Beach Vacation

One of the wonderful things about a beach vacation, involving a house on the ocean on the outer banks of North Carolina, is the hour after hour that Emily spent in a bikini. Since we did much of our own cooking on the grill, eating on the deck, watching the surf crash in, she did not spend much time in clothes.

Of course, Emily and I spent an hour or two (smile--or many more), on the beach and playing in the ocean. The area we stayed was mostly private homes, so the beaches were not packed with people. At times, it was like having a private beach. There was a lovely family staying next to us on one side, a couple and two children, whom we had dinner with one night (I was in "boy" mode--too hot to fully dress as a "girl" and a little strange to wear a bikini in front of small children.)

To the other side of us, two houses down, were four or five single guys. It was almost so stereotypical, really, these guys, tanning, playing catch on the beach, loud, laughing. Stereotypical because, except that they were in their late 20's/early 30's they were what you would picture typical jock/frat boys to be.

Which is so unlike me, even in "boy" mode. It isn't that I'm not competitive (I'm laid back, until such time that I want to win...then I want to crush you) or that I don't like sports (I do), or that I do not like boy things (I do, too.) It is just that, having this huge part of me that is soft, more feminine, that even as a "boy", I never quite identified with or totally fit in with men like them. I have friends like them, of course, I have some great guy friends...I'm just different from them.

I said that Emily spent some time on the beach and in the ocean. These guys/boys/men LOVED that. They were quite enthralled with Emily and whenever she walked out onto the beach, they quite clearly stopped what they were doing and followed her graceful moves, tongues practically hanging to the ground.

Emily is a flirt when she wants to be. Not an attention seeker, but when the mood strikes, she'll flirt. She felt like flirting. Taking a cue from her flirtations, these guys had no problem flirting back, even when I was there.

And of course Emily knows that that does to me. She knows how teasing these boys was also quite clearly teasing me. I know I'm not a man like these guys are, but deep inside, I know I'm the love of Em's life. But she knows what the teasing does to me, even if we'll never act on it.

In our bedroom overlooking the ocean, windows open the one cool night we had, listening to the surf, on top of me, Emily whispered in my ear, "I wonder if any of them are out there."

She said it knowing I knew who "them" referred to.

"You think they are cute," I asked.

"A couple of them," Em said, kissing my ear, "are kind of hot. I mean, if handsome, muscular men are your kind of thing."

I inhaled deeply.

"I know that turns you on," Em said, half giggling, half growling. "I know what you'll be fantasizing about tonight."