Day 4

I woke up the next morning when I felt Cait move next to me. She had rolled over onto her side during the night. I must've moved with her as I was spooning with her. Cait's breathing was deep and regular indicating that she was still asleep. I felt her breast in my left hand that was draped around her side. I opened my eyes and could see that there was a glow outside that said that dawn was soon approaching. I slowly got up, sliding my arm from underneath her head. She only murmured slightly. I reached for my "dop kit" where I had stowed it yesterday, and put on some water sandals. I unzipped the tent as quietly as I could and grabbed my swimsuit from the branch that it was hanging on outside. It was a little damp from the morning dew, but I wasn't gonna put it on anyway. I got down to the waters edge and slowly entered the water.

'DAMN' I thought to myself as I sucked in my breath. I crawled out over the rocks to the one furthest out that was still dry. There I put my kit and suit so I could easily reach them when needed. I squatted on a nearby, submerged, rock and started going about washing myself. After last nights activities with Cait I needed to be clean 'down there' and also I just needed to shampoo my hair and soap down the rest of me.

When I was done with the soaping and needed a rinse, I dove forward. I screamed out underwater as my body plunged into the cool water. I surfaced and began to vigorously rub my extremities to help them warm and also get used to the coolness. Within a few moments I felt used to the water. I headed back to the rock with my suit and kit on it.

I climbed up and looked away from camp as I watched the sun rise over the treetops on my right. Off to my left I saw some movement at the water line and watched as a mother moose and her calf entered the water. They were soon swimming out across the cove on that side of the lake. As they disappeared into the forest, I reached into my kit to dig out my razor. I didn't have any shaving cream, or hot water, so I just went for a 'raw shave'. I inserted a new cartridge into the handle and started to scrape the whiskers off of my face.

I was just about finished and I was cleaning out the twin blades for a few more passes over my chin, when I was pushed from behind. As I tumbled forward I caught a momentary glimpse of my attacker before hitting the water.

Part of me wanted to surface immediately and swear bloody murder at my attacker, but part of me was replaying the image of my attacker, which prevented me from surfacing.

'God DAMN!' I thought to myself. 'She's fucking gorgeous.' Knowing that I needed air soon I surfaced and shook the water out of my eyes. What I saw was nothing short of a vision. Kari stood there with my swimsuit strategically placed in front of her sex, and one arm draped over one breast. She looked like a dark haired, more slender version of Botticelli's Venus with a smile like the Mona Lisa. I was in total awe.

She broke the spell when she laughed and threw my swimming trunks to me. I briefly saw the dark strip of hair that pointed downwards to her womanhood before the trunks covered my eyes as they landed on my head. I heard her laugh again as I quickly uncovered myself, only to see her scampering back towards camp. I focused on her extremely cute, and very white, ass as I struggled to put on my suit in the water. By the time I got it on and looked back, Kari was already wrapped in a towel and heading back into her tent.

I got out of the water with a smile on my face and went to get the cook kit out and see what we had for breakfast. I got the kettle out and a big pot, I filled them with water and started the kettle heating on the stove. After a while Kari came out of her tent but she was now dressed in swimsuit, shorts, cap, and water moccasins. She had a slight flush to her face, which I wondered about, but dismissed as embarrassment at me seeing her nude earlier.

I got out the Bisquick powder and my container of blueberries. I started to mix up a batch of pancakes as Kari started to make us some tea. I added some of my blueberries to the batter as Kari brought over two steaming mugs.

As she stood near me, I wrapped an arm around her legs and pulled her closer to me, just to be closer to her, when I also got a whiff of the more pungent scent of an aroused woman. I then realized that the flush from earlier was the afterglow of Kari pleasuring herself. I also realized that she took a lot longer in her tent to get dressed in what she was wearing. I released her legs from my grip and looked up at her.

"What" she asked.

I took a sip of my tea, and slowly shook my head, I couldn't help but get a slight grin on my face as I tried to look as innocent as possible and replied, "I didn't say a word."

