The Proposal

I would like to say thank the organisers, for the invitation to participate in the event.

All and any mistakes found are mine. Apologies.

*

My wife Franki gripped my hand as we walked along the beach. "Oh my god Max, I can't believe we're actually here."

With a hint of disbelief, I echoed her sentiment. "I know, it is surreal, I can't get over it. I mean how bloody lucky were we?"

She giggled joyously, as her hand gripped mine tighter. "And the hotel, babe, jeepers, it's four stars, and the room is fabulous."

"Yep, stunning."

Franki won this trip on one of those crazy radio challenges, tenth caller wins sort of shit. So here we were, finally we got to have a honeymoon. The most exclusive resort in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands.

We had only been married for eighteen months. When we married we couldn't afford a proper honeymoon. We just went camping for a long weekend. My job as a forklift driver only paid minimum wage and Franki got just a little more. She at least had a qualification. She worked at a fairly upbeat Auckland hair salon as a stylist.

My goal was to buy a home. We put every cent we earned into saving, but the bloody real estate market moved so fast I reckoned on our current savings regime, it would take us ten years, just for a ten percent deposit. Still that's life I suppose.

As we walked along the beach, hand in hand, I noticed this incredible pleasure yacht anchored in the bay. "Holy shit Franki, look at that bloody thing, it's bigger than our bloody flat."

She offered a little giggle. "Our flat, shit, it's bigger than the whole block of flats."

We spent the day swimming, flapping about and playing in the water. The problem being, yeah, we won the trip, which included accommodation and food, but everything else, we had to pay for, and shit it was expensive. Even a beer at the bar was twelve bucks...

So we were trying to find cheap ways to entertain ourselves, long walks along the beach. Later in the day we found our way into the market in town. That was cool, the markets had fresh fruit and food. Better still it was cheap. We could pack lunches to take on our walks, without having to pay resort prices.

The markets also had clothes, like sarongs and local styles. It meant we could buy some things to take home for friends and family. Holidays and gifts sort of go hand in hand. This allowed us to get a few things.

As we rummaged through the market stalls, I noticed a very well dressed woman. I caught her several times glancing at us, when her eyes caught mine she turned away quickly, obviously uncomfortable being caught out perving.

She stood out like a sore thumb, dressed as if she adorned a magazine cover. She walked gracefully, her smooth graceful elegance flowed.

I guessed she would be in her mid thirties, maybe a little older. Still, she was very attractive, with a short feminine business cut. Her features attractive rather than cute or pretty. She could be straight out of an English period drama. It made me smile, she was obviously checking me out... Me...

Shit, I'm hardly that sort of guy, most people, including Franki call me scruffy, unkempt. Not the sort to attract the attention of a clearly very wealthy woman. Maybe she was after a bit of rough?

I sensed her following us, her eyes never far from what we were doing. It felt like we were being stalked, she was the tiger, we, or rather I was the rabbit.

I didn't mention it to Franki, she might not have been happy with some rich bird giving me the eye.

It was later as we were at out table waiting for our evening meal. I dearly wanted a beer, but the prices were out of our reach, all the money we brought with us would have been blown within a couple of days.

We chatted softly, Franki, suggesting we should have had some drinks in our room before coming down. That was one of the supplies we made sure we stocked up on at the market. Bourbon for Franki and beer for me.

It was as I peeked up, I noticed the woman from the market seated at a table off to our left. Tonight, she looked as sexy as fuck. Yeah okay, she was a bit older than me, but shit, she looked so classy, stunning. She showed just enough flesh to look sexy without looking slutty, or cheap.

Her clothes, and remember, I'm no expert, fitted her like they were made specifically for her. She sipped at her cocktail, the straw twirling in her slender fingers. It was playful, teasing gesture, and her earlier innocence was gone.

I'm no expert on body language, but her movements were overtly sexual. Her fingers sliding up and down the straw, she flicked it lightly, and now she wasn't uncomfortable at being caught staring. She smiled seductively, and it was I who looked away quickly, my face red with embarrassment.

Jesus she was so blatant, like she didn't care.

When the waiter turned up to take our orders, he asked. "Would you like something to drink?"

Franki and I exchanged glances as I replied. "No thanks."

He leaned in closer saying quietly. "The lady over by the window would like to get them for you."

Franki glanced over at the woman, who when she caught Franki's, eyes, waved in a friendly gesture.

