Chapter 2

Roger was breathing normally, and had a smile on his face. Julie's hand was a mess, and it had gotten on her naked leg too. It had been warm at first, but now was cooling and felt slimy somehow. She got up. She realized she was panting, and her loins was on fire. He had finished, but she was left high and dry.

Disgusted, she went to the bathroom and cleaned up with a warm wash cloth. She stared at her passed-out husband for a few minutes and, with a frustrated sigh, finally dug out her running shorts and tank top. She thought about the sports bra, but it was dark out. Besides, no one knew her here, and she thought the cloth of the tank top would feel good on her aching nipples, so she left it off. Maybe a run would help.

The beach was beautiful in the moonlight, and she lengthened her stride, starting with a sprint, to use up her unfulfilled sexual energy quickly. Now her deep breathing was because of the run, and not because she was so inflamed she could hardly think.

She had no idea the half-buried coconut was there until her right foot stepped on it, half on, half off, and her ankle twisted painfully. She went down in a heap, getting sand in her face and hair. She felt searing pain in the ankle, and fears of something broken made her panic.

At first her cries of pain brought no one. It was late, and the beach was apparently deserted. Finally, though, a shadow moved toward her.

"Are you OK Miss?" came a deep voice.

"My ankle," she moaned. "I twisted it running."

He knelt and she felt his strong fingers play over her ankles. She tried to suppress a moan of pain as he manipulated the joint that was injured.

"Swollen quite a bit," he said quietly, "but I don't think it's broken. Where are you staying?"

"Up there," she pointed, feeling silly because it was dark. "The honeymoon cottage."

"You're Julie?" came his deep voice.

"You know my name?" she asked.

"Bob Crandall, at your service," he said. "I'm Roger's uncle. Yours too, now, I suppose."

"Oh," she said, relieved.

"Let's get you up to the cottage and get some ice on this," he said.

He lifted her effortlessly, and she felt light as a feather. As he carried her through the door of the cottage, she thought about how Roger should have done this. She was surprised to find herself melting against her new uncle's chest as if he were her husband, and felt a pang of loss that Roger would never be the first to carry her over their first threshold. She also felt warm and safe after the fright of her fall and injury, and the feeling of being so alone when no one came, at first.

Roger lay, still passed out on the bed, naked and snoring. She felt embarrassed.

"I wondered where he was," said Bob. "I was a little surprised you were out running, what with you two just getting here..." His voice trailed off. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to..." He trailed off again.

In the light, she saw he was blushing a little... his dark cheeks and forehead mottled. She also noticed, with a nervous twinge, that he was handsome. His brown hair had traces of gray in it, and was shaggy against the deep brown of his tanned face. For the first time she realized his chest was bare.

"He had a bit too much to drink," she said weakly.

"He should have known better. We Crandall men don't do well with alcohol, even small amounts of it. At least it looks like you two... I mean..." his eyes flitted away from hers, only inches away and it was plain he was embarrassed. "... at least he he did his duty before he passed out," he finished uncomfortably.

"No! He didn't!" she muttered, before she could stop it from coming out of her mouth.

"Oh... sorry," said Bob, his cheeks darkening again. "I'll just put you down on the bed beside him."

It wasn't until she relaxed onto the bed and he stood up that she realized, with a shock, that all of him was as bare as his chest. His penis jutted from a nest of brown hair, thick and half hard.

"Sorry," he said, not covering himself. "It's a nude beach." He grinned. "I didn't plan on rescuing a damsel in distress."

Julie felt the heat of her own blush, but, with an effort, made herself look at him. Actually, it wasn't hard to look at him at all, in one sense. All of him was tan and fit, with broad shoulders, and well muscled arms. Even his penis looked bulky, as if it exercised often too. It looked bigger, somehow, than Roger's had. She bit her lip at the thought, and felt heat in her belly too. Another thing she noticed about this new penis was that it wasn't naked on the tip. It looked smoother, and there was a little round collar of skin that the shiny tip peeked out from within. She realized he was NOT circumcised, and immediately saw the irony of the fact that she had seen both types of penis on her wedding night, when most women only saw one or the other.

