Ryker put the phone on speaker, then hushed us all as the phone started to ring.

When Ethan picked up, Ryker introduced himself and mentioned they had met at the volunteer fire brigade party two months before. Ethan said he remembered him, and Ryker told him that he and some friends were at Valerie and Tony’s riding out the storm.

“We are cooking up a feed of seafood tonight. And wondered if you and Sacha would like to join us, say, 6:30 tonight?”

“I’d love to,” replied Ethan, “but I’d better ask Sacha.” And we all heard him partially cover the mouthpiece and yell that Ryker had asked them to dinner.

Although quite muffled, we heard a woman’s reply that she wanted to talk to Ryker. When she came on the phone, she asked, “How come you are over here?”

“And it’s lovely to hear your voice too,” Ryker laughingly replied.

 “Sorry, It’s been a horrible day, I thought our house was going to be blown away last night, and we have been cleaning up water damage and stripped tree branches all day. I’m just surprised to hear from you.”

Ryker answered, “We’re staying at Valerie and Tony’s tonight and thought you might have borne the brunt of that weather and would like a night off and have dinner with us, as I’ve been sailing down at the Mercs and landed last night with a load of seafood that needs eating.”

“My husband is nodding his head like a bobblehead toy, so I guess the answer is yes, we would love to. What time should we come?” we heard Sacha reply.

“I’ll pick you up between 6:15 and 6:30. You’ll be drinking, so you don’t want to drive.”

“What about getting home? You’ll be drinking, won’t you?” she inquired.

“Rex and Sally are here, and as he doesn’t drink. They can run you two home as you live quite close to them. Don’t dress up; just jeans and a T-shirt, that’s all we have on.” And he hung up.

But as he hung up, we heard the start of an objection from her; obviously, the news that Rex would be here had thrown a doubt or two in her mind.

Once he was sure that Ryker had hung up, Rex piped up, “We will need to get a couple of drinks into Sacha to loosen her up, but she’s difficult. I’ve only seen her drink one glass at any of the parties we’ve seen them at.”

Sally commented that it is because she tells me she quickly gets light-headed and is afraid of losing control, so she’s always careful.

Ryker went over and talked with Rex. I heard snippets about the tasty cocktails that they could serve. Then Rex left to get some booze, glasses and extra chairs from their place. With the kids from the beached boat, there would be twelve of us for dinner, so there were a few things Valerie was short of.

Ryker called out, “Tony, can I borrow the van? I need to get stuff from the yacht, the Scallops, Paua (Abalone), and booze.” He then asked Aaron, “Can I take Nique out to the yacht while you gut and clean the snapper?”

Aaron nodded his agreement but asked, “Why do you need Nique?”

“I want to download the photos she took and finish showing her the ones from the beach. Also, I can do with someone to hand stuff into the dinghy, and she’s a damn sight better-looking than you!” He replied.

On the drive over the hill to Schooner Bay, Ryker elaborated on what he intended to happen that evening. He explained that over the months of working together, Ethan had opened up to Rex, that he wanted to see another man fuck his wife but didn’t know how to go about it.

Ryker started explaining, “That’s Rex’s version, but I actually think Rex probably put the idea in Ethan’s head, but that is all irrelevant anyway. Rex has been trying, but he’s like a bull in a china shop and has only managed to put her guard up and make her wary of him. I had a good talk with her the last time I was here and sowed some seeds in her mind. I think I may manage to break her resistance tonight, but I don’t want you to sit there, getting upset and thinking we are forcing her.”

I could see all sorts of issues with him interfering with a marriage.

“Why do you need to break her down? Surely, if she wanted to play around, she would do it. It seems to me you should leave them and their marriage alone.”

Ryker laughed; he leaned over and punched me softly on the arm, “I knew that would be your reaction, which was why I wanted you away from the others to discuss and explain.”

“Look, I have messed around with half a dozen married couples over the last three years. The second I met Sacha, I read her like a book. And just in case you think I had any preconceived ideas, that was before I even heard Rex’s side of things. I didn’t find out what he had been up to until the end of my last visit.

