all those glorious billions that made William the third so delightfully attractive. The rest was easy with money to burn and those two gorgeous and obscenely fuckable stepsons her life would never be dull again. Oh yes, the future was so bright she would definitely have to wear shades.
*
“Good morning darling girl, did you sleep well?” William asked and hugged Allie tighter against him in the disheveled bed.
“Mmm, I didn’t get much sleep, but that’s okay, I am happy happy happy,” she smiled and stretched and wanted very much to slide beneath his big, rock-hard body and wrap her legs around him… But they had over done it a bit throughout the night and her own body was aching because of it.
“We should give it a break for today,” he said when his fingers instinctively traced a path down her flat little belly and she flinched and drew back slightly when he touched the tender, swollen folds of her sex. “I’m sorry, baby, so sorry. Come on, did you notice there’s a claw foot tub on the screened porch? Don’t worry, it’s facing the swamp so only the ‘gators and the wildlife will see you in all your naked glory. It’s a cool way to start the day, Allie. You can sink down to your chin in a bubble bath and watch the herons, egrets and spoonbills wading in the water as they hunt for a tasty frog for breakfast. I’m gonna have a shower by myself so I won’t have the temptation of your sweet body next to mine. Take your time and enjoy soaking in the tub and I’ll personally serve you some hot croissants with butter and fig jam and café au lait for your breakfast. Then we’ll go for a long walk and stop at the café to have blue crab fritters and oyster po’boys for lunch, and if we’re still hungry there’s bread pudding with whiskey sauce for dessert. Down on the bayou it’s all about the good life— good food, good friends, good times. Later on all that ‘nonfattening’ food can settle while we curl up together and take a nap under the oaks in those nice crocheted hammocks, how’s that sound?”
“You’re a smooth talker, William Warfield, what girl could resist saying yes to anything you have to say? Not me, that’s for sure. Alright, a bubble bath sounds good and it’ll be even better when you bring me a big cup of coffee.”
“Not to worry, darling girl,” he said, grinning as he pulled on a pair of soft blue jeans and crossed the rustic rooms to answer a knock at the front door. Abigail handed him a breakfast tray loaded with hot coffee and the goodies he’d described all covered with an embroidered linen dish cloth and she looked as miserable as he had ever seen her. “I’ll walk over to the café as soon as I’m dressed, Abigail, we can talk then,” he said and she shrugged and walked away barefooted and forlorn. “This place has great room service if you know the right people,” William said, handing Allie her coffee now that she had settled into the deep porcelain tub.
Steam and soap bubbles rose from the scented water and sailed through the wire-mesh screen on the porch to drift over the liquid green landscape of the Atchafalaya. It was a beautiful sight, Allie thought as she sipped from an old china tea cup and watched birds swooping and diving among the cypress and pine and sweet gum trees. William was an even more spectacular sight as he stepped out of his jeans and into the shower. She had never been so enthralled by a man’s body before and she doubted that she would ever see such a fine example of male beauty again. And that was the best part— he was hers, all hers, and he was in love with her.
*
Abigail watched as William and Allie tried their best to fit together into a single hammock strung between two ancient oak trees in her daddy’s yard. They looked so happy, so content in their new and blossoming love but it wouldn’t last, she knew that for sure by the look in William’s eyes when she told him about Walden and his unrelenting certainty that
John Steinbeck, Richard Astro
Ariana Hawkes
Sarah Castille
Jennifer Anne
Linda Berdoll
Ron Carlson
Doug Johnstone
Mallory Monroe
Marguerite Kaye
Ann Aguirre