Chapter 2
Nona Mills pushed her boy-friend's hand away from her breasts. They had been to the Craig Tavern and had consumed several beers apiece, but right at the moment she was in no mood for a heavy necking session.
Andy Stone was a fumbler. She didn't know why she kept letting him see her, unless it was because no other young men had been around lately.
They sat in his souped-up jalopy in the parking area near the cabin she shared with her cousin, Ivy English.
Nona's thoughts circled around Nick Sturgis.
Ever since he had taken the cabin next to Lucy's, Nona had hoped he would notice her. He had smiled at her in the general store, but otherwise he had kept to himself. Several times she had walked by his cabin just to hear him play the piano. He was tall and big and very masculine.
She had also seen him on the beach on several occasions, and although she wasn't in the habit of admiring a man's physique, she found him tremendously exciting even at a distance.
Now, only moments earlier, she had glimpsed him on the trail between his place and the Marker cabin, and had watched him enter, to be greeted by Lucy.
A wave of jealousy struck at her. They were alone in there ... But then Lucy's husband was gone most of the time. She was pretty and trim and very modern.
Nona had been shy and retiring most of her life. She had a speech defect. She stuttered at the most inappropriate times-and especially in the company of men.
She didn't so much with Andy, mainly because he didn't move her emotionally. His involvement with gear ratios and compression was continually infuriating. He was a fair mechanic, but he didn't make much money-and he still lived at home.
Nona had her own small apartment in Lawton. She was a secretary. She vacationed with her cousin Ivy, a school teacher, because they got along well together. Most of the time, at least.
Ivy, widowed five years earlier, had been acting strangely on this particular outing. She sometimes took walks at night, which she hadn't done the summer before.
And this in face of the fact that rumors were again flowing through the village about a mysterious man called the Ridge-runner. He was wanted by the police for various minor offenses, including theft and illegal entry. Summer homes had been broken into, food taken, tools and other implements for survival carried away.
No one knew his identity. Evidently he lived like a wild man, out in the rugged timber country that surrounded Craig Mountain. The summer before, a young village girl had been molested by a masked assailant, and the blame had been placed on the Ridge-runner.
Nona's thoughts returned to Lucy. The curve-some housewife made no bones about her chief interest in life-enjoying sex! She had even talked Nona into posing for her wearing a bikini or a short-skirted dress.
Even Ivy had been talked into modeling, but Nona hadn't been present when those photographs were made, and she had never seen the results. Although Ivy wasn't too pretty, she had a ripely mature figure ...
Nona decided there must be something a little awry with a young woman who liked to collect snapshots of other girls. But Lucy was friendly and charming, with winning ways, and there had been no open indication of girl-and-girl relationships.
"Don't I even get a little kiss or two?" Andy asked in his nasal voice. His arm was around her waist. Even when he was halfway dressed up he smelled faintly of oil or gasoline. The front seat was lumpy. He spent all his extra cash on the motor!
"I'm not in the mood," Nona replied.
Andy chuckled slyly. "I saw that musician slip over to Lucy's cabin! You thinking about that?"
"I-I didn't intend to s-spy!" she answered. Her stutter showed up again.
"That Lucy looks like a hot number!"
"W-what they do is their own b-business!" she retorted.
"I think you got a case on that guy," Andy said, his arm tightening. "You sure been coolin' me lately!"
"At least he looks like a gentleman."
"Yeah? Well, I wonder what he's doin' to Lucy right now?"
Nona jerked his hand from about her. "Y-you've got a d-dirty mind! I'm going in."
"Okay, okay! But I don't think you can beat Lucy's time!"
Nona turned the car door handle and slipped out. Her slippers crunched in the gravel of the parking lot. She smoothed her frock where Andy's moist hands had wandered.
"Don't come back up h-here again!" Nona snapped.
He snorted. "Fine with me! I'll get me a gal who knows how to swing!"
She turned quickly and walked away toward the dark line of trees bordering the parking area.
Andy's hopped-up V-8 roared into noisy life. Stones rattled as he took off. She didn't look back. He was a jerk!
As she strolled toward the cabin she shared with Ivy, she recalled the time she had let him go further than usual. They had gone to an auto theater at Lawton, and several heavy kissing scenes on the screen had put her in a receptive frame of mind.
She had let Andy open her blouse, unfasten her bra and had really enjoyed his caresses until he started talking dirty, urging her to climb in the back seat. When she refused, he had continued to fondle and kiss her. He had become so excited he panted into an orgasm and stained her frock ...
Then, too, he had had no finesse at all. He hadn't relieved her tension. She had had to do that herself, after he had taken her home.
Although still a virgin, Nona felt she had a normal outlook on sex. Her shyness, her stuttering, had kept her from being popular at high school and, later, at business college in Spokane.
She wanted to marry a good man and settle down and have children. Her two older sisters were happily married on the Coast. At twenty-one, though, she had begun to wonder if the right man would come along.
As she walked past the Marker cabin, she noticed a light in Lucy's studio. The draperies at the double window weren't together.
