A Day at the Beach

'What's there to consider—?' Nicolette jumped again as she felt her right flip-flop get swiftly removed from her foot. 'What are you doing?'

'I'm just checking your shoe size from the bottom of your flip-flop,' he replied, 'UK size 5 / European size 38...'

'You could have just asked! Why is that important, anyway—?' as she spoke she felt the other flip-flop start to go. She tried to grip it with her toes but was too slow and he gently wrestled it free. 'Can you put those back on, please?' Her heart was pumping as she felt the sea breeze on her soles and she suddenly felt very vulnerable. She sensed the inevitable. The only tactic she could think of was to pretend she was irritated and ignorant of his intentions.

'Why do you have so much sand stuck to your feet, Nicolette?' Jim asked.

'I... I just stepped in some wet sand before I was buried,' she replied.

'I see.' Jim's head appeared around the side of the sand castles. 'They look like they need brushing off,' he said.

'No, thank you,' she replied, maintaining an air of composure.

'It wasn't a question...'

Nicolette was about to demand her freedom when something stole the words from her throat. She felt his fingers begin to brush the sole of her right foot and her body reacted as she knew it would. All she could do was wriggle involuntarily as she stared at him with a confused smirk. Her nostrils flared as she became lost for an appropriate response, sweat instantly coated her body and, just as she could sense the she was about to lose it, he stopped.

'You look like you have something to say, Nicolette,' he said. There was something new about him -- a look of sadistic mischief that she had known several years ago.

'Please don't do that.'

'I'm just cleaning the sand from your feet, Nicolette. Don't you want that?'

'No, I don't,' she replied calmly, 'and you know what you're doing,' she said.

'Oh, do I...?' he said, his inner devil coming to the fore.

'Yes, and my husband would hate it. He wants to be the one who does that.'

'Do what, Nicolette? Say it, otherwise I might have to keep going until I guess. And I'm not such a good guesser.'

'To...tickle me,' her eyes dropped momentarily.

Jim growled to hear these words spoken from the lips of such a luscious and mature beauty. 'What would it do to your husband to see me doing this to you?'

'It would make him very jealous,' Nicolette said and suddenly spasmed as she felt fingertips playfully dancing across both of her soles. 'No...! Nnn—!' she scrunched her eyes tight as she tried in vain to deny her response. The attempt to resist became too much and she burst out into silent laughter.

Jim growled with satisfaction. 'Very good, Nicolette,' he said, stopping his interrogation. He stood and pulled a smartphone from his pocket, 'So your husband does Instagram, huh? Maybe I should befriend him. What's his ID?'

Nicolette looked up at him and shook her head. 'Why do you want to know that?'

'I just want to show him what happens when he leaves his gorgeous wife unattended around a man with a penchant for tickling.'

'I love my husband and I've told you what that would do to him and so, no, I won't tell you. I just hope, for your sake, he doesn't come back and find you doing this. You would be in big trouble, dog or no dog.'

Jim seemed not to take notice. 'Damnit. My phone's out of battery...' he said. Nicolette relaxed a little. 'But I bet yours isn't! We can just send him a message from yours!' He walked over to the beach bag on the picnic blanket and searched through it until he found her iPhone. He flipped it into the air, caught it and returned to Nicolette.

'Now,' he said in a matter-of-fact, officious manner, 'What's the PIN...?'

Nicolette looked at him with angry defiance.

He grinned. 'This is going to be fun.' He crouched next to her, 'Look, I saw your old man and your boy walk past me without you a little while ago. Why do you think I came this way? I noticed you when you went past us earlier. Now, if your man has trudged all the way back to town, he's going to be gone for ages yet so I'll consider myself "safe" for now, alright?'

Jim woke the iPhone and made a genuine sound of appreciation for the heartwarming family photo wallpaper. He then swiped left, accessed the camera, propped the phone against the sandcastles and tapped the video record function. Nicolette looked at the screen and saw her own sun-kissed face looking back at her. It was somehow even more disconcerting to see the concern that she was feeling portrayed on her own face. 'Why are you doing this?'

'You're an experienced woman. I think you know why.' As he spoke, his hand reached towards her. She retreated as much as she could and was somewhat relieved when all he did was release her hair from its bun. It bounced down gracefully around her. He looked smitten. 'You really are a beautiful woman. Have you ever come across someone like me before?' he asked.

