Solitude

"You've been here before?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Twice?"

"Yes."

"And this is where you and Cheryl, you know."

"Yes."

Darlene turned until they were facing each other. They kissed and hugged passionately. Darlene moved his body back until he was lying on the ground. She leaned over him, kissing down his neck and chest while moving one hand up his leg and thigh. She found, kissed and nibbled his nipples while her hand massaged his testicles and stroked his penis. She kissed further down his abdomen while her hand finished the task of raising his erection. He was ready as she took him in her mouth and began to lick and suck gently.

Bobby lifted his head and began to kiss Darlene's inner thigh. She sensed his intension and moved her legs apart to allow him the freedom she knew he needed. When he found her clitoris with his lips, she stiffened noticeably and pushed her hips toward his face. Darlene pushed her mouth down on him until he could feel her nose against his pubic hair. He pushed his tongue into her as deeply as he could and followed up with one, then two, fingers.

Darlene came up for air briefly and then swallowed him again. Bobby had never experienced such complete oral sex. He used his teeth to gently scrape Darlene's clitoris while pressing one finger into her vagina and the other into her ass. Darlene responded immediately and her full body orgasm flooded his mouth and hand. Simultaneously, Bobby's cock stiffened further and spurted his semen into Darlene's mouth. She backed off slightly to allow him room to ejaculate and swallowed everything he gave her.

Darlene sat up, turned around, lay partly on his chest and began kissing him with her open mouth. Bobby loved it. He responded hungrily tasting himself in her kisses and knowing she could taste herself in his.

Darlene reached down and found he was still erect. "Is this normal?" she asked.

"Definitely not," he laughed. "I'm learning very important things about myself," he added.

Darlene laughed and rolled on top of him. She straddled him and slid down with him inside her. She moved her hips forward and backward slowly and deliberately.

"No hurry," he said.

"No hurry," she responded.

They moved like that for many minutes. Darlene would sometimes arch her back and try to get him further inside her. Other times, she would put her hands on his chest and move up and down. Finally, she would lean forward, press her breasts onto his chest and kiss him with a smile. With her back arched, Darlene closed her eyes and ordered, "Squeeze my breasts. I want to feel your hands and fingers on my tits." He did and he could feel her orgasm approaching. He grabbed her hips and pushed up into her as hard as he could. She held her breath and her orgasm arrived with an explosion of liquid and a scream of joy.

He held her there as she relaxed from her experience. He pulled her down on his chest and rolled her over until he was on top and between her legs. Her legs came up reflexibly and he began to slide in and out of her. She responded and he picked up the pace. Soon they were moving rapidly together. Bobby could feel his approaching release and he hoped Darlene was near as well. When he couldn't hold it in any more, he let it go but didn't stop moving. Darlene was several seconds behind him and he stopped moving and pressed everything he had into her as she climaxed again.

He rolled off and lay beside her. He kissed her tenderly and ran fingers through her pubic hair until he touched her clitoris.

"That's okay," she said, "but be gentle."

He moved his fingers slowly in a circle around her clit and back and forth across it. Her body quivered and stiffened into a small orgasm.

"That's enough for now," she said.

They lay alongside each other with their arms around each other, kissing and touching while they recovered.

"God, I love waterfalls," Darlene said.

"And everything that comes with them," added Bobby.

Bobby stood and helped Darlene up. She kissed him.

"Do we need to clean up?" he asked.

"In that water?" she asked.

"Where else?"

Darlene moved to the edge of the pool. She tested it with her toes and said, "Not bad." She jumped in.

"Shit its cold. It was warmer at the edge, but it's not too bad once you get used to it."

Bobby hesitated.

"You bastard. You better jump in with me or you'll regret it."

Bobby walked to the edge and jumped in. Darlene was right. After the initial shock, it wasn't bad at all.

Darlene swam over to him, took him into her arms and kissed him again. In spite of the cold, he began to respond and Darlene felt it on her hip. "You're kidding. Do you ever stop?"

"Never before and probably never again," he said.

Darlene put her legs around his waist in the water and slid his resurrected cock back inside her. They both knew it wouldn't last. They had to get out of the water before hypothermia took over. They pumped together a couple of times and left it undone, like a promise of more in the future.

