by Wendy Silk
By the time we had exhausted the sights at the closest section of the reef, I was ready to let her take the lead a little. I felt comfortable with her abilities, and we were still so close to shore that I knew I could safely get her back if for any reason her nerve failed her. I’d spent so much time in the water in the last few days that it was second nature. It wasn’t until danger struck that I realized I had neglected to share one of the most important safety measures. How could I have missed it?
Alice had moved ahead of me, swimming easily in the clear water. The first indication of anything wrong was a school of tiny silver fish that raced in front of us. The sunlight sparkled across them. Alice pointed to them, nodding back to me to indicate that I shouldn’t miss this special sight. As she faced back to me, though, I realized we had a difficulty. The fish were darting towards us for a good reason. Their movement was caused by the five foot long barracuda that was chasing them.
Even then, we weren’t in a position where we needed to worry. The sleek gray animal was focused on hunting his food, not us. I swam forward to try to catch Alice’s attention, gesturing to her that everything was fine. We’d just move back a little, out of the way. Very slowly.
She saw my signal and nodded. As she raised her left hand to point backwards, showing me our direction of retreat, my heart almost stopped. Her engagement ring was glinting in the sun. I had forgotten to warn her that the sparkle of jewelry could attract unwanted attention here in the water. As it happened, I hadn’t even noticed that she wore an engagement ring.
I was sure I had checked her hands last night when we met. It wasn’t just women who did that, to make sure they weren’t being chatted up by a cheater. In my many single years since Margaret died, I had been in plenty of situations where somebody wanted to flirt with me. The best evenings, in my opinion, were spent in the company of somebody who was not wearing a ring on their left hand.
After that moment of recognition, in which I saw what was happening, I tried to warn her. The bright light reflected from the ring had indeed caught the eye of the hunting barracuda. It turned its head toward Alice, considering her. Then, as I silently cursed myself for allowing this to happen, it swiftly moved to close the distance between them. I was still too far behind Alice to help, and she now had a predator stalking her.
Chapter 5: Alice
I could see by the look on Grant’s face that the situation wasn’t good. I knew he was trying to reassure me with the broad motions toward the shore, but I also got a vibe from him that he was trying not to show that he was worried. As I watched the barracuda approach, I was riveted by the sight of his multiple rows of pointy teeth. He was a killer who was not kidding around with the fish that he intended to be his lunch. But surely he wasn’t going to bother us. Hadn’t Grant said that these waters were safe for beginning snorkelers?
As I looked back at Grant, I finally realized what he was trying to show me with his crazy movements. He was pointing to his left hand and miming covering it. My ring! That was what the barracuda was looking at. I could have tried to do what Grant was suggesting, just covering my finger to block out the diamond flashing in the sun. But in a split second, I made a different decision.
I grasped my diamond engagement ring with my right hand and pulled. After all that time in the water, I wasn’t sure if the ring would come off easily, but it slid away with no problem. I didn’t even look at it before I tossed it as hard as I could. It went sideways across the barracuda’s path, moving on the swaying current as if it was traveling in slow motion. The enormous fish swerved downward, following the shiny bit of bait.
As slowly as I could, I swam backward to meet Grant. Keeping our movements as small as possible, we both headed back to the beach. I saw him check a few times to see if the barracuda was following us, but there was no sign of it.
We both emerged from the water, gasping as we removed our masks. My legs were shaking, but I wasn’t sure if it was from the scare I’d just had, or from the workout. Once I saw Grant’s face, though, I began to understand the seriousness of what had just happened.
“It’s ok. I’m fine,” I assured him. “Was that really something to worry about? I thought you said it was safe around here.”
“Alice! I can’t believe you did that. Well, I’m glad you did, but still, you shouldn’t have had to. That was all my fault. I’m an idiot for letting you go into the water with jewelry on. Why were you wearing it? I would have sworn you didn’t have it on last night.”
“No, you’re right.” I spoke in a low tone, embarrassed by my foolishness. “I hadn’t worn it since I arrived here. It’s been in a drawer. But last night, when you didn’t want to sleep with me, I took it out. It sounds stupid when I say it out loud. I thought if I put it on, I could remember what it was like to have been happy with David. You know, back when we were so excited about getting married. Well, I was.”
Grant nodded. “I know what you mean. That feeling of trying to go back in time before something went wrong.”
“Yes, that’s it.” I was relieved he understood. “But then I saw the barracuda’s giant teeth, and I realized that wearing the ring was like having a target painted on me. All I could think of was throwing it away. I guess maybe I was thinking I could get rid of David being in my life too.”
Grant reached out and took my hand. “Well, if anything had happened, it would have been all my fault. I can’t believe I didn’t see that you were wearing it. That was actually really scary. Don’t think it was no big deal. I once heard of a man having his hand bitten completely off by a barracuda. They are only safe if you don’t give them a reason to bother you.”
He looked down at my hand. “But now I feel like I should apologize for the fact that you lost your ring, too.”
