Chapter 1

"TOMMY! BETH!"

I looked up and saw Sue Webber waving her hand over her head. I wasn't surprised to see her, even though we hadn't made any arrangement for them to pick us up.

I looked at Beth and got a blank shrug. "I don't know, Tommy."

We had just cleared Customs at Nassau International and were waiting for our luggage when our Caribbean friend hailed us.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" I asked Sue after the mandatory—and quite enjoyable—hugs.

"Waiting for you two, of course."

"Yeah, but how did you know..." I looked at Beth and saw a mirror image of my perplexed look.

Sue's grin widened. "Oh, ve haff our vays," she said, doing Erich von Stroheim as badly as I did. Except with her sexy alto she sounded more like Natasha Fatale.

"Well, I shouldn't give away our methods, but Matt let us know you were coming and Beth, a quick e-mail to your folks took care of the details."

"So where's Bob?" I asked as we grabbed our bags.

"Oh, he's in town picking up some stuff we forgot to get last time we were here. C'mon, I've got the car outside." She led us out to a battered old Vauxhall. "Speaking of stuff, do you guys want to stop at the market? I think we've got Matt's place pretty well stocked for you, but if there's anything special it's easier to get it now than to have to make a separate trip."

"Oh, I do have a couple of things I should probably pick up," Beth said. "Can we just drop Tommy off? You know guys and shopping." Sue just grinned.

"Now wait a minute! I'm not that bad!" I protested, which got a chuckle out of Sue.

"Sure," she replied. "You can spend your time waiting by taking pictures of the boats just to prove you were down here." Sue said that with a straight face, but I could see just a bit of a humorous glint in her eyes.

After we loaded our luggage and climbed in Sue took off—driving on what seemed like the wrong side of the road. Since we'd been down here twice before you'd think I'd be getting used to driving on the left side, but that didn't stop me from flinching every time we met a car coming from the other direction. It didn't take too long to get to the marina. Bob was already there and seemed to enjoy the hug he got from Beth ... almost as much as I'd enjoyed Sue's greeting.

"Beth and I have some shopping to do. Can you keep Tommy occupied? I'm sure there're SOME of your stories he hasn't heard yet."

That earned Sue a hurt look from her husband. Feigned, I was sure.

"You know, Tommy, sometimes an author just can't get any respect," he sighed. This from someone whose books had sold millions of copies. Speaking of books...

"Bob, Beth and I want thank both of you again for sending us your books. We've enjoyed them a lot. Beth even talked me into reading some of Sue's romances and she's really gotten into your mysteries."

"Thanks, I'm glad you like them. By the way, thank you for doing the picture for my latest effort. It's a kick to finally see my mug on one of my books. That's the one problem of writing under a pseudonym.

"Oh, and a big thanks for the portraits you did—both of them."

By that time we had everything onboard the Lady Suzanne. Bob went below and came back with a couple of beers.

"Do you indulge?" he asked, handing me a bottle.

"Not often. After all, I'm not that old yet."

"I keep forgetting that. The two of you seem so mature. You're what now, nineteen? That's legal down here."

"It is?" Hmm, I'd have to remember that...

"My dad used to give me a beer occasionally after a hot day working in the yard but I guess I haven't had enough to develop a taste for it."

Bob gave me an incredulous look. "I'd include you in my next book, but no one would believe it—a college kid who doesn't live on beer?" he kidded me as we sat back enjoying the perfect weather ... and our brews.

Eventually Sue and Beth came back, shopping bags in hand, and we were on our way.

We'd barely cleared the harbor when our ladies disappeared into the cabin, only to reappear in bikinis that would have scandalized their grandmothers—well, maybe not Beth's grandmother, I thought, remembering some of the stories Joan had told of her younger days in the Free-Love Sixties.

The Webbers dropped us off at Matt's beach house with a promise to see us the following day.

While Beth started on our suitcases I put the groceries and the other stuff away. She'd picked up a couple of tubes of sun screen, too—a necessity down here.

"I need a shower," Beth said after she'd had unpacked our few items. We'd learned to pack light for our trips—a few swim suits, t-shirts, shorts and underwear pretty much covered it. "If we need anything else, we'll buy it down there," Beth explained when she packed. "Might as well support the local economy. After all it's only the polite thing to do as guests." Sounded to me like an excuse for her to go shopping with Sue.

