Chapter Eight
Linda followed Ely below and was surprised to find only the other two women sitting at the table in the galley. Even as rough as the ride was, she thought they looked quite happy.
"Hi." Keri smiled up at them. "Dad and the kids were so tired, we fed them a bit and then sent them to bed. There's still quite a bit of stew left, Ely. Do you want some?"
"Yep, I do. Have you two met Linda?" Ely said, helping herself to a plate from the cupboard and then some stew. "She's Karl's partner."
"Just friend, please." Linda corrected. "It's not a formal relationship and I'm not sure how permanent it is."
"Hah." Ely snapped even as she slid into a seat and lifted a spoonful of stew. "I saw him put his arm around you and the pride in his eyes. That is a major concession from Mister Bachelor, Keri and I have both been trying to trap him for years."
"He is pretty special." Linda laughed, then for some reason she looked directly at Keri and blushed.
"Knowing Karl since I was a teenager, you must be pretty damn special yourself just because you're with him." Keri laughed. "He's a very particular man about the people he lets close get to him."
"Yes, he's a very particular man." The older women sitting at the table spoke up. "I'm Trudy by the way, and I'm George's nurse, housekeeper, and normally, his bed warmer and companion, but tonight he's babysitting and he's got Ely's boy and probably my daughter for company."
Although about forty, Trudy would normally have easily been the prettiest woman in any room, but here she was overshadowed by both Ely and Keri. Blonde and buxom, she had that undefinable quality that broadcast the idea of motherhood and caregiver. Linda knew instantly that she was going to be a friend.
"Hi, I'm Linda " Linda smiled as she offered her hand to the older woman. "As you heard, if I can borrow your term, I'm Karl's bed warmer, but if I'm going to keep the job, I'd better make him a pot of coffee."
"You sit." Keri ordered, sliding out and pressing Linda back into the seat beside Trudy. "We all know our way around this boat and I've eaten. I'd like to go up and say thanks to the Captain for rescuing us."
"From the way you've been talking, maybe I shouldn't let you." Linda grinned. "You might steal my bed warmer."
"I don't think you need to worry about Keri. She bats in a different league most of the time." Trudy laughed.
"Trudy!" Keri complained. "No fair, giving away my secrets."
"I wouldn't exactly call that a secret." Linda laughed. "At least it's not a secret to me."
"Has Keri been forward again?" Ely chuckled as she sat down opposite Trudy and Linda.
"Either that, or she thought I had a lot more to do with your rescue than I did." Linda grinned. "And she was very glad to be rescued."
"Well I was very glad to be rescued." Keri actually giggled.
"And now you want to make the same offer to Karl that you made me, huh?" Linda teased even more. "I knew I should have made that coffee."
Ely laughed as Keri blushed and reached a hand across the table to touch Linda's fingers. "Oh sweety, you'll do! You'll do just fine. Nobody embarrasses Keri. Oh that was good."
"So do you really want to take the coffee up to Karl." Keri managed to say.
"Nah. You go play. It'll do his ego good." Linda grinned, trying to look more confident than she felt. "When I met him, I did say no strings, and he did warn me that he was somewhat involved with you two. So you go play, I'm betting that he turns you down and then I'll get more bang from my buck."
"Oh honey, if I tease him and he resists, he'll be frustrated, you'll get a BANG all right." Keri snorted.
"Mmm, is that a promise? I've had one of those." Linda laughed, then shivered her shoulders as if she was in ecstasy. "They're wonderful, aren't they?"
"Give up Keri." Ely snorted with laughter. "She's got your number."
"Number hell," Trudy was laughing almost as hard. "She's got everything from your zip code to your shoe size."
"Okay, I surrender." Keri laughed as well.
"Not surrender Darling, make that a truce and I'll agree." Linda grinned. "A temporary truce, at least."
"And how long does this truce last?" Ely laughed softly
"Oh, I don't know? Until we decide to go at it again, I guess." Linda answered. "I think Keri will decide that."
"Hah, I may be adventurous, but I don't play with dangerous weapons." Keri laughed. "Sorry Darling, I've had one verbal KO, I'm not planning in getting back into that ring in a while."
"So you're going to trust her to take Karl his coffee, after teasing her like that?" Ely grinned and rolled her head toward Keri while watching Linda's face.