Out of the water on the bank, they rubbed each other to warm up and turned to leave. "I hate to leave," Darlene said.

"So do I but we don't own the waterfall. We need to share it and today is only day three."

"You dog you," Darlene mocked.

On the way back, they paused many times to kiss and touch before moving on.

Back at the campsite, Karen was reading in one of the camp chairs. She told them that Annie and Lonnie were somewhere with the canoe, Cheryl and Nancy had gone for a walk and Dennis, Tommy and Johnny had gone to the general store looking for additional snacks and to refill the water jugs.

Darlene led Bobby to her tent. "I need to take a nap. Want to join me?" she asked.

"I could use a nap," said Bobby.

Inside the tent, Darlene spooned up against Bobby and wiggled her ass until she managed to excite him again. She shifted in front of him and managed to get him inside her in the spoon position. He assisted her and moved lower to get deeper. "God that feels good," she said. "Now take a nap. No funny stuff. Just keep it inside me and go to sleep."

Bobby fell asleep quickly. Darlene was near sleep when Karen put her head in the tent. "I could use a nap as well. Mind if I join you?" she asked.

Darlene nodded sleepily and Karen spooned up in front of her. They fell asleep with Darlene's arm over Karen's body and her hand on Karen's breast.

They woke up when they heard the guys coming up the path from their trip to the general store. Dennis raised an eyebrow when they emerged from his and Darlene's tent but said nothing. The six of them sat around, snacked and generally talked about nothing although Karen looked askingly at Darlene occasionally.

Cheryl and Nancy returned from their walk and Annie and Lonnie paddled back soon after. Dinner was prepared and consumed and everyone sat around in the circle to share their day. Annie was positively glowing as she described Lonnie's skill both in and out of the canoe. Cheryl spoke happily about walking through the forest with Nancy. She said they had discovered a lot about nature and themselves during the trek. Nancy agreed. The guys described what they found in the general store, including ice cream although most had little interest. Finally, Annie asked, "Bobby, how was your walk to the waterfall with Darlene?"

"I'm always surprised at the new things I learn every time I walk up there," he answered.

"We went swimming in the pool," added Darlene.

"Wasn't it cold?" asked Cheryl.

"It was but we got used to it after a few minutes. But we couldn't keep it up for long."

"I'll bet," said Annie.

The circle broke up when it got dark. Bobby and the five women set up near the table again to watch the stars while the other four went to sleep. As usual, two of the women, this time Karen and Nancy, sat next to Bobby and stroked his thighs. Darlene sat behind him and massaged his neck. Annie and Cheryl smiled at all the attention Bobby was getting and looked at each other while shrugging their shoulders.

"Bobby, aren't you uncomfortable with all us women giving you so much attention?" asked Cheryl.

"No. Not really. I don't mean to diminish your efforts in any way. I'm flattered. However, I'm somewhat amazed. I don't believe you mean it in a carnal way. Just as very good friends. So, no, I'm not uncomfortable nor am I offended. I understand your attention as a kind of love and it's a love I return in kind."

"How do you do that?" asked Cheryl.

"Do what?"

"Speak so eloquently."

"I can't answer that. I don't know. I don't think like that but sometimes the words just come. I'm not sure they're actually my words but, when I play them back in my head, I agree with everything I said."

"You did it again."

"Okay. Enough about me. Next subject. How about one of you women? For example, Karen, why are you rubbing my leg?"

"Me?" said Karen. "I don't know. I guess it just feels good."

"That's all?" Bobby asked.

"I guess."

"Karen, try to clear you mind. Empty it of all thought. Focus on rubbing my thigh. Tell us how it feels, how it looks, what color it is, what shape it is. Let the thoughts just happen. Don't try to force them. Experience it in ways outside of your sense of touch."

"Okay. I'm different since we've come here. Ordinarily I wouldn't have ever considered rubbing your thigh, or anyone else's except Johnny's. I'm not experiencing it as sexual. It distracts me from the way I usually live. It's a pathway to learning. It opens my mind to the rest of the world I miss in the world we came from."

