Missing Baggage

She's smiling at me and I look at her. She is beautiful, wearing a simple cotton dress that stops just above her knees, Hobbs or Boden perhaps. It's cut low at the back and finishes in a cotton belt that she's tied behind her with the loose ends falling across her bottom. I can't tell what she's got on underneath, if anything, but whatever it is, there's not much of it, certainly no VPL.

As we leave my room for her hotel I feel a twinge of regret as if this is the end of it, the end of our own brief encounter. I can see the scene unfolding. We'll walk in almost total silence and when we get to her hotel she'll turn at the door and say, "Thanks for your help Sam, it's been really sweet of you but you know this can never be, that there is another." and with a tearful brush of her lips on my cheek she'll walk into her hotel and out of my life. The End, roll credits, play serious soundtrack, filmed in Vista Vision at our Pinewood Studios and all in black and white of course. The grainy tail runs through the projector and we all stand for the National Anthem.

"Sam. Sam?" Emma is looking at me in a quizzical way. "Hello? Are you still here?"

"Uh oh sorry, I was miles away for a moment." I smile at her. "Ok. Let's go." and I pull the door closed behind me and press the button for the lift and turn to her again.

"I'll tell you another time. Promise." which of course assumes that there is going to be another time and that is exactly what I want. In the lift I press the button for the lobby and as the doors close I lean towards her and kiss her cheek lightly and she kisses me back, not on my cheek but on my lips, just enough, a little tease of her tongue searching for mine,

the sweet warmth of her mouth and the promise of her body moulding itself to mine as I hold her and I so want to just stop the lift mid-floor and kiss her back but the doors open at the lobby and we have to break. I call to the concierge and ask him to get a taxi for us. Emma still can't remember the name of her hotel so I explain Emma's description of the cabanas and he knows it.

"Of course Mr Fuller, The Serenity Hotel."

Emma looks downcast. "I thought we were going to walk?"

"Well, it's pretty late and I don't know the town too well. We can walk it another time." and suddenly her eyes light up as if I've said a magic word. Was that it, 'another time'? I hope so. It has the ring of 'your place or mine' about it and that promises an easy familiarity between us.

We stand on the steps of the hotel waiting for the cab and the night is scented and warm. I want to say something to her but as I take a breath Emma does the same.

"I..."

"No you go first."

"No you..." and we start to giggle until we can hardly stand, holding onto each other for support, gasping for breath until at last, laughter spent we look at each other for the briefest moment before I pull her to me and kiss her, both of us wild and passionate now, lips and tongues and saliva and bodies hard against each other in a rush of release until we stop and laugh again. I wipe a tear of laughter from her cheek with the ball of my thumb and cradle her head.

"That was fun." I say and she nods.

"Yes it was." and she kisses me again, just quickly on the lips and then holds my hand. It's such a simple gesture but it signals so much: comfort, trust and closeness.

The concierge interrupts with a muted cough.

"Sir, you taxi is here." and he opens the door for Emma and smiles at her. He's seen this scene a thousand times before but every now and then he hopes it will last beyond the holiday.

Tonight is one of those nights.

The taxi ride isn't a long one and we sit holding hands as if it's something we've always done, comfortable with each other but excited as if we're doing something daring, smuggling an extra suitcase into the hotel, and I manage to snatch a glance at Emma while she's looking out of the window.

She has such lovely features and the wind through the open window is catching her hair so she absentmindedly pulls it away from her face and turns, smiling at me and I give her hand a squeeze.

As the cab pulls up outside the lobby, somehow Emma manages to pay the taxi fare and that certainly wasn't what I wanted at all and I'm annoyed with myself for letting her do it but the moment passes and we're met by a bell boy who takes Emma's case for her and follows us to the front desk, waiting while Emma gets her key.

I don't know why but I feel a little awkward and wonder if we should give some explanation but Emma seems happy just to give her key to the bell boy and we follow him to her room.

The hotel is good, right on the beach with cabanas dotted around the grounds under the palm trees. The wash of the surf is competing with the rattle of the wind in the palm fronds and it feels like paradise as we walk together to Emma's cabana.