"I guess." Linda shrugged her shoulders. "Hell, if I were to worry, all that it would do would give me wrinkles."
"If these two couldn't get him into a commitment after years of trying, I doubt if either of them can do it in a few minutes, particularly when he's worried about getting us out of here in a storm." Trudy grinned.
"Many years, I was only sixteen when I met him and I've been trying ever since." Ely paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth and smiled at Linda. "I've had a crush on him ever since I met him, so I want to get to know you. Anyone who managed to become his regular bed warmer has to be pretty damn special."
"Not all that special. He was married before and from what he said he's had an occasional girlfriend." Linda responded with a depreciating wave of her hand. "And from what I hear, you did okay, so did Keri."
"Hmmph, his ex-wife was a silly bitch who married him just to have kids as well as wanting a free ride. I met her, once." Keri broke in. "I was only a teenager and she was in her late twenties, she considered me a kid, but we had an argument and damn near a fight even then. The divorce was already settled and she wanted Karl to give her more than the judge had told him to, so she was trying to con him. He was well rid of her. After her, all he had were a few one-night stands and since that was when he was drinking a bit too much, they don't really count, then he came to work for Daddy. Ely and I have done everything trying to get a commitment out of him. Hell, Ely even had his son and she still only got to warm his bed once in a while."
She paused and grinned. "I want to get to know his bed warmer too. I want to take lessons, anyone who can get any commitment, especially one like you've gotten out of him, just has to be special."
She was standing with her feet braced against the movement of the boat, her hands on her hips with her shoulders thrown back. The sweater she was wearing emphasised every curve, while the sway of the boat kept her tense and her stance emphasised her breasts. The rest of the room seemed to fade away, somehow Linda could only see her figure, especially her breasts. She had what Linda thought of as perky breasts, the kind that rode high on a woman's chest and jutted upward and forward, almost defying gravity, and she wasn't wearing any support. Linda envied her breasts, her small waist and her high fully rounded bottom with unbelievably trim thighs and legs, they made her feel old and matronly.
"Well, I'm not giving you lessons." She blurted with a laugh. "With your figure I wouldn't be able to stand up to the competition."
"Thank you." Keri smiled at her. "Coming from you, that's one hell of a compliment, but you've got no reason to feel outdone as far as a figure goes. I'd trade you thighs and legs any day."
"Don't be silly." Linda laughed. "I was just thinking that your bottom and thighs were wonderful."
"Toothpicks." Keri frowned. "I pad my thighs in order to look good in a dress."
"Gilding the lily." Linda laughed.
"You're both lucky." Ely said quietly as she leaned back, having finished her stew. "My tits are so big they droop, my thighs are enormous, and my ass is huge. I'd gladly trade either one of you."
"Listen to who's talking about drooping tits." Trudy grinned. "I'm old enough that gravity has taken over. I used to have breasts, now I have dugs."
"Oh come now." Linda sighed. "You all look beautiful."
"Oops, I think this coffee is ready." Keri broke in. "What does his highness take in it, Linda?"
"One small sugar, no milk." She answered automatically, turning to Trudy with a question in her eyes. "How did you get involved with this family, as a nurse for George?"
In the background, Keri prepared a cup of coffee and went up to the wheelhouse with it.
"Yes." Trudy grinned widely. "Keri was at college. Ely was at home but having a hard time with her pregnancy and George needed someone to help out. I took the job of nurse and housekeeper, but by the second night I was warming his bed as well. Three months later, I woke up one morning feeling sick and I realised I was pregnant. Mary-Beth was born almost exactly seven months after David."
"Mary-Beth and David have grown up like brother and sister, but occasionally he teases her by calling her Aunty Mary-Beth." Ely smiled. "We've been out to the island so many times that they both call Karl their uncle/daddy, so I guess you'll be their aunt."
"I'd like that." Linda smiled. " I'll probably spoil them though."
"No worse than George and Karl do, it isn't possible." Trudy laughed. "Which reminds me, I'd better go check on George and the kids, they should be asleep by now."
She slipped past as Linda made room for her, then Linda turned her attention to Ely.
"The way you polished off the stew, you must have been really hungry, would you like a coffee? There should be lots."
