Chapter 5

There were horses there, standing placidly. They pulled their necks up and flicked their ears from the noise we made.

One that was a bright chestnut was curious enough to walk toward us.

And Selena approached the horse with open arms.

“Ay, Faisal, Qué Pasa?” she sung to it.

Faisal snorted and clopped excitedly towards Selena and put his head on her shoulder to nuzzle her, and Selena wrapped an arm around his neck and patted his mane.

“This is Faisal. he has a tragic story. A Romeo left broken-hearted by the loss of his Julieta. He has been a lonely man since then, but not for lack of trying. Unfortunately, none of the girls here are interested in him. I suppose they are not interested because he has a broken soul, and he carries it heavily.”

Selena glanced over at the other horses that stood on the far side of the field like a bevy of tittering Marias, then turned back to Faisal, brushed his mane, and cooed to him,

“Oh, don’t worry, you poor thing, someday your soul will heal, and you will find love again.”

Faisal’s mane was long and covered his eyes. A coat that shone even in the dark of the night.

He turned his head towards me and whinnied and shook his mane.

I looked into his eyes and found something more intelligent than an animal in them. He watched me curiously. He watched me as if he were human. I laughed nervously because of it.

“Something wrong?” Selena asked.

“No. It’s just… I feel there’s something special about him.”

“Yes, of course,” Selena replied. She brushed his mane.

“Humans and horses are soulmates, you know. That is to say that they have a way of touching our souls. And we have a way of touching theirs.”

I put my hand on his muzzle and scratched. Faisal snorted and pushed his muzzle into my hand to nuzzle it. When he had enough, he whinnied and ran off.

“He is shy,” Selena said.

“He’s sweet,” I replied.

I had never grown up around horses, but Selena was right, they are soul-touching. Every time I encountered one, its majestic beauty never failed to fill me with awe.

“He is Eliana’s. Well, she is his caretaker, let’s say. This is her ranch, technically. It is a hospice for animals no longer desired by their humans. As for Faisal, well, he is a horse of the highest pedigree. But perfection is often demanded of horses of high pedigree. No horse is perfect of course. So, he was abandoned. He is fortunate to have found Eliana. Rather, that she had found him.”

I looked farther up the hill and saw a house with orange light in the windows among a grove of old olives just beneath the high mountain, where I suppose they lived. Where Eliana was now.

“Eliana is a horse mother. You are a dancer. And you live in this beautiful place. What a lovely life you have together.”

“Indeed,” Selena said. She smiled and said, “now, come, we have a night to finish.”

She grabbed my hand, squeezed affectionately, and pulled me towards the house.

The house was small. A cottage. Simple, but blushing with jasmine, roses, and oleander. Guarding the entrance way were two olive trees, their boughs so heavy with olives that they curved downward, forming an archway over the front door. Between the trees, a chicken pecked at the floor and clucked cheerily.

A gentle breeze blew from the east. It carried with it a crisp smell of the sea and of juniper from the juniper forest that nestled along the mountainside.

As we approached the house, the door swung open. A figure stood in it, silhouetted by dim flickering candlelight.

“Well, what do we have here?”

The voice was that of Eliana. She had a towel wrapped around her body and another around her head. She had just taken a shower.

“Eliana! Hi!” I greeted breathlessly.

“Hi, Julia,” Eliana said, her voice flat.

I glanced nervously at Selena. A smug look plastered her face, her arms crossed, as she stared unblinking at Eliana. I glanced back at Eliana, who stared back at Eliana. I wasn’t sure if I should be apologetic, but I certainly felt that way.

“I lost you earlier,” I said.

“But I see you were in good hands,” she replied.

Selena laughed sharply. More of a triumphant cackle. She clapped her hands together and said,

“Don’t worry, Eliana, I’m taking good care of your guest. As usual.”

Selena grabbed my hand again and squeezed.

“So, it seems…,” Eliana replied. “Anyways,”

She motioned with her head for us to come in. Then she turned and disappeared into the cottage.

