Jumping Bones

Beth Hawkes chatted inconsequentially with Commander Loftness as slowly, in deference to her stiffening bruises, the two strolled along the hospital hallway toward Harm's room, until catching sight of their target leaning on a cane and hobbling painfully ahead of them.

Beth painfully quickened her pace and hailed him, "Commander!"

Harm halted and slowly turned towards the sound of her voice, smiling as he took in the sight of her in her crisp summer whites, "Hey. Wow, you're looking good, Skates!"

Beth fought hard to stop herself blushing; as much as she might wish otherwise she knew he hadn't meant it as a compliment, but as a reference to her fading bruises, "Back atcha, sir!"

Harm's face lost its smile, as he transferred his attention to Beth's companion, "Commander Loftness," he greeted him gravely.

"Rabb," the helo pilot nodded his response.

"Commander, I understand that you personally violated every safety minimum in the book while you were searching for us." Harm's voice was stern, but Beth heard the gratitude that underpinned his words.

"Love flying at zero/zero," Loftness replied, completely unabashed by the seeming reprimand in Harm's voice.

Harm relaxed, letting his pretended venture into officialdom drop, "We owe you our lives."

"Turns out the aircraft we gave you had a hard deck landing. Subsequent inspection uncovered no damage, looks like she was hiding her secrets from us. You ever wanna come back for a visit I'll find you a Tomcat that works."

"Well, how about today? I'm checking out of here in two hours."

Beth chuckled, Harm's reply was not unexpected to someone who knew him as well as his RIO, but the look she threw him contained a fair measure of exasperation as well as a mixture of wry amusement and pride in his spirit.

"We're in port."

"Damn."

"Good luck."

They shook hands and Harm asked "That's it?"

"Yup."

Pilot and RIO stood for a few moments as they watched the other officer walk away. His words having absolved them from any blame in the loss of the aircraft, although they both knew that they would shortly be summoned before an investigation panel.

Slowly, due to the cane, Harm turned to resume his previous walk. "So... I uh... I understand you jumped my bones in sickbay." he said wonderingly, his head turned towards her as he completed a 120 degree turn.

Beth returned him a stunned look, as her face paled, then seeing the imp of mischief in his laughing eyes, and realising that she couldn't hope to deny what had happened, in the face of the combined probable testimony of doctors, nurses and corpsmen, she could only put on a brave face and brazen it out. She grinned cheekily up at him and replied, "Rumour."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Believe me Hammer; if you had to be told, it was definitely rumour. If I had jumped your bones, conscious or unconscious, you'd never forget it!"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Beth cringed inwardly and waited for the blast. If ever she had said anything that deserved a stern 'Red Light, Lieutenant!' that was it. She silently begged him not to take this any further and waited for his response.

Harm looked at her in some surprise. Sure, he had been flirting with her, but in their usual light-hearted manner, and he certainly hadn't been expecting to hear anything like that from Skates, but such a provocative response from her could be allowed this time. He was certainly still high on survivors' euphoria, and considering how terrified she'd been at having to eject over the ocean, and how much more keenly she must be feeling her survival, he was more than just slightly inclined to cut her a lot of slack. But, still, best bring this topic to an end ASAP!

Beth risked a further glance at his face. He wasn't smiling now, but neither did he look as if he was about to verbally flay her. She began to hope that he wasn't going to take any heed of her words and was relieved when her reading of him proved accurate when he changed the subject.

"Well, that was a hell of a ride we took, huh?"

Beth still didn't trust herself to reply to him and walked on beside him in silence. Harm, puzzled by her lack of reaction and trying to restore their customary bantering conversation attempted to provoke a light answer from her and added, "At least you went out with a bang..."

Beth bit her lip, knowing that what she was about to say would, at the very least, surprise him, "I'm returning to the Fleet, Harm."

After the way Beth had previously confessed her fears to him and now especially after her recent ordeal Harm was not just surprised, he was almost stunned, "What happened to the idea of shore duty?"

"The experience actually re-awakened my love for ship-board flying. Made me realize the danger is one of the reasons I do it." Beth knew that her ostensible reason was just a load of lying garbage, but, ever since they'd brought Harm - a dying Harm - into the sick-bay and she had exposed so much of her inner self in keeping him with the living - with her, and even though it seemed that he had no memory of events, she was all too well aware of the dormant emotions that episode had stirred to wakefulness in her.

"Well... what's your fiancé have to say about this?

