Low Tide Bikini (A Pleasure Island Romance)

by Lyla Dune

  BROCK LOWERED HIS irritation to a simmer and laughed to himself, realizing Mazy and Sam thought they’d had a threesome. If they were going to talk to him like he didn’t measure up to their expectations, he wasn’t going to correct them and let them know nothing happened. They deserved to sweat a while longer. It’d do them both some good. And a nice long run would do him good. After he’d let his breakfast settle, he would go for a run.

  About an hour later, he put on his gym shorts and jogging shoes and walked out to the beach. Sam was spreading a towel in the shadow of the lifeguard stand. He ambled over to her.

  “Hi, Sam. Do you happen to have any sunscreen?” He eyed her bum, barely covered by white, string-bikini bottoms.

  She stood and faced him. Her hair covered her breasts.

  Disappointment crept over his loins.

  “Hi. I think I have some SPF 50 in my beach bag. Hang on.” She knelt and crawled across the towel on all fours.

  What a view.

  She rummaged through her bag and pulled out an emerald green bottle shaped like a frog. “Here it is. You’re welcomed to it.”

  He turned his back to her and said, “Do you mind putting some on my back for me. I have a hard time reaching.”

  She stammered, “I guess I can do that.”

  WITH BROCK’S ROCK-HARD body so close to her, Sam fought to think straight. She squirted a healthy dollop of sunscreen into her hands, rubbed her palms together then placed them on his broad shoulders. She smeared the white cream over his back and neck, applied more to his shoulders and massaged the lotion in until it left a clear sheen on his skin. She didn’t want to stop touching him. She put more sunscreen in her hands and went over his entire back again, stepping closer to his body, her eyes going from one muscular bulge to the next and across his freckled skin. She wanted to straddle his back and knead her fingers into those taut muscles, feel them soften beneath her touch, hear him murmur her name with appreciation.

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “You have a nice touch.”

  She picked up a towel and wiped her hands. “I think you’re good now. I’ll let you get the rest.” She handed him the bottle.

  He looked down at the plastic green frog and grinned. “Thanks.”

  She gulped as he slathered his chest and legs. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time. She was embarrassed to be gawking, but couldn’t help herself. Her eyes glued themselves to his body as he applied more lotion.

  She said, “Don’t forget your face.”

  He winked at her. “Both sides of my face too, right?”

  “Yeah. You don’t want to go around looking like a dork. That wouldn’t be fun.” At that thought, the side of her face that was beginning to peel—itched. She gave her cheek a scratch.

  He handed her back the sunscreen. “I’m going to go for a run, explore the island, any recommendations?”

  A mischievous thought playfully skipped through her mind. “All the cool kids hang out at Bare Point on the north end. You might be interested in checking it out. Warning though, it can be quite crowded this time of day.”

  He looked toward the north end. “I’ll check it out. Thanks.”

  BROCK RAN A couple miles without seeing more than a handful of people, and he didn’t recognize any of them. As he approached the north end, he saw a bright fuchsia house and remembered Louise had mentioned she lived in such a home in that area. The memory of the feisty, red-haired woman that resembled his grandmother caused him to joyfully pick up his pace.

  Two silhouettes approached him. One was tall, the other was short. Maybe a mother and child. The forms looked feminine. As he got closer, he could tell the taller silhouette was a redhead and the shorter one had pale-blue hair. He bet Louise and Myrtle headed his way.

  Other figures were dotted around the two women. All of those people had gray hair. He couldn’t make out what any of them were wearing. In fact, they appeared to be wearing nothing at all.

  As he drew close enough to confirm his suspicions, he froze. For the love of all things holy, these people were definitely naked. Every last one of them. And they were all old. Old and naked. There should be a law against those two things being in the same sentence.

  Myrtle waved to him, “Yoohoo. Brock. Come join us.” All of her naughty bits had flown south for the winter. He didn’t need to see this.

  Louise’s physique was plumper. Her belly hung to her lap. At least her stomach covered her down there. He wanted to turn around and run back home, but they’d seen him. They knew who he was. He couldn’t just run off and insult them.