I was so fascinated watching her slip out of her clothes and walk toward the shower that I almost forgot to follow her. Almost.

If I live to be a hundred I hope I never lose my ability to enjoy showering with my lady, standing there, holding her as the hot water cascaded down on us.

"Tommy, are we really here?" she asked as she snuggled back into me.

"Oh, yeah," I replied as I ran my soapy hands over her small breasts with their hardening nipples. "And this time we don't have to be back any time soon."

"Mmmm..." was her only response.

"So are you hungry?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. I could use some food, too," she purred as she reached between us to grab me.

Okay, so it was going to be a short shower.

I wrapped my lady in one of the huge towels Matt kept for the purpose. As I was drying her she kept up a running description of what she wanted to do with me and to me. A very inventive woman, my Beth.

The sun was almost gone by the time we wandered into the kitchen to find some food.

"Tommy, were you serious about finding a place down here?"

"Oh, yeah. Wouldn't you like to be able to do this whenever we wanted to?"

"Mmm, I sure would, but where will we find a place?"

"Well, there's always the house up on the north shore," I kidded her.

"You mean the haunted one where Sue has set some of her books? No thanks!"

We decided on a couple of steaks and baked potatoes for dinner. I went out and lit the grill while Beth cleaned the spuds.

We sat at the picnic table watching the full moon reflecting off the water as we devoured our meal. Although this was our third trip to the islands there was still a surreal feeling knowing we were sixteen hundred miles from home, with water all around us and no responsibilities until school started in the Fall.

Beth moved over and snuggled up next to me. "Mmm, a perfect ending for a hectic day," she said, a lady-like burp punctuating her pleasure.

"So, do you think you'll be able to take being away from everybody and out of touch for the whole Summer?" I asked.

"Who says we'll be out of touch? Bob and Sue have satellite Internet service and Wi-Fi. Sue said we could connect any time we wanted to.

"Speaking of that, what are you going to do when somebody contacts you and wants some pictures?"

"Unless they want fish or mermaids, they're out of luck," I responded.

"You and your mermaids," she said, giving me a playful jab with her elbow. "Where are you going to find a mermaid? I mean a real mermaid?"

"I have no idea, but that's not going to keep me from looking," I said with a grin.

"Well, you have fun looking, and if you get lucky, say hello to Minnie for me," my lady said as she got up, stretched, and walked into the house.

Minnie? Whoinhell was Minnie?

The next morning I woke up to that magical just-before-dawn twilight. I slipped out of bed, grabbed my fins, mask, and snorkel, and wandered down to the water. I waded in and swam parallel to the shore to some rocks that were just below the surface. As I floated there I was amazed again at how clear the water was. Snorkeling in the Caribbean was totally different from the lakes back home.

As I swam closer a bunch of small fish disappeared into their hidey-holes among the rocks. Maybe they thought I was a shark? I floated, realizing I had started humming the theme from Jaws. Suddenly being out in the water by myself didn't seem like a good idea. I swam to shore and walked back to the beach house just in time to see Beth stroll down to the water, her huge beach bag in hand. I noticed my lady had wasted no time going native, and looked forward to spreading SPF50 all over her.

"There you are! Trying to catch breakfast?"

"Just out for a quick dip. No fishing involved," I replied.

"Oh, I figured you were fishing since your bait is dangling. No nibbles?"

That's when I realized I'd gone from bed to water without pulling on a pair of trunks. Going native must be contagious, but the thought of getting nibbled had my "bait" doing a disappearing act.

Beth giggled when she saw my reaction. She took matters in hand and her bait restoration techniques proved as effective as always.

I was drifting off in the warm Caribbean sun when I heard a ship's horn. I looked up and saw a boat on the horizon coming our way. I glanced down at my slumbering love and nudged Beth.

"Hey, better wake up. I think Bob and Sue are almost here."

"Um, okay," she said as she stretched.

"Are you going to meet them like that?"

She looked down, let out a little yelp, reached in her beach bag and pulled out a bikini. "How about you?" she asked as she slipped into the bottom of the microscopic suit.

