Andy Ch. 02

"I'm still disappointed that you are not traveling in the Corvette."

He smiled and said it was very kind of her but he'd decided the SUV rental would suit them as he and Shannon planned to undertake some forestry excursions that were restricted to four-wheel-drive vehicles.

"What else will you do while you are away?"

"Fish in the lake, bath in the hot pool at night, read and go out to restaurants."

"What about sex?"

"We haven't discussed that option," he replied evasively.

"But you must have been thinking about it?"

"Oh, I think about sex all the time," he grinned, looking at her breasts; she blushed.

"I'm tired so I'm off to bed," she snapped.

"Me too," he said. "Kiss me goodnight."

Go to hell, she thought darkly, walking off as if she hadn't heard him and was appalled at her behavior: I'm playing the part of a jealous bitch. She stalked into the bedroom, slamming the door and removing her clothes and scattering them on the floor as she went to the bathroom. She went to the bed, removed Jerry's book from his hands and then ripped open her startled husband's pajamas; she knew he had no reason to complain because a few seconds later she began giving him the best fuck he'd had in years, She was on fire and assumed he'd be thinking she'd must have sneaked a couple more whiskies because that tended to make her randy.

The master bedroom light was switched on a 4.30 am as Shannon entered followed by Andy.

Shannon kissed her mother who whispered, "Have you remembered you contraceptive pills and to pack a good supply of condoms?"

"What an odd question to ask," Shannon whispered, tickling her mother under the armpit and then saying in a loud voice, "You two behave while we're away,"

Everyone laughed, Shannon kissed Lucy again and then Lucy kissed Andy and began weeping. "You look after my daughter to the best of your ability."

"Christ mom, we'll only be away five days," Shannon said.

"Drive safely and don't over-do the sex thing," Jerry said brightly.

An embarrassed silence followed until Shannon laughed and said, "Andy is a great driver daddy as well you know and we won't be away long enough to do anything more but fish, swim, read, eat and go on adventure outings. Come on Andy; let's go before any more weak jokes are directed at us."

Both were traveling light -- Andy tossed his one carry-bag in the back and loaded Shannon's four bags and turning asked with a straight face, "Is this all you're taking?" He took a light kick on his thigh, just missing his crotch.

* * *

They journeyed south of Auckland and headed out to the East Coast via the Karangahake Gorge to Waihi and down to the coastal city of Tauranga for breakfast before heading for Lake Rotoiti forty minutes away.

As they hade left the lush farmland to enter the gorge Shannon made what appeared to be an ominous statement: "I've been thinking."

"Well done," Andy replied warily and was told to adhere to the recommended speed signs as they entered the winding river bed road cut on the side of steep hills.

"This is very rugged country," he observed.

"Most of New Zealand is rugged," she said, but these hills are only babies. I should tell you that Lake Rotoiti is part of any ancient crater and the nearby City of Rotorua is world-renowned as being a resort amid an active thermal area."

"But no active volcanoes?"

"Out to the south-west, yes but the only one emitting steam and the occasional rumble at present is regarded as being slumbering. They are in a cluster of three and the most active and highest one called Mount Ruapehu is approximately 9000 ft high and erupted in the mid 1990s after being quiet for fifty years, It threw ash up to 22,000 ft and disrupted air flights and Napier City airport was actually closed because of incoming ash."

"Wow."

"New Zealanders have learned to live with the menace; either that or they are stupid. The only two significant ski-fields in the North Island are on that mountain and it also attracts huge numbers of foreign tourists; it is relatively easy to climb to the summit in summer."

"So, was that what you have been thinking?"

They looked at each other momentarily before Andy had to negotiate yet another sharp bend in the narrow highway. He had time to catch her biting her lip and flushing slightly.

She almost stuttered. "I want us to step back from full-on sex."

Andy remained mute but coming out of the turn he over-corrected the steering and the vehicle lurched as he regained control and returned to his side of the road [which is the left side in New Zealand].

"Have you no comment?"

No longer smiling, Andy replied not until he'd heard more.

Shannon wasn't smiling either. "I've been rushed into this, the pressure I've experienced of being targeted and then the sex followed by your out-of-the-blue suggestion of possible marriage. This simply won't do -- this is no longer the age when young women can be carried along on romantic notions; I'm a modern, thinking woman. You have even suggested that this holiday should be turned into a sex-fest; your entire thinking appears to be carnally motivated."

