No Tan Lines

"Bye then, Jenny," Mom said. "Love you. Call me tomorrow night."

"I will," I said. "Love you too, Mom."

"How it'd go?" he said, sitting up, and he'd been down in the bilge doing something. "Replacing a gasket in one of the bilge pumps," he said, answering my look. "Done now."

"She's FedExing my passport down overnight," I said. "Should be here tomorrow morning. How about we go to the restaurant? I should let Aunt Suzy know."

"Good idea," he said, grinning. "I'm starving."

"All that exercise you're getting," I said, totally deadpan, and he didn't get it for a second, and then, when he did, he laughed.

"Lots of time this afternoon for more exercise," he said, climbing up the ladder into the cockpit.

"Why not now?" I said, showing him what I wasn't wearing under my skirt because I'd taken my panties off a couple of minutes earlier.

"Why not, indeed?" he said, eyeing what I was showing him, and something said yeah, really interested, and I smiled.

"You need a shower," I said, just about panting.

"Join me," he said.

"Lead the way," I replied, and he did, and I followed, and the shower was small, but just big enough for the two of us.

"It really is big," I said, maybe five minutes later, sort of lathering him and stroking him at one and the same time.

"Hard too," he said, watching what my hand was doing.

"Really hard," I agreed. "Do you think it's hard enough?"

"I'm pretty much sure it is," he said, smiling. "Turn around and put your hands on the wall, here."

"Like this?" I moaned, almost ready to explode as his soapy hands cupped my boobs, and his cock was hard against my butt, and his tongue lapped at the juncture of my neck and shoulder, while both his hands played with my nipples.

"Oh, God," I moaned, shivering, and I wanted to plead with him to take me, but I wanted that delicious anticipation of his taking as well. "Oh god, I'm so wet..."

"I know." Dave breathed, and his hand was on me, and I knew he knew.

"Please," I whispered, unable to resist, because I wanted him so much. "Please. How do you know just where to touch me?"

"Experience," Dave said, lowering his mouth to my neck again, one hand toying with my nipples, first one, then the other, and then he entered me from behind, the fingers of one hand guiding his cock into me.

"Ohhhhhhh." I climaxed as he thrust into me, shuddering as those waves of pleasure washed through me as he filled me with his rigid cock, and he was holding me upright, his legs forcing mine apart so that I hung in his hands as he impaled me.

"Ohhh... ohhhh... ohhhhhh... oooohhhhhhhuhhuhhhuhhhh." I'd never thought I'd make so much noise as I climaxed, but I was almost screaming as he my sex spasmed and danced and his cock simultaneously drove up inside me, his cockhead swollen and huge, stretching me around him as he thrust, and that thrust resonated with my climax, driving me half out of my mind as he thrust and thrust and thrust again, and I was so out of my mind I couldn't begin to think beyond those waves of pleasure that surged through me, and he was still thrusting as my climax slowly ebbed, but I knew the next one was coming, and I moaned again, helplessly.

"Oh, God," I moaned, because he wasn't stopping. He was holding me, carrying me to our bed, hanging in his arms, and then I was kneeling on the bed and he was behind me, his hands gripping my hips, thrusting.

"Ohhhh," I moaned. "Oh god... oh god... ohhh... ohhh...oohhhhh."

"I've been wanting to make love to you like this, Jenny," Dave groaned. "Your butt's gorgeous."

"Ohhhh..., oh God," I moaned, my arms collapsing as his cock thrust and thrust and thrust, and one hand was under me, cupping one of my breasts, teasing my nipple, and the other was on my sex, and he was doing things to me, touching me as his cock slid in and out, filling me, easing back, filling me again and I climaxed so hard I thought I was going to pass out, and I could barely breath as he came in me, and my fists clutched at the sheets as hos cock pulsed inside me, flooding me, and we were collapsing onto the bed, his weight on my back.

"I think we need another shower," I said, a long time later. "And I'm starving."

"It's all that exercise you're getting," he said, and I giggled, and he slid out of me.

"Take a seat, you two," Aunt Suzy waved us to a table. "Sit down, I'll get some tea, you hungry? Want some congee? We made some for ourselves?"

"Love some," I said. "I don't think Dave..."

"What's congee?" he asked.

"Sort of rice porridge," I said. "Except you add stuff to it, like seafood or pork or chicken or maybe a mix...."