"Thanks, I'd love one." Ely smiled. "I haven't had coffee in four days and that was made from grounds that were on their second or third rerun."
"You guys had it rough then. How do you like it?" Linda asked as she poured two cups.
"Just black." Ely smiled again as she took the cup. "We didn't have any fun. How did you and Karl come through so well?"
"Oh, Karl was on the boat through the whole thing. He missed most of the worst of it." Linda sat back down. "I was on my boat too, but I got caught in the tsunami and tossed halfway up a hill. I was all alone in the wreckage for several days and when Karl found me, I was on the verge of panic."
"Oh, I thought you were together through the whole thing."
"Oh no, I only met him a couple of days ago, so I don't really feel secure with our relationship at all. He claims I was singing when he found me, but I doubt it. I had hardly any water and not much in the way of food, certainly nothing to sing about. The stench around me was terrible and I was so lonely that I was almost going nuts. When I first saw him, I wanted a hug from anyone so badly that I almost knocked him off his feet." She blushed. "Then out of sheer gratitude, I suppose, I tried to seduce him, at least I teased him. He calmed me down and took me back to his boat. Once we were there, he fed me and cared for me and we've been together since. Later that night I did manage to seduce him. It was wonderful, he's the best lover I've ever had."
"Well, if I'd been in the same fix and had the chance, I'd do exactly the same thing." Ely reached across the table and took Linda's hand as she laughed softly. "We didn't have it as rough as you did. We were in a house and weren't hit by the tsunami, but we had it rough in other ways. We got hit hard by an earthquake."
Her mood had changed and she frowned and sighed deeply. Linda squeezed her hand gently in sympathy.
"In the first place, the quake knocked over a couple of big trees next to our house, so besides the other quake damage, we had those trees crushing the house. We had one room that wasn't too bad though, Dad's bedroom and luckily Dad, Trudy, and all Dad's radio's were in it. I and the kids were on the little boat, the one we came to meet you in. I was getting it ready for the summer and we were up in the boathouse, which was really well built, so it mostly held together, only one end wall came down. We were shaken up, but not hurt. Keri had been in the car on the way home and she was in an accident, but she got out with hardly a scratch, although she had to walk twelve miles through earthquake wreckage to get home. By the time she got there, it was almost dark. The kids and I had found Dad and Trudy and were starting to get some semblance of what we were up against."
She paused for a minute.
"But anyway, back to what we put up with at the house. We had only the one room that we managed to make weather tight with a couple of tarps for the night. We had the generator but in order to get anything to work off of it, we had to jury rig electric cords. We had only one small hot plate that worked, well, it worked part of the time, if we were careful. We had hardly any food, the freezer was buried under rubble in the basement and the fridge was smashed, but thank goodness we found some potatoes and some canned goods, as well as some coffee and some dried milk, so we had something to eat."
"Keri managed to dig her way down to what was left of the linen cupboard, so we huddled together and slept under blankets in one huge pile on the wreckage of Dad and Trudy's bed for the first night. The first thing next day, we moved to the boat house and onto the boat. At least with all of us inside at night, it got fairly warm. We found that we could get water from the old well in the yard and because of the fact that we had lots of gasoline, we could run the generator. We moved one or two of Dad's radio's down to the boat and kept him busy trying to listen to the radio and keep us posted about what was going on. For the first few days everything was a mess, but we got through it and even though it was crowded, it was more comfortable on the boat than it had been in the house. Actually when Dad heard over the radio about how much damage the tidal waves had done, he almost talked us into moving back off the boat but the rest of us decided to gamble on being more comfortable, so we stayed there."
"Keri and I rigged up the generator to the boathouse so we could patch the boat and we were running it almost all the time since Dad insisted on listening to the radio twenty four hours a day. Even if we were cut off, he wanted to know what was going on, so we took turns manning the radio as well as trying to rescue stuff from the wreckage and doing work on the boat. We had planned to get it repaired in case we could do a run in calm weather to the mainland or something."
"Then the last while, since we first heard from you and Karl, we've been so busy getting ready to move out that time flew. After Dad got off the radio to you last night, he caught part of a message that sounded like one of our neighbours who's always been somewhat of a trouble maker, reporting us to the local branch of the army reserve. He assumed it was us anyway, so we got really worried, because we'd heard the announcements about not travelling. What pissed off Dad the most was that the neighbour that was doing the reporting was making the report on a radio that Dad had given him. That's the reason he had Karl switch to the citizen band radio. The neighbour doesn't have one of those and they're not strong enough to carry to any of the local army and navy reserves."
