Chapter 10

Okay, I could have let her sleep. She was gorgeous, even with that little trace of drool (don't tell her I told you) out of one corner of her mouth. But we had to start heading back, and it did look like there might be a bit of a contrary wind later on. Had lots of fuel for the little diesel, but that would have defeated the purpose of coming out here for the quiet. So I woke her as gently as I knew how.

"Avast, me sleeping beauty! Rise and shine! Anchors aweigh! Getting underway in ten minutes!"

She moaned, groaned, and stretched like a kitten, then froze in mid-stretch, her eyes popping open and darting around frantically at very unfamiliar surroundings. It's a good thing I had swung the boom around to the stowed position and had it resting in the boom crutch, because she would have brained herself when she snapped upright, almost in panic mode before she realized where she was. Never saw anyone wake up like that! From sound asleep to fully wired in less than ten seconds! Not necessarily fully awake, but fully wired!

"Whumpff?" she asked (I guess). "Wassit?" and "Mumblrfff" then, "Oh, hi Rob. I was awake, just getting ready to get up. Be right with you."

Couldn't help it – I mocked her a little. "Yeah, suuuure you were!" I grinned at her, "And Queequeg asked if you'd like eggs Benedict for breakfast again this morning!"

She just looked at me and sighed. "You're not going to cut me any slack at all, are you, Cap'n? Didn't know I'd signed on with a slave driver for this voyage!" She sat up and stretched, "What time is it, anyway? You didn't let me oversleep, did you?" Started to crawl out of her sleeping bag. And that tee-shirt thingie was up under her armpits, and breakfast was suddenly a distant runner-up in my thoughts! "Ooops!" Blushing resumed from where she'd left off yesterday afternoon, and she snatched that sleeping bag back up to her chin. "Sorry, Rob, Didn't mean to start the day that way!"

I couldn't talk in more than a decidedly unmanly squeak. "'S'okay, I wasn't planning to use that part of my brain until later anyway. I'll go somewhere else while you get things back together." I was, of course, talking off the top of my head, because what I'd just seen was definitely together! Both of 'em! Just the right distance apart, and the right altitude off her chest. That's why I still didn't trust my voice not to squeak. "I'll go below and start fixing breakfast. Scrambled okay?" I didn't add "like my brains right now."

"Ummmm, yeah," she said, and I swear there was a little smirk in her voice. "I'll straighten myself out and be right down there. Gotta use the head anyway – about to bust a gusset."

I went below, and managed to be turned away from her when she brushed past me on her way to the potty. I know she noticed, but what could I do?

"Sorry," she said, "It is pretty close I here, isn't it?" She smiled again; not letting me off the hook at all! But she was blushing again too, as she said, "Scrambled is fine, but not too dry for me, please. And I'm thinking that sausage will really hit the spot!"

Kay's turn again:

Oh my good grief! No way I did that on purpose! I mean, flashing Rob was not on my calendar for today! But from the look on his face I think I must have really got to him. Got to me, too, if you really wanna know! Good thing I've got another pair of clean panties in my waterproof bag, 'cause the ones I have on got decidedly damp all of a sudden! Why does he affect me that way? Anybody else and I'd have been absolutely mortified, but it was Rob, and all I could do was blush and break out in a sweat! Maybe that's it – I was just sweating, and my undies got damp. Riiiight! Might as well admit it – you don't wring out 'damp' -- yours truly was definitely turned on! But I can't let him know that, at least not yet, it would just confuse things, and we promised we'd slow down and really try to figure out what was happening here. But oh lordy, I'm thinking that at least I don't have to do much figuring out! Trust me – I have never felt anything like what got me going yesterday, and it hasn't let go yet!