Secret Beach

"Keep your hands to yourself," she warned, but with a smile, "or I'm putting my top back on."

I laughed and went back to my book. Perhaps thirty minutes later Ali got up and sat in her chair. Topless. I couldn't help staring. She wasn't large breasted but her tits were still firm and her nipples were pronounced. And they became more pronounced as she became sexually excited, projecting out nearly an inch when we made love.

"Would you like some more sunscreen?" I asked, nodding toward her exposed breasts.

"No thank you," she smiled and said, "I'm afraid neither of us could stop once you started that. But I better put sunscreen on, these guys," and she cupped both tits and gave a quick shake, "they have rarely been out in the sun."

"Rarely?" I questioned.

"I didn't tell you all of my stories before we met," she laughed and teased me.

Hmm, I thought. One day I'd sure like to hear these stories. In the meantime I took pleasure in watching her apply sunscreen to her breasts.

We continued soaking up the pleasure of the beach and every so often I'd glance over and ogle my topless wife.

I wasn't the only one. As I had mentioned there seemed to be an irregular group of single guys weaving down the beach checking out the naked women. Some were more blatant than others, but I noticed none of the other sunbathers reacted and I began to ignore them too.

As the sun rose it got hotter and we decided to cool off in the ocean. I was very curious if Ali would put her top back on.

She didn't.

We waded in the surf, the water temperature was warm, but not too warm to allow us to cool off. After playing in the water for a bit we began walking back to our chairs. As we walked I tried casually, behind my sunglasses, to check out the other women in the distance visible from our path.

"Isn't that your friend?" Ali asked me, surprising me and interrupting my ogling.

"Friend?" I asked slightly confused.

"Mike, Ali," I heard someone call to us from down the beach.

It was Adrian from Pinkus walking toward us, smiling and waving.

I quickly waved and turned to Ali.

"Do you want me to run up and get your top?" I asked.

Ali just laughed.

"Michael, a dozen or more men have looked at my tits since we've been here." She told me with a slight smile. "What difference does one more make?"

"Yes," I began, "but, but, we know him!" I said stuttering, not quite sure of the logic of my statement.

"Who cares," she said, "he's almost here and it would seem weird to suddenly put more clothes back on. I'll probably never see him again after we get home."

Much later I would wish that had been the case.

Adrian did stop and talk and yes, Ali's naked breasts were on display. I caught him checking them out a couple of times but who could really blame him. She looked good. For her part Ali was nonchalant, not self conscious.

After about ten minutes of chatting Adrian said he needed to keep moving and we made vague plans to get together one night before we all went home.

It was with strange jealous relief I watched him walk off. While I found myself getting some type of thrill to see my wife half naked around other unknown people, it somehow bothered me that someone I knew got to see her tits. Don't ask me to explain my reasoning, that was just the way I thought.

"Well that was a little odd," I pronounced after we got back to our chairs.

"What?" She asked genuinely curious.

"Just having someone I know see you topless." I told her.

She was quiet for several moments, processing, I suppose my statement, or perhaps assembling her own feelings on the half naked encounter. She never replied to my comment.

Several hours later we packed up and began the hike back. Ali was now dressed. It was far more strenuous going back up the path and the sun was now high in the sky.

It was a comfortable quiet drive back to the Koloa Landing after a fun day at a beautiful beach. About halfway back Ali made a comment.

"He looks like he's in good shape." She exclaimed out of the blue, facing away from me looking out the car window.

"Who?" I said but I realized I knew.

"Your friend Adrian," she replied, "he's got a nice physique."

Adrian was in good shape. A little different from me, he was taller, lean, with very little body fat. His abdominals were visible, he had the look of a middle distance runner.

I was in good shape too, different as I said. I was more muscular, thicker shoulders and thighs. Pronounced abdominals too, but mine were from many hours in the gym. Adrian looked like he was genetically blessed. He had the fluidity of a natural athlete.

Even though a slight flame of jealousy was ignited by her statement it was doused by the environment we were experiencing. A tropical island, wonderful weather, a beautiful hotel, and memories of my wife half naked on the beach.

