Beach Hero MacQueen

Chapter 1

Tow-headed Lee MacQueen, his flaxen locks in disarray from being too long away from a comb, was waved over the road by the driver of 7-seat SUV, that had just stopped.

"Good afternoon sir, we are lost. Could you direct us to hotel where we could stay a few nights?"

"Sure ma'am, but there's no hotel within 10 kilometres away. How many are you?"

"Three adults and three children."

"I could check on the manager of our apartment over there," Lee said pointing. "It contains four short-term rental units and one that I believe the vacant one has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two pull-out beds in the living room."

"Oh, I don't think that would be suitable. This area looks pretty classy and so the nightly charge for that unit would be exorbitant."

The man in the passenger seat leaned over and said, "Mister, could you please get a price for that apartment per night. We are tired after a long drive from Wellington. I say let's make the inquiry."

"Are you guys from England?"

"Yes, newly immigrated from Bradford. I've come to fill a job as an anaesthetist at Auckland Hospital."

"Right, I'll be back in a few minutes. My name is Lee MacQueen.

"Thanks Lee," the couple said almost in unison, as he turned and began jogging across to the 7-level apartment block.

He grinned when he heard the driver say to presumably the other adult, "Bubs, he's a really good looker with a wonderful name. He may be just right for you."

Lee didn't catch the reply and a few minutes later returned and told the woman that the unit was available for $385 a night.

"Wow, that could be cheaper that two hotel rooms per night," said the woman, who identified herself as Eve Brandon, and obviously was unaware of Auckland Central's high hotel room prices set by the inflow of tourists.

Lee said confidently, "Move over love. I'll drive and work the two security gates guarding access to the basement garage. Sit on your husband's knee and no funny business because the kids in the back might not be asleep."

Eve giggle and introduced her husband Rick, who eyed Lee appearing not quite to know what to think.

When parked, Lee handed one of the two key-cards to Eve and told her to take one of the lifts to ground floor to register at reception and he would assist Rick getting the kids and the luggage to the room on floor three.

"I hope I remember the floor number," Eve yawned with a hand over her mouth and obviously eyeing Lee's physique now that she was standing less than an arm distance from him.

"Your room location is on the key-card 3-11, which translates to level 3, apartment 11."

"Omigod, I become a bimbo when I become over-tired or drink too much," said the blonde yawning again to immediately endear herself to Lee for her frankness.

Lee was standing near the right rear-door when he found himself eyeing the fronts of a pair of tanned and incredibly well-shaped bare legs ending in blue and white-soled sneakers. Obviously, the person was female.

She was inching herself out carrying a sleeping child in her arms. He glided in to assist and eased her out with a strong but soft grip on one of her shoulders.

She was a younger blonde, probably Eve's kid sister, who was even a better looking than Eve, which was saying something, and aged perhaps 23-24.

The 35-year-old muscular gym regular and frequent mountain-biker, who owned and operated a modern car restoration business, briefly fixed his dark green eyes on the young woman's light blue ones and thought her expression registered curiosity rather than signs of sexual interest.

Well, what did it matter? He was locked in the clutches of a demanding girlfriend who sometimes kept him standing impatiently while she examined rings in jeweller's shop windows. Valarie didn't understand why he believed he was still too young to marry. Perhaps it was time for him to move on?

On Saturday morning, three days later, Lee arrived at the door apartment 3-11 and knocked. He heard Eve call, "I'll get it."

He said loudly as he heard her near the door that it was Lee.

"Hi," he greeted and his gaze fell on her generous cleavage and, in having difficulty lifting his gaze, he was aware she was making no effort to close the gap of the lapels of her nightgown over her flimsy nightdress.

"Like what you see?"

The distance neighbour from 6-05 nodded and his face reddened when she daintily held a forefinger upright over her full lips with the tip touching her cute nose, the universal signal for shhh.

Wow, she was gorgeous.

Her thought almost in panic, what was wrong with him, practically thinking of banging a mother of three who'd just arrived in the country and would be eager to make friends with pleasant locals? He must be insane, or at the very least predatory.

"I...I." he began and froze.

"Take your time," she cooed. "You've just made my day."

He almost had to prise his jaw open to manage a complete sentence.

