by Van ©2010
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		Chapter 2
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Pantera Key was in the middle of nowhere.  Delfina's Outback had a GPS unit and Faith had given her a set of way-points to program so she could navigate when she went off the regular map.  She'd called ahead once she got to the start of the unimproved road, to alert her hostess of her imminent arrival—only her arrival turned out to be not so imminent.

The air was humid, still, and hot, and Delfina was glad she'd decided to wear shorts, sandals, and a cotton blouse over a tank-top.  She'd peeled off the blouse upon leaving the main road, but it was still stifling as she rolled along under the dappled shade of the tall pines.  She supposed she could turn on the AC, but she'd still have to deal with the heat when she arrived at her destination.  Might as well try and get used to it.

The "road" was more of a trail, actually, and had snaked between the trees and around clumps of palmettos for something like five miles, and for one stretch had skirted the edge of the dreaded mangrove swamp she'd been warned about.  Fortunately, the going hadn't been as treacherous or confusing as she'd feared.  The roadbed was sandy but firm, and thanks to the reflectors nailed to the trees on either side of the track, there'd been little chance for Delfina to get lost, whether she'd had the GPS unit or not.  Nonetheless, it seemed to take forever to reach her final destination.

And here she was.  Finally!  For the first time she could smell the ocean, and a cool, refreshing breeze was blowing.  The top stories of the house—"Seaglass" itself, she assumed—was visible across an expanse of grass-stabilized dunes.  Immediately before her was a turn-around area and a single-story, triple garage of poured concrete construction.

And approaching down a path from the direction of the house were a brunette wearing jeans and a white cotton blouse (probably her hostess) and a short, young, bikini-clad blonde.

"Delfina Shaw, I'm Christina Goddard," the brunette said, smiling broadly and embracing Del as soon as she climbed out of her Outback.  "Welcome to Seaglass!"

Thanks," Delfina responded.  Christina's feet were bare and she smelled of sunscreen and... lavender?  She was very pretty, and in good shape—and not just for a forty-something, Del thought, for anybody.  "You're very kind to have me."  She smiled at the blonde—the diminutive, tan, incredibly cute, and quite possibly teenaged blonde—and said "Hi!"

"Hi, yourself!" the blonde grinned.  "I'm Polly."  She offered her hand and Delfina shook it.

"Polly Nestor," Christina added, "my handy-woman, cook, maid, and protege."

"Oh," Delfina responded.  'Protege'?

"I also help Edna with her research and she helps me with my writing," Polly added.

"I see," Delfina said.  "Who's 'Edna'?"

Polly's grin widened to a dimpled smile.  "Edna Windermere, of course."

"Edna Windermere?!" Delfina gasped.  "She lives around here?  I love her stuff!  I think her novels are the reason I decided to try writing mysteries.  Her characters are so real and her plots are fascinating and—what?"

Christina was blushing and Polly had her hands over her mouth and was trying very hard not to laugh.

Finally, Polly composed herself and gestured toward Christina.  "Delfina Shaw," she said, "Edna Windermere."

"Nom de plume," Christina explained, still blushing.  "Faith is my editor, as well."

Now, Delfina was blushing.  "I'm gonna kill her," she muttered.  "I knew 'Edna' was one of hers—one of her writers, I mean—but she didn't tell me that you were you... were her.  I'm gonna kill her."

Christina laughed.  "I've asked her to respect my privacy and she always has, as far as I know."

Delfina was still blushing.  "I've tried pumping her for info about 'Edna' more than once, and she's always played coy.  No doubt she thinks it's hilarious, sending me out here to meet you, knowing how much I admire your work, and without telling me you're Edna Windermere."

Christina smiled (a dimpled, girlish smile that belied her years) and kissed Delfina's cheek.  "I'm very flattered," she chuckled.  "C'mon, let's get you settled in and we can all take a swim."

Delfina nodded, turned, and opened the back hatch of the Outback.  She took her laptop case, jacket, and purse, but Polly insisted on carrying her duffel.  They headed for the house.

"I'll rinse off your car and put it in one of the garage bays, later," Polly said.