"He supports me. Guess that's why he's my fiancé" Just one more lie in the ever-continuing saga of her non-existent fiancé. She'd only invented him keep Harm at a distance, to be a smokescreen when she'd first realised her attraction to him; she'd never expected to have to keep up the story once she'd invented him. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm almost back to normal."

"H'mm, you think so?" it was her turn for surprise. How could he be so soon recovered after having so nearly died such a short time ago?

"Well, I certainly have recovered, at least to the satisfaction of the doctors."

"H'mm…"

"Anyway, they've put me on two weeks hospital leave, and then a review after that. But I don't expect to have problems after I've rested up a bit."

"Yeah, me too, though I don't feel as if I need it, but I suppose it'll help while the bruises fade. So what plans have you made for your leave, Harm? I suppose you and the director lady will be …"

Harm sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair, "There is no director lady, Skates. Renee got a job offer out in Hollywood, and split about three-four weeks, ago. So I may just stay around here for a week and catch up with some work on the apartment, and then maybe I'll head out to La Jolla, to my mom's for the second week.

"Uh-huh… about that, have they told you about the board, yet?"

"No… I've heard nothing…"

"Oh… here, you'd better read this, then, before you make any plans…" Beth slipped a hand into her purse, taking out a triple folded sheet of paper. "Your copy probably went to JAG, or it's still on the way here."

Harm took it from her, and unfolded the single sheet. An official letter from the Air Accident Investigation Panel, addressed to both Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr, and Lieutenant Elizabeth Hawkes, notifying them that their presence was required to answer for the loss of their airplane, at a board to be convened at Andrews JAF on… he raised his eyebrows in surprise the date was just 72 hours away! Well they weren't wasting any time, and this could be either very good, or very bad, but remembering Loftness' words about the condition of the aircraft, he felt reassured. "Yeah, well given what we've just been told, Skates, I reckon this is just a formality."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. There was nothing you, or I, could have done to keep that crate in the air another second. Once the controls went, we had no choice other than to punch out - and even then my seat malfunctioned."

"Yeah," Beth murmured, remembering the horror she had felt, even over her own fears, as she realised that she couldn't see any sign of Harm's 'chute that night.

But Harm hadn't finished reassuring her, "And anyway, you were the GIBS, it was my plane, my responsibility, and my decision as to whether or not or when we punched out. I distinctly remember hearing my voice, not yours, ordering 'eject! eject! eject!' so you've got nothing to worry about." he said, handing her back the letter, once again adopting a lighter tone as he again switched to a more cheerful subject, "If you're going to have to stick around for a few days before you go home, where are you staying?"

"Ummm… I'm not sure yet. I've put in a request for VOQ at Anacostia, and if that doesn't work out, then I guess I'll have to try Andrews."

"OK. Let me know where you are and maybe we can get together, for dinner, or something."

"Thank you, sir." Beth's switch back to formality came as a surprise, "But, I don't think that's a good idea…" she dropped her gaze, "My fiancé might not approve. After all he's only just across the river…"

"Oh… of course, I'm sorry, Beth, I wasn't thinking. But let me know where you are all the same, and I can give you a ride to Andrews for the inquiry!"

"Of, course, thanks Hammer… that is if your leg's up to it?.

"What this?" He exclaimed cheerfully brandishing his cane, "this is more for decoration that use!" but although he maintained a show of bravado, Beth saw the slight stagger and the flash of pain on his face as he took his weight off the cane.

x-x-x-x-x

Beth opened the door to the somewhat Spartan room in VOQ, stripping off her summer white blouse. Summer whites, she thought with irony as she looked at the piece of wet clothing in her hand, and then down at her skirt, which clung damply to her legs. It may have been summer officially, but it hadn't stopped raining for the last three days, and she noticed the goose bumps on her arms, the damp made everything seem cold as well. Unclipping her bra as she headed for the shower, she noticed that the skin on her arms wasn't the only part of her anatomy affected by the cold. She reached into the shower and turned on the faucet, adjusting the water temperature to about as high as she could stand, before stepping out of the remainder of her clothing and standing under the jet of water.

As the hot water tingled her skin she reflected that just as Harm had reckoned, this morning's panel had been more or less a formality - well at least as far as she was concerned. She had followed protocol, transmitted the Mayday call and had punched out when ordered to by her pilot. Harm had apparently some additional questions to answer about his own actions subsequent to his ejection, but at last they'd been formally acquitted of all negligence and wrong-doing, for which she suspected, they had the CAG to thank.