"I was calling to offer to take all of you guys to the Auckland Zoo today."

"Oh, how lovely of you," Eve said, and reaching out grabbed his arm and hauled him into the short hallway while using her other hand to tuck in an escaped breast.

"Oh, hi Lee." Rick called from the breakfast table with a limited view thought the doorway. Join us for coffee."

The children had disappeared from the table and Rick pointed to a chair with no mess in front of it besides Miss Beautiful Legs.

"Hi, I'm Nicole, Eve's sister. We didn't get to exchange names where we arrived here. We were too busy transferring everything from the vehicle into here. Are you here to date me?"

Unable to think clearly, Rick blurted, "No, I'm far too old for you. I'm thirty-five."

Her sister chipped in, "That's more my age, you could take my dancing Lee. Rick refuses to learn to dance as he missed out learning in his teens."

"Oh, I couldn't do that, Eve," he said glancing at her husband. "Rick would put me under permanent aesthetic if he thought I had groped you but I won't do that because I behave honourably with engaged or married women because my mother taught me that's the right thing to do."

Rick, Eve and Nicole laughed as if they'd just heard the joke of the week.

"Then feel free to grope me Lee, I'm not married and don't even have a boyfriend now that I've left England," Nicole said sweetly.

"I'm in over my depth," Lee said, fluttering a hand over his face like a windscreen wiper.

"Lee came to invite us all to the zoo today if we are free," Eve said. "That's very generous offer to give up a big part of his Saturday. Unfortunately, I'm prospecting for freelance photo-journalist work on retainers with two magazines and that could take up much of the day in interviews. Rick is about to go to the hospital to continue familiarisation tutorials and Nicole is being picked up by a member of the Piha Surf Club who is a surfer. She booked into today's surf school, filling the last place."

Lee said expansively, "Ah, a good day and good timing at the beach, Nicole. The wind at Piha will be light from the south-west that will produce at least a half metre of good running surf, ideal for learners."

Lee turned to look at Nicole who had her mouth open in astonishment.

He asked, "Is learning to ride the waves one of the reasons why you've come to New Zealand."

She nodded and said one of them and asked, "How could you possibly know surfing conditions at Piha without checking your smart phone or pulling out a piece of paper with details noted from this morning's early news bulletin?"

"Oh, I surf fairly frequently at Piha, all year round actually. Within three weeks the surf lifesaving club will really be underway with the arrival of warmer weather and that will attract the start of crowds. I'm a former surf lifesaving club captain and every morning when I awake at 6.00, I still habitually listen to the weather report followed by the surf reports."

"Omigod, you must be big into surfing and surf lifesaving."

"Yeah, I involved myself a bit," he said, using New Zealand vernacular and adopting the local custom of understating one's endeavours.

"Who's the guy coming for you?"

"Chuck Berry and he says I should try to bring my own wetsuit."

"His nickname is actually Cluck and his surname actually is Berry. I'd trust him with you but he might forget to bring you back home after he downs some beers and find a nubile woman who doesn't know his wife. I have a collection of wet suits that one could be about your size expect for... um..."

"My tits?"

"Yeah, um this might see odd but may I feel them?"

"If you must."

Lee asked Eve would that be okay and she said, please himself, Nicole was an adult and it was her business who she allowed to grope her.

Ignoring the giggling of the two women, Lee moved in and pushed Nicole in against the back of her chair with his hand over her boobs.

"Was that okay?"

"I scarcely felt a thing."

"Good, and the finding is they are reasonably soft and the tightness of a wetsuit should not squeeze them painfully. There will be more than sufficient room elsewhere if you choose one of my wetsuits."

"Thanks, that's real friendly of you."

Wondering if she meant his testing of her boobs, Rick soon announced he must be off, considering he'd had a most interesting coffee session.

"I admired the restraint you showed in not unnecessarily flipping out Nicole's boobs for the assessment," drawled her brother-in-law. "That was very professional and you two don't know each other well enough yet to be undressing each other."

"That won't be likely," muttered Eve and they just heard her younger sister say, "Very likely."

"Lee, would you be available tomorrow to take us all to the zoo?"

