Chapter 1

From the summit you could see Lake Tahoe far below - the entire expanse of it glistening sleepily in the sun, its color changing from dark green to blue, then to a lighter shade of blue. Hills walled it in, just as they walled in the broad meadows to the south and the teardrops of other tiny lakes to the west and east. To the north, and about midway between the summit and Lake Tahoe, sprawled the big stone building of Fredag Lodge. Fredag Lodge was two stories high, nestled back in the firs and pines with its collection of carpeted rooms and discreet servants. During the season, it boasted a three-piece combo in its cocktail lounge, and the young couples who enthusiastically filled the resort danced closely entwined until it was time for bed. Bedtime was singularly early, for Fredag Lodge was renowned as a "honeymoon" hotel - whether you were married or not.

Most of the young men and women who eagerly sought reservations here during the summer months were married, if only that morning in Reno, but there were also the romantics who considered themselves enough in love to pay the exorbitant rates. There were also the older couples who were tired of the glitter of Reno and Tahoe and wished to "get away from it all" for a while, though that often included getting away from respective husbands and wives as well. But however it was sliced, and whoever with, Fredag Lodge was for passion... for passion, love, and lust.

And if you wanted to escape from Fredag Lodge itself, there were the paths. The paths spread out behind the building like a spider's web net, meandering through the wind-bent trees and breeze-stirred shrubbery, winding up the silent, loamy hills to the summit. The summit... and the private cottages. The cottages were set apart from one another by brakes of forest and bush and sun-dappled grass; small, redwood-paneled cabins which looked out over the lodge and the lake through large picture windows, and were furnished right down to a small blaze burning in the field-stone fireplace when you first arrived. The clean tang of pine smoke sharpened the summer air coming from the lake, and seemed to revitalize the lovers who could pay forty dollars a day for a place to fuck.

The path connecting the cottages ran along the edge of the summit, and on this warm June evening, it was young Susan Halford who was thrilling to the panoramic view spread out before her. She walked languidly alongside her husband of a few hours, her arm tightly pressed to his, unable to stifle the blissful grin on her fresh, roundly pert and freckled face. The new Mrs. Halford was tall and lithe with natural blonde hair and luminescent green eyes with tiny yellow flecks in the irises. She wore a clinging blue shift which hugged and caressed her slender, high-breasted figure, and accentuated the easy, natural sway of her tight-mooned buttocks. She was twenty, in love with a perfect man, and married to him. What more could a woman ask? The diamond of her newly acquired wedding ring sparkled magically in the crimson rays of the setting sun, as if mirroring the radiant happiness that threatened to burst her heart.

She snuggled her head against Jim Halford's bare shoulder, feeling the warmth of his tanned, masculine flesh. He was wearing a pair of tight green swimming trunks and a pair of thongs, as she was, and his bronzed, hard-muscled body glistened in the dimming light of the day. He had dark brown, almost black hair which he wore long and thick according to the current fashion, and despite the fact he was only two years older than his bride, Jim seemed somehow much older. Oh, not by wrinkles or lines of dissipation, for he was still very virile and youthful in appearance, but as Suzie glanced up worshipfully at him, she thought he seemed so much more mature... so much more experienced in his manner and expression.

The young bride felt a small, reflexive shiver of fascination move briefly along her spine. Lord, but he was a handsome catch! She'd thought so when she'd first met him on a double date with her twin brother, Carl. It had been one of those "joke" blind dates, done for the lark and not because she'd expected anything to come of it - certainly not marriage! But Jim also was a twin, and her brother Carl was dating Jim's sister Verna, so it sounded like a good laugh when Verna had said Jim was coming to town and why not make it a four-some, a twin twosome! But when Suzie had first laid eyes on Jim, she was no longer in the mood to laugh. He had a certain roguish allure which had immediately captivated her, which made her irrationally avert her gaze and blush girlishly. It was almost as if Jim mentally undressed her and left her naked and defenseless. Yes, and tonight, their wedding night, Jim would in fact undress her and lead her naked and defenseless into the secret mysteries of sex. It seemed almost miraculous to her that after all the months of Jim's amorous pressures, she'd remained true to her dreams of being pure and unspoiled for her husband... to still be a virgin!