"The salt air is murder on vehicles," Christina explained.

"Okay," Delfina agreed.

Two Adirondack-style teak lounge-chairs and a weathered wooden trunk were near a steel-lined fire-pit, between the house and the water.  It was afternoon, but the sun was still relatively high and sunset was hours away.  Bikini-clad and relaxing against the soft cushions and beach towels draped over the gray wood, Christina and Delfina watched Polly splash in the surf.  The two brunettes had already enjoyed their swim and had had time to dry out.

"She writes?" Delfina asked, nodding toward Polly.

Christina nodded.  "She does, and she's good.  B.A. in English Lit.  Eventually, I'll talk her into showing her stuff to Faith.  You know how it is."

Delfina sighed.  "Yeah, I was terrified before I submitted my first novel, but I'm glad I did."

Christina smiled.  "She'll come around.  I'll see to it."

Delfina stretched and yawned (and failed to notice the smile curling Christina's lips as she watched her house guest's toned muscles glide under her smooth, tan skin).  "This place is fabulous," Delfina sighed.  "Faith was right to talk me into this."  She smiled.  "I'm still gonna kill her, of course."

"Of course," Christina chuckled, then her expression grew serious.  "Faith tells me you're blocked."

"Oh, that's just great!" Delfina huffed.  "Faith respects your privacy, but blabs my secrets to everyone she knows."

Christina smiled.  "Hardly everyone, I'm sure.  But she did ask me to help."

Delfina sighed.  "Okay."  She ran her fingers through her hair, gazing up at the blue sky, then focused on Christina.  "I'm not sure I'm blocked, exactly, as much as... stuck.  I want my next novel to involve a kidnapping, and I'm not sure how to make it... real."

"Description is not a problem for you," Christina said.  "In fact, your writing doesn't really have any problem areas, as far as I'm concerned.  And stop blushing.  This is two colleagues talking.  Frankly, I find your style a little too Sex in the City meets Nancy Drew, by which I mean it's not what I'd write, but it's solid writing, funny and clever and well worth the read."

"Thanks," Delfina smiled.  "I get you, and you're right about my style being somewhat light.  I'd like to try something more tough and gritty, but I can't seem to make a good start.  Everything I try sounds... forced."

"Your characters and settings are all from experience, right?"

Delfina nodded.  "Well... yeah.  And if you're saying I can't write anything gritty and hard 'cause I'm not gritty and hard... I guess you're right.  What do you do?  Do you know a bunch of cops you can talk to?"

"I do have friends in law enforcement," Christina confirmed, "but I mostly rely on practical research."

"Huh?"

"If I need a burglar to break into a house," Christina explained, "I break into Seaglass, or a friend's home... with their knowledge, of course.  I've learned how to pick a lock and sneak around an occupied house by doing it."

"And I suppose you've learned how to kidnap someone by doing that, too," Delfina teased.  "The abduction scenes in Longest Night of the Year were very real, but you can't expect me to believe..."  Her eyes widened in astonishment.  "You're kidding!"

Christina was grinning.  "I had difficulty imagining what it was like to tie someone up, so Polly helped me find out."

Just then, the research assistant in question came running up from the water.  She picked up a towel and started drying herself.  "What?" she asked, noticing Delfina's expression.

Delfina was still amazed.  "Uh..."  She swallowed and turned to Christina.

"Our research for Longest Night," Christina chuckled.  I was explaining how you helped me release my inner Snidely Whiplash."

"By trussing me up like the proverbial lamb for the slaughter?" Polly inquired.  "I remember."

"I suppose that's one way to do it," Delfina muttered.

"The only way I know," Christina laughed.  She focused on Polly.  "Delfina has a similar problem.  You want to help her out?"

"Why not?" Polly said, lightly, and went to the trunk.  She opened the lid, moved aside a folded tarp, and produced two small, bundled coils of cotton clothesline.  "Let's see what ya got, tough girl," she teased, and tossed the rope to Delfina.

Delfina examined the rope.  It was soft and a little worn, and more light gray than white.  "Uh... you want me to... uh..."

"Research, Delfina," Christina chuckled.