Franki gave me a strange look before answering. "Yes, all right. That would be lovely. Thank her for us, I'll have a creamy sex on the beach, please."

The waiter turned to me. "And you sir?"

"Um, just a beer for me. Steinlager, if you have it."

"Certainly."

As he slipped away to get the drinks, Franki leaned over. "Wow, wonder why she did that?"

I shrugged, "She's just some rich bird, probably thinks she's being cute."

"Should we invite her to sit with us, she is by herself?"

"Na, she's probably waiting for somebody."

"No, her table is set for one, I think we should."

Just then the waiter returned with our drinks. Before I could say anything, Franki said. "When you talk to the lady, ask her if she would like to join us."

"Yes ma'am."

Franki took a long suck on her straw shivering excitedly. "Oh god, that's bloody lovely. One more of these and you'll be getting lucky tonight."

We watched as the waiter spoke to the woman. She gave us a quick glance, grabbed her purse, picked up her own drink and sauntered lazily to our table.

As she neared, Franki stood to greet her. "Thanks for the drinks, you didn't have to."

She smiled back, a pleasing sexy smile. "Oh Sugar, it was my pleasure." Wow, her voice oozed sex appeal. It was a smooth drawling deep Southern American accent. She sounded like one of those sexy old time southern belle's. Old movies like Gone with wind, steel magnolias sprang to mind. Her voice was like treacle

The waiter brought over another table and she sat between us. "I'm Kathleen."

As she reached across to shake our hands Franki replied. "That is my husband Max, and I'm Franki."

"Franki, what a delicious name, I surely do like that." She let her eyes wander over Franki and I, as she asked. "So what's a lovely young couple like y'all doing here?"

Franki burst forth quickly. "We won a competition on the radio."

Kathleen nodded absorbing Franki's burst of information. "We're from Auckland, this is our first time out of the country."

Kathleen laughed, even her laugh had a southern drawl, and god it sounded so fucking sexy. "Well, y'all certainly sound excited to be here."

"Oh it's so lovely, thank you for the drinks, we wanted some, but didn't have the money." Franki burbled excitedly, there was no hint of shame on her behalf, whereas I felt a tinge of embarrassment.

"Y'all drink up. Don't you worry none about the cost, let's celebrate y'all good fortune.

She waved at the waiter, to get his attention. "What are you drinking?" Franki asked.

Kathleen drawled seductively in reply. "Sugar, this, little thing is a Red headed slut shot."

Franki giggled as she slurped up the last of her cocktail. "Sounds dirty, what's in it?"

"Jagermeister, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice." She drawled softly. "Would you like to try one?"

"Oh gosh yes, I'd love to, but you don't have to. I mean they are so expensive."

"Oh to hell with the cost sweet thing. Let's just enjoy." She glanced quickly at me. "What about you Sugar, do you want to try one as well?"

"No, not for me thanks. I'll just have a beer." I chuckled.

Kathleen ordered the drinks, and we all ordered food. "What do you do Franki?" Kathleen asked.

"I'm a hairdresser, I want to open my own salon, but at the moment, I just work." She sighed deeply. "Having my own salon is my dream."

"You gotta have dreams Darling." She glanced interestedly at me. "What about you Max?"

"I work at a warehouse, I drive a forklift, working towards being head storeman."

She nodded. "Good for you Sugar, sounds like you got yourself a plan."

Before I could add anything, Franki started burbling about our plan to save for a house, and suddenly Kathleen pretty much had our life story. The waiter returned with the fresh drinks, and Franki took a quick slurp. Her eyes bulged and she waved her hand in a cooling motion over her mouth. "Holy shit, god they're strong."

"But good right?" Kathleen added.

"Oh hell yeah."

Kathleen reached over to clink glasses in a toast. "To new friends."

Kathleen sipped hers slowly as she engaged Franki in a deep conversation about her desires to open her own salon. It was like I vanished in a puff of air. I leaned back in my chair and sipped my beer. Now completely redundant, I tried to get my head around what was going on.

Deep in thought, I as dragged back to reality as the waiter arrived with our meals. That brought Franki and Kathleen back as well.

With the plates sitting in front of us, I asked. "What about you Kathleen, what brings you out to Rarotonga?"

"Sugar, I'm just taking a break from the world."

"Really, how long are you staying here?"

"Oh you sweet Chile, I'm not staying here. I have my yacht out in the bay, tonight I just felt like a change of scenery."