"Made ourselves seafood congee this morning," Aunt Suzy said. "Used some of that mahi-mahi you bought us, along with shrimps and abalone and scallops."

"Yum," I said. I eyed Dave. "Do you want to try some? It's not something many gweilos like."

"Sure," he said, smiling, and I smiled back.

"Can we talk?" I asked Auntie Suzy, after breakfast. "Out the back?"

"Okay," she said, and we ducked out.

"He's going to take me to the Bahamas in a couple of says," I said, just glowing. "I called Mom and told her about him, and asked, and she said yes. She's sending my passport down by FedEx. Should be here tomorrow. I'll come back and pick it up tomorrow night."

"I know," Aunt Suzy said, rather drily. "Your Mom called me right after she got off the phone with you, and she was asking all sorts of questions. I'm glad you told her you'd moved in with him, Jenny. So how long are you planning on going for?"

"He said two, three weeks, maybe four at the most," I said. "He's going to take me to Nassau, and then all the way down to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and then we'll come back." I smiled. "He said if I want to, we can go all the way down to Barbados."

"Are you sure you want to do that, Jenny," Aunt Suzy asked, and she did look a little concerned.

I took her hands in mine. "I love him, Auntie, and he wants to take me, and it'll be a real adventure. I've never even dreamed of doing anything like this, or meeting a guy like him, and he's just so special and wonderful and..."

"Okay, okay, I got it," she said, and she was laughing at me. "You go. Your Mom did ask a lot of questions about him, and I did tell her we'd known him for a couple of years, and he was a really nice guy. Your Mom kept calling him your young man so I guess you didn't tell her how old he was?"

I giggled. Nervously. "Uh, no, I didn't. Next time. It was hard enough telling her I moved in with him."

"Just make sure you do tell her before her and your Dad meet him," she said. And then she laughed. And don't be too worried about telling her how old he is. I remember when she was seventeen. She dated this guy who was thirty-five and married, so she won't be that shocked."

"Really?" I said, wide-eyed. My Mom?

"Really," she said, still laughing. "But don't say anything about that to her. She'd be dreadfully embarrassed, but she had this huge crush on him."

"Wow," I said, and she laughed again.

"Are you really sure you want to go with him?" Auntie Suzy said to me as we walked down the dock together, and I had my passport. Delivered to the restaurant that morning. "It's a nice-looking boat, but it doesn't seem safe to go so far in something that small."

"It's a blue water sports fishing boat, Auntie," I said. "It's a Bertram, they're the best, and Dave says it can handle pretty much anything out there, and Dave knows what he's doing."

"Hi Jenny, hi there, Suzy," Dave called down from up on the flybridge. "Jenny, why don't you bring your Aunt up here and you can show her over everything while I get her ready. Got a couple of things to check on down in the engine room before we leave."

"This way, Auntie," I said, taking her hand, helping her down into the cockpit at the stern, and then up the ladder onto the flybridge.

"It's so high," she said, holding on to the railings as she gingerly walked around, looking at everything while I explained what all the controls and levers and dials and gauges and knobs were for. "It seems very comfortable. He's taught you everything hasn't he?"

I laughed. "I'm just starting, Auntie. There's a lot to learn. But come on down. I'll make you a cup of tea and show you round down below while Dave checks the engines and everything. That'll take a while."

Coz he had the cockpit hatches up now, and he was down in the engine room doing guy stuff, and okay, I knew it wasn't just for guys, really, coz he'd showed me how to do some of it. I'd helped him change the oil yesterday afternoon. He'd said he'd teach me more over the next few weeks if I wanted. I'd told him yes, coz actually, I was interested.

"This is our cabin." I said, showing her the stateroom, and I guess she hadn't seen it when she came to see me on the boat when I was ill. I'd been in the small twin berth guest stateroom then, and yeah, well, the closet doors were open and all my clothes were hanging there next to his and one of my bra's was lying on the bed. Must've left it there after I'd done our laundry.

"Oh," she said, sort of flatly, glancing at me. "You really have moved in with him, haven't you? You're not just staying on the boat with him."

I smiled and took her hands in mine. "Auntie," I said. "It's okay. I want to be with him. I really do want to be here with him, okay." I smiled and blushed at one and the same time. "I'm eighteen, Auntie. I'm old enough to make my own mind, and we'll see how it works out."