I manage to slip the bell boy a substantial tip. I don't want any queries about the two suitcases in the room that was reserved for one person.

"Well here we are." Emma gestures into the empty room as if she's showing a prospective purchaser an apartment, empty that is except for my case that's stood in front of the closet.

And the bed.

The bed seem huge, dominating the room and for some reason we both stand and stare at it for a moment until Emma rescues us with her continued escorted tour of her room.

"Um...the bathroom is through there. I'll get us something to drink, and a little basket prepared if you like...rolls, fruit, cheese...You know, just something light." She pauses. "You still do want to swim?" and I just have to smile and nod.

"Yes, I'd love to swim."

She's a compulsive silence filler and I suddenly picture her as a child, stealing the show, a natural entertainer and again she comes to me and we kiss, more intensely this time, our bodies hard against each other, the press of her breasts against me and our hips in contact and when we break it's one of those 'Oh wow' moments and I can feel my heart racing and the dryness in my throat.

We stand, holding each at arms-length as we try to understand just how quickly the temperature soared, how quickly our passion was fired and I tell her how beautiful she is and again we laugh, easing the moment until she lets go and calls room service with her order.

As I open my suitcase I watch her on the phone. She has beautifully long, slim legs that sweep in a delicious curve into her bottom and hips. There's only one word that does it, beautiful, and I smile at the picture this brings into my mind as I search out a polo and some shorts.

She's standing, hovering as if she doesn't want to let me out of her sight and I hold up a T and my board shorts as I say "I'm just going to put these on" and gesture towards the open bathroom door.

"I'll be right here." she replies as if to reassure me that I won't find her gone when I return.

But when I return she's gone and for the briefest of seconds my heart stops as I look around the now empty room and suddenly there's a lump in my throat and I realise just how much I had been enjoying being with Emma.

Then just as suddenly she's back from the balcony and my relief must be showing because she comes straight to me and kisses me.

"Ok?" in a reassuring way.

"Yes fine." I add, totally reassured.

"You look gorgeous...and you taste nice too..."

Those are just the words I want to use as Emma kisses me. She is so tactile, running her fingers over my lips as if trying to understand what is happening between us but there's no need to explain it. We are just drawn to each other with a strong attraction and I know that I want to make love with her, to taste her, to be in her.

The picnic basket has arrived and we walk to a place beyond the last cabana where the beach is hidden from the rest of the hotel gardens.

It's as if we've found our own desert island, thousands of miles from anywhere else, and if I'd tried to find a place to be with Emma this would be it.

She's tied a sarong around her waist and it clings to her hips, emphasising the slimness of her waist and she leads me to a patch of grass beyond the last cabana where the gardens merge into the sand and I spread the picnic rug and set the basket down. My mind is racing ahead and I picture us lying on the rug under the palm trees, limbs entwined, kissing deeply, hands touching and exploring, the press of her body against mine.

"How about a little swim before we have some wine...um?...Would you like that Sam?'

The sea looks so inviting, seeming to stretch to infinity in the moon's glitter path and Emma is eager to swim. She's standing right in front of me and looks at me as she opens her sarong, letting it slip to the sand at her feet. She's playing the temptress and this is almost a striptease, leaving her in the briefest of bikinis.

I smile at her and pull my polo over my head and take her hand.

"Yes that sounds good." and we run down the beach and into the warm sea, diving into the water as soon as it's deep enough.

I swim hard for about twenty metres and then turn to watch Emma. She's a good swimmer and we're soon together, treading water, just inches apart and without thinking I pull her to me and kiss her and she kisses me back, mouths and tongues, bodies pressed, my erection hard against her and she responds, pushing back against me as we slip under the water. We have to let go and burst to the surface, laughing and gasping for air. Then suddenly there's a quiet moment between us and we just look at each other before kissing again.

"Come on, race you to the beach." Emma has already started to swim as she says this and we swim until we can stand and then run splashing through the shallows and across the sand until we fall, panting onto the rug. I roll onto my back, pulling her with me and we kiss again, little kisses on her eyelids and nibbles on her cheeks and on the tip of her nose and we're laughing and again my erection is pressing against her and Emma is responding, grinding her mons against my hardness.