Now warmed up by her shower, Beth quickly shrugged into her Terry robe, and dumping her underwear and pantyhose into the wash basin, she picked up her skirt and going through to the bedroom, she hung it and her blouse to dry, before returning to the bathroom to hand-wash her more intimate items.

That task finished, she lay back on the bed glowering out of the window as the rain continued to sheet down. Now that she wasn't needed in DC she was free to go anywhere she wanted until her leave expired, and if the weather stayed like this, then she damn' sure was going to go somewhere where it was at least warmer and dryer than here. And… she knew just the place… But being on her own wasn't going to be much fun. But she knew who might just want to get some heat into his bones too. Oh, bones, now that was a loaded word after their conversation in the hospital the other day. Beth lay back against the pillows and closed her eyes as she pictured Harm, in swimming shorts, soaking up the sun at Firefly Cove, or if she could persuade him, even without the swim shorts…

Almost without conscious thought, one hand loosened the tie of her robe, as the other stole across to her breast, her thumb nail dragging a circle around her already stiffening nipple as she drifted into her fantasy, imagining Harm's mouth on her breast, his tongue teasing her nipple before switching to her other breast, and then his tongue blazing a trail of liquid fire down, over her stomach - her free hand, again without her thinking, followed that path - and then teasing the soft flesh of her thighs before it played with the neatly trimmed strip of curls on her mound and then finally her finger so gently but insistently stroking her lower lips before tasting the wetness at the centre of her being and then moving up to the little, sensitive, oh-so- sensitive bud nestling at the apex of her damp folds; teasing, tantalizing, torturing her, before he reared up over her and sank his length into her welcoming centre. Her two fingers now taking the place of his erect cock in her fantasy, working in and out as she reached her climax, her thighs clamping around her hand as she convulsed with the pleasure of release and bit into the pillow to prevent her moans being overheard through the thin walls of the room.

Panting for breath and shining with perspiration, Beth drew her robe closed and lay for a few moments regaining her composure while she considered her plan of action, and then decision made, she sat up and leaned over to her nightstand and then rummaging in her purse she dug out her cell phone…

"Merhaba, amca Elwas. Bu Elizabeth [Hello, Uncle Elwas. This is Elizabeth.] I need a favour. May I borrow the house at Firefly Cove for a couple of days? For me and a friend. And could you fly us down there, say from Leeseburg. Say, tomorrow, midday? And... can I call you back, later... just to confirm? Teşekkür ederiz, amca [Thank you, uncle]"

Beth returned to the shower, but this time she quickly finished washing her sweat and juices off and dried herself briskly before pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and hastily throwing a few necessaries along with a couple of changes of clothes into a sea-bag before pulling on her flight jacket and dashing through the downpour to the parking lot and jumping into the midsized Ford rental.

Harm sat sideways on his couch his injured leg stretched out along its length, alternately scowling through the window at the rain still pouring down and trying, without much success, to interest himself in re-reading Caesar's de Bello Gallica.

The doctors at Bethesda had strictly forbidden him to drive, and if he were being quite honest with himself, he didn't think he could bend his knee enough to even get into the Corvette, let alone keep his foot on the gas, or alternatively to shift it quickly to the brake pedal if that should become necessary. So he was stuck at home. Even if the weather had been good, he wouldn't have fancied making himself a target, as an injured man limping on a cane would have been in this neighbourhood.

Mac was on her honeymoon with that ... that Australian, and with the two of them out, JAG was badly undermanned and those that remained were working all hours. Harriett had called a couple of times, bless her, promising that she and Bud would visit at the weekend, but until then... she was sorry, everything was so hectic and... The Admiral was yelling... she had to go. But here had been something in her voice that told him that all was not on top line in the office... but maybe that was just the stress caused by extra work... A sharp rapping on his apartment door broke his introspective spell and, wincing as his knee protested, he hauled himself to his feet, grabbed his can and hobbled to open the door.

He was met by the sight of a distinctly damp Skates, who grinned up at him and said, "Hey there, Hammer, ain't you going to invite me in?"

Harm limped backwards, opening the door fully, "Oh, sure... of course... come on right in... Uh, was I expecting you... Can I get you a drink?"

"Ummm... no, this is a kinda surprise visit, I guess. If you have a soda, or maybe juice, that would be great, thanks..."

Harm closed the door, and indicating the kitchen island, said, "Uh... Tonic water, OK? Take a pew."

"Fine thanks," Beth said, hopping up onto one of the stools, and waiting until Harm popped the caps off two bottle of tonic water and shaved two slices of lime into a pair of glasses before placing them on the island and hitching himself onto a stool opposite. Pouring the drinks, he asked, "And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Beth?"