Shannon's eyes were now on Andy's knuckles on the steering wheel which had turned white. "What do you think?"

Andy stopped his attempt to strangle the wheel. It was hopeless impossible to over-power it anyway as Toyota built them for he-man adventurers.

"That's okay."

"What?"

"I said..."

"I heard what you said. What I want to know is what you think about it? If you have no answer I'll leave you at Waihi and bus home."

"I don't want you to do that."

"Why not?"

"Er, because your company is important to me, I like hearing you talking about, er, what you think and feel and you talk so intelligently and yet can be so funny."

Shannon looked surprised. "What, me funny?"

"Yes, like now. Your mind is blocked with an emotional problem and all you can see is the sex thing, so your immediate reaction is to shut down and back off until a solution comes to you. I guess this doesn't happen to you in law when you are involved in tight negotiations as you wouldn't have survived in the business so it must apply only when you experience personal emotional overload."

"Ohmigod."

Andy looked puzzled. "What?"

"You describe it as applying only to personal emotional overload; that nails me to a 'T'. No-one has ever isolated and described my prime emotional flaw so succinctly, not even my sharp mind and sharp tongued mom and certainly not me. How is it possible for you to do this?"

"Perhaps I do have a brain above my dick?"

"Other people have brains and have not uncovered me as you have."

"Perhaps I understand women?"

Shannon looked at him closely as if thinking he was teasing. "Oh yeah?"

"I only have corporate clients and only seven of the eight four or five clients are female."

"Really?"

"Yes, and I haven't attempted to nail any of the females despite the occasional come-on because my code in law is to keep my business life and my personal life separated."

Shannon gawked at him. "Is that true?"

He grinned and said perhaps his best answer to that was to say yes and remind her of his earlier disclosure that he did have a brain above his dick. "Do you still want to leave me in Waihi and bus home?"

"If you don't mind I'll continue on this journey of discovery. To my amazement I am witnessing the emergence of an extension of you I was unaware existed; I find this intriguing."

"Perhaps why this was to be five days in paradise during which time we were supposed to finding out more about one another?"

"Quite, tell me more about yourself."

"No -- in general discoveries are found, not presented; just take your time and more will unfold. You ought to have known I had some depth to me after what I did for you with Gigi. No way could you have jumped on and ridden her without several days of patient re-establishment of human interaction."

"Yes, quite right and never had I been able to ride her bare-back. How did you do it?"

"My uncle's advice was always to go to the source if possible or go back into the horse's history as far as one can. So I visited Sam Guthrie..."

Shannon smiled: "But he wasn't home, you found daughter Eva struggling to re-shoe her horse, did that for her and she was so gratified she allowed you to seduce her."

"That's an accurate summary. "Anyway, the bit I haven't told you was she was living with her father when the mare you call Gigi was born."

"Yes, of course; what happened?"

"A week later the brood mare was struck by lightening and killed. It was thought the foal would have been knocked senseless. She was found next morning and the vet recommended she be put down because she seemed traumatized but Eva defied both men and said she wouldn't allow that to happen. Her father said the foal would be useless as it would suffer ill-thrift and no-one would buy her so he gave her to Eva. She tried bottle feeding but that was unsuccessful. So she put her on to another mare that'd foaled about the same time and for forty-eight hours Eva remained with the hobbled mare and calmed it when the orphaned foal sought to drink. Just before the end of the second night the mare finally accepted Gigi and at dawn the mare and two foals were put out to pasture and Eva said they were fine from that point."

"Ohmigod -- I never knew that. No wonder she always enquires about Gigi when we meet; for a time she was substitute mother."

Andy smiled. "Eva's mother pitched in during the day, allowing her daughter to get some sleep but it still must have been a worrying and exhausting time for her. Then later Gigi began showing signs of being a semi-recluse and the vet thought that was a legacy of her being traumatized and advised Eva to give it lots of TLC."

"Tender loving care; so that's why Sam told me to treat her like that -- it was to lift her psychologically from feeling like a misfit."