"Oh, a great idea Eve. Yes, to the zoo tomorrow at 10.00 or to Piha if it's a cracker of a day as the Weather Office has predicted. Would that choice suit everyone?"

"Yes," Rick said, looking at his watch and hurrying off, giving a reminder, "Darling, remember to buy us sunscreen and beach hats for tomorrow."

When the apartment door slammed shut, Eve said, "Will you dance with me soon Rick?"

"In all probability yes, but let's not plan it. Just leave it to happen."

"Over my dead body," Nicole hissed.

"Leave it Nicole as you'd be there in the role of chaperone. I'd insist on that," Lee said, smiling at the sisters.

To divert the conversation, Lee said grandly, "Ladies, there are around sixty adult females, attached and unattached and of all ages in this building. During the next few days I'll begin introducing them to you, and males too of course, to give you the opportunity to begin building your friendship base. We'll begin this assimilation the 7th floor where there is a covered and heated swimming pool and two spa pools which provide a perfect social centre."

"Great, we both have packed our bikinis," Eve said, licking her lips. "We got quite well tanned during this unusually prolonged and hot English summer."

* * *

Nicole met Lee in the basement, standing at his open locker. She looked at the bright yellow V8 Ford Mustang and although reading the stick on red and black sign in the front door, 'McQueen Post-1980 Car Restorations' asked in surprise as if she hadn't just comprehended the obvious answer, "Is this your car?"

"Yep, I own the company. Don't be too quick to ask for a ride. You need to know the tradition for all females riding in American sports cars is to not to wear panties."

Nicole swallowed noticeably.

He waited.

"I'll have to think about it but I guess I will conform to tradition."

Lee grinned and said to ignore his comment, said he'd been teasing, as the contention was not true in most cases.

A tongue was poked at him.

He lay seven wetsuits carefully over the bonnet of the car and said he thought the best bet would be the black one with turquoise insets.

"It's winter weight, which is good because the sea is still cold and my guess it's about your size as it's too tight for me now around the hips and knees which restricts rapid and violent movement."

Nicole walked into the locker with the suit and called, "Come and help me get it on."

He remained where he was, silent, and she called, "Just teasing."

She emerged in the wetsuit, appearing to be wearing almost the perfect fit apart from it being a little too wide at the shoulders.

"Looking great, but where are your tits? You may be mistaken for the best-looking man in the beach."

"It's okay, and the squeeze is giving me the shape I sometimes desire when perving males and critical or admiring women eye my boobs rudely for too long."

"I could look at them in a tight sweater for most of the day."

"Ooh, in that case you have a licence to do that until the novelty wears thin and that will probably be within five minutes or less."

"Atta girl," he grinned and that smile was lost when she said coolly, "You definitely are my preferred type of man."

"But your age," he said desperately and didn't know what to think when she responded, "Fuck age, we're adults and that's all that matters."

Exactly what did that mean? He believed he had a fair idea of what she meant.

Cluck phoned Lee to announce he was two minutes away.

"What's she like, buddy?"

"Sensational and probably vulnerable, so soon away from her home patch in England. She's too young for me and far too young for you, a married man. I trust you to look after her well and to get her back here safely and untouched, pal."

"Cluck, please do me a favour. I don't want her going sweet on me at her age. If she asks questions about me, be vague or just switch the subject like asking do lions, camels, elves and tigers roam the parks and sports grounds in England."

"Do they?"

"I have no idea," Lee lied.

After Nicole had left with Cluck, Lee asked Eve, standing beside him after waving her excited younger sister off, who had she got to mind the children while she was out having job interviews?

"It's all arranged to my satisfaction. I consulted the receptionist and she said Mrs Worthington was the accepted queen of child-minders in this building. I visited her and she accepted the assignment and all she required was a bottle of Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir Central Otago Roaring Meg 2008."

"Oh, that's available at the wine shop across the road for $23.00 I believe."

"That a low return for around four hours' child-minding. Should I get her two bottles?"

"I suggest that you don't as other users of her services might become angry knowing that someone has doubled the fee paid and thinking Mrs Worthington will believe everyone should pay the inflated price set by the new resident."

