Where's Buster - Redux

David was watching the wind gage and anemometer readings. The general heading to the LSB was north-of-east, and the wind was coming from the south-southeast. Because the wind was thirty knots off the stern quarter, it was making it easier to pound through the waves.

However, the wave heights would increase if the wind velocity got much higher, and the Sea Ray would start to dive into the troughs. To avoid that, David began a zig-zag pattern that would keep the boat at a 45-degree angle to each approaching wave.

It was pitch dark without the moon and stars and it was getting lonely and scary. The constant forks of lightning were the only things illuminating the churning sea. The thunder was almost continuous, and the rain came down in sheets. David turned on the two powerful remotely controlled halogen spotlights, that were mounted on a structure above the pilot's station.

The wind velocity was closer to forty knots as the storm neared. But the Sea Ray was still making good headway. David as navigating with the GPS. But there was no way to gage distance. He kept trying to contact the Habitat on the marine-band HF radio. But the approaching hurricane was generating too much electrical interference.

David had been out perhaps an hour, on what should have been a twenty-minute trip. He could tell from the GPS that he was right on top of the LSB. But he couldn't see it. He assumed that Ava and her crew would have already surfaced.

David was getting panicked when a flare lit-up the sky about 200 yards to the east. The storm must have pushed him west, or maybe the LSB had begun to drift off its moorings. He turned and headed back into the wind as a second flare arced up and he could finally see the LSB's comms tower in the red glow.

Ava was standing on the deck holding onto a stanchion for dear life, while she reloaded the flare gun. The rest of her team must be sheltering in the LSB. Ava had no doubt seen the Sea Ray's Halogen lights.

Due to the intensity of the wind, David couldn't just idle up to the platform like normal. He had to keep considerable headway on in order to maintain control. They all would die if the wind drove the Sea Ray into the buoy. So, the only safe option was to make a controlled pass and the team would have to jump. It was dangerous. But they'd all trained for that eventuality.

As the Sea Ray cautiously approached the leeward side of the LSB, David could see Ava marshalling her team at the edge. He thought, "Smart lady!!" The wave heights were less than six feet in the platform's close shadow.

The Sea Ray nearly touched the side of the LSB as David shoved the throttles to back-full and the big boat hesitated for just a heartbeat, like a pause in a dance. Three people landed in a pile in the stern well. That only left Ava, who had chosen to get her team off first. David jammed the throttles to full-ahead and accelerated past the buoy into the frantic waves.

It was killing him to leave Ava. But he had to come back to the LSB in a long loop. Otherwise there would be a twenty-foot following sea breaking over the transom and that would have drowned the engines. The LSB disappeared as he started the loop, which jacked-up David's anxiety level.

Another flare lit the port quarter - good girl!! David adjusted his course track and the Sea Ray passed within three feet of the buoy. David had the totally inappropriate thought, "I'm getting good at this."

He did the same trick with the throttles and Ava came flying off the platform in a perfectly timed leap. She landed catlike in the stern well. David firewalled the engines and the big boat went pounding off through the howling gale as it headed for home.

Ava's team unbattened the hatch and went below for a few well-deserved shots of rum. Meanwhile, Ava joined David up-top in the second pilot's chair. She strapped in, gave him a jaunty grin, and said, "Fancy meeting you here?"

David retuned a wolfish smile and said, "I was in the neighborhood."

Neither of them had to say it. Their future was obvious to both of them - love, marriage, and their own small fry of marine biologists.

*****

The divorce came through with a note from Olivia. It was friendly. She told him that she finally knew how he'd felt. In the meantime, David had a heart-to-heart with Ava. They were back in their familiar position sitting in David's boat. The evening was warm and fragrant. The litter from the storm was mostly cleaned up and it was paradise once more in Margaritaville.

Ava's eyes were luminous as she lay back against David's arm. He wondered how such a strong and capable woman could make herself appear so soft and vulnerable. He decided that he would never understand womancraft. But he didn't need to. All he had to do was trust one of them and she would take care of the rest. Ava was the one he would trust with his life.

