Discovery

She looked very satisfied with that. "Do you have any regrets?" I asked.

"Not one," she said. "I have a father, someone who loves me. I never had that, even when Mom was alive. She was so immersed in her own misery she never had time to realize how miserable she made me. I have you, we live on the most beautiful island in the world, in this beautiful house, I'm going to college to become a doctor, I have my friends here, and I have Hal." She nudged him with her toe where he was lying in the shade of her lounger. His snore caught a little, and he opened one eye for a moment before closing it again.

"Let's get in the hot tub for a minute," she said.

I levered myself up, got the bottle and my glass and we got in. We finished our glasses and I poured us another. I was completely relaxed, sipping my wine, leaning back against the tub wall with my head leaned back on a towel. I could hear her moving around a little. I didn't open my eyes, just loving knowing she was over there.

I felt the wave as she slid onto the seat beside me, and I draped my arm over her shoulder, the silky warmth of her bare shoulders soft against my arm. I ran my fingers through the dampness of her curls for a minute, just petting her. My hand slid down her slender neck and across her shoulder to the right. Something was niggling in the back of my mind, but I was too relaxed and lazy to worry about it. She snuggled in and I absently stroked her shoulder, back up to her neck.

I could feel her skin roughen a little as she got some goose-bumps, then the thing was there again. I brought it swimming to the surface, and I realized what it was. I should have felt the string of her bikini on the back of her neck. I stroked her neck again, and it wasn't there. Slowly, almost not daring, I opened my eyes.

As I slowly turned my head toward her, her face was very close and those grey eyes were a luminescent silver, looking into mine. I was nearly hypnotized, and couldn't look away, but I was drawn. I slowly broke the spell she had cast and my eyes traveled downward. The bubbles from the jets made the water translucent, but it was easy to see that that honey-gold skin, bare and beautiful, went below the surface. I looked toward where she had been and I saw her bikini top on the edge of the tub.

I opened my mouth, but only a croak came out. I moistened my suddenly dry lips, took a sip of wine and cleared my throat. This time I managed to make words. "Um... Tyndal, have there been some rule changes around here? What are you doing?"

She blushed. "I wanted to have my top off," she said. "Do you mind?"

"Um... well... it's not that I 'mind,' exactly, I guess. If you mean like I'm going to make you put it back on or... make you do anything, I guess. This is your hot tub as much as it is mine, Tyndal. It's your top and your body. You can do what you want. You're a grown woman, going to college, for Christ's sake. No, I guess I don't 'mind'." My eyes kept darting back to the rolling surface. "I mean, why?"

"I saw you looking at me when I got out of the pool," she said. "I saw you watching my butt, too. I liked it."

"I liked looking at you," I told her. "That's all it was, Tyndal. I just realized what a beautiful woman you are. I guess I've always known that, but it just hit me differently. Where are you going with this?"

"I want you to notice," she said. "I like it, and I'm going to make sure you notice it a lot."

I laughed, and that turned into a groan when she stood up and moved to sit on the top of the tub with her feet in the water. God, her breasts were gorgeous! I have no idea what size women's tits are, and I really didn't give a damn. I suppose that hers weren't that big, because she was tiny, but they fit her perfectly. They sat high on her, proud, and the cliché of "perky" came to mind. They were, and full, round and absolutely beautiful. She laid back on the towel spread there and arched her back. It was so classically feminine, and she was perfection.

Those full orbs stood up spectacularly, even lying on her back. She had a bit of a tan line; her golden skin just a little lighter where her smallest bikini covered her. I looked, unable to tear my eyes away. As I watched, her nipples slowly became erect. They were brown, small and perfect little nubs, not long, but fat and cute as hell. The small brown circles surrounding them were thickened, forming little miniature cones of their own, slightly above the fullness swelling the lower half of her breasts, tilted slightly upward and outward from the way she was stretching, her back arched upward, and it was the sexiest pose a woman could make.

She turned her head toward me, a coy smile flickering over her features as she saw my rapt attention. She turned on her side, facing me, placing her sunglasses on the curve of her hip, the smooth roundness swelling into a delicious curve and propped her head up with her hand, one elbow on the deck. Every movement caused those breasts to jiggle, and my cock was an iron bar.

