Beyond Aquila Island Ch. 02

I'd like to thank all of you for your support and interest in my story. DoctorHook, the creator of the Sean and Dani characters, sets a very high bar for quality in creative writing. I'm pleased and honored that I seem able to at least do justice to his creation. If anyone thinks differently, of course, feel free to share your views in the comments section. I read all the remarks that you leave, so you can be assured that your voice will be heard, even if that voice is a shrill one.

In Part 1, we left Sean and Dani in the former's bedroom after a night of torrid lovemaking. Morning finds their mother pounding on her son's door, hurling accusations and demanding entry. Playing 'beat the clock' was never so stressful...

*

Sean's brain fought to reach full consciousness as he sprang out of bed au naturel, followed by a frantic and equally naked Dani. They looked at each other in desperation as their mother banged on the door and shouted,

"Sean, what's going on?! Where the hell is Dani? It's 6:30 in the morning, and she's nowhere to be found. Is she in there?"

"Um, in here? Of course not mom, why would she be in here?" Sean replied in rapid fire speech. He turned wild-eyed towards his sister, whose mental gears were already whirring away. Using her index and middle finger, she pantomimed walking and pointed out the window. She then gestured towards the door. Sean understood at once.

"Something's going on with you two, I just know it!" the Ellis matriarch bellowed. "Open the door this instant or I'm getting the key."

"No, mom, don't! I'm not dressed. Dani is out for a walk. She couldn't sleep."

"I don't believe you. I'm getting the key." Dani grabbed Sean's blanket and concealed her nakedness.

"Mom!!" Sean shouted with authority, surprising even his sister. He continued in a lower, more placating register, "Listen to me, mom - I am naked in here, I was too tired to unpack last night. Give me sixty seconds to get decent and I will let you in. Does that sound like a solution you can accept?"

There was silence on the other side of the door. Sean breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had just bought them one minute.

"All right, Sean, but that's all the time you get," Mrs. Ellis replied in a cool, determined tone.

Turning towards his sister, Sean watched her step out of the window onto the narrow cornice that wrapped around the second floor. The last time she had set foot on it, her shoe and body sizes were much smaller. This was going to be a daunting feat of balancing over a 20-foot drop. Seeing the danger, Sean ran to his sister and grabbed her hand.

"Be careful, Weez. Be supernaturally careful," he implored her in an insistent whisper.

"I will, baby," Dani replied reassuringly. "Will you be all right....?" She tilted her head towards Sean's door.

"Sure, sure. I'll take the heat on this one. All I want from you is to avoid any Peter Pan impersonations."

"Thank you, darling. I'm so sorry about this." She affectionately touched her brother's cheek and took her first step out of the window. Once she was outside, Sean gingerly closed it behind her as she blew him a kiss.

'Darling,' mused Sean. From anyone else, that expression would sound cheesy and dated, but it was so fitting coming from Dani's lips.

"Ten seconds, boy," his mother alerted him, breaking his reverie.

Dani's treacherous walk along the side of the house was in slow progress. She was physically fit and possessed good balance, but the cumbersome blanket made navigating the narrow cornice difficult. Even greater was the mental distress caused by the likelihood of imminent discovery of their incestuous tryst. It could well mean the end of her family as she knew it.

Having gone commando in a pair of cargo shorts, Sean slowly opened his bedroom door to allow his mother admittance. She walked in and looked around, appearing like a drill sergeant on barracks inspection. Mrs. Ellis folded her arms and regarded her son with a severe bearing.

"All right, young man. Where. Is. Dani?"

"She couldn't sleep last night, mom, so she went for a walk," Sean lied, maintaining steady eye contact with his mother. His heart was pounding, but his face betrayed no apprehension.

"I have never known Dani to take walks on a Sunday morning at 6:30."

"There's a first time for everything mom, including a break-up with her boyfriend of six months." Sean paused to let this logic dart penetrate his mother's defenses. "You do recall that Dani was considering moving away to be with Chad when he got a job?"

Her son's words and their delivery were breaking down Amanda Ellis' suspicions. Sean continued to gaze at her with the steadiness of a Clint Eastwood character. She suddenly felt very foolish.

Raising her hands in a gesture of concession, Amanda said, "Well, I was so worried. I thought something had happened to her."

