“Yeah, like ten hours ago! I thought you’d drowned!”
“Sorry, Lisa. I did actually have an accident on the beach, and this guy saved me, and then he wanted to buy me a drink, and I thought it would be rude seeing as he was the reason I was alive and all.”
This realization of exactly what I had been doing made Lisa change her tune instantly.
“Are you serious? Oh my God, Caroline! And after all your going on about how that wasn’t the type of woman you are!”
I could feel the blush rising up my face. Lisa was embarrassing me, and not only did she know it, she relished it.
“Little virgin Caroline, you’re a big girl now!”
“Shut up, you know damn well I wasn’t a virgin.”
“You have to tell me everything!” Lisa ordered, jumping onto the bed to sit next to me. “No. Not here. This requires celebration. Let’s go down to the bar and then you can tell me everything.”
I laughed as Caroline practically dragged me out of the room.
“Hold on, I’m barely dressed, let me put something decent on first,” I begged. Lisa was like a kid who had just been told they’re going to Disneyland. I couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to tell her what had happened. I wanted to keep it to myself, but she had obviously figured it out, and I knew there was no point in lying to her.
Ten minutes later we were down at the bar and I recounted my entire day to Lisa, her eyes glued to me the entire time.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that I know you don’t have the imagination to make something like that up, I literally would not believe that story.”
“I’m not sure, but I think you just insulted me.”
“Probably, but you know what? I don’t care. Every woman on the planet wants to be able to tell a story like that, and yet you’re the one who actually gets to tell it.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t really want to.”
“You didn’t want to have sex with him?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s more... I didn’t want to lose control like that. There was something about him, something really primal, really dominating. None of my old boyfriends were like that at all.”
“That’s because your old boyfriends were an accountant and a guy who preferred video games to having sex with you. No offense, but your old boyfriends weren’t exactly studs.”
“Hey, that’s mean!” I replied, offended. Sure, my old boyfriends hadn’t been the manliest people, but I had liked them at the time. Of course, those relationships had all ended, some of them badly.
“Well, did you like it?”
“Did I like what?”
“Being dominated.”
“The weird thing is, I did. It’s so unlike me. I didn’t think I’d like it at all.”
“That’s totally normal. Especially since you’re a control freak in real life, I’m totally not surprised that you like to give it up in the bedroom.”
“Oh my God, don’t say it like that Lisa!” I hissed, mortified at the casual way she was talking about this. She laughed in reply.
“Don’t be such a prude. As I said, it’s totally normal. Sometimes I get Rob to tie me up and...”
“Ewww, TMI, stop that sentence right now!” I interrupted, covering my ears.
“Oh you’re such a baby.”
“Maybe, but I don’t want to hear about you and Rob’s sex life.”
“Why not? I just listened to yours.”
“Yeah, but you’re a pervert.”
“One day, when you hit puberty, you’ll understand,” Lisa retorted, sticking her tongue out and ordering another drink.
*
Despite Lisa’s assurances, I lay awake in my bed that night, staring at the ceiling. I had never been so confused about anything before in my life. This wasn’t the sort of thing I normally did. I wasn’t that kind of woman. It’s not like I had anything against people who had one night stands, absolutely not. It just wasn’t the sort of thing I personally did.
And yet, I’d done it. More than that, Mark had completely dominated me, and I liked it! Why the hell did my body react the way it did? Had it just been so long since I’d had any sex at all that anything would have turned me on? It had to be something like that.
Eventually I told myself it didn’t matter. I was never going to see Mark again anyway. We were leaving in less than 48 hours. In two days I’d be back in Minneapolis, back to my predictable life. I could go back to work, back to analyzing stock data. After all, it was what I did best. This had been a great holiday, but it was time to check back in to reality.