First Day in the Caribbean 17

Octavia hugged him from behind and gave him a kiss. "You know, Mary has never been up here. Think anyone would be scandalized if we had her up?"

Asch pivoted around and sat her on his lap. "Well, I have a proposition for you."

"She wiggled sensuously. "Oh goodie!"

"We can do that too, but this is different."

"Ooo kinkey!"

"Woman, you have a one-track mind."

She pretended to look puzzled. "There's another track?"

Asch grinned and kissed her breast, which was within easy reach. Then he nibbled it a bit.

Then she opened her blouse and he sucked on the nipple. She took a deep breath, enjoying his ministrations. "I'm beginning to lose interest in that other track," she murmured, "but tell me."

"Lydia wants me to buy the house."

She started, then pressed her breast into his face. "Do me some more while I think."

Asch kissed and pulled on her nipple, and put his hand on her other breast, making gentle circles. His free hand rested on her far hip, thumb hooked into the waistband.

She wiggled in a "let's get up" way and Asch released her. She stood and pulled the front of her blouse together, but didn't button it. "Let's go upstairs." They headed up the stairs to "his" room; "their" room in practice. "Ugh. I wish I weren't so tired."

"I'm in the mood to give you a nice backrub if you like. No requirement to tumble if you're too tired for that, too."

She stripped, pulled the cover down, and fell onto the bed. "Let's start with the back rub. Especially my neck."

Asch got to work, starting at the top of her head, working down her neck and kneading her shoulders..

She mumbled, her voice distorted by the bed, "So can we-you afford the place?" She smiled a little. "Would Lydia and I have to start paying rent? When does she want to do the deed? If you know what I mean." She snickered a snicker. "What about those two renters that we've never met?" Pause. "How do you feel about all this?"

Asch paused the backrub. He had reached the bottom of her back and didn't want to go much lower while they talked business. "Well,—"

"You don't have to stop, you know," she protested.

Asch chuckled and resumed his efforts, making circles on her buttocks and rubbing her thighs. She spread her legs so he could get the insides, too. "Hmm. Hard to think while engaged in such a pleasurable activity," as he stroked her inner thighs.

She pulled her far knee up, giving him even more access.

He ran a finger up her slit and discovered she was already moist. "Um, I don't know the price yet, Um, Lydia would move in with John, um, I know a good kind of rent you could pay," he had trouble keeping his train of thought as he stroked her clit and she kept moving her hips to accentuate the effect. "Um, don't have a schedule, but she's gonna have the place appraised. I've already appraised you, and you pass with flying colors. Um, two renters. Gone to Hawaii. We'd have the whole place to ourselves."

Now she interrupted with a moan. "Don't stop. Just like that." Asch repeated his exact motions, little circles on her clit, very gradually getting more aggressive as she responded with more and more enthusiasm. All pretense of conversation stopped, and she tossed her head and groaned. Asch moved faster and she rocked faster until she trembled and cried out with pleasure. Asch relaxed his efforts and she collapsed onto the bed, now truly exhausted.

"I didn't do anything for you," she complained.

"Sure you did. I got a nice show. It was excitin' and interestin'. And stimulatin'." He smiled. "It doesn't always have to be about me, you know."

She mumbled something he couldn't understand, then started to snore gently.

Asch smiled and figured they'd continue the conversation in the morning. It was nice now that they had mornings together. He pulled his clothes off and the cover up and joined her in sleep.

Morning rolled around and Asch woke up first. He debated whether to seduce her awake, then decided she needed the rest, so he slipped out of bed, dressed, and went down for some coffee.

Lydia was already up. "Morning, young man. Coffee?" Asch nodded. "So what did Octavia say?"

"She fell asleep."

She chuckled. "The realtors should be here any minute, by the way. I can keep them out of wherever Octavia is, I think."

Rover got up and woofed, and Lydia went to the door. "Yup, they're here."

Everyone sat at the table. The Olsons had come prepared. They pulled out two maps of the property, one topographical and one a plat map, and some official documentation about taxes and so on. Asch enjoyed looking at the path out to the point where he and Octavia had had their picnic while he listened with one ear to the conversation. Apparently the place hadn't been appraised for some time; the local government wasn't being aggressive because the infrastructure was in fairly good shape. The Olson's appraisal probably wouldn't affect the tax situation, but the more value they could give to the place, the more Lydia could sell it for. They invited Lydia to join them for the walk-through, and Lydia invited Asch to join them.