"Oh my god, that's your boat out there?" Franki squeaked, in total awe.

Kathleen, giggled lightly. "Oh my yes sugar, that's my baby. She's a load of fun."

"Wow, it's so big."

"Hahahaha, yeah, I suppose she is, it don't seem like it when I'm parked up with some of my friends. I declare, she sure don't look so big then."

"What do you do to pay for it?" I asked.

"Oh not much Darling, finance boring stuff."

I could see she was purposely down playing it. She was obviously wealthy, so I guess it didn't matter. Her and Franki drifted back into their more personal chat, and again, I may as well not have even been there. I glanced around the room, most of the other diners had all drifted away and we were pretty much the only people left. Kathleen ordered more drinks, this time she ordered for Franki. She ordered another round of drinks, this time she instructed the waiter she wanted two Cum in my panties. The poor waiter just about choked. She had to give him directions on how to make them.

When he returned and Franki sipped greedily she cried out loudly. "Oh my god... That is delicious. You're going to be in trouble tonight Max,"

Kathleen giggled as they worked their way through the drinks. They leaned in close and talked like lovers, conspirators. I started to feel a little uncomfortable with Kathleen, her manner was inappropriate. Like she was hitting on Franki, as the thought passed through my brain, it registered, that's exactly what she was doing. Thinking back to the market, she wasn't staring at me, she had been ogling Franki.

As the penny dropped, I reached over and grabbed Franki's hand. "Honey, the staff are waiting for us to leave, they want to close up. We should go back to our room."

She gave me a confused glare. "Ah, don't be stick in the mud. We were having fun, weren't we Kathleen?"

"Yes, we sure were sweetum's. We could go out to the yacht for a night cap, if you're in the mood?"

"Really, god that would be awesome. I'd love that." She turned back to me. "Can we Max, it would be perfect."

"No Hon, let's go back to the room, it's getting late."

She sighed, gave me a sad pouty sad face, before saying to Kathleen. "Sorry, I think poor Maxxy is feeling left out."

"Never mind Sugar, maybe next time?"

"Oh yes please, I would love to see your boat."

Kathleen smiled. "Then, let's make it a date, both of y'all come out to my little yacht tomorrow. We can have lunch, swim." She glanced at me, before adding. "We can play on the jet ski's, para glide, just have some fun."

Franki seemed totally in awe of Kathleen. "Oh yes please, it sounds like so much fun."

Kathleen giggled softly. "You know, there's a hot tub as well, where we can just chill out afterwards."

There were some cheek kisses as Franki and I wandered off to our room. "Yikes." Franki giggled. "God, I'm so drunk babe."

She fell into my arms as I wrapped my arm around her waist, for support. "Golly, Kathleen was so nice, don't you think she is lovely?"

"Yeah, she's all right, a bit cheesy, all that Sugar, and chile shit."

"Oh don't be unkind, that's just who she is. I loved her accent, so sweet, like molassas."

She leaned in close, her body stumbling and resting against me. "Oh hell, those cocktails."

"Yeah, you seemed to be enjoying that."

"I did, it's been ages since we did anything like that. Amazing..."

We made love with a passion that eluded us recently. Lately, we seemed so tied up, working late, long hours and staying home to save money. Guess it's like that for everybody, but this was great. We made love with a renewed vigour, passion.

Franki was asleep quickly, but I lay there, her head resting on my shoulder, her drool pooling, as she snored seductively. Kathleen scared me, I saw something in her eyes at the table when she gazed longingly at Franki. It was a hunger, I have never seen anything like that before.

Waking early, I untangled myself from Franki and slipped out of bed to her purring. "No, stay babes, just a little longer."

I chuckled. "We'll miss breakfast if we don't get down to the restaurant soon."

"Oh god." She groaned roughly. "My head hurts, it's so bright."

I ripped the blankets off. "Come on sleepy head. You need a shower."

Breakfast was awesome, a buffet, stuff we couldn't usually afford. The only down side was Franki's groaning. Still, once she consumed half a bottle of panadol, three coffee's and a coke she started to feel better. We took a walk down on the beach, as always we walked hand in hand, enjoying the feel of the golden sand between our toes.

From nowhere Franki said. "Do you think Kathleen was serious? Maybe she was just hammered. We did drink a fair bit."

"Serious about what?"

"Her taking us out on her boat, silly."

"I'm sure she was being sincere, but, yeah I think she was pretty drunk as well, so she probably won't even wake up till later this arvo."