I didn't spend much time thinking about Adrian Vasguez.

Once we got back to the hotel we shared a shower rinsing off the salt and sand. I had been half excited all day with Ali partly naked and now in the privacy of our room she quickly became completely naked. We fucked.

Later we watched the sunset as we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. It had been a good day. We returned to our room and I retired with an after dinner rum onto our balcony overlooking the grounds and the magnificent swimming pool.

I was lost in pleasant thought when I felt her hand on my shoulder. I didn't immediately turn around. After a moment Ali stepped in front of me to the railing wearing next to nothing. She had on sheer white lingerie, she may as well have been completely nude. I had not seen this outfit before. It was effectively transparent.

"Ali!" I exclaimed, "you're nearly naked."

"I know," she said, "what are you going to do about it."

"But there's people, they'll see," I declared.

She just turned her head, looked over her shoulder, shrugged, and smiled at me. I wondered what this woman had done to my previously modest wife?

I didn't need much more of an invitation. My hand went under the short sheer hem of the lingerie and encountered a particularly moist pussy. Her arms extended to the railing, bending over and pushing her hips back to me. I massaged her vagina and clitoris. Her arousal was evident.

I looked at her and saw her breasts were now hanging out of the top of the sheer lingerie and though it was dark out, there was no doubt she would be visible to anyone looking toward our balcony. I continued my caressing.

It was not long before she shuddered to a climax and sunk to her knees on our balcony. I was happy but a little surprised at her sexual openness, this was not like my normally conservative wife.

Eventually she stood, not speaking, shrugged off the skimpy outfit and walked back completely nude back into the room. I sat enjoying the evening happy that I had brought her pleasure. A few minutes later I took a last sip, picked up her discarded nightclothes, turned and closed the sheer curtains to the balcony. Ambient light from the grounds partially illuminated our room.

There lying on our bed, face down, and naked was Ali. Her ass was slightly propped up and in the weak light I saw her beautiful pussy peeking out from between her legs.

I dropped my shorts, crawled onto the bed and firmly spread her legs, her ass arched back to me. With two fingers I found her pussy, still wet and lubricated. With little gentleness my erect penis eclipsed her vaginal lips, in and out sliding effortlessly and deep. I could hear her ragged breathing as I continued her fucking.

It didn't take long. Despite the earlier pre dinner sex, the overall excitement of the day and now the evening became too much. After just several minutes I climaxed vigorously, slumping still half embedded within her.

What a great way to end a wonderful day.

All too soon we were on the Hawaiian flight taking us back to Portland and our normal, non-vacation lives. As we sat on the flight holding hands Ali made me promise to take her back to Hawaii at least once a year. My normal thriftiness was out-weighed by the intimate excitement we experienced on this trip.

I agreed this would be an annual event.

One other thing to note on the vacation. We ended up having dinner with Adrian Vasguez on our second to last night on Kauai. He had texted me earlier that day, and though I would have preferred not to, I agreed to the dinner. I knew we may run into him again and I didn't want it to be awkward.

It actually turned out to be a pleasant evening. Adrian is very smooth with people and he impressed us at the dinner. I could understand why he'd quickly become so successful in his sales position. When the conversation drifted too much into Pinkus' talk he pivoted the conversation back to Allison. She seemed to appreciate the attention from Adrian.

Every so often subtle flashes of jealousy would emerge. Here I was watching this young, good looking, charismatic co-worker focusing and nearly flirting with my beautiful wife. Who, oh by the way, he saw half naked with her sexy tits out just a few days ago.

Nothing Adrian did crossed the line as being anywhere near inappropriate. And, if he had been overweight and balding, I would never have given it a second thought. But I knew my wife well enough to see that my charming co-worker had impressed her.

"What an interesting young man, nice looking and ambitious" she commented, as we walked back from our dinner with Adrian. "I wonder why he's not married. He's going to make some woman happy one day," she added.