'You mean, a little shit?' she replied, surprising herself with the attitude she was still able to display in the current situation.

He smirked. 'No. I mean someone who likes doing this...?' and he quickly teased her under the chin.

She turned her head to avoid him. 'What if I have?'

'You have! In that case, Nicolette, you know that I will never hurt you—'

'Sure. You'll just keep touching me without my consent!'

'I'm afraid you've got me there. But it's done with the utmost respect and appreciation for you as a human being—'

'I believe psychopaths say the same thing!'

'You don't really put me on the same level as a serial killer, do you, Nicolette?'

She just looked away with exasperation.

'You will also know that I don't care whether you tell me what I want to know or not,' Jim said. 'You just know that I am going to enjoy every single moment of torturing you. The only question is: will you be able to take it? Or will I be able to break you? Will you be able to endure what I'm about to do to you or will you do anything possible to give yourself just the teeniest bit of respite?'

Equally as pissed off at his cocksure attitude as she was at her inability to do anything to help herself, Nicolette conveyed nothing in her expression that indicated she would be at all susceptible to anything he did to her. She breathed as deeply as she could. Seemingly in response, Rocco raised his head.

'It's going to be interesting to find out, isn't it, Nicolette? Am I going to be able to break you and get your PIN number...?'

She turned to look him squarely and unblinkingly in the eye. 'No, Jim, you are not.'

— — — — —

Dom had just reached the mid-way point of an epic ice-cream queue, having navigated the quickest route possible along the beach with a son who insisted on analysing and critiquing every sandcastle that they passed along the way. Upon seeing the queue he had debated whether leaving Nicolette alone for the length of time it would take to get these ice-creams was the right thing to do.

It wasn't so much predicting the inevitable protests from his son that subconsciously convinced him as much as the perfectly toned, high-cut bikini-clad bottoms of the two young women who stood in front of him. At least he would have something to look at while Jacob played hopscotch on the pavement.

He took out his mobile phone and unwrapped his headphones, intent on listening to some summer tunes that were more to his taste than the incessant beats merging from the speakers on the beach. As he plugged himself in he noticed a message had arrived from Nicolette. He knew it -- she must have gotten impatient, dug herself out and was now asking how long they were going to be.

He unlocked the phone and found a video message ready to be played along with the legend: Part 2. He pressed play and found himself watching a few seconds of the sand.

"Great video, Nic," he thought to himself.

A dog stepped into view and stopped, looking intently at something off-camera, a man's hand holding his collar to restrain him from moving forward. "Oh, it's a comedy clip or something," Dom assumed.

A young man's voice spoke, 'Guess what we found in the sand?'

Dom frowned. The camera followed the dog as it took a couple of steps forward. Dom felt the hairs all over his body stand on end as he saw his wife's feet come into view, still poking out of the sand where he'd left her and just a metre away from the salivating dog. The camera panned round to see Nicolette, her hair in a mess, several strands sticking to her forehead, which was dripping with perspiration. Her cheeks were flushed red, 'Dom! I'm so sorry! I couldn't help it—!' Then the video ended.

Dom froze on the spot. "What the Hell had happened?!" He immediately dialled Nicolette.

The same young man's voice answered, 'Hello, Dom.'

'Who is this?!' Dom asked in a panicked tone that brought the attention of several people either side of him in the queue. Dom stepped away to get some privacy. Jacob instantly hopped into the vacant position.

'I'm just a passing stranger. Your wife asked me for some help but as you left her in a position where she can't move a muscle, I just thought I'd have some fun.'

'Don't you dare hurt her!' Dom said through gritted teeth.

'You don't need to worry about that. That's not my style. And, before you say it, I'm not asking her to do anything sexual for me while she's in this position either. It's a good job it was me who came by, really! Although, from what I just witnessed, she would be likely to agree to do anything I asked for.'

'What do you want?' Dom asked, confused.

'I just want to have a bit more fun with her. I can tell it's been a while since she's had any like this -- she seems ultra "receptive" to it,' said the young man with a cavalier smile to his voice. 'I can hear from the background noise that you must be at the town end of the beach. It'll take you at least half an hour to get back here, even if you run. That doesn't account for having a little kid with you. So just get your ice-creams and take your time!' he laughed.

'What sort of fun?' Dom demanded.

'Haven't you watched the video?'

'No!'

