Chapter 49

Liz was all smiles when we came back to the deck half an hour later. The slow handjob had led to a longer shower (since we didn’t have to worry about drought conditions on the boat).

Liz pulled on a light blue string bikini top and dark blue shorts over the similar bottoms. She left the top button undone and carefully pulled the strings out the side so they were visible. Dom, Skye, Jill and Brian were already seated around a table with glasses of iced tea and water in front of them.

Liz gave Skye a hug from behind and a warm kiss on the cheek.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Liz said with genuine warmth in her voice.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Skye said.

Skye Bennett was everything Liz said she would be (and perhaps a little bit more). I hadn’t had time to speak to her more than offer a hello before we boarded the 112-foot yacht for the two-day voyage from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. She was dressed for travelling when I’d seen her earlier in a pair of long mesh basketball shorts, a gray T-shirt and an Atlanta Braves baseball cap. She had on oversized sunglasses at the time so I couldn’t get much of an impression about her face or her figure.

Both were impressive. She had brown hair cut in a bob that shaped her face. Her face was less beautiful than it was pretty. She just looked like a person you’d want to know. She had the figure of an athlete. Her arms were toned and her stomach flat. I already knew she had long legs and the view I got when she shifted to return Liz’s backward hug confirmed that they were also graceful and well-formed.

It was her voice, however, that made me stop in my tracks and stare at her. Her tones were soft and sultry and she had the cutest accent I’d ever heard.

I saw Jill roll her eyes and I shook myself out my stupor.

“It’s a shame phone sex lines are extinct,” Jill said. “She would make a killing!”

I blushed and decided to take off my shirt to match the other males at the table. Well, actually, I thought I might start a trend with the females, too, but that didn’t happen.

“Daggone,” Skye said when I turned back around. “Dom said you dinged up your shoulder but my goodness that’s not a ding!”

I glanced down as I usually did. The sun from the day before had turned the skin around the injury a darker shade. It was more noticeable than usual.

Skye stood and took a step closer, dipping at the waist. I thought she wanted a closer look (which seemed pretty creepy and pretty personal). Instead she pointed to a half-circle scar on the top of her left shoulder.

“Mine hurt like a mother,” she said. “I can only imagine how much damage caused that thing!”

“A lot,” Liz answered for me.

“Rotator cuff?” I asked, using my nose to gesture at her shoulder.

“Junior year of college,” Skye said, smiling as she glanced at her own injury. “Best thing that ever happened to me.”

It seemed like a strange answer but I let it go.

“She met Dom while she was doing her PT,” Liz supplied.

“I got stuck in a rain storm,” Skye said. “It was hailing and windy and my car just decided it had gone as far as it was going to go. I was outside with the hood up trying to figure it out. I was soaked to the skin and people were just driving past me.”

She gave Dom a pat on the shoulder when she sat down.

“Then this guy pulls up and gets out,” Skye continued, now with her hand on Dom’s forearm. “He was still on crutches but he made his way over. I was such a ninny!”

“No one can blame you for being cautious,” Dom said, putting his hand atop hers and rubbing his thumb across her wrist.

“We couldn’t fix the car,” Skye said. “I mean, neither of us knows anything about internal combustion engines. He offered to let me wait in his car for the tow truck but I wouldn’t get in it with him. So, he stood in the rain while I sat in his nice warm car.”

Skye shook her head again.

“You didn’t know me,” Dom said. “You’ll notice I didn’t get angry or tell you to go to hell. It made perfect sense to me.”

“He was such a gentleman,” Skye said. “He stayed even when the tow truck got there and offered to follow us to the garage in case I couldn’t find a way home. I felt like a complete fool but I turned him down.”

“How did you guys... ?” I asked.

“We had PT at the same times,” Dom said. “I’d seen Skye. I mean, it’s not like any person wouldn’t notice her.”

“True,” I said, hoping I didn’t come off sounding like a creep.

“The next week, she sat down beside me while we waited,” Dom said. “We struck up a conversation. I was getting fitted for my foot the following week and she offered to be my workout buddy while I learned to use it.”

“Your foot?” I asked.

Dom leaned over and rapped his fist against his lower leg. It sounded far different than skin on skin.

“Dom lost part of his lower leg in Afghanistan,” Skye said.

“Oh, man,” I said. “I had no idea. Christ, I must seem like a total wuss to you.”

Dom chuckled.

“Mine doesn’t bother me anymore,” Dom said. “Skye’s arm acts up from time to time. She’s not a wuss. Honestly, when I saw your shoulder ... I was glad it wasn’t me.”

“Dinged it up,” Skye said, lifting her eyebrows from behind her sunglasses.

“He’s going to get it fixed,” Liz said.

I looked at her and sighed.

“Yoga pants and bikini bottoms the entire time he’s in a cast,” she told the table. “Cycling shirts and bikini tops, too. That’s my deal if he’ll get it taken care of.”

“You know, my leg’s been giving me a little bit of a problem,” Dom said, looking hopefully at Skye. “I might get it looked at if you’d offer the same thing.”

Brian cupped his hand behind his ear.

“Huh?” he asked before turning to Jill. “I can’t hear a damned word they’re saying. Maybe I should have a doctor go back in there.”

Jill elbowed him.

“Maybe you should wash the wax out once in a while,” she countered.

The joking ended when our two stewards appeared wearing dark blue pullovers and white shorts.

