2. Illawarra Flame Ch. 13-15

The professor exchanged business cards with Sam before he finally loaded the students back into the van and drove away.

'I thought you said you hated geologists?" She asked him.

'That one was a desk geologist, it's the field ones I can't stand."

'Why?"

Sam looked around to see where the kids were, they were playing with rocks at the edge of the field, out of ear shot.

'Well, we used to go into the backcountry a lot before we had kids. It's peaceful in the backcountry, you start to relax. You've been hiking for days, you think you're alone...'

Emma started laughing.

Sam smiled at her and continued '...You think it might be safe to enjoy your wife in the ways that nature had intended...'

'And in ways that it hadn't," Josh interjected. Emma hit him in the arm, but she was still laughing.

Sam rolled his eyes. '... but just when you're getting comfortable I can assure you that around the next corner is a fucking geologist."

Maya couldn't help but laugh. It made everyone laugh to hear Sam say fuck.

'And they're not shy either. When they see you they're all smiles and handshakes and wanting to tell you all about the map they're making or the samples they're collecting. They are completely socially retarded. You feel like telling them, 'Can't you see I'm trying to fuck my wife here?" But it wouldn't make any difference, it's like they're another species or something."

Everyone was in hysterics, Sam was being so uncharacteristically funny.

'Fucking geologists," he said, shaking his head.

They hiked a short way to the top of a hill to get a better view.

'Can you translate for me what the professor said Sam?" Maya asked.

'We're in an old volcano. See how there are peaks all the way around us?" He asked as he pointed out the mountaintops that encircled them.

'Uh-huh."

'That's the outer rim of the volcano. About a million years ago this would have been a huge swollen mountain that erupted and spewed ash and pumice from its magma chamber out all over the region. Once the magma chamber was empty the top of the mountain collapsed down into itself. That's why there's a big circular valley here."

Maya looked around her. This didn't look like a volcano to her. It was beautiful and peaceful and serene, it was weird to think that it was created through such violence.

Tyler took her hand as they walked back to the vehicles, he was carrying Nicholas. He leaned down and kissed her on her lips in a friendly, uninhibited way.

When they were back at the campsite that afternoon, and Nicholas and Gracie were in Sam and Emma's tent taking their nap, Josh and Tyler got out their guitars and started playing.

They fit together seamlessly. Their fingers worked over the strings plucking, strumming and sliding over the notes, they looked up at each other every now and then, talking without saying any words. Every now and then one of them would laugh and the other would smile in recognition of some old joke that he'd just touched on. The music ebbed and flowed. They weren't playing anything in particular, they were just taking turns, one would back for a while and the other would dictate the melody, and then they'd swap. It was like listening to a flow of conscience.

After a while Josh looked up at her. 'Dance for us Maya?"

She was surprised, she hadn't been expecting a request like that. Tyler had asked her a lot about dancing but he'd never pushed her to show him. Josh was much more direct.

'I don't have anything to dance in. All I have is jeans and sneakers."

'You didn't bring a swimsuit?"

'Yes."

'How is that different from a leotard?"

She looked at Emma, hoping for some sort of a cue, but her face was blank. She was sitting in Sam's lap, his arms folded around her huge pregnant belly. Maya hadn't told Emma that she used to dance, Josh and Tyler were the only ones who knew.

She had to admit that she kind of wanted to. She hadn't danced in ages. She stretched and did some basic exercises daily but she hadn't put anything together for a long time.

She looked at Tyler. 'Would that be weird?" She asked.

'I don't think so."

'Okay." She would do it. She would dance for them.

Josh smiled at her. 'What do you want me to play?"

'I don't know, something easy. Something short, I'm not fit."

He started playing the theme from Swan Lake.

She laughed. 'Absolutely not. How about some Vivaldi? Something that I can think forward in, maybe something from the Four Seasons?"

'Hey yeah, Emma did you bring your violin?" He asked.

Tyler had to admit to himself that he was excited. The only time he'd seen Maya dance was years ago, he'd wanted to ask her but he'd been afraid to ask.

'Tyler?" She was looking at him as she twisted her hair into bun and secured it with a hair tie. She'd changed into her swimsuit and a tank top. 'I need a barre to stretch, can you help?"