"You're going home at the end of summer, Jenny," she said. "You're only supposed to be here for a few months, and your Mom and Dad are coming down in Spring for a week. I know you and him..." She hesitated. "This is more than just a boyfriend girlfriend thing, isn't it, Jenny?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's getting complicated, but I'll figure it out. We'll be back in a couple of weeks. We can talk about it then."

"It's your Mom and Dad you're going to have to talk to if this gets really serious, Jenny," she said.

"Yeah, you're right." I smiled. "Come on, let's get up on deck. Dave wanted to leave as soon as everything's ready, and I want to show you all the stuff up there. The kitchen's so cool. They call it a galley when it's on a boat. No idea why."

"Okay, okay," she said, and now she was smiling.

"See you when we get back, Auntie," I said, hugging her after I'd helped her down onto the dock, and then Dave was there with me, and my hand was in his.

"I'll look after her, Suzy," he said, and that look on his face made my heart melt. "She'll call you almost every day, okay, and we'll let you know where we are and if we're going to be out of cell phone range for a while." He squeezed my hand. "You take her out, Jenny. I'll get the mooring lines in."

"Okay," I said, with a last hug for Aunt Suzy, and then I was scrambling back onto 'No Tan Lines', and up the ladder to the flybridge as she stood on the dock, watching.

Up on the flybridge, I ran through firing her up after I'd run the blower, waving down to Auntie Suzy after the engines had both rumbled to life, and I'd checked all the gauges. Rpms, oil pressure, water, radios and everything else on, and I'd written myself up a checklist to follow. Dave had the mooring lines in now, coiled and stored away as I gave Aunt Suzy a last wave, then concentrated on easing her out and away from the dock, turning her slowly, easing forward and away. Auntie Suzy was still standing there watching as I turned her into the channel that would take us out of the marina and into the river.

I waved one last time, saw her answering wave, and we were out of sight. Down the river, following the channel, easing the engine levers forward, watching the rpm's climb, and then again, more power as we approached the cut. Choppy waves ahead, four or five feet, but I'd done this before, and I took her towards the cut as Dave finished bringing all the fenders in and tying them down. He gave me a wave from the bow as we entered the cut, and then he was there, on the flybridge, sitting back next to me, watching as I took her through, and I smiled as I powered her through the standing waves, confident now.

Out through the cut, in the Atlantic now, a calm winter's day, the sea almost a mirror, smooth and flat with barely a ripple. I pointed her straight out, easing the engine levers forward, increasing our speed through the water until we were sitting on fifteen knots, our wake a white V curling out behind us.

"I'll take her now, Jenny," Dave said, and we changed seats.

In that second seat, to the left of the helmsman's seat that Dave now sat in, I smiled as he double checked all the dials and gauges and displays before he opened up the twin 1900 horsepower Caterpillar diesels. Pressed back in my seat, I felt that surge of power and speed as 'No Tan Lines' responded, surging forward, heading out into the Atlantic, the bow lifting. We began to plane, leaving a long white wake behind us in the calm blue sea, straight as a ruler. I just sat there, enthralled, barely able to believe this was me, Jenny Dao, sitting here in this totally wild boat heading for the Bahamas for a couple of weeks over Christmas, sitting next to this amazing guy I'd move in with who loved me, and whom I loved.

If any of my friends saw me, they wouldn't believe it.

They'd probably call me crazy.

I barely believed it myself, and what a difference a couple of weeks and a chance meeting made and god, sitting here in the shade of the bimini, that sea breeze blowing across my face, I felt better than I had in a year. Without thought, my hand reached out, sought and found his, and I was smiling, and that smile felt completely natural, as if it'd always been there, and my hand felt as if it'd always belonged in his.

"Nassau, here we come," Dave said, glancing at me, smiling, and when I smiled back, I could see the happiness on his face. "Eight hours, we'll be there early this evening."

"That fast?" I said.

He laughed. "We're cruising at twenty-five knots now. I could push this baby to forty and get there in five, maybe six hours depending on the currents." He smiled at me. "But where's the fun in that."

His hand gave mine a squeeze. I smiled, loving that look on his face, enjoying the happiness there. Enjoying knowing it was me that was making him happy.

Was he serious about me moving in permanently with him? Not just until the end of summer? Was I seriously thinking about it myself? He'd sort of more than hinted. He'd sort of said he'd move the boat to wherever, if I wanted to stay on with him. That was pretty serious. Was I ready for that kind of serious? I mean, I was only eighteen. Hadn't ever even dated that seriously before, and here I was, shacked up on a boat for two weeks and maybe a lot longer with this guy who was twenty years older than me, and thinking about maybe moving in with him forever or something. Was I crazy?