“Anyway, during our conversation, she quizzed me about the rumour that Sally had slept with four of us the night before. It seems everyone knows everyone’s business on this island. She was very obtuse in her questions, sex obviously disturbed her, but I could see the excitement behind her eyes, so I pressed her about how she would like that. I worked on her all night whilst we danced, and near the end of the evening, I got her to admit that she had dreamed of things like that happening to her when she was younger. But she was emphatic they were just - in her words - dirty filthy dreams and would never let that happen.

“As you can imagine, I took that as a real challenge, and I think I can get her willingly onto that table tonight. However, if she doesn’t let herself go, I won’t force her, nor will I allow anyone else to push her.

“But I have a problem: she’ll never do anything in front of Ethan, so I need one of you girls to keep him out of the way.” Ryker held his hand up when he saw my hackles go up.

“I’m not asking anyone to sleep with him, and I think it should be Sally, not you,” he said, looking me in the eye. “She needs to get him out of the way, take him outside, or hide him in one of the bedrooms. As if Sacha starts to let her guard down, I know she will not entertain anything if he is standing around watching her.”

 I interjected, “So you’re the big white knight that will race her off into the sunset, fucking her silly and fulfilling all her dreams!”

Ryker roared with laughter as he pulled the van next to the dinghy and jerked on the hand brake. He turned to face me, “Nique, you’re wonderful. Yes, you are probably right. I do get a big kick from awakening the tiger in a sexually frustrated woman.”

“What do you want me to do? I’m unsure I want to help you lead this innocent soul astray,” I answered.

“I do have a specific task for you. I want you to look after Rex.” 

Again Ryker held his hand up to stop me from arguing. He saw my hackles rise. I would certainly not have Rex pawing around me again; lunchtime today was definitely a one-off.

“I just want you to keep him in check. Valerie has told me all about today’s lunch and says you handled him better than many women twice your age could have. Nothing surer he will try and get involved, and he will stuff it up for all of us. Rex must be the last guy if Sacha goes past the point of no return. In fact, I would rather he was not involved at all. I believe he will listen to you. He’ll get stroppy if any one of the guys tries to stop him. I want this to be a really good experience for Sacha and not marred by anyone acting crude or Rex starting a fight.”

Ryker opened the van door, “Let’s get the dinghy in the water. We need to pick up some stuff, then get back to the house; there is a lot to do.”

As we rowed to the yacht, I took in the day around us. The wind had fallen away, and the cloud had lifted to show patches of blue sky.

I piped up, “Aren’t we fortunate to be here? Look at this day; we don’t need to wear masks. Thank God we don’t live in India, Brazil or any other countries where Covid is walloping them.”

 Ryker turned his head, “God has little to do with it. Are you religious?”

I heard a faint tone of bitterness in his retort, “Not very; my mother and father took me to church almost every Sunday. So most of my friends are from our church. But I stopped going about two years ago when I started the sixth form. It’s funny; my mother and father have not been that often since, either. My mother has started opening up to me, something I’m a little uncomfortable with. In one of our discussions, she told me my dad just went to church to give me a good grounding in religion so that I could make up my mind and to give me a good set of morals. They stuffed up there; look what I have been up to in the last four days.”

“There is nothing wrong with your morals. You have not hurt anyone. I would say you have the highest morals of anyone in that house we have just left. You’re young enough to be untainted by what life throws up.”

Embarrassed, I tried to divert his attention, “You don’t seem to have a very good opinion of religion?”

 “I’m not a fan, no, but my main issue is with the people like Sacha’s mother, who are all bitter and twisted and use religion for their own ends. For example, she has instilled in her daughter the belief that anything that gives pleasure is evil and that she will go to hell if she enjoys herself. How fucked up is that? Anyway, enough of all that; you have turned out alright. The church has not managed to fuck around with your mind too much.”

When we reached the yacht, we climbed aboard, and Ryker went straight to the computer to download the photos. Once he had the photos downloading, he asked me to get specific items out of the freezer while he got some bottles from under the seat where he stored all the booze.