Then she pushes herself up from me and sits astride me, wriggling her bottom.

"We're being naughty." she says and I know we are and we both so want this but there is a rhythm and timing that we need to follow so that we can pretend that whatever happens just crept up on us, that we didn't seek it wantonly.

"Let's have some wine." But Emma's not ready for wine yet.

"Sam...will you kiss me again?"

How can I refuse? I want to kiss her all the time, to taste her lips and feel her arms around me but even though we're in a dreamy state I still want to play and so I take one of the chocolate marshmallows and hold it to her lips. The chocolate softens against the warmth of her mouth and just as she's about to take I bite I draw a line of chocolate over her chin and down her neck towards the vee of her bikini.

Emma raises her head to watch what I'm doing and smiles in anticipation as I kiss her lips and then trace the line of chocolate down her neck until my lips are at the top of the swelling of her breasts. I pause and look up at her. She's still smiling at me and I wonder if I should go further, wanting to but unsure if it's the right thing just yet or even ever but she's still smiling and so I kiss her just above the vee of her bikini where the chocolate ends, breathing in the scent of her.

I can feel a shiver run through her and she lays her head back and lets her breath go in a rush. I hadn't realised it but she was holding her breath from the moment I started at her lips and now she's panting, regaining her composure and I can feel her hand gripping my shorts as if she needs to hold on to something.

She laughs and shivers again.

"Oh god Sam, that is so...just so..." and she pulls me down to her and holds me tightly.

"It's pretty 'so' for me as well." I say, my mouth close to her ear.

"Do you ever feel that things are just meant to be, like kismet or fate?" I sit up and lean on my elbow.

"I mean we might never have met if our suitcases weren't the same make and colour and even though we have the same dates for our holidays we could have spent the whole time maybe only a few feet apart but not met or seen each other, let alone spoken to each other."

I trace the line of chocolate again, this time with my finger.

"I might have had to draw lines of chocolate on myself and how sad is that?"

There's a pause and suddenly we're laughing so hard that it hurts because we've both just caught on to the silly but vivid analogy of me drawing a line of chocolate on myself."

"You'll have to be careful Sam, you could go blind doing that kind of thing." Emma says shaking with laughter. Eventually we stop but still chuckling as if little aftershocks of the joke were catching us.

"Come on, time for another swim I think." and she stands up holding her hand out to pull me up and then running towards the water with me chasing her. She stops and splashes water at me as I run towards her and then she runs again and I chase her through the shallows eventually catching up with her and we stand facing each other panting and smiling.

She looks bright, alive, aroused and I can see where her nipples are showing against the damp fabric of her bikini. I take a handful of water and use it to wash the remains of the chocolate from her.

"Do you like skinny dipping?"

Emma manages a very shy 'Yes'.

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to."

"No, it's alright but please don't move, don't look, ok? I'm not letting you see me until you're naked too, please, not until you're out of yours or I'm running off."

"Right, but..."

"No, stay where you are and don't move ok?"

I stand still with Emma hiding behind me, waiting and listening but the wind in the palm trees and the waves on the beach mask any sound and I don't know for certain if she has taken off her bikini until she tosses it onto the sand by my feet, almost literally throwing down the gauntlet, and I know that this beautiful, funny, entrancing woman that I only met a few hours ago is standing naked behind me.

"Now you." Emma commands and having started this I have to go through with it and suddenly I feel shy at undressing in front of her but at least I have my back to her.

How silly but it was the thought of swimming naked and free with Emma that prompted my suggestion that we skinny dip and I just didn't think about how we'd get to that state.

I slip my shorts down over my hips and wobble on one leg as I step out of them before throwing them up the beach. Emma giggles at my awkwardness but there's no going back now.

"Ok, after three." I say. "One, two, three." and we turn and run into the water together, laughing and not looking at each other but dashing for the cover of the water where we swim until it's deep enough for us to stand shoulder deep.

The elation and sense of freedom in fantastic, to be rid of the constriction of clothes but with it there's a sense of vulnerability as if exposed we're more of a target for any imagined predators.