"But you have that look." She shot back narrowing her eyes at me like I had just kicked her puppy dog.

"I'm not the one with 'THAT look'" I said and arched an eyebrow back at her. "Ya know," I continued, "you should really have joined me for a dip in the water to cool yourself and to bathe."

"Do I smell that bad?" she asked worriedly.

"Nah," I answered still trying to contain my humor, "but, whoever you are canoeing with will think that we got together earlier."

She got a puzzled look on her face, until I stared at her crotch and sniffed. I couldn't hold it in any more and started to chuckle. Kari's face paled as her eyes opened wide and her mouth fell open a bit. "Oh my," she whispered.

I started to laugh again. Kari then stepped back and said, "I'll be back."

She rushed to her tent and came out with a small kit, and headed to the water. I just smiled back and waved slightly as she looked over at me sheepishly before heading to the waters edge.

I then looked at what we had in the cook kit to make a blueberry sauce. I remember my mom adding cornstarch, water, sugar, and some lemon juice to blueberries, and then just boiling it so it thickens to the right consistency. Looking in the kit I saw no cornstarch or lemon juice. So as a good scientist I needed to improvise. I did see some lemonade powered drink mix, so I got that out along with some more Bisquick powder. By slowly adding each and tasting (Read: experimenting) as I went I made a fairly decent substitute. I put that off to the side and covered it as Kari finally got out of the water and headed back to me.

She looked a bit sheepish as she sat putting her stuff next to her. She couldn't look at me, as she picked up her tea and tossed it back all at once. I just smiled with my eyebrow raised looking at her when she took a deep breath and looked like she was about to start to cuss me out when suddenly she started to laugh instead. "Ok, Ok I guess I deserved that." she said when she calmed down a little, "But, I would like to have a few pancakes while we talk."

'Damn I was starting to love her even more' I thought to myself, as I knew now that she could laugh at herself. 'Wait a minute, ' I thought again 'did I say 'love her'?' I made a mental note so I would have to think about that later as I put some Crisco into the fry pan and let it melt, quickly greasing the pan so the 'cake wouldn't stick.

I spooned some batter and blueberries into the molten grease on the bottom of the pan moments later and then as it started to cook, I asked Kari, "So what did you find out last night?"

"Well," she sighed, "I THINK, I have no proof, and she didn't come out and tell me, but I think she's still a virgin."

I didn't say anything, but inside I said 'Whoa!'

Kari continued as she got herself and me another mug of tea. "It is just a feeling that I got, she says she still wants to go through with the tradition, but I could tell that she was a bit nervous about it. I remember my first time and I was the same kind of nervous beforehand."

She smiled at the memories, and I wanted to find out more about that part of her, but figured that it could wait. I flipped the pancake, and put the sauce back onto the other side of the stove to warm it. Instead of continuing, she asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Well," I said, "It might not be up to your standards, but it was the best I could do out here with what we've got."

Kari leaned over and reached into the sauce, she pulled back with a blueberry and the purple sauce on one finger. Popping the digit into her mouth, briefly, I was slightly jealous of that finger. She tasted the sauce and then closed her eyes. When she didn't say anything for a few seconds, I finally asked, "Well?"

"God I love blueberry sauce," she said finally opening her eyes. "And I can say with out a doubt that this is not the best that I've tasted."

I started to make excuses about not having the right ingredients. She stopped me by saying, "But I do have to say that I do love this sauce, since you made it for me after I asked for it, and it IS the best that I've had out here. Not many people could've or would've even tried to make it for me out here. So yes I love it." Her eyes shined as she looked at me and she looked as if she was going to continue saying something else, but then she looked away and pointed to the pan with pancake between us.

I looked at the pan and then scrambled to get a plate. I flipped the pancake onto the plate and handed it to her and then also passed her the tub of margarine and then the sauce. As she prepared her plate I started to make another pancake for her and asked, "So?"

Kari never really said anything she just made a purring type sound deep in her throat as she smothered another chunk of pancake in sauce and shoved it into her still partially filled mouth. I smiled and said, "No, I was asking about Dani, What do you think I should do about her?"