"Umm... well, it's the weather, really..."

"How so?"

"Well, I was figuring in heading out to Virginia Beach for a few days, and copping some rays, you know? But according to the forecast..."

"Yeah, well we know how accurate they can be!" Harm's tone and his smile were more than just tinged with irony.

"Yeah, but would you want to spend your leave dragging your six around the VOQ at Anacostia, waiting to see if they were wrong and that the sun was going to shine?"

"Yeah, good point."

"Well, you know my family comes from Florida - from the Gulf Coast?"

"And...?"

"Well the weather down there is perfect at this time of the year, hot sun, cool ocean breezes, sandy beaches, clear blue water... so I thought I'd head on down there, and get really warm. I don't think I've felt warm since the helo pulled me out of the ocean..."

"And apart from tormenting me with those images of a tropical paradise, you're telling me all this because?"

"Well... it can't be much fun for you being stuck here, not being able to get about much, and in this miserable weather..." Beth took a deep breath and rolled her dice, "I thought you might appreciate getting warm too."

"What?"

To say that he was startled might just have qualified as the understatement of the decade, Harm reflected as he waited for Beth to reply. She was drawing imaginary circles on the island's surface, not meeting his gaze and... was that a blush gathering in her cheeks?

"Well... it's no fun being on vacation by yourself, Hammer, and I just thought that it might be good to relax for a couple of days. You know, catch some sun, bake some of that Atlantic chill out our bones..." Oh crap! That word again! That oh-so-loaded word! Of all the words in the language... Now she could feel the colour mount to her face as she waited for Harm to erupt.

"Yeah... It's an appealing idea," he said slowly, "but... what about your fiancé won't he have something to say about us skipping town?"

Oh double crap! She'd forgotten about that. Well, there was only one thing for it. "Ummm... the truth is Harm, is that, there... uh... isn't... uh... any fiancé."

Harm looked at her in dismay, "Oh, Beth I'm sorry...What happened? When... Who...?"

Beth gulped, she couldn't look him in the eyes, she'd lied to him for so long, but now..."No, Harm, it's not like that... there never was a fiancé "

"But... I... you told me... you told all of us... Beth, I don't understand?"

"It was a defence, Harm. It was a way I had of... of stopping guys hitting on me."

Harm nodded, he could understand that. And he considered his options. Beth was right, he could hardly get around. He had ten days' leave remaining, the weather was God-awful. Renee had gone, Mac had gone, he liked Beth, he enjoyed her company, how could it hurt spending a couple of days on a beach with her, and as she said, just soaking up some delicious heat. He was after all, still a California boy.

"OK," he said, astonishing her, "It's a deal, what's the nearest airport?" He limped across the kitchen area to pick up a cordless phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get us a flight," he replied.

"Umm... No need for that Harm," her infectious grin almost split her face in two. "My uncle Elwas is flying down tomorrow, leaving from Leeseburg around noon. He'll give us a ride down to Naples and then I'll get a rental, and we're only an hour away from Firefly Cove, it's opposite Pine Island.

Harm put the phone down. "You have been giving this some thought, haven't you?" he said admiringly.

"Well, the house in Firefly Cove belongs to the family... and this early in the season it doesn't get much use. And as Uncle Elwas is flying down anyway..."

"Beth, did you just... just handle me?"

"Ummm..."

X-X-X-X-X

"Well, here we are Harm," Beth said somewhat unnecessarily as she applied the emergency brake on the rental GMC Yukon.

Harm looked appraisingly at the Hawkes family's beach house. It was a long, sprawling 'L'-shaped single floor building set at the top of a stretch of golden sand, and raised on stone pillars. The long arm of the house faced south west and that section of the roof was covered in solar panels.

"This is the beach house?" Harm asked incredulously.

"Yep! Great Granddaddy Bunyamin had it built, back in the late forties. It's been modernised since, and it sees plenty of use during the summer and early fall. If we'd been a week or so later, we could still have come here, but we'd probably have been swamped by my sisters, my cousins and their kids." She smiled at his look of confusion. "I'm the odd one out; mostly in our family we marry young and have big families! The last time I counted I had over thirty nephews, nieces and second cousins. But I think there may have been one or two additions since then!"

