They walked through the lounge and out into the courtyard. It had been a couple hours since they’d been there, and the place was now dark and quiet. Well, not totally dark or quiet; the underwater lights were on in the pool, and in their dim glow they could see a couple splashing around lazily; it was clear that it wasn’t Dale and Dawn, though. There was another couple in the warm hot tub, in a serious lip lock and body crush. Bob took one brief look and decided that if they weren’t getting it on at that moment they weren’t far from it, and figured it was a toss-up whether they’d do it on the spot or head up to their room. Maybe they’d wind up doing it in the elevator … go for it, kids, he thought.

The cooler of the two hot tubs was free again. They quickly peeled off the outer clothes they’d worn; Bob grabbed a quick look at Sharon. The tiny bikini seemed even scantier than it had in their room, either because of the darkness or because they were now in public. Apparently Sharon felt a bit self-conscious about it, because she was soon down in the concealing depths of the frothing water. Bob took a little more time getting in the water, because he needed to get used to it more slowly before joining Sharon.

“I have to ask,” he said as a random thought hit him. “How did you know about Orient Beach, anyway? Been there?”

“Oh, yes, but it’s been years,” she said. “I went to nude beaches a couple times when I was in Europe, they’re much more common there and more open about nudity, or at least the topless part. I did go topless there but I could never quite work up the courage to get my bottom off. But there was this guy, we sort of liked each other on sort of a friends with benefits basis, and we sort of teased each other into going there on a winter vacation. That was when I was at the ski resort in New Hampshire and we were both sick of winter, just plain sick of it, Bob. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway, we had a few days off and we were sitting around in a bar one night having a few drinks and complaining about the weather, and the idea came up of heading south for a few days on the beach. In the beginning it was just to go down to Florida or someplace simple. Like I said, we were teasing each other, and I said he was just trying to get me on the beach so he could check me out and that I bet he’d really like to take me to a topless beach so he could really check me out, you get it? Well, he said I wouldn’t have the guts to go topless, and I told him I’d done it in Europe so I knew I could do it, but that he wouldn’t have the guts to go to a nude beach with me because he’d have a hard on all the time. Well, he said he’d go nude if I would so it turned into a put-up or shut-up kind of thing, you know? Well, at first it was going to be just Apollo Beach down in Florida, but it was along in January and I knew that the beaches in Florida can be kind of cold in January if you don’t catch the weather just right, and I suggested that we go someplace warm. At that point we were still just teasing each other, you know? Well, I thought it pretty well ended at that, so we polished off our drinks and went to bed.”

Bob slipped down into the warm water and let Sharon go on talking. He had been getting tired of trying to hold up his end of a conversation, and decided that it was easier and more fun to just let Sharon ramble and listen to her.

Which she did: “So, anyway, at work the next day he came up to the desk where I was working and said that he’d managed to come up with a deal on a place to go, and he’d pick up the cost if I actually went through with it, and when he said go through with it I knew he meant getting nude on the beach even if he couldn’t say it in my office. I mean, he was sort of talking around things, you know? Well, I didn’t know if he was still trying to tease me or what and I wasn’t all that thrilled about running around nude on a public beach, but right then a week in the sun on someone else’s credit card sounded like a really good one even if we just spent the nights trying to fuck each other silly. That was no big deal, we’d already done that a few times, I don’t know why we hadn’t the night before, maybe I was on my period, I don’t remember and it doesn’t matter, anyway. So I figured it was put up or shut up, you know? I told him the sooner the better if we could get the time off. That wasn’t any trick to arrange, the person who had to approve it for both of us had been sitting there listening to the conversation. So he took off and came back with tickets a little while later, and I knew I was going to have to go through with it. Kathy, the woman in my office who approved it, asked us where we were going, and when I told her Orient Beach she just about split a gut laughing, she said she didn’t think that I’d have the guts to get bare ass naked down there, so that was a challenge and I was sure I was going to do it then. It turned out that she’d been there, she was able to give me a few useful tips, like it was a good idea to take some clothes. While you could go nude on the beach you didn’t have to, but they didn’t like you going nude in stores and like that, that I should at least take a bikini for that alone. It was good advice, I told Dawn that last night while you guys were away from us just in case they really wind up going there. So anyway, in a couple days we were on a plane, and that afternoon we were there. We got into our hotel room and I changed into my bikini, then we went down to the beach. I’ll tell you what, even though there were these nude people around I was a little scared and I figured I’d better do it right away or I’d never do it. Well, we walked onto the beach, and I stripped off my top and then my bottoms right there, not two feet onto the beach, and no one noticed, Bob! I mean, no one said anything, it was as normal as day! Well, when I did that, Ron, that was name I remember now, Ron, he had to do it too and he was so embarrassed he just about died! He had this great big old hard on, it had to have hurt! Does yours hurt when it gets really hard, Bob?”