Eve nodded in agreement and invited Lee to her apartment for coffee. Noticing her left hand cupping her left breast lightly as she said that, Lee declined with thanks, saying he would soon need to leave to join his regular Saturday mountain bike group to tear through a nearby state forest.

* * *

By the day's end, Nicole had had benefitted from two 2-hour surf training sessions for beginners and had been introduced to at least thirty people including three young English immigrants.

She was pleased about that but frustrated by changes in Cluck's behaviour when she asked questions about Lee. It seemed as if she were asking for Cluck's bank account password or to the key and the location where he stored his condoms and perhaps lube containers.

This was very odd and she decided on the way home to ask direct questions.

"How many surf lifesaving rescues has Lee been involved in?

Cluck squirmed in his seat and after a paused answered, "I believe it's 82."

"How many lifesaving awards has he been presented with?"

"Scores for winning events over the years, including beach sprint, flag races, paddle board races and board and IRB rescues. He says his greatest achievement was saving a family of four in the far north when he was on a camping holiday with a girlfriend."

Warming up, impressed by his passengers' deep interest, Cluck continued expansively.

"They saw a yacht approaching the cove at nightfall stop abruptly and its sails begin flapping uselessly. Lee believed it had struck a submerged reef and then noticed it was sinking. He told his girlfriend to go to a high hill in the car and try to get cell phone coverage to call for rescue teams, and said if he was not on the beach when she returned to sit with the car lights turned on pointing out to sea."

"When Iona saw him return with a child and wave to her urgently, she ran and took the child into her arms and they watched Lee race back into sea and swim the 300 metres or so to where she last saw the stricken vessel."

"She covered the girl, aged 8, with a thick towel and placed her in the van and turned on the heater and kept her foot on the vehicle's accelerator to ensure the alternator would be generating sufficient power to charge the drain on the stationary vehicle's battery with its headlights on full and pointing out to sea as an improvised beacon. She'd learned that procedure from her father, a truck mechanic."

"Lee returned to the beach with a boy aged 11 and after disappearing into the dark again, as there was no moonlight, returned with a distraught woman sobbing that her husband would be drowned as by then the incoming tide would have covered the small knoll, they had been standing on by more than six feet of water."

"Fortunately, she was wrong. The dazed skipper of the yacht, with a deep cut across his forehead suffered in the collusion, was only just managing to gulp down air between tidal swells. Lee brought him in and they began driving out the long access track to the main road when they met the emergency services that the girlfriend had managed to call."

Nicole said, "Omigod, what a heroic thing to do. What a man."

Aware that he'd been talking too much, Cluck decided the story had to be given its proper ending."

"In recognition of that strenuous multiple rescue completed mainly in darkness and with no other assistance on hand, Lee was later called to Government House to receive the country's third highest award for civilian bravery. It was the New Zealand Bravery Decoration (NZBD) from the Governor-General - awarded for acts of exceptional bravery in situations of danger."

"Omigod, what a hero," muttered Nicole.

"Nah that wasn't Lee's opinion. He said to the news media at the time, and has always maintained since then, he simply did what any dedicated surf lifesaver would have done."

Nicole sniffed and said, "Do you believe that brush-off was justified?"

Cluck said quietly, "Damn, I've been talking too much."

Nicole sobbing alleged, "Omigod, he's attempted to muzzle you when talking to me about him."

Cluck attempted to fob her off, but she told him to stop attempting to conceal the truth.

He drove for a few minutes, considering his options, before saying, "Nicole, you are a pain in the ass with your intelligence and relentlessness. Lee is my best mate by a country mile. If you reveal I've shot my mouth off to you about him, he'll consider I've failed him."

"I've told you what you wanted to know and Nicole, now bury that information and say no more about what I've revealed. You'll find out sooner or later as people talk and sooner rather than later, he'll be in the headlines again after being involved in another major event because he has something of the habit of being the right place at the right time and his past exploits will be repeated as part of the media coverage."

"Okay Cluck, you have been kind and informative to me. I promise no squealing. I can see you two are bloody good pals. It will be great for that to continue and for my part, I can now proceed to persuade him to become attracted to me, knowing I'm not wasting my time dealing with a hollow man."

Cluck said carefully, "Cripes Nicole, he's thirty-five, much too old for you."