Harm swung out of the SUV and threw his sea-bag over his right shoulder, and with his cane in his left, he straggled up the crushed-shell path to the wide, shady porch that run all the way along the inter angle of the 'L' and up the three wooden steps to where Beth had unlocked the double doors and thrown them wide open. He followed her in through the doors to finds himself in an enormous open-plan room combining the functions of living area, dining area and kitchen that seemed to stretch the whole depth of the house and had but two other doors. At the far side of the room, past the kitchen island and breakfast counter one door gave access to the outside, the side of the house nearest the access road, while the other door to the right promised access to the rest of the house.

Beth flicked a switch just inside the door and the three large triple bladed fans suspended from the rafters started to turn silently and to move the air, which was in fact slightly musty, as Beth moved along the front wall throwing open the shutters and raising the sash windows to let in the fresh, warm, afternoon air.

Satisfied that she'd done all she could for the moment, Beth said, "Come on then, Harm, let's get settled in."

She led him through the side door into a long hallway that extended into the distance before making a right hand turn to follow the short leg of the 'L'. Both sides of the hallway were lined with wooden jalousie windows, allowing fresh air into the bedrooms while preserving privacy, while the left hand wall was pierce at intervals with doors.

Beth stopped almost as she walked into the hallway. "You take this room, Harm, and I," she pointed a few yards down the hallway, "will be next door."

She opened the door for him, and showed him the light and fan switches, explaining that both could also be operated from the comfort of the King-size bed. Harm noticed that a mosquito net hung on a light metal frame, and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're not a bad idea. It's a rare thing right here, it's a bit too breezy, but until you're acclimated, it's a sensible precaution at night. And talking of nights", she crossed the room, and opened a door in the right hand wall. "This here's the bathroom, I'll be sharing it with you, so if you're shy, I suggest you shoot the bolt on the door opposite, that leads straight into my room. But if you ever lock me out and then forget to unlock it when you leave, I'll... I'll, well I'll do something," she grinned mischievously at him. "And I," she continued "am going to unpack, shower and change. Now... do you want to eat out this evening, or hit the local mom and pop market and pick up something to cook?"

Harm was too tired after the journey to even think about shopping or cooking. "Do you recommend anywhere to eat?"

"Yeah, there's one of my favourite places about fifteen minutes away. It's... eighteen hundred now, so if we can be ready by nineteen hundred? I promise I won't use all the hot water!"

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed smiling,"is this place dressy?"

"No, pants and a long-sleeve shirt'll do fine - mosquitos" she replied cryptically and crossed the bathroom to her own bedroom.

x-x-x-x-x

Harm woke the next morning feeling exceptionally well rested. He realised that his feeling of well being was due in part to the successful, friendly evening he had spent with Beth. And yes, he was definitely thinking of her more and more as Beth, rather than Skates or 'Lieutenant Hawkes', and she in turn had seemed to have no difficulty in addressing him as Harm instead of Hammer or 'Sir', and she had certainly seemed much more relaxed than he had seen her in a long time. She had dressed in a pair of pale blue slacks, and a white button down shirt, and she had nodded approvingly at his own very similar attire, of grey pants and a pale blue shirt, and with her hair let down and brushed until it shone like a raven's wing, she looked very different to the somewhat severe-looking and business-like naval officer in flight suit or peanut butters. The restaurant was well known locally for its fresh caught sea-food and the two of them had shared an enormous bowl of shell-fish gumbo and crusty home baked bread, washed down with a couple of beers each before fatigue had set in and set them yawning homewards

Squinting at his watch he nodded approvingly, sixty forty. Time to get up. He swung his legs out of bed, momentarily forgetting the injury to his knee but was brought up short with a muffled obscenity as an incautious step forcibly reminded him of his state of health. Well, that put paid to his first thought of going for a run along the beach before breakfast, but... there was no reason he couldn't take a swim, the water would help support him and didn't physical therapists recommend swimming as good non-weight bearing exercise?

The decision made, he rummaged in his still mostly unpacked sea bag for his swim shorts and a towel and ruefully salvaging his hated cane, quietly made his way to the porch and then across the thirty or so yards of sand to the water line. He'd been in the water for about fifteen minutes swimming with a powerful breast stroke that drove him almost silently through the water, not to fast as the extra effort needed for that had an eye-watering effect on his right knee. As he paused to float idly on his back he saw Beth swimming in a stiff head-up style towards him. "How deep are you out there?" She called as she struggled to tread water.

Harm stood, showing that the water only came up his chest and saw a look of relief on her face as she continued to swim towards him.

"See," she told him with a shame faced grin, as she reached him and lowered her feet to the bottom, "I told you I don't swim well."

