Delilah surprised herself. She didn’t back away, emotionally, from Denise. She didn’t give an excuse or a simple refusal. She said, “Yes. I will. What should I do?”
“First, wear the suit I have picked out for you. Second, wear it with pride and not prudishness. Emil is a man and, therefore, a visual animal. He must be smacked between the eyes with a big club to get his attention. Do you have underwear that is far too revealing for you to use?”
Delilah thought of her scandalous bra and panty set. “Yes. I do.”
“Bon. When you get home, put it on and wear it for the rest of the day. Sleep in the nude. You will get used to having the body of a woman.” She stepped back. “I am loathe to interfere in another woman’s mode of dressing, but you could wear much brighter and more revealing clothes. You have the figure for it.”
Delilah said, “Thank you. I’ll do it. As much for my own sake as for Emil’s. I hide far too much.”
That night, Delilah changed into the wholly inadequate bra and panty and turned the heat up in her apartment. She ate, watched TV and read while wearing very little. Every time she passed the mirror she paused to look.
When she went to bed, she slid into bed with nothing between her skin and the sheet but a little air. She luxuriated in the feeling of good cotton and a sense of delightful naughtiness.
The next day, she steeled herself when Denise handed her a bikini which would have been sensible to most women, but to her was virtually non-existent. She paused before she walked through the door to the beach. Her voice froze in her throat. “There are people out there. Men and women.”
She stood in the doorway. A man walking by noticed her and smiled. Immediately, her feet melded with the floor. She couldn’t move. She wanted to run but that would mean moving her feet.
She heard a voice next to her. “Do it for him. He needs to break out of his shell. Look at him and do the loving thing.”
She still couldn’t move.
Denise continued, “Pay attention only to Emil. Tell yourself he’s the only man on the beach, and you are his salvation.”
Delilah turned to Denise. “I will do it. He’s too nice a man to be alone.”
“Walk toward him. Don’t run.”
As Delilah walked on the beach, Emil waited for her. She studied him. For a few seconds, he saw her face, which was familiar to him. She watched his eyes drift down to the inadequate top and the upper swells of her breasts. He dropped down to her waist then her hips and legs. He went back up but never got above her neck. His mouth fell open. She realized that the simple cloth of the bikini top did nothing to keep her breasts from bouncing and swaying from side to side.
They played in the ocean and laughed like school children for twenty minutes.
Chapter Four
Denise did something after the swim that Delilah suspected was deliberate. Delilah was changing in the bathroom. Denise opened the door to go in but turned back. She said, “Coming Jules” and left. The bathroom door was still open. The bathroom was directly opposite Emil’s office. His door was open, and he sat in his executive chair facing the open door.
Delilah wore only the bottoms of the swimsuit. She turned and saw Emil’s face clear of any thought. He didn’t move his eyes from her body. Her first, almost unconquerable, instinct was to scream and cover herself with her hands. She didn’t do it. She thought, “I’m changing my life. I am no longer a woman who doesn’t exist.” She smiled at Emil, left her arms at her side and walked slowly to the door and closed it.
When she went to Emil’s office, he stood up and closed the door behind her. His face had a stern, set expression. He held her shoulders. “I’m not going to apologize for looking at you just now. You’re beautiful beyond belief.” He brought him close to her and kissed her with some violence.
When it ended, Delilah said, “Kiss me again. I wasn’t ready.”
He pulled her even closer and kissed her; this time with tenderness.
When the kiss finished, he said, “I feel like I’m alive again. I want to keep feeling it. What do we do?”
She led him in back of his desk and pushed him down on his executive chair. She sat on his lap and leaned into him. He rocked back until he could rest his feet on his desk. Delilah snuggled into him. He smelled like Ivory soap and basic male. She rubbed her cheek against the fabric of his shirt. She told him, in a whisper, “We do this for a long time. You need a woman pressing against you to banish your loneliness. I’m volunteering.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her. She cuddled against him.