“Sometimes,” he said, reflecting on the fact that he was getting a pretty good one at the thought, while he was showing that he was paying attention to what she was saying. “So did he strip down?”

“Oh yes, he had no choice, it was put up or shut up, after all, if he hadn’t done it I would have yanked down his shorts for him. But he was all red and embarrassed but he took them off, and there was this big old pole sticking out, if you know what I mean. I told him that maybe we’d better get in the water for a while, just to help him deal with it, and he was literally running for the water. Well, there was this big surf crashing in and he ran right out into it. It just about spit him right back up onto the beach, he got caught by a wave wrong or something. Well, I ran out there and made sure he was all right, and at least his erection had gone down by then. That was kind of a bad start but it was a lot better after that, we walked up and down the beach nude, and it wasn’t any problem for either of us. I mean, there were all these people around, most of them not wearing anything, and they just didn’t care! It was really neat! Have you ever tried it?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” he said. “I’ve thought about it at times, but again, it’s another one of those things that I’d do with someone but not by myself. So what did you do besides run around bare-assed on the beach all the time?”

“Oh, not a great deal,” she smiled and went on, hardly slowing down. “We got a car and explored the island a bit. There are some other beaches, some nude, some topless, some fully textile, and we visited some of them. We shopped a little, that sort of thing. It was really quite a nice week. Of course we had to get some photos to show around the office when we got back. We were careful to get some that made clear that we had on absolutely no clothing but were otherwise modest. It was a fun week, very relaxing, and something that I really needed at that point because I was sick of the winter in New Hampshire, just absolutely sick of it. Snow, my God do they get the snow, and they seem to like it, they have to be crazy! Well, anyway, we got back and there were some people in the office who couldn’t believe that Ron and I had done it, but we had the photos for proof. I guess you know that shocked them, except for Kathy, of course, it turned out that she’d been there but she hadn’t had the guts to go all the way. It was really kind of neat, I think it changed a few attitudes in the office about me. I’ve always wanted to go back there but never have, I’m not sure why but it’s never quite come about. When my folks were first in Florida and I had to live with them for a while they were in New Smyrna Beach, that’s not far from the Canaveral National Seashore where there’s Apollo Beach, that’s a nude beach, too, but it’s not as well known as Orient. I used to go there occasionally but I hated to go by myself. Let’s face it, Bob, a woman by herself on a nude beach sends the wrong sort of message and things can happen, you know? Maybe we’ll have to go there sometime if and when we go to Florida, or maybe we can take off some time for a vacation and go back down to Orient Beach, we’ll have to pack plenty of sunblock if we do go, there’s some things that aren’t fun to have sunburned, I can tell you that.”

“I’ll bet,” he grinned. “It’s not anything real high on my priority list, but I’m willing to do it if you want to. It’d make for a different vacation, all right. What other places would you like to go on vacation?”