'Oh, that's right -- I've only sent you part two. I'll send you part one now. I suggest you watch it and then you'll know the fun I mean,' he said and hung up.

Dom immediately phoned back. After one ring he was put through to voicemail. Nicolette's calm and happy-go-lucky voice said, 'Hi, this is Nicolette. I can't take your call right now but leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!'

He heard another message arrive and licked his dry lips. With his hands shaking, he pressed play on Part 1.

The camera was at ground level. Nicolette's face took up the whole screen. She wasn't yet flushed or sweating. She did, however, look thoroughly pissed off.

The young man's voice was close, 'Are you going to tell me the PIN number of your phone, Nicolette?'

'I said "No." Are you deaf?' Nicolette responded. Dom was momentarily proud of the strength his wife was demonstrating but quickly remembered that he was watching a video sent from her phone and felt deflated.

'Very well!' said the young man, cheerfully. He picked up the phone, walked over to his dog and unleashed it from a stick in the ground. 'Stay, Rocco,' he said and the dog did as it was told. Then the camera went with the young man over to the picnic blanket and rummaged through the food that was left. 'Let's see what we have... Crisps, that won't do... Fruit cups, no... Ahh, tuna sandwiches! An excellent choice!' He carried the sandwiches back to Nicolette, knelt down and propped the camera up against the sandcastles so that just his knees, the tops of Nicolette's tanned feet and the distant, ever-attentive Rottweiler were in frame.

Dom watched in confusion as the sandwiches were unwrapped, peeled apart and the contents smeared over and under Nicolette's feet, which flinched as soggy bread, tuna and mayonnaise squelched between her pretty, painted toes and dripped down over her ankles. Then, without his face ever coming into view, the young man tossed the bread to one side and summoned the dog. The dog trotted over to Nicolette's feet and laid down. 'Get him away from me!' she demanded.

Dom couldn't blink. "What was he going to do!? Make the dog bite Nicolette's feet?! No, I saw her feet and they were fine. Plus he said he wouldn't hurt her. But why should I believe him?! Why was Nicolette sweating so much and flushed so badly...?"

The dog sniffed around Nicolette's toes and she did what she could to avoid it. Suddenly, Dom felt the energy drain from his face as the dog took an investigative lick at Nicolette's right foot and it twitched involuntarily. He suddenly realised what fun the young man wanted to have with his wife and he knew how she would react but prayed with all of his being that she wouldn't.

The dog hesitated no longer and began to lap at Nicolette's helpless soles. 'That's revolting! Get him off me!' she shouted angrily, except Dom detected a subtle wobble when she said the word "off". Her defiance was already crumbling.

'He's just helping you get clean, Nicolette,' said the young man, 'why wouldn't you want that...?' There was a lengthy pause while the only sound was the non-stop licking of the dog. 'Nicolette...?' he repeated with a smile in his voice that indicated he was observing something that pleased him.

Suddenly, there was a long, undignified nasal snort as Nicolette struggled hard to contain her laughter. Dom's heart thumped in his chest as he watched this stranger's dog slobber up and down his wife's feet, turning its head sideways to enthusiastically clear the food between each of her toes. That's when Nicolette's resistance gave way and he heard the wheeze of her helpless laughter.

Her feet flicked left and right in desperation and she laughed out loud. 'Something wrong, Nicolette?' teased the young man.

'Get him off me-hee-hee-hee!' Nicolette protested through her laughter, 'I don't want dog spit all over me!' she shouted, attempting to add a sincere, logical protest to the events.

'Oh... Sorry!' said the young man with matchless insincerity.

Nicolette's laughter began to subside as Rocco polished off the remnants of mayonnaise around her twitching ankles, his interest waining as he began to lap up the occasional mouthful of sand. The dog then trotted off to it's original spot and laid down.

'Want to give me your phone PIN yet, Nicolette?'

'No, Jim!' she shouted angrily. Dom felt a pang of jealousy as he realised they were on first name terms and wondered how much interaction they had been through before these recordings.

'Oh. I guess you are stronger than I gave you credit for,' said Jim. 'I tell you what, as you don't want Rocco's saliva on you, I'll clean it off for you and let you go. How's that?'

There was silence from Nicolette as it was obvious he wasn't finished with her yet. Jim stepped out of view and continued to talk. His voice became distant and the sea breeze blew across the microphone so Dom couldn't decipher the comments they were exchanging although there was no mistaking Nicolette's level of irateness. He could observe her struggle just from her feet. She was doing her best to break free but there was no give whatsoever from the sand prison he had put her in.

