Jeanette and I had originally planned our whole honeymoon as a hiking trip. Jeanette's brother Greg had been aghast. He had insisted on paying for two nights in a resort-style hotel near the trail. Now I think he was right.

The first night was painful for her. The day was a glorious day with Jeanette and luxury; I'm afraid that our newlywed status was obvious to everyone. The second night as we were getting ready for bed I put the wrapped condom on the night table.

"Do you mind, Bob?" she said. "I'm still sore."

"'Marriage is about sex.' But sex isn't about intercourse. There's a lot of petting we can do."

"Putting that down seems to say, 'I'm going to have you tonight.' I feel owned."

"We need it until you get something. Do you want me to hide it somewhere?"

"That would be worse. 'I'm going to have you sneakily.' I don't know. I know you're not like that. It's just how I feel."

"It's how you feel. That's not 'just.' How Jeanette Brennan feels is important. Do you want to handle them?"

"Hmmm?"

"It does mean that you'd have to be overt in your decisions."

I was able to tease her out of her nightgown that night. We didn't have intercourse, but I held my beloved skin to skin. I stroked parts that night which had been denied me for three years. We were kissing when she finally reached her orgasm, and I felt her gasp in my mouth. She was frantic for a minute. We were still kissing as she relaxed.

Wonderful as it had been to climax deep in her body the night before, I could accept a delay that paid erotic dividends like that gasp of delight.

The box of condoms had been among my things in the bathroom that night but not the next morning. She said nothing, and I buried the second box at the bottom of my pack.

That morning we sent our suitcases back to my family on the bus, paid our bill with Greg's card, and started up to the trail. That night was our first in a tent. It was easier to undress Jeanette that night. Our petting was informed by some sense on both our parts as to what brought her response.

On the second night on the trail there was a condom by my side of the tent flap before I crawled into the sleeping bag, and I found a naked wife beside me afterward. I took that as a license to seduce rather than an invitation to instant sex. I explored all parts of her with my hands and her upper half with my mouth before I was sure that she was ready.

I eased into her more slowly than I had on our wedding night, since she now had no barrier which required an initial thrust. We made the adjustments which the novelty of our position required. When I began my stroke, she tried to match my rhythm and soon succeeded. I thrust into that glorious smooth clasping, and her hips thrust back. I withdrew to the tight portal, and she dropped back. I pulled her to me by her shoulders, and she hugged me and tightened her legs.

I thrust deep into her as I came in convulsive spasms, and she sank back down in relaxation.

As soon as my breath returned, I resumed kissing and petting. Within minutes, she had her own orgasm. That was the pattern of our nights. She was a compliant lover, turning eager in the course of my petting. She would reach her peak before or after intercourse but not during.

The very intensity of my desire was part of the problem. I had wanted this girl for years; I walked beside her all day; I petted her and sucked on her breasts. At that point I was too turned on to last very long. However, I was learning the pattern of her response, and she seemed no nearer orgasm when I lost my control than she was when I entered her. I longed for the day when our intercourse was as exquisitely exciting for her as it was for me.

I kept these thoughts to myself. Jeanette was a friendly companion by day and an amorous bride by night. I am not idiotic enough to concentrate on the hole when the doughnut was so delightful.

We had scheduled a break for the end of the first week of our hike. Six miles down a country road from the trail was a motel with a store and laundromat. Hikers use it to get themselves and their clothes clean and to take a break from the trail as well as to start and end hikes. We were going to take a day off, wash clothes, take showers, and sleep in a bed. I had special hopes for that break. I hoped that the greater mobility and the greater comfort possible in a real bed would provide an opportunity for the breakthrough that I had been awaiting.

We turned down the road that led to the motel in the early evening. There wasn't time left in the day to do the jobs we'd scheduled for the break time. Getting to the motel after dark would just cost us two nights' rent. We'd look for a place to camp along the road.

At twilight, we found a good camping spot, left our packs, and went to the farmhouse that looked attached to those woods to ask permission.

One of the problems of a fully-equipped hike with a beautiful woman is that the pack and frame hide her hips from behind. This walk, however, gave an unhindered view. On a country road near dark, safety required that we go single file; and politeness required that the lady precede the gentleman. Jeanette may have noticed the day birds returning to their nests. I spent the entire quarter of a mile watching her hips tighten, relax, and sway slightly as they swung her marvelous legs in their all-day pace.

People like newlyweds. The farmer gave us permission, and his wife gave us two glasses of iced tea.

The walk back was as scenic as the walk down, with Jeanette's hips moving with the slightly difference of walking uphill. You have to look closely to see the difference, but I managed.

My mind held another thought as well. I had been afraid of our sex life turning into something which was done for Bob. "Sometime," I thought -- as I had before -- "she has to realize that she is giving me permission to seduce her, not acceding to my pressure to have sex." This would require a night when we petted, and it was my decision not to go further. That was a hard decision with the sexiest woman in the southeastern United States in my arms. "This, however," I thought, "might be the night."

The next day we would be in motel, in bed, after showers, behind locked doors. I'd be shaven. We'd check in before noon, and she might be amenable to a long matinee. Tonight might be a good time for me to call a halt. Then I concentrated again on her hips.

Setting up camp with a partner who knows what she is doing, what you are doing, and why, makes the Ice Capades look messy and inefficient. If our team lowered its efficiency with an occasional smooch or hug, we hadn't brought a stopwatch. We were trading off tasks day by day so that I was that night's cook.

After dinner I scrubbed the pans and then took the little spade to the next clearing in. After I had covered over the hole I returned to find her, as usual, in the sleeping bag before me. The tent was not all that much bigger than the double sleeping bag, and we had our heads out the flap on a fine night like that one. I stripped outside the tent, slipped into the bag, and stowed my clothes from there.

Finding her mouth in the dark had been a problem in the beginning, and we now made a game of it. Where it had taken me 20 seconds to get from her hairline to her mouth on the first night on the trail, it now took me several minutes to find my way from her shoulder. I was kissing all the way, of course. The mouth that I found was as firmly shut as her giggles allowed, and I had to push my tongue between her lips. Then the game was over.

Her teeth opened, and her tongue darted to meet mine. When she pulled me down into a hug, I felt her firm nipples pressed into my chest by her soft breasts. I always have a tremor of fear that I am going to damage them or crush their lovely shape. Jeanette didn't seem to worry about that, however. She hugged me tight against her.

With a slight shift, I freed my right hand so I could pet her side. At that moment I was as helpless as I had ever been stroking inside her. I could not have stopped that hand for a year's tuition. Yet I was not touching her breasts and was passing over the least sexy part of her hips. I was not groping her sexual parts, but I was holding Jeanette. And I had to feel Jeanette right then. She rolled her leg back and forth so her thigh rubbed against my erection, but that was mostly an acknowledgement. When we broke the kiss, I settled down on my side. She nestled back against me with her head on my arm. I held her right breast and licked the back of her ear. She held my hand against her breast and occasionally shoved her butt against me a little harder. After a few minutes, I drew my head back. My eyes had adjusted to the light, and the clearing outside looked bright -- if monochrome -- in the starlight.