"When we're by ourselves, I want clothes to be optional," she said.

She already wore mostly swimwear or a long t-shit and panties around the house, anyway. Any more 'optional' and she'd be naked. There was a huge conflict raging inside me. This was the girl who made life worth living for me, my daughter, her presence in my life making what had been existence into something warm and wonderful. I was her slave, and she knew it. She owned my heart. I felt an almost overwhelming sense of love for her, and there was a feeling in me that I needed to protect her, watch over her, make her life perfect. Only a father could have those feelings, or know how profound they were.

That was clashing with what my eyes saw and my body felt. God, she was beautiful. I wanted very badly to crawl over the edge of the tub and feel that smoking hot girl against my skin, feel those hard little nipples against mine, caress every inch of her with my fingers, my lips. Feel that perfect skin, taste it, savor every tactile sensation I knew I would feel, but I couldn't. I was in agony.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" I finally became able to speak.

Her eyes were locked on to mine, as if she was searching for something. She smiled at me, blinding me. She looked satisfied, as if she had found what she was seeking. "Yes, I think I do," she said. "I think it's the same thing looking at you does for me."

I wondered if she did know. I tried to put it into words. "Do you have any idea how much I love you, Tyndal?"

She nodded, stray curls of flame falling across her face. "Yes, I think it's the same amount I love you."

"God, I hope it is," I told her. "I know you, Tyndal. You're smarter than I am, and I know you don't do anything by accident or on the spur of the moment. You have a plan. Care to tell me about it?"

"No, I don't mind," she said. "I've been thinking for a while. I'm getting to know a lot of people at college. I've got friends now, lots of them. I've been going on dates, you know that. I have fun, I like the guys, I go out and have a good time, I fool around a little and I like it."

"Okay, that's nice, sweetheart. This is background, right?"

She nodded again. "Yes, it is. I started noticing stuff. I'm out there having fun, going to parties with my friends, dancing on dates, going to the beach, movies, you know, everything you do. The thing I started noticing is that even though I'm having fun, there's something in the back of my mind, all the time. It's always there, and no matter who I'm with or how much fun I'm having, there it is."

"What?" I asked.

"I'm always waiting for it to be over so I can come home and be with you." Her voice was low, almost a whisper. "I'm wishing you were there so I could look over and roll my eyes when someone says something dumb. We'd smile at each other, because you get me. We'd be feeling the same thing inside. I hear something or see something, and I wish you were there to see it or hear it with me."

Her eyes were filling with tears, and I was all choked up, myself. "I do know that feeling," I said. I reached up and cupped her cheek in my hand, running my thumb lightly over her skin.

"All the time I'm away from you, I'm just waiting until I can come home," she said, nuzzling her cheek into my palm. "Dad, I don't ever want to be away from you. This is where I belong. I'm never going to feel any differently, and I'm going to be with you, forever. I want to be with you, not anyone else. I'm going to be with you and love you, forever. I'm going to love you in every way possible. Do you understand?"

I was beginning to understand. "But..." I began.

She put her finger over my lips, shushing me. "Every way!" She was insistent. "This is going to happen. It may seem weird to you, or to other people, but I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. I love you, all of you, everything about you, and I'm going to show you. I know what you're thinking. I thought of all that stuff, too. I decided that doesn't matter. I love you, and nothing else matters. It may take me a while, but you don't stand a chance."

She smiled at me in a challenging way. My mind refused to work. "But..."

"There is no but." She was quite firm. "This is the first step. Come up here with me. You're becoming a lobster." She laughed and shook her hair back out of her face, extending her hand to me.

I took it, not because she could help me, but just to establish that contact. She sat up and I sat behind her, my feet in the bubbling water, and she reclined, her head in my lap, looking up at me. There was so much gorgeous on display there that my brain was still off a beat.

The one thing I did NOT want to do was say or do anything that would hurt her or make our relationship more awkward than she had already made it. I felt like any statement I might make would do that, so I just decided to ask questions, let her talk out whatever she had on her mind. I ran my fingers through the damp flame of her curls, just reassuring her with the touch.

