2.

Rachelle had invited her to a special staff event that night, where she’d get to meet the owners of the resort. Tanning had tired Gemma out more than she’d expected, so she figured a late nap before getting ready for the party was a must. Gotta be bright eyed and bushy tailed to meet her friend’s employers.

Almost as soon as Gemma lay on the bed, she slipped into strange dreams.

Erotic dreams.

After waking, Gemma couldn’t remember many specifics, but was aware her dream had been unusually sexy; her naked body was still flushed with arousal, and she teased herself until she was squirming in the big hotel bed, craving release.

As she touched, disjointed remnants of the dream floated through her mind. Something about a powerful man, or maybe several men, and several women, and she was wearing a bright white bikini just like Rachelle and the other women employed by the resort wore, and… there was something underneath the bikini top, something she felt she must keep hidden, yet longed for the mysterious man to uncover…

The hidden thing, whatever it was, was not just her nipple, though she tweaked and twisted that now and bit her lip so her moan as she came wouldn’t escape the walls of the room.

Showering off, the details of the dream slipped away, but erotic dreams were unusual for Gemma and she wondered about it. And about the connection to the resort. The dream must have been another symptom of the mixed stress and relief of travel. As the hot water poured over her body, she found her arousal had not gone away, as though her orgasm had only partially quenched her lust. With any luck, she thought, there would be some hot guys at this party, and she could spend the night in another room at the resort, with more than just her dreams.

The party was not as exciting as Rachelle’s enthusiasm had promised, though there were no shortage of good looking people there, of all genders. No surprise a high-end tropical resort would have attractive staff, but the women in particular, all outfitted in those same white bikinis, were an unusually striking collection when you had them all together in one room. Everyone Gemma talked to was just so excited about working at Sun Dreams, gushing about how great the owners were, that she was a little dizzy before she’d even finished her first drink. It was like attending a meeting of your local cult.

“Gemma, come on!” Rachelle was pulling her along not a moment after she’d picked up her second cocktail. “I want to introduce you to Ty.” Her friend led her to a tall, handsome middle-aged man with his arm around a familiar face: the girl from the ice cream stand who’d abandoned Gemma that morning in her moment of need.

“Ty’s one of the guys who runs this place! He’s great. Aren’t you, Ty?” Rachelle was flirting, but Gemma thought nothing of the tone she took with her boss—Rachelle was like that with everyone, and the resort was hardly an environment of uptight professionalism. Gemma thought Ty and Ice Cream Girl were touching each other with an awful lot of familiarity for a boss and his employee, though. Well, she figured, what happens at the staff party stays at the staff party…

“Sure, Rachelle, sure.” Ty seemed to only be half paying attention to Rachelle’s chatter. He greeted Gemma politely, but there was something impolite in the way his eyes lingered on her even as he bantered with Rachelle. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy and was obviously successful if he owned this place, but his look, and the way he kept one arm draped over Ice Cream Girl, combined with Gemma’s strange dream to give her a weird vibe. She excused herself and Rachelle, and was glad when the staff bar’s small dance floor lit up, so she had an excuse not to make any more conversation with the boss.

It was almost three in the morning and Gemma had put away six cocktails (and the bar staff mixed them strong for their own) by the time she and Rachelle stumbled back to their rooms. They went arm-in-arm, laughing about which of the staff either of them would have taken home. Gemma admitted she had been in the mood to hook up, and Rachelle encouraged her.

“You could have totally had your pick tonight! You’re the new out-of-towner and you look great!” Rachelle took a step back, wavering, and looked Gemma up and down. She made a lewd expression, and they both broke back into laughter.

“I know, I just…” Gemma didn’t want to admit to her friend, who was so excited about the place, that the resort was giving her a weird vibe. “I guess I’m just tired from the trip down, you know? Rather just go to bed.”

“Oh… Bullshit!” Rachelle yelled, and they broke up laughing again.

They carried on down the well-lit promenade, lined on both sides with the sleek doors of the luxury suites, each one like a miniature townhouse. Someone was walking up the promenade towards them.

It was a young man in crinkled linen slacks and a camp-collar shirt half open to reveal bare chest underneath. He came right up to them, and Gemma first thought he was going to scold them for making so much noise so late at night—the promenade was otherwise deserted and silent, and, when the drunken friends weren’t hollering at each other, only the sound of the nearby surf could be heard.

But the guy walked up, gave Gemma a curious look, and leaned in close to Rachelle, whispering something to her that Gemma couldn’t hear.

If she’d been less drunk, Gemma might have noticed a strange subtle change come over her friend at the man’s words. Rachelle stood up a little straighter, and a blank expression flowed over her face… replaced after just a moment by a dazzling smile.

“Yes, of course!” She said, with excitement that seemed somewhat exaggerated. She turned to Gemma, who saw Rachelle was now holding the man’s hand.

“Gemma, I’ve got to go. Have a good night, okay? I’ll check on you tomorrow for brunch!”

Rachelle and the guy went off together without another word.

“Uh… Okay… So, like, you two know each other?” Gemma spoke loud and quickly, not sure what was going on. Rachelle just decided to go home with this random guy? Had they made plans earlier, and she hadn’t told Gemma? That would be totally unlike her not to brag about hooking up, but…

“Yeah, sure, of course!” The guy said, too loud, over his shoulder. “It was nice to meet you! See you around!”

He draped his arm around Rachelle in a way that reminded Gemma of Ty and Ice Cream Girl at the party, and the two went away down the promenade. Gemma was stunned and confused. And drunk.

But not too drunk to follow them at a distance. She didn’t want to fuck up a good thing for Rachelle, if that’s what was going on; it didn’t seem like her friend was going away with this guy against her will, but… it was strange, and made the weird vibe Gemma had felt all evening even weirder.

She tailed the couple, who didn’t seem to notice her, to a suite further down the promenade, not far away from Gemma’s own. The man showed Rachelle inside and shut the door. The lights stayed on inside the townhouse, but the blinds were down and they let through only a diffuse glow. Gemma, feeling like a spy or a burglar—or at least a voyeur—crept up close to the suite, crouching near the window with her ear against the glass. She didn’t hear any talking. After a few long, tense minutes, however, in which she was sure someone was going to catch her eavesdropping, she did hear… a woman’s moan.

So Rachelle was getting hers tonight. Well, Gemma thought, good for her. I guess. Probably.

Back in her room, Gemma lay in the dark, worrying about her friend. The warm buzz of the party had worn off, though the cocktails still left her with the unpleasant feeling of lying in a boat on rough seas. There was nothing wrong with Rachelle going off to fuck some good-looking tourist if that’s what she wanted to do, but the whole thing just felt wrong in a way Gemma couldn’t define. The wrongness lay heavy on her and kept her from sleeping.

At last, knowing there was no rational reason for her fears, she got out her headphones and put on the second track of the tanning playlist. The first had done such a good job at knocking her out on the beach she hoped it would help her get to sleep.

It did.

To Be Continued…