'Um, sure." He got up and gave his guitar to Zach. 'What do you want me to do?"

She positioned him the way she wanted, with his arms folded and held out in front of him. 'Just hold still," she told him.

She started stretching. At first she just did regular stretches, things that he recognized. She held onto his arms lightly for balance. Then she started really stretching. She propped her foot up on his shoulder and folded her body over her leg, grabbing and pulling her foot, her head resting on her shinbone.

Then she lifted her leg straight up beside her head. Her legs were so long that foot was above his head and her arm twisted around it, pushing it backwards. He could only imagine the view that Josh would be getting right now.

He looked over at Josh, he was fiddling with the violin, pretending to tune it even though he'd already done that, purposefully looking away. Sam and Emma were the ones with their jaws on the ground.

He couldn't blame them, even from his angle it was an amazing sight. From where he was standing he could just make out the edge of her soft inner thigh that was exposed fully for the world to see. He wanted to touch it. He wanted to run his hand up and down her soft flesh. Oh shit, he had better be careful, he was getting turned on.

Maya turned and stretched the other leg in the same way, then she walked away to the SUV. She came back with a pair of thick woolen socks. She took her shoes off and put the socks on. She did the same stretch again but now she pointed and flexed her feet while they were above her head.

'Better," she said.

She stretched her back. She stretched her sides. She stretched her shoulders. She stretched her feet.

She stood side on to him on one foot, leaned down and raised the other leg behind her and over towards her head. She grabbed it with her free hand and pulled it down while arching her head back towards the back of her thigh.

'You're dangerously close to being able to kiss your own ass," Josh joked.

Maya was looking at Tyler and she smiled. She was in the middle of some ridiculous stretch, there was a leg between them at some unfathomable angle and she was smiling at him. Tyler couldn't help but think of the options that this remarkable flexibility would open up to them.

The stretching took quite some time and then she needed him to stay standing there while she did her warm up exercises. She faced away from him and held onto his elbows while she swung her legs back and forth, from the ground to the sky, one at a time. Each time they came to the top of their arch they stopped just short of her ear. Then she turned around and held onto him with both hands and jumped lightly on her toes. He looked down to see what she was doing. Her feet were moving with such speed and precision. They were passing by each other back and forth, forth and back. Each time she landed gracefully for a split second before she was in the air again.

She stretched a little more and then finally she was ready to dance. She was already slightly puffed and a light layer of sweat beaded on her forehead. Tyler went sat back down in his camp chair.

'Okay, did you choose one?" She asked Josh.

'Yeah, I remember the tune but I don't know which one it is. I can never keep them all straight." He started playing the piece.

'I think that's part of winter," she said as she stretched her feet, pushing the top of one foot into the ground by stepping on its arch with her opposite foot.

'Yeah, I think so too, it's the third bit, the ice storm," Tyler agreed as he sat back down in his camp chair.

'Okay, just give me a second." She walked around the space that she had to dance in, sweeping her arms around, owning the space.

All of a sudden she was on. She was on her toes on one foot, the other leg extended straight behind her and her arms held gracefully in front of her, palms inwards. She was staring into the distance, her shoulders held back and her long neck extended.

Josh started the piece.

It started off soft and pretty. She moved slowly, twisting and turning her body upright. She glided around the stage, moving sideways, her feet light and barely touching the ground, her arms floating around her in practiced precision, her head following in a graceful arch. Then she swept around the space in large steps, her feet pointing outwards, her palms upwards towards the sky.

In perfect time with the change in the music, she collapsed to the ground, facing away from them, her head bowed. Her arms were above her, she moved them independently, it seemed that the movement came from her shoulder blades. From this angle Tyler could see the vertebrae under her skin. The movement of her skin over her bones gave the impression of raindrops falling on her. It was clever and beautiful.

She rose to her feet as she continued the shoulder movement. She raised her chin and looked to the sky. She had come to the part of the piece that was supposed to signify freezing rain. Staccato notes stung the air. Maya's movements where sharp, precise. She jumped quickly and fit an impossible number of foot movements in before landing again only to move immediately into the next complicated maneuver.