Oh, shit! The Webbers were almost here and I was standing there in my birthday suit! What to do? I stepped behind Beth, using her as a shield while I looked around for something—anything!— to put on. I reached down for the towel we'd been lying on and wrapped it around my waist. It wasn't a long-term solution, but it was better than standing there in the altogether.

"Hi, guys!" Bob called out with a big grin as the Lady Suzanne reached our dock. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything!"

I walked down the dock, one hand on my towel, then had to switch hands to greet Bob. Sue hopped down next to her husband and gave me one of her special hugs. The combination of the hug, and my reaction to it, almost dislodged the towel—hugging Sue was definitely a two-handed operation.

"It looks like somebody's adapted pretty well to the local conditions," Sue said after greeting Beth with a hug. "There's something special about snoozing on the beach, isn't there?" Her ear-to-ear grin told me we hadn't moved quite quickly enough getting ready for our guests.

"Um, if you'll excuse me for a minute, I'm going to run up and change," I said with as much dignity as I could muster.

"Oh, don't bother," Sue snickered. "You're dressed appropriately for a day on the boat."

"Ah, yeah, but the towel's full of sand and I don't want to scratch the woodwork of this beautiful vessel," I said, pointing to their beautifully restored Chris-Craft.

Bob broke out in a full-throated laugh. "I'm sure it's the boat's woodwork you're worried about!" His double entendre had me rivaling the tropical sun as I made a quick retreat for the house, swearing the whole way that I would NEVER forget my trunks again! It was just too easy down here to skip little things like that.

Bob followed me up. "Tommy, you brought your laptop, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we both did. Beth mentioned you were willing to share your wireless connection."

"Sure. Why don't we set you up now, then you can use it whenever you want."

"Will it reach over here?"

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem. A friend of mine got me a special hotspot router that might be a little higher-powered than is strictly legal."

We spent a couple of minutes getting my laptop to connect and I wrote down the instructions for Beth before we walked back to the Lady Suzanne.

"Bob, I can't get over what a beauty you've got here," I told our host as we loafed along between islands.

"Yes, I do, and thank you again for the pictures reminding me of how special she is."

"It must have been a real labor of love to get her back into such beautiful condition."

The dead silence next to me had me looking over at him. He was giving me the strangest look. It was interesting to see his expression change. "Tommy, what did you mean?"

"I was talking about the beautiful job the restoration company did on the Lady Susanne. Why?"

Bob started chuckling, "I was talking about the other Susanne and those pictures you did last year!"

"Oops." I glanced to where our ladies were sunning themselves on the foredeck. It was easy to see why Bob was thinking of his wife.

"Seriously, I really appreciate the pictures you did, especially the special one. As I said in my e-mail, it's easy to start taking someone close to you for granted. It took seeing her through another pair of eyes to remind me of what I'd been overlooking. But I'm glad you like my other lady, too," he ended with a laugh.

His "other lady" had carried us to a deserted shore on a small cay surrounded by acres of colorful coral. Bob carefully dropped anchor and immediately jumped in the crystal-clear water, floating lazily on his back. Sue went below and appeared a few seconds later in a different bikini.

"Um, Sue, why the change?" I asked.

"This one's for swimming!" she answered as she executed a perfect swan dive and paddled next to her husband.

"So, do you have to change, too?" I asked.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm just going to laze around up here."

"Beth, c'mon, you can't stay up here! Look at that beautiful water, let's get wet."

"No, Tommy. I'm just going to stay here."

What was going on here? "Beth, you can't just stay here while everybody else is swimming. Am I going to have to toss you in?" I said as I moved in.

"TOMMY! NO!" I was going to grab her anyway until I saw the look of absolute terror on her face.

"Beth, what's wrong?"

"I-I can't swim," she said with an absolutely mortified look.

"Can't swim? Come on, who are you trying to kid? I've seen you in the water. I know you can swim."

"But, Tommy, I can't. Oh, I can wade around if the water's not too deep, but I'm scared when it gets close to being over my head."

I thought back to our other trips down here and our times in the pond at the farm. She was right, I'd never seen her in deep water.