Suzie studied her new husband as they walked together along the graveled path. She watched the way he moved easily, with almost leonine fluidity, the strong muscles rippling along his thighs and chest, the hard bas-relief outline of his manhood straining the thin material of his swimming trunks. What would it look like? She'd never seen a man's penis before, not even her brother's, and the tantalizing thought of what Jim's would resemble burrowed like a hot, prickly sliver in her mind. Lord! Did a penis really get long and hard, the way some of her girlfriends told her it did? Even soft, the bulging contour of its manly shaft seemed to hold a strange, awesome fascination for the sheltered young girl, and for one quick moment she was filled with a weird desire to reach across and run her fingers down over the stimulating outline, and trace the curve of his cock as it nestled gently in the softness of his scrotum.

Then, abruptly shamed, Suzie averted her gaze and stared mortified out over the summit. Self-deprecatingly, she thought: My God, what a way to be carrying on! Jim could never respect me if he knew I was harboring such indecent, sinful ideas! I'm so ashamed... !

The blonde-haired bride shuddered involuntarily as she resisted her erotic reveries and the dwelling fear of what this night would bring. She prayed subconsciously that Jim would understand her natural reticence and be gentle and patient as he initiated her into the new world of sex. Sex. There was a word which had never been mentioned in her parents' house, not once in all the years of her and her brother's upbringing. Sex was a subject that got your mouth washed out with soap, or worse. She and Carl were products of a Mid-Western Baptist family, and neither one of them had had much of a chance to stray from God's way, dating very little and then only under the stern glare of Mr. & Mrs. Monroe's parental guidance. There was church twice on Sunday with Carl in the choir, while most of their friends were running off to play. And the constant warnings on the evils of s - - ! and the innate bestiality of human animals, both male and female. It almost seemed irreligious for her to have chosen Jim Halford for a husband, considering how much more worldly he was.

And when Carl had announced that he was planning to marry Verna Halford, their parents had all but disowned him. It had been very difficult for her brother to withstand their parents' heated objections, for he'd been brought up as protected as his twin sister. Yet Suzie couldn't help admiring her brother for fighting for the girl he loved, no matter what her shortcomings might be, and when it was obvious that Mr. & Mrs. Monroe would have nothing to do with their son's wedding, Suzie had happily agreed to go to Reno with Carl and Verna and make it a double ceremony. The elopement had gone off without a hitch, and after a quicky vow-taking at noon, the two couples were now on their honeymoon...

Still, Suzie couldn't help a slight twinge of concern for her brother's welfare. It was one thing for Jim to enter marriage slightly tarnished, for he was a man and premarital experience could be tolerated. But Verna was... well, Jim's twin sister was the sort of girl whom Suzie's mother never discussed in public, Mrs. Monroe being a decent woman with a civil tongue in her head. But her lips compressed in a thin white line, the flaring nostrils of her pinched nose, and the disapproving snap in her eyes - they all conveyed the mother's disgust quite eloquently. Not only was Verna two years older than Carl, but she had once worked as a go-go dancer in Fresno! Suzie had found the black-haired girl exceptionally open and blatant with her language, though Verna had never said or done anything overtly obscene when in her company. But she was disturbed by a comment she'd overheard while passing her mother's closed bedroom door one night, when unwittingly Mrs. Monroe had said overly loud to the father: "That Verna is a strumpet, Joshua. She's the devil's playmate!" Suzie devoutly hoped that Verna wasn't anything so indecent and impure, and that Carl was gaining a bride as clean in spirit and body as Jim was... but Suzie had the sinking intuition that somewhere along the line, Verna might have fallen to the temptations of the flesh, perhaps more than once! And that's what disturbed her, for with the same feminine instinct, she sensed that Verna had not gained her carnal knowledge from Carl... but that Carl was a virgin too...

Suzie quickly banished her straying thoughts as she and Jim made the final turn and entered the clearing of the next cottage. Yet while stepping daintily along the graveled trail, she couldn't stop that lingering curiosity as to whether Carl was as nervous and apprehensively eager for tonight as she...

The small clearing ended at the porch of the cottage, which was now shadowed in the twilight. But the clearing itself was still bathed in hot tangerine sunlight, and the redwood picnic table and chairs seemed to gleam as if waxed with burgundy polish.

Carl and Verna were lounging in the chairs, slowly sipping at frosty glasses in their hands. On the table between them was a ceramic pitcher with trickles of condensation running down its rounded sides, indicating that whatever it held was nice and cold. When they saw Suzie and Jim approaching, they both jumped up, waving and smiling. "Hi!" Carl called out enthusiastically. "We were hoping you'd come by."

"We were afraid we might be disturbing you," Jim replied with a smile. "We didn't want to barge in if you were inside f - "

"Jim!" Verna gasped with a giggle.