 Then from the live bait tank, he took some Paua and Scallops. He said he had dived for these while Aaron and I were on the beach. “Your job when we return will be to make some fritters with these.”

 We set everything we were taking with us on the transom, then he got in the dinghy, and I handed everything to him. Once loaded, we returned to the cabin to look through the photos.

“These are bloody good. You have a good eye, Nique.” And he thanked me for taking them.

As he scrolled through them, a photo of me lying between Valerie and Rex appeared on the screen. Valerie and I were looking over to the table where Sally was being fucked. The stupid, lascivious look on my face brought home to me just how turned on I had been watching Sally getting fucked.

“Oh God! Look at the expression on my face. How embarrassing!” I blurted out. “I don’t want to be part of anything tonight. I want to be there and watch, but no way am I going to get my clothes off.”

Ryker smiled at me, “Good. That was another of the reasons for getting you out here to talk. I don’t want you involved, either. I see Rex eyeing you up every time you walk across the room. He is hungry for another go at you. I trust Tony, but I see his eyes follow you around the room. And there will be three extra guys there tonight, who I know nothing about.”

He seemed to think for a minute, then, “I’ll give you my camera, and that will give you a reason to walk where you want, and you can use it as an excuse to foil anyone trying to bed you. But be careful; you are young, and some guys can be real bastards when their cocks take over their brains, especially when alcohol is involved. So try and keep Aaron, Tony or me close by all night.”

“I’ll be okay. I have you guys and Valerie to look after me,” I retorted.

“What if we are indisposed? Valerie has her eye on one of the guys from the stranded yacht. I can see all the signs. She will almost certainly grab one or the other for a quick bonk at some time this evening, and Aaron, Tony and I may be in another room.”

I looked questioningly at him.

“Look, I want this to be very special for Sacha tonight. So I was hoping that if I do get her to live out one of her dreams, it will be Tony, Aaron and me that are with her.”

Jealousy bit into my stomach at the thought of Aaron with another woman. Ryker saw the sulky look on my face. “Sorry, but Valerie told me you were the one that insisted Aaron fucked Sacha at lunchtime; I thought you may like watching?”

“I don’t want him to! I was jealous about him going with Sally this morning, but when it all started, I got turned on and wanted to see him with her. It was different. You should have seen her, Ryker; the second they had her on that table, all awareness left her eyes, and she just became immersed in orgasm after orgasm. It looked like she was drugged. I never knew you could come more than once. Then I realised she would hardly even know it was him and suddenly wanted to watch him with another woman. But I have seen that now. I may feel different later, but as I don’t know Sacha, my answer is, No!”

Ryker calmed me down, “I just wanted to know if you were okay. I will not ask Aaron then.”

He finished scrolling through the photos; there were a lot with Rex and me, then ones with Aaron and me. I felt ashamed; I would like to have seen them privately, on my own. “I’m embarrassed to see those. I don’t know how I did that. Can I have the photos, then trust you to destroy them?”

“Yes, I’ll burn them to a thumb drive. Can I show them to Valerie and Tony, and do you want Aaron to see them?”

I hesitated as a photo showed Valerie kissing me and caressing my breast with Rex pinching my nipple. Then another one showed me with my dress spread wide open, Valerie still kissing me and now freed my breast from the push-up bra. Rex was pinching the other, now exposed nipple and fingering me through the beautiful blue crotchless panties. I hadn’t realised he had been doing that so early in the piece; I must have been out of my mind.

“I need to think about what I want to show Aaron. Maybe some of them? Can I sort through them later and decide?” I asked.

“I’d like to show them to Valerie and Tony.”

“Yes, I’m okay with them seeing them, but not Rex. I don’t want him ever to see them or, more importantly, get a copy of them.”

“Good, I agree with that. It’s just what I would have suggested,” said Ryker.

Ryker started copying the files to a thumb drive. “I’ll take this ashore, show Valerie and Tony when we go to bed tonight, then give you the thumb drive. You will know then that you have the only copy.”

“Except for the ones on this computer.”