Andy said Gigi had latched on to Eva as a friend and always responded positively when Eva came to talk to her even if she did try to bite or kick her at times.

"So Eva told you what to do to calm her and attempt to bond with her. I acquired Gigi when Eva had left home and was spending two years wandering the world and working with horses."

Andy said that's what he did, he talked to her and stroked her for an hour or so and then let her out of the stall. He slept in her stall for two nights "On the first night she awoke me a few times by breathing over my face. "On the second night she left me in peace so I rode her next morning; she was frisky but we sorted that out and after I unsaddled her she began that trick of resting her head on my shoulder -- the first time she did it I almost wet myself, thinking there goes my ear."

Shannon laughed and said that would have been her reaction. "You were wonderful being so caring with her and doing all that for me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"That's all the thanks I need," he said cheerfully. They drove along in silence for a while, lost in their thoughts.

After breakfast in Tauranga Shannon directed Andy across the harbor to Mt Maunganui Beach. Good surf was running so she changed her mind about not going swimming and joined Andy. They were flipped by the crashing waves, they caught some and body surfed in until they grounded on the tidal mark.

"This is real fun," screamed Shannon the first time they grounded and despite the swimmers and board surfers around them she turned Andy on to his back and kissed him deeply. He made no attempt to hold her because of her comments earlier than morning going through the gorge; but she grabbed his arms and pulled them around him and at that point he knew that fucking was on her mind. But they were stymied -- there was no place to go. So wordlessly they climbed to their feet and raced out to catch more waves.

Within an hour of leaving the beach their entered the Lake Rotoiti district and. Andy soaked in the charming atmosphere of lake, forest [the locals called it bush] and houses ranging from exotic to little dumps, mostly tucked away under trees.

"Gawd, they're had a bit upgrade since I was last here," Shannon boggled when they arrived as their loan house.

"Very picturesque -- quite amazing setting and the house is magnificent," Andy said, very impressed that it was only a thirty foot walk over grass to the private jetty alongside the boathouse.

He looked at Shannon and asked, "Sex?"

She answered coldly "No thank you" and fished out the house key and walked off, turning to ask, and "Are you coming?"

"Oooh, yes please and for me as well," a woman said softly.

Andy turned and found a woman in her early thirties, almost bursting out of her bikini top and hand in hand girl of about four. Both were blonde. The woman said quietly, "You didn't hear me, did you."

"I did; when do you want it?'

Her face and torso colored but she kept her poise saying, I'm Jessica Franks and this is my daughter Jane. My parents are not arriving until Saturday with the boat and my older boy and husband. We are your immediate neighbors."

Andy stepped up to her and shook hands and he introduced himself.

"Strong grip -- what part of America are you from Andy?"

"Chicago," he smiled. "Kiwis appear to be great travelers, have you been there Jessica."

"Yes, nice city though I wouldn't fancy being there in the winter. Look, why don't you and your wife come over for coffee mid-morning tomorrow. I'd love the company."

"Great, we'd like that. My traveling companion is the daughter of my hosts -- her name is Shannon."

"Wife or girl friend or traveling companion -- it doesn't matter. Actually it's male company I'm missing most, if you know what I mean."

"No"" Andy said innocently.

She giggled and said, "Oh come on" and waved goodbye.

"Oh, there you are," Shannon said, her normal mood having returned. "I saw you introducing yourself to one of the residents."

"I'm not sure that she is a permanent resident. She and daughter are residing next door and her parents and husband arrive on Saturday. She's invited us over for coffee in the morning."

"What, me too?"

"Yes, that's to be expected isn't it?"

"I guess so. Come look through the house. I've given you the master bedroom and I've taken the main guest room next to it. The other four bedrooms are here on the ground floor."

Next morning at 6:30 Andy arrived with coffee, juice and a piece of toast for Shannon who kissed him warmly. She told him to fetch his coffee and when he returned she patted on top of the bed, not inviting him into her bed although he was ready to drop his shorts in a flash.

They chatted like friends and after she finished her coffee she rolled over, yawned and said she'd take a nap.

"I'll walk to the store and fetch the morning newspaper," Andy scowled, feeling rejected.

"And milk, eggs, toasting bread and butter substitute," she said. "I'll fetch what else we require later."