She opened her eyes a bit wider and chewed frantically before swallowing a big mouthful and said, "I don't know what to tell you, dear, but if I know you, and I think I have a pretty good idea about you from these last few days, I'm sure that you can come up with something."

My mind kind of shut down with one thought... 'did she just call me "dear"?'

She smiled and speared one of the last pieces on her plate and continued, "Besides, if you can come up with stuff like this, out here, I'm sure you'll figure out a way for this."

Well to be honest, when my brain bypassed the whole 'dear' comment, I had no clue. Zip. Nada. I had nothing. I wasn't the one who had done anything special, and out here they were the ones who were coming to me. Back home I was NOT considered even close to a Casanova, or even a wannabe, who wants to be, a pretend wannabe Casanova. Shit, I had no clue on how to seduce a virgin. So as a scientist I decided to do what I do best. Sit, wait, and observe; besides it seemed to have worked so far.

Kari had another pancake after the one that I was already preparing making her total three. They were big pancakes that filled the plate, so I only had two, and by that time the other girls were rousing themselves out of bed. Each of the girls had at least two and Brittany had the last bit of Caits who couldn't finish all of her second one. She was the smallest of the girls and I don't think it helped much that she stood the whole time during breakfast. Alex and Brittany were just barely able to hold in their giggles when Alex offered her a seat next to her on a log that was pulled up to the fire. Alex just smiled, almost wickedly, at me when Cait said that she was fine and was gonna be sitting soon enough and just wanted to stretch for now.

Meanwhile I tried to keep an eye on Dani. I noticed that she smiled with the general humor, but at the same time, she seemed to be withdrawn from it all. It was almost, as if she was more a spectator at a play instead of one of the actors. I also noticed that Dani was actually very cute. She had her hair down for now and it was a deep chestnut brown, thick and came to almost the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her face was smooth and she had a fairly prominent nose, but it wasn't large... more classic in an old world or Persian kind of way. It fit well with her full lips and brown eyes. On some, the nose would have been a detraction, but on Dani it seemed to enhance her beauty, at least I thought it did. From what I could tell of her body under the baggy clothes that she was wearing, I did know that she was almost as big as Brittany, but not as toned. I could see that she was like Kari in that she was more womanly. Not as athletic as the others, but also not overly large... she was just a solid, well put together, woman.

When breakfast was done, I got my stuff packed up as the girls cleaned up the breakfast stuff. I was soon ready to go I had my canoe packed with my gear and the cook kits. While I waited for Dani (who I knew would be my canoeing partner today) I watched the girls pack up their stuff and get ready. Dani helped the other girls pack but did not seem to join in as much with the joking and flirting banter that seemed to always accompany the others. As often as she could (without making it too obvious it seemed to me) she would look over at Kari and I. When Kari finally moved over to her own canoe, Dani's eyes followed her for a second before flicking back at me then when she saw me looking at her she quickly looked down and away.

Within a few minutes, everyone was ready to go. Cait, who was in a discussion with Alex, together piled into a canoe without consulting anyone else. I did notice that Cait had an extra life jacket with her and set it on the canoe seat before settling down on top of it. Brittany had gone over to Kari and was talking to her, while Dani tucked her hair up into a ponytail and stuck it through the hole in the back of her cap, looked around and then slowly wandered over to me.

I smiled brightly at her and said with as much fun and joy as I could, "Well you ready for this today?"

Dani continued to look down at the ground and sort of shuffled around before saying, " Yeah, I guess so."

The others had already started to take off while I helped her into the canoe and said, "Gee, you don't have to sound so enthusiastic." When she didn't say anything I asked her, "What's wrong, you don't seem to be having much fun this morning."

"It's nothing." Dani replied without even looking over her shoulder.

"Ok. Fine with me." I answered. I then started to quietly hum and at times I even whistled as we headed out into the lake and I looked at the map.