“Don’t worry; I will keep them safe. I’ll only keep a couple. I have several photos from the past two years that must never see the light of day.”

We had to wait for about ten minutes until the photos were all copied across before we could row back ashore.

Ryker asked me about my being uncomfortable with my mother opening up to me, “I would think you are bloody lucky having a mother like that.”

“Yes, but she’s been commenting on what she and my father got up to before I was born. I guess she thinks that will make us best friends and I’ll open up to her. But I don’t want to know about her past. I have an idea she and Dad may have done that BDSM stuff from some of the little snippets she has dropped.”

I hesitated for a second, “Can I ask you about that? BDSM, and why would husbands want to have you make love with their wives?”

“I’m not any sort of expert, so these are just my observations. I have chased married women since my late teens, probably because of my upbringing and losing my mother as I did. So I do have some theories. But you are asking about couples fooling about; I’ve only been involved with half a dozen of these, and only in the last couple of years.”

“They range from women that have been virgins when they were married and want to know what they have missed out on. To women that did fool around a lot before they met their husbands, I guess they’re bored and want some of the excitement and action from their youth back in their lives. So why do the men go along with it? I don’t understand. Half the men out there fantasise about watching their wives, but 99% would never take the first step as they are far too jealous. I guess that I get to meet the one per cent that isn’t jealous.”

We hit the shore, tied the dinghy up, got everything into the van, and climbed in the front.

I stopped Ryker from starting the engine, “Before we go, will you tell me about BDSM? I want to know what you do with the women and what part the husbands play?”

Ryker looked over and asked, “How much do you want to know?”

“Everything, how do you meet them, how do you find out what they want, where does it take place? Aaron tells me you are building a dungeon. I have a million questions.”

He told me to wait a minute and called Aaron on his mobile, “Aaron, can you get the crayfish cooking… Oh! You’ve already started. Okay, then you need to search out the following,” he read out a list of food items from memory and told Aaron that any items he couldn’t find in Valerie’s pantry, he would have to go get them from the shop. Aaron must have asked to speak to me as Ryker handed over the phone.

The first words he asked me were, was I all right? “Yes, of course I am. We will be home in about half an hour. I’m just asking Ryker some questions. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”

Ryker looked decidedly uncomfortable and said, “I don’t talk about this stuff with anyone.”

“You have talked to Aaron.”

“In absolute confidence and under the threat of death if he lets anything out that will cause a scandal.”

“Well, I’m not asking to cause anyone harm. I can ask Aaron, but I’d rather hear it from you than second-hand. You can threaten me with death if you want. I won’t tell.”

Looking at his watch, Ryker started by explaining that it would take more than half an hour to answer all I had asked. But he would tell me something about the latest couple he saw.

“My business landed a new client a few months back. I usually don’t handle much fieldwork these days, but this was a big one. The husband is a well-known public figure, and you have probably never heard of his wife, but she is very prominent in some circles. I’m not going to tell you their names or precisely what they do, and you must promise me that if I do let slip anything in the telling that gives you any ideas, you must ignore it. Absolute discretion is needed.

“This couple wanted my firm to put together some plans for a holiday retreat up north. To get an idea of what they wanted, I went to their home in Remuera and took a tour around every room in their house, asking questions. I did this myself because the prestige of landing this contract was worth even more than the actual job, and it will bring us a lot more work.

“When the three of us got to their bedroom, I measured the size and asked if they wanted their holiday one smaller, larger, or kept much the same. Did it work for them? What would they change? Then they did the same with their ensuite bathroom and separate walk-in wardrobes. In her closet, I was after the size; how many clothes and shoes she had so I could work out the shelves and drawers, etc.

“On one of her shelves, in plain view, was a selection of sex toys. Some were quite extreme: vibrators, butt plugs, anal beads, nipple clamps, paddles, and restraining cords and cuffs. Do you know what all those are?”

I nodded my head, “I can guess. Not sure how you would use them all, but I have an idea from their names.”