I said nothing. Ali had never given me any reason to suspect any type of attraction to another man, but for some reason Vasquez's charisma seemed to have made an impact on my wife.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Life settled back to normal after returning from the Hawaii trip. Ali and I lived in a pleasant three bedroom - 2 bath ranch style house, in an average middle class neighborhood. Our house had been built in the 60's and it was solid but would never likely win any awards from Architectural Digest. Nice but plain.

I had owned the house before we were married and Allison had moved in approximately six months before the wedding. She is an interior designer, independent, with her own practice. It would be difficult to say she worked full time, but she stayed reasonably busy. She has used her design skill to improve our house significantly I have to admit.

Lately though, she has been suggesting it's time to upgrade. Because of my hard-wired thriftiness and aversion to financial risk I did not agree with this strategy. This has led to discussions on the verge of disagreements. Nothing serious, just two different opinions.

Ali's family had been on the upper tier of middle class. She was an only child and from what I can deduce was somewhat spoiled. She grew up in the west hills amongst expensive homes with landscaped grounds and impressive views. Ali's father had died right before we were married and her Mom had sold the house a few years ago when she moved into assisted living.

Over the next several months a few things happened that affected the course of our lives. It's amazing to think that these seemingly unimportant events had such a dramatic impact on us.

The first thing happened two months after the Pinkus Labs sales meeting in Hawaii. It was not a huge surprise but it was worth noting.

Adrian Vasguez resigned from Pinkus Labs. I was not terribly shocked to hear it. He had spoken of his desire for wealth and even though Pinkus was a steady and fairly well paying company, the financial goals that he sought would likely never be satisfied for him at Pinkus.

I recalled mentioning this news to Ali one night at dinner.

"So he finally did it," she commented.

"What do you mean, finally did it?" I questioned.

"Oh you know, when we were with him in Hawaii, he always spoke of taking a big risk to get what he wanted," she explained.

I noticed her gazing into the distance, a half smile on her face slightly shaking her head as if she was off in deep thought.

I knew that she thought I was too conservative. I was hard wired that way, I grew up with no guarantees of three meals a day. We were often on the verge of being destitute. I never wanted to experience a situation like that again. The thought of big risks that could jeopardize our security I could not accept.

"Anyway," I continued, "he had a great future at Pinkus, I hope he knows what he's doing. He could live to regret this move." I stated.

"He won't," Ali replied quietly, still lost in her thoughts.

Two months later Ali's mom Helen, mercifully, passed away. Ali was certainly sad and cried for her mother, but we both knew her dementia had created a shell of the woman that had raised Ali, and that she had been so close to her whole life. In some ways it was a blessing.

Helen St Clair was seventy-four when she died. She had lived the last two years at Glennhaven, an assisted living center in the suburbs of Portland. Outwardly it looked like a nice hotel. But if you looked a little closer you could see what it really was.

The staggering monthly costs of the facility were slowly consuming Helen's savings. Ali was an only child, and had been put on her mother's financial accounts. Her will just addressed furniture, art, and jewelry. Most of it was already at our house.

A few weeks after the funeral we reviewed Helen's, now Ali's, finances. The remaining balance in the brokerage account, after all expenses had settled, was $388,900. Suddenly our financial situation was different. This wasn't quit our jobs type money, but it certainly relieved a good deal of financial pressure.

Of course, we had different ideas on what to do with the money. My strategy was to invest it in mid level aggressive mutual funds with a mix of bonds for stability. This would insure our eventual retirement and create a safety net for the future.

Ali talked about a new house, a BMW she wanted, and more vacations somewhere.

These differences created a new tension in our household. It wasn't like we argued about it every night, but if Ali would come home talking about a newer, bigger, nicer house for sale she had seen, I would dampen her enthusiasm with my practical objections.

She would say things like, "let's put a pool in." She always loved swimming pools and whenever we went on vacations, like Hawaii she'd want to make sure it had a nice pool.

"Allison," I replied, "it's not practical."

"Well, at least a hot tub." She'd argue.

I stayed firm, save for the long term.