With a rush of understanding Harm perceived that if she was such a poor swimmer, although she must have passed her flooding tests, the thought of ejecting into an angry ocean at night must have been truly terrifying for her. He held his arms out to her and she stepped forward as he closed them about her and gave her a friendly hug.

"Well, we'll have to do something about the swimming and try and get you a little more confident," he told her.

"Yeah, I wish," she told him. "But I came out here to tell you that breakfast's nearly ready.

"Breakfast? I didn't think we had anything to eat in the house."

"Yeah, well, I went to the market, earlier, and stocked up. We've got enough now to last until Monday.

"Oh. Well, let me know how much my share is..."

"OK."

By this time they had waded in towards the beach so that the water was only just knee deep, and Harm was almost brought to a standstill as he saw the flesh-coloured thong bikini that Beth was almost wearing. How come he had forgotten just what a fabulous figure she had? Admittedly it had been a few years since that beach liberty in Turkey, but still..."

Beth turned to see why he had stopped, and was quick enough to see the appreciative expression in his face as he watched her. Smiling secretly, she gave her butt just a little extra sway as she walked up the beach ahead of him. Stopping on the porch she picked up her towel from where she had laid it across the rail and took advantage of patting herself dry to model herself to her best advantage, exaggerating the flat tautness of her stomach and the curve and jut of her breasts, all the while using her peripheral vision to keep a watch on Harm's reactions, which were well within in the range of what she'd hoped for.

Finally dry to her satisfaction, she pulled on a silky blue thigh length robe and went on ahead into the kitchen.

Harm gulped, it was only by a tremendous exertion of will-power hat he prevented himself from growing an erection that would have been all too visible to Beth through his swim shorts. Silently vowing that he would maintain self-control he pulled on a T-shirt and followed her across to the kitchen, where she had butterfly fried two small smoked fish, sliced and buttered a plate of bread and prepared a compote of fresh fruit, and a jug of natural yoghurt.

Breakfast over, and the kitchen policed to their satisfaction, Harm declared his intention of showering to get rid of the salt and sand, and shaving before they decided how to spend the day.

Emerging from the bathroom Harm sat on one of the porch seats and waited for about twenty minutes for Beth to join him.

His position was that he didn't know the area at all and he was quite happy to fall in with any plans that she might have for the day. Beth looked at him measuringly, and said, "OK, let's spend the morning grabbing some rays, say until, noon, and then let's head inland for a walk around El Centro." Seeing his surprise, she explained, "there's still a very strong Spanish heritage around here, and most folks take a siesta for a couple of hours during the hottest part of the day. Believe me, in sheltered places like this, the noon sun can get unbearable, even this early in the year!"

"Whatever you say, Beth. As I said, this your turf, not mine."

Beth smiled and walked along to the end of the short arm of the 'L' where she unlocked a door to a storage space for beach furniture and dragged out two loungers, a folding table and a furled umbrella, and, over his protest, refusing Harm's assistance on the grounds that his knee wouldn't allow him to carry heavy or awkward loads she set them up about half-way between house and shoreline.

"There," she said, when all was set to her satisfaction, "I'll just go and get some cream and a couple of towels, and we're all set."

Harm sat on one of the loungers and waited for her return. Taking the towel she had brought him he placed it on the lounger and laid back to enjoy the warmth of the sun, which he admitted, did feel great. He watched as Beth shucked her robe and gasped when he saw that she also removed her bikini top, revealing her very shapely brown tipped breasts that stood proud of her rib cage and despite being fuller than he'd remembered from that long-ago day in Turkey showed no signs that they lost any of their former taut firmness.

"Beth," he gasped in shock, and a little excitement.

"What?" she grinned unrepentantly at him. "You've seen 'em before - or have you forgotten that day we all went to that beach in Turkey?"

"Uh... no, I haven't forgotten, in fact, I was thinking about it earlier... but this is different... the laws here..."

"Relax, Harm it's a private beach, no-one comes here except family, and if any of them did show up they wouldn't care. In fact, if it was my sister Anneke, she probably wouldn't bother wearing anything!"

Harm could only grin weakly and lay back and close his eyes. The woman was torturing him. But it was Beth, Skates, his friend, she can't have known the effect she was having on him. He couldn't reconcile it with himself to just lie and gawp at her like some teenager who'd never seen a pair of breasts before, but neither could he get up and walk away, that would be far too insulting. All he could do was stay where he was and try not to let his eyes drop lower than her face, but, God, she was beautiful and her evident trust in him was flattering. He opened his eyes and turned towards her, and his mouth went dry on the instant, she was sitting up and rubbing the sun screen over her... over her torso, over her breasts, and the action of her hands was causing her nipples to swell and stiffen, standing proud of her breasts. She was inadvertently killing him, and he was helpless to prevent his erection from pushing against the material of his swim shorts.