Octavia awoke to strange voices. She threw on a robe and dashed into the bathroom. She felt rested and relaxed, but sticky and dirty, and wanted to be presentable to whoever was down there. She reveled in the feel of the soap on her body, but missed Asch's scrubbings. She got dressed and headed downstairs just as Asch, Lydia, and the two realtors were coming up. Asch was carrying an extra cup of coffee.

Greg spoke first. "Didn't we meet you at the dive shop the other night?

"Yup. I came to make sure Rick hadn't drowned Asch. We each have a room here."

Octavia's room looked pristine, but Asch's bed was unmade. "Sorry—I didn't make the bed this morning," Asch ventured, doing his best to sound guilty.

If the Olsons put two and two together, they gave absolutely no indication. "Hmpf. You men are all alike," Pam kidded.

They were impressed with the widow's walk up top, and made more notations on their clipboard. Finally they were done, and they promised Lydia they'd get back to her in the next day or so. Except for the info on the government documents, no numbers had been mentioned.

The Olsons left and they sat down to breakfast, made by Octavia at her insistence. "I'm usually just on the delivery end of this stuff. I gotta learn the production side, too." Everyone said she was pretty good at making stuff up.

They were finishing up When the Olsons reappeared. "You paid us just to do an appraisal, and we understand you're doing a fizbo, and we're okay with that, so we thought we'd just give you the appraisal figures right away since we didn't have anything else to do. Though if you change your mind, we'll be happy to go to work for you."

Asch leaned over to Octavia, "That's F.S.B.O., for sale by owner." Octavia nodded.

Asch offered to step away so they could converse in private, but Lydia told him to sit back down. "I'd only have to tell you this myself, so you may as well get it first hand." She looked over to the Olsons, "I'm trying to convince him to buy the place so I don't have to lease it to him."

"We wondered how Asch was involved," Greg said.

"And we don't want to kick Octavia out in the process," added Asch, "So I guess she may as well sit in on this confab, too."

It was Octavia's turn. "So if I have this right, you want to move out, preferably by selling the place to Asch because he has the wool pulled so thoroughly over your eyes, but you don't want me to go away. Right?"

Lydia grinned, "You got it, Toots! Except I might be pulling wool over his eyes. After all, it was my idea to unload the place. Unless you want to buy the place," she added. "I'd sell to you. Lower price, of course, since you're family."

The Olsons were careful not to react to the banter. Partly because they weren't sure what was going on. In most real estate transactions, the buyer and seller didn't have much contact.

"Okay, let's do this." Lydia seated herself between Octavia and Asch on one side of the table, and put the Olsons on the other. "Okay, give us the presentation."

So they did, describing good and bad features, how they made their judgement calls, how the place compared with the nearby and the entire island's real estate market, the likelihood of infrastructure problems, and the property value—and likely price range—it all boiled down to. "Here are the names of two lawyers we've worked with. You can use anyone you like, but we've had good luck with these folks. The property is unencumbered, so the transaction should be simple from your end. The buyer has to arrange his own financing. I always caution people against selling on a contract. A bank is slightly better at going after deadbeats." They handed her a summary.

Lydia gave them a check. "I could mail this, like you said, but you responded so quickly I haven't had time to walk down to the mailbox. So here." She turned to Asch. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I pretty much know what I want to do. This is all new to you so I'm going to wait until you approach me. Take as long as you like. I'm eager, but not in a hurry." She stood up. "Okay, everybody, now shoo! I've got stuff to do.

The Olsons thanked Lydia for her hospitality and business, and Asch and Octavia decided to go in to town for coffee.

She sat at the foot of the stairs and petted Rover, who had put his chin on her knee and looked up at her with a mournful expression on his face. "How about it, noble beast? You want to move to Easthaven or stay here?" He wagged his tail tentatively at the "stay here." She sighed and got up. She had things to pack, some for John's place, some for charity.