Today's trip involved a paddle across this lake and then up around a set of falls, along another river, to another falls and then around an old dam that was at one time used for the logging industry. On the other side of that dam was a large lake and about halfway across it on the right was our campsite for the night and just beyond that was a series of falls about 10m high that emptied into the lake. This was going to be our layover site. We didn't have to go anywhere tomorrow, and then after that it was only one more night out then we'd be back to the main camp. It was then that I realized that this trip was more than half over.

I knew where I was going and while the girls were packing up earlier I had told Kari that I was going to hang back a bit today instead of rushing forward like the day before. She had said OK and told me that she trusted me as I had done such a good job yesterday.

So I was in no rush as I saw the girls quite a way ahead of us. I just continued to lazily paddle and softly hum and sing to myself.

Within a few minutes I saw that Dani and I were alone in this section of the lake, as the rest of the group had rounded a point of land. I also saw Dani visibly relax as they got further and further out of sight. When the other canoes were out of sight for a while Dani finally asked, "Do you really want to know?"

I sat quietly for a while and just continued paddling, until she kinda turned in her seat. Again she asked, "well, do ya?"

I then said, "Look, I like you, from what I've seen you seem to be very intelligent and observant of others... kinda like me." I smiled at her. "I still don't know you very well, but I'd like to help you have a good time while you are out here. You can tell me anything you want, what is said in this canoe stays in this canoe between us. Do I want to know? Sure I do. But, at the same time I'm not gonna twist your arm to get it out of you. Only you can decide what and how much you want to tell me. Think of this as a date." Now it was Dani who smiled, and I smiled back. "Yeah I know, but indulge me here. On a date you tell stuff to the other person about yourself, you have to at times take that leap of faith that the other person won't be an ass and laugh at you or think you are weird. In other words, you have to open yourself up to be able to get close to that other person... otherwise there is always a wall, and talking to walls isn't fun."

We both actually chuckled at that and then she asked me, "Does the same go for you?

I was a bit confused, but said, "yeah, if you want to know something, I'll open up to you and 'take that leap'... you don't seem like an ass who will think that I'm weird."

She kinda snorted, but in a cute girlish way, at that and said, "How do you do what you have been doing here when it is obvious that you are in love with Kari?"

'Whoa, is it that obvious?' I thought. Instead I answered. "Well, each person I do anything with is special. I feel something for each of them."

"Yeah. Right." Dani interrupted.

"No, really." I said continuing. "I can't do 'what I've been doing' as you call it, if I didn't feel anything for the person I was with." I continued, "Besides, there is a difference between making love with someone you truly love and having sex with someone you care for."

"I don't understand," she said. "I thought it was all the same."

"Well not really." I paused for a second or two to gather my thoughts and then said. "Let's see if I can explain this right. Do you have a computer?"

"Huh? Well yeah, but what does that..."

I interrupted her by asking, "Have you ever gone online and chatted?"

"With friends?" she asked.

"Noooo" I smiled. "You know 'CHATTED'... Cybered with someone..." Finally after she didn't say anything for a second "Had cyber-sex with someone."

Dani actually giggled a bit. So I said, "Well since you didn't deny it I'll say you did. Now when you did this you knew it wasn't real."

"Well no chit."

"But at the same time you, had feelings for the person. You wondered 'What if... ' didn't you?"

"Well yeah... kinda."

"But you weren't in love with the person, you were performing an act in this case a mental act for someone who at the time you cared a little bit about."

"Well yeah."

"OK," I continued. "Now just take it a step further, IF that person instead of being online was someone you actually knew and actually had genuine feelings for, but not IN LOVE with, it would be almost the same wouldn't it?"

"Kinda... but sex is so intimate."

"It is very intimate. It is the most you can show how you feel and care for a person."

"So what do you feel for me?" She said continuing to look forward.

"I don't know yet." I answered honestly. "But like I said earlier, I do like you, you are a nice person. I mean c'mon we've been around each other for a few days and we don't hate each other do we?"

"No" she said quietly.

I noticed something in the way she said that, and said, "but... ?"