"Actually the silly old bugger came over this morning to check us out. While I kept him busy, but out of the boathouse, Keri went over to his house and disabled his radio, then sneaked back. When the old bastard finally tried to push past me, to see what we were doing in the boathouse, she was already back. Keri lost her cool and chased him off with her shotgun."
"I hope she brought it along. We could have used a shotgun earlier today." Linda grinned. "We ran into pirates, but we were lucky and got away."
"Pirates?" Ely asked with raised eyebrows.
"Well, Karl called them breakers or wreckers." Linda said slowly. 'They had a barrier across a pass between two islands somehow and they were herding us toward it. I think they let the tidal rip do their wrecking for them. It was raining so hard we couldn't really see, thank goodness for radar. Karl managed to turn around and go straight at them, even against the tide."
"But what good would a shotgun have done?"
"Oh, that was later, after we were going around the island. They came out to chase us down with half a dozen boats. We sort of blew up one of them. Karl accidentally hit the gas tank with a shot from a black powder rifle and it burnt. The people on another boat took them away. They were sure we were in a gunboat or something, because the black powder rifle made so much noise, they thought it sounded like a cannon."
She paused and smiled apologetically. "Karl could probably make more sense of it than I can, I was so flustered, I can't even think straight about what did happen."
"That's all right, it seems that we weren't the only ones having an exciting time of it." Ely grinned back. "Anyway, since we had the boat all loaded and were all down at the boathouse when you guys called back, Dad decided the best thing for us to do was to come to you. Since we knew where you were and transferring him and our stuff out in open water was going to be almost impossible, it made sense to us. There's no way we could have transferred all our junk out on the water. We needed shelter. Besides, we didn't want to take the chance of being seen by anyone."
"Ah we wondered why you insisted on coming to us, instead of having us come to you."
"Well, the earthquake and the tsunami wiped out our wharf, so there was nowhere for you to land. Luckily our boat was stored in a boathouse, it has a carriage and steel tracks mounted in concrete that run all the way down into the water to pull the boat out. Once we let it loose though, there was no way to get back up the grade again since the cable was busted. So we loaded everything we had salvaged into the boat and waited for your call on the radio. All we had to do was cut loose."
"Well you made it anyway." Linda said quietly. "I guess I should be thinking about going up to the wheelhouse. Karl might need me."
"Keri is up there, she can help him, if he needs help."
"As new as my relationship with Karl is, I'm not sure that's a reassuring thought." Linda admitted, already trusting Ely. "She's so beautiful and sexy that she makes me feel frowsy."
"I wouldn't worry." Ely laughed softly. "Karl still seems to see Keri and me as kids. He treats us more like nieces most of the time rather than just women, but I do understand. If he was my guy, I'd probably be a touch jealous too."
"I'm not jealous, just . . . I don't know, sort of concerned. After meeting you two, I can see I'm not playing in my own league at all."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ely laughed softly. "You're gorgeous."
"Well, I certainly don't feel it." Linda said quietly. "You have that exotic look that drives most men wild, Keri does too, and you both have figures that I'd kill for."
"Oh come on, take a look in the mirror once." Ely frowned at her. "What are you, a size ten or eleven, with about a B cup bust? On top of that you're blonde, extremely attractive, and from what I've seen, you're damn smart. I'm envious in a lot of ways."
"Of what?" Linda said quietly. "Actually my hair is more mousey blonde than anything, I've got a weird pudgy nose and . . ."
"Oh Christ." Ely broke into laughter. "You're talking about noses. Look at mine, it should be on a moose, it's so big and so wide. My lips are huge. I've got no hair and a high forehead. I'm black and you're white, you could be a model for Christ sake. I've got tits like a Holstein cow and a huge ass to match. White men look at me as Black. Black men look at me as white. I'm half way between both races and it sucks."
Linda stared at her, then it was her turn to laugh.
"You've been using the wrong mirror."
"Huh." Ely grunted deprecatingly.