"Yeah, guess so, it would have been cool."

I nodded, thinking, I hope she's forgotten, my memories from the previous night still made me uncomfortable. Franki screamed. "Come on, last one ins a scaredy cat." She ran water splashing everywhere until she dived into the gently lapping waves.

Laughing, I followed her and dived in beside her, the refreshing water breaking over us. I surfaced beside her and wrestled her back into the water. She shrieked and flailed around trying to escape my gripping arms.

We got dumped by a wave and ended up waist deep splashing each other. She walked into my arms and we shared a juicy kiss, her lips searing, the kiss explosive.

Back on dry land, we heard rather than saw the speed boat as it pulled up beside us. Kathleen leaned over the edge. "Hi you two love birds."

I watched a huge grin spread over Franki's face as she called back. "Morning Kathleen, how's your head?"

"I do declare Sugar, I took a whole bottle of Advil." She stared warmly. "Y'all still up for a day on the water? I had the crew get the jet ski's out."

"Oh hell yes, we were hoping you were serious. It's so nice of you."

"Oh Honey, I'm not nice, I just know what I like."

That comment made me cringe, shit, she sounded like she knew what she liked all right.

The guy driving the boat helped Franki on board, then reached down to help me. "Do we need anything, towels, clothes/ God, I'll need my swim suit." Franki spluttered.

"Shucks, you sweet Chile, don't you fret none, I got stuff on board. We will find suits for you."

We were soon racing around on jet skis, blasting through waves, leaping into the air. Then Kathleen organised for me to paraglide, she sat with Franki in the boat watching as I sailed up into the air, towed behind the speedboat. Okay, I was nervous about Franki, but honestly I was overcome with amazement. The vista opened up before me, the whole coast line, the reef and out into the ocean. It felt incredible, soaring about three hundred feet miles above the sea, the wind buffeting me. I released the tow cord and I soared higher. Unencumbered by the cord, I picked up the wind and I felt the lift. Like an albatross I soared on the wind. It came naturally, never been up in one before, I just kept my face in the wind.

God knows how long I was up there, but when I got back down to sea level, I thought, Oh, oh. Now what do I do?

I ended up just crashing as close to the parked speed boat. I floundered around in the water, until I was fished out.

Franki jumped into my arms. "Shit babe, fuck, you were amazing."

"Boy, oh boy, you done well." Kathleen added.

I noticed a couple of the crew heading off in the boat with fishing rods. One glanced at me. "Do you wanna come?"

Franki laughed sweetly. "Go on, you know you want to."

Off we went, out over the reef. The guys were great, I asked them plenty of questions about Kathleen, but they weren't saying much. They obviously valued their jobs.

We spent a good two hours fishing, and caught some awesome fish, a couple of which we released.

Climbing back on board the main boat, which was like stepping onto a floating mansion. The fittings and finish were absolutely top class. Everything was expensive, the furniture, the art work, it was pretty flash.

I found Franki and Kathleen sitting in the stateroom. Reclining back in a big soft comfy sofa, they sat close laughing and chatting. Cocktails again being consumed like water.

I walked over, and found a seat close by. "You ready to go Franki?"

"Oh hush, what's this talk about leaving. Just hush your mouth. Y'all staying for dinner." Kathleen stated firmly.

"Thanks Kathleen, I mean your hospitality is great. But, I think perhaps we should give you some privacy."

"Oh no, please babe." Franki cried out is shock. "We are having crayfish. Please babe."

I could see the desire on her face, and if I pushed harder I was going to come across as the bad guy. What was to be gained by being an arsehole, I was probably worried about nothing.

Dinner was amazing, the huge table could seat about twenty or thirty people, having just the three of us made it seem like a waste, but, that seemed to be the way Kathleen lived. The staff were all friendly and my glass was never empty as the evening rolled on. After dinner e sat out on the back deck, quiet music wafting around on the gentle breeze. It was amazingly pleasant.

Kathleen and Franki spent the time leaning close, talking in hushed tones, all the way slurping back the cocktails like water. Kathleen as she got more relaxed, became more openly interested in Franki, her hands wandered up and down her arms, stroked her leg. She often used her hand to sweep hair from Franki's fringe off her forehead. It was disconcerting, unease making me shiver uncomfortably.

As the clock slipped past ten, I decided enough was enough. "Franki, I think it's time for us to give Kathleen some privacy. We should be leaving."