"Well," she said after taking a big breath, "you've been so nice to all of us, and I've never been this close to a guy for this long." She then stopped talking and seemed to shut down.

After a few minutes I finally tried a different approach, "What about your dad? Haven't you spent a lot of time with him?"

She rubbed her nose and I heard her sniffle once before she said, "No, my dad left us when I was three. I don't really remember him very well."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said. "It must've been tough growing up without a dad."

"Kinda," Dani said, "I guess I've just gotten used to it being just me, my little sister and my mom."

"Wow," I said, "your Mom must be a strong lady to be able to raise two little girls all alone like that."

"Well... she has had some guy friends." Dani said. She continued, "Even some came over once in a while, but they always left after a short time."

I let her continue on her own... it was like she NEEDED to say this.

"My mom says that all guys are jerks and will try to force sex on us." She became thoughtful for a bit then said, "But I think that is just because they keep leaving her after getting her in bed a few times, and it's her way to cope with it." She seemed to become more sad as she said, "But recently she's told me and my sister that we'll never have to worry about it too much as we take after our father and are 'too big' for most guys to notice us. Still, she put the both of us on diet and into sports to make us lose weight."

By this time we were coming ashore to our first portage. I was so pissed off that I could hardly sit still. Her Mom wasn't just strong; she was also bitter and took it out on her daughters. I didn't know what Dani's sister looked like but I did know that she had no reason to say that to Dani, as she was a real looker. When we landed I jumped up and out of the canoe and pulled it forward before Dani could even get up. She looked startled when she saw my face as I pulled her and the canoe closer to me.

"Listen," I said putting my hands on her shoulders. "Don't let anyone, even your mother tell you that you are not an attractive woman. I told you earlier that I would be honest with you right?" She nodded her head. "Well I'm a guy and let me tell you that if I was in high school you would be one of the girls that I would try to ask out."

"Really?" I saw her eyes start to get shiny as she blinked quickly.

"Yes. Really." I drew her into a hug, as it seemed that she needed it. "Look," I said. "I've always been attracted to women who have something to say, and have the intelligence to be able to say it. What is inside is more important than what is on the outside. You can always use nice wrapping paper to put around a piece of crap, but is still crap. Don't get me wrong," I chuckled. "What is on the outside can be a big plus but I've seen some really beautiful women open their mouths and after their first sentence I realized that they were not what anyone who had any intelligence would call attractive." Dani laughed into my shoulder as I continued. "You on the other hand have the best of both worlds."

"What do you mean?" she asked pulling away from our hug so my hands were back on her shoulders.

"Well," I replied. "You are really attractive on the outside. To use your term yes you are 'Big' but it suits your body style. You are tall and well put together. You do not, thank God, look anorexic. You look like a woman, not as a little girl, but a gorgeous, red-blooded, American woman. And on top of that from what I already knew of you and what you've said today, I also know that you are sensitive, smart and observant. By the way you'd make an excellent scientist." I grinned at her as she blushed and smiled back at me. "The more intelligent, thoughtful, caring guys will see that in you as I do. Those are the guys you want to attract. Not the pretty boys who are more interested in trophies to hang on their arms, no, you want someone like yourself.

"You mean the geeky guys."

I laughed and said, "First of all there is nothing wrong with some of us science geeks, but really I'm not necessarily talking about tape on the glasses and pocket protector geeks, but ones who like I said are intelligent and thoughtful... nice guys... you know like me." I smiled big and cheesy at her and she rolled her eyes and laughed.

We pushed our way through the portage and into the river onto the other end of the portage. We continued to talk along the way, and I found out that I was correct in that Dani was extremely intelligent and could converse on a wide variety of topics. She also had some insights into what was happening in school and even here with some of the other guys and the three other girls who were with us. Like I said she was very observant. She had a quirky sense of humor, which was, not surprising, very similar to some of my very good science friends back in college and where I worked at school (yes, they, and I, were all science geeks).

We noticed on one side of the river that there had been a fire in the past and that while there weren't a lot of big trees, the undergrowth had really filled in so that even if we had wanted to stop there was no way that we could have on that side. It was a solid wall of green plants.