“Would anyone like something to eat or a refill?” the one I deemed to be the oldest asked. “We have beer, wine and cocktails available.”

“We’re fine,” Liz told them with a smile. “You don’t need to worry about us. If we want something we’ll get it ourselves. Why don’t you both relax and join us. We’re going to get some sun in a few minutes.”

I saw the younger girl look back to the wheelhouse where her father was stationed. I suspected that interaction with a paying customer on a personal level was strictly forbidden. I could imagine the types of people the charter usually served and I could also imagine what some of the wealthy men and boys would like to do with the two young women.

“Maybe if we spoke to your employer he’d permit it,” Liz offered.

“He’s our dad,” the younger one confirmed.

“We’re not supposed to bother the guests,” the older one said.

“You’re no bother,” Liz said. “If you want to relax and visit with us while we’re sunbathing, I’d like for you to.”

“We brought our own people to fetch and carry stuff for us on the trip,” Skye chimed in, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend on the cheek.

“We’re trying to break them of the bad habit of thinking for themselves,” Jill added, also pressing her lips to Brian’s cheek.

I lowered my sunglasses down the bridge of my nose and looked at Liz over them with one eyebrow lifted.

“Oh, please!” Liz said. “I’ve already broken you; you’ll do anything I want you to. Come with me to talk to their dad and get his OK.”

I stood and the rest of the table broke into laughter. Even the two girls snickered.

Liz got high fives from her two friends and I got head shakes from mine.

“Dude!” Brian said.

“Seriously!” Dom chimed in between his chuckles.

“I’m going because I want to,” I said in my best henpecked voice. “Not because she’s making me!”

“Uh-huh,” Liz said.

Liz put her arm through mine as we walked away.

The captain was a little dubious at first until Liz assured him that the girls had not asked but instead had been invited. Then he gave his assent so long as they agreed to return to work without complaint when the time came.

Liz slipped her hand into mine when we walked back.

“I hope I didn’t embarrass you,” she said.

“No!” I said, chuckling. “It was well played, my dear.”

“I thought so,” Liz told me. “I just didn’t want you to threaten to spank my butt again.”

“Maybe a pinch or a fondle later,” I said. “No spanks.”

“Pinching is OK; fondling is better,” Liz said. “On the way back, a little fucking would be great!”

The girls were still standing at the table when we arrived on the deck.

“He said it’s OK so long as you return to work when he needs you,” Liz said.

“Really?” the older one asked. I saw her nametag said her name was Jessica.

“He is really strict about keeping us from bothering the guests,” the younger one said. Her name was evidently Kristin.

“I think it’s more about keeping the guests from bothering you,” I noted. The girls exchanged looks as recognition dawned on them.

“Oh!” Jessica said. “Yeah, I guess that’s probably true. Most groups are drunk and half naked by this time.”

“Most of them show up drunk and half naked,” Kristin mentioned.

“Why don’t you get changed and grab yourselves something to drink,” Liz said. “We’ll wait for you before we find some sunshine.”

The girls didn’t bother to leave. They just undressed in front of us. Both had on bikinis beneath their outer clothing.

“Sometimes the guests want to stop and swim in the ocean,” Jessica said. “We have to act as lifeguards, too.”

“Sounds like you get to deal with some real winners,” Dom said as he shifted closer to Skye. Jill moved her chair closer to Brian while Liz and I pulled two chairs over from a nearby table. I moved my chair closer to Liz (not to make room but because I liked to be close to her). She kissed my cheek before heading down below. I figured it had to do with feminine hygiene so I stayed put.

She returned a moment later with two waters and two bottles of iced tea. She offered her bounty to our newcomers first and Jessica took water while Kristin selected a tea. Then she made the same off to me.

“Whichever one you don’t want is fine with me,” I said.

Liz hugged me from behind after she put the water in front of me.

“You are so whipped,” Jill said.

“He’s just a sweetie,” Liz said in my defense.

“I was talking about you,” Jill replied. “I thought we were going to show these girls how to use their looks and bodies to get guys to do anything they wanted. Then you go and spoil it by toting a water up here for him.”

“You have to excuse Jill,” Liz said. “This is why we don’t let her out in public very often.”

Jill raised her hand to give Liz the finger, remembered she was sitting with people she didn’t know, and changed the gesture at the last minute. Instead she just pointed at her.

“Yeah, yeah,” Liz said, laughing. “Behave myself, I know.”

I watched with Brian and Dom as five very shapely behinds descended the stairs to the yacht’s tanning deck.

“This is going to be a long week,” I muttered.

“You ain’t kidding,” Brian agreed.

“Shit, this is going to be a cakewalk for me!” Dom said. “I usually get all three of them ganging up on my dumb ass every time they get together. Liz and Skye ... they always act like this. I mean, they don’t really know each other very well. Liz knows Skye mostly through me. Skye knows Liz the same way. But every time I’m on the detail for a trip, Skye is invited. Her schedule is pretty rough so she can’t go often and Liz honestly seems disappointed when she can’t. Skye gets bummed out if she misses the chance to visit. Last weekend, when you were in Nashville, she kept asking me to call and tell Liz I was available if she wanted to go out.”

“You should have,” I said. “We were just bumming around the house most of the time. You could have come out to visit at the very least. You might have kept the creepy fucking cook from giving me the stink eye all weekend. I thought ... I thought he and Liz might have...”