“Oh, there are a lot of places, especially in the west,” she said. “I’ve never been in the west very much except for a few brief times in California and that’s not the real west, you know? Well, I guess you would, at that. You know what I’d love to do? The Grand Canyon, Bob, the Grand Canyon! I’ve never been there but it seems like it would be just so awe-inspiring! Not just look at it from the rim, but get on a raft and go down through all the rapids. I was looking at doing it once, it’s very expensive to do on an income like mine. If it works out that I come to Colorado and wind up living with you maybe I could save up enough money to pay my share of a trip down through there. Oh, oh, and Las Vegas would be fun, I’ve never been there, all my gambling has been done in Indian casinos in the east, I’d love to at least say I’ve been there. They have some great shows and stuff, I guess you know that. Oh, and Hawaii. Hawaii, Bob! It’s another place I’ve always wanted to go, I hear the weather there is always pretty nice. They don’t get any snow, either, and I hate snow, did I tell you that? Oh, I’m sure I must have but if I have I still haven’t told you enough about how bad I hate snow. But oh, Hawaii, the weather, some of the fun things to do there, they would be fascinating. I even thought about going to Hawaii one time to look for work, it might not be the stupidest idea I’ve ever had. It was one of a few things I even thought about doing if it winds up that I don’t need to go to China, but the funds are getting a little thin, Bob. I probably need to build up the war chest a little before I try to do something like that, but it would be a possibility, I suppose. But even if I didn’t go looking for work there it seems like it would be a nice place to visit, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Bob agreed. “I’ve often thought it would be fun to spend a week or two there. I’ve always thought I’d like to try surfing, I suppose if I’m ever going to do it I ought to be getting on it before I get too old.”

“You know, that might be fun to try sometime,” she said after a moment’s reaction time. “I’ve never done it either as I’ve always figured you had to be a pretty good swimmer, but it looks like it would at least be fun to try. I’ve seen people surfing at various beaches here and there and it always seemed like fun to me, but you never know until you try, do you. I know this is going to sound crazy considering how much I hate snow, but I’ve always thought it might be fun to learn how to ski a little. I never tried it when I was working at the ski resort in New Hampshire, I don’t know what got into me, you’d have thought I would have been at least willing to give a try, for God’s sakes. But no, I just tried to stay inside out of the cold as much as I could, and as cold at it was that wasn’t hard. I guess they have some pretty good skiing in Colorado, don’t they? Maybe if it works out that I come out there with you we could try it some weekend, I mean, just for the hell of it …”

Bob leaned back in the hot tub, rested his neck on the edge and let himself float, tuning her out for a bit – or at least tuned her into the background as much as he could. He was still monitoring what she was saying if not paying a lot of attention to it. As he’d come to understand, sometimes she was saying something when it almost appeared as she was saying nothing – at least if you could pick it out of the flow of words. Several times in the last few minutes she’d referred to “If I come out to Colorado” or something similar. Once she’d hinted that the idea of going to China or doing something else was still on the boards, so apparently coming out to Colorado wasn’t a done deal, not that she’d ever said it was. At the same time he didn’t feel like he wanted to push her too hard to make a decision. They had, after all, only seen each other for the first time in twenty years last night – good God, could it have only been last night? He wasn’t clear on what time it was but guessed it was somewhere around midnight, about the time they’d first started having sex the night before, so they’d covered an awful lot of ground in one hell of a damn hurry. When you got right down to it was amazing that they’d gotten this far in so short a time.

And hell, he had reservations, just like she had, and they were probably grounded in about the same issues. She was mercurial, where he was phlegmatic. He was quiet; she was most assuredly not. He tended to be shy until he got to know someone and that didn’t happen often – in fact, it was a miracle that he’d opened up to her as much as he had, considering. For that matter, he seemed to be less shy with other people when she was around, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten into a discussion with Dale and Dawn as deeply as they had. There were some things that he felt very strongly that he’d told right up front to Dale that he might not have said to his best friend, but just being around Sharon had opened him up. He’d often considered that perhaps his worst character fault was the shyness, the willingness to be a loner, the unwillingness to socialize. It had probably held him back in his career; he was known around the office for being dour, all business, not an outgoing person. Really, it hadn’t mattered to him; for the most part he’d had a life that he was comfortable with and until sometime since last night he hadn’t really considered wanting to do anything much different.