At that very moment, both of them heard a sharp metallic clang outside the window. A bolt of terror ripped from the base of Sean's torso to his skull. His eyes assumed dinner-plate-sized proportions as his body froze in place.

"Now, what?" an exasperated Mrs. Ellis asked. She began to move towards the window.

For Sean Ellis, this was one of those moments in life when a man learns what he's made of. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to see what had happened to his beloved Dani. Still, another part of his brain retained awareness of the peril created by his mother's presence. He blocked her approach and added another gnarled branch to his thicket of lies.

"It's another damn pigeon. I told you they'd become a nuisance with that new park. Let me make sure they didn't damage the gutter." These words left Sean's mouth seemingly of their own volition. His brain was on autopilot now, but it was flying with consummate skill.

He stood before the window and spread the wing span of his well-developed lats, totally blocking his mother's view. In blistering suspense, Sean opened the window and stuck his head out. Dani was there, her arms wrapped around a vertical drainpipe which had partially separated from the house. Sean's sister had regained her footing, but she was breathing heavily and her eyes were wide with fear. After a couple of seconds to further compose herself, she flashed her brother an 'okay' sign and took her first step through her open window. Sean's attention remained riveted on Dani until she was fully inside. He couldn't stop himself from exhaling a lungful of relieved air as the immediate crisis dissipated.

Pulling the window closed, he turned around to look into the puzzled face of his mother. Sean inhaled and did his utmost to maintain an even tone, "It's fine. A pigeon probably flew into the house, but it's okay now."

"You are acting so strange, Sean, but my concern right now remains with Dani. I want you to go out and find her. If she's walking around upset, she may not be paying attention to traffic."

Nodding his head, her son replied, "Sure thing, mom, but can you give me a minute first?" He then sat on the bed with his mother and occupied her with made-up topics of questionable urgency about Chad and Dani's relationship. The jig would be up if Dani didn't have time to dress and slip out of the house.

After two minutes of pointless conversation, Mrs. Ellis tore herself away. She rose and headed for his bedroom door. "Just get dressed, Sean, and go get your sister. I'm really worried about her." She then stopped short at the threshold and drew in a queasy breath of air. She looked back at her son.

"And take a shower when you get back, honey. The air in here is so ripe."

With an awkward smile and a sidelong glance, he merely flashed her the same "okay" sign he had gotten from Dani. Mrs. Ellis turned and headed towards her bedroom. Sean finished dressing, put on his shoes, and dashed out the door. He had to get out of that house.

He walked for a couple of minutes before pulling out his cell phone. Dani was Number 1 in his speed dial roster; he was connected to her without delay. She answered her phone and both of them breathed a sigh of relief. They were in the clear.

Chapter 6



The siblings arranged a meeting point at the park from which Sean's mythical pigeon had departed. When their eyes met across the tree-covered expanse, they ran pell-mell into each other's arms. It looked as though Sean had just come back from combat duty overseas and was being reunited with his beloved wife. In the blissful embrace of a big hug, Dani apologized profusely to Sean for putting him in such a horrible position. He just clutched his sister protectively and gave thanks that she was all right. Tears filled his eyes as he contemplated what could have happened.

After a few minutes of blissful reuniting, Dani's curiosity asserted itself. She asked Sean how he had pulled such a brilliant con on their mother with no preparation. He explained what happened blow-by-blow.

"But what about the drainpipe?" Dani asked. "It's going to be noticed. What do we tell them?"

"Oh, leave that to me," Sean reassured her. "I'll come up with something, I always do."

Dani shook her head and wagged her finger at her brother. "What a cool liar you are, Sean Ellis. I'm not sure I like that," she remarked with a smile.

Sean chuckled, "Look who's talking, Weez. Remember the picture frame, remember the speeding ticket? Granted I was the beneficiary of your deceit, but you showed remarkable skill in keeping the truth from mom and dad."

"Touché," Dani conceded. Her smile disappeared as she tenderly took Sean's hand in both of hers. "Let's just agree to never deceive each other, whatever the motivation. Without honesty, we could lose everything."

"Don't worry, angel," Sean replied, intentionally using a new term of endearment to test the waters of their budding romance. "I know I could never pull the wool over your eyes. I'd never want to, anyway." Sean tucked a lock of Dani's dark brown hair behind her ear.