  He told himself that every human on the planet has a body, and anyone lucky enough to live to be a ripe old age should be proud of their body. He had no right to view theirs as hideous sights. If they were brave enough to expose themselves, he should be brave enough to look.

  But God. Did he have to? Really?

  Carl walked up behind the ladies and pinched Myrtle’s butt. The decrepit man’s birdcage chest was dusted with a few silver, wiry hairs. His manly bits. Dear Lord, his manly bits reminded Brock of a Vienna sausage and two pieces of chewed bubble gum. Mazy should buy Carl some of that supplement she was raving about.

  Myrtle put one hand on her hip, the other behind her head and struck a calendar girl pose. “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” She giggled like a little girl. It cracked him up.

  He said, “I could never hate you.”

  She lowered her arms. “I’m glad to hear it. I was afraid you’d be mad at me because of that voting poll.”

  Focus on her eyes. Do not look below her neck.

  He didn’t know what she was talking about. “What voting poll?”

  Myrtle’s face went flat. “Oh. I thought Sam would’ve told you by now. Nevermind.”

  Louise swatted Myrtle’s arm. “You have a giant mouth for a munchkin. You know that?”

  Carl grimaced at Louise. “Now…Louise. Don’t start nothing.”

  “I’m not starting nothing. She does have a big mouth. You said so yourself.” Louise smoothed her auburn coif that didn’t seem to budge in the wind.

  Brock kept his eyes on their faces. “What voting poll?”

  Carl chopped the air. “It’s like this here. When you first came to town, none of us knew you from a hill of beans.”

  Myrtle pushed Carl’s hand down. “Oh hush your mouth. I’ll tell it.” She put her hands on her hips. Do not look down. She said, “I let people cast their votes on whether or not you and Sam would end up bed buddies or enemies. Twenty dollars a vote. One hundred and twenty nine people voted.”

  Brock soaked it all in without saying a word.

  Myrtle stamped her foot. “Well ain’t you gonna say nothing?”

  He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know that many people lived on the island.”

  Louise howled. “Population three hundred and ninety-two as of last night when Patricia Drucker had her baby girl.”

  Carl said, “Come on over and join us. I got us a tent and plenty of beer.

  Myrtle looked him up and down. “No shirt, no shoes, no pants required. You can just let it all hang out.” She made big eyes at Louise who licked her lips and nodded her head in agreement.

  Louise cooed, “Yeah, honey. You don’t have to be shy around us. We’ve seen it all before. Just drop em and join the party.”

  He assumed by dropping ‘em she meant he should take off his shorts and parade around in the nude with them, but that thought held absolutely no appeal. “Thanks for the offer, but I need to finish my run. It’s been…” He was about to say it’s been good seeing you, but it hadn’t been what he’d call good. Bizarre. Funny. Frightening. But not good. Sam was going to pay for this one. “It’s been quite a surprise running into you. I need to get back to the house. Bye.”

  He ran toward his house. When he reached the lifeguard stand, Sam’s beach towel was still there, but he didn’t see her. He checked the water. She wasn’t there either. He trudged toward the house, stripped, an
d stepped into the outdoor shower just off the carport.

  SAM WADED THROUGH the breakers after a mile swim parallel with the shore. She panted, and her muscles ached in a good way. After drying off, she ambled to the house. While rubbing her hair with the towel, she walked to the shower off the carport. She reached in to turn the water on and grabbed a knob, but it wasn’t the kind of knob she’d expected to be putting her hands on. This one was soft and fleshy.

  She dropped the towel and found herself gripping Brock’s wet, flaccid penis. Holy crap. If the man was this big when he was soft, imagine how large he’d become when aroused. What was she thinking? She let go and lifted her hand to her Grand-Canyon-mouth.

  Brock smirked and flung his towel over the back of the shower, like he’d changed his mind about drying off and chose to drip dry. Right in front of her.

  At the sight of him, she quivered.

  He posed with rivulets streaming down his gorgeous nude body. Without an iota of embarrassment, he said, “I like when a woman grabs what she wants.”