Now? If Sharon didn’t come out to Colorado with him, he was going to be disappointed, at least. There was no real guarantee that they could live together successfully considering everything, but he at least wanted to give it a try. He’d never had such a quality and quantity of sex, and that was worth something even though it wasn’t necessarily something that you could build a relationship on. So the thought of her not coming out Fort Collins was getting distressing to him, and he had no idea of what to do about it – his personal skills weren’t all that great.

He was starting to get tired of the constant flow of words, even though he hadn’t been able to pick much out of them other than the fact that she still hadn’t made up her mind about coming out to Colorado. He wanted to somehow get back to a more substantive conversation, which surprised him as he had usually been willing to just sit back and let her carry the conversation. Given a choice, he’d liked to have brought the subject up directly to get a yes or no out of her so he could think about the steps he’d have to take when he got back home to get ready for her, but somehow he sensed that it wasn’t the right thing to do.

But there was another thing he wanted to do, and rather badly at that, and maybe it would provide the springboard he needed. Making up his mind, he let his butt drift back down to the seat of the hot tub, slid over next to her, and put his arm around her, pulling her close as she continued to talk. Under the water he let his hand slide down her body until it rested on the warm round softness of her bare butt, and began to massage and knead it. That was one thing about a thong bikini, he thought; he could get right directly to her bare bottom, which felt so good in his hand. He leaned over her, putting his mouth over hers, breaking her off in mid-sentence as their mouths came together.

Amazingly enough, she was as ready to kiss him as he was to kiss her, and so she didn’t seem to mind being interrupted. The kiss went on for a long time, but somehow the position seemed inadequate. Taking advantage of her nearly floating in the warm water, he rolled her over to face him, and brought her between his spread legs. That allowed both of his hands to get on the roundness of her bare bottom, and that was just that much more wonderful. He could feel her grind her belly up against him, and he could sense that she was getting turned on, very turned on.

After a long while, she pulled her mouth away from his. “Oh, God,” she said softly. “You’re making me so hot I can’t stand it. I can’t even remember what I was saying.”

“You like that, huh?”

“I love the feel of your hands on my bare bottom,” she replied softly. “Christ, you’re making me so horny I could almost bite nails. How are you doing this to me all the time? My God, I’ve never been so constantly horny in my life! I mean, I like sex, I like to have fun, but it’s never been like this before, where I just have to have it all the time. If I decide to come out there we’re going to have to learn to pace ourselves, and that’ll have to be part of it. Do you really think it’s a good idea?”

“What, to pace ourselves? It’ll be hard at first, but we’ll just have to learn to do it,” he said. “Otherwise, I suspect our bodies would start to rebel after a while.”

“No,” she said softly. “My coming out there at all. Bob, I kind of like my life the way it is. I mean, yeah, I’m out of work, I don’t know what I’m going to do, and I’m almost out of money. I shouldn’t have made this trip but I wanted to since I missed the reunion the last time by being in Pusan. But I’m used to being between jobs and not knowing what I’m going to be doing next, in fact, I kind of like it that way, since I’m always available to do the next thing without being tied down to something. I’m afraid that if I come out there and move in with you I’m going to lose that ability to go do something else, and I’ve always liked the freedom to do that.”

“It’s a risk, of course,” he said, realizing that the idea of her coming out to Colorado was not a done deal, as he had been suspecting. “But I suppose it’s like a lot of things that you’ve done over the years, if it doesn’t work out or you don’t like it or if you want to go do something else, you would still have the freedom to do it. That’s the beauty of just living together; neither of us are tied down if it doesn’t work out.”

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