Fun In The Sun Chapter 8

Sal threw the last remaining items of clothing into her backpack and then proceeded to apply some suntan lotion to her skin ready for the journey. She had pondered over what to wear, thinking that jeans or trousers might be the most sensible option; however when she considered the heat of the sun that day she dismissed the idea of covering her legs. Instead she had put on her bikini and covered it with a small, peppermint coloured top and a matching bikini wrap. It was going to be a long journey and she wouldn’t be able to face it if she knew she was going to be roasting and sweating for hours and hours. She turned to the mirror to apply some suntan lotion to her face.

“Sally Fitzroy-Smith...is going on a quest!!”

She giggled.

“Nick is completely insane! But brilliant all the same. Not got a clue what we’ll do when we get there, or how the hell we’re going to find this axe thing but...knowing him we’ll probably end up doing it! Sal is feeling...excited! And a bit nervous about the bike, but most of all Sal is feeling alive! So glad Nick is back, we always have so much fun together. Even more so this year...now I kind of feel like I know him better, I don’t know why.”

She watched her own face grow a little more serious in the mirror.

“Wonder if things will change when Jen gets back.”

She thought for a moment and then shrugged.

“Well, she’ll just have to get used to the idea that me and Nick are best friends. Besides, if she spent more time with him and less time with the reps then maybe he wouldn’t hang around me so much. Oh well, her loss is my gain.”

She bent to grab her bag, keys and sunglasses from off the bed and turned to leave the room, looking back over her shoulder at the mirror before she left.

“Oops almost forgot, hope to find ‘mind shattering guy’ in Matala.”

Sal ran down the steps of her apartment block and flew out of the door into the sunshine and ... slap bang into Nick who was on his way in to find her.

“Woa, such enthusiasm Sal!” He held onto her upper arms and grinned down into her face. She laughed and took a step back. “Are you this enthusiastic about everything?” he questioned.

“What?” She wasn’t sure what he was asking.

“You always seem to be enthusiastic about things,” he said, remembering her reaction when they had decided to make this trip. “I was just wondering if you are always enthusiastic.”

What on earth was he going on about now?

“I’ll try to curb my enthusiasm from now on if it bothers you,” she replied, misunderstanding him.

“God, don’t do that!” he looked almost panicked for a moment. “The more enthusiasm the better as far as I’m concerned.”

She looked up at him in bewilderment but his mind was wandering, he was still hot under the collar from the close physical contact with her in the bar when she had jumped off the stool and flug herself into his arms.

God he’d love to see just how enthusiastic she could get! What was he thinking? Cool it! Why was his mind constantly on sex when she was around? She was a friend, okay? That was all.

“Yeah, anyway...here it is,” he said, turning around and gesturing to the motorbike behind them.

Sal’s eyes widened. “It’s huge Nick!” she exclaimed.

He was grinning again. “I didn’t realize it was that obvious!”

Once more she looked at him in confusion.

He smiled. “Oh, you were talking about the bike.”

Realisation hit her and her eyes widened at his innuendo. “Nick!” she screeched, “you know what I was talking about!”

Nick chuckled and was delighted to see something like embarrassment on Sal’s face. He’d never seen that before. He didn’t think that anything could embarrass Sal. Maybe he had just imagined it. His eyes moved from her face down her body over her clothes. She wasn’t wearing much. Just the way he liked her. Her figure-hugging top stopped just above the wispy skirt thing she was wearing, providing him with a tantalising view of her midriff; he wanted to kiss it. He wanted to kiss other bits too!

God, if he carried on like that, it was going to be obvious!

“Nick?” She brought him abruptly out of his reverie. “Shouldn’t we be going?”

“Oh yeah, right,” he replied, turning his attention to the bike and climbing on. “Come on then Sal, on you get.”

She approached the bike and looked at it with some uncertainty. After a while, when he realised that she hadn’t moved, he frowned and turned to see her staring at the seat.

