French Queen's Pendants

We had a picnic on the shore.

The sea, as if caressing, gently licked the sandy shore, quietly whispering with the palm trees. Gigantic palm trees gently dropped coconuts into the warm sand. There was a quiet splash of waves and the distant sound of the surf at the reef.

I lie on my back and look at the white sugar clouds, like balls of cotton candy. Quiet, calm in this corner of paradise... the waves rustle softly...

- Good...

Benjamin sighed, inhaling the salty air.

— Yessss...” he responds quietly.

I rise up on my elbow and look at him: a burning brunette, black eyebrows spread out, an eagle

profile. He is reclining, leaning on his elbow, his second hand is on his leg, his knee is at a right angle. The damp breeze plays with the hair - soft, flying, which falls like a wave onto the shoulders. Benjamin looks at the white sail of a yacht swaying in the distance on the azure surface of the sea: eyebrows are frowned, eyelids are half-lowered, large black languid eyes cover thick long eyelashes... He does not notice my gaze.

— I’ve never felt so good anywhere,” I finally said. — Thank you for bringing me here...

He ​​turned towards my voice and smiled.

- Well, what a conversation, Vika... I wanted you to unwind a little.

Benjamin looked at me with longing. I caught in the look not only sadness, but also some kind of pity, as if I needed sympathy.

-Are you still worried about this stupid story?

- Stupid story? — I asked in a wooden voice. - Oh, please, Venya, stop. You're ruining my mood.

— I’m spoiling her mood,” a painful grimace appeared on his face. — Great...

Really, why am I mad at him? In the end, it was Veniamin who agreed to help when the cops almost caught me. It’s good that everything worked out, and those idiots believed that I was with him that night...

I felt myself blush deeply. So that he wouldn’t notice, I quickly got up and walked towards the reefs.

It got dark suddenly, as always in the tropics, and the soft warm breath of the wind played in my hair.

I turned around sharply. Benjamin stood behind him. It took my breath away. I jumped back, but was forced to stop - further on there was the very edge of the water.

He ​​approached me.

- I scared you. Sorry, I didn't mean to. — The voice was calm. He seemed to have no emotions.

We were silent.

- I don’t want to go back there...

- Vika, you don’t have to go back. We'll figure something out... Everything will be fine...

His hand slid through my hair. I threw my head back, silently, searchingly looked into Benjamin’s eyes. Our eyes met.

And then something happened to us. Usually in such cases they say: “a spark ran through”... It seemed to me that it was a powerful electric discharge.

My heart fluttered. Excitement gripped me, echoing a trembling in my chest. His proximity made me feel as if the ground was disappearing from under my feet.

-Are you telling me this, or are you reassuring yourself?

— Of course, you,” Benjamin whispered, leaning over me.

Our eyes are opposite, but it lasted only a moment...

And then suddenly, as if breaking through the dam of the sky, the rain poured. It couldn’t even be called rain—it was a mass of water falling to the ground, continuous and unstoppable. A real tropical downpour.

In one minute we were wet from head to toe. Stumbling and sliding, we rushed to save our things, getting our feet stuck in the swollen sand. The downpour beat wildly on the wet clothes that stuck to the body.

The beach house faced the shore with a spacious veranda. Near the house, I slipped and almost fell off the steep slope, but Veniamin managed to grab me in midair. I lingered in the unexpected hug. Lightning flashed and I saw his wet face. Thunder struck. I pressed my whole body against him for a moment, my lips buried in my wet shirt. The rain poured down on us from above.

I pulled away:

- Thank you, Venechka!

And we ran on, bending under the weight of the wet blanket thrown on top.

It was twilight in the house. Sometimes flashes of lightning illuminated the situation. Although it was warm inside, I shivered from the cold. Water flowed from our clothes directly onto the white carpet, leaving wet spots and dirty stains on it.

— I’ll go and change,” I said, chattering my teeth from the cold.

In my room, I took off my wet and sandy blouse and changed into a turtleneck.

The elements were raging with might and main. The sea was rough. The wind tore defenseless palm trees. From time to time there was thunder, and I involuntarily shuddered from its roar.

I realized that the thoughts that a “change of scenery” would calm me down were self-deception. The joy that gripped me on the shore dissipated like morning fog. I walked around the room. I felt I didn’t want to live anymore. Anything would do now, even scissors from the desk drawer. When I woke up, I found myself holding these same scissors in my hands and looking at them absentmindedly.

Benjamin grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand behind my back. I involuntarily took a step forward and found myself pressed against his chest and felt his warmth in the coolness of the approaching evening. It spread throughout my body like a sweet languor, its smell intoxicated me.

- What are you up to? — A voice full of anxiety seemed to wake me up, and strong hands disarmed me, depriving me of the ill-fated scissors.

— Just please, don’t say anything now...” I whispered pleadingly. - I already know what you will say! Be silent, I beg you,” I moved away and went to the other end of the room.

- Vika, you forced me to confirm my words...

- Enough...

