‘Has the party started?’ she giggled, as his lips trailed down her neck to her erect nipple.
‘It has now,’ he said, and pulled his polo shirt over his head.
After they had made love, Karin and Adam took a shower together. The bathroom window was slightly open to let out the clouds of steam, and already Karin could hear the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses coming from outside. They didn’t hurry.
By the time Adam and Karin finally stepped outside, there were at least fifty
people on the terrace. Word had got around about Diana’s soiree at La Toreador, and everybody who was anybody wanted to come: the beautiful people, the club hags, the Euro-trash. Some planned to stay all night, eating, drinking and dancing; others would use it as a warm-up for the nightclubs, which didn’t really get going until 2 a.m.
Karin and Adam picked up cocktails from the bar by the swimming pool. On the other side of the water, Karin could see Christina dressed in white palazzo pants and a matching bandeau bikini top. She looked fabulous. She was openly flirting with a small, rotund man with a moustache. Wearing a crumpled linen jacket, shorts and flip-flops, the object of Christina’s breathless attention looked rather shabby and dull.
‘Is that who I think it is?’ asked Adam with a half-smile.
‘Let’s go and find out,’ she said, taking his hand to walk around the pool to where her friend was standing. Christina spotted Karin and squealed with delight, greeting her with an embrace as if she hadn’t seen Karin for years.
‘Darling, I must introduce you to my new friend, Reggie Bryce. Reggie, these are my bestest friends in the whole world, Karin and Adam.’
Adam extended a cautious hand towards the man.
‘We’ve met, right?’ asked Reggie in his Texan drawl as they shook.
Adam nodded. The billionaire community was a small one. Reggie Bryce was a Midwestern supermarket magnate who was fast catching up to the hugely wealthy Walton family, the owners of Wal-Mart. The name wasn’t lost on Karin either. Recently divorced, Reggie’s wife had won one of the biggest-ever settlements the world had seen. But Reggie could afford to lose a billion dollars here and there. He had plenty. And Christina clearly had designs on a few of them.
‘We met on Es Calo Beach this afternoon,’ gushed Christina, ‘and I insisted he come and join us tonight. Reggie was five berths down from the Big Blue at St Barts at New Year. Isn’t it crazy how small a world it is?’
‘Es Calo? Isn’t that the nudist beach?’ said Karin, looking at Reggie’s bowling-ball physique and suppressing a smile.
‘It’s very liberating, Karin,’ scolded Christina. ‘Reggie agrees, don’t you, honey?’
Reggie wasn’t listening. Instead he was looking at Christina as if she was a mouthwatering delicacy.
‘My yacht the Crusader is in Ibiza Town,’ he said to Karin and Adam, not taking his eyes off Christina. ‘I’d love you to come for lunch if you’re not busy.’
Karin nodded. ‘Well, it’s my birthday tomorrow, so I hope you have cake.’
As the night wore on, the music was edged up louder and louder. As the moon sprayed glitter onto the swimming pool, a lithe tanned man with Vilebrequin trunks around his ankles was standing by the deep end spurting Cristal into the water like a Formula One driver while, in the shallow end, two Swedish models were kissing. All around them the scent of sex and drugs drifted like clouds.
‘Shall we go and circulate?’ asked Christina, linking her arm through Karin’s. Reggie patted Christina’s bottom as they left and he returned to discussing economic sanctions in the Sudan with Adam.
‘What do you think?’ she giggled to Karin as they walked away.
‘I think he likes you,’ smiled Karin.
‘I made a vow to myself after the Ariel tragedy that, next time, I would date up. I owe it to myself after everything that happened,’ she said with a slight waver to her voice. ‘Between you and me, Reggie’s asked me to stay on with him after the weekend. He’s spending the next two weeks touring the Med. Do you think it’s too soon?’
‘But you hardly know him,’ said Karin, slightly shocked.
‘We’ve got so many friends in common it’s not funny.’
‘I think you’ve made up your mind,’ smiled Karin playfully.
‘Mmm … maybe,’ said Christina with a smirk. ‘Anyway, I’m simply exhausted after all that small talk. Do you fancy a naughty pick-me-up?’
Karin tried to not look disapproving. When it came to drugs, her circle of friends split between the dos and the do nots. If you did them, it was with a vengeance; it was not unknown for entire City bonuses to be blown in one summer on coke and opiates. If you abstained, it was usually because you were a member of Narcotics Anonymous. For Karin, taking drugs had no moral overtones, it was simply an issue of control. She’d smoked the odd joint at boarding school but had hated the way it made her feel – woozy and nauseous and not quite tuned-in – so she had mostly avoided the various drugs that had come in and out of fashion on the social scene over the years.
Christina tapped her on the waist. ‘Stop being such a puritan, Kay. We need to celebrate the start of my beautiful new relationship.’ They made their way to Christina’s bedroom and Karin sat back on the bed while her friend rifled through a cream vanity case. She looked up. ‘Shit. I’m all out. Will Adam have any?’
Karin shrugged. He was a very light user and sometimes kept a wrap in his wallet. She wasn’t sure he’d take kindly to her going through his belongings but, ever since she’d found the mysterious matchbook in Capri, she was always looking for a reason to have a snoop.