Emma is standing with her elbows in and her arms up protecting her breasts and I can see her glancing around her at the water.

"You don't think there's any fish out here do you?" she asks nervously.

"Well I'm sure there are but no more than there were earlier. Anyway, I'm the one who should be worried,"

I say as I glance down towards my penis. Of course, I can't see it below the water in the dark but Emma pushes me playfully and laughs.

"Boasting are we?" and I laugh with her and then we swim again, slowly and leisurely side by side just enjoying what we're doing and sharing the enjoyment.

Emma turns onto her back and just floats for a while and I look at her, her skin milky pale in the moonlight and the wavelets lapping over her breasts and belly. She turns her head and sees me looking at her.

"You're looking." but she does nothing to hide herself.

"Yes." I admit. "You are so very beautiful." and I swim to her and kiss her, just a quick kiss but I hope it tells her everything I'm feeling about her.

The waves have been washing us slowly back towards the beach and soon the water is only knee deep and we have to stand so I take Emma's hand and we stand up together holding eye contact so we don't look at each other. I so desperately want to kiss her but the thought of invading her space and her nudity is too much.

I need her permission.

"Emma," she looks at me expectantly. "Emma, I want so much to kiss you but I'm frightened to touch you with us like this."

"Aw Sam, I'm not frightened so don't be, and I want you to kiss me with us like this."

She plays her fingers slowly up over my chest and I shiver at the sensation of her touch. There are little droplets of water waiting on her chin and lips, so kissable, and I kiss them away before laying my slightly parted lips on hers, and move in against the length of her body and it feels so good, the thrilling sensation of skin on skin, her body against mine.

It's as if we're in harmony, both nervous but both wanting more and step by step saying to each other 'Yes it's ok, we can go a little further' and yet neither one of us pushing the other too fast.

I want her so much yet I'm desperate not to break this spell we've woven together, to reduce this magical evening to a quick fumble on the beach.

And it comes to me in a flash.

More than anything I want to wake up with her next to me, to feel her warmth and to hear her breathing and to know that she feels safe and secure with me.

She's running her hands over my chest and my nipples harden at her touch and she's being so gentle, so caring and yet she is so sensuous at the same time, exciting herself as she touches me.

I look down and watch her hands against my skin. Her breasts are swaying gently as she moves and below them the soft curve of her belly and the shadow of her pubic hair, just a smudge against the creamy smoothness of her skin and I feel my erection hardening.

And now she's kissing me and pressing herself against me and I put my arms around her and pull her to me, feeling her breasts against my chest and the shock of the first contact as my erection meets with the slight roughness of her pubic hair and the hardness on her mons.

Without thinking I cradle one of her cheeks in my hand and pull her to me completing the contact and we both respond, kissing with abandon, Emma with her fingers tangled in my hair pulling our mouths closer together while my now fully erect shaft presses against the softness of her sex and Emma moves against me.

Then just as suddenly we break and Emma places the palms of her hands against my chest and steps back from me, shaking her head as she does.

"Oh wow Sam, oh wow... just not yet...not yet." and then we're back in each other's arms but gently this time, swaying slowly as if dancing to some unheard music.

We walk back to the blanket and I pour some wine for us and pop a strawberry from the picnic in her mouth and for a while we just sit leaning against each other, savouring the wine, listening to the waves, no words, just being there, enjoying being together.

We drink another glass and then I kiss her on her shoulder.

"Turn over, on your tummy." and she does, just lying there, her chin resting on the back of her hands and I can see the curve of her breasts where they're pressed under her and I move down the blanket, kneeling beside her and kiss the soles of her feet and then run my tongue across them.

She wriggles and laughs.

"Hey, that tickles." but she doesn't protest too much and I move upwards, kissing the backs of her legs and behind her knees and I can her sighing and relaxing.

"Mmm..."

Her skin is so smooth and silky under my lips with the salty taste of the sea still on her and as I kiss the backs of her thighs she moves a little, rearranging herself and I don't know if it's my imagination but I'm sure that she has moved her legs a little further apart and I trace my tongue lightly along the cleavage between her cheeks.