“Well, the wife hung her head in embarrassment and exclaimed that she should have hidden all that stuff. But I could see she was feigning embarrassment, and she was actually very excited.

“Her husband looked to me and asked what we should do with her.”

Ryker told me he never saw this one coming. He told me she was in her early forties, attractive and in a profession that you would not expect to dabble in BDSM or fool around. He said he was worried about mixing business with pleasure and so was cautious and threw it back on her husband.

 “‘You know her better than I; you choose a punishment.’

“We’ll call him Bruce. He took her out to the bedroom, walked her to the window, had her bend over with hands on the windowsill, told her to look at the view, and lifted her dress right up onto her back.”

Ryker looked at me and asked if I was sure he wanted to go on, “It’s pretty spicy!”

I nodded to him, “I want to know everything.” 

“Well, he pulled her thong down her legs and gave her a resounding slap on the bum. It was a hell of a lot harder than I would have smacked her.

“She had a very nice bum; in fact, I had been secretly admiring her figure during our tour of the house. She gave a yelp, wiggled her bum around and let out an eager groan. He gave her a few more and asked me to take over while he got some of her toys.”

Again, Ryker asked me if he was being too specific. “No, keep going. What did you do?”

“Well, I gave her a couple of smacks and watched her fanny get wetter with every stroke I delivered. Then she pleaded with me to fuck her; she was very vocal and graphic, probably much more than Sally today. So I did what the lady requested, dropping my trousers and taking her from behind.

“Her husband returned with a little gold butt plug and handed it to me. He was telling me that she liked all her holes filled. He moved to the window, reached under her and tore the front of what I thought was a costly dress right down to her waist. He slipped her arms out of the sleeves, undid her bra and dropped it on the floor.”

I looked at him to see if he was making this up, to tease me.

“I’m not bullshitting you; seriously, he tore it off, and she loved it. He put her nipple clamps on, sat on the windowsill and offered her his cock for a blowjob. I rammed the butt plug in her bum and went to town. I came far too soon, and he swapped places, telling me to get her to clean her mess from my willie, and bragged that she loved cleaning up her mess. Sure enough, she took to my willie like she hadn’t eaten for a month.

“He didn’t come in her but pulled out when he started coming and shot his load over her face and mouth. She stood up then and clung to me for dear life, telling me I was wonderful and all sorts of other embarrassing stuff. Husband just left us there and went to the bathroom to tidy himself up.”

My mind flew back to the lunchtime session with Aaron and Rex and how I had clung to Aaron afterwards, needing his understanding of what I had done. But I didn’t let on about this to Ryker.

“Have you seen her since?” I asked.

“Yes, twice, and she wants a lot more. We have won the contract to design and manage the holiday retreat they are having built, and we have already picked up another lucrative job from one of their circle of friends.”

“Tell me about the other two times.”

“We need to get going, so very quickly. The second time I saw them was again at their home, and a lot more intense. She likes being submissive and loves to be bound and humiliated, quite extreme stuff, really.”

What about the third time? Ryker looked at his watch and sighed, “At the end of the second session, her husband left us alone for a bit again, and she asked me if I could get some more guys to do her, as she had always fantasised about being gang banged, so I mentioned I might be able to get a friend of mine that she might like.”

“Did you take Aaron around?!” I erupted. I immediately regretted my reaction but felt a burst of jealous betrayal that I couldn’t contain.

“No! Good lord, Aaron would not be into what this woman wants. He won’t even smack a girl’s bum. This woman is into some seriously heavy degrading acts.”

The relief that washed over me must have been apparent because Ryker gave me a knowing smile. I wanted to wipe that off his face and tell him that Aaron had promised to smack my arse tonight for going with Valerie. But I bit my tongue and nodded for him to carry on.

“I have an acquaintance, Pete, who owns and manages a building company we often use. I know he regularly cheats on his wife, and he owes me some favours for all the work I have put his way. I thought I might score a lot more brownie points if I let him in on this. So once I had talked to Pete, I rang Bruce. He was over the moon when I told him I had a guy but said he didn’t want neighbours seeing men visiting and then leaving a couple of hours later. He mentioned that a couple of nosey neighbours had already asked who I was and what I was doing there the two previous times.