Sean took Dani's other hand, and their lips came together in a heartfelt kiss, lasting much too long for mere sibling affection. Their foreheads remained in contact as they continued their conversation, intermittently pecking each other about the face as they spoke. Both young Ellises agreed a romantic relationship had to be explored, but gradually and with care. Otherwise, the haunting question of "What might have been?" would hang over them for the rest of their lives.

Left unspoken was the siblings' expression of the religious experience that had been their two occasions of lovemaking. The sensations they had experienced completely redefined the word "sex" for both of them. In their intimacy, Sean and Dani had morphed within a brilliant tapestry of soaring bliss into one being, 'SeanandDani.' Though neither of them would admit it, nothing would ever be the same between them again. They had crossed the Rubicon.

***************************************

She'd seen them, those Ellis kids. There was no mistake. What were they doing kissing and holding each other like that? It wasn't her business, she didn't like anything to disturb her quiet existence. But she would remember what she saw.

Chapter 7 - (Three Months Later)

"Stop playin' with yourself, Hooper. Secure that other bowline." Standing on the short wooden dock, Sean looked up from the smart phone he was using to text Dani. His friend and colleague, Dane, was smirking at him by the stern of the small vessel from which they had disembarked.

Both young men were in the final year of their bachelor's program at the University of Miami's School of Marine Science. They had a typical "guy" relationship -- lots of joking around and winding each other up. Dane had given his friend the nickname 'Hooper' based on Richard Dreyfus' character in "Jaws," Sean's favorite movie. It had stuck. The sea and all the life within it had always held a keen fascination for him.

'To see my Dani in the flesh after three long months, in a tiny bikini...' Sean shook his head to dissipate that potentially embarrassing daydream. In his private moments, thoughts of his sister kept him so consistently rock-hard that he feared hospitalization. It was even worse on nights they Skyped.

Sean returned to the conversation with Dane. "You're too late, man," he retorted as he walked with the mooring rope. "The Academy Awards were earlier this year. And Robert Shaw delivered that line much better." He deftly tied a bowline knot around the dock's bollard, securing the forward portion of the boat.

"Give me time, man. I'll be practicing it on you again." Dane clapped Sean on the shoulder. They collected their gear and headed back towards Dane's Oceanside flat.

"Want to grab a beer before you go, Hoop?" Dane asked Sean.

"For sure, bro, thanks. I may as well relax tonight. I'll be crunching these ocean acidification figures in the lab all weekend."

"Well, take heart. You've got your sister's visit to look forward to," Dane observed. "And so do I," he said out of the corner of his mouth, almost as an afterthought. "If she looks anything like her pictures, I'll be proposing marriage before she heads back."

Sean rolled his eyes and laughed. "She'll be with me in Key West for most of her visit, Romeo. You'll have to move very fast indeed."

"I do love a challenge," Dane remarked with a grin as they entered Dane's place.

He grabbed two beers from the fridge, tossing one to Sean. They went out the rear door of the tiny home and dropped their weary bodies into a couple of old lawn chairs, which groaned under their manly weight. As they luxuriated in the bliss of a South Florida breeze, Dane and Sean talked of their plans for the weekend. As much work as Sean had to do with his research, his entire focus rested on this very night. It would be his first Skype chat in a week with the woman he loved.

Sean was crazy about modern technology. It made his oceanography work much more efficient and hassle-free. But, tonight he would delight in its powers to see his sister in sparkling high def as they talked. As virtual as the experience was, however, it didn't stack up to reality. The sibling-lovers had not touched each other for over 90 days. At this point, the Skyping had become a cruel tease. It was like waving a juicy sirloin in front of a starving man, keeping it just outside his aching grasp. All the same, their online sessions were a fix neither could do without.

'Just seven more days, and it will be real,' Sean thought to himself. He shivered with the anticipation of how it would feel to make actual contact with Dani's body.

***************************************

It was Dani's bedroom on Sean's computer screen, but she was nowhere in the camera's frame. Her electric lights were off, the only illumination provided by five strategically placed candles. The mood seemed like the inside of a sultan's tent.

"Hello, Ground Control to Weez. Are you there?" Dani had told him tonight's session was going to be 'a little different.' Sean didn't mind the occasional surprise, but he hated waiting for them.

