For a horrible moment he wanted to cry, the way he did as a child when somebody was teasing him in the playground for his uncool trainers or poor prowess at Sonic the Hedgehog. It’s not my fault, he used to yell. It’s not my fault I’m not like you – any of you.
Julia offered him an opportunity to be normal, to be a card-carrying citizen of the 21st century, just for that afternoon – and it was almost too cruel of her. How could he accept it? He loved Evie and love had to be pure and unselfish and not driven or derailed by base lusts and …
Julia kissed him.
Her lips were slightly dry, cracked and salty-tasting, and yet the word that flashed into Adam’s head was manna.
She was taller than Evie and her touch was cool where Evie’s was feverish – in his dreams, at least. She was like the moon to Evie’s sun, pale and remote but no less desirable for it.
There was a mad second during which Adam vacillated between hysterical repudiation and continuation of the kiss. The second passed and the incipient panic died away, replaced by a profound and almost reassuring pleasure.
Julia’s kiss, so sure and confident, made him feel that everything would be all right. This was good. This was fine. The saints did it – well, some of them.
His hands wavered at her side for a moment or two, then, as their embrace deepened and the roar in his ears drowned out the roar of the sea, he put them to the sides of her head, mussing her immaculate coiffure. She didn’t seem to mind.
Against his clerical black shirt, her silky blouse slipped and slid, the pearl buttons bumping about his chest. Their arms stretched and wrapped around one another, their hips and pelvises met, their thighs pressed together. She was so slight, almost insubstantial in his hands, that he felt he had to cling to her to prevent her slipping away from him like a vapour. But her mouth was full and lush and promised him the earth, especially when she made use of her tongue.
The fishermen forgotten, Adam shut his eyes and let himself be beguiled. It was a moment of relief, that was all, a break to recharge the batteries of his virtue before he put them to work on the claiming of Evie Witts.
Julia’s tongue flicked along his lips, one of her hands massaging his neck while the other dropped lower, creeping with manicured fingernails down his back until it reached his bottom and gave it a cheeky squeeze.
He wriggled his hips involuntarily, panting into her mouth, feeling the dragging weight of his balls and the uncomfortable tightness of his trousers.
I shouldn’t, he thought foggily. I shouldn’t, but …
She found his testicles and gave them a rub through his trousers.
Now is the time to stop this, if I’m ever …
Her palm closed on his erection.
She broke the kiss.
‘I know a good hotel. A friend owns it …’
‘Oh God, forgive me,’ he whispered in agony.
‘He will. That’s his job, isn’t it?’ She put her head to one side and stroked his cheek pityingly. ‘Poor love. You need it so badly. Come on. Come with Julia.’
He allowed her to lead him by the hand.
A lamb to the slaughter.
Chapter Ten
THE FUNFAIR WAS riotous, the lights flashing and the sirens blaring. Further on, in the faded ballroom, something was even rowdier, a huge press of men with plastic pints of lager spilling out on to the boardwalk, whistling and catcalling.
From somewhere inside, louche music played.
Adam saw Julia peer inside, then look sharply forward and step up her pace to a near-run. Intrigued, he pulled her back, wanting to know what had caused her change in demeanour. A pin-thick gap between sweating beer guts gave him the glimpse he needed.
He let go of her hand and barged through the crowd.
Evie was pole-dancing on a stage, apparently participating in some amateur competition. She had exchanged her sundress for a skimpy bikini and the raffia wedges were replaced with diamante stilettoes. Her routine was so blatantly suggestive the other competitors whispered behind hands or sat watching with milk-souring expressions. She was more popular with the men, though.
Adam had never seen tongues literally hanging out until now.
Every man in the place wanted to take her from that pole and fuck her raw.