Bob moved off to get the ice, and when he returned with a plastic baggie of ice in his hand his penis was smaller... much smaller.

"It shrank!" she blurted, again, before she could stop herself.

He laughed. "It was misbehaving earlier. I had no idea I'd be carrying a beautiful woman around in my arms, and it reacted, I'm afraid. I told it to behave itself while I got you the ice.

"Oh," she said, embarrassed again. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Nonsense. A newlywed bride should have such things on her mind, after all." He grinned again, but it wasn't the leer Julie was used to men doing around her.

His ease made her more comfortable. "I suppose so, though Roger's didn't do me any good at all." she said with a little pique.

"Ah, well, maybe tomorrow," said Bob, molding the bag of ice around her ankle. "It's swelling up pretty badly, but I still don't think you broke anything. You'll have to stay off it for a day or two."

"But it's my honeymoon!" she complained.

"You can still swim," he said.

"No, I can't," she said. "Our luggage got lost. This," she pointed to her tank top, "and the clothes I wore on the plane here are all I have."

He put his hands on his hips in an almost feminine manner.

"As I said, this is a nude beach." He grinned, and it was disarming to the point that she almost forgot he was naked. "You don't need anything to swim here."

"Oh yes," she said. "But... no... I could never do that. I'd die of embarrassment. All those other people around would stare at me."

"Well, as it turns out, when I found out my only nephew was getting married, and that he had accepted my offer of Paradise Cove as a honeymoon site, I arranged it so that you two are the only ones here." He grinned again. "Except for me, of course, but I was going to try to stay out of your way. I know how newlyweds are."

Julie elbowed her husband, and he made a snuffling sound before he stared snoring again.

"Not this honeymooner," she said, some acid in her voice. "It was just getting good when his thing went off and he passed out."

"His thing?" Bob's eyes twinkled.

"You know what I mean," she said. "I'm not used to talking about them. His... and yours... are the only ones I've ever seen!"

"Well, well," said Bob. "I had no idea there were any real women left in the world."

"Real women?" she asked.

"Virgins," he said. "Unless, of course, there was a time when you were with one, but just didn't see it. Maybe it was too dark?"

"NO!" she barked. "I never even touched one until tonight... ANYWHERE on my body!"

"That's what I mean," he said. "It takes a real woman to save herself for her special man. Women like you are quite rare these days. I admire you."

"Really?" No one had ever admired her for keeping herself pure. In fact, almost everyone had done everything they could to rob her of that purity.

"Really," he said firmly. He looked at her with warm eyes. "Anyway," he perked up, "you can feel free to go skinny-dipping any time you like. You and Roger have the whole resort for the whole week, and there won't be anybody around to see you."

"You're here," she said, as if she were examining his comment literally.

"Alas, you are right. OK, how about this. You tell me when you're going to go down to the beach to exercise that ankle, and I'll make sure I know where my binoculars are." He grinned. "That seems fair."

"You own a nude beach, silly," she chided. "You probably see beautiful naked women every day!"

"Not on your order, my sweet," he said. "I haven't seen a woman in a long time who could compete with you."

"You're teasing me," she said, half believing it.

"I'm just being truthful."

She had been complimented before, many times, and hit on many times as well. But the way he said it sounded genuine, almost respectful, and not lustful.

"You're not just flirting with me, now, are you?" she asked.

"That would be a singularly rude thing to do to a bride on her wedding night," said Bob seriously. I suspect you know you're beautiful. All I'm doing is agreeing with you. Is that so hard to understand?"

"I'm sorry," she said instinctively. "It's just that most men want to flirt with me."

"That's because you're beautiful," said Bob. "But then we already established that. I did tease you about the binoculars, and I shouldn't even have done that. In fact, I've been entirely too bold in several things I've said. I'd like to blame it on the surprise meeting we had, but maybe I'm just a man, like those others you mentioned."

"I don't mind," she said, shocked to find that she really didn't. "In fact, you have my permission to spy on me any time I'm swimming. You did save my life, you know. That's the least I can do to repay you."