"Tyndal, where do you see this going?" I asked. "Where are we going to be in five years, or ten?"

She wiggled to get in a good position to look in my eyes. It was very... distracting. "If by 'going somewhere,' you mean physically going somewhere, I don't see it going anywhere," she said. "I'm not going anywhere, and I don't think you will either. I see us staying right here. I'll never leave. I'm where I'm supposed to be."

That made a lump in my throat I could hardly speak around. My voice was a little choked up and I had to clear my throat. "Well, I guess I hadn't thought about that, but that's not really what I meant."

"You mean our relationship?" she said. "I've loved you from the first night back in your apartment. Every day we've been together, I've just loved you more. You're my father. You take care of me and love me. I take care of you and love you."

I had to laugh. "Yes, you certainly do."

She smiled up at me. God, she was adorable. "Tell me something, Dad. Who decided that two people who love each other shouldn't love each other in any way they choose?"

"You mean like sexually?" I asked. She nodded.

"I know about the biology," she said. "I researched it. There is some basis for it, but it's mostly weird myths. Dog and cattle breeders have been doing it for years. There's something else going on here. There were taboos about it long before anyone knew anything about biology."

"It's probably religious," I said. "I don't know anything about it. Society says "This is bad," and people don't question it unless something makes them question it. That kept same-sex marriages from happening, until just recently."

"That's what I'm talking about," she said. "Fuck society." She looked up at me to see my reaction to her F-bomb.

I had to chuckle. "Yeah, we kinda decided that when we first met, didn't we?"

Suddenly it hit me. We were doing what we'd always done. We were just talking, and it wasn't weird and awkward, even though I was holding a nearly naked Tyndal with her head in my lap.

"I'm just afraid I'm going to do something that's bad for you, baby, in ways I don't even know about or understand," I said.

"Loving me is bad? No, I'm pretty sure NOT loving me is what would be bad for me," she said. She sat up and extended her hand to help me up. "I need to wash the chlorine off me."

I let her pull me to my feet and we made our way to the outdoor shower beside the pool. It had a roof and wooden lattice walls over a concrete pad. We usually just rinsed, but there was soap and shampoo there. She got the water warm and pulled me under the spray. When I stepped forward, she positioned us so that the water was streaming over us, putting her arms around me and pulling herself tightly against me.

All that warm, wonderful, nearly naked girl against me caused a reaction. She felt it, because she squirmed and pressed herself against me. She leaned back, letting the water spray between us, looking up into my face. I could see those spectacularly beautiful breasts, fully displayed, nipples erect, just touching me. She twisted back and forth, just scraping them against me. I groaned, and she laughed. "You like?"

I had no power of speech. She reached for the soap, pumping her hand full and began to wash my upper body. She left no spot untouched, exploring every inch with her curious fingers. When she got to my trunks, she looked up at me and hesitated. "Do me?" she murmured.

She turned her back to me and I got a handful of the gel, beginning with the tops of her shoulders. She had perfect skin, unblemished and feeling like slippery silk under my hands. I washed her back down to her bikini bottoms, then got another handful of soap, pulling her back against me, that hard little ass against my incredible erection. I felt like it was about to shatter.

I reached around her, getting the soap in both hands, then cupped my hands under those gorgeous breasts, running my thumbs up and over her hard little nubs. That got an instant reaction from her. Her head came back against my chest, she turned it upward me and offered her lips. I could tell she wanted to be kissed, and I definitely wanted to kiss her.

I had kissed Tyndal hundreds of times, and she had kissed me probably three times that, but this was different. I continued to play with those tits, and she moaned, just before our mouths fused. She had all the passion of that fiery hair contained in that kiss. I was lost in that kiss. There was no coming back from that. All the emotion I'd felt, finding her, never knowing I'd had her, the joy in life she'd brought into my empty world, all the love in my heart, was expressed, right there.

When it ended, we were both shaken. She turned off the water, still pressed against me, and we just held each other until the chill of the water evaporating made her skin go rough. She pulled away with a laugh, took two steps to the towel rack and threw me one.