Beth pretended to be unconscious of his gaze as she continued applying the sun screen, but a couple of swift sidelong glances at his face and then at his groin showed her that she was having exactly the effect she'd wanted.

Sighing in contentment she relaxed back against the lounger and turned towards him, offering the bottle of sun screen "Here Harm, you might want to use some of this yourself."

"Uh... yeah, thanks." He sat up, grateful for any excuse that might prevent his arousal from becoming too evident, and leaning forward dribbled some of the bottle's contents on his legs and took his time, in the hope that his erection would subside, while he massaged the oily substance into his skin.

Beth watched the play of the muscles under the skin of his back as he leaned forwards. He was, as she'd expected, from seeing him in form-fitting T-shirts, magnificently proportioned and muscled. Not the exaggerated muscles of body builders and professional weight-lifters, but lean and hard, a testament of the effort he put into to maintain his fitness and strength as he came into his late thirties.

Harm breathed a sigh of relief as his erection faded and his prick became flaccid once more, and he sat back, rubbing more sun-screen into his arms and chest before lying back and closing his eyes.

Beth had been very well aware of his motives in moving as he had, and with a second small, secret smile also lay back. She'd allow him half an hour or so to regain his equilibrium before she launched the next phase of her campaign.

Harm half-dozed in the warm sunlight, painfully aware of the half, well almost totally, naked woman just out of arms reach beside him. How the hell was he to hint her away from her behaviour without sounding accusatory, disapproving or prudish? She would be mortified if she thought for even a second that she was having an erotic effect on him. The unselfconscious manner in which she had gone topless and talked about her family taking it, and even total nudity, all for granted just went to show that if he saw anything sexual in her actions then it was his own prurient mind at fault and not hers. But, dammit, it was so difficult not to look and to admire!

He had just gathered some shreds of his dignity when Beth said in matter of fact tones, "Harm, could you do my back for me, please?"

Beth had turned towards him, allowing his eyes full access to her breasts as she held out her hand for the sun screen. Harm swallowed hard, twice, before he said, "Uh... sure, and stood up before kneeling beside her as she turned on to her stomach. Harm dribbled some sun screen on to her back and then almost tentatively he started to rub it into her soft, smooth, olive-toned skin. Contact with Beth's skin was cause for further arousal, as was the nearness of her totally exposed buttocks, covered only by a single thin strip of material that rose from the crevice between them to the string-like ribbon that formed the waist band of her bikini bottoms. He started at her shoulders, and as he slowly worked his way down her back, Beth turned her head towards him and half-opened her eyes to stare at the growing bulge that now tented his swim shorts and was so near, yet still so far from her grasp, Becoming aware that he had stopped his ministrations at the small of her back, she craned her head around to look up at him and said, "Keep going, please Harm, I really don't want to suffer from a sunburned six for a four hour flight back up to Leeseburg."

Harm blinked the perspiration out of his eyes. This was worse than torture, this was cruel and unusual punishment, but she was right, it would be agony for her to get burned there, and the discomfort would last for days! Gritting his teeth he rubbed more sun screen onto his hands and then gingerly started to coat her buttocks. God, they were so firm and taut! He knew that Beth spent a lot of time on board in the gym, using the treadmills and cycling machines, but he'd never appreciated the effect that her exercise regime had worked on her body. The feel of those muscular hemispheres under his hands was adding to his arousal, which had now become extremely uncomfortable and demanded relief in some form or other. Rushing the oiling of her legs, he muttered, "It's getting a bit warm, I think I'll take a quick dip to cool off!" Limping as fast as he could across the sand he waded into the water and gasped with relief as the water cooled and reduced his erection. A five minute swim reassured him that everything had returned to a more normal state of affairs, and he was able to return to his lounger with a nonchalant grin, and shaking his head he managed to flick a scatter of cool water droplets onto Beth's warm skin, causing her to squeal in mock annoyance and turn onto her side to glare up at him. Her move caused her breasts to come into view again, and to his dismay Harm once more felt his prick beginning to stir.

Beth had watched him make his way down to the water's edge, her amusement threatening to burst out in full-throated laughter, and it was only by biting hard on her thumbnail that she had prevented herself from doing just that.

Her reaction to the shower that Harm had inflicted upon her had been no mere reflex but an instant response with the aim of deliberately exposing her breasts to him at even closer range than before.

