"We'd still freeze getting out.'

'Who cares?'

Pen started down the stairway.

Bodie covered his eyes.

Melanie elbowed him.

He lowered his hands and watched Pen come down the stairs. She wore a royal blue robe that reached to mid-thigh, and had a folded towel under one arm.

'You do have a bathing suit on under that?' Melanie asked.

'Sure. I packed one tonight. I had this in mind.'

'We'll meet you in there,' Melanie said, and stood up. 'Great.'

Fabulous, Bodie thought.

At the bottom of the stairs, Pen said, 'Dad keeps those spare trunks in the linen closet by the bathroom. No rush, though. The water won't be good and hot for a while yet.'

Bodie, still amazed by Melanie's decision, followed her upstairs. She led him to the linen closet and pulled out two swimsuits. One was striped and baggy, so he chose the other - bikini trunks of thin, stretch nylon.

'You'll look sweet in those,' Melanie said.

'Better sweet than nerdy.'

She found two large towels, led Bodie to the bedroom.

When the trunks were on, he lifted his shirttail for Melanie's inspection.

'Cute. Real cute.'

The clinging fabric not only bulged at his crotch, but showed his p.e.n.i.s in some detail. He let the shirttail fall. 'What the h.e.l.l, it'll be dark out there.'

Melanie raised an eyebrow, but didn't protest.

'I'll keep my back to your sister,' he said.

'You'd better.' Melanie went to the door.

'Aren't you going to change?'

'Into what?'

He shrugged. This is getting better and better, he thought. He followed her downstairs and out the back door. Shivering, he took one of the towels and wrapped it around his waist.

The patio was bright beneath a floodlight. Looking around, Bodie spotted a Weber grill, an umbrella table with chairs, and a couple of loungers. No sign of Pen or the hot spa.

But he heard a hum of machinery off in the distance. It made a steady, high noise like a window air-conditioning unit.

'This way,' Melanie said.

He followed her off the lighted patio, into the darkness beyond. They walked on flagstones set in the gra.s.s. There were a lot of trees back here. Looking all around, Bodie could see no sign of neighboring houses.

He ducked beneath the low branches of lemon trees that hung over the walkway.

Then he spotted a gazebo with trellis walls on three sides and no top. The front side was open. Within was the elevated tub, Pen's head and shoulders visible in the moonlight.

'Welcome,' Pen said as they approached. 'I brought us some refreshments.' On the edge beside her stood a wine bottle and gla.s.s, and two bottles of beer. She had a wine gla.s.s in her hand.

Bodie dipped his fingers into the water. It felt like a hot bath.

Pen, stretching an arm out behind her, flicked a switch. A red light came on at the bottom. She wore a bikini that was probably white but looked pink in the swirling red-hued water. Bodie quickly turned to Melanie. 'Ladies first,' he said.

Melanie, standing sideways, put a hand on the wooden platform surrounding the pool and stepped out of her shoes. She took off her blouse, folded it carefully, and placed it on the platform beside the towels. She was naked from the waist up. Her skin shimmered with a rosy glow. Her nipples were stiff and jutting. Bodie, watching, felt his p.e.n.i.s push at his flimsy, yielding swimsuit. Melanie's small b.r.e.a.s.t.s lifted and flattened slightly as she raised her arms to unfasten her choker. Her eyes were on him. She removed her skirt, folded it, and put it on top of the blouse. She wore brief panties of black lace. Leaving them on, she climbed the wooden stairs and stepped down into the pool. 'Oh, that feels good,' she said, and crouched until the water frothed around her shoulders. Wisps of steam circled her face.

Bodie unb.u.t.toned his shirt. 'Can you see the house from here?' he asked, and turned his back to the women. No, he couldn't see the house through the bushes and trees. More important, the girls couldn't see his front. As he took off his shirt, he glanced down. His suit was sticking out badly.

He wished he'd picked the other trunks.

He turned around, holding the shirt low, and casually started to fold it as he climbed the stairs. He kept folding it as he looked into the water and spotted the three submerged steps. Fortunately, Pen turned away to reach for the wine bottle. He tossed the shirt onto Melanie's pile of clothes, and hurried down. The hot water covered him to the belly.

He squatted. Moving backward, he found the tile bench with his rump. He reclined and stretched out his legs in Melanie's direction. His feet touched hers. She was sitting off to his right. Pen was straight across from him.

'How do you like it?' Melanie asked.

'Fantastic.'

Pen handed a gla.s.s of wine to Melanie, then lifted a beer bottle off the ledge and leaned toward Bodie. Her bikini was the kind that tied behind the neck. Its cords looked pale against the wet glossy skin of her chest. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were below the surface, blurred by the bubbling water. Bodie took the beer bottle and thanked her.

Easing back against the wall, he took a sip. The beer was cold and good. The hot water caressed him. His suit was so skimpy and thin that he felt naked.

'The beer's great,' he said.