"Fixing dinner," he concluded with a twinkle.

"That's later," his sister said, "after enough rum cocktails so Carl can't tell he married a lousy cook! Come on and sit down. I'll go in and get a couple more glasses."

With that, Verna tossed the long, shining mane of her black hair over her shoulder like a silken tail, and languidly walked up the steps of the porch. She moved with the grace and sensuality of a jungle cat, and for an instant Suzie felt a tiny thorn of jealousy for the ease and pride Verna had for her body. Verna was at home with her physical nature, while she... she didn't know what her sinew and blood were capable of yet. But then she considered how Verna had likely learned that familiarity, and her jealousy died as quickly as it'd been born...

"How's it feel to be an old married lady, Sis?" Carl asked cheerily as he sat down again. He gazed with frank admiration at Suzie, and she blushed slightly as she and Jim took seats across from him.

"I've never been so happy in all my life," she said fervently, and possessively she placed her hand in Jim's.

"Wait until later, rosebud," Jim said to her, winking. "You're going to be happier still!"

Her blush grew even stronger, warming her all the way down her cheeks and neck to her hidden breasts as she caught the meaning behind his words and heard the two men laugh. Again her thoughts returned momentarily to her sexual innocence, and to Carl's. In that split-second, she looked at her twin brother and saw how handsome and relaxed he seemed as he sat there. He was wearing only a pair of tight, cotton-twill pants, his tanned, satin-smooth chest rippling with muscles as he chuckled merrily. He was leaner in build, neither as tall or as developed as Jim, but in his own way he was every bit as handsome and alluring as her husband.

And there was no question that she and Carl were twins! His face, was as cherubic as hers was angelic, with the same band of freckles across the bridge of his stubby nose, the same deep, guileless eyes, and the same wheat-colored hair. His hair was clipped short, almost to a crew-cut, not because he had anything against the longer hair now in fashion, but because he simply preferred it trimmed so it wouldn't interfere with swimming, his favorite sport. It was very fine like her own, so instead of sticking up in a butch, it lay soft and close, like a blonde furry cap. Now, gazing lovingly at her brother, Suzie wondered if he and Verna had already...

No, no, don't think this way! Lovemaking was for the nighttime, between the warm intimacy of bedcovers. That's how Carl would want it, Suzie knew. She did know, too, because she knew in her soul everything about her brother... just because they were so close, because they were such identical twins...

"Here we are, lovers!" Verna said from the porch, reappearing from the cabin with two more glasses. Her voice had a throaty purr to it which matched her feline motions, and glancing up at her, Suzie realized with a start that Verna would have no compunctions about when or where to do it. Verna was an awful lot of woman, in the same way that Jim was a lot of man. Was she too much for Carl perhaps... ?

Verna had always been provocative, but now, here, dressed as she was, she seemed even more sensual than when she'd been a single girl. She was as bronzed as her new husband, with a smooth taut stomach and full, thrusting breasts barely concealed in the narrow strip of a bright lavender halter. When she bent over the table to pour from the pitcher, Suzie could almost see the dark brown rings of her nipples! She wore matching lavender short- shorts that were so tight, that they outlined the tight, slightly protruding mound of her pussy, revealed her firm full thighs, and then tucked into the crevice between her tightly fleshed buttocks, leaving the brown curve of her hips almost entirely naked.

What a scandalous outfit! Suzie thought critically, a little prudishly. It was certainly more daring than her own relatively skimpy two-piece bathing suit, for the way the material was molded over the creamy-smooth skin, it seemed to highlight everything a modest woman should keep to herself! Verna was leaving nothing to the imagination! Of course, this was her honeymoon, and she could dress however she pleased... but nevertheless, it seemed to Suzie to be an immodest choice, fit only for the intimate eyes of her husband and no others!

Unsettled and unsure, Suzie glanced at Jim, and was startled by the expression on his face. His mouth was wide with a profligate smile and his onyx eyes were traveling blatantly over the width and breadth of his own twin sister's voluptuous figure as if... as if he were the one married to her and not Carl! What was the matter with him? And then, even more shockingly, he gave a long and appreciative whistle!

"You've grabbed a beautiful and desirable woman, Carl," Jim said, accepting the drink Verna handed him. "Yes sir, a real dish!"

