Sunny Surprise 1

* Wrote the 7th of these short stories I call my Erotic Shorts collection, so I thought it was time release another one for your enjoyment. :-)

*

Brianne sighed. As merry as the rest of the people from the company she worked at were, as crowded she felt. She knew she'd regret coming on this company outing to the bright and sunny seaside but it was unspoken mandatory, and her parents pushed her to go because it was good for her to mingle with other people and have a full social life as a young adult woman.

She balled her fists in the pockets of her baggy black pants. 'Brianne! The boat's leaving in a few minutes!' said Milly, one of the women from her department, a pretty and cheery person with a slim figure and matching perfect long, blonde hair. She was completely in beach mode in her perfectly fitting bikini, the colourful beach towel wrapped around her perfect hips, and the large beach bag slung over her perfect shoulders with all the necessities. 'Are you wearing your bikini?'

'We won't know until she dares to undress in public.' giggled another one of the women in the small group Milly and Brianne were part of. Cathy was another one that shines during summer on the beach, her carefully maintained men's magazine body the wet dream of many a young boy and eligible man. 'I doubt it'll differ much from wide shorts and shirt.'

'Oh shush!' said Milly. 'The most important thing is enjoying yourself.' A horn blew at the yacht that would take them to a small island just off the coast for the day and evening, where a lodge for parties was located. The group headed towards the dock and Milly beckoned at Brianne. 'Hurry! I heard the island is for sale and we might not get another chance to enjoy it!'

The thought to go with them and the urge to stay fought for control of Brianne's legs. If she went with them she'd have no escape from the crowd until the boat returned, but staying at the town wasn't much better with all the tourists and no place to be alone for a while. 'Going to Green Rock?' she heard someone say behind her. She turned around to see the question from Jessie, the owner of the boat rental, direct her question not at her but at her customer, a lightly tanned man in plain white t-shirt , blue-green shorts, and barefoot in sandals. The thin streaks of grey in his black hair had Brianne estimate his age around forty.

'Yes.' the man said. 'But not to the party side. Not my thing.'

Jessie handed him the key to a boat. 'You prefer the quiet side.' she said and nodded with a smile. 'I get it.'

'Indeed.' the man said and returned a friendly smile as he picked up the large sports bag next to him.

"Alone on a quiet beach away from the rest, yes please." thought Brianne and glanced towards the yacht waiting at the dock. Her heart skipped when she saw Milly heading towards her. "Oh shit, she'll drag me along."

'I hope you'll enjoy your time there.' Jessie said as the man stepped away from the shop's counter.

'I surely will, thanks. A little peace alone is just what I need to clear my mind.'

Before Brianne even realised it, her legs moved and she found herself hurrying after the man. 'Excuse me?' she called out to him while one part of her mind panicked at the loss of control of her normal self. The man looked back at her while he walked. The words left her mouth before her introvert nature kicked in. 'Can I come with you?'

He raised an eyebrow. 'Pardon me?'

Brianne thought she went out of breath already from keeping up with his pace and she almost apologised and go back, but it was too late to reverse her decision now. 'I'm really sorry, but I overheard you speaking about going to the quiet side and I was hoping I could come along.'

He frowned ever so slightly. 'I wasn't planning on taking someone along.'

'Please. I won't get in your way, I just want to find a place to be by myself for a while as well.'

He chuckled. 'I don't think you'd want to. I'm going to spend my time fully in the flesh, if you know what I mean.'

That thought made her blush and a little doubt sparked in her mind. 'Brianne!' said Milly in the distance and she glanced back for just a moment, enough to strengthen her resolve. 'I, I don't mind. I won't look.'

He let out a laugh. 'But I will ogle you when you undress to swim. There's no hiding place at that beach.'

Brianne's heart sank. 'There's nothing good about me to ogle.' she muttered.

He smirked a little. 'Nonsense, there's plenty to ogle with a pretty lass as yourself.'

Her blush intensified and she became even more aware of her plump figure and plain light brown hair tied in a pony tail. Milly called out to her again and she looked down. 'I just want to get out of here for a while.'