David said, "The last time we were together I told you I would never fall in love again. But I was wrong. Because I'm in love with you and that presents a problem."

Ava's eyes went from dreamy to alarmed. She said, "What problem??!! I love you too!!"

David sad seriously, "Ava, you are a wonderful human being. I've told you that over-and-over. But I want to have you in my life full-time. Not just as someone to hang out with."

That led him to tentatively add, "I've sat here night-after-night and listened to you tell me about one male conquest after another. I'm just too old for booty calls. I want to marry you."

Her beautiful face lit up like a searchlight until David added, "But I've been burned by a woman before. So, on your honor. You have to promise me that you can be faithful until death-do-we-part? You owe it to me to be honest."

Ava's eyes turned obsidian, driven by the deep feelings that powered her next statement. She said, "We both want to live a meaningful life, to justify our existence in some substantive way. It's a higher order purpose, more than simply muddling along grabbing the gusto when we can. That's the thing that we have most in common."

David nodded. It was Ava's earnestness that had drawn him to her in the first place. Values meant something to her. She could be as playful and flirty as any other attractive woman. But underneath her beautiful exterior, she was as fundamentally committed to a principled life as he was.

Ava went on, "I like sex, who doesn't. But I've always been selective with the men I've slept with and I've been careful. You know that because you've listened to my stories." She added earnestly, "And you can count the number of men I've actually been with without using all of your fingers."

Then she stopped and looked at him gravely, measuring his reaction as she said "You also know that I want something more than inconsequential one-night-stands. I've told you that. The problem is that I hadn't met anybody I'd respected enough to totally commit to."

She leaned forward so that she was staring directly and meaningfully into David's eyes. She said, "I kissed a lot of frogs. It's what a modern woman has to do in order to meet her prince."

She paused to let that sink in and then she continued, "From the day you started at the Center I've known that you were the one. You were intelligent, capable, and caring. You treated me like I was a partner, not a potential conquest, and you were always honest."

Then she added with a grin, "I sent you every signal I could think of and you just kept giving me the big-brother act. I was seriously starting to think it was me, or maybe you just liked men better. You can't believe how relieved I was to find out that the only problem was that you were married."

David laughed. Ava added with emphasis, "Honor is a particularly important virtue for me. So you know that I will respect a pledge if I make it. That is a fundamental part of my culture."

She paused and added with significance, "More importantly my attitudes are perfectly aligned with your own values. So when I tell you that I'm yours you know that you can trust me to never break that vow."

David said, "Aaaand so -- is that what you're telling me? You're saying that you could see yourself married to me?"

Rather than answer, Ava took his face in her two hands and laid a hot open-mouthed kiss on him. It was the first time they had ever touched romantically. The two of them stumbled to their feet still kissing. David was astonished at how quickly this was progressing. So, he hesitated.

Ava broke the kiss and said smiling, "So, do you want to do this in front of the whole marina, or would you prefer someplace more private? Either way is fine with me." They both tripped over Buster in their eagerness to get to the forward bunk. Buster raised his head, decided that they were just going off to mate, and went back to sleep.

David was fumbling with Ava's bra as they reached the bunk. She reached behind and quickly unsnapped it. David had seen her boobs both times at Captain Tony's. But he still gazed at them in wonder. They were fucking incredible -- big, firm, round, and very high riding on her chest, with incredible nipples.

She lay back on the bed, struggling out of her shorts. He gazed in wonder at her absolutely perfect body. Her hips were round and womanly while still maintaining the tone of a trained athlete. Her legs were amazing. But he already knew that; muscular, yet utterly womanly. Nevertheless, it was her beautiful oval face, now a mask of passion that made her into something exceptional.

They had both waited a long time and they didn't want to wait any longer. This was the moment of truth. David was staring into her eyes as she pulled him between her legs. Her chest was rising and falling like the ocean waves during the hurricane.

David paused for a second. He was aware that this was a momentous step. There would be no recovering from heartbreak if he were wrong about this woman. The next few seconds answered all of his questions. Ava gave herself to him totally.