The breeze diminished as Jim's size 11 feet stepped into view. They dwarfed Nicolette's by comparison. Then a bottle of suntan lotion dropped into view and landed in the sand. It was swiftly followed by Nicolette's Conair paddle hair brush. Dom didn't know what was going to happen next, but he knew he wasn't going to like it. Still, something kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Jim lowered himself onto his knees. His face was again not visible, except for the occasional emergence of a well-chiseled jawline. Dom couldn't help glancing at the young man's six-pack through his open shirt, although the position of Nicolette's feet hid his swimming trunks from view along with the signs of anything more lurid.

'I couldn't find any soap but this should do...' said Jim and picked up the sunblock. He unscrewed the lid and poured it all over Nicolette's soles. From Dom's viewpoint it dribbled like icing between her toes and down the tops of her beautiful feet. 'If you're worried about your feet being dirty, Nicolette, maybe they could do with a scrub.'

Nicolette said nothing but her toes clenched slightly in response.

'And,' said Jim, 'I found this in your bag...' he picked up the hairbrush and showed it to her. Dom thought he heard her let out a piteous whimper. He then watched as Jim firmly took the toes of her left foot in one hand and brought the hairbrush close to it.

'No! Please!' called Nicolette.

'What's that?' asked Jim.

'Don't do this...' she pleaded.

'Are you going to give me your PIN?'

'I... I can't!' she insisted.

'Oh, well, this is going to go on for a longgg time, then!' said Jim and proceeded to scrub Nicolette's left sole with the hairbrush.

This time there was no resistance. Her feet spasmed in response. Dom's earphones were filled with the sound of his wife's helpless mirth. She was laughing, she was squealing, she was making involuntary sounds of panic and hysteria that he had never heard from her before and amid the laughter she was begging Jim to stop, which he did not. Occasionally Dom caught sight of his sadistic smile and felt increasingly limp.

At that moment, an extra level of panic was injected into Nicolette's voice that caused Jim to pause. 'What's wrong?' he asked as he let go of the toes of her left foot and gripped the toes of her right.

'You have to stop!' Nicolette mewed through residual laughter, 'I'm going to pee!'

'Oh, I see!' said Jim, who didn't hesitate in going to town on her right sole.

In response Nicolette tried to scream for help but laughter stole the volume from her. Her sounds of unfamiliar squealing grew ever more high-pitched and she finally cried out, 'OKAY!!!'

Jim didn't slow as he politely enquired, '"Okay," what?'

Through her defenceless squeaks and squeals and spasms Nicolette eventually managed to plead, 'I-I-I-I'll give you...m-a ha ha ha ha! M-my PINNN!' But even then Jim didn't slow.

Even in the heat of the midday sun Dom again felt the hairs all over his body stand on end as he heard his wife call out, 'PLEASE Jim! Have mercy!' before collapsing into ever more hilarity.

At that point, Jim picked up the phone and Dom at last got a glimpse at his handsome and gratified face, just as the video ended.

Dom looked round. The rest of the world was carrying on as normal and Jacob was just a couple of customers away from closing in on the ice-cream counter. He considered for a few seconds and then FaceTimed Nicolette's phone. The phone was answered and this time he found himself looking directly at Nicolette. She was even more flushed and sweating than before. She smiled at him apologetically.

'Nicky, are you okay?!' he asked.

She smiled, 'Yeah, I'm fine—'

Jim butted in. 'Dom! Where have you been?! We've been waiting ages for you to call back! What have you been doing? Watching the videos I sent you a few times over, I'll bet! I've had to keep myself busy by exploring Nicky's very sensitive neck. Did you know that if you teased her right here with your tongue—' Jim's finger came into view and lingered at the crook of Nicolette's neck. She scrunched her eyes and instinctively began to giggle.

'Leave her alone!' Dom demanded, recognising the impotence in his own voice. 'Please stop doing that to her,' he said.

'Doing what to her?' said Jim.

'Tickling her!' Dom spat out, even the phonetics of the word spoken from his own mouth caused him to cringe.

Jim shuffled away from the camera. A look of apprehension came over Nicolette's face as she watched him shift position. 'Oh, I'll stop,' said Jim, 'but I just need to check out one last thing...'