The Secret Carolina Confessed When They Were Alone

Carolina had been married for ten years to Mariela’s older brother, and although they had never been close, they got along well. In recent weeks they had talked more than usual, because Carolina had moved into Mariela’s house for a few days while her husband finished a work trip through Europe.

Carolina was twenty-nine years old. She was of average height, slim, with tan skin and dark brown hair. She had large honey-colored eyes and a mouth with full lips that seemed made to smile sideways. The most striking thing about her was that slightly exotic beauty that drew people in without their quite knowing why. She liked tight jeans and low-cut blouses, and she knew perfectly well the effect she had.

Mariela was younger and quieter. She had straight black hair, blue eyes, and curves she did a poor job of hiding under the leggings she wore all the time. Anyone seeing her for the first time would take her for a shy, reserved girl, and in a way she was. But that shyness had a trick to it.

Since Carolina had moved into the house, the two of them had grown somewhat closer. They shared the same weakness for afternoon soap operas and sat together in front of the TV until they ended. Afterward, Mariela would go out for a walk around the neighborhood and Carolina would tag along, talking nonstop. Carolina talked for both of them, and Mariela had discovered that she liked listening to her: she had a gift for turning any anecdote into a story that hooked you.

What Carolina did not know was that Mariela had a secret life. Among her friends, the shy girl disappeared: she became talkative, shameless, unable to sit still. Her favorite subject was sex, and she had no shame about describing each one of her adventures in detail. She went out partying and almost always ended up in a hotel with some stranger. She wasn’t interested in relationships or couples; she was interested in new desire, in a body she didn’t know yet, in that first time that never repeated itself with the same person twice.

At home, however, no one suspected a thing. Her parents and brothers were convinced she was a proper girl who still hadn’t had a boyfriend. Mariela preferred to let them keep believing that. She carried that double life with an ease that sometimes even surprised her.

Carolina carried a similar secret, although neither of them could have imagined it. Before getting married, she had had an intense, almost feverish sex life, as if she were never quite able to satisfy herself. She spent whole nights looking for something no man ever seemed to give her. When she met her husband, for the first time she felt she had found someone who could keep up with her, and that was why she decided to stay with him. But there was one desire she had never dared confess: ever since a schoolmate had secretly kissed her in school, she had dreamed of being with a woman.

That weekend, Mariela’s parents went to a country estate and the house was left entirely to the two of them. Carolina, always the most enthusiastic one, suggested buying a couple of bottles of good wine and taking advantage of the night. Mariela, who also enjoyed drinking, needed no convincing.

They sat in the living room, put on music, and started drinking. As always, the conversation began with nonsense, but both knew it would sooner or later drift toward Carolina’s past. The hours passed, the bottles emptied, and when they were both fairly drunk, Carolina stared into her glass with a different smile.

—Can I tell you something very personal? Something you have to keep as a secret —she said, weighing every word.

—Tell me anything you want. I’m a tomb —Mariela promised.

And Carolina spoke. She told her the truth about her past, about the years when nothing was ever enough, about the feeling of being different from the others. Mariela did not interrupt her once. She let her pour it all out, surprised to have so close someone who resembled her so much without knowing it.

—And what do you think of me after all that? Don’t be hard on me —Carolina asked.

—I don’t think anything bad. I’m just trying to put myself in your place and imagine how hard it must be never to find peace —Mariela replied.

—Thank you for not judging me. You can’t imagine how much I wanted to tell someone. You’re the first person who knows.

Up to that moment, it had never crossed Mariela’s mind to touch her sister-in-law. But something in the air had changed.

—And do you still feel like that, with those urges all the time? —she asked.

—Yes. Almost always —Carolina admitted.

—And now? —Mariela insisted, lowering her voice.

—Now too —she confessed, holding her gaze.

Mariela was silent for an instant. The mere idea of having next to her a woman on fire, all wound up, so close, sent a shiver through her that she knew well. It seemed almost unfair not to do something about it.

—Can I tell you another secret? Since I’ve started, I want to let it all out —Carolina said.

—Let it out. It goes with me to the grave —Mariela repeated.

—There’s a desire that has been consuming me for years and that I’ve never been able to fulfill. I want to be with a woman. I’ve felt it since that kiss in school, and it never went away.

The confession struck Mariela in exactly the right place. What a moment before would never even have occurred to her suddenly appeared as something that had to happen. How could she leave her sister-in-law with that desire half-finished, on exactly this night, with exactly her?

—Carolina, listen to me carefully —she said, moving a little closer—. I know you’re hot and I know that desire has weighed on you for far too long. I’m not going to sit on my hands when I can do something about it. I want to be with you tonight. Are you up for it?

Carolina did not answer right away. The proposal took her by surprise and she hesitated, unsure. But then something clicked in her head: Mariela already knew all her secrets, she was the only one who knew them. There was no safer person to fulfill her fantasy, no one she felt so sure would never tell another soul.

