Journey to Another Life Ch. 08

"But she never wore that outfit again!" Nikki squealed, finishing off her fourth drink. "And remember when they fished her out of the sea? The top was so drenched, everybody could see that she wore no bra. And that, Charles, was not a pretty sight!"

Ed pursed his lips melodramatically. "No, it certainly wasn't. I think she hated you much more after that incident, Nikki."

"Can I help it if she has terrible boobies? Maybe next time she goes sailing, she'll wear a bra. Better yet, a life preserver!"

The group all laughed heartily. "They were mostly older women on that ship," Nikki explained to Charles, "and every time I'd come on board in a bikini, I could feel the darts they shot from their eyes."

"I'm sure they feared for their husbands," Charles ventured.

Nikki shrugged, suddenly modest. "I don't know."

"Well, sweetheart, tell Charles what you were wearing. It wasn't as if you were dressed like a librarian."

She shrugged again, then eyed her own body, which was clad in a body-hugging mini-dress. "Okay, well, I admit that it was red."

"The color of passion," Charles taunted.

"Yes, that's right. And fallen women. Or those about to become fallen!" Nikki joked. "Anyway, I was wearing a bikini top and shorts."

"See-through shorts," Ed added.

"In a certain light."

"Sunlight!"

She laughed. "Okay, okay! Sunlight. And I guess the top was pretty revealing," she said, looking down at her breasts. She traced little triangles around her nipples, feeling her breasts first to locate them exactly. "It just covered me here," she said, looking at Charles while her fingertips outlined the edges of her imaginary bikini top. He stared at the spot where her fingers played, the longing so obvious on his face that Ed's heart went out to him.

A brief pause vibrated through the group until Nikki broke it. "But the thing came off when I dove into the water, so it didn't matter, anyway!"

As they enjoyed her punch line, she got up to make a quick visit to the bathroom. In her absence, Charles told Ed about the time he crewed for one of the most notorious teams in Australia in the treacherous Sydney to Hobart ocean race and how secretive they were about their gear and their strategy.

"It was the oddest experience I've ever had," Charles said. "Nobody was allowed to use any gear without signing a nondisclosure agreement first!"

Ed asked him some questions as Nikki returned. She didn't return to her seat but instead sat next to Charles on the bench he occupied. The atmosphere among the three was so convivial, Ed felt no resentment or anger about her choice. Even when she placed her hand on Charles's knee, while Ed noticed it he didn't flinch.

"How's your knee doing?" Nikki asked, rubbing it gently through his neatly pressed cotton trousers.

Charles looked into her eyes and for a moment, Ed felt relaxed rather then if he were watching a pair of lovers who believed they were alone which even 8 hours ago would have been his reaction. "Much better, thank you."

"Good," she smiled, waiting a few seconds before she turned to Ed. "Charles took a fallen tree branch in the knee when we were walking on the island this afternoon," she explained.

"It's nothing," Charles assured him.

"What's this bump, then?" She asked, repeatedly running her fingertips over a tiny section of his knee.

"Just standard knee contours," he said, smiling.

"I don't think so!" She took his hand and put it on her knee. "Do you feel anything strange there?"

Ed watched, as she guided the black man's hand over the hills and valleys of the knee that crossed her other one it was erotic but completely non threatening to him now.

"No, nothing strange," Charles laughed nervously, looking from Ed to Nikki.

"I should have you drop your pants right here and now to have a look at it," she told him, "but I don't think anybody would pay any attention to your knee!"

Ed had been consuming a steady stream of whiskey since dinner and his head was beginning to swim. "Don't worry, Charles. I'll see to it that you keep your pants on," he said. Or thought he said. It actually came out, "Dun wurr, Shar. I'll seetuit kep pantson."

Nikki turned to him and giggled. "I think it's past somebody's bedtime!"

"Ahm fine," Ed protested.

"I think you're more than a little tipsy, sweetheart," she said, getting up and extending her hand to her husband.

As he struggled to get to his feet, he gripped her hand a bit tighter, grateful that it was there. "Ooops. I think you might be right. Time to sleep it off." Ed said, laughing at his own overindulgence.

She took his arm and steered him toward the rear companionway. "Say goodnight to Charles, honey," she advised in a maternal tone.