There was silence within the group until a shooting star crossed the sky. "Right on," said Cheryl.

There were hugs and kisses as the group broke up to go to bed. Not just for Bobby, but for the women as well. Not just the usual woman-to-woman cheek kisses, but real kisses of affection and respect. No one left without real love from everyone else present.

When everyone was gone, Annie came to Bobby. "I'm so proud of you," she said.

"I don't deserve it."

"That's exactly why I'm proud of you."

They walked to their tent hand in hand. Inside, they curled up together and loved each other in ways they never had. Afterwards, Annie asked about Bobby's time with Darlene.

"I'm not going to regal you with the boring details but I did learn a lot about myself and I think I'm beginning to understand the various versions of love."

"I'm curious. Let me know when you've got it figured out."

"How was your canoe trip with Lonnie?"

"Nothing to brag about. He showed me the isolated beach he found when he canoed with Tommy. Full disclosure. We had sex on the beach. Frankly, he was a disappointment. I don't know what I expected but he was functional, not loving. I don't need to repeat it. It was just that once in spite of his attempts to try again. I learned that sex without the proper circumstances is worse than no sex at all. I'm feeling sorry for Karen."

"I'm sorry for you. You deserve better."

"I've got better. Come here."

Next door, Nancy had another vocally explosive evening. In the shared tent, Karen and Cheryl were riding Lonnie and Tommy respectively. At one point, they looked at each other and exchanged signals. Cheryl motioned for Karen to change places with her. Karen accepted with a smile. Each of them lifted themselves off their respective erections and crossed to impale themselves on their tent mate's partner. The guys were initially surprised but soon accepted the gift and pushed themselves to even greater effort. Karen got the better of the deal. It ended with a quadruple orgasm and the ladies spent the rest of the night in the arms of the guy they came with.

Only Darlene went to sleep alone since she couldn't wake Dennis even after a blowjob and rubbing her wet pussy on his face.

Day four dawned like day three. Clear with the promise of a magnificent day.

They ate breakfast but skipped the morning circle. Three of the guys wanted to explore the lake in Lonnie's canoe and Johnny said he wanted to spend time alone to think and get "straight with nature." That left Bobby and the five women.

"What do you want to do?" asked Bobby.

"Let's go swimming," suggested Nancy.

"There's a nice beach just the other side of the trees," said Karen.

"Not there. At the waterfall."

"They're trying to kill me," thought Bobby as they gathered half dozen towels, some snacks, water and a large quilt and set off up the trail. Along the trail each of the women took turns walking alongside Bobby and holding his hand. Annie hung back and smiled at the performance.

In the clearing at the base of the waterfall, they spread out the quilt and sat in a circle. Karen and Cheryl sat on either side of Bobby. They both began to absentmindedly rub his thighs. On some prearranged signal that Bobby couldn't figure out, one or the other would find some excuse to get up and one of the other women would take her place. Annie sat opposite Bobby, watching but not participating in the game.

The conversation focused on the nature of the trip so far. Everyone agreed that the bricks and mortar world they spent most of their lives in couldn't compare with the natural world. They marveled at the things they learned about themselves when they could quiet their minds and open themselves to those around them without guilt or shame. Most agreed that they had never been so honest with themselves or others as they had been since they arrived on Saturday.

Eventually the talk turned to the subjects of love and relationships. Darlene offered that she was beginning to understand the nature of the various forms of love. As an example she confessed that she loved Bobby but it was different from how she loved Dennis. She speculated that Bobby loved her as well but it was nothing like how much he loved Annie. She tried to distinguish between the two by labeling them as "love" and "in love."

"Bobby," she asked, "do you have any thoughts on love and relationships?"

"Actually I do," he responded. "I've been thinking about it quite a lot this week. I agree with Darlene to the extent she has explained but I think there's more to it. There are many kinds of love. Love of God. Love of country. Love of family. You name it; someone has put the 'love' moniker on it. For this discussion I want to focus on the highest two kinds of love. The penultimate love is so strong that you want to share yourself with the other person. It is the basis for many marriages. In this sense you could say I love Darlene. In fact I would venture so far as to say I love all of you. I could live a happy life with any one of you or all of you for that matter. The summit of the love mountain is a love so deep, so profound, that it surpasses any other feeling in life. It is a love you'd die for; a love you'd kill for. It's the kind of love that surpasses death.

