by Anna Durand
By the time she stopped laughing, her eyes were watering. She grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and wiped her eyes. "Honestly, Val, I was expecting something more scandalous than that. What, no sex tape this time?"
"Of course not. I'm in love with you, Eve. I would never sleep with anyone else."
The humor washed out of her expression. She blew her nose and crumpled the used tissue. "I know you wouldn't do that. I was joking."
"I'm glad to hear that, but you must be upset with me for making a spectacle of myself."
"Why would I be upset?" She held up the tissue, glancing around like she was searching for something. "Where's the trash can?"
"Under the table behind you."
She twisted around, spotted the trash, and tossed her tissue into it. Straightening, she squared her shoulders and looked at me. "If you really love someone, you accept them the way they are."
"But the things I've done—"
"Are part of what makes you…you." She scooted a little closer. "I wouldn't change who you are, and I don't want you to do it because you think that's what I want. All I want is you."
"We haven't known each other that long."
She tilted her head to the side, studying me. "I know enough. We might be different, but we have a lot in common too. I may not ever strip naked in a packed sports stadium, but I love that you are the kind of man who might do that. I know you would never do anything to humiliate me or hurt me. I trust you, Val."
"But I flaunted my nudity in front of the paparazzi."
"I get that you expected me to castigate you for that, but I'm not the least bit embarrassed by anything you've done."
Entranced by her eyes, so clear and bright and focused on me, I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say. "Why not?"
"Why am I not ashamed of you?" She shook her head, her lips curling up at the corners. "Because I love you. How many more times do I need to say that before you believe me? I love you, and that means I accept all of you—your past, your present, and anything flamboyant you might do in the future." She scooted closer still, halfway across the sofa now. "I don't even care that your neighbors, some of whom are celebrities, saw me talking to a hot, naked Brazilian sex maniac."
I chuckled. "Sex maniac?"
"Maybe sex god is more appropriate."
"Yes, I prefer that one." I inched nearer to her. "Does this mean you'll have me?"
"I've already had you. Many times, in many positions, indoors and out."
"Eve, you know what I meant."
"Yes." She slid closer. "Of course I'll have you. I signed the legal papers on the plane. Why did you send the money before I'd signed?"
"To show you I'm serious. About being your business partner, and about our relationship."
"In that case…" She swung a leg up and over to straddle my lap. "We'd better seal the deal."
"That's it? I was expecting to jump more hurdles before you would forgive me."
She linked her hands at my nape. "I forgave you on the plane too."
I touched my lips to hers. "Thank you, meu amor."
"You're welcome." She raised her brows. "Dancing naked? That was the best you could come up with?"
"My only other idea was to lie on the beach masturbating."
She threw her head and laughed.
I pulled her shirt up. When she raised her arms, I tugged it over her head.
As the shirt landed on the coffee table, she grinned. "You like stripping me, don't you?"
"No, I don't like it. I love it." To prove my point, I unhooked her bra and stripped it off her body. "Clothing does have its purposes."
I flipped us so she lay stretched across the sofa with me on top of her.
She unfastened the button on her jeans and eased the zipper down. "Let's see how fast you can get the rest of my clothes off."
"A challenge? All right." I hooked my fingers inside her waistband and yanked off her jeans and panties in one sweep. They got stuck on her shoes, so I yanked those off too along with the socks. All of it fell to the floor within ten seconds. "Fast enough for you?"
"Very impressive." She bent one knee, tipping it to the side, exposing her slick, pink flesh. "I do have one more question."
"Now? I'm about to fuck you."
"Then answer quick." She clasped her hands above her head. "Are you moving to Oregon?"
"Yes. You already knew that." Though her body tempted me to forget everything else, I sat back and said, "I have an offer on my house, so I need to settle that and some other financial matters before I can move. That's why I said I'd come for you in thirty days."
"There's no need to wait. Your lawyer, your real estate agent, and your financial manager can handle that stuff."
"How do you know?"
"Because I talked to your lawyer. His name and phone number were on the documents you sent." She nudged me with her big toe. "How do you think I found your house? You never told me the address. The legal papers had your lawyer's address, not yours."
"I should've known I can't hide from you."
"Did you want to hide?"
"No, not anymore. Not from you." I lowered my body onto hers, and my cock brushed against her wetness. "Thought I'd have to work harder to get you ready for me."
"Honey, all it takes is your naked body. One glimpse of that, and I'm beyond ready."
"You must be very frustrated since I'm naked most of the time, often in front of other people."
"I would never describe the way you make me feel as frustrated." She locked her ankles behind my ass. "With you, I feel alive and free."
"So do I, Evie. Because of you."
Chapter Thirty
Eve
Ten months later
I tore my gaze away from the glowing screen of my laptop and surveyed the beach around me. A few mare's tail clouds wisped across the blue sky. Nude men, women, and children cavorted on the sand and in the water while delicate swells lapped at the shore. It was May, but here in southern Brazil, below the equator, that meant autumn. Porto Alegre boasted a subtropical climate that made it hot in the summer and temperate in the winter. Being in the southern hemisphere felt strange, but today it was in the seventies. I could get to like it here.