After another full minute, Sean's speakers came alive with the powerful licks of an electric guitar. Each note seemed to be an accompaniment for the advancement of a sleek panther. He saw the sexy figure of his sister burst into view, wearing a pair of red short-shorts, a matching checkered tank top, and 3-inch heels. The effect on her brother was devastating. She then reached behind her and scooped up her long dark hair, which she had secretly grown out since Aquila Island. With a seductive flourish, she let her straight tresses cascade down her bare shoulders. Now, Sean understood why his sister had always been in a ponytail when they'd have their chats. Dani looked beyond irresistible with the new style.

Night is draggin' her feet
I wait alone in the heat



Accompanying the driving cadence of the guitar was the silken voice of Olivia Newton-John, performing her 1979 hit, "A Little More Love." Staring right at the camera with a wicked expression, Dani crossed her arms at her waist and slowly raised the hem of her top. The song was perfect music to strip to -- sensual yet classy, just like Dani herself.



I know, know that you'll have your way
'Til you have to go home.

"No" 's a word I can't say.



The peeling top now revealed her succulent breasts, straining to be contained by a sky blue lacy bra. Dani then tore off her top and swooshed her hair from side to side as it flew towards the floor. Sean "oohed" in admiration as her smoldering gaze remained fixed on him. She shot him a saucy half-smile as her hands went behind her back to unclasp her bra. Dani's scrumptious natural C-cups bounced as they were released from their tight confinement. Her nipples were hard and elongated, just begging to be sucked. Sean brushed his fingers against the computer screen, willing physics to yield and allow him contact with her engorged pink nubs.

Next came the short-shorts, which were peeled off and kicked away. Sean was now gazing at the erotic image of his Dani in nothing but her silk panties. The baby blue color was a perfect complement to her skin tone and dark hair. Now it was time for the great unveiling of the most precious treasures.

Cuz' it gets me nowhere to tell you "no"
It gets me nowhere to make you go



Dani's gyrations to the music were intoxicating. Acknowledging her brother's state of extreme arousal, she gave him an adorable pout as she teased him with her panties, peeling them down just enough for him to see her nearly bald pussy.

Sean's cock was so hard that it was quivering beneath his boxer shorts. His rod was releasing a steady dribble of precum, but its shirtless owner was too mesmerized to jerk off. The pace and volume of the song picked up, causing his eyes to widen in anticipation.

Will a little more love make ya
Start dependin'
Will a little more love
Bring a happy endin'



Dani turned around as the organic guitar licks became even more powerful and pounded on Sean's eardrum. Her ass was only half-covered by the gossamer material of the panties, a sizeable portion of which had been gobbled up by her butt crack. Dani hooked her thumbs under the spaghetti strap waistband on either side, and Sean's heart thundered in his ears. The growling B-flat minor beat picked up. Sean gripped the armrests of his chair until his knuckles were white.



Will a little more love make it right.
Will a little more love make it right.



Dani swiveled her hips to the music in a seductive shimmy, pulling her panties down a fraction of an inch at a time. Her neck moved in a serpentine pattern which caused her proud mane to brush back and forth against her back. Transfixed by the awesome sight, Sean gulped as Dani's tanned half-moons appeared, bisected by her vertical smile. It seemed to greet Sean in salutation. He finally began stroking his cock. Waiting for Dani to join him as usual was no longer a choice Sean could make.

Her tiny panties fell and pooled at her feet. She then arched her back and bent over at the waist, keeping her legs perfectly straight. The view of her ass and pussy was up close and glorious. Sean eyes were fixed on her mound. There was just the faintest wisp of hair over her swollen labia, which were wet with her love dew. Her pussy looked like an overripe peach bursting with moisture, flavor, and temptation. Sean's jacking of his steely cock picked up in pace and intensity. A familiar rumble arose in his groin.

Dani hooked the panties off the floor with her shoe and turned around to face her awestruck brother. She made a show of twirling the wispy material on the toe of her expensive Jimmy Choo before kicking it out of sight. Her completely nude dance coincided with a repeat of the song’s chorus. Her moves were heartbreakingly sexual yet artfully graceful. The rumble in Sean’s groin became an insistent demand. When bare-breasted Dani leaned into the camera and blew him a kiss with two open hands, Mt. Vesuvius erupted.