The man glanced at the pretty young woman heading their way. 'All right then, this way to the boat.' Brianne looked up at him and nearly stumbled over her own feet. He grabbed her hand to steady her, and took her along the short wooden dock to the white motorboat at the end. He helped her step into it, placed his bag at the back, loosened the lines, and hopped in.

The engine came alive, and Brianne glanced once at Milly standing confused at the beginning of the duck as the boat rocked gently on the waves on the way to the island.

***

'Thank you.' Brianne said when she finally mustered up the courage to speak up after a long while. From the moment the reality of what she'd done caught up to her, she hadn't dared to move or make a sound. Her heart had raced when one voice in her head reminded her that she just left on a boat to an island all alone with a man she she knew nothing about, and no way to escape if he wanted to try anything with her. In fact, he said he would ogle her if she undressed to swim. The shy voice of hope nudged the voice of negativity and said that was only because he wanted to be alone as well and discourage her. There was no way a man with a fairly athletic build as him would be interested in an overweight woman when he could attract pretty ones like Milly and Cathy easily.

He looked back at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the water ahead of the boat. She wrung her hands sensing she was a burden to him and he already regretted giving in. 'You didn't bring a bag or anything?' he asked.

She looked to her left and right despite knowing she came empty handed. She sighed softly at the situation she rushed herself in with her stupidity. 'I don't really need anything.'

'Not even a towel or sunscreen?'

Her eyes turned up to the shimmer on the blue surface of the water. 'I didn't think I'd go swimming.'

The gently rumbling engine of the boat underscored the rhythm of the wind and the slosh of water against the bow of the boat. 'What about food?'

Brianne's voice of reason slapped her, and she groaned in silence. 'I'm fasting today.' she said, expecting her stomach will pay her back for that later in the day.

'You still need to drink.'

The voice slapped her again. 'I'm used to busy days at work when I don't have the time for that. It's no big deal.' she said in truth. Those were bad days and she always ended up eating and drinking too much in the evening.

His silence drilled her conviction of looking pathetic in his eyes into her mind, and she didn't blame him, she'd always been the outsider, the one who lived away from the social circles that other people took for granted.

'What's your name?'

His question startled her as if she was someone the police found suspicious. 'Brianne Vervelde.'

'Ramon.'

She looked up at his back. The wind pressing against it emphasized his shoulders and firm sides. 'Sorry?'

'I'm Ramon.' he said. 'We're almost at the island.'

She looked towards the front of the boat to the island several kilometres wide. The part up ahead was mostly rock and protected it from erosion, while left and right the edges of the bright yellow sandy beaches shone in the sunlight. The green jungle and grassy sides rose up gently towards the top with the remains of an old bunker, the only other building apart from the wooden lodge where visitors can keep their belongings while they stay for the day and sometimes the late evening. She stood up and held on to the low front shield, and gazed bright-eyed at the picture perfect sight. 'Beautiful.'

'Indeed.' Ramon said.

She noticed his glance at her and the smile, and looked away in embarrassment.

'We're heading for the right side.' he said. 'The lodge is on the left.'

She nodded and looked back towards the way they came from. The yacht hired by the company was like a toy boat in the distance. "Sorry, Milly." she thought when a pang of guilt hit her. "I know you mean well, but I'm not one to enjoy so many people around me all the time."

She kept her eyes on the island and held on to her imagination of having nothing but nature around her. She couldn't care any longer about being hungry or thirsty when she already sensed her mind drifting away in the soothing loneliness. Ramon drove the boat along the beach until they arrived at the middle, and stopped a short distance from the beach.

Nerves prickled Brianne when she watched Ramon drop anchor. 'Aren't we going up to the sand?'

He secured the anchor chain with enough leeway for the rise and fall of the tide. 'Can't. The hull would be damaged in this shallow part.' He pointed at the dark patches in the water. 'There are low ridges of rock underneath the sand.'

She looked at the depth of the water and with some hesitation straddled the side of the boat. The water felt great on her foot but wading through it meant her clothes would get wet. Unless she undressed first.

Ramon slid over the side and up to his stomach into the water. 'Not coming out?'

She looked at him, then back at the water. "I can go in with my clothes as well." she thought and swung her other leg over the side. The boat rocked and she gripped the side fiercely, afraid to hurt herself against the boat if she slid off.