  Sam swallowed loudly. “I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t know you were in there.”

  “There’s plenty of room in here for both of us. Step in, and you can scrub my back. I’ll wash your hair for you. Do you like coconut? I have some coconut shampoo.”

  His erection was growing and growing like the magic beanstalk, and she wanted to pretend her name was Jack and climb it. She shook her woozy head. “You’re naked.”

  “Of course I am. I just took a shower, and I’m willing to take another with you.” He closed the short distance between them until they were almost touching. “Most people shower naked. And as I discovered, thanks to you, people here on the island do a lot of things naked. Especially on the north end. I now understand the hidden meaning of Bare Point.”

  How she wished she could have seen his reaction when he stumbled across the Naked Naughty Seniors. Wait. He was the naked one now and inviting her to join him. Nekkid with a capital “N” and that stands for….NO.

  “I’m not a fan of nudity.” She lied. Well, kind of. She wasn’t a fan of visiting the Naughty Naked Senior’s stomping ground, but if there were such a thing as Naughty-Naked-Brock-Watching Club, she’d sign up. Heck, she’d volunteer to be the leader.

  “You’re embarrassing me.” Oh sure, she said that, all coy and brimming with bullshit, but there she stood, still staring at him. Judging by his wicked grin, he hadn’t let that little tidbit slide by.

  “Oh come on. After last night?” He shot her a seductive come-hither look.

  After last night? What the hell happened last night? She didn’t have a clue, but she was sober now, and he was offering. She could actually feel herself getting creamy as a heaviness formed between her thighs.

  “Really. I better not.” Hot men ruined her life. Exhibit A: Steve Monague, the gorgeous prom date who took pictures of her naked while she slept after losing her virginity and passed them around school. Exhibit B: Roger Templeton, the hunky frat boy with the 4.0 GPA who borrowed her car and ended up wrecking it while his French tutor gave him head on the freeway. Exhibit C: Greg Lyons, the sexy record producer who invited a couple over to swing without asking how she felt about it first. Then there was Shawn Harrison, the ex who knocked her up, broke up via Twitter, and left her 50K in debt with nothing to show for it. If she let herself fall for another hot guy, she might as well get fitted for a straight-jacket. She had to be strong. Only the strong survived.

  “No, thank you.” She turned away, ran upstairs, and flung herself across her bed. She hoped she had some extra batteries for her purple boyfriend, because the Energizer Bunny had met his match.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nest

  Brock had ordered a load of sand to build up his side of the embankment connecting his property to his neighbor’s. Apparently, with the installation of—what appeared to be—a new in-ground pool, his neighbors had shoveled the sand about, raising the height of their property, which gave the rain no recourse but to run downhill into Brock’s carport.

  The delivery arrived. He led the three workers, who pushed wheelbarrows loaded with fresh sand, to the area he wanted to build up.

  Sam ran out of the house with blue stuff smeared on her face and her hair in curlers. She wore nothing but a bright pink and orange beach towel wrapped around her body.

  “Stop. You can’t do that. There’s a turtle nest in that area.” Her arms flailed in the direction of the embankment as she screeched.

  Brock signaled the men to stop. Hesitant, he approached Sam. She seemed quite crazed, and he didn’t know what to expect. “Slow down. Catch your breath, and tell me what you’re talking about.”

  She bent over, put her hands on her knees, and huffed and puffed for a few seconds then stood. “You can’t bring in sand from wherever and add it to the beach like that. I found a sea turtle nest in that area a few weeks ago. If you cover it up, the baby turtles may not be able to dig through the extra layer heaped on top. Plus, that sand isn’t suited for this ecosystem. It might’ve been treated with chemicals that could kill the baby turtles.” The blue gunk on her face cracked around the edges of her lips.

  He chose his words with caution. “What do you suggest? If we get another storm, the carport and guest quarters are going to flood again. I don’t want to fix the guest quarters and have all that work done for nothing. I need to do something now.” Being more concerned about his property than the turtles wasn’t something he was proud of, but as the homeowner, he had to be practical.

