Free Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel Page A

to produce a magnetic pull as powerful as the earth’s. The girl attracted men’s desire as honey drew bees. And those unrequited desires kept spinning around her, increasing her natural magnetism to alarming levels. There was no boy in the
colonia
who didn’t want to be her boyfriend, who didn’t dream of giving her her first kiss, who didn’t long to become one with her.
    Júbilo turned out to be the lucky one. A few months after they met, during a Christmas
posada
, he declared his love for her, and to everyone’s surprise, Lucha, the unconquerable, replied she loved him too. During the first months of their courtship, Júbilo was a most respectful
novio.
He did no more than just hold her hand and give her light kisses on the mouth. But gradually he dared to go further. Lucha remembered clearly the first time that Júbilo had inserted his tongue between her lips. It was a very strange sensation. She wasn’t sure whether it had been agreeable or not. The only thing she knew was that the next day she couldn’t look him in the eyes without blushing.
    From there they moved on to long embraces, accompanied by similarly drawn-out kisses. With the passing of time, and as their trust built, not to mention their passion, they progressed to tighter embraces during which their bodies were pressed against one another…and, well…It reached the point where Lucha could distinctly feel the hardening of Júbilo’s member pressingagainst her pelvis. After those embraces came the timid sliding of Júbilo’s hand down Lucha’s back. And that’s where her problem really started. Lucha was accustomed to getting everything she wanted, but now that she was burning with desire for Júbilo to caress not only her back, but a little lower too, she had to repress the desire to ask him to. The same thing would happen when Júbilo held her hand as they sat in the
sala
listening to music. Sometimes, not wanting to, yet wanting to, Júbilo would brush his hand against Lucha’s leg, and her skin would suddenly become covered with goose bumps. She was very aroused by the idea that Júbilo would openly caress her legs and that he might slide his hand up to her intimate parts, but the chance of that happening was curtailed by social convention. At any rate, for one reason or another, after Júbilo’s visits, Lucha invariably ended up with damp panties, burning cheeks, and agitated breathing. Every day, they sought out with greater urgency opportunities to be alone together, but they weren’t always successful. There was never a lack of busybodies to spy on them, whether it was one of Lucha’s six unmarried siblings, her parents, or the servants.
    However, one day the perfect opportunity presented itself. One of don Carlos’s sisters had died and the whole family went to the funeral, except Lucha, who stayed home with a terrible headache. The origin of her illness was none other than the accumulated and repressed desire over the seven years of her relationship with Júbilo. While she was alone at home, Júbilo paid his regular visit.They went into the
sala
and while they listened to a Glenn Miller record, Lucha took Júbilo’s hand and placed it squarely on her breast. Júbilo’s reaction, somewhere between surprise and satisfaction, was to accept the cordial invitation, and he caressed her breasts with impassioned tenderness. That day, Lucha knew that the time had come for them to marry, because it wasn’t right for a señorita to permit her
novio
to caress her like that. And it wasn’t until this moment that she had understood why! It was obvious that from here on there was no going back. Her passion was only going to grow stronger and she couldn’t bear it any longer. She was tired of resisting the call of desire.
    On the other hand, if she gave in now, it would be impossible for her to reach her wedding as a virgin, as her parents expected. To Lucha this social hypocrisy seemed totally absurd. If a woman’s purity was shattered the