Family Secrets

Happy Monday - My friends surgery went very well and she is recuperating nicely.  The best part is we haven't killed one another yet and are still able to have a laugh or two.  I'm not sure I've mentioned it but we have been friends over fifty years which I consider an incredible feat.

The weather has been cooperating nicely, we've even had several days in the high 70's. Thank you all for those good wishes and prayers - they're working.

Click here to read from the beginning.

Family Secrets - Part Three

By the time they reached Tahiti Beach, Angela was more than ready for a break. There was a beach in her backyard; why did they have to travel so far to just another beach, her butt was sore and her calves tighter than a drum.  Long bike rides weren't something she did every day and it showed.  Micah pedaled along as if it was nothing – he wasn’t even breathing hard. She let Micah haul are the necessaries to where he wanted to have the picnic.  The beach was beautiful – a long stretch of white sand, palms here and there and the sound of the waves lapping up on shore.  It was surprisingly sans people and only occasionally did she hear a bird singing its song and the distant sound of a boat engine. 

Angela collapsed on the blanket Micah had laid down and accepted a cold bottle of beer. He removed his shirt exposing a tanned, muscled chest that narrowed to a slim waist and flat belly.  She watched his tight ass and corded thighs as he ran to the water. 

“Coming” he yelled back at her before diving into the water. There was no way she could have reacted quickly enough to join him. He swam out to the bouy and back.  He looked like a sea god coming out of the water with the sea water droplets sparkling in his hair and on his bronzed chest. “Lordy, he was gorgeous and that accent,” she realized she was in deep trouble and deep lust.

He toweled off and dropped down on the blanket beside her. 

“Shall we have lunch now?” he asked

“Yes, that bike ride really worked up my appetite.  I can’t wait to see what Mirabelle fixed for us.”

When she didn’t move, he said, “I thought you were hungry.  Why aren’t you unloading the picnic basket?”

“It isn’t my basket or my place.”

“What place is that?” His lips curved into a slight smile.

“I’m your guest and as such I thought that with your proper upbringing you would naturally take the lead.”

“You American girls can really be snarly while all the while pretending you’re just peaches and cream, can’t you?”

“I don’t know what your experience with American girls has been, but my Aunt Rose raised me to be mannerly and that’s what I was being.  If you want me to unload the picnic basket, come right out and ask.  There is no need to pussyfoot around.”

He threw back his head and his laugh roared so loud that ithis loud startled the birds out of the palmetto palm and they took off squaking at the disturbance.  He went over to the picnic basket and began unloading the contents.

“I’m doing this, you can do the clean up.”

“What is it with you Micah Jamison, you just issue orders and expect everyone to jump at your command, even American girls?”

“That’s ususally the case, yes.”

“Then your education is sorely lacking, at least in my case.” He laughed again, not quite as loud this time.

“Let’s change the subject, shall we? So what do you think of our little slice of paradise?”

“What I’ve seen is absolutely lovely.  I can understand why Aunt Rose and Uncle Rory fell in love with the island.”  The last interchange restored her ability to be polite – the barbs, the claws retracted, for the moment.  She found she enjoyed being with him, he could be quite charming at times and a definite looker.

Angela wondered about Micah.  He had to be about thirty-five or more and she thought he had wounded look about him that made her think that life was not always as easy as he made it out to be. She looked out at the calm water in front of her and reflected on her own situation.  It wasn’t always as happy as she made it out to be either.  Living the way they did, she had no close friends her own age. In a way, she too was wounded.  She had a lot to think about here on the island.  Whether or not to acknowledge her new found family, whether they would accept her as part of that family or whether she should forget and move forward from here.  All ponderous decisions.

“A penny for your thoughts,” Micah said.

“I think they may be worth more than that, to me they seem monumental.”

“Life is what you make it, Angela.  You can make it easy or you can make it hard.”

“Are we back to the snarky Micah Jamison.”  He laughed that laugh that came from his toes and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay, no more deep thoughts.  Let’s get this show on the road before I decided to forego the bike altogether and call a taxi. Especially, since you put me charge of clean-up.”

“You know, I do believe you have no idea what it is to work hard.  I think it would do you some good.  While I’m at it,  I’d like to educate you on our ways.”

“For your information, Micah Jamison, I do know what it is to work hard.  I may not be used to physical labor, but mental labor is as difficult.  I’ll have you know, I’m a successful author and have been for the last fifteen years.  Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.”

“Claws out again, I see.  You can hardly call working at a keyboard, hard work.”

His last statement really riled her.  She dropped the picnic basket and it crashed to the beach, contents spilled everywhere. 

“Now look what you did,” he scolded. 

“Look what I’m doing now” and she hauled off and gave him a good kick in the shins.  “I’m calling a cab.  You deal with this mess.”

He reached out and grabbed for her, catching the back of her shirt.  “I don’t think so Ms. Duncan.  You have this coming.”  He pulled her against his hip.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, let me go.”  She yelled at him and fighting him with all her might.

“Not until I teach you some manners.  I really wish I had a switch or something else beside my hand.  I fear this won’t be nearly enough of a lesson.”

He smacked her bottom over and over again. She was howling and kicking as hard as she could.  It didn’t deter him one bit, he only smacked harder.  When he took a break from punishing her backside, he switched to her sit spots. She was no longer kicking and the howls had subsided to a soft mewling sound. Micah felt the heat coming off her bottom and felt she had enough.  He stopped spanking and righted her.  He tried putting his arms around her but she pushed against him.

“Don’t you dare touch me, you big brute.  I’m going to report you to the constable.”

“You go right ahead, Ms. Duncan.  He’s my uncle and he’s heard it all before.”

“Oohhh,” she exclaimed and hurried off.  She walked passed the bikes and on to the road. She couldn’t imagine sitting on that damn little bike seat – her ass was on fire and throbbing like hell. If she had to,she’d thumb a ride back to the cottage. After all, it was a small island,  it shouldn’t be a problem.  ‘Let that jerk worry about how he was going to handle two bikes.’

She stood on the road and looked back.  Micah was bending over cleaning up the contents of the basket.  His ass was a glorious site and if hers wasn’t so damn sore from the spanking he just delivered, she might have helped him and who knows what might have come from that.  She began walking and within a few minutes, was sorry she had stalked off.  She was hot and sweaty and in her haste to leave him behind, didn’t even grab her bottle of water.  Not a single car had yet to come by and she was beginning to dispair her hasty retreat. 

She stopped in the shade of a palmetto to wipe her brow when she heard a vehicle and spotted a van coming down the road.  ‘Damn, it’s going the wrong way.’  As it came closer, it slowed and then pulled to the side of the road and stopped.

“Do you want a ride, Ms. Duncan?”  She recognized the driver.

“Oh yes, I didn’t realize it would be so hot.” She stepped into the van and plopped down on the seat wincing at the contact. Although the van wasn’t air conditioned, the breeze coming through the windows felt heavenly.  She closed her eyes for a moment and relaxed until she realized the van was driving toward the area she had just left.

“Where are you going?  Home is that way,” as she pointed behind her.

“Yes, but I’m picking up Micah first.  He called and asked if I’d come give him a hand.

For some reason,  he ended up out here with two bikes.”  He actually chuckled. 

See you later for more Family Secrets and Aimless Ramblings.