“So we arranged to meet Pete at my house. That was when I decided to build the dungeon. I had been thinking about building one for years. Their wanting to meet at my place jolted me into action. My family home has a large games room with a pool table in the basement, and I have excavated behind that, put in some substantial steel beams, lined it and put old jailhouse bars behind what looks to be a normal door. Pete has built a lot of equipment that he and I are installing.”

I asked if I could see it. Ryker raised his eyebrows and asked me if I was getting interested in a bit of BDSM.

“No! Hell no! I can’t think of anything worse than being hurt or humiliated. But I wouldn’t mind taking Aaron down there when he upsets me.” I gave Ryker a wicked smile with my reply.

Ryker laughed with me, “You are welcome to use it whenever. Back to the third time I met them. As we need to go.

“His wife, I’ll call her Jill, had told me they had a close circle of friends, and she knew of two wives that may want to use my services.”

“Good Lord! Are you going to turn this into a business?”

“Hell no, it’s purely for fun and will never be more than once a month, and only with people with much more to lose than I have. I’ve also made it plain to Bruce that there is a limit on how far anything can go at my place. I want no asphyxiation stuff. That’s when there is trouble, someone dies, and the shit hits the fan.”

“God, it sounds terrible. Why would anyone want to do all that?”

“You have no idea the ‘high’ that women, and men for that matter, get from BDSM. Jill must have come three times the first time at their house. But when Bruce and I tied her up and got rough the second time, she must have come about eight times. And when Pete was there last time, she had to have had a dozen orgasms.”

“Come on. We must go. I have to get the Lobster Thermidor started.”

He started the van, and we drove up over the hill. We had only gone a hundred yards, and another question popped into my head, “Why did you not try it on with me when we were gathering peaches? I would have probably let you. Aaron says it was out of respect for him.”

“Ah! I was bloody tempted. Let me tell you a theory of mine. Love is like fire; it can burn brightly, smoulder, and go out. At its extreme, it is an explosion, instantaneous combustion that is gone in a flash. Bright hot flames burn for a short time but then always go out. But some fires can burn and smoulder for years. There are peat fires that have burned for hundreds of years; did you know that?” Ryker said, raising his eyebrows at me.

“So yes, my regard for Aaron was a reason, but my big concern was that If I had taken you in Peachgrove Bay, it would have been like the most fantastic bright flame, then burned for a while before going out and leaving you despising me. That’s what’s happened with pretty much all the young women I have ever been with and why I feel safe with married women. I admire you and really fancy pushing you down on the seat right now, but I am not going to ruin a relationship with you just for a quick bonk.”

I blushed at his admission, “So you’re looking for a ‘peat fire’ with married couples? That does not sound like a very intelligent pursuit.”

He roared with laughter, “Nique, you are a gem. I think it will be you and Aaron that burn like peat. Have you told him you love him yet? He loves you, you know. I’ve never seen him so besotted with a woman before.”

Again, I felt my cheeks burn red, “I have, just this morning, and he said he loved me the other night, but it confused me. I feel I’m too young and have seen and know nothing of the world. I don’t think I should get tied down yet, but I think I do love him.”

“My advice is to grab him; you’ll never get a better match. Yes, you’re young, but age should have nothing to do with love. Besides, you have learned today that Aaron will never stop you from tasting some forbidden fruit if you think you missed out. You certainly won’t find that trait in many men.”

We pulled up outside the house and parked alongside Rex’s car, bringing me back to the present and what we would go inside and prepare for.

“So do you hope that Sacha will be your peat fire, or will you bend her over the table and try to survive the explosion?”

“I don’t think I will ever find love, so no peat fire, sadly. But Sacha is special to me. I have thought about her a lot these last two months. Now there is something I have hardly admitted to myself; not quite sure why I told you that.”

“Well, all I can say is that you will not find any love with Sasha by bending her over a table and fucking her in front of the gang.”