"Well, your nose and mouth look great to me and I love your head, I meant what I said before, on you bald is beautiful. As to your skin colour, well to me it's lovely, it reminds me of coffee, with lots of cream." Linda smiled shyly and reached out her hand across the table. "Both you and I know that friends don't see race or colour. So, would you be my friend?"
Ely stared at her, then had to grin. She reached out and took Linda's hand.
"I don't think that will be a problem." She laughed softly.
"That's good." Linda sighed. "I wouldn't want to start off on the wrong foot. Karl loves you all so much and he's so special, I wouldn't want to be at outs with you."
Ely tried but couldn't suppress a yawn.
"Oh, you've been through hell, and you're tired. I should let you rest." Linda showed her concern quite openly. "And here I am dumping my insecurities on you, like a damn fool."
"Oh I don't mind, I've got mine too, but I'm bushed." Ely said quietly. "Would you mind if I just curled up here and went to sleep for a bit? You can call me if you need me for anything."
"Unh uh." Linda hesitated. "I think you need a real sleep. Trudy didn't come back, so she must have taken the bunk in one of the small cabins and I guess your Dad and the kids have the other one. Karl won't leave the wheel for love or money, not as long as he feels the least bit unsafe doing it. Anyway, he had a lay down for an hour or so and I had a nap this afternoon, that leaves the captains bunk free. Why don't you go curl up there? Karl won't mind."
"No, I think I want company to cuddle." Ely suppressed a yawn. "I'll see if Trudy found a bunk of her own."
"Do you want a hand?"
"Hell no." Ely laughed softly. "I don't need to be tucked in."
Linda watched her weave slowly down the passage to the cabin and after a moment, on impulse, she followed. Trudy was sound asleep and Ely had taken off her blouse, but had barely started to take off her jeans and had fallen back onto the bunk, sound asleep. She was sitting in a weird half-upright position, with her jeans pulled down around her knees. Worried that she might be thrown onto the floor if they ran into really heavy weather, Linda managed to slide her down into a prone position on the bed, then get her jeans all the way off. They still felt quite wet from being out in the weather earlier. Ely's panties and bra were damp as well and Linda only hesitated for a few seconds.
"Aw what the hell, I might as well be shot for a sheep as a goat." She said quietly to herself. "I wouldn't want to try to sleep in wet clothes myself."
Then she grinned. "Besides I might as well admit, I really do want to see just what you look like undressed, Pretty Lady."
It only took a moment to remove them. She leaned over to pull the blankets over Ely's wonderful body as it lay on the bunk, pausing and admiring it in the soft light. Ely's face was relaxed and looked much younger, her skin almost glowing with health. Her chin line was strong and clean and her neck was quite long.
Linda's gaze was drawn somehow to Ely's breasts. The soft bulge of her breasts was topped by dark chocolate areolas the size of quarters and nipples as large as the end section of Linda's smallest finger. With Ely lying on her back, gravity was flattening them, but they still looked huge and they still looked sexy, particularly since the motion of the boat made them jiggle softly. Linda forced her gaze away and it slipped downward, she was barely able to make out the fine stretch marks of motherhood on Ely's tight stomach, then resolutely pulled the covers upward.
After carefully hanging the damp clothing along an overhead shelf so it would dry, she stood up and was about to go when she thought she heard Ely whisper something.
"What was that?" She asked leaning down close.
"Thank you. Could I have a goodnight hug?" Ely whispered, pushing back the blankets with one hand as she raised it to touch Linda's arm, exposing her chest and those soft round breasts again.
Linda smiled and bent to hug her gently, then lifted up to gaze down for a second. On a sudden impulse, she bent her head froward and kissed those full lips. Ely opened her eyes and smiled softly as Linda lifted her head again.
"Tease." Ely whispered.
"Pardon?" Linda said quietly.
Trudy moaned softly and opened her eyes.
"Oh hi." She said quietly, then shifted her body to make more room on the small bunk for Ely.
"Linda was tucking me in." Ely answered softly.
"Oh." Trudy smiled, slipping her hand up to push her hair from her face.
She raised her head and looked at Linda first and then down at Ely as she sighed faintly and her breathing relaxed.
"Poor baby." Trudy whispered softly, her hand lifting to stroke Ely's brow. "You just lay back and rest."
She lifted her eyes and smiled at Linda.