Waiting until he had settled back on his lounger, Beth said, "You'll need to mind your back too, Harm. Shall I oil it for you?"

Turning on to his stomach Harm realised would be a perfect method of hiding his arousal until it had subsided, but an unprotected back in this sunlight would definitely burn, and although his six was covered, he still didn't relish the thought of reddened blistering skin. "Yeah, thanks Beth, that would be great."

Beth however, rather than kneeling by his side swung her leg over him and straddling him, knelt on the lounger, and sat on the small of his back, where he instantly became acutely conscious of her body weight pressing her mound, unprotected save for that tiny triangle of almost nonexistent cloth into the skin of his back.

She dribbled oil onto his shoulder blades and leaned forward using the weight of her upper body transmitted through her arms to massage the oil into his muscles, leaning forward as she did so that her nipples just barely grazed the skin of his back. The movements she made as she rubbed the sun screen in to his skin were so similar to those she made while riding a lover that she felt herself becoming aroused, and felt the heat and moisture gathering in her crotch and was sure that Harm too must feel them on the bare skin of his back.

Harm could feel the wet warmth and his arousal now knew no bounds, with a grunt he turned over, spilling Beth on to the sand and only by extending his arms did he prevent himself from crushing her with his weight. He looked down into her eyes and saw that they were as glazed with lust and desire as his own must be, and dropping his head he mashed his lips into hers, his tongue attacking her lips, probing, demanding entrance.

She parted her lips with a gasp and bucked her hips up to his, feeling his rigid prick through the two thin layers of cloth that prevented penetration. Their tongues duelled, each exploring the other's mouth, in a frenzy of desire.

"Beth!" Harm gasped as he disengaged his lips from hers.

"Oh, God, Harm! Yes!"

He lowered his mouth to her left breast, circling the nipple for an instant with his tongue before sucking as much of her into his mouth as he could, while gently pinching her other nipple until both had peaked into stiffened nubs, and then kneeling, he placed his hands on the waistband of her bikini bottoms, and as he pulled so she lifted her hips to allow them to slide down her legs. As her feet were freed she opened her legs and let her knees drop to the side, fully revealing her entrance and allowing Harm to lean forward and place his hands under her buttocks while he drove his tongue deep into her, savouring the sweet, salty taste of her before he raised his lips and tongue to her bud and licked and sucked at it, teasing until she writhed against him raising her hips to mash her moistness against his face as she squirmed and gasped her release. Once again Harm relinquished his possession of her and kneeling stripped off his swim shorts, revealing to her the full size and hardness of his prick. Her eyes smoky with lust and the desire to please him, she sat up and pushed him to the ground so that he lay flat on his back, and then she leaned forward and took his prick in her hand gently stroking him, using her thumb to smear the little drop of his clear pre-cum over his cock's head, before dropping her head to circle the tip of his prick with her tongue before opening her mouth and easing it down over over his length, and sucking gently while using her tongue to lick and swirl around his shaft, to tease and tantalise, and all the time smoothly moving her mouth up and down his shaft while continuously making a humming noise deep in her throat.

God, he tasted so good, and he felt even better, warm and cool at the same time, and he felt like solid wood, but covered in soft, smooth, silky velvet. Impossible as it might be, his prick seemed to be growing even and longer and thicker in her mouth, and she suppressed her gag reflex to take him even deeper into her throat. She felt him, not just his prick, but his whole body quiver, and the knowledge that she was the cause of his sensations brought about a renewed flood of moisture in her centre, sliding her free hand down her stomach, she moved it further down, cupping her mound and dipped two fingers into her core, wetting them and then gently rubbed the lips of her pussy, moistening them in anticipation.

The combination of licking, sucking, manipulation and the vibrations from Beth's humming were too much for Harm to be able to withstand for more than a few minutes. He gasped for air under her ministrations and then groaned, "Beth! I'm going to.." but she kept her mouth firmly in place as he orgasmed into her mouth, pumping his hips up once, twice, on each rise filling her mouth, as she swallowed his seed, clamping her lips firmly around his prick preventing any leakage so as not to lose a drop of his semen.

She collapsed on top of him, offering her mouth to him as he raised his face to hers, each of them tasting themselves on the other's lips

"Oh God Beth! that was too quick. I wanted to be inside you when I came..."

"I wanted you there too, Harm, but we still have plenty of time... Come." Then realising what she'd said she broke into a chuckle as she stood and taking his hand in hers, led him back to the house, to bed.