Second-Hand Dresses

Chapter 13: Strangers in the Dark

The delicate sensibilities of women are best left behind closed doors where they don't distract working men from their duties.

—Windorlis de Gabkin

Lily rolled over to her side with a groan and jammed the pillow underneath her head. Her nightgown tugged at her hip, the bunched fabric drew a tight line against her sweat-slick skin. She made a token effort to pull it down, but couldn't do it without lifting her body off the moist sheets. She was too tired to move any further. After a second attempt, she gave up. Pulling her upper knee up to relieve the pressure, she closed her aching eyes and prayed that sleep would finally come.

As soon as she relaxed her body, a maelstrom of emotions rose up: guilt from cheating on Mindil, her desire for Hasan, and even curiosity about Kendrick and Relik's deal. Blended with the emotions was the half-formed plans of how she was going to finish Nirih's and the other dresses before the looming deadlines ruined her business. There were too many things going on in her life and, for the second time that night, she wished that Hasan and Kendrick had never reentered her life.

She didn't know what to do about either of them.

Lily craved Hasan's attention like a drug. It was addictive. When she was with him, it was almost impossible to think of anything or anyone else. She had to pry her thoughts away with a crowbar, forcing herself to sink into working on a dress in fear that her mind would drift back to his embrace.

Despite her lust for one man, Kendrick had also wormed his way into her mind. Occasionally, she would start to fantasize about Hasan but then her mind would replace him with Kendrick. She thought about the strange encounters in her store or the suggestion that he was waited outside her window at night. She thought about his dark eyes and wondered what it would be like to kiss his full lips again. What would it feel like to brush her hand along his scruff or press her thigh against his own?

Her body began to warm at her thoughts. She squirmed with flush of moisture that gathered between her legs and the way her pulse quickened. She tried to rip her thoughts away from Kendrick but Hasan slipped in to replace him.

There was no fuzzy feelings when she remembered Hasan's hands against her body, his mouth against her neck. They were real and she could feel Hasan's touch as electrical fire along her skin. She could easily recall the heat and pressure of his hands, the insistent way he stroked closer to her sex.

With a whimper, she struggled to stop thinking of either man and failed. Her thoughts bounced from one to the other, drawing curls of lust to flutter along her body and an aching heat to gather along her nipples and clitoris. She needed one of them, either of them, both of them.

Trembling, she reached down to cup her pubis. She was already wet and swollen underneath her lace panties. She drew her fingers up along the line of her nether folds and moaned at the touch. Drawing her fingers back and forth, she worked the fabric deeper into the furrow to rub the rasp of fabric against her clitoris. It was a slow, building pleasure that pulsated in time with her heart.

She started to worm her finger underneath the fabric when she froze. In her half-awake state, guilt at cheating with Hasan and the vague images of Kendrick pushed the desire away. She couldn't pleasure herself on either man, one was unobtainable and the other mercurial. Clamping her eyes closed, she rolled over to a cooler part of the bed and tried to force herself to sleep.

Oblivion refused to claim her and she let out another sigh of frustration. She reached down to cup herself again, then clamped her thighs around to both stop herself and also increase the pressure of her finger caught between her folds.

A creak outside caught her attention. She cracked open her eyes and peered at her window. Relik said that Kendrick was watching her from her yard. With fresh fantasies in her head, she wondered if he was back there. Her mind focused on Kendrick, once again wondering what was between him and the Martins.