“You’re probably right, but she is the most repressed woman I have ever met. I want to snap her out of it, and setting her up with her fantasy might be the trigger.”

I didn’t think so, but I shut my mouth; what did I know about all this sex stuff?

—-

The preparations for dinner were nearly complete. I had the task of making an entree of small Paua fritters. I got Aaron to help me shell and clean them, then used an old-fashioned mincer to grind them into a chunky puree which I added to a thin batter and fried in coconut oil. They were to be served on a tiny salad of lettuce, cucumber and feta cheese with a good dollop of tartar sauce.

Aaron and Tony had cooked the three crayfish in a massive pot on the barbecue, and Ryker was to make a second entree of Lobster Thermidor, something I was really looking forward to, as I had never tried it.

Valerie and Sally were cooking the main; they had basted the six snappers in a mix of herbs and oil, then put them in the oven to bake. They had also prepared vegetables from both of their gardens. Then, finally, there was an apple and blackberry pie, which would be served with ice cream.

At 6:15, Ryker left in the van to get Sasha, Ethan, and the guys from the boat. We all slumped down in the chairs except for Rex; he was at the credenza, sorting out the bottles that Ryker and I had brought ashore, plus some I had seen him bring in, then he lined up a bunch of tall-stemmed glasses and started to make up a bunch of Champagne cocktails.

Fifteen minutes later, as Rex was dishing out the cocktails, Ryker opened the ranch slider and stood to the side, letting our five guests enter. I knew Bailey from the yacht rescue that morning, so the other woman that entered had to be Sacha, and the guy holding her arm had to be Ethan.

 I was taken immediately by Sacha’s likeness to Valerie. She was the same height, build and colouring, except for her hair, which was blond. But whereas Valerie walking down Queen Street would have men glancing her way and turning after she had gone past, Sacha would have men and women stopping dead in their tracks to look at her.

 I wondered if she was a model. But I discarded this thought, as she looked nervous and was dressed very modestly. She wore a blouse and baggy dress trousers that did not emphasise her figure. Also, a model would look more confident in front of people. I also wondered if she was nervous because of Rex being there and maybe meeting Ryker again.

Sally was the first to leap up and welcome them. She threw her arms around Sacha and kissed her on both cheeks, then repeated the hug and kissed Ethan.

Tony and Rex walked over, welcomed them and handed them their Champagne cocktails, followed closely by Valerie.

Aaron and I got up to say our hellos. But I held him back, watching everyone’s reactions. I noted that although Valerie smiled and welcomed Sacha, there was hesitation. I surmised she was a bit jealous of her even after what she said about wanting Ryker to meet another woman. Then Rex leaned in to kiss Sacha; she went stiff and held her arm across her chest as he tried to hug her. Rex was correct in his assumption that he had burned his bridges there.

.Ryker guided her over to Aaron and me, “These are my best friends, Veronique and Aaron.”

I stepped forward, put my arms out, hugged her, and whispered in her ear, “My best friend is called Sasha. It’s really nice to meet you. Ryker has a high opinion of you.”

 “I’ve heard all about Aaron, but Ryker has not mentioned you,” Sacha replied, giving Ryker a questioning look.

Ryker responded, “I’ve only known Nique a few days but found out in our therapy session this afternoon she already has me sussed, so be careful how much you say to her.” He was grinning at me and winked.

“Oh! Are you a doctor?” Sacha asked.

“No, he’s having us both on. I’m just a laboratory technician.”

Ryker reached to me and put his hand on my shoulder, “She works in a hospital, and all the senior management is trying to persuade her to go to med school and become a doctor. But I believe she should be doing papers in psychology. She has me sussed out and has given me her opinions on my problems. Something few people have dared do, let alone get me to listen to them.”

Valerie came by, interjected and told us not to be so serious, “Drink up and let’s party. After dinner, we are all going to dress up and play games.”

That was news to me; I wondered if the costumes would be the same or if I would be someone new this time. I sipped on my Champagne cocktail; it was unbelievably tasty, “Where did the Champagne come from?” I asked Aaron.