“Well, are you going to get on or not?”

She bit her lip. “I guess… Here goes nothing,” she said, clambering on behind him and trying to pull her bikini wrap down at the same time.

Perhaps she should have worn jeans after all!

She had finally managed to place herself in the seat and she sat, much to Nick’s disappointment, perched awkwardly a good distance from his back. It was going to be a long journey so he figured that he could get away with enjoying her close proximity for at least some of the ride without her realising it. He grinned as a thought hit him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I suppose so,” she replied nervously.

He pulled out into the road and accelerated suddenly, causing Sal to squeal with shock and slide forward in the seat, flinging her arms around him and hanging on for dear life. He smiled to himself; that was better.

**********

Nick was forced to slow the bike down in order to negociate the smaller roads which led from Sal’s apartment to the outskirts of town; however he assumed that Sal was still too nervous to move away from him as he still felt her arms wrapped firmly around his body. Just before they reached the highway he covered her hand with his and shouted,

“Are you okay back there? I’m going to have to go a bit faster now as we’ll be on the highway soon but don’t worry. Try to relax.”

“I’m okay,” she said in a small, tense voice.

His heart did a small leap when he heard her reply. She was very nervous and he knew it but she was putting on a brave front for him. He’d look after her, she’d see. And then she’d relax more and enjoy the ride.

He began to accelerate, but only enough to keep up with the traffic on the road; he didn’t want to go any faster until he was sure that Sal was feeling less tense. Luckily the first few miles out of town were on a fairly straight stretch of highway and he noticed that the fingers that were digging into his chest began to loosen their grip.

The bike was a lot sturdier than she had anticipated, the seat a lot wider and more comfortable. She kept her arms around Nick but sat back slightly, lifting her head up to take in the view. As they sped past the mountains and olive groves the wind whipped through her hair and she felt a wonderful sense of freedom. When he had first suggested that they go on this trip she had wondered why they hadn’t taken her car but now she knew why; this was so much better. She giggled as a thought hit her, it was almost like speeding down the highway on her very own sofa...and what a view!

“Are you alright now Sal? What are you laughing at?”

“I’m just thinking that it’s fun. I don’t know what I was so worried about.”

He smiled. “What did I tell you?”

She leant forward to speak into his ear. “Go faster,” she whispered.

Maybe it was the fact that he could feel the soft curves of her body brush against his back or maybe it was the sound of her voice so encouraging in his ear, or just that she was enjoying something that he also enjoyed a lot, but there was something in her words that aroused him so much.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He accelerated and the bike surged forward suddenly. The rush of air got fiercer and their surroundings whizzed past in a blur but she tingled with the excitement and thrill of it. She wriggled closer to him, sliding her hands over the hard wall of his chest. At that moment he was her Theseus on a white horse and she was Ariadne. In his mind she was his girl friend, his soul mate who he was taking home for a night of wild, passionate lovemaking. Both were lost in their own private fantasies which they envisaged building to intense sensual conclusions.

Before they knew it they were on the outskirts of Heraklion and Nick stopped at the traffic lights, turning to see that her head was resting against his back and her eyes were closed. He smiled warmly.

Is she asleep?

“Hey Sal, wake up.”

Her eyes flew open and she answered guiltily. “I wasn’t asleep.” No she wasn’t, she was lying naked on the beach, her body entwined with a strong muscular male. She blushed as his eyes assessed her.

“What’s wrong?” He scrutinised her face.

“What...what do you...nothing,” she stuttered, suspecting for a moment that he had read her thoughts.

“You’ve gone red...”

She put her hand up to her face in a panic.

“You’ve got sunburnt,” he announced much to her relief. She felt the heat of her face and she realised that she had in fact caught the sun. Thank god it was enough to hide her embarrassment and her secret fantasy from him because in the back of her mind she was aware that the man in her daydream had somehow changed from Theseus, to her favourite rock star and, somewhere along the line, to Nick!