We dried. I wanted to help her, but she danced away out of my reach. "Greedy," she said. She went and picked up her top, sashaying that little ass like a runway model, and came back. We went inside, her arm around my waist and mine over her shoulders. Dinner was nearly ready, so we changed. I put on shorts and a t-shirt, and she came out in panties. Just panties. This was going to be awkward as fuck, I thought.

We didn't say much as we set the table, but she chattered away once we started eating, and I was very surprised to discover that it wasn't awkward, at all. She was Tyndal, no different than she had been before all the... drama and emotion. She'd always been a chatterbox, always been as loving as a puppy, and what had happened didn't change her a bit. I relaxed, and the elephant in the room shrunk and disappeared.

Over the next week, nothing really changed. Well, the fact that she went around the house topless most of the time was certainly a change, and the fact that my cock was hard every time I looked at her was a big change, but our relationship did not. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I had been under the impression that she wanted to get sexual, like immediately. That didn't happen. She rubbed those titties on me every time she was close, but that was about it. Oh, she also began kissing me quite differently, feeding me her little pink pointed tongue.

Other than that, she went to school, hung out with her friends some, came home and the dates with the college guys stopped. We spent a lot of time together. She planned all sorts of things for us to do, and dragged me around the islands. We went to see all the spectacles, the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, the Kula Wild Adventure Park, the Sri Siva Subramaniya Temple, we saw them all.

She was in love with life, and her enthusiasm was contagious. I was in love with her, and seeing her experience things, blossom into a charming and captivating young woman, while keeping that enchanting wild Irish gypsy character she'd always had, was the most fun I'd experienced in my life.

Most of all, she loved the beach. She body surfed, snorkeled, fished, and Hal and I sat under an umbrella and watched. We joined in when we could, but mostly we worshipped at her altar. She became golden and brown, and when we had the beaches to ourselves, she swam and sunbathed in the nude. That was a sight to make a dead man hard. Her body was exquisite, perfection in miniature, and that little tuft of flame on her mons was perfect. It should be a crime for redheads to go bare, and she didn't seem to be interested in anything other than a trim to fit the scandalously small bikinis she favored when it was just the two of us.

It was a Friday, and she had the next Monday and Tuesday with no classes. She had obviously been arranging some things, because she asked me the previous week if she could have a credit card, and told me not to plan anything until the next Wednesday. I was raising a small garden, and I had just come in from working when she came down the stairs, pulling her suitcase.

"Hey, where you going?" I asked.

"We," she said. "The right question would be where are WE going. Go shower, put on something casual and we'll go. I packed your suitcase for you."

I laughed and played along. It didn't take me long, and Nete was waiting with the car when I dragged my suitcase out the front door. "You ready, Boss? Let's go," he said. He loaded my suitcase in the trunk and I got in back with Tyndal.

She smiled up at me, all innocent and angelic. "Oh, boy," I said. "You are obviously up to something. Is this something I'm going to like, or are you planning a human sacrifice when the moon comes up?"

She laughed. "Both," she said. She snuggled over against me. "I hope you're going to do more than 'like' it. I'm keeping it a secret, for now, okay? Don't try to pry it out of me."

I put my arm around her and squeezed her up. "I'm sure I'm going to love it, as long as you're with me," I said.

Nete drove us into town and down to the docks, where we boarded a ferry. It was a long ride, but I did find out our destination. We were headed for the island of Malolo. She told me where we were going, since I knew, anyway. She had us booked into a resort, and there was a bus sort of thing waiting when we arrived. The place was gorgeous. We had our own little cabana, and she wanted to change and go to the beach, immediately.

It had the whitest sand and the bluest water I'd ever seen. We played in the water, soaked up some sun, and went to change for dinner. She got what she wanted me to wear before she went to change, and it was khakis and a black button-up cotton shirt.

She took my breath away when she came out. Her hair was flaming curls and she had on an emerald-green halter dress with a keyhole plunge into mystery between her breasts. It was about mid-thigh, and her legs were all honey-brown glory. She had on low heels, and I was hypnotized as she came across the floor. She twirled and I caught a flash of the sea-foam lace of her panties.