"What should I do?" Delfina asked.

Polly shook her head in mock disgust.  "Geesh, you call yourself a ruthless kidnapper?" she scoffed, turned her back, and crossed her wrists atop her bikini-bottom-clad rump.  "Tie me up!" she demanded.

Delfina swallowed, nervously.  "Uh, I've never... uh...."

"You never played Cowboys and Indians as a little girl?" Christina asked.

Delfina shook her head.

"Not even Pirates and Damsels?" Polly demanded, then grinned when Delfina shook her head, again.  "Oh goody, I get to pop your bondage cherry!"

"Don't be crude, young lady," Christina scolded, but the rebuke was spoiled by her dimpled smile.  She winked at Delfina.  "Do your best.  I'll grade on the curve."

Delfina nodded and set to work.  This was a little weird, but it was all in fun.  She dropped one of the coils in the sand, shook out the other, and began lashing her willing subject's wrists.  She looped the rope around Polly's wrists about a dozen times, then a couple of times in between, to tighten things up (but not too tight).  She finished with a double square-knot.  The result was a bit of a mess, but the bindings looked like they were secure, as good as anything she'd seen used to render a damsel-in-distress helpless on TV, anyway, and way better than most such efforts.

"All done?" Polly asked.

"Uh, yeah," Delfina responded.

Polly sat on the beach towel she'd spread on the sand near Christina's chair, and smiled up at her captor.  "Okay, now the ankles."

"The ankles?"

"The knobby things between my feet and lower legs," Polly teased, wiggling her toes.  "You don't want me run away, do you?"

"I suppose not," Delfina chuckled.  She grabbed the second coil and bound the "knobby things" in question tightly together, using basically the same technique she'd used to bind her "victim's" wrists.  She smiled at Christina, who was watching Polly's "ordeal" with amusement, then turned back to Polly.  "What now?"

"Well..."  Polly pulled her hands from behind her back and tossed her startled kidnapper the rope that should have been binding her wrists.  "I suppose you could tie my knees together."

Delfina gasped.  "What the—?  Are you Houdini or something?"

"Hardly," Christina laughed.  "You just need villainess lessons."  She smiled at her protege.  "Show her how to do it right."

Polly had just finished untying her ankles.  She grinned up at Delfina.  "With your permission, of course." she purred.

"Uh..."  Delfina was a little flustered.  "You want to tie me up?"

Still smiling, Polly nodded.

"Okay," Delfina sighed.  "I suppose turnabout is fair play.  But you have to show me how you escaped."  She turned her back and crossed her wrists as Polly had done before she'd rendered her "helpless".  She gasped and bit her lower lip as she felt rope being looped and cinched around her wrists.

"Actually," Polly said, "the point of the lesson is to demonstrate how to use the rope so you can't escape."

"Not too tight," Christina cautioned, "but do a good job."  Clearly, she was enjoying the show, both Delfina's embarrassed ineptitude as a villainess and Polly's playfulness.

"Oh, I intend to," Polly chuckled. 

Delfina tried to follow what Polly was doing.  The rope slithered through itself and tightened around her wrists.  It was more or less the same thing she'd done to Polly, she thought; however, she could tell her diminutive captor was repeatedly threading the rope through itself and reversing direction.  Also, she was tying knots and/or cinching the ropes tight as she worked.  Apparently finished, Polly turned her around and they were face to face.

"One last thing," Polly purred, reached around Delfina's waist to either side, and pulled the free ends of the remaining rope to the front.  Smiling sweetly, she cinched the ends together until the cotton strands dimpled Delfina's tummy, then tied a square-knot just above her bellybutton.  "There," she said, in triumph.  "I have you now, me proud beauty!  Arrr!"

"Polly the Pirate?" Christina chuckled.

"It seems appropriate, given the setting," Polly responded.  "And it's 'The Dread Pirate Nestor', thank you very much.  Arrr!"

Delfina was busy testing her bonds, and was quickly coming to the conclusion that the Dread Pirate did indeed know how to tie someone up.  "Uh..."  She nodded her chin at the square-knot above her navel.  "Why'd you do that?"