"G'night, Sharls!"

"Good night, Ed," Charles said, smiling fondly at the couple. "Sleep well."

It seemed to take a long time to get to their cabin, but finally, she guided him inside and shut the door behind them.

"What do you say? A nice shower, maybe?" She asked him, holding him by the shoulders and peering directly into his eyes.

"Gray idea."

Smiling, she sat on the edge of the bed. "Come here. I'll undress you."

He stood before her and she divested him of his clothing with efficient grace. Although he was a bit wobbly, the touch of her hands on his body soothed him. When she'd stripped him completely, she took his semi-flaccid cock in her hand and kissed the tip of it affectionately. "Want me to get the shower started for you?" she asked.

"No, no," he said, bristling a bit at the implication that he was too drunk to turn knobs and gauge temperature. "I kin hannle it."

A bemused smile lit her face. "Okay."

He felt her watching him as he fiddled with the shower but forgot she was there once he stepped into the stall and felt the refreshing spray. He slapped his palms against the cool tile walls and stood absolutely still as the water relaxed and comforted him.

In a minute or two, he began to be more aware of just how drunk he was. Already sobering up, his mind turned to images and moments from the evening. Nikki with her hand on Charles's knee. Charles telling him about the mysterious Aussie crew experience. Nikki outlining her nipples through her dress while Charles looked on in visible agony. Ed describing the hijinks in Newport for the America's Cup race he participated in. Nikki recounting the way her bikini top came off in front of a crowd.

Could the whiskey have made the night seem more pleasant than it actually was? No, Ed decided as the water began to invigorate him. The night was pleasant. More than pleasant, really. He soaped up his balls and remembered Nikki's original request. She wanted his permission to have a shipboard romance with Charles but now that seemed off the table.He should have felt pleased about that development but after what he'd seen tonight, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe his fears were unjustified. Nikki wanted to fool around with a perfectly nice guy who respected them both. What was the harm in that?Even the erotically charged atmosphere hadn't upset him. His jealousy hadn't flared up once. But he was drunk. He had to remember that. His mind was probably playing tricks on him.He decided not to make any decisions about Nikki and Charles until morning. He'd sleep off the whiskey and see how the morning found his emotional state. When he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, however, Nikki was gone.

Maybe the whiskey was still at work, but her disappearance did not incite him to dread. He emerged from the bathroom into the bedroom, and thought about dressing to join them again, but the soft surface of the bed tempted him and, instead, he laid down. As his head spun slightly, he heard her heels on deck. He heard Charles clearing away the glasses. And he heard their voices engaged in innocuous conversation. Nothing to worry about. Their noises were a comforting backdrop to the drunken cacophony in his head.

His eyes sprung open. Had he been sleeping? He looked at the clock but then realized he had no idea how long he'd been alone in the cabin. But it felt like a lot of time had passed—he was much groggier now than when he'd left the shower. He forced himself to sit up, get dressed, and head for the deck. He found them in the cockpit.

Nikki was just sitting down to a freshly brewed cup of coffee being poured for her by Charles. They turned suddenly when they sensed him and for a moment, he thought he might have read their disappointment that he was interrupting their coziness, but they looked more surprised then annoyed in any way.

"Oh, sweetheart! I thought you were going to sleep after your shower! Charles was kind enough to make me some fresh coffee. I think you could do with a cup, too! Unless you think it might keep you up?"

Her words disarmed him and he relaxed, writing off his initial reaction to unfounded fear. The night air, heavier now than when he was last on deck, caressed his skin. He looked from Charles to Nikki and smiled.

"No, no. I'd better not have any coffee," he said, directing his comment mostly to Charles, who waited with a pot of the stuff. "I don't know how Nikki drinks it just before bed and then sleeps like a log."

Charles put the pot on the table. "I think Nikki generates such a natural high that caffeine has no effect on her!"

Ed chortled in agreement at Charles's insight. Nikki looked embarrassed but pleased by the compliment. Charles offered to bring Ed an iced tea, which Ed readily accepted.

"I need to clear my head a bit," Ed told the coffee drinkers. "I'll just take my iced tea and roam the deck for a while, if you don't mind. Then I think I may toddle off to bed."

"Whatever you need to do to feel better, sweetheart," Nikki told him, without a trace of relief or suspicion in her voice.