“No, really,” I answered. “I am glad it’s gone. Sure, I guess I should have sold it to pay for some of those outstanding wedding bills. But I was starting to hate the damn thing. All it meant to me was a memory of something that was over and done. Now that ring can be out there in the ocean, where I don’t ever have to think of it again.” I found myself meaning every word of it. I smiled at the way I sounded. “This is a very symbolic moment for me.”
“Well, maybe we should celebrate your new freedom, then.” Grant smiled back at me, making my heart lurch in my chest. “Do you want to head back for some lunch?”
His wet hair was slicked back, making him look sexier than ever. My gaze traveled down to his muscular chest and his flat stomach. Before I could stop myself, I was looking even further down, noticing the way his swim shorts clung to his body. I could feel a flush spread across my chest, moving up to my cheeks. I was afraid to meet his eyes, thinking that he must have seen me staring at him. But when I did look up, all I saw in his face was his usual good-natured expression, with his eyes twinkling at me.
“Grant, you know what I’d rather do?” I leaned forward, so close that I could feel the warmth of his body. “I think I’d like to stay here, just the two of us. Maybe we could have another try at some of the things we didn’t do together last night.”
His voice was husky. “I’d like that,” he answered, moving his hand up to smooth the wet hair away from my face. When his hand touched my cheek, it was like an electric current passed between us. Maybe we were just full of adrenaline from the near miss in the water. But all I could think of was how much I wanted to be naked against this man, sliding against his skin and feeling his taut muscles pressing into me.
I tilted my head to the side and moved against him. With his hand still on my cheek, I brushed my lips against his, tasting the salt of the ocean. His response was slow, but more powerful that I had expected. He tangled his fingers into my hair and kissed me back so firmly that I couldn’t catch my breath. My neck arched backwards as he moved his lips down, leaving kisses along my jawline as he worked his way down to the hollow of my throat.
I leaned back onto the blanket he had spread out for our snorkeling gear. All the gadgets were now littered
across the sand, forgotten, as we turned our focus to our bodies and how much we wanted each other.
Grant’s hand was now working its way under my red bikini strap, finding the paler skin underneath the fabric. He untied the strap with a smooth movement, moving his hand down to cup my breast. My breath was coming in ragged gasps. How was it possible that his touch was affecting me so much more than David’s? I had never been so hot for any man.
As Grant held himself above me, I ran my hands along his strong back, reaching down to draw his ass against me. His biceps were holding him over me, but at the same time, I wanted his full weight against me, holding me down. Somehow, being with him was grounding me in a new world of sensory overload. I fumbled with my bikini bottom, pulling it down and pushing it aside with more urgency than grace. Then I brought my hands to the waistband of his swim shorts, working them down over his hips.
He swiftly finished removing them, just as eager as I was for us to be naked against each other. As he pressed his unclothed body against mine, I could feel the heavy heat of his cock. I opened my legs, welcoming him into me.
As Grant entered me in one smooth motion, he moaned. I stole a look at his face, and I was surprised at the intensity of emotion I saw there. I was glad; I wanted this to be as good for him as I knew it was for me. We moved together, with the sun shining down on our flesh, adding to our already sweltering passion. He thrust into me with a force that made me gasp. As he moved within me, his cock felt as if it was growing larger, filling me. My hands gripped his back as I spiraled into my orgasm, feeling the release that tingled within me all the way to my fingertips.
He moved even faster, finding his own pleasure. He grunted low in his throat as he came inside me. I felt his hot, sticky cum fill me, making me his at my very center. With a moan, he rolled gently to my side, leaving his hand on my belly, caressing me.
“How was that?” he whispered in a low tone into my ear.
“I’ve never felt like that before,” I answered honestly. Maybe I was supposed to try to act a little more blase about it, but it was true. I felt like we had discovered something that nobody else had ever experienced before. It was as if we had just invented a whole new activity. “I think we should do it again,” I said.
Grant propped himself up and looked down at me with amusement. “I agree.” He rose to his feet, gathering his clothes and shrugging into them easily. He passed me my red bikini top and bottom. “Maybe we should have lunch first, though. Then I think we might spend the rest of the day indoors.” He gathered together all our gear, stuffed it into the backpack, then held his hand out to help me up.
Chapter 6: Grant
I must have walked back to the resort restaurant area with the stupidest smile on my face, but Alice was kind enough not to mention it. She looked pretty satisfied herself. I suppose I may have been a little proud of having made that happen. I hadn’t been a monk since becoming a widower ten years ago. There had been women. None, however, that I ever thought I wanted to know for the long term.
Back home, I was always meeting women who came in to my work. Sometimes they were locals, but more often, they were tourists from big cities. They exclaimed over the cozy lifestyle we had in our small town, saying they would love to live in such a beautiful place. Some of them may even have meant it. I never asked anybody to stay permanently, though. Maybe I was a little too protective of my own life. But maybe I was just able to read their motivations. They were always running from something or imagining a way of life that had nothing to do with my daily reality. When they learned a little more about me, they disappeared. That was just fine with me. Those women wouldn’t have fit into my small town life.