A naughty curiosity held her. She stopped in her tracks. Was Nick Sturgis in there with Lucy?
Would they go in the bedroom? Or was his visit just a friendly call?
Nona admitted to a strong inquisitiveness about the slender brunette. Was she really as sexy as she looked and talked? Why did she enjoy taking girlie pictures of other women?
Nona remembered when, at the age of fifteen, her oldest sister and her newly-married husband had stayed at the family home in Lawton for a few days. The guest bedroom was right next to Nona's.
She had awakened in the small hours, hearing the jiggle and sigh of bedsprings-and she knew instantly what was going on. Louella's husband was making love to her!
Nona had listened intently, her heart thudding. It was her first experience at eavesdropping. Unintentional, of course, but keenly stimulating!
The slow bounce, bounce of the springs, followed by barely-heard words of intimacy-then another round of measured squeaks-had fired her youthful imagination. She was glad that her sister was being pleasured, but at the same time she was overwhelmingly envious!
It had lasted such a long time. Nona's budding breasts, already quite large, had burned with stingy need, and her place between her thighs turned moist. Each burst of jigglings caused her desire to flare higher.
Finally, after an especially vigorous burst of squeaks, she heard a foot thud against the wall, and then a hushed, muffled feminine cry of pure enchantment! A soft masculine grunt followed, and she thought the bed was going to fall down! Her own nipples were sharp and tingly.
Nona held her intimate place, frantic with need, and suddenly her own passion bloomed-she gasped and had a very fierce, quick climax ...
The next day she had been so ashamed she could hardly look her sister in the eye.
Since then she had had little chance to listen to or watch other lovers. Ivy was very secretive about her affairs. She had her own place in Lawton. Having been married once, she was sure to have had a few lovers ...
Nona took a deep breath and slipped toward the lighted studio window. It was very dark here under the big pine and fir trees. She didn't think she would be caught in the act.
When she first peered through the parted drapes she found the studio disappointingly empty. But wait. The darkroom door stood ajar. She wasn't surprised to hear voices.
"-how do you like this pose, Nick?"
"Fine figure-but who is it?"
She laughed. "Oh, I covered her face, as you can see. I promised not to tell...."
She's in there showing him nude photos, Nona thought.
"-here's one of me!" Lucy said, giggling.
"Sexy!" Nick exclaimed.
The dark-room door swung open and Nona stared. Nick's arms were around her bare waist, and his mouth lowered to her uplifted, parted lips.
They kissed. Lucy dropped the glossy print she held and twined her arms about his neck. They necked very enthusiastically. Lucy pressed her body close, weaving her hips. His fingers kneaded the flesh of her waist, then slipped down to her shorts. He stilled her restless bottom by holding her tight, fondling from behind the place where her slender, tanned thighs met.
Nona felt her cheeks turn hot. The way their mouths slid around, she was sure they were using their tongues ...
She gripped the window sill as trickles of passion eddied through her body, coursing from her breasjts down to her loins.
Spying on others was wrong-Nona realized that, but she was held by a strange fascination. Lucy and Nick were older and more experienced and the fact that Lucy was married seemed to add spice to the situation!
Their mouths broke apart.
"Ohhh!" Lucy cried, softly. "You're real cool!"
The clearness of their voices made Nona aware that the window was up a few inches.
"I've been wondering about you," Nick said. His right hand lifted to her halter. His fingers shaped her breasts, and Nona shivered. He reached around and unfastened the halter-and in a few seconds the stretch of cloth dropped.
Nona had seen Lucy in a bikini down at the beach, but not her bared breasts. Her nipples were small and dark, perched on saucy light-brown aureoles. His fingers toyed.
"Ohhhh-nice!" Lucy murmured. "But I warn you, honey. I'm a very slow starter...."
"I don't like to hurry it, either," Nick said.
Oh, I wish he was playing with me! Nona thought, her own nipples stiffening inside her bra. He's so tall and handsome and virile!
Evidently this was their first time together. But it probably wouldn't be their last!
Slow starter. Did Lucy, for all her sex appeal, have trouble?
I hope she doesn't make it! Nona thought.
"Let's go in the living room, where we can be cozy," Lucy said.
Nick agreed. He kept his hands on her as they left the studio. The light went out, the door closed-and Nona was left standing alone, in the dark, her imagination much too active, her desire much too keen ...
Oh, damn them! she thought, holding her own aching breasts in her hands. Some people have all the luck, or else they are sneakier than me.
She left the side of the Marker cabin and swiftly found the trail to Ivy's place. A light glowed in the single front window.
Nona was tempted to return, if Ivy was still out, and try to peek into the Marker living room. But even as she stepped on the porch she heard the grind of the TV set and knew that Ivy was home. She would have heard the roar of Andy's departing hot-rod, and Nona knew she would be expected to appear soon afterward.
Not that Ivy was tier chaperone, but Nona had a strong sense of duty and right. She didn't like to be out in the night alone, as did her cousin. Any long absence would be noted and remarked about.
As she reached for the door latch, she wondered who had modeled for Lucy and had insisted that her face be blacked out. What strange goings-on!