Ramon moved in front of her and she tensed when he put his hands in her sides. 'Grab my shoulders.'

Shame filled her heart at a man touching her pudgy sides but she didn't sense any hint of reprehension in his firm grip and serious gaze. She laid her hands on his shoulders for support, and let him help her down into the water as she blushed at his strong hold. 'Thank you.' she said when he let go of her and leaned over the side to lift his bag on one shoulder.

He held out his hand. 'Here, in case you slip in the sand.'

The fantasy of drifting onto an island as survivors of a shipwreck was unavoidable, and she suppressed the giddy attack in fear of really being seen as a desperate woman for any shred of romance.

He let go of her hand near the treeline and put down his bag. 'Well, this is it. The day of relaxation at the beach begins.'

Brianne gasped when he pulled his t-shirt over his head, and loosened the knot of his shorts and pulled them down. She spun around with red hot cheeks.

He chuckled. 'I said I'd be here in the flesh.' He pulled out a towel from his bag, laid his clothes on it, then laid out another towel. 'You'd better undress.'

She looked at him at once and stepped back. 'What!?'

He glanced up at her before looking into his bag again. 'You can't keep wearing those wet clothes. Unless you enjoy wet sand itching everywhere all day?'

She groaned inwards. She did have to undress on the boat or on the beach in the end, and turned away from him while pulling her large shirt over her head with a heavy heart. While she unzipped her pants, her head filled with doubts over the bikini she wore and if it had been better to wear a one piece that obscured her body a little better. The bikini her mother made her buy when she went with her to the shop had even less cloth than the regular models. A girl still had to show off her curves to attract a man according to her mother. "Not curves of excessive fat, damned." she thought as she stepped out of her pants and looked down on her belly and her thick legs. She was only glad she never wore tight jeans or pants that created a fold in her abdomen, and that she had trimmed her pubic hair to prevent it popping out from the narrow V front of her bikini panties.

Ramon's hand at her side startled her. She gazed sideways with her heart pounding in her ample chest. 'Let me lay down those wet things to dry.' he said.

She handed him her dripping clothes without taking her gaze from him, and he laid them down on the towel with his own clothes before sitting down on his beach towel with his arms on his knees. He looked up at her and his intense gaze matched that of the sun. She avoided looking at him and wrapped her arms around herself. 'Don't look.' she muttered.

He smiled a little mischievously. 'That was my second warning, I will ogle you when you undress.'

'Don't make fun of me!' she said, and clamped her mouth in shock at her outburst.

He looked out over the sand and the sea and stood up. 'I'm not.' he said, and walked towards the water.

Tears welled up in her eyes while she scolded herself for making him angry, when so far he'd been honest in everything he said to her. He even indulged her selfish request to take her with him. She wiped away her tears and walked away along the treeline.

***

Brianne wallowed in the misery of her own making, and sarcastically thought what a great day it turned out to be while she sat in the sand at the edge of the water. It washed up on the sand around her and pulled away gently, giving the sensation of slowly sinking into the sand. She took a deep breath and pushed her thoughts towards doing something positive as she'd been reading about in a book about coping with a bad self image. She squinted up at the bright sky. "I'm still on a beautiful beach, surrounded by nature and not people." she thought. "And the only other one around is a man who'd shown her kindness in his own strange way." She sighed. "Which I repaid by barking at him." She took a deep breath of the sea air and gripped a handful of sand. "No! Positive! I'm going to apologise to him and ask him if I can make up for it in any way." A chuckle escaped her when another romance novel plot came to mind, and she bit her lip while her cheeks heated up. "No way!" The thought of him demanding her to make it up with her body sent tingles all over her and covered her in goosebumps. She couldn't deny his good looks and even when he was older than her by some years, she'd be happy to be intimate with him, if only for a short while.

She glanced back along the shore and froze in fear when she saw him walking towards her.

She didn't dare to look at him until he reached her. He squatted and held out a bottle of sunscreen. 'You shouldn't be out in the sun without protection.'

She gazed at him and opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words.

'I don't want your day ruined any further by suffering a sunburn as well.'

She took the bottle carefully. 'Thank you.' she said softly. 'I'm really sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to make you angry.' She slumped. 'I'm just too insecure to appreciate the kindness you showed me.'