In my ear, Selena whispered, “don’t worry. She will quickly forgive us for our little adventure. I’ll make sure of that.”

She curled a beckoning finger to follow her. I nodded in silent obeyance and followed.

The cottage was simple. White walls adorned with very little. The floor a terracotta with a simple woven rug in the middle. On the far side, Eliana now lounged in a couch. Beside her was a small wood stove that had been out of business for months but looked like a lovely little thing to warm the cottage in a howling winter.

Out the window, the moon hung brilliantly over the ocean. Its pale light streamed in to dance with the flickering candlelight of the many candles perched on various countertops. The moon and the candles were the only light sources in the cottage now, giving the living room an intimate, cozy feel.

“You need a shower,” Selena declared.

“Oh yes, for sure,” I agreed.

“The shower is just there,” Selena said and pointed to the bathroom door. She went to a wine rack filled with many dust-caked bottles.

She picked one out, nodded at it as if finding its offer promising, and said, “How about a wine?”

“Maybe after the shower?”

“Yes, shower first. Eliana and I will enjoy a glass while you do so, then I’ll shower after you. Clean towels are in there already. Please take your time, and make sure you get every corner,” she said with a wink.

The shower, I realized quickly, did not have a water heater. But I didn’t mind. The heat of the day had been stifling, and the cold water was a wonderful relief. My glowing skin was thankful for it.

I made sure to wash all of me. I didn’t miss a single spot. I washed out all the salt, grime, and sand. The sand swirled in the bottom of the shower, and when I was done, I heard music had started playing in the living room. Soothing music. A Latin beat. A sonorous songstress.

I toweled off but realized then that I didn’t have any clean clothes to change into, so I wrapped the towel around my body and went to the living room to ask for some.

I found Selena there straddling Eliana. They were making out messily.

“Oh!” I gasped and jumped. They both turned their eyes to me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

They snickered. Selena hopped off of Eliana. Eliana’s towel had unwrapped from her body. I glimpsed her tawny nakedness as she wrapped her towel around her body again.

Selena came over to me. “Here, take this,” she said as she handed me her wine glass. “Finish it while I shower. Eliana will keep you entertained. But not too entertained, I hope. Not until I’m back.”

“Oh, just one thing — do you have any clean clothes I could borrow?”

“Eliana can help you with that,” she replied and squeezed my shoulder, and went into the shower.

Eliana, in a better mood now shook her head and said, “Please forgive Selena. She means well, but she can be a bit of a mess. She is very spontaneous.”

She took Selena’s wine glass from me, set it on the table, and poured me wine into a new glass.

“Salud,” she said with a smile, raising her glass.

“Salud,” I responded and clinked her glass with mine.

The wine was good. It was smooth.

“I never really know how to tell if a wine is supposed to be good. I remember learning about wine tasting on a winery tour once. But It’s all the same to me. If you put a Cab and a Syrah in front of me, I couldn’t tell one from the other. I couldn’t tell you an expensive one from a cheap one. I wish I could.”

Eliana shrugged. “Me neither.”

“But do you like this one?”

“Then that is all that matters. This is a cheap wine. But it is a good one. And you might remember its taste more than any other wine.”

A glint in her eyes. A smile grew on her face.

“I’ll show you a trick. Now take some wine in your mouth. But do not swallow.”

“Now shut your eyes.”

Confused, I laughed, nearly lost the wine from my lips, but held it in and shut my eyes.

“First, let your tongue explore its taste. Do you taste it?”

“Good, now, swallow.”

I swallowed it, and let the smooth, tannic liquid run down my throat.

Her hand came to my cheek.

“Keep your eyes shut,” she whispered.

I felt the warmth of her near me and heard her soft breathing.

Her lips met mine. My mouth went open, and I felt her tongue against mine. Then she bit my lower lip, tugging it gently with her teeth to finish the kiss.

“It is a Rioja. A lovely flavor, which I hope you will now remember.”

She drank the rest of her wine, poured herself another glass, and poured the rest of the bottle into mine.

“I don’t think I will forget it,” I muttered.