-... I spun some tall tales about that...

- Enough!

-... what were you doing in the morning when Marina was killed! Damn her, whoever she is!

- Enough!!!

-... and you ask me not to say anything?!

Benjamin stood at the window and was solemnly and terribly illuminated by flashes of lightning. He walked back and forth thoughtfully, with his hands in his trouser pockets. Pale and tense, he seemed unable to find words to express the feelings overwhelming him.

The rain was still pouring down rapidly, in prickly streams. The wind rushed forward, driving cold waves onto the shore.

- Tell me what's happening to you? I want you to tell me everything, because you need to know what to do next...

-Leave! - I said. - Leave. Just don't get involved in this, please.

— This can’t be done, Vika,” he said in a stern but restrained tone. — It seems that we have agreed to act together.

- Together? Don't put your teeth on me! We can't even agree on small things, let alone develop a strategy! This is a crash! Final failure, Venya! All! Understand? All!!

Suddenly tears came to my eyes and poured out like hail. They rolled down my cheeks and flowed disgustingly down my neck and down my collar. Tears prevented me from seeing.

-Leave now! — I wiped them with my fist and hurriedly muttered: “I won’t explain anything... I don’t need your help, screw you.” That car accidentally went off a cliff... it was an accident...

-Tell that to someone else! You're going to make me believe in ghosts... What kind of high conceit!? Why did you get involved in all this?...

- What’s your business? - I screamed and collapsed onto the bed with all my might, covering my face with my palms.

I heard Benjamin sigh, then he came up to me and sat down next to me. I removed my hands from my face and looked at him carefully, my eyes flickering from feature to feature. He was handsome: his collar open, his eyes glowing in the darkness, and strands of hair falling on his forehead.

He ​​stroked my hand.

- And then... I believed that I was not lying to the police. Because, for that matter, you could very well have ended up with me that night. Is it true? — Benjamin switched to a whisper and touched my cheek.

I looked into his eyes, unable to tear myself away from their attractive pool.

His fingers touched my skin carefully and gently. His hand slid down his turtleneck and felt his chest. I didn’t mind, I just closed my eyes, sighed and moved a little. He lay down next to me. I intertwined my fingers with his. We clung to each other without words. He kissed me leisurely, gently caressing my lips with his. The kisses became hotter, more furious...

Kissing me hotly and tenderly on the neck, he whispered such crazy words, so hot...

He ​​couldn’t breathe. Something was tight in my chest and my breath came out in a barely audible wheeze. But what was more embarrassing was my lips, persistently searching for his lips. My hands were constrained, shamelessly approaching the very center of his male power. All of me in itself embarrassed him: with the aroma of my skin, the shine of my eyes, the regularity of the lines of my half-naked body.

He ​​buried his face in my shoulder, touching his lips to the pulsating vein in my neck. His warm breath tickled the skin, half-opened lips caught the earlobe.

— I want you, Venya...” I whispered in his ear...

I pulled his hair and kissed him passionately, working my tongue in his mouth. My hands closed around his neck, my fingers ruffled his hair.

— Your damn turtleneck is bothering me…” Veniamin finally exhaled. He twisted around in every possible way, pushing the collar of my jacket to the side, stroking my neck, barely touching my cheeks and corners of my lips with his lips.

— So cut it…” I suggested, holding out the failed suicide weapon and feeling the cool metal touching the hot skin.

When the turtleneck was finished, he began to shower me with quick, hot kisses, capturing first one breast and then the other with his lips, digging into the nipples. His breathing was ragged. Skillfully kissing and stroking every exposed inch of dark skin, he went down along my body and caressed my thighs for a long time.

I stopped him and began to caress him myself. I carefully touched the head with my finger, and he immediately responded to my touch. He lost his breath. I heard a quiet half-sigh, half-groan.

Laughing, I repeated and repeated my caresses, and he again grabbed my breasts and now roughly kneaded my nipples with his fingers.

Lifting me up, he grabbed my hips, threw me onto my back and captured my lips. I squeezed my hands forcefully behind his back, quietly screamed, and now our bodies merged into one.

- You're playing... with fire... Venya... yes... mmm... Oh, yes Venechka!..

He ​​put his finger to my lips. My lips parted greedily and I bit it slightly.

The bed under me rose and fell and rose again, as if in a sine wave, from his rhythmic, unhurried movements.

He ​​hugged me and stopped... I entangled him with my arms and legs, squeezed around him. We felt each other with every cell, every nerve...

He ​​squeezed me in his arms so tightly that it hurt.

I closed my eyes...

We came at the same time and probably screamed very loudly...

... A young palm tree near the veranda playfully waves its leaves, flirting with the silvery lunar path on the ribbed surface of the sea.

-Are you sure everything went as it should?

- Yes. It seems... They all left too. Tasha is in Transylvania. Dasha is in Berlin. Sasha is in Paris. And Masha is in Bora Bora... I think that Interpol will still rack its brains trying to connect us with this murder...