Bob laughed. "You could have crawled back here, and the phone works just fine, so you could even have called for an ambulance, though I don't really think you need one. I can't accept a favor like that just for making it a little easier for you to get back here."

Julie was nonplussed. She liked this man... this honest man. "Well, then, you can spy on me as repayment for letting us use this beautiful cottage for our honeymoon."

Bob bowed, which looked exceedingly odd... him being naked. "I gratefully accept your boon, milady. Now, if there's nothing else you need..."

"Do you have to go?" she asked, feeling lonely already.

"My dear brand new niece, I'm naked, and it's your wedding night. This is already highly irregular."

"My whole wedding night has been... irregular," she said dryly. "If you leave, do you think he'll wake up and take care of me?"

"Well... no... I suppose not," said Bob. He looked around. He went to the bathroom and came out belting a robe on. "There, that's a little more proper."

"I don't suppose your wife would approve, though," said Julie, thinking for the first time about other people in Bob's life.

"Not married," he said shortly. "Used to be, but it didn't work out. My heart doesn't mend so easily, I guess. I never met another woman I could settle down with. Being out in the middle of the ocean doesn't help." He grinned.

"Surely there are local women you could get interested in," said Julie.

"To be sure," He grinned again. "There are hundreds of willing young... and not-so-young lasses who would be more than happy to take the reins of the Paradise Cove and live in the lap of luxury ever afterwards."

"Gold diggers, huh?" she suggested.

"Hundreds of them. "I'm a Yank, and while they love all that green money down here, I'm still an outsider, even after ten years."

"That's too bad," she sighed. "You're a nice man."

"That, my dear, is the kiss of death," he said wryly. "At least to a dating man," he added. He waved a hand. "I don't mind. I have this beautiful place to live, and I make a pretty good go of it, all things considered. Every once in a while a woman shows up here who is looking for some anonymous fun. I try to accommodate them. That is, after all, my job. I'm here to make sure the patrons are happy."

"Well, I'm not happy right now," she sighed. She blushed. "But that's not your fault. You've been just wonderful."

"Alas, I can't do anything about a sleeping groom." Bob nodded.

"He's not sleeping, he's dead drunk," she said unhappily.

"Well, I fervently hope that tomorrow, when he wakes up, all the patrons of Paradise Cove will be happy again," said Bob.

"But I want to be happy now," pouted Julie.

Bob frowned. "Dear sweet Julie, I'm honored, but my... um... services, to the women I mentioned... well... it wouldn't be right in this situation."

Julie's face twisted as she realized what he meant. Her hands came up to cover her face.

"That's not what I meant!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to imply that."

Now it was Bob who looked uncomfortable.

"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I should have known that wasn't what you meant. You're not that kind of woman. You're a REAL woman, one of sadly few in the world. Please forgive me, Julie."

His apology was so heartfelt that her embarrassment fled, to be replaced for concern that their budding relationship had suffered.

"Nonsense," she said softly. "I shouldn't have complained, and certainly not in a way that could be so easily misunderstood."

"Are we going to sit here and apologize to each other all night?" asked Bob, smiling a little. "Water under the bridge, OK?"

Julie shifted on the bed, trying to get more comfortable. The ice pack fell off her ankle and she instinctively tried to slide it back under the bag. She felt a twinge in her ankle as she lifted that leg.

"Oooooo, my ankle really hurts," she said.

"It will feel much better when it loosens up. Right now the swelling is causing trouble. When you work the joint a little that will help the swelling dissipate, and it will feel better.

Julie's next thought, to be kind to her, didn't have any sexual component. She was thinking about what he had said about exercising the ankle in the ocean, where the water would help support the weight of her body, and put less pressure on the injured ankle. The idea of being a hobbling cripple on her honeymoon just naturally led to the idea that she should start exercising that ankle sooner, rather than later. And, there was nothing for her to do in the cottage at the moment. In fact, it was likely there wouldn't be anything for her to do until morning, if Roger's snores were any indication.