“Good. Do you want another taste?”

I was feverish for another taste.

“The wine? Or of me?”

She handed me back my wine. As I took a long sip, I kept my gaze fixed on hers. I finished the glass and set the empty glass back down. Then I went in for the kiss.

I kissed her slowly at first. Savoring her like I savored the taste of the wine on my tongue earlier, wanting to remember that taste of her.

I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so I kept them politely in my lap. But she noticed this and found it inappropriate for the moment’s passion, so she grabbed my hands and put them against her breasts inside her towel. Her soft, lovely breasts. Her nipples were hard beneath my palm. Her heart pounded strongly. It was nice to feel her heartbeat. Even nicer to feel her breasts. I wanted nothing more than to put them in my mouth. To suck on each erect nipple and make her cry out in pleasure. My own nipples were tight. Almost painfully so, desperately in need of relief.

Her towel came fully loose. Fell to her ankles.

“Oops,” she said with a smile. Certainly, her becoming naked was a common occurrence.

I craned my neck down to kiss her now fully revealed breasts. But she stopped me. She pushed me back gently.

“First, I want you to give me what I’ve been dying for all day, which you already gave Selena. Take off that towel.”

I took two steps back and slowly loosened the towel tightly wrapped around my body to let it fall to the ground.

“How’s that?” I asked.

Eliana looked me up and down.

“Now, what would you like to try first?” I asked. I tried hard to keep a straight face at my incredible brazenness.

“I’m not too worried about what to try first, cariña. By the end of the night, I will have tasted all of you. And you will have tasted all of me.”

A sly grin formed on her face.

“And Selena. But first, I must try you.”

She pulled me to the couch and sidled up next to me. Ran her fingers over my naked front. Her eyes followed her fingers pleasingly, watched them follow the curve of my breasts, the valley between them, and over the flat of my abdomen. My body twitched at the touch of her fingers.

Then she pulled my face towards her and kissed me, and as she did so, her hand crawled down my body, over the mound of my pussy, and found their way between my legs.

I sighed deeply as her fingers found my wet pussy. I moaned when they found my swollen clit.

The shower turned off. The hairdryer came on.

Her lips went to my neck. I turned my head to give her more of my neck, to feel more of those warm sucking kisses that were left to be cooled by the air.

She stroked my clit slowly with her thumb as she continued her kisses. My legs came open. I gyrated my hips to rub my clit slowly against her hand.

Her lips went to my breasts. She planted delicate kisses there. Drew circles with her tongue around each areola, nibbling and pulling on each hard nipple with her teeth. I put a finger in my mouth and bit down on it as if it would stop me from making too much noise. But there was no one I should be worried about hearing me. Selena would soon join us, of course, and we were far from anyone else, so I could scream as loud as I needed to. I could let my timid moans turn into screams if I wanted. Soon, I imagined, I’d be helpless to do otherwise.

When she was done with my nipples, she went farther down. She slid to the floor, to her knees between my legs. Her tongue touched my belly button. Her teeth grazed my pubic hair. I was embarrassed by how unkempt I was down there; I hadn’t trimmed since the start of my travels. But Eliana didn’t seem to mind it. She seemed to enjoy it. Soon she found my erect clit in the bush and pressed her tongue against it. I screamed out sharply. My hands shot out to clutch onto the couch cushions as if gravity had just disappeared and I were at risk of flying off the face of the Earth.

“Mmmm, I like how wet you get,” Eliana said, then ravaged my clit again with her tongue.

I could only respond with another sharp squeal.

She licked me a few more times before penetrating my still tight pussy with her finger.

She moved her finger in and out, each time going slightly deeper, and with the flat of her finger, pressed against my g-spot. Her mouth now encapsulated all of my clit, and she sucked on it vigorously, swirling her tongue around it.

My vision grew blurry from the intensity of the electric pleasure her tongue and fingers delivered, my thighs quivered madly, and my pussy tightened up around Eliana’s finger. I was about to come. But then a loud gasp stopped us. A chiding voice said,

“What is the meaning of this!?”