Felicia (2 page)

“Oh?” Felicia countered coyly. “Did you plan for us to spend the whole weekend in the villa?”

“No, of course not!” Marcello laughed. “That alone would not satisfy all of your voracious appetites, my dear. No, we will spend the evenings dining well, and the nights ‘clubbing’, as you call it, to be followed by lovemaking into the early morning hours. The rest of the time we can sleep.”

“No shopping?” Felicia faked a pout. “I’ll need new ensembles for when we go dining and clubbing, you know.”

“Ah, but there is an activity that I do not enjoy as much as you do,” Marcello said. “If you can find the time and the energy to go shopping – as I am sure that you will – I would ask you to let me stay at the villa and rest, for I am sure that I will need it.”

Felicia laughed. “I will do that, my darling,” she said, patting his hand. “But when I return to the villa you must be awake and attentive while I try on my new clothes for you.”

“But of course!” Marcello agreed quickly. “I love to do that. You always look so lovely in whatever you have chosen.”

“But… Monday? What then?” Felicia asked.

“Ah,” Marcello sighed heavily and shook his head slowly. “Sabina is scheduled to return that afternoon. So after that we must continue to meet at your charming little apartment, or in places like this.” For a moment, he sounded apprehensive, as if he expected her to complain. She could, and it would make him most unhappy and contrite, but it was all too possible to overdo the pampered, spoiled mistress act. If you make just enough trouble, it kept your lover on a short leash and you in control. If you make just the least bit too much, you become too much trouble and go from mistress to pretty young woman with no means of support in a foreign land, looking anxiously for a new sugar daddy. That could be awkward. Felicia knew that Marcello did the very best he could under the circumstances, and as long as he kept her in style she was willing to cut him a break.

“It is a shame that your friends had to return home,” Marcello said. “I am afraid that you become lonely when I cannot be with you.”

“Please, my darling,” Felicia looked at him over her sunglasses. “I can wait for you.” She thought that his real fear was that she would find some other playmate to occupy her lonely hours. That was understandable. But she was new to this kept woman business and it made her uneasy whenever she took an honest look at what she was doing. In order not to feel so uneasy, she had resolved to be true to Marcello for as long as she was with him. That was at least sort of honorable, though she could never bring the matter up with him. Marcello was living a deception, and she knew that people who did that started to think that everybody else was being just as deceptive as they were. If she protested her loyalty to him too much, in his mind he would only have more cause to mistrust her. She knew that he already had someone keeping an eye on her. She’d seen the man more than once, trailing her unobtrusively whenever she was out by herself. He was small and kind of anonymous-looking in a balding, middle-aged way. She supposed that he was good at his job. If it hadn’t been for all the spy movies and detective shows she’d watched that gave her useful tips, she never would have been able to spot him. At first she had been irate that Marcello didn’t trust her, but in the end she just accepted it as part of the deal. She didn’t really have a lot of experience to go by, and it seemed logical.

“What are you thinking, my dear?” Marcello asked.

‘What?” Felicia was jolted back into the here and now. “Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what I should wear for you tonight. It would have to be something from my wardrobe. I just don’t feel motivated to go shopping today.”

She saw something like relief in Marcello’s eyes. Her shopping trips were never cheap.

“Perhaps that fetching black dress with the spaghetti straps?” he suggested.

“The one with the skirt slit up both sides almost to my hips?” Felicia smiled. “And it’s backless, so I can’t wear a bra with it? That one?”

“Yes, exactly!” Marcello nodded.

“Well, it would be good for going clubbing, but don’t you think it’s a bit daring for dinner?” Felicia asked.

“Nonsense!” Marcello responded. “You are a beautiful woman. It is a beautiful dress. You will enhance each other.”

“Oh!” Felicia sat up suddenly.

“What is it, my dear?”

“My hair!” Felicia wailed, running her fingers through it. “I’ve been out in the sun all afternoon and it’s a mess! Oh, Marcello, I
have
to go to the salon! I just
have
to!”

Chapter Two

The nightclub was crowded, loud and bubbling with excitement. Most of the crowd was composed of young men and women, either sitting close together over drinks at the tiny round tables, twined together on the dance floor, or twined even more closely together in the darkness of the draped booths along the walls. Felicia was in one of the booths with Marcello, but they were not entwined. Marcello certainly wanted to be, but Felicia wanted to dance.

