“The game involved daring somebody to do something silly in return for accepting their dare, I seem to remember,” said Alice, pertly.
“It was fun,” said Karl, his eyes twinkling.
“And what dare did you have in mind,” asked Alice. “It might be something I don’t want to do.”
Karl’s smile was now ingratiating. His hand reached up and slicked back his dark hair, eyes glittering like a wolf.
“Go on, I dare you to remove your dress, I bet your figure is still as gorgeous as it was all those years ago on that sunny beach.”
“Was I really gorgeous or was I just another conquest?” parried Alice. She tried to smile, as if unconcerned, but knew she wasn’t succeeding.
The hypnotic sound of Karl’s voice and the way he’d complimented her was delicious. It was a long time since anybody had spoken to her like that. Her pulse was racing and her breathing had almost stopped. She knew it was time to walk away from this handsome, powerful man. Unaccountably, in the distance, a voice that sounded too much like hers was already replying.
“And in return, I will be allowed to see how much your physique has been affected over the years. No doubt your life style has been extremely disreputable?”
His strong hands were on her slender shoulders, his dark eyes peered directly into her soul and his voice worked hard to reassure.
“Naturally.”
She shrugged off his hands, sharply, and stepped back.
“And this is definitely not part of your standard seduction routine?” Her words sounded so ridiculous.
His hands were open, before him. His voice reassuring.
“I know that you are special to me, like your friend, Greta, and you are securely married with a family. What sort of person would be willing to risk damaging that?”
He sounded so convincing.
“All right,” said Alice, contritely. “Do you want me to go first?”
“We can go together,” he said eagerly.
Time suddenly seemed to stand still. With their eyes locked together, besides the swimming pool, and under the reflected light of the sun filtered through the glass roof, they silently complied with the ‘double dare’.
Soon two articles of wispy purple lace were all that covered Alice’s small but beautifully proportioned body.
Karl rested his thumbs inside the top of his briefs, muscles rippling in his bare arms and chest, posing.
“Not so bad as you thought, eh!”
“Pretty good for your age,” Alice agreed. But, inside her, a voice was screaming “What a hunk!”
“And now I dare you for one small kiss,” said Karl gazing appreciatively.
He stepped forward so the hairs on his chest tantalized and tickled her front.
Huskily, somehow, she managed to reply. “Under the rules, and only if it’s part of the dare, reluctantly, I accept.”
They kissed and the outside world disappeared far away from their own, private, personal universe. As their skin became one, Alice felt her heart pounding as if it were ready to explode. She hardly held him but his hands delicately traced her back from shoulders to thigh sending ripples of sensation through her whole body.
A lifetime later, their lips lingeringly parted.
“You are so beautiful,” whispered Karl.
“My dare now,” she said, quietly.
“Anything!” Karl’s voice was already hoarse with desire.
“Let me go and stand away from me. Then I will turn round once, if you will.”
Karl looked puzzled.
“Go on, it’s the rules of the dare.”
Still looking puzzled, Karl stepped back and slowly turned around, as Alice had requested.
Alice looked at him closely and suddenly felt very sad.
To complete her part of the dare, slowly she pirouetted, with her head tilted to one side, almost resting on her shoulder. Her eyes full of mystery but also a strange resolve.
She knew now what she was going to do.
Facing him again, she reached for her dress and slipped it back on. Stepping forward decisively, she kissed the surprised Karl on the lips and before he could object, was gone from the penthouse.
Later that evening, she was surfing the Internet when an email came through from Karl.
To: Alice
From: KarlSubject: What did I do wrong?
There was no text in the body of the message.
Alice wrote back, with a smile still playing on her lips.
To: Karl
From: AliceSubject: What you did wrong …
I recognized Greta’s trade mark scratches on your back and realized that the only reunion you were after was a reunion with your island conquests - and if they were married, for you, that only made the chase more interesting.
Alice wondered how long Karl would keep writing hoping for her to change her mind. Her smile broadened.
“The longer the better,” she thought happily.
Her email filter would automatically detect and delete any further emails he sent.
Alice was content. Her new computer system made matters so neat and tidy. Karl was now firmly back in the past, out of sight and out of mind.
THE END