"I don't think she's slept much at all since the earthquake. She's been the rock everyone else has leaned on." Trudy whispered. "She's exhausted."
"I'll let you both sleep." Linda suggested and started to stand from where she had been sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Oh don't go for a moment. She's sleeping now." Trudy smiled softly. "I wanted to say thank you for everything."
"No problem, but it was Karl's doing really, not mine."
"Oh we all know what Karl's like, and that gives all of us a pretty good idea about you too." She smiled again. "Anyway, thank you."
"Oh you're welcome." Linda smiled back at her.
Trudy lay back and closed her eyes.
"Goodnight." Linda whispered as she rose and went out the door.
The motion of the boat had become more violent since they were now in more open water. She had to hang on as she moved forward and up the steps. She found Karl at the wheel and Keri dozing in a seat off to one side.
"Oh." She said quietly, smiling at Karl. "And I was worried that she'd be doing her best to seduce you, maybe get you to take a break while she made you very happy."
"And who would have steered the boat?" Karl laughed softly, but seemed uneasy. "Do we have anywhere left where she could sleep? She's exhausted and I'm afraid she might get thrown out of that chair and hurt herself."
"I'll help her below and put her in our bunk. Ely is sleeping with Trudy and the kids are sleeping with George." She chuckled. "I finally got Ely to lie down and go to sleep, she was just as tired as Keri, she just resisted sleep a bit longer."
She paused long enough to walk up behind Karl and hug him tight.
"You could have warned me that Keri was a woman lover and maybe even a womanizer." She whispered. "She tried to seduce me as we were storing their things below decks."
"She did?" Karl sounded surprised. "I'll be damned. I always wondered."
"You didn't know?"
"Well, both she and Ely had friends of both sexes staying with them at times and some of them were damn attractive. I did wonder at times if they were involved."
"Well, you don't have to wonder any more." Linda chuckled.
"Well, at least in Keri's case, she's definitely bisexual then. She even made a play for me when she brought me the coffee." Karl admitted quietly.
"Oh, she did?" Linda giggled. "What did she do?"
"Oh." He laughed. "She didn't let me see who brought my coffee. She just slipped it into the holder and hugged me from behind. At first I thought it was you, but her hand dropped down and she squeezed my crotch. Something about the way she did it told me that it wasn't you, so I grabbed the hand and found it was her."
"Oh shit." Linda chuckled. "Rather obvious isn't she and with the balls of a brass monkey."
"Oh Yeah. Ely is just as brazen. I've put up with the two of them for years. I just didn't expect either one of them to do it to a women so soon after meeting her. What did you do?" He asked curiously. "I hope you're not angry."
"Angry, whatever for?" Linda chuckled. "Actually from someone that beautiful, it's quite a compliment. I guess I left things up in the air. I wanted to talk to you first. If the circumstances were different . . ."
She let her statement fade away.
"Oh." Karl said quietly after a few seconds. "You mean if we weren't involved?"
"More or less." Linda said quietly. "You should know, I was involved with a women before."
"I remember that." Karl said softly. "You told me."
"Are you upset, I mean that I'm attracted to women too?" She almost whispered. " I do prefer men though, in most cases."
"Well I'm glad of that." He chuckled. "But since you're so attracted to women, maybe next time Keri tries to get me wound up, I won't be so elusive."
"Hah." Linda chuckled as she kissed his ear and squeezed him tight. "If you - no make that when you do, don't be surprised if I play around a bit myself. You know the saying; 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander.' and it works both ways."
"That could get complicated." Karl said quietly.
"Oh, I don't know. I think I'll arrange to step aside temporarily when Keri seduces you."
"What the hell?" Karl said quietly staring after her.
"Well, what else did you expect?" Linda laughed softly. "I can't leave her totally frustrated."
He turned and stared at her in consternation.
"You're her hero." Linda said quietly. "A white knight who appeared out of the mist and rescued her. You're kind and considerate and you've always treated her like a woman, not a child."
"Now wait a minute, are you implying that I've been trying to seduce her." Karl said quietly."She's the one who . . ."
"Oh no." Linda grinned. "I know it's not intentional, but you're building up your own harem, both of the younger women at George's house will gladly join me at a moment's notice, I think."
"Oh shit." Karl stared at her. "That's all I need."