My gaze drifted away from the frolicking strangers and settled on the very familiar figure lying nude on a large beach towel beside me. Val wore sunglasses and nothing else, his bronzed body stretched out and on full display. This was a clothing-optional beach, after all. I was the only person wearing a swimsuit, though my bikini barely qualified as clothing.
I admired Val for a few more seconds, then returned my attention to the computer on my lap. I sat cross-legged, the laptop balanced on my thighs. On the screen, my half-written email awaited me. I typed the rest of my response to the newest guest at Au Naturel Naturist Resort LLC. She would arrive tomorrow. "Sorry I won't be there to greet you," I typed, "but my assistant manager will take great care of you. I'll be back from vacation next week. So glad you've chosen Au Naturel for your holiday." After clicking the send button, I shut down my laptop and slipped it into its protective case.
Ollie had become my official assistant manager as well as the secretary and treasurer for the LLC Val and I owned together. Thanks to Val's resources, we could afford to expand and update the resort. The interior of the guest house had undergone major renovations, we had a real tennis court, and over the summer we planned to build guest bungalows and other stuff to make Au Naturel a top-notch nudist resort while keeping it affordable and family friendly.
I yawned, stretched, and said, "It's time."
Val lifted his sunglasses enough to peek at me. "Time for what?"
"This." I rose and stripped off my bikini. "I'm making my nude debut in Brazil."
He smiled in that sexy way that made me shiver with heat, not cold. "I wondered how long it would take you. Eve Holt going nude at her own resort is one thing but doing it on a public beach in another count
ry is something else."
Yes, I'd finally embraced naturism. Since we'd recently hired people to cook and serve the food at our resort, Val and I were free to go without clothes whenever we liked. I still wore clothes when I greeted new guests—and I made Ollie and Val do the same, though they groused about it—because it seemed like the most professional way to go. A lot of our guests were new to nudism and needed to ease into it.
Val did on occasion walk down the driveway while naked to get the mail. He enjoyed the hike, and I was pretty sure he enjoyed the risk of someone seeing him. His exhibitionist streak might have gotten narrower, but it would never disappear. I didn't want it to either. I loved him exactly the way he was.
Here on the only nude beach in the vicinity of Val's parents' house, I twirled to give him the full view of my nakedness.
Val smirked. "Bringing you to a nude beach might have been a mistake. The sight of your naked body always makes me hard."
"Let me take one dip in the water before we go back to your parents' house."
"Make it quick." He licked his lips, and his voice turned huskier. "Or I'll be forced to drag you behind the nearest tree and make you scream."
I sprinted for the water and leaped into it. Water sprayed up around me. I ducked under the surface to get thoroughly drenched and bobbed up again. My breasts emerged from the water, bouncing. Brushing my hair back, I glanced toward Val.
He was sitting up, holding my laptop case over his lap.
I had a feeling he was experiencing the same kind of problem Ollie had suffered from once upon a time. I took pity on Val and got out of the water to pull my towel around my body.
He stood but kept the laptop case in front of his groin. "I suppose we should be going. My family is waiting for us."
I slipped on my bikini. "Ready to go."
"But are you ready to meet my sisters?"
We'd been here for a week, and I had yet to meet Maria and Aline, though I'd spoken to Maria on the phone back when Val had been avoiding me. Based on that conversation and the stories Val had told me about his sisters, I had a feeling I'd like them.
He glanced up and down the shore, seeming anxious. "Let's go farther down the beach to see if we can find a secluded spot."
"Thought we needed to go."
"A few minutes more. Please." He set down my laptop case and offered me his hand. "Come with me, Eve."
I shrugged and took his hand, dropping my towel on the sand so it covered the laptop.
He guided me down the beach past the smattering of people who lounged on towels or splashed in the water. We came to a stand of palm trees, and he led me into its midst. Shielded from view, we seemed to have satisfied his desire for seclusion.
Eying the palm fronds above our heads, he nodded as if he were satisfied with the location, but he still looked anxious.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
He dropped to one knee, still holding my hand. My left hand. "I love you, Eve. All I want is to spend the rest of my life with you, running our business and, I hope, raising our children together." He hesitated, swallowing visibly. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes, Val, I would love to marry you."
He blew out a breath, the anxiety flooding out of him.
"Did you actually think I might say no?" I asked.
"I am a notorious exhibitionist, and I abandoned you for two weeks."
"We talked about all of this. I love you the way you are." I knelt in front of him, looping my arms around his heck. "As for the ditching-me thing, I'm way over it."
"Glad to hear it." He nuzzled my nose. "No one will believe I'm getting married."
"The bad boy bachelor settling down. Yeah, that might make news all around the world." I held up my left hand, wiggling the third finger. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
His grin disintegrated. "Fuck. I forgot the ring."
Val scooped me up and carried me all the way back to our towels, where he set me down on my feet. He unzipped a small pocket on my laptop case, a pocket I never used, and dug around inside it. With an "ah-ha," he brought out a small velvet box.
When he started to kneel, I said, "No need to do that again."
He did it anyway. "I'm doing this the right way."