Here, though, half way across the world, I might have just met somebody who would. She had everything. Alice was smart, funny, gorgeous, and adventurous. She had all of those things in greater measure than I did, although I don’t think she knew it. What if it also turned out that she also loved the same lifestyle that I did?
As we sat together at a teak table on the broad patio, waiting for lunch to arrive, Alice spoke, echoing my thoughts with an uncanny precision.
“Grant, I know it seems ridiculous, but I think we should make plans to keep seeing each other,” she ventured. “I know we just met, and we have to go back to our real lives in just a few days. And I’m going through being dumped, and you’re maybe going through some stuff, too. I can see all that perfectly well. You don’t have to point it out.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I said. “I know what you mean. There’s a list a mile long of reasons why we shouldn’t work out, but I still think we might. Let’s find a way to keep seeing each other and give it a chance.”
Her face brightened. I could tell she had been worried I would dismiss her feelings, or even laugh. How could I, when I felt the same way?
“Really?” she beamed. “I was sure that I was crazy, thinking that. You know, meeting a stranger on the beach, and then having insanely good sex. Is that enough of a reason to think you can have something long term together?” Now she was laughing at herself.
“No, of course it isn’t,” I answered. “But I think that’s the least of it. We have a connection--we can both feel it. That’s not something to ignore. I’m thirty years old. I’ve been through a lot. If I’ve learned anything it’s that people should reach out and take happiness if it’s handed to them. It might not come again.”
Alice looked at me empathetically. “I would like to hear more about your wife when you want to share. It sounds like you miss her a lot. Was she your first love?”
I paused, not sure how much I needed to backtrack. “No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s too big to discuss right now. Let’s talk about that another time.”
Alice looked like she was wondering if I was shutting her down on purpose. I didn’t know how to tell her that it would never be a case of her playing second fiddle to Margaret. My wife hadn’t been my anything love. We hadn’t ever loved each other. It had taken me ten years to be able to admit this, even to myself. I still couldn’t say it aloud.
I captured Alice’s hand and stroked it gently. We had left our clothes unchanged after our beach interlude, going straight to lunch. I was enjoying the way that made me feel. It was invigorating in an animalistic sort of way to think that we could couple our bodies together and then appear in public immediately after that, still covered in each other’s sweat, with the sand only partially brushed off. We were at a honeymoon resort; I was sure they saw people looking just like us every day.
“Alice, I wanted to ask you. I know this is a big step, but do you think--”
“Grant, wait. I think I know what you’re going to say, and I want to speak first.”
I was surprised that she was in such a hurry that she didn’t even want to hear me out, but sometimes that’s the way it is with great ideas. I sat back in my chair, with my eyes looking straight into hers. I nodded, encouraging her to speak. I was hoping, at least, that this was going to be a great idea, not an attempt to let me down easily.
Alice drew a deep breath. She needed courage, that much was clear. “I want to make a suggestion. It’s kind of off the wall. I’m talking about changing our whole lives to be together. Here we are in the tropics, and it’s been amazing. This trip has made me reevaluate everything about my life.”
“Me too,” I interjected softly.
Alice continued, focused on speaking her piece. “Grant, I want to change everything about the way I live. I don’t want to be in one place any more. Just sitting still, going to and from work every day. I think this is the time to experience adventure!” She waved her fork in the air to punctuate her speech. “I want to take a year off, maybe two, and just travel. You know, people do that. Maybe I could teach abroad. I have a friend who taught for two years in Singapore. Wouldn’t that be amazing?” She stopped to catch her breath. “I know, I’m getting ahead of myself. But I want us to do this together. We could learn all about eac
h other and travel the world at the same time. I don’t have much in the way of funds, that’s for sure. But I can work odd jobs, I know I can.”
She must have seen a clue in my face about the reservations I was feeling. She paused, tapping her fingers on the table and studying them. “You hate this idea, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t. I’m just processing it, that’s all. I hadn’t thought of anything like that for years. Traveling the world together. It sounds like some sort of fantasy. Do people really do that?”
Alice nodded. “They do. One of my best friends in Portland met her husband that way. They were signed on as staff on a cruise ship. When she talks about it, her face lights up, remembering all the places they saw together, and how they fell in love.” She flushed.
“This could be amazing.” I was beginning to warm to the idea. “Tell me where you want to do. No, wait, don’t tell me now. What we’ll do is spread out a giant map on the floor, then draw in where we both want to go. Places we’ve never visited before. We’ll make them ours together.”
Alice was beaming with excitement that I was getting into the spirit of her idea. “And listen, if we find out that we aren’t compatible after all, we could agree to split up. It doesn’t have to be a giant commitment. That’s the point. It’s more of a once in a lifetime chance to try something new.”
“You’d leave your job?” I asked.
Alice frowned slightly. “I was thinking about that. I do love my job, and it’s such a good one that it would be a shame to leave it permanently. I’ve been teaching in the district long enough that they know me really well. I think I could get a leave of absence and be able to come back to work later.” She gestured to me. “What about you? You said you have a family business? Do you do something that will allow you to take a break?”