"I'm a lucky guy, all right," Carl replied, but Suzie thought she caught a small hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"You don't know it, I bet," Jim continued expansively, "but that get-up she's wearing is one of her old dancing costumes. Wore it when she was working at the Pink Pussy, up there on that little stage with the rock music louder than thunder. Used to go- go with an orange spot on her, and the color seemed to make the lavender fade out until it almost looked as if she didn't have a stitch on!"

"JIM!"

"Aw, Verna, don't get your tail in a knot. It did, y'know."

"That was... that was a long time ago," she said somewhat primly. She sat down and crossed her legs, looking darkly at her handsome twin brother. "I'm a married woman now, and the past..."

"Makes you what you are today," Jim finished for her. "Sensational! If I weren't your brother, Carl would've had a real fight on his hands, lemme tell you true." Then he laughed and leaned across to put his arm around Suzie and squeeze her tightly. "That is, until I met my little rosebud, here. She's a hot one, too!"

Suzie, shocked at the direction the conversation was taking, almost spilled the drink which had been given her. Despite the fact she rarely cared for liquor, she attempted to salvage the situation by raising her glass and toasting: "H-Here's to marriage, everybody!"

With a chorus of assents, they all clinked glasses and drank heartily... all except Suzie. She tasted hers experimentally. The rum cocktail was tart, without much alcohol taste to it at all, and really very refreshing. Taking a deeper sip, she was glad that she wouldn't have to pretend to like the drinks, and that she could compliment Verna on them genuinely.

"Hey, that hits the spot," Jim said, smacking his lips. "Hope there's plenty more where that came from!"

"Why do you think we were fifteen minutes later checking in than you were?" Verna giggled. "I had Carl stop at a liquor store and make sure he bought enough!"

"Plus a magnum of champagne," Carl boasted. "Mumm's!"

"For later," Verna added. "For after dinner - and you're invited!"

"Oh, that's very nice, but I really don't think that tonight we should bother you," Suzie murmured.

"Nonsense, Sis!" Carl retorted. "We were going to go over and ask you, if you hadn't come here first. Now, settle back and enjoy things!"

Suzie tried to, but there was still an aura of uneasiness to her as the conversation drifted onto many different topics. She finished her drink and Jim poured her another from the pitcher, and before she realized it, yet another. The rum gradually began to take its toll, and she experienced a general loosening of her nerves; the tenseness left her and she started feeling more relaxed. Then some of her mental cautiousness began to disappear, and surprisingly, she discovered herself being drawn into animated conversation with the others.

During her fourth drink, the quartet moved inside the cottage to the small, compact kitchen at the rear. Dinner was prepared amidst gales of laughter and teasing, for everything that could go wrong, did. The cookstove refused to light, and when finally it did, it belched smoke like a volcano. The steaks were burned, the potatoes under-done, and the salad had bugs in it. But somehow, it didn't matter. With the pop of the cork and the pouring of the celebratory champagne, it seemed to the now giddy bride that it was the finest meal she'd ever eaten.

And when at last the champagne was gone and the rum had vanished and it was time to go, Suzie was almost sorry it was over. Light-headed and laughing, she leaned against Jim as they walked out into the clearing again. It was dark now, with the hook of a new moon caught in the floor of the sky... but it was a warm darkness, with crickets chirruping close by, and it wasn't scary at all to her. Drunk with love and the unaccustomed alcohol, she looked back at Carl and Verna who were standing arm- in-arm on their porch.

"Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Monroe!" she said, waving to them. "Thanks for everything!"

"And good night to you, Mrs. Halford," her brother called back. He was grinning crookedly, and she could tell he'd had more than his usual amount of alcohol. He was drunk!

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Verna added, and even that slightly risque remark seemed funny to Suzie right then. Starting down the path to their own cottage, she nuzzled closely against Jim and mentioned to him how happy she was that they'd decided to stay later than she'd first planned. Yes, and she thought to herself that Verna wasn't anything like her mother had labeled her; her mother was an old ninny, that's all. And Jim Halford was a very nice, very handsome, very urbane husband whom she found herself loving more and more each step she took...

With arms encircling each other's waist, they climbed the steps of their porch and entered the small, three-room cabin. It was, fittingly enough, a twin of Carl's and Verna's cottage, and lived up to the color brochures as much as anything lives up to its advertising: nicely decorated in the rustic, woodsy notion of bare walls, beam ceilings, and black wrought iron legs on wooden tables and chairs. The carpet was a grass fiber matting which tickled when Suzie threw off her thongs and stood barefooted, and it extended throughout the living room, kitchenette, and the double-bed bedroom that was across from the tiny shower and toilet alcove.