"Nude on a beach? Not sure that's the traditional method for proposing."
"For nudists it is." He plucked the ring out of the box and held it toward my left hand. "Your finger, please."
I stretched out all my fingers.
He slipped the ring onto the correct one, kissed my palm, and rose. "Now it's official."
"Time to meet your sisters and make the big announcement, eh?"
"Yes, it is."
We drove back to his parents' house, which perched on the side of a hill and overlooked the coastline, though it had no beach access. Val's parents had neighbors who owned a private beach, but nudism was not allowed there. Val had put his clothes on before we left the beach since he couldn't go nude at his parents' place. They had no problems with his lifestyle, but their house featured many large picture windows that their neighbors could see. Not all of them were okay with nudism, and he understood that.
His sisters were already there when we got to his parents' place. Both Maria and Aline hugged me and oohed over the gorgeous diamond ring Val had given me. Thankfully, he hadn't bought a ring with a diamond so large it might blind astronauts in space if the sun hit it right. He'd chosen a tasteful yet beautiful ring.
Over dinner, I got to chat with Val's sisters. Maria laughed with gusto and loved to tease her brother affectionately. Aline was more subdued than her sister but also loved to tease Val. Both his sisters and his parents were thrilled he was getting married, and they didn't mind at all that he planned to live in America for good. They knew he and I would visit Brazil as often as possible. They also vowed to visit us often.
When we said goodbye to Maria, she pulled me into another hug and whispered in my ear, "I've never seen Val so happy before. Thank you, Eve. Now have some babies, would you?"
She kissed my cheek, winked, and left.
Babies? Val and I hadn't talked about that yet.
Once Val's parents had gone to bed, he and I lounged on the sofa. With his arm around me, I nestled into him and sighed with pure contentment.
He kissed the top of my head. "Exhausted?"
"Yes, but in a happy way. I love your sisters."
"They love you too." He hugged me a little tighter. "Maria and Aline both asked me when we'll start having babies."
"Yeah, Maria mentioned that to me too." I bent my head back to look at him. "Do you want kids? We never talked about that."
"I would love to have children with you, Evie. But if you don't want that, I understand."
"Oh Val, you really are the most unbelievably sweet and considerate man." I spread a palm over his cheek. "I would love to have kids with you."
"Should we wait a while to start a family? We do have all the changes at the resort to deal with."
"Do you want to wait?"
"No. Do you?"
I wriggled around until I was on my knees with his arm still around me. I kissed him softly. "Let's start right now. I'm still on the pill, but we could practice."
"Right here on my parents' couch?"
"No, I guess not." I tapped my chin, considering the options. "Let's do something naughty."
"What do you have in mind? You know I'm up for anything."
"Let's sneak onto your neighbors' beach and have sex in the moonlight."
He pulled me onto his lap, wrapped both arms around me, and got to his feet while maintaining his hold on me. "Let's do it."
And we did just that. On the beach, in the moonlight, we made love for an hour. The naughtiness factor made it a little more exciting, but it was Val who made our time on that beach a night to remember.
When I'd first met Val, I had thought he was the wrong man for me. On the surface, we seemed like complete
opposites. In the months I'd known him, I had realized how much we had in common and that our differences made our relationship stronger and more exciting. When my instinct was to play it safe, he encouraged me to take risks. When his instinct was to go a little too far, I reined him in, but only enough to keep us both from getting arrested. I loved his wild side, his caring side, his intelligence, his humor, his body. I loved him, period.
Naked or clothed.
Epilogue
Ollie
Six Days Later
I scratched my chest through my shirt, not used to wearing clothes. Eve had instituted a new policy that decreed not only did employees have to wear clothes when greeting new guests, but we also had to wear a uniform. The fabric was itchy. She swore she'd order better ones soon, but for today, I had to act friendly while my whole body begged to be scratched.
A taxi rolled up the driveway, gravel crunching under its tires. The driver parked but did not get out to help the woman in the backseat get her things out of the trunk.
Everybody in town knew Au Naturel was a naturist resort full of naked people. Most locals didn't mind, but some thought it was a freak show. I recognized the taxi driver. Phil Johnson didn't mind sneaking a peek at the female guests whenever he drove someone out here, but he refused to set foot on the property. His shoes stayed firmly in the taxi.
As usual, he peered out the windshield hoping to catch a glimpse.
Since the other guests had gone inside for lunch, the perv was disappointed.
I hurried forward to pull the back door open.
The woman inside had her head down, focused on fiddling with her purse. Auburn hair fell over her shoulders and curtained her face.
Offering her my hand, I said, "Welcome to Au Naturel."
She slipped her hand into mine and climbed out of the taxi. Her head lifted, and she smiled a little. "Thank you. I'm Mara Severins."
I already knew that, but I couldn't manage to say anything in response. She was beautiful. Her almond-shaped eyes, an amazing shade of jade green, sparkled in the sunshine. Her skin was a golden tan, like it was her natural complexion and not made in a tanning bed or the result of a sunbathing addiction. The form-fitting dress she wore showcased her slender body and especially her breasts. They weren't large, but they weren't small either. Just the right size, I decided.
