The last time she had worn it was a long weekend in Cabo with Chuck. He’d gotten a room at some mega resort through a friend, and they’d spent three days mostly in bed and occasionally on the beach. And then there was the afternoon in the ocean when they stood in the swelling waves and he put his hand beneath her bikini bottoms.Nobody can see, he’d whispered when she halfheartedly tried to protest for fear of getting caught by the swarms of beachgoers on the shore. Her worry and will to resist evaporated when he moved his skilled hand under the water until she was shuddering and clinging to him to stay afloat.
The memory broke a sweat out over her skin. As if someone had bumped her thermostat up to ninety degrees. Her conversation with Chuck from the night before—their rules—suddenly felt irrelevant.No sexwas pointless if four triangles of fabric and a memory had her wanting to call him to come over.
She took a steadying breath and decided to call someone else.
“Hey.” Mansi answered on the second ring. Olivia heard sounds of Mansi’s morning routine in the background: a sink running, soft music playing, a coffee brewer gurgling.
“Hi. I’m having second thoughts,” Olivia admitted.
“What? No. Too late for that. The only thoughts you should be having are of a million dollars, Liv.”
“I know, but—”
“Did something happen?”
“No! Yes, I mean—ugh. I don’t know.”
Mansi paused. “Olivia,” she said slowly, drawing out hername. “I know that tone. You’re only this flustered after an encounter with Chuck.” She suddenly gasped. “Did you sleep with him last night?”
“No!” she said, but could not fault Mansi for asking given her track record.
Another silence passed.
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Mansi said.
She was right: there was abut. And Olivia didn’t know what to make of it.
Olivia released a breath and confided in her friend. “I don’t know, Manse. I’m packing right now, and I grabbed this bikini I wore on that trip to Mexico, and it made me think of…thingswe did there, and now I’m worried about what might happen in the house.”
Sounds of dishes clinking filtered through the phone. “First of all, that’s hot that an article of clothing can make you think of him and actually says a lot. And second, what are you so worried about? So what if something happens between you in the house? I’m sure they’d turn off the cameras for the actual act, Liv.”
Heat flooded her body at the thought of what might get caught on camera. “Ew. There better not be one of those creepy night vision cameras in the bedroom.”
“I will sue them into oblivion on your behalf if there is.”
“Thank you. But getting caught on camera is less of a concern than wanting todo somethingworthy of suing them over catching on camera.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Ugh, Mansi! You know Chuck and I can’t keep our hands off each other, even when we’re fighting—especiallywhen we’re fighting.”
“You are saying this to someone who has seen your faceflushed and clothes rumpled in enough inappropriate venues to have lost count, Olivia. I am well aware of this fact.”
She flushed again and silently thanked Mansi for all the times she’d tucked her tag back in or straightened her earring or offered her fresh lipstick when she and Chuck returned from the bathroom at a party or the dark corner of a bar.
“Right. Sorry. I mean that I’m worried we’ll lose control and do something we regret and end up losing the money—even though we’ve discussed it and agreed no sex.”
“Wait, you guys did like a pre-show pact?”
“Something like that, sure. We thought it would be a good idea to lay some ground rules.”
“That was an excellent idea,” Mansi said, and Olivia could picture her nodding in approval. “Going in prepared will give you the best chance of success. But now you don’t think it’s enough because of a bikini?”
Olivia held up the tangled yellow strings and frowned. Just looking at it, she could feel the pressure of his hands on her body. She began to sweat again. “I don’t think it’s enough because it’s Chuck.”
“That is a valid concern,” Mansi astutely agreed, like she knew full well Olivia was powerless over her desire for him. “Well, what do we need to do to fix it? Cold showers? Chastity belt? You know what, I’ve heard cheese kills sex drive, so maybe have them stock the house with it.”
Olivia quietly laughed. Mansi had never met a problem she couldn’t solve. “I think we’ll have bigger issues on our hands if I move to a steady diet of cheese, no matter how tempting that sounds.”