"Well, what should we do about that?" I asked.

"Oh, just go join Bob and Sue. I'll be okay here by myself. Really."

Why is it when somebody says "really" they mean "No, it won't be!"?

"No, I'll stay here with you."

"Tommy! No, just go, I'll be alright."

"Beth, I can swim any time. I'll stay here with you."

"Hey, you guys! Time to get wet ... unless you already are!" Sue has a delightfully low sense of humor.

"Give us a minute," I yelled back.

"Only a minute? I expected more from you, Tommy!"

"Tommy, go already. I'll be okay."

Think, Tommy, think. There had to be some way to get Beth off the boat.

"Do you trust me?"

"You've asked me that before."

"And have I ever let you down?"

" ... N-no, but I'm scared." I could feel her quivering as I held her.

"Maybe you should go down in the cabin and ask the girl in the mirror."

"Oh, she's probably as bad as her cousin back home, always getting me to do things I don't want to."

"And have either of us ever steered you wrong?" I kidded her.

"Tommy, I never told you this, but she's the one who talked me into going to the coffee shop that first Friday night."

"That turned out okay, didn't it?" She just nodded.

"Beth, I'll go down the ladder first, all you have to do is follow me and I'll hold you up while you float—everybody can float. Then I'll pull you into the shallows."

"Yeah, but what will Bob and Sue think?"

"Just tell them you wanted to try out something from a copy of the Aquatic Kama Sutra you found."

"Tommy!" I got an elbow, but at least she was grinning now.

I backed down the ladder off the stern of the Lady Suzanne and waited for my lady to join me. I was looking up as Beth backed down the ladder. Her bikini wasn't a thong, but it was close. I was tempted to nip at a cheek as she got to the bottom of the ladder, but was afraid that would send her right back up again.

Once Beth was in the water I had her float on her back. I talked her into releasing the ladder and, supporting her back, used the other hand to paddle us into the shallows.

"Beth, is something wrong?" Sue asked.

"N-no, it's just that I can't swim. I never learned how."

"Oh, well, that's easy to fix. We've got all day and Bob used to be a life guard and swimming instructor."

"Beth, do you want me to teach you?" he asked.

She looked at me almost as if she was hoping I'd object. I just nodded. If we actually ended up with a place down here she was going to miss a lot if she didn't learn.

"O-okay, Bob. I'm so embarrassed. It's just that I never took the time when I was a kid. There were always more interesting things to do and now I feel silly."

"Beth, don't be embarrassed. I didn't know how either and I can attest to what a great teacher Bob is." She looked at her husband with a special little grin.

With a sigh, Beth looked at Bob. "Well, I guess better late than never."

"Great! Okay, first, remember the human body is naturally buoyant..."

As Bob led Beth out into the water, Sue and I walked up to the beach and sat down to watch the fun.

"Tommy, you guys really like it down here, don't you?"

"Yeah, we do. Some day we'd like to have a place around here. I suggested the abandoned house on the north shore, but Beth gets the shivers just thinking about it, so I guess we'll just have to keep looking and dreaming."

Sue just chuckled. "I'll warn you, it gets contagious, living down here. I shudder every time I think about moving back up north."

"You're not planning on moving are you?"

"Oh, not now, but some day we may have to. You never know. But for now we just love it down here. It's lucky we can write anywhere. The only drawback is having to be in New York in the middle of winter to see our editors and publishers. Sometimes I think they schedule things in January just to spite us!"

We continued our conversation as we watched Bob try to convince Beth she wasn't going to sink as soon as he pulled his hands out from under her.

After an hour or so teacher and student swam—SWAM!—to shore and joined us on the sand.

"So how'd it go?" Sue asked.

"Just fine. Beth's a quick learner."

"No, it's just that I had a good instructor," my lady replied. "I think I've got at least the basics down. Now just to practice."

"Well," Bob replied, "you'll have plenty of opportunities if you're going to spend the whole summer down here."

"Hey! You're right, I will!" Beth wasn't quite bouncing from foot to foot like a little kid at Christmas.

"So what do we do now?" I asked as I stretched out on the sand.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired," my lady said as she plopped down next to me. "I'm all for a nap."