I still had Grade Twelve to finish for god's sake.

I had to know before I thought about anything else. Was that what he really wanted? I slid off my seat, moved over in front of him. He glanced at me, read my face, and he reached past me, flicked the autopilot on and looked at me, his hands on my waist now, waiting for me to speak. We kept on heading outwards, out into the Atlantic, away from Florida. Away from everything I knew, and it was just him and me, and me, I was heading into completely unknown territory.

There wasn't any passport for this.

"Dave?" I said, and it just came out. "Were you serious? About me moving in with you? I mean, not just staying with you for the next few months, but moving in, moving in. Like, you and me, forever. That kind of moving in?"

"Yeah," he said, squeezing my hand, his other hand balancing me as I stood there, looking at him, and he was looking at me. Really looking. "I was. Totally serious."

I felt a tremor in his hand, and it was his hand that was shaking. Me, my stomach was this total black hole of nervousness. What the heck was I saying?

"I'm still in High School, Dave," I said. "I mean, I'm eighteen and everything, but I still have to finish Twelfth Grade."

Now he looked at me, concerned, nervous? As nervous and slightly scared as I was.

"I know," he said, slowly, his fingers tracing across my cheek, brushing my hair back. "I know you're only eighteen, Jenny. I know you still have your last year of High School to finish." He paused, a long pause. "I love you Jenny, and I don't want to lose you, but I know I'm a lot older than you. Maybe too old. Maybe you're too young. Too young for this. Too young for me."

He smiled, a sad smile. "I'll understand if you want to go back to your home, to your parents after this is over. Maybe for you this will be a few months of romance over winter and spring, and at the end of summer, it's over, but me, I've fallen in love with you, Jenny. Never thought I'd be this head over heels about anyone, ever, but I am, head over heels in love with you."

"You don't think it's rushing things?" I asked. "You've only known me for a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks, a couple of months, two years," he said. "Sometimes you just know, and I know I'll be just as much in love with you in ten years' time as I am now, I know that. I know what I feel whenever I look at you." He smiled. "When I see you lying there asleep, when I see you standing here in front of me, all I want to do is watch your face, watch you, watch over you, protect you and care for you, encourage you, watch you be yourself, do everything together with you, share everything with you, and just be with you every moment." He grinned. "Almost every moment, and it hurts to think you'll be leaving and going back north."

He hesitated. "I'd move there if you wanted me to. If you wanted to stay with me but go home."

"Even to Minneapolis?" I asked. "It's not the Caribbean."

"Even there," he said, his lips brushing mine again, both his hands once more resting on my hips. "We could take 'No Tan Lines" up the Mississippi to Minneapolis. Put her on the hard. I'd find something to do over winter. Take a job even."

I smiled, reaching for his face, holding his face with both my hands, looking into his eyes, and his arms were around me now, holding me, and I wanted him to hold me like this forever.

"Reallio trulio? You mean that?"

"Every word, Jenny. Every word."

"You'd really like me to stay with you?" I asked. "You do mean that? Here, on your boat? With you? Living with you?" I wanted to be sure. As sure as I could be.

"Yes," he said, very softly, very simply. Very honestly.

"Not just for now, not just for the next few months, not just until the end of summer?" I persisted, heart pounding, swelling. "Forever?"

"Forever," he breathed. "You and me, together. Forever." His nose touched mine. "Will you stay with me, Jenny?"

"You're serious, aren't you?" I murmured, burying my face against his shoulder, pressing myself against him as his arms slid around me.

"More serious than I've been about anything in my life, Jenny," he said. "I know if you say yes to me, your parents are going to have something to say about it. They won't agree."

"Not easily," I said. "But I'm eighteen. I can make up my own mind."

"I don't want to damage your relationship with your parents, Jenny," he said. "I love you, but I don't want to mess up your life."

"You're not going to mess up my life, Dave," I said, just enjoying his arms around me, holding me. His body against mine. Knowing he loved me and I loved him. Knowing this was where I was supposed to be, and I knew what I needed to do for myself, but I needed to think, too. "It's already been messed up. I lost an entire year of my life and it left me in pieces, but with you, I feel whole again. You are my life, you're my lifeline."