"Well, if you don't want two or three women at your beck and call, you'd better arrange for some men to relieve the problem." She laughed softly.
"What do you mean, arrange for some men?" He asked quietly.
"Well, I'm sure Keri and Ely are both used to having a lover once in a while, even you from the sounds of it. They're not desperate yet, but I'll bet either one would jump into bed with you if they got the chance and in six months the situation will be almost intolerable." She paused and took a deep breath. "If I try to keep you to myself, I'll be the only woman on the island who's going to be getting enough sex and to be honest it's making me feel a bit uncomfortable. Jealousy could put me on the outs with all of them and I don't need that or want that, besides I like them too much already to want to fight with them."
Karl shook his head. "I can't just pick men off the trees for everyone."
"I'm not really suggesting it. We're going to have enough of a problem surviving with as many of us as there are on as small an island as you've described the one that we're going to is." Linda sighed. "To be honest, I like all of the women too much to be very jealous. The problem is with you."
"Wow." Karl sighed. "It sounds to me almost like you're encouraging me to play around."
"No, not really." Linda smiled wanly. "But I know for a fact that it's going to happen."
" I think I can hold myself back if I need to."
"Oh sure. Hell, Keri wasn't even trying and you were aroused." Linda said quietly. "If either she or Ely really try for any length of time, I'd bet on them succeeding in getting you into bed."
"I don't know about that." Karl argued. "I mean we lived on the same island for years, and even though . . ."
"The circumstances are different now." Linda smiled rather sadly. "As well as the earthquakes and the tsunamis, there's this flu or whatever it is running rampant. We're going to all want to stay in our own group and keep it isolated, so we all know we're in this situation for a long time."
"Yeah, so?" He commented quietly.
"On top of that we've got that primeval female feeling, after any disaster women want babies, I guess to repopulate the losses. We can't help it. It's instinctive. I suppose it's a racial preservation thing. I mean, look at me, a day after I met you I was talking about kids. Anyway, for some reason we're horny as hell, I know I am and I know I'm not the only one. So we go looking for the most dominant, most virile male we can find and come hell or high water we lure him into the sack."
"And I suppose you think that's me?"
"Of course. Here you are, planning on isolating yourself on a tiny island with three very horny women where you just happen to be the most virile and dominant male. Each of us feels we have a claim on you, but each in a different way. None of us are really committed to anyone else and all of us want to take you to bed."
Karl stared at her for a second as she fell silent.
"Look woman, I'm quite happy with you and what you do in bed, I don't need to take either of those two to bed." He said quietly. "I know enough about women to know that jealousy does strange things. I know what it's been like . . ."
"It's a different kind of jealousy I've been worried about." Linda smiled."I was thinking that if you did it right, you could have all of us at your beck and call."
"What?" Karl stared at her again.
"You heard me." Linda laughed softly.
"What in hell are you talking about?" He said quietly, his face creased into a frown.
"Well, this may take a while." She said, lifting her eyebrows and tilting her head coquettishly.
"We've got hours and hours to spend until we're out of this storm and everyone else is sleeping." He responded, "I guess you could say I'm a captive audience. I think you're nuts, but I'm willing to listen to you."
"Okay." She smiled. "Now, I'm assuming that you find both Ely and Keri to be attractive?"
"Is that a question?" He smiled. "If it is, I'm not sure I should answer it candidly."
"Oh, come on. It is a question and why shouldn't you answer it candidly?" She chuckled. "Are you scared of offending me?"
"In a way, I worry about offending you, yes. I mean you are my bed mate." He grinned. "To answer your question though, I've watched them grow up from sexy teenagers to sexy women. But yes, I do find them attractive, who wouldn't?"
"Well, just for now, forget that I've been your bed mate for the last few days. Let's say you knew you were going to pick up Ely and Keri in a couple of days, would you have been as eager to make love to me?"
"I didn't exactly have a choice." He laughed softly. "At least not the first couple of times."
"Well, that is the best way for a woman to say 'thank you' to a man." Linda giggled. "But you're changing the subject on me."
"No, I'm not. I didn't have a choice." He laughed.
"Okay, lets imagine that it hadn't happened and you'd never found me. Would you have let Keri have fun when she brought you your coffee?"
"Possibly." Karl said quietly. "Why?"
