You couldn't," I said unbelievingly as I watched the curves of her body shift under the dress.He smiled again at my response, then reached toward her,...easily opening the top button of her dress. She didn't resist. His hand dropped to the second button, pressing it through the tiny slit as effortlessly as the first. Then the third, and fourth. I could see the white, soft skin of her collarbones and a hint of the valley between her breasts."Linda, will you do anything I ask?"She answered in a. She had been sleepwalking again a little earlier when he found her out in the storm. Enraged at seeing her outside once again, he lost it completely and grabbed at her and pulled her closer to the edge."Yes! Jump! If that's what you want to do, then just jump in! " He had told her just moments ago. She hadn't heard him of course but just stood perilously close to the edge on the rocky cliffs staring out at the raging sea. Then he grabbed her and shook her. "Jump! I said. Jump! End it all, for. ?”“No, he wasn’t, Stella! Ted Harper wasn’t a party to that syndicate; that kind of behaviour was beneath him. Anyway, he wasn’t trying to ask you to go out with him that day either! Not that you gave him the opportunity to ask you anything really. What Ted was trying to do was invite you to sit for a portrait.”“How would you know that?” Stella demanded, just a hint of Estelle returning to her voice.Marie fixed Stella with a firm stare.“Stella, somewhere along the line you developed the. In a quick, surprising motion, she also lept from the barstool and kissed me on the cheek. Her lips were soft, and I felt bashful. It wasn’t every day a caramel blonde whose name you don’t even know… wait, I realized I hadn’t even asked for her name!“Course I didn’t, Miss…”“Rachel! And good choice, I lo-uh-OVE tequila, Mister…” “Drew. I thought you might. Do we know each other from somewhere? You look familiar.”“I don’t think we do! But we’re going to know each other very well very soon. I saw.