She grabbed him inserted him into a vat of boiling honey and rotated her hips until he was touching bottom deep inside her. The heat was incredible, almost inhumanly hot. At the same time she was kissing him with a wide-open mouth. In effect, she was totally open to him at both ends of her body and it was like they were one entity.

Ava groaned loudly enough that it startled Buster and he barked. Then, she wrapped her long legs around David's waist, and they settled into the age-old motion. As they did so, Ava started making little uhs and grunts. Those small noises quickly changed to rhythmic moaning which culminated in a small climax, just a long groan, and her heated thighs spread even wider.

Ava felt her self-control slipping, her hips were bucking and spasming like they weren't hers and she could feel her butt muscles clenching and unclenching like some berserk machine. She also realized that she was making so much noise telling David to fuck her that she wasn't going to enjoy her upcoming "walk of shame" back down the dock.

However, she was lost in the sensation of David moving inside her and she wanted him to know that she was his woman forever. It ended in an unquestionably remarkable fashion. She could feel a contraction coming from a galaxy long-ago and far-far-away. When it arrived, she blew up, like the death-star.

All rational thought ceased while her psyche processed the sheer, raw sensation. The feeling was so profound that she could sense the paradox of teetering on the brink of unconsciousness while at the same time wildly throwing herself around underneath her lover.

She found herself yelling, "So good!! I've waited for this forever. Make me yours baby!! I'm yours. I'll always be yours." And David did just that. It had been a long seven months.

He came for what seemed like eons. Meanwhile Ava's contractions and rapturous shaking continued for several minutes.

David finally got his wits together and rolled off her. They lay side-by-side panting, recovering. Then, he propped himself on one elbow and said, "Do you mean it?"

Ava was staring off into space teasing her hair in ringlets, still coming back to this world. She just lay there panting for a couple more seconds. Finally she said curious, "Mean what?"

David said, "You told me that you would always be mine. Did you mean it?"

Ava looked at him unbelievingly and said, "No, I say that to every guy I fuck!!"

David's face fell. Ava thought to herself, "Clueless, but I love him."

She slugged him on the arm and said, "Of course I meant it you idiot. The only way I'm leaving this relationship is feet first and if you have any plans to do otherwise, then you'll be leaving in the same fashion since we Cubanos have ways of dealing with wandering husbands."

EPILOG

Three months later, David was standing under a fancy canopy at Truman Waterfront Park. It was a mere hundred yards from the Eco-Discovery Center -- the place where it had all begun.

Ava was radiant in a white silk shift dress that ended a couple of inches above her knees. It showcased her outrageous figure. She was wearing a garland of flamingo colored plumeria that was a perfect contrast to her long silky black hair.

Ava's parents were filthy rich, and Ava was the only girl in a Cuban family. So, David had to endure the lavish wedding that her parents had always wanted to throw for her.

David felt sorry for his bride. Ava had wanted to hold the wedding sixty-two feet underwater at the Habitat. But instead, she was standing in front of a priest accompanied by a platoon of bridesmaids, while a few hundred friends and well-wishers watched.

David was a natural loner, and he had no family to speak of. He had a few acquaintances, none of whom were close enough friends to serve as best-man. But he DID have one devoted buddy - somebody who had stuck with him through thick and thin.

That was the reason why a smelly old ex-con from the Albany pound was the only creature standing loyally beside the groom... pant-pant-pant-slobber-slobber-slobber.

Dogs are devoted to their humans and Buster knew how important this was for David. So, he'd even let the wedding planners bathe and groom him. Now, he sat in the rigid pose that every canine adopts to inform the world what a very good dog they really are. Two ropes of drool hanging down from the best man's dewlaps were the only minor breach of etiquette.

When the time finally came to present the ring, David unsnapped it from the collar around Buster's thick neck. As David slipped it on Ava's finger Buster thought to himself, "This marriage is going be a very, very happy one. Dogs know their humans and we're never wrong about this sort of thing."

Author's Note:

This last silly little piece is a tribute to the friendships I've made on these sites. You might be virtual and anonymous. But you've meant a lot to me - DT