"Okay." Linda sighed. "Now I told you I like women as well. Actually, I had a woman for a partner for over a year."
"Yes, so what has that got to do with the price of rice in China?"
"Well, I think both Keri and Ely play around, I mean I think they like women almost as much as they do men. That's just from what Keri said as we were storing their stuff and some of the things Ely said as well, it's not a confirmed suspicion yet."
Karl stared at her, then grinned.
"What was that grin for?"
"Oh, I was just thinking that maybe you were giving me an out, if I did happen to slip."
"Not really, it's more of a warning."
"And?" He asked quietly.
"And I think they're sexy as hell, so now that I know more about you and about them, if they were to make an advance toward me, I might not try very hard to resist."
He grinned and wrapped his arms around her.
"I can't say I blame you one bit." He laughed softly as he hugged her tightly.
"So you wouldn't mind?" She hugged him back.
"Why should I? Besides I like your taste in women. Both of them really are sexy as hell."
Linda giggled softly and snuggled close.
"As sexy as me?" She asked, kissing him on the cheek.
"Not really." Karl laughed, softly caressing a breast as he hugged her tight. "But Ely has a rather exotic appeal."
"Talking about exotic, what about our sleeping beauty? Don't you think she's sexy?"
"Oh come now." Karl snorted.
Linda pressed back, her hands on his arms and she stared him right in the face. "Karl wake up. Right now she wants you in bed and yet she doesn't want to have a fight with me over you. She's been there before and she wants to be there again."
Karl just stared at her.
"I mean it Karl, if you patted that pretty little bottom, she'd be all over you." Linda stated.
He still had a hand around her waist and he pulled her close. "And what would you do?"
"Well, that depends on you, and on Keri." She grinned. "Amongst other things, I've always wanted to try a 'menage a trois' with the right people."
Karl frowned. "Three people in the same bed? I don't know about that, I've tried it, it leaves me unsatisfied."
"Don't knock it until you've tried it with the right people." Linda laughed. "Even you might find it to be a lot of fun."
"Well, I'm not sure I'd like that. It still sounds frustrating to me. I know my capabilities and my desires." Karl said quietly."Besides, I would have thought that as a woman, you'd want two men and one woman."
"I think that depends on the people." Linda smiled. "With the right two women, I doubt if it would be frustrating for the man."
"I doubt if there are many men in the whole world who can satisfy two women." He argued.
"Ah, but with the right two women, he'd be super satisfied." She grinned. "And so would they."
"Oh come now." He scoffed. "I don't believe you."
"We'll have to ask Keri won't we? Once we get a chance to be alone with her, then you can satisfy that urge of yours to make love to her."
"Just what makes you think I have an urge to have sex with her now, I just feel. . . ."
"Oh you do." She laughed as she interrupted. "But that's just it, it doesn't matter if you want sex or not. Both of us know she's willing and available. If she sets her mind to it, I think she can trip you and beat you to the floor with her pants down and her legs spread. She won't give you a choice."
"You don't really know her like I do, she's just teasing."
"Well, I think she's looking for sex. She doesn't need two of the people she depends on trying to seduce her, but if she does her best to seduce you, what are you going to do, run?"
Karl laughed.
"You ought to know I'm not very good at running from things." He grinned at her, hugging her tightly. "But I don't think it will be a problem."
Linda leaned into the hug, then lifted on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
"Darling, either you're blind or you're an eternal optimist. There is no way you can keep four women in isolation and have two of them with lovers and two without. "
As they had been travelling, the waves had been steadily getting higher and stronger. Just then a large cross wave hit the boat twisting it sharply and Keri seemed to slip in her seat.
"Right now, I'd better get Keri below." Linda said firmly as she moved away from Karl so that he had room and could fight the wheel.
She had to hang on as she moved across the wheelhouse, it was becoming that rough.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty." She said loudly as she gently shook Keri's shoulder.
"Hmm, oh hello, Linda. I must have dozed off." She said, barely able to open her eyes. "Is there a problem?"
"There certainly is, you're going to fall and hurt yourself sleeping in this chair. There's a bunk below decks where you can lie down, do you think you can make it?"
"No problem, where is it?" Keri mumbled as she managed to get to her feet.
"Down below, I'll come with you."
Linda helped her