One day I came home to a brand new red BMW convertible in the driveway. I soon found Ali had splurged on it, against my advice. I tried to act excited about the new car, but I think she knew I was faking it. It was hard for me to get excited about a $50,000+ extravagance.

As a compromise I told her we could remodel the bathroom that she used the most. With two bathrooms we each had our own primary bathroom space staked out. She had wanted an update for years after watching all the makeovers on HGTV. The reality was the six thousand dollar remodel on TV, by my calculation, was more likely a twenty thousand dollar project.

She was happy with the idea of a new bathroom and for a few weeks as we shopped for tile, hardware, and cabinets, things were back to normal.

I hired a contractor to do most of the work but there were several things I thought I could do myself to save money. One of these things was the demo. I rented a dumpster that arrived on a Friday afternoon in our driveway.

Skip, the contractor was supposed to start first thing Monday and we wanted to have the bathroom completed quickly. As a married couple we shared many intimacies, but we both had become used to the privacy of our own bathrooms. We wanted the down time to be minimal.

I spent most of Saturday tearing out the old shower. I got behind my planned schedule Sunday messing around with the water shut off valves. I was finally able to remove the sink and toilet by dinnertime Sunday with a minimum of flooding.

I just had flooring and trim left to demo, and I had to get that done before Monday. It was dark as I trudged out of the garage with the last few scraps of trim and flooring to throw in the dumpster. This is where I later deduced I had made what would normally have been a minor mistake. I didn't realize the scope of the error at the time.

I took one last look into the demo'd shell of the bathroom before showering in my bathroom and exhaustedly going to bed that Sunday night.

The next event happened Monday morning. I had a text requesting me to come directly to the office, something I wouldn't always do. Normally I would start my sales calls traveling to the furthest geographical point of the day and then working my way back. The text was from my boss, Karl Rudinsky.

When I arrived I was told to head right into Karl's office. I was surprised to see Don Clemons, the senior executive, sitting in a side chair. I quickly shook both their hands.

"Mike, please sit down," Rudinsky said, I noticed he had a big easy going smile on his face. Whatever this was about I quickly deduced it was nothing bad.

"Michael," Clemons began, "I want to get right to it. I have a proposition for you. We have established a new position at Pinkus. Before we start the interview process I wanted to see your level of interest."

Clemons explained that they wanted a kind of hybrid sales manager/sales trainer. He went on to explain the rationale.

"We invest a lot of money in training people and grooming them for future roles at Pinkus. When we lose someone prematurely, it not only leaves us short a person, but then we have to start the training process all over again." Clemons said, "It becomes expensive."

The new position would be working with the newer salespeople to not only help them become successful but to also make sure we retain as much talent as possible. No one said it but I suspected that Adrian's leaving had accelerated the strategy behind the new role.

I sat for a minute, questions buzzing around my brain. How much travel, what about my current accounts, is this an office or a field sales job, several other details and then finally, of course, how much does it pay?

"Michael," Clemons continued, "I'm sure you have some questions. Here is a job description from corporate, read through it. And Michael," Clemons said as he handed me the binder, "if you would rather keep your old territory and stay in your present position, no hard feelings, we can look at others. But you're our first choice."

I sat nodding and then stood up to grab the job description binder from Don Clemons. As I reached to grab it I saw a pad of paper on the table in front of Clemons with some words at the top and then a list of names below it. My name I quickly saw was at the top of the list with a check mark. I immediately saw the next name below mine.

Angela Ridley.

There was no way I was going to let her get promoted over me.

Before I even had the job description in hand I blurted out, "I'll take it!"

"Excellent." Clemons said to me.

"Congratulations Mike," Karl declared and reached over to shake my hand, "there is a lot to do. We can get your office set up this afternoon," Karl added.

Through the morning I was studying and signing documents. The position seemed a little overwhelming but I knew with my organized, structured discipline I would be successful just as I am in the sales job. I thought I had a lot I could pass on to the newer sales people. I started to become excited about the job.

Karl, Don and I had lunch together, I left my phone in my new office. When I returned I saw three texts, three phone calls and a voice mail. All from Allison within the last 30 minutes.

I immediately called her back.