—I thought about it too —she finally said—. And I think you’re the right person. Yes, I want to too.

—Relax. Only you and I will know about this —Mariela murmured.

***

Mariela leaned in and kissed her. It was a slow kiss, barely the pressure of her lips on hers, a promise of what was to come. Carolina closed her eyes and let herself be carried away; that soft brush brought back, all at once, the memory of that school kiss, the one that had set everything in motion. Mariela had plenty of experience and intended to use it all: she wanted her sister-in-law’s first time to be an unforgettable memory.

When the kiss was no longer enough, Mariela lowered her mouth to Carolina’s neck and let her tongue trace it slowly. Carolina tilted her head back and let out a long sigh. That single reaction was enough for Mariela to know she was on the right track.

She took her by the hand and led her to her room. There she undressed her blouse and bra without hurrying, laid her back on the bed, and settled herself over her. This time the kiss was different, deep, her tongue searching for hers. She went back down her neck, continued to her breasts, and caught one nipple between her lips.

Carolina moaned for the first time. Her nipples were swollen and sensitive, and each suck sent a current through her whole body. She felt strange and amazed at once: it was finally happening, and it was happening with a woman so beautiful she could hardly believe it.

Mariela undressed her completely. She pulled down her jeans, then her underwear, and took a moment to look her up and down. Before going on, she lifted one foot and brought it to her mouth; she ran her tongue over the instep, over the toes, without hurry, while Carolina watched her with a mixture of surprise and excitement she had never felt before.

Then she opened her legs. She traced the inner side of her thighs with her tongue, first one, then the other, coming closer little by little, deliberately prolonging the wait. When at last she reached her sex and grazed it with the tip of her tongue, Carolina let out a choked cry and clenched the sheets with both hands.

Mariela moistened her fingers and placed them on her clit while she licked her. Carolina did not stop moaning; pleasure came to her in waves, from below through her whole body. From time to time, Mariela gave her a gentle bite that made her tremble. Then she replaced her fingers with her tongue and began to lap at her everywhere, leaving not a single corner untouched.

—I’m going to come —Carolina warned in a broken voice, writhing.

Mariela did not stop. On the contrary: she pressed her tongue against the clit and began to finger her, going in and out to the rhythm of her moans. Carolina arched her back and stayed like that for several seconds, trapped in the longest orgasm of her life, unable to believe that another woman had brought her there.

When she finally relaxed, she was still trembling. Mariela gave her no respite; she knew that with just a little more she would make her come again, and she was not wrong. A few minutes later, Carolina tensed up once more and let go again, this time with a deeper moan.

Mariela pulled her fingers out and brought them to her mouth; then she leaned in and kissed her so the two of them could share the taste.

—You made me feel things I don’t even know how to describe —Carolina said, catching her breath—. It was incredible.

—And were you satisfied, or are you still horny? —Mariela asked with a smile.

—Satisfied, yes. But now I want the other half of my fantasy. I want to taste you. You have no idea how badly I want to.

—I love that mine is the first one you’re going to taste —Mariela said, and let herself fall back.

Carolina knelt between her legs with a new confidence, as if she had been waiting for that moment for years. She started with her mouth, then moved down to her breasts and played with Mariela’s nipples until she made her moan. When she finally reached her sex, she paused for a second to look at it, fascinated to be about to do something she had imagined a thousand times.

She put her tongue on the clit and moved it in circles, first awkwardly and then with instinct. Mariela began to moan and that only encouraged her more. She licked her everywhere, wanting to feel all of her, while Mariela’s moans confirmed that she was doing it right.

—Put your fingers in me —Mariela asked.

Carolina penetrated her while she continued with her tongue, and with her free hand she searched for her nipples. Mariela pushed her hips against her hand, harder and harder, until pleasure overwhelmed her and she came in her sister-in-law’s mouth, every muscle of her body tightening.

—You made me come like hardly ever before —Mariela confessed, drawing her in to kiss her.

—And you have no idea how fulfilled I feel —Carolina replied—. I waited years for this.

Far from stopping, they kept seeking each other. Mariela made Carolina kneel, stood behind her, and stroked her clit while kissing her back and the nape of her neck. Carolina let her head fall back and surrendered again, feeling shivers with every kiss, until a new orgasm shook her against Mariela’s body.

Then they settled face to face and brought their sex together. They moved slowly, one against the other, completely surrendered, never stopping kissing. Pleasure rose in waves every time their bodies rubbed together, and neither of them wanted it to end. Mariela was the first to come this time, pressing herself against Carolina in the middle of a kiss.

Later, exhausted and still naked, they went back to the living room. They poured the last glasses of wine and stayed talking, this time with no secrets between them, telling each other every last detail of what they had long believed made them unique. They laughed at how close they had been, without knowing it, to someone just like them. And they went on like that, talking, until the first light of dawn came through the window.