She swung her leg straight up behind her and dipped her arms and body forward when there was a dramatic turn in the music. She turned expertly to keep her balance, and swung into a series of turns, her arms in front of her, one leg extending then crossing in front of her with each turn to maintain the motion. The foot she was turning on thumped onto the ground and resumed its arched pointed position in time with the crescendo of Josh's violin. Her face was always towards them, she turned her head so quickly and so accurately that if you squinted it looked like her face was still. It was dramatic and breathtaking.

The piece built towards the end, she ran across her stage and leapt into the air, her leading leg straight and the rear leg bent upwards, her back arched so that she was looking up into the sky. She landed gracefully, and turned into another jump, this time twisting her body in mid air. She rushed towards them, ending on one knee, her arms outstretched. She was looking at him. She was looking him straight in the eye.

The last note faded and she collapsed into a gasping, huffing, puffing fit. She thudded heavily onto the ground on her butt and grabbed her sides, keeled over as if in pain. She had looked so perfect when she was dancing, you would never have known that she was exerting herself at all. She pulled her socks off and started rubbing her feet. After a little while her breathing settled down.

'Wow, I am so unfit," she said.

Everyone else was still speechless. Sam's mouth was gaping open.

'That was beautiful Maya," Tyler said.

'Yeah, amazing," Josh agreed.

She smiled. 'Thanks. You can't judge me too harshly, I don't have shoes and the floor isn't really a floor. That, and like I said, I'm horribly unfit."

Josh put Emma's violin back in its case and picked up his guitar again.

'That was nice Josh, thanks. How many instruments can you play?" She asked.

'Um, I don't know, a couple. Most of them are pretty similar when it comes down to it."

He started strumming the guitar, adding some background music.

'Hey, your feet are like Gray's," Emma said, finally finding her voice as she pointed at Maya's foot. Maya was pointing and flexing and rubbing it.

Maya looked up at him and squinted her eyes as if to ask him to confirm.

Tyler slipped his foot out of his flip-flop and pointed it towards her. He had freakish feet, it was a large part of the reason he was such a good swimmer. They were huge and they were extremely flexible.

Maya crawled towards him on her hands and knees and took his foot into her hands. She manipulated it, stretching and flexing and determining his range of motion.

She gasped when she saw how far over he could point his toe.

Josh laughed at her. 'You just like them because they're so big," he teased.

She looked at him with a sly smile. 'Well, you know what they say about men with big feet?"

'What?" Josh said, challenging her to say it out loud.

'They wear big shoes."

Josh threw his head back and laughed.

Maya picked up his other foot and examined it in the same way as the first. 'Sasha...' she said in awe.

Josh's hand slipped on the fretboard and a horrible disharmonious chord came from his guitar. He looked up sharply at Maya.

He knew what Josh's problem was. Tyler hadn't let anyone call him Sasha since he was thirteen years old, not even their mother, occasionally she'd slip in a Sashenka when she thought she could get away with it, but never in front of other people. It had been his childhood pet name that he'd decided to leave behind when he'd hit puberty. It was a coincidence that Maya had chosen it for him, he'd given her all the other options first on purpose, but he liked it. He liked hearing it in her voice.

Maya didn't notice that Josh was staring at her, she was still examining his feet. 'You never told me that you have perfect arches."

Tyler was amused by her attention. 'I never knew I did."

She smiled up at him with a look of pure lust. Her eyes were so hot and needy, it made Tyler's cock twitch in his pants just to sit and look at her. Her long legs splayed out naked in the dirt, her hairline damp with perspiration, his feet in her hands. He wanted her now.

'Want to go to the hot springs?" He asked her.

'Sure."

Tyler looked over at Sam and Emma. Sam had at least closed his mouth, but he still looked shell-shocked. 'Do you mind watching Nicholas?" He asked.

'No, that's fine," Emma said.

Tyler jumped to his feet and pulled Maya up by her hand. 'Come on," he urged her.

They got in the SUV, it was all Tyler could do to stop himself from doing a burnout he was so eager to get out of camp. He would take her to the hot springs eventually, but right now he had other things on his mind, right now he just needed to find somewhere quiet and secluded.