He walked to the other end of the boat, uncertain of his ultimate destination or even how long he might meander. Curious about what the two of them where doing, he turned around to see Charles showing Nikki how to use a sextant. He seemed to be instructing her on how to look through the telescope and move the index arm. Ed frowned, thinking of how he would have been happy to show Nikki how a sextant worked but the opportunity had never presented itself.

He chided himself for feeling slightly jealous. "It's all done with mirrors," he thought about calling out from the end of the boat. He suprised himself, that he didn't mind how close the two of them were or how intimate their little instructional session appeared. He realized how he had been so tense about it previously, how completely relaxed he felt now, he wondered why and then discovered that it would seem he knew it was nothing he should be concerned about.

The two of them were engaged with each other but not totally oblivious to him, a fact that became undeniable the longer he watched them. Charles spoke in a low voice, a voice that brought out cooing and giggling from her. They sat very close, and her hands were rarely idle—Ed saw them run up the length of his arm, brush something off his cheek, even squeeze his hand. There was quiet laughter and neither seemed to be at a loss for words. They looked up at him occasionally he thought perhaps to see if he came closer and then include him in their conversation but while he kept his distance and watched them they seemed comfortable to allow him his space and continued to engage with each other. Ed watched and tried to decipher how it looked.

He finally surprised himself when he managed to put his finger on how it would be viewed by a outsider. It looked so bloody ... romantic.

She draped her long, firm legs across Charles's lap as he continued to point out features of the sextant. Ed's breath came in more ragged exhalations as he thought about how the black man's enormous cock was so close to her. Maybe she could even feel it through his trousers. Was that her intent? Probably, he thought ruefully. Even as he managed to get himself slightly worked up about it he felt a calm. He was getting slightly aroused by the thoughts in his head. But he felt no guilt or tension. He instead felt relaxed and began to enjoy the circumstances that he now knew offered him no reason to fear.

"Ed, are you all right over there? You're awfully quiet!" Nikki called out to him. So much for her being unaware of his existence.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I was just getting ready to head off to bed," he said with a smiling half-wave, half-salute.

"Okay, darling. I'll be along in a minute."

At the companionway, he took two steps down when something compelled him to look back at the couple on deck. They continued to sit very close, purring at each other as if they were the honeymooners. He watched as their faces hovered only inches from each other and Nikki practically sat in the man's lap.

As he watched, however, Nikki stood up in a gesture of imminent departure. There in the moonlight, they stood, facing each other, whispering things he couldn't hear. What said more than their words or the proximity of their bodies to one another was the fact that they were holding hands.

From there, they merged into a short, tender, but not passionate kiss. It was the kind of kiss you might give a long lost friend at the airport or a close friends wife after a dinner party. As they parted Ed realized he wished they had really kissed.

Butterflies flitted about in his stomach and threatened to burst from his mouth at that realization. His whole body felt clammy and he wasn't sure whether tears or outrage brewed behind his eyes.

As he went back down to the cabin he wondered about what it might have looked like. In his mind Charles's expansive black hands roamed Nikki's backside and Ed could see her pressing her hips forward. Ed's pulse ricocheted through his veins. He tottered and had to brace himself against a wall to keep upright. Despite his extended alcohol consumption, he had a hard-on that made him dizzy.

In his mind the longer they kissed, the more he wanted to touch himself. Seeing her wrapped in Charles's large, protective embrace moved in him ways he never imagined. He ached all over, but from what? Jealousy? Curiosity? Lust?

He knew that Nikki was right behind him but as he reached the cabin The kiss he wanted to see continued, with barely audible sounds of lips tasting lips. Her hands explored his back. His ventured slowly along the curves of her ass cheeks. How wet was Nikki? How hard was Charles? Where was this kiss headed? And did he want to continue to fantasize about it?

The last question was a theoretical one, as he reached the bed he undressed quickly and laid down and now his right hand stroked his cock as he closed his eyes.

Everyone involved, it seemed, had a vested interest in moving things forward.

But suddenly, Nikki entered the room.

"Are you asleep already?" she asked, loud enough for Ed to hear.

