Chapter 11: The Gold Coast

Stephen opted not to catch the 6:25 am flight to Brisbane on Monday morning. He hated early morning starts and that would mean leaving home before 5 am and getting two girls ready to go at that time would mean getting up before 4 am. No thank you, he thought.

Instead, they caught the 9:30 am flight direct from Canberra to Brisbane. They were in the Brisbane terminal car rental desk, luggage in hand right on 11:30 am and at 12:45 pm they were checking into their accommodation in Surfers Paradise, a skyscraper with a glorious beach front vista.

"This is beautiful; look at the view from our balcony" Katherine exclaimed as soon as she walked into their flat on the third top floor of the apartment tower. A balcony off the lounge room looked out over the beach and the ocean.

Chloe walked straight into the twin room, throwing her suitcase on the bed and started unpacking. She wanted to get down to the beach as soon as possible, so she quickly went into the bathroom to change into her bikini. Then she got her beach things ready.

Stephen, meanwhile, had taken his bag into the main bedroom and started to unpack, when Katherine walked in with her bag.

"I thought you were going to sleep with your daughter? Do you want me to use the sofa after all?" he asked, surprised that she seemed to be going to unpack in what he thought was going to be his room.

"Of course not, but I decided that I didn't want to share with Chloe. This bed looks very comfortable and inviting. It's definitely more than big enough for two" she replied coquettishly.

"Maybe, but I'll have difficulty keeping my hands off your gorgeous body if you do" he stated plainly.

"Do you really think I have a gorgeous body" she continued to tease.

"Of course you do, woman and you should know it. But as I said, how am I supposed to resist molesting you?"

"Perhaps I don't want you to resist" she smiled shyly at him, hoping by now he would get the message. She had decided that he wasn't going to take the initiative that she was hoping for, so she would just have to make it plain. She was available and wanted him.

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this just because you're grateful, you know" he offered before realising that sounded a bit patronising.

But she ignored the unintended implication and moved closer to him and put her arms around him, gazing up into his eyes as she explained "I am very sure and I had hoped by now that you would realise that it's what I want. Sure I'm grateful, especially for you giving me a second chance after the way I treated you nine days ago, but that's not the reason I want this. I am increasingly attracted to you, you big lug, so why don't you kiss me? Unless of course you don't want..."

The rest of her comment was cut-off as Stephen's lips found hers and soon his tongue found hers as well as he pulled her hard against his body, no longer worrying about her feeling his growing arousal against her tummy. The kiss went on and on; by far the most passionate they had shared. Finally they came up for air, only for Katherine to decide that she wanted another, so she pulled his head back down, opening her mouth and pressing her lips firmly against his, glorying in the taste of him.

"Knock it off you two. I want my lunch so I can go swimming" a laughing but very happy girl yelled out through the bedroom door that had been left wide open. She was pleased to see her mum being so thoroughly kissed and then realised that she had taken her bag into his room, so was even more pleased by the implications that presented.

"Oh goodie, does this mean I don't have to share my bedroom and listen to you snoring all night, mum?" she asked with glee.

"What? She snores? Sorry, out you go" he said playfully, pretending to hustle Katherine out of his bedroom.

"You know how to break up a budding romance, don't you dear" Katherine suggested to her daughter, but with a very satisfied smile on her face.

"Sorry, mum I just..."

"Joking, darling, but yes, I hope I'm going to be allowed to sleep on the big bed" she interjected, before giving her daughter a cuddle.

"Don't know how much sleeping you'll be doing" Stephen said facetiously.

"Stephen! That's not a very nice thing to suggest in front of my teenage daughter" she blushed, but pretended to be annoyed.

"I merely meant that if you snore like Chloe suggested, I'll be waking you up all the time so I'm able to get some sleep" he responded, laughingly.

"As if" Chloe jumped in and soon they were all laughing, cuddling and looking forward to this short holiday even more.

Although she had put her brief bikini and sandals on, she had put a beach wrap over the top and was carrying her beach bag with towel, purse, sunscreen, glasses and hat, so was quite decorously dressed, but still ready for the beach, as they all went down to a street cafe overlooking the glorious beach, more than ready for a late lunch.

"Tomorrow we've got a full day at Warner Brothers Movie World, so I guess by the time we get back if will be a late light dinner and then bed. The next day I suggest we do Sea World, but there should be time for us to lounge on the beach and have a swim when we get back. Thursday I guess we'll spend most of the day at Wet'n'Wild Water World.

"We can use the beach on Friday morning before we have to drive back to Brisbane airport and fly home. Does that suit everybody?" Stephen asked them, as they sat waiting for their lunch to be delivered.

Having got agreement from all, they tucked into their lunch that arrived at that moment.

"Can I have a key to the apartment, please, just in case you're not there when I get back?" Chloe asked, when she'd finished eating.

"Where are you going, dear? What are your plans?" her mother asked.

"I'm going off for a walk on the beach and a swim and then some sun bathing. I'm sure you two can find something else to do. See you back in the apartment about 5 pm, if that's alright?" Chloe said, smiling at them both, imagining what they might be doing back in their apartment during the afternoon.

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" her mother asked solicitously, worried about her daughter being alone on this huge beach with all the tourists around.

"Mum, I'm fifteen, not five. I promise to stay out of trouble. Make sure you do too" she laughed as she skipped away, so happy the way things were turning out. She wanted to give them some quality time alone, seeing the next three days looked like they were going to be jammed packed for them all.

"So what are we going to do, handsome?" Katherine asked him, a real twinkle in her eye, hoping he would suggest a horizontal exercise that she hadn't enjoyed for quite some time. If it came to that, she thought, it had really been many, many years since she'd actually 'enjoyed' making love rather than being used and abused.

"Well I suppose we could go back to our room and tidy it up" he suggested adding "we did leave it in a bit of a mess and we haven't finished unpacking."

"Or do you mean you'd like to make it even less tidy?"

"Well we could do that first if you insist" he said feigning disinterest.

But he wasn't feigning disinterest thirty minutes later as they lay naked on the bed, their bodies and limbs intertwined, their lips glued to each other until finally Stephen found himself buried deep inside her; he was so totally involved with what they was doing that he couldn't remember his last sexual encounter two years ago in Thailand, nor could he even think about the last time he had enjoyed Susan's body. It was solely about the delights of Katherine and how good they felt together, especially like this.

"Now that you've finally had your wicked way with me I suppose you'll discard me and find another, better model. What if you've made me pregnant?" Katherine sighed with mock resignation, as they lay side by side facing each other, reflecting in the glory of what they had just enjoyed. She knew that it wasn't possible for her to be pregnant, though, as he'd told her about having a vasectomy after his two children had been born.