"As writer," Polly grinned, "character motivation is your responsibility, isn't it?  I'm just the Bondage-101 T.A."

Delfina laughed (despite her continuing nervousness).  "No,  I mean the belly-rope.  Why the belly-rope?"

Christina climbed out of her chair and picked up the second coil of rope.  "Allow me to demonstrate," she said, spun Polly around, and began tying the grinning blonde's wrists behind her back.

Continuing to test her bonds (and making zero progress toward gaining her freedom), Delfina watched.

"I'm using the same technique Dread Pirate Nestor used on you," Christina explained.

"That's The Dread Pirate Nestor, Professor," Polly corrected.  "Arrr!"

"Gags are the topic of a future lesson," Christina purred, "but if you'd like me to skip ahead..."

'Gags'? Delfina thought.

"Sorry, Professor," Polly giggled, and turned her head to wink at Delfina.

"Now," Christina continued, "I'm taking an extra couple of turns, so there won't be enough rope for a 'belly-rope', but the technique is the same, as I said."  She finished with a square-knot on the upper side of the neat, symmetrical, multiply hitched, and cinched strands of rope.  "As you can see, there's no way piratical fingers, no matter how 'Dread', will be able to reach the final or key knot."  Polly lifted her wrists, so Delfina could get a better look.  "I said—"  Whack!  Christina slapped Polly's right butt cheek.

"Hey!" Polly objected.

"The fingers?" Christina sighed.

"Oh."  Polly giggled and began groping with said fingers.  It was clear she could reach nothing.  She couldn't even twist or flex her wrists more than a few degrees.

"Inescapable, right?" Christina asked Delfina.

"Uh... I can vouch for that," Delfina muttered, continuing to tug on her own bonds.

"Wrong!" Christina chuckled, and gestured to Polly.

Polly took her cue and sat in the sand.  She then bent forward into a crunch, rocked back on her shoulders, and slid her forearms past her hips.  Next, she pulled her legs through her bound arms, and scrambled to her feet.  Her wrists were now in front, of course.  She grinned at Delfina and attacked the "key knot" with her gleaming white teeth.

"Anyone in reasonably good shape can do that," Christina said, then turned to Delfina and smiled sweetly.  She slid an index finger under the belly-rope and gave it a tug.  "Unless she has to deal with one of these, of course."

By this time, Polly had freed her wrists and was coiling her former bonds.

Her finger still crooked under the belly-rope, Christina led Delfina over to the beach blanket.  "Sit," she suggested (ordered), and helped the Pirate Captive do just that.  She then smiled at Polly.  "Are you sufficiently recovered from your terrible ordeal to demonstrate a proper ankle tie?" she inquired.

"I'll do my best," Polly said, with mock gravity, then knelt and grabbed Delfina's ankles.  She crossed them and set to work.

Delfina watched the rope tighten around her ankles.  "Why—?"

"Why cross the ankles?" Polly interrupted, and Delfina nodded.  The Dread Pirate Nestor favored her captured damsel with a dimpled smile.  "So you can't hop around, of course."  She climbed back to her feet.

"Oh," Delfina whispered.  Christina and Polly loomed above her, hands on hips and smiles on their beautiful faces.  Okay, it was all a game and her anxiety was a little dramatic, but Delfina was in a dramatic sort of mood.  She tested her wrist bonds, again, and was still helpless... of course.

"Polly," Christina, purred, "be a dear and mix us a pitcher of drinks, would you please?"

"Any preference?" Polly asked, still smiling down at Delfina's helpless form.

"Surprise us," Christina answered.

"Oakie-doakie," Polly giggled, blew a kiss to Delfina, and sauntered towards the house, swinging her bikini-clad hips.

"And you need to haul some firewood down here and start getting the food ready!" Christina shouted after her.

Polly spun on her heels and favored Christina with a disgusted scowl.  "So now I'm The Dread Drudge-Slave Nestor?" she demanded—then sighed, turned, and resumed her journey, shaking her head.

Christina laughed and sat in her chair.  "Burger and weenie roast," she explained to her captive guest, "with all the fixin's, including s'mores."