“Please, darling,” she coaxed as Marcello ran a hand slowly up her thigh. “I spent simply
hours
at the salon to look beautiful for you tonight. Don’t you want to show me off?”

Marcello nibbled at her ear, which was awkward because of the big gold hoop earrings she was wearing. “I think it is you who wants to show you off,” he purred. “But I thought I had made it very clear to you that I truly appreciate how much time you spent making yourself even more beautiful for tonight. Can you not tell how ravishing I find you?” He took Felicia’s slim-fingered hand in his and guided it to his crotch. “Can you not tell?” he asked again, his breath warm and moist on her neck. Felicia shivered at the sensation. She left her hand in his lap after he let go of it and stroked the bulge in his expensive Italian slacks gently.

“But, darling,” she said softly, “you’re a little bit drunk. You had a little too much to drink at dinner. And you had more to drink here. If you come and dance with me, it will give you the time and exercise you need to work off all that alcohol, so that when you take me to bed you’ll be able to appreciate it all the more.” She squeezed the bulge gently and went on in a low, purring voice. “I can promise that it will be memorable.” She thought that she sounded a bit corny, but Marcello seemed to like it when she spoke to him like that. The plain fact was that if they left now, her lover stood an excellent chance of falling asleep on the ride to the beachfront villa. The driver could help her get him inside, but even if she could waken him once they were there the mood she had been carefully cultivating all evening would be gone beyond recall. It had happened once before, leaving her incredibly frustrated. Whether Marcello knew it or not, when he did something as crude as moving her hand to his crotch it excited her immensely. He was usually so smooth and urbane and sophisticated she was sure that when he did things like that it was because he found her so very, very desirable that he just couldn’t help himself. But perhaps tonight she had gone a little too far in making herself beautiful, succeeding so well that all Marcello wanted to do was fuck her. She was looking forward to that part of the evening, of course, but she was nineteen – or she would be in a couple of months – and she wanted to enjoy herself in all the other ways available to her. Right now, she wanted to dance.

“It is always memorable with you, Felicia,” Marcello said, his words slightly slurred. “So why should we wait any longer? I want you now, my darling.”

This wasn’t working. Felicia slipped away from her lover, smiling seductively at him the whole time so that he wouldn’t get huffy.

“I have an idea,” she said. “Why don’t you sit here and watch me dance for you?”

“Truly?” Marcello seemed confused, but not entirely against her idea.

“Yes,” Felicia replied. “I will do my very best to seduce you into dancing with me. But you must stop drinking anything but sparkling water from now on. Agreed?”

“Yes, yes!” Marcello nodded emphatically. “It will be as you say. I want very much to see you dance for me.”

Felicia immediately rose and walked the few steps to the edge of the dance floor. This part wasn’t too crowded, and the band was playing something nice and slow. They usually played sets of five songs and had just started their third. After that, they would take a break and the club’s resident DJ would crank up some Euro-techno-stuff with a fast, driving beat. Felicia hoped that Marcello would be in a proper state to take her home before that happened. She was wearing the dress that Marcello had suggested to please him, and she did look incredible in it, but she could not wear a bra with it at all. If she tried to dance to anything fast, her breasts would shake and wobble and there was a real danger that they might slip out.

She turned to face her lover. He was sitting with his elbows on the table, looking alert and expectant. She smiled slyly at him once and then turned her back to him and began dancing. She let herself drift along with the slow, sensuous beat of the music, raising her arms up over her head and setting her feet well apart in the expensive black pumps she had bought that afternoon. The dress slid away from her legs, baring them to mid thigh as she began to sway her hips slowly from side to side. She only made small movements at first, but gradually they became larger and more sweeping until her upper body began swaying in the opposite direction as her hips. She hoped that it was holding Marcello’s attention, but she still had her back to him. She could see other men watching her, though, as well as some women. It was time to turn around and make it clear to her growing audience that she was doing this for one particular man, and not to attract the attentions of many men. Still, she couldn’t help smiling at the thought that so many other men were finding her desirable. She tried not to think about the women who had been eying her so speculatively.