  “They’ll hatch in a week or two. You don’t know for sure a storm will roll in before that happens. We can keep a close eye on the weather. Come on, we can figure something else out. Please, don’t do this right now. Please.”

  He couldn’t say no. Not with her pleading like that. He was such a sucker.

  She squirmed awaiting his response and the towel inched farther down her thighs.

  The workers gawked. One man in particular leered as if he were stripping Sam with his eyes.

  Brock glared at the guy and made a fist. “You heard the lady, get these wheelbarrows out of here. Put the sand back on the truck.” He motioned the men back toward the road.

  When the workers disappeared around the corner, he shuffled closer to Sam. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  The color of her eyes matched the dried blue paste on her face. Redness surrounding her irises made his chest tighten. He didn’t want her to cry. Tears left him with nothing to do but hold her. Holding her while she wore a towel and nothing else spelled danger. He opted to lighten the mood. “Nice face.”

  She touched her cheek, and her mouth flew open. “I forgot.” More cracks formed in the clay-like substance.

  “What’s that blue stuff?”

  “It’s a clay facial mask. It’ll exfoliate my skin and…” The towel slipped across her bosom. She snugged it tighter around her breasts before he could catch a glimpse of a nipple. Damn.

  Her hands trembled.

  “And?” He was completely distracted by the flap of towel blown by the wind, giving him a peek at her upper thigh.

  “And it’s dried. So I need to go wash it off.” She whirled around and ran up stairs. Her rump jiggled in the most delightful fashion. If she wasn’t going to let him make her come, he might as well enjoy watching her go.

  He fixed himself a ham and cheese sandwich with a side of Doritos and sat on the couch in front of the TV.

  Sam came downstairs. Loose blonde curls bounced about her ribs. A yellow, floral sundress showed off her tan legs. The dress featured thin shoulder straps and a deep neckline. She sat beside him and helped herself to one of his Doritos.

  The relaxed, friendliness she exuded caught him by surprise. He hadn’t seen this side of her nearly enough. What had made her become so calm?

  With chip poised by her lips, she said, “Thank you for stopping those guys. I should have told you about the nest earlier. It just slipped my mind with everything that’s been
going on.”

  “No worries, love. No harm done. We’ll figure something out.” She ate the chip and helped herself to another. He playfully swatted her hand. “Hey, munchie girl. Cool it. I’d be happy to fix you your own plate if you’re hungry.”

  She grinned and crammed the entire chip in her mouth and chomped.

  He was mesmerized by her shimmering coral mouth.

  After she swallowed she said, “That’s thoughtful of you, but I’m meeting the girls at the restaurant for a late afternoon rehearsal, and Jack has a feast prepared for us.”

  “I’m jealous.” He picked up a chip and held it in front of her. “Open wide.”

  She opened her mouth, and he fed her. Her lips brushed his fingers. He reached for another chip and brought it to her lips.

  She shook her head no. “I’m good. You go on and eat.”

  He sat his plate on the coffee table and positioned his body to face hers. “It can wait.” He didn’t want to miss the opportunity to chat with her in such a cordial manner. She was being charming. “So tell me about this turtle business.”

  She pulled a throw pillow to her lap and sat with her legs criss crossed, her dress pulled over her knees to hide all her girlie bits. Damn.

  Toying with a lock of her hair, she said, “The leatherback sea turtles have been nesting here for decades. The female sea turtles always return to the same general area of the beach. Over time, erosion and new construction has destroyed the sea turtle’s home. There are fewer and fewer safe places for them to come ashore to nest.” Her eyes panned over to the view of the ocean caressing the shore.

  He studied her faraway expression. “Go on.”

  Without looking at him, she continued, “Home. That’s such an important thing to sea turtles. It’s sad to think of them looking to the shore, not knowing what happened to their home, feeling lost, panicked, having no place to lay their eggs. No safe place for them at all, nowhere they belong.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want to make sure their home is protected, that they always have a safe place here.” The tears fell, and her breathing became labored as she attempted to speak, but nothing coherent came out.