Delfina rolled on her side and gazed up at her hostess.  "Uh... anything I can do?" she asked.

Christina smiled.  "Escape," she answered.  "Physicalities aside, the point of this part of the exercise is for you to experience what it's like to be a helpless kidnap victim, so you have to convince yourself you can't escape.  Then the exercise can truly begin."

Delfina managed a weak smile.  "Oh... that's the point."  She tossed her head to get her hair out of her face... with limited success.

Christina's smile turned appropriately sinister.  "Just think, Del," she purred.  "Here you are, way out in the middle of nowhere.  Nobody's around for miles and miles.  I can keep you my prisoner forever, can't I?  What's to stop me?"

A chill rippled up Delfina's spine and her smile wavered... and then returned.  "Common decency?"

Christina chuckled.  "Spoilsport.  Seriously, get into the mindset.  I'm your kidnapper, and you're my prisoner.  That's the lesson."

"Uh, how long is this 'lesson' going to last?" Delfina inquired.

Now Christina's smile was really sinister.  "That would be telling, wouldn't it?  Just lay back and enjoy the beach... and worry about how you're going to get away, or how the cops are gonna find you.  And especially, worry about what I'm going to do to you.  Okay?"

"Uh... okay," Delfina whispered, and let her head drop to the towel.  The sun was definitely beginning to droop towards the horizon, but its rays were still warm on her skin.  The breeze was strong enough to lift a few wisps of her hair and cool said skin, but not strong enough to blow the sand around.  The waves rumbled as they broke and rolled in, then the water hissed as it drained back towards the sea.  Seagulls wheeled overhead, and beyond the surf a pair of pelicans flapped by, low to the water.  They look like a pair of pterodactyls, the prisoner mused.

Yes... a nice, relaxing day at the beach—  Delfina tugged on the braided cotton rope binding her wrists and ankles.  —except for one small detail.

Delfina lay on her back and stared up at the fine mesh of the bed canopy overhead.  Both bedroom windows were open, and a gentle breeze was stirring the gauzy drapes.  The sunscreen/storm-shutters were propped open, allowing the pale light of the waxing moon to enter.  The mesh screens over the windows were keeping the mosquitoes at bay.  The netting surrounding the bed was double protection.  Under the top-sheet and light blanket pulled up to her chest, Delfina was nude.  She always slept in the nude.

She glanced toward the nightstand.  Her travel alarm was there, next to a quaint lamp that was something like an antique brass lantern, but it was too dark to read the little clock's non-illuminated face, even if the mosquito net hadn't been in the way.  Not that it matters, she decided.  She stretched and turned onto her side.  What a day.

Arriving for what she thought would be a nice, simple vacation, she'd discovered her hostess-to-be was... her literary idol!  One of them, anyway.  And Christina/Edna and Polly were both very nice and Seaglass was a gorgeous place...  And then the masters class in bondage had sprung out of nowhere.  Delfina felt a shiver course through her body as she lay between the cool sheets.  She had to admit there was method to Christina's madness.  Delfina had learned to appreciate something of what a forlorn kidnap victim must feel as a helpless, bound captive.

Her "kidnappers" had left her bound hand and foot in her bikini and stretched out full-length on the beach towel for more than an hour.  There'd been a little teasing while they built the fire and set it alight, then waited for the dry wood to burn down to coals suitable for cooking.  And there'd been more teasing as they took turns holding a cold Mojito to Delfina's lips.  There'd also been a little leering at her bound, nearly naked body (unless it was her imagination); but mostly, they'd just puttered around, sliding a grill over the pit and preparing the meal, and had left their prisoner to languish in her inescapable rope bonds.

Eventually, the burgers and franks were sizzling on the grill and Polly was putting slices of cheese on the charbroiled patties.

"I can't just untie you," Christina had explained.  "Getting the feel of being a helpless prisoner takes time."

"Don't worry," Polly had giggled.  "We'll only keep you tied up a couple of weeks.  Then, we'll pop you in a cardboard box and mail you home."

"Very funny," Christina had chuckled, then knelt and untied the knot over the "helpless prisoner's" navel.  She then moved behind and started untying her wrists.