“Rex was given it by a grateful client he was working for. It’s Mumm and about $60.00 a bottle; he says he has been saving it for a special occasion. I don’t know what the other bottle is.”

“It’s Archers Peach liquor, Ryker and I brought it and some other bottles from the yacht,” I replied.

“Oh! Then this is a Bellini that we are drinking. I haven’t had one of these for ages. In better circles, they would be deriding the fact we are ruining a glass of good champagne,” he reminisced.

I looked over to Sacha and Ethan; I saw that he had already finished his and that Sacha looked like she was enjoying hers, as her glass was more than half empty.

Everyone was mingling and conversing; I noted that Rex and Tony were talking to Bailey. Valerie was talking to the two boys from the boat (Owen and Carlson). Sally had bailed up Ethan and seemed very interested in him. I hadn’t seen Ryker talk with Sacha, but it looked like one of his problems, Ethan, was being sorted of its own accord.

Just then, Valerie called out and asked Aaron and Ryker to come to help her lift the baked fish from the oven and take the food to the table.

Sacha moved over to talk with me. “So how come you are travelling with Ryker?”

The tone of her voice and body language gave me the impression that she was jealous of my involvement with Ryker. This intrigued me, as I had hardly seen her acknowledge Ryker. And in every other interaction I had watched, she held back, and her greeting hugs, with the men especially, were almost at arm’s length and her hips a least a foot from the person’s hips that she was embracing. Yet she was showing all the signs of being possessive of Ryker, and this from a supposedly happily married frigid woman. It did not compute.

I answered her question, “I came on this trip with an arsehole of a guy, who I found out was married. Ryker and Aaron kicked him off the boat on the first day, packing him on a plane back to the city.”

Her whole demeanour towards me softened instantly. “Had you known the guy for long?” she asked.

“About four months, I can’t believe I didn’t suss him out, but I never had a clue. He was really the first guy I have been out with and the first I had had proper sex with.”

“I’ve had guys like that hitting on me all my life. The nice guys are all taken or too scared to talk to me. And the crude men seem to think I am fair game,” she complained.

For the next few minutes, she elaborated on her feelings about men and, in answer to my questions, some things about her upbringing. It all backed up what Ryker had told me, that she came from a very religious family and that her mother had instilled a rigid set of standards that Sacha had been expected to follow. I quickly came to the conclusion that Ryker was right; the woman standing next to me was very sexually repressed and needed help.

I noticed that every time I even used the word sex in a sentence, no matter how innocently, she tightened up and looked uncomfortable.

“I notice you shy away from Rex. Is he one of those that hit on you?”

Sacha looked at me as if I must be clairvoyant. “Yes, he’s been a pain over the last few months. He and Ethan get on really well and do a lot of work together. And Ethan has changed since he’s known Rex; he tries to get me to wear sexy things and has been pushing me to try all sorts of kinky positions.” 

She squirmed around uncomfortably as she admitted this to me. I saw the guys helping Valerie but knew they would call us to the table any minute, so I only had a couple of minutes to fuel her imagination and help Ryker.

“What about Ryker? Does he hit on you?”

“Yes! Well, not really. He has been quite nice. But he says I need to try new things, you know, sexy things. That is not me. I could never ever do the things he says. He gets me very embarrassed.”

“Well, you have done better than me. I tried to get him to… you know, give me some attention, and he refused me point-blank. Everyone seems to think he sleeps around, but I find that he is very fussy. So you are very privileged that he pays you the attention that way.”

“I hear that he turns women down because he’s with Valerie. Everyone on the island knows about them.”

“That’s funny because Valerie told me this afternoon their affair was over years ago. She wishes he would find another woman and start a new life. But their children make it difficult for her to just kick him out.”

I realised that I had just made Valerie’s mistake and let drop that both children were Ryker’s, but Sacha didn’t seem to be aware of my faux pas; she was too busy looking over at Ryker, and her face showed a puzzled expression like she was seeing him in a new light.

I smiled to myself as Valerie called us to the table for dinner; Sacha was definitely interested in Ryker.