honey-eyed thanks.

“Yeah, thanks, Mr. H.,” Madison added.

“What about me?” Allie laughed.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Mom.”

Carly nodded around a second bite.

“I think we’re going to eat inside,” I told them. I had plans that didn’t include four young ladies, so I nodded toward the pool house. “Do you all wanna watch a movie after lunch? You still have a bunch of DVDs from last night.”

Emily’s eyes lit up, and she looked at Madison, who was thinking the same thing.

“Harry Potter?”

“Chamber of Secrets?”

“Is that the one with the big snake thing?” Susie said. “I don’t like that one. It’s scary.”