Marcello looked utterly entranced. She smiled at him, hoping that she had the right mix of sweetness and sensuality. From his answering smile, she thought that she’d succeeded. Her blonde hair was coiled atop her head in the elegant style the hairdresser had selected for her, and for a moment she thought about undoing it so that those long, loose curls that Marcello found so fascinating would tumble about her shoulders. But it felt warm and humid in the club now, and it would be even more so for her with her hair down, so she left it up, even though she knew how loose hair would enhance how she looked while she danced. She let her arms fall slowly and gracefully to her sides and lowered her head as she swayed to the beat.

The song ended. Felicia stayed where she was, still moving slightly, still with her head down. She could feel Marcello’s eyes on her, and that was exciting. She could also feel other men’s eyes on her, and that was also exciting. It felt as if she had some mystical power to compel men to watch her. It was intoxicating, to be the object of so much desire. Then the music started up again. She raised her head to look at Marcello. He was still at the table, leaning forward on his elbows, his eyes bright, his expression avid. She reached out one hand to him. He almost toppled the table over in his haste to get to her, and quickly she was wrapped up in his arms and he was kissing her with a passion that she hadn’t felt in him since their first night together. She began to sway again in time to the music, and Marcello had to sway with her. What they were doing wasn’t exactly dancing, but she didn’t care. She was content to wait until Marcello had to breathe and break the kiss. She smiled up at him.

“Dance with me,” she said. “Just hold me and dance with me for a little while longer.”

Marcello said nothing, but he loosened his grip on her just enough for them to dance as she had wanted. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smelled his cologne.

“You have bewitched me, Felicia,” he murmured.

“Mmmmmm…” she purred. “That is exactly what I was trying to do.”

“You have done the same to many of the other men here as well,” he continued. “I consider myself to be extremely fortunate.”

“As do I, my darling,” Felicia said happily. “I could dance with you like this forever.”

“Ah, but I could not,” he said. “I desire you. You must know that. When this dance is over, we will go to the villa, and there we will do a very different dance together.”

Felicia had intended to stay longer than that, at least until the band had finished their set. But Marcello seemed to have recovered from his earlier drinking far more quickly than she would have thought possible, and in truth she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

“As you say, Marcello,” she agreed. “But I do not think we will need a band for that.”

He laughed, and slowly spun her around. As Felicia’s eyes swept across the club, she thought that she saw a familiar face. It looked like the man she had spotted following her before, but her glimpse was too fleeting, the lighting too uncertain for her to be sure. When Marcello spun her around again, she looked to the shadowy alcove where she had seen him. All she saw was a young couple talking animatedly to each other over the drinks they held in their hands. There was no sign of the man. Had she just imagined him? She must have. There was no reason for the man to follow her as long as she was with Marcello, was there? No, of course not. She thought of mentioning the matter to Marcello yet again, and yet again decided against it. She had nothing to hide, but if Marcello wanted to ease his mind by having her watched while he was not around, she didn’t really mind. Anyway, she was in Europe. They probably did things like this all the time.

By the time the song ended, she was more than ready to go to the villa with Marcello. Her flesh felt very, very warm wherever he touched her, her skin was tingling, and her head felt oddly heavy. She could recognize the signs of her own arousal. When Marcello took her by the hand and started to lead her away out of the club, she didn’t resist at all.

Stepping from the warmth and noise of the club out into the cooler, quieter night air helped to clear her head, but only a little. She waited as her lover called for their driver to take them to the villa. She’d only been there once before. Usually, the trysts they shared were at the cozy little apartment he had gotten for her back in the town. It was comfortable and plushly appointed, but compared to the opulence of the villa it might as well have been a bare-bones efficiency apartment back in Louisville. The villa had no less than three bedrooms, each with its own magnificent bathroom. There was a broad veranda that overlooked the beach, with a hot tub at one end. There was even a small permanent staff at the place, no more than a cook and a maid, both heavy, older women who seemed to take everything in stride. Felicia had no idea if they approved or disapproved of her coming there, but they both seemed to like Marcello immensely, so Felicia assumed that it was all right. It had occurred to her the one time she’d been there before that for all Marcello knew his wife brought her own lovers there whenever he wasn’t around. That was another thing she never brought up to him.