He turned up a jeep trail that didn't really look like it went anywhere. It was a wooded area, mostly ponderosa pines, the air was thick with their dry earthy vanilla scent. The jeep trail vanished in front of them. Perfect. He pulled off into the trees, they were widely spaced, they were high in the wet part of New Mexico, but it was still the desert, trees didn't grow close together here the way they did further North.

'I don't see any hot springs Sasha," she said, smiling at him.

God she was beautiful. He had never felt anything so profound as the way his heart ached when he looked at Maya.

'Say it again," he said.

'What?"

'Say my name again."

She smiled as she climbed over the center console into his lap. It was cramped. The seat was already pushed as far back as it could go. She crammed into the space between him and the steering wheel.

'Sasha...' she whispered to him, 'Sasha baby, make love to me."

He kissed her while they fumbled with each other's clothes, their arms banging against the windscreen and the ceiling. She tried to move back to get to his pants and her butt pressed up against the horn. She just about jumped out of her skin in fright. He laughed and she started giggling.

He leaned back in and kissed her again, pushing her backwards on to the horn again. He had his hands on her ribs, just below her armpits and he could feel the vibrations of her laughter.

'Back seat?" He asked.

She nodded and clambered over into the back seat. He could probably make it back there the same way that she did but he needed to get a condom out of his bag in the back anyway so he got out and went to the rear door. She peaked over the headrest to watch him while he rifled through his bag to find what he needed. She was smiling at him. He found them and threw one to her.

He climbed back into the SUV and over the backseat to her. He had managed to get her tank top and bikini top off when they were in the front seat and now she was reclined across the back seat, petite and perfect in just her bikini bottom, smiling up at him. His cock was rock solid.

She reached her arms up for him, 'Kiss me Sashka?"

He leaned down and kissed her deeply. Her fingers were in his hair, he could hear the crinkle of the condom packet that she still held in her hand.

When he pulled back she spoke. 'You take good care of me Tyler," she said seriously, looking deep into his eyes.

He understood what she was talking about. Protection. Deceived was the word she'd used when she'd talked about how she'd gotten pregnant, he would never do that to her. Sure condoms were a pain in the ass, but Tyler wasn't the sort of guy who was so concerned with his own gratification that he would throw caution to the wind. He loved Maya, but that didn't mean he wanted to impregnate her. If they had more children it would be because together they chose to.

He kissed her again, gently. 'Of course Maya, I will always take care of you."

She looked up at him, trusting him, her blue eyes steady and calm. And then she smiled. Her hands came to his waistband and she tried to unbutton his shorts.

He tried to sit back to help her and banged his head on the ceiling. Trying to have sex in a car was really difficult, he didn't know how teenagers did it.

'Let me ask you something," she said with a mischievous grin. 'Are you afraid of geologists?"

He laughed. 'Mayechka, everyone is afraid of geologists, but you can't let them stop you from living your life."

He heard the door open behind him. He turned, surprised, thinking for a split second that one of the bastards must be there, but then he realized that she'd opened it with her foot. She pushed it open.

He backed out and stood up, moving out of the way so that she could get out too.

'Wait," she said. 'Come back here."

He came back around to the door. She grabbed him by his pants and pulled him closer. She undid them and pushed them down along with his underwear.

His cock was already hard, he was ready for her but she seemed to want to pamper him. This was the first time she'd done this to him. She'd touched him a few times, but she'd always seemed hesitant, almost like she was afraid of it. He didn't want to push her.

She was shy, she acted like she didn't really know what to do with it, it was so arousing, she seemed so innocent. She kissed it, just little kisses at first on his shaft and then the head. She kept on looking up at him, as if she needed his reassurance, it was so sexy the way she did that. He stroked her face with one hand while he held onto the frame of the car with the other, he didn't trust his legs right now.

She took him into her mouth and he moaned. It was so warm and wet in there. Her soft tongue stroked over him as she moved her head back and forth over the top of his penis. She wasn't getting his entire length, but that didn't matter, it felt like heaven. She pulled back and started licking him. She held him gently with one hand at the base of his shaft and licked up the sides and over his head. She looked up at him. Oh god, she was amazing. His cock was throbbing with pleasure, his head felt giddy.