Margot hosts (Part 1)
LĂvia & Lauro disembarked the water taxi Blush and stepped up onto the busy Promenade. After a moment of deliberation, the young couple hefted their large backpacks and set off over the smooth stone pavement toward a triangular plaza to the east. Citron Hill, with its pastel houses pressed between billowing dark green groves, rose beyond the buildings. A breeze came up the valley and teased the treetops.
“Need anything else from me?”
“No, thank you Nora. You should go home.”
“Have a nice afternoon, Margot.”
Margot leaned back on the stool behind the front desk of the Celandine and took in the quiet of the empty lobby. She was dressed casually on account of the midsummer heat, wearing a pair of faded denim cutoffs and an airy, pearl gray Ibizan blouse with the top three buttons left undone. The collar lay open against her upper chest, flowing to reveal a deep view of her cleavage when she leaned forward. Nora had noticed the gazes of guests flicking down in surprise as Margot looked up their names in the house book.
“The twins asked me to say hi”, she had whispered playfully to Luc as they passed in the hall that morning. He rolled his eyes.
On the patio, a local sketching club sat in a loose row looking up at the sunlit balconies decorated with bougainvillea surrounding the courtyard. Curtains fluttered from open windows as their gazes flicked occasionally down to pencils meandering the creamy white pages in their laps. Margot thought of Lena fluidly tracing the contours of a model’s naked body. Indeed her own a few times.
The soft ding of the front door brought Margot back from her reverie. A young backpacking couple, perhaps in their early 20s and looking very much like foreign tourists, stepped out of the early afternoon sun into the lobby. After a few soft words between them in Portuguese, which Margot recognized from long-past holidays in Lisbon, the young woman stepped forward and smiled as she placed her hands on the desk.
“Do you have room for us here?”
Margot noticed first her large brown eyes framed by bold lashes, which exuded playful openness, and second that she wasn’t wearing anything beneath her beige long-sleeved tee. Her small, upturned breasts didn’t seem to lack support of their own, and the woman appeared fully comfortable with the prominence of her nipples through the thin cloth. In fact she practically led with them.
“I have a few rooms. Would you like a single bed, or bunks?” Margot’s gaze flicked to the young man standing aside.
“A single bed, please,” the young woman replied.
As Margot leaned over the house book, the couple simultaneously leaned on the desk, gazing into Margot’s deep cleavage. The girl subtly nudged her boyfriend, who raised his eyebrows and smiled.
“I think we can squeeze you in on the first floor,” Margot said, looking up at the young man. “A cozy room just off the patio?”
He started from the woman’s mesmerizing neckline to meet her green eyes. “That sounds perfect.”
After taking down the couple’s information, Margot pulled a key labeled #3 Impératris and motioned for them to follow.
“Where are you two visiting from?”
“We’re from Brazil, in the northeast.”
“Lovely. Bem-vindos a Fern River,” Margot said with a Spanish accent.
“Oh! Obrigada!”
At room #3, just around the corner from the bar, she swung the door open and let the couple look around their room. LĂvia sat down on the edge of the bed and gave it a few light bounces, her firm breasts following along. Lauro leaned on the vintage dresser.
“I’ll let you two make yourselves comfortable. I’m Margot, by the way. If you need anything, come find me.”
“Thank you Margot. I’m LĂvia.” The girl rose and pressed the woman’s hand between hers.
“And I’m Lauro.” The two shook hands, lingering as LĂvia peeked into the bathroom, oohing at the enameled clawfoot tub out of sight.
“It’s a pleasure to have you two here,” Margot said quietly, still holding Lauro’s hand. “If you need anything…”
The boy looked down at the woman’s cleavage and back up to her lips curled into a playful smirk. “I’m sure there will be something.”
After finishing an afternoon cup of tea, Margot stood from the desk and stretched her arms. The stillness of the lobby was making her sleepy. She needed a bit of fresh air. Passing Impératris on her way to return the mug, she heard the shower running.
She climbed the stairs to the third floor. Rounding the corner, she nearly ran into Luc on his way downstairs.
“Oh! Hello you.” Her hand went to her chest in surprise.
“Hi there, Margot.”
They still hadn’t discussed what had happened at the Come-In — the surprisingly intimate moment they had shared across the sculpture garden. Luc wasn’t exactly dying to bring it up, and Margot didn’t want to make things uncomfortable for the kid. Still, the image was top of mind for both of them. And then there was Luc and Juro’s little game she had secretly overheard a few weeks back.
“Just off to get a bit of fresh air,” she said lightly, sweeping the memories aside for another day.
“Same here, actually.”
She smiled as the boy passed on his way downstairs.
Margot climbed the last flight up to the roof. The sun dazzled her as she came out onto the deck. The lush hedge of bamboo played in the breeze, and slow summer afternoon sounds came from the patio and street below. On the glittering river, a water taxi crossed to the north side toward hills draped in vineyards and orchards.
To her surprise, there was LĂvia stretched out in a lounge on the far side of the roof deck. The girl was wearing nothing but a bucket hat and a black bikini bottom. Unfazed, Margot waved and walked over. The young woman’s breasts were lovely and small, her nipples a shade darker than her light brown skin, set off strikingly by triangular tanlines.
“You’ve found my favorite way to enjoy the sun,” Margot said brightly.
“It is OK here?” LĂvia cupped her breasts nonchalantly to emphasize the question.
“Oh absolutely. It’s encouraged! I’d join you if I wasn’t on the clock.”
The girl’s eyes danced down Margot’s smooth legs to her tan leather slingbacks, toenails painted sea green. “We match!” the girl exclaimed, raising a foot and wiggling her toes, nails painted a similar hue.
Margot took the girl’s foot in her hand and admired the shape. “It’s a lovely color on you.” She let go and followed the girl’s long line of calf to thigh to hip, belly, upturned breast, neck, curious smile. “Can I get you anything?”
“Would you have Lauro bring something cool to drink when he comes up?”
(Continued in Part 2)