He sat down beside her. 'I wasn't angry. I'm just blunt and not very good at expressing my emotions.' He chuckled. 'It took three relationships before it sank in.'

She looked at him staring at the horizon. 'Were you married?'

'Just once. Didn't last long. The other two after that lasted even less.'

Brianne looked at the bottle. 'Sorry.'

He leaned back on his hands. 'No need. I accepted I'm wired differently and am no longer fearing to be alone.'

She sighed. 'I keep hoping there's someone for everyone, even me. Don't give up and you will meet the right one for you as well.'

He smiled a little. 'Perhaps. For now I just look for things I enjoy doing.' He grinned a little at her. 'Like baring it all in a wonderful place and spend the time without a care.'

She giggled. 'I noticed. I wish I could let loose like that.'

'Don't wish for it, make it happen.'

She blushed. 'I can't just go around naked here!'

He stood up. 'Why not?' He gestured around them. 'There's no one here to judge you because of superficialities. There's just you and your own desire and freedom.'

She giggled again and buried her face in her hands. 'There's still you!'

'Forget about me! This is about you letting loose of all bad thoughts and clearing your mind. Grab this moment and turn it into something wonderful! Jump in the sea without inhibition, roll in the sand if that's what you want to do. I promise I won't ogle a lot.'

'What do you mean, you're bad at expressing your emotions?' she laughed.

He put his fists in his sides and looked out over the sea again. 'I guess I'm just suffering from a lapse of reason.'

She looked up at him and butterflies fluttered in her stomach as courage welled up inside her. She decided she would grab hold of it. 'All right.' she said and stood up resolutely. 'I will go for it while I still dare to.' She pulled down her bikini panties and reached back for the hook of the bra but had a little trouble undoing it.

'Allow me?' Ramon offered.

She blushed and nodded, suppressing a giggle in embarrassment while trying to ignore that a good-looking naked man behind her unhooked her bra. She let it fall onto the sand and hurried into the water, and splashed her face to cool down.

Ramon followed her in and swam lazily towards her. 'Feel better now?'

She giggled and thrived in the thrill of swimming naked in the middle of nowhere. 'I feel so, so, uncomfortable but excited.'

'That's good.' he said and turned on his back. 'Now let that sensation swallow you whole and fill you with pleasure.'

She followed his example and drifted on her back, something she was confident enough to be able to do, and closed her eyes to let the sun warm her up while the sea carried her in its comforting embrace.

How long she drifted, she didn't know, but it seemed timeless when she opened her eyes. She blinked up at the bright blue above her and straightened up in the water. Ramon turned his head to look at her. 'How was it?'

She smiled at him. 'I might do it again if I get the chance.'

He turned, dove to the bottom, and resurfaced. He shook his head like a wet dog and it made her giggle. 'Care for a glass of wine?'

She doggy paddled slowly towards the point where she could stand. 'You have wine?'

'Unlike a certain someone, I arranged for something to eat and drink while far away on a beach.'

She turned red in embarrassment. 'I can't impose on you any further.'

He smiled deviously. 'Doesn't make much more of a difference after hijacking me and my boat and the beach.'

She hid her face in her hands. 'I'm so sorry for everything! I don't know how to make up for all you've done.'

He took her elbow. 'Start by not making me feel bad for withholding food to a lady.'

She glanced at him through her fingers. 'Only a little then, I feel worse for being me.'

He escorted her out of the water. 'I always bring more than I need just to make sure I'm not short on anything. Don't worry about it.'

At the spot where she'd left her bikini, he picked up the bottle of sunscreen. 'Of course, we shouldn't forget this.'

She chuckled. 'Yeah, I don't want to turn into a fat and painful tomato to be honest.' she said while he poured plenty of the thick liquid into the palm of her hands. She began spreading it around on her chest and abdomen when she held her breath in shock, but let it out in relief when she saw Ramon stood with his back to her while applying the sunscreen to himself. She didn't think she could handle him watching her slide her hands all over herself. Being naked in front of him was already an amazing feat for her, but there was a strange comfort in being able to. She smiled a little, thinking he had such an influence on her.