She headed for the bed where Ed lay. The abrupt turn of events in his mind threw him off balance, and in an attempt to escape her notice, he rolled over to feign sleep causing his laptop case to fall off the bed where it had been precariously perched but unnoticed.

The sound of his blunder made him startle. He sat up to search out the source and location of the noise, and found himself looking into his wife's beautiful eyes.

"Ed." she smiled.

In that one utterance, she told him that she understood he'd been watching her tonight, and that he wasn't worried, and somehow she knew that everything was going to be all right.

"I'm sorry, Nik, I didn't mean to get that drunk" he said.

Her beautiful green eyes registered nothing but understanding. "It's okay. I don't mind, its wonderful to see you so relaxed finally." She got into bed. "Everything, its ok isn't it?" she asked, eyes imploring him with so much sincerity, no human soul could have denied her.

He stepped forward and took her in his arms. "Yes I think it really is okay, darling," he said softly to her. "I understand it now. I'm partially to blame about this, too. I let it brew inside me. I probably should have stopped it weeks ago, but I didn't."

His words surprised him because they weren't at all how he felt. He was glad he hadn't stopped it. The incident with the boys had been too much but he'd been perfectly happy to watch them flirt and coo with each other.

Nikki pulled away slightly, tears on hiatus suddenly. Her face brightened as she searched his. "I noticed that you seemed pretty comfortable with the way things were today and tonight as well. Are you sure you're okay?"

He moved her to the bed, where they both sat down. "I'm okay, yes," he told her, stroking an errant strand of her hair so that it lay with the others alongside her face. "After today and you explaining things, I really didn't mind watching you two together tonight."

"Tonight I wasn't trying anything Ed." she stated openly "I was just acting naturally with a friend and it wasn't something I was doing for you to watch but I'm glad you did. I sensed you were ok all along. Drunk! But ok"

Her famous mischievous expression crossed her face. "You said you didn't mind?" She looked at his lap, where his hard-on still raged. "Maybe you even liked it?"

It had been such a long day. He didn't have the energy or even the desire to hide his arousal—or the basis for it.

"Yes. I would have to say that I liked it. I didn't feel threatened. I know now that nothings going to happen with Charles. I trust you. "

"I'm so glad," she said, delight shining in her eyes. She ran her palm over the bulge between his legs and smiled as it grew.

She laid him back on the bed, and he grinned as she stripped for him. He took off his shorts and brought out the Geiger counter of his lust. It felt warm and alive in his hand, at last receiving the attention it craved. His fingers grasped it without any hesitation. Nikki giggled appreciatively.

"I love it when you jerk off for me."

"I should do it more often, then."

She was naked now—her clothes were strewn about the cabin where she'd tossed them. "Yes," she said. "You should."

They both eyed the pre-come on his tip. She took her breasts in her palms and licked her lips, ready to make a meal of his cock.

"I fantasized you gave him a proper kiss" Ed sated.

She blinked, not expecting that at all. She recovered quickly, though. A grin accompanied her response.

"Wow? You did! Don't be mad, honey, but so did I for a few seconds."

Her answer inspired him to faster strokes, ones that pulled at his skin and applied more pressure to his shaft.

"Stand over me, babe. Let me watch you play with yourself while you watch me."

She stepped onto the bed right away and planted one foot on either side of his hips, careful to give him space to pump himself without impediments. He looked up the length of her long, strong, but shapely legs, following her beautiful skin to the slim strip of hair between her legs. She spread her labia for him to give him a better view of all the luscious pinkness there.

Her hand followed a path of her own making to her swollen clit. "Oh, honey. This is turning me on so much," she told him.

"Did you want him when I saw you just now? When you said goodnight?" He knew he was stroking faster, and he didn't care. The sight of his wanton bride standing over his steel-hard cock, playing with herself at his bidding, was a dream come true. She was strong, she was sexy, she was sure of herself—and she was his.

"Yes," she whispered, slipping her middle finger into her very wet hole. A crazed but controlled sparkle lit her eyes and the skin at her chest and neck blushed with the early signs of passion. "I'm sorry, Ed, but I wanted him so much!"

"Do you want me to watch you with him?"

He had not intended to ask that question. He'd never really wanted to know her answer. Yet here he was asking her point blank whether her creaming cunt was for another man, a man whose lips had just been on hers moments before.