Returning, he gave Shannon the newspaper, received a brief thank you kiss and went out to cook scrambled eggs before breakfast. She appeared a few minutes later looking excited holding a flyer from the newspaper.

"This store in Rotorua is advertising its new arrivals for autumn and they include a range of most attractive office business suits I need. Can you take me to Rotorua as soon as we've cleared away after breakfast/"

"I want to check over the boat and go over to fuel and take it for a test run. I'm planning to take you fishing this evening. You go -- you signed in as co-driver of the rental."

"Yes, that's fine. Don't forget to visit Mrs Next-door for coffee mid-morning."

"Oh, I'll cancel or reschedule."

"Don't be silly; she's expecting at least one of us, probably you. She'll be lonely."

"Okay, I'll push ahead with breakfast."

As soon as Shannon drove off the phone rang.

"Hi, it's Jessica. I saw your wife drive off alone. Will she be away long?"

"I really don't know; my friend has gone to Rotorua to shop."

"Oh goodie, she'll be away for a minimum of three hours. Come over now if you wish."

Jessica had that biting-bottom-lip excitement to her voice; he'd struck that before with women and had a clear idea of what was on her mind.

"I have to check out the boat and go across to fuel."

"That will take no more than an hour. I'll try to put Jane down so she's asleep by 10:00 and I can have you all to myself."

"Sounds good. I'll join you as soon as I can."

The runabout was similar to his best friend's boat in Chicago and the Mercury motor was identical. He followed the pre-start instructions on the list -- the log stated the motor had last been used only six weeks ago so the checklist for such a short time since last use was minimal. He opened the boatshed doors, unhooked the winch and the boat launched itself without fuss down the slight incline over rubber rollers.

Docking after returning after topping up the built in fuel tank and the metal jerry can kept in a side locker as an emergency supply of fuel, Andy thought about the possible encounter with Jessica. Shannon had chosen to back off from sex so as far as he was concerned the first rule of disengagement was find someone else. It appeared someone had found him.

He arrived in baggy shorts, extra large polo shirt, cap, sunnies and nothing on his feet. Jessica met him at the opened front door, closed it behind them, kissed him lightly and placing a finger to her lips took him by the hand to the back room which was a sunroom overlooking a bunch of not too thrifty fruit trees.

Coffee and scones lay ready on the table. Andy had the option of sitting down and buttering a hot scone or kissing the cook; he chose the latter.

"Oh thank God," she smiled after the first long kiss. "I'd attempted to indicate I was interested but if you hadn't pulled me into your arms like this I was at the end of my rope as I had no Plan B; I'm not very practiced in being with another man."

"What would you like me to do?"

"Everything," she said simply.

"Well, let me see what you've got," he leered. "You seem to pack quite a punch up here."

"Help yourself."

He began unbuttoning her shirt and could see she was wanting him to speed up but he preferred a go-slow unveiling whenever he undressed a woman, no matter how many times he did that to her. The biggies were held tightly in a beautifully lacy light green bra and what lay beneath could be glimpsed through the material.

She pushed forward to hug and kiss him, making it easier for him to reach around to undo the three hooks. Quite an amount of milky-white flesh was unleashed forward and drooped a bit.

"I droop a bit."

"Don't apologize -- I reckon that's perfectly naturally, particularly once a woman has had at least one child."

As Andy pulled off the bra Jessica asked, "What do you think?"

"Well, truthfully there are more than a couple of handfuls there but they look great. I have plans for them."

She giggled as said her bra-size was 36C.

"I've view much bigger ones but for me beyond your size I begin to turn off. Is it true, "Big tits, big pussy?"

Jessica laughed and said probably no more reliable as an assessment that was the belief, "Big nose, and big cock."

They laughed and began tonguing while Jessica undid Andy's shirt buttons.

"Oh lordy, just look at your chest," she murmured as she moved away from his mouth to remove his shirt. "Does it feel like getting yourself off when you look at it in the mirror?"

"No. Does it have that effect on you?" he asked as Jessica's face turned slightly pink and she felt her shudder softly.

"Yes," she gasped, "but I almost had to rip off a nipple to pull myself over the edge; it was lovely."

"Then I'm free to leave?"

She growled, pulled him down on to the floor and pulled off his baggies.