"Spoilsport!" Polly accused.

"Shut up and make Del a burger," Christina ordered Polly, than turned and smiled at Delfina, "unless you want a hot dog."

"I'll start with a burger," Delfina responded, rubbing her wrists as Christina untied her ankles.

It had been strange... certainly not pleasurable, although she had to admit she hadn't been hurt.  She wasn't even sore.  But it had been... strange.

Delfina closed her eyes.  After only a few more minutes—she dozed off to sleep.

I wonder how much low-light cameras cost, Christina wondered.  Leering at a hogtied Polly in the dark, shuttered spare bedroom, as she'd done a few days ago, taxed the limits of her current hardware.  Leering at Delfina at night, even a moonlit night, was impossible, even without a mosquito net shrouding her bed.  She wasn't really serious about monitoring the slumber of her brunette guest, of course.  Delfina wasn't going anywhere, and soon...

Just then, Christina's mosquito netting was whipped to the side and a giggling, naked Polly flopped onto the bed.

"What are you doing here?" Christina whispered.

"Whatever I can get away with," Polly whispered back, and crawled under the covers to lie against her equally naked mentor's side.  She kissed Christina's left breast, then her lips.

"You little wiggle worm," Christina accused, eliciting another giggle from Polly... and another kiss.

"Wanna tie me up and make me lick your pussy?" the little blonde asked.

"No, I don't want to tie you up," Christina chuckled softly, and returned the kiss.  It turned into quite a steamy kiss, with a great deal of lip-smacking and tongue-rolling.

Finally, they came up for air.  "Can I tie you up?" Polly whispered.

"No," Christina purred, and the kiss resumed.

"And what about the pussy lick—ing?"

"Keep it down!" Christina hissed.

"I'll stop squealing when you stop tickling me down th-there!" Polly giggled.

"What, like this?"

"Eee—m'mmpfh!"

Christina's left hand was over Polly's lips.  Her right hand was... someplace else.

Polly continued squirming and moaning through Christina's hand.

"Maybe I better tie you up, Wiggle Worm," Christina whispered, and removed her hand-gag.

"Otherwise," Polly whispered back, "I might wiggle away and warn Del about the terrible things you're planning to do to her."

Christina sat up and leaned over Polly's prone body to swat aside the mosquito net and open the drawer of her bedside table.  "Let's see now..." she muttered under her breath.  "Handcuffs?  No, don't want to mark your wrists.  Delfina will get suspicious."

"I won't struggle," Polly giggled.

"What's the fun in that?" Christina inquired, "and who says you have an opinion in the matter?  Ah, here they are."

"Whoosie cuffs?" Polly whined.

"Whoosie cuffs!" Christina confirmed.  She pulled the covers aside, flipped Polly onto her stomach, and straddled the little blonde's waist.  The cuffs in question were wide, well-padded bands of soft nylon, with equally wide, double-sided Velcro straps to secure them around a damsel's wrists.  She slid them over Polly's wrists, then up her forearms and above her elbows.  She cinched them tight and seated the Velcro straps, then cinched and tightened a second, somewhat narrower Velcro strap that linked the cuffs together.  But for the thickness of the cuffs' padding, Polly's elbows now touched.  "There," Christina whispered.  "Whoosie enough for you?"

"Wicked Old Witch!" Polly teased.

Christina laughed, rolled off Polly's naked form, and flopped onto her back beside the pouting captive.  "I've got you, my pretty," she cackled, "and your little pussy, too."

"Sea Hag!" Polly chuckled.

"Now," Christina ordered in an amused whisper, "wiggle down where you belong, Wiggle Worm, and get to work."

"Woe is me!" Polly moaned, as she squirmed her way down the bed 'til she could slide over Christina's legs and between her thighs.  "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done," she declaimed.  "It is a far, far wetter pussy—mmpfh!"

Christina had grabbed a double-handful of blond hair and thrust Polly's mouth and nose against her crotch.  "Enough of that kind of tongue-wagging," she chuckled.  "Eat me!"

And Polly the Wiggle Worm did just that, and when she was finished, was eaten, in turn.