Just before we got to our next portage we saw a moose with calf cross the river to get to that greener area. When we saw it, we stopped paddling and just watched. They were less than twenty meters in front of us so Dani who had some of those disposable underwater cameras got some good pictures of them.

Our second portage around the second falls and dam was a lot longer than the first portage and it took us a lot longer to get through it. By the time we were done, it was a bit after noon and so I looked in the food packs and scrounged up some trail mix and drink-mix. Neither of us were that hungry since we had the pancakes earlier, which she complimented me on again.

The lake we were on now was a big long narrow lake, with lots of inlets, bays and even islands in it, so we didn't see the others. Just before we got into the canoe I pulled off my T-shirt and told her that if she wanted to she could do the same. As I was leveling the weight in the canoe I saw out of the corner of my eye that she pulled her shirt off, held it in front of her for a few seconds, and looked at me. I think she was wondering if I would stare at her if she took her shirt off. When I didn't pay any attention to her and make a big deal about it I could see that she relaxed and finally stepped into the canoe and dropped the T-shirt on the seat next to her.

I could see that Dani had a very nice back and shoulders. Not quite as defined as Brittany, the athlete, but just as powerful. But they also looked as smooth and soft as Cait's when Cait relaxed. Dani's breasts were larger than I expected from the loose shirt as I could see at least a half-inch of side-swell that peeked around her torso. 'Damn she looks fine' I thought, as I would catch those breasts peeking out at me. I loved the curve and swell of a woman's breasts, and I always thought some people concentrated too much on the nipple and not enough on the subtle curves, fullness, and sweeping lines that the rest of the breast produced. The whole overall effect, to me at least was mesmerizing.

"EARTH to GLENN!!"

"Huh? What?" I said, as I was broken out of my lurid daydreams.

"I asked you," Dani said over her shoulder, "if I was starting to get a tan line on my shoulders from my swimsuit and if I should move the straps. Geez, where were you?"

I laughed and answered, "Well us geeks have our own little world that we need to check into every once in a while."

She laughed and said, "Don't worry about it I daydream a lot too. So what about my shoulders?" she asked again.

Dani had moved one strap a bit further down her shoulder. I could just barely see a darker bit of tan starting to develop. So I told her, "Yeah, it's starting to... so why bother with the top at all?"

"What!?" she almost cried as she turned to look at me.

"Oh C'mon Dani," I said. "I know that you were topless yesterday, and I'm behind you so I cant see anything anyway, what's the harm?"

"I don't know," she said hesitantly.

I didn't want to force the issue, just plant the possibility into her mind and let her run with it. So I said, "Ok... I don't want to pressure you. You do whatever you want."

We paddled in silence for another five minutes or so while I could see Dani struggle with it in her mind. I could even see her nod and shake her head, while her hands moved as if she was carrying on a conversation. The movements were subtle, but I did see them and every once in a while one hand would steal up to a strap and move it further down. Finally she put her paddle on her lap, took a deep breath, reached up and pulled the top of her swimsuit down to the waistband of her shorts.

For three paddle strokes I didn't say anything then finally I said, "Isn't that better than trying to remember to move the strap every so often?"

"Yeah," she said. "But I'm still a bit nervous."

"I understand," I said. "I was not a 'tiny' boy growing up. I was picked on quite a bit. Finally I started to work out a bit more on my own with some things that I liked to do such as biking and swimming. But for a long time I still felt like that fat little kid."

Dani chuckled a bit and said softly, "I know what you mean."

"So you have no reason to be self conscious about anything. Besides," I continued, "I actually like a fuller figured woman to some of these so-called supermodels."

"Really?" Dani asked turning her head but then remembering that she was uncovered quickly turned back.

"Yep." I said. "My mom wasn't, and still isn't, a small woman. So I was raised with an image of the ideal loving woman as a larger woman. Now we're not talking about people who resemble bowling balls, mind you." Dani and I both chuckled at the mental image. "But ones who actually have some curves."