Pen nodded. Her blond hair was damp and straggly from the steam, and Bodie liked the way a few tendrils curled over her forehead and in front of her ears. She took a sip of wine. She was sitting up fairly straight to drink it. Her wet arm looked sleek. The tops of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were just above the surface, now, lapped by moving water. Through the swirl, Bodie could see the rest of her bikini top, her tawny skin below it, the patch of pink-tinted fabric between her legs with cords stretched to her hips, the length of her legs. But the bubbling water distorted all he saw to vague, shifting blurs.

'Dad wanted to put in a swimming pool,' Melanie said. 'There wasn't room with all the trees. He didn't want any of them taken out, so he settled for this.'

'This is nice,' Bodie said.

'Especially when the weather's a little chilly,' Pen added. 'And it almost always is, at night.'

'We're only a couple of miles from the ocean,' Melanie said. She lifted her wine gla.s.s to her lips and sat up a bit more. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s came out of the water. They shimmered wet in the red glow and their dark nipples stood erect.

If she's trying to steal my attention from Pen, Bodie thought, she's succeeding.

He scooted across the slick tile bench until he was directly across from her.

'Maybe you should take Bodie to the beach tomorrow,' Pen suggested. 'Over by Venice, it's a real carnival on the weekends. On Ocean Front Walk? Have you ever been there?' she asked Bodie.

'A couple of years ago. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.'

'It's a thought,' Melanie said. She looked at Pen. 'Would you like to come along if we go?'

'I think I'll start looking for a new apartment.'

'You're really going to move?'

'Probably.' Pen turned to give herself a refill.

Melanie shook her head. 'That's pretty drastic.' She lowered her wine gla.s.s. The edge of its base bent her right nipple downward. The gla.s.s eased lower. Her nipple, released, sprang up straight.

Bodie squirmed and took a drink of beer.

'I'm not sure I can stay at that place of mine any more.' Pen took a drink. Then she tilted back her head and stared at the sky. 'Would anyone mind if I turn off the lights?'

'Fine,' Melanie said.

There goes my view, Bodie thought. 'All right.'

Pen reached over the edge of the platform, and the red glow died.

The half moon was almost straight overhead. An airliner pa.s.sed near it. Bodie could only see a few stars.

He looked down. The women were indistinct, pale shapes of faces and shoulders, invisible below the water's surface.

'It's peaceful this way,' Pen said.

'Dark, too,' said Bodie.

Melanie put down her gla.s.s and slipped forward. She came over to Bodie's side of the pool and eased onto the bench. Her arm slid against his. She was covered to the shoulders. The pale mounds of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were barely visible through the water, and Bodie couldn't see anything below them. He put a hand on her leg.

'I'm glad we decided to come out with you,' she told Pen. 'I'd forgotten how glorious this feels.'

Bodie felt his hand being lifted off her thigh. Something was pushed against his palm. He closed his fingers around it. A small cloth of somea Melanie's panties.

She took them away from him and guided his hand up her leg.

'Do you still stay away from the jacuzzi at your apartment?' Melanie asked in a calm voice.

'Still do,' Pen said.

'When I was staying with her, she never went in the pool or sunbathed or anything.'

'I didn't like the idea of strangers looking at me.'

Bodie nodded. He didn't trust his voice. His hand was taken to its destination and released. His fingers slid against Melanie. His heart raced. He tried to breathe normally. He felt as if his erection might split the front of his swimsuit.

Melanie squirmed slightly against his fingers.

And suddenly it was all wrong.

What the h.e.l.l was he doing?

He moved his hand to Melanie's leg. She gripped his wrist and gently urged it back, but he pulled his hand free and stood up. 'I think I'll go back in, now,' he said, trying to keep his voice steady. 'I'm starting to feel a little sick. It's probably the heat and the beer, I don't know. I'll see you two later.'

He climbed out, wrapped the towel around his shoulders, picked up his shirt, and hurried down to the concrete slab.

'So long,' Pen said. Her voice sounded strange.

'See you later,' Melanie said.

Bodie shivered all the way back to the house - but it was Melanie that made him grit his teeth.

What in G.o.d's name went on in that mind of hers!

Be fair, he told himself. Maybe she just got h.o.r.n.y and lost control. That'd be perfectly understandable. h.e.l.l, yes.

But he knew that wasn't it.

Handing her panties to him. Like a dog dropping a ball at his feet. Come on, play with me.

Play with me in front of my sister.

It'll be our little secret.

Unless, of course, she happens to notice. And that would be even better, wouldn't it?

Bodie stopped at the door, quickly wiped his legs to make sure he wouldn't drip on the floor, then entered the house.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Groggy and hot after the wine and the long time in the spa, Pen stepped into the shower. The cool water pelted her, slid down her body. She wore her bikini to rinse the chlorine from it. Then she took it off, wrung it out and draped it over the shower door.

She wondered at Melanie. The girl had actually gone into the spa topless.

No big deal, Pen thought. I would've been naked in there, myself, except for them.

Well, that's the point, isn't it? If Melanie had gone in just with Bodie, or just with mea but we were both in there. That's what makes it so strange.

Like she was trying to prove something. To Bodie or to me? Maybe to herself.