"Love is one component of a good relationship. Ultimate love is the basis for a great relationship. I see a relationship as the seat of a three-legged stool. The first leg is love. The kind of love we've been talking about. The stronger the love the stronger the relationship but its not enough to support the relationship alone. The second leg is trust. If you don't trust your partner the relationship cannot survive. You have to believe what your partner says and never doubt their intensions. If your spouse says she's going shopping with a friend then you must not imagine any other possible reason for her going out without you. If your spouse tells you he's having a business dinner with a client who happens to be a woman, you can't doubt his words or his intensions. The slightest loss of trust eventually weakens the entire relationship and failure is unavoidable. The third leg is respect. You must respect your partner's words, actions and body. A relationship of different faiths or political party can only survive if the partners respect each other. Respect for the others personal space is the most important. No means no. Later means later. Don't do that means don't do that. Disrespect leads to mistrust and loss of love and no relationship can survive that."

"Damn, that's a lot more than I expected," said Darlene.

"Did you mean what you said you loved all of us?" asked Karen.

"I did and I meant no disrespect to Annie when I said it. All of you are closer to me than anyone else in my life right now."

"Does that mean you'd make love to me right now, right here?" Karen asked.

"In front of everyone? No. That would disrespect you. You deserve better than a public fuck. It would also disrespect everyone else and most of all it would disrespect Annie. So no."

The conversation waned after that and everyone decided to jump in the pool. The sun had warmed the water somewhat near the shore but the extreme cold still existed nearer the fall itself. They played together in the cold water, touching each other and sometimes pulling on an erect nipple or limp cock. When they had had enough they got out of the pool and dried each other off with the towels. Considerable rubbing with a towel was necessary to warm the ice-cold bodies. It became a game where everyone wanted to warm Bobby. He responded by lovingly warming everyone's breasts with his towel.

They picked up everything and started down the path to the campsite. Annie took Bobby's hand and held him back. "Are you guys coming?" asked Cheryl.

"Not right away," responded Annie.

"I got it. Have fun," said Cheryl as she skipped down the path to catch up with the others.

Annie had Bobby sit down on the grassy clearing. "That was a beautiful speech," she said.

"I meant every word. My love for you is overpowering. It comes from my soul. We've been together before and we'll be together in the next life."

"Thank you for being so understanding this week."

"Thank you as well but it goes further. I have absolute trust that you'd never do anything to harm our relationship. With that assurance and my love for you, it's hard to see anything between you and whoever this week in any way but positive for us. I think our time together when we go to our tent at night is all the proof I need."

Annie gave him a lingering kiss with a promise. It was a promise she was determined to fulfill before they left the clearing. Two hours later she felt she had delivered.

The rest of the week went by much like the first four days. The waterfall became a metaphor for building relationships and three legged stools. Karen was not to be denied and used the first opportunity she had to walk Bobby to the waterfall in the morning. Nancy followed with an afternoon hike with Bobby. Each of the women created reasons to walk with Bobby multiple times, they never hinted at anything while Annie was nearby. Bobby was impressed at the respect they showed toward Annie and he returned as much respect to them as he could.

Many of the women also found time together and walks to the waterfall were not uncommon. The women also concentrated on building three legged stools with their partners. Their efforts were rewarded and they all reported that their relationships had improved over the week.

Monday was get away day. Time to go back to the world of restrictions and controls. After a last breakfast, everyone pitched in to pack up and move everything to the cars. When things were complete, except for the ten camp chairs arranged in a circle, and the campsite was as clean as they found it, the couples walked naked to the camp chairs carrying their clothing.

They sat next to their partners and each summarized their experience of the last ten days. Each knew they were different than before they came to this amazing place and all vowed to use their knowledge to change the way they lived going forward.

When they finished everyone hugged and kissed everyone else and got dressed.

On the way home, Annie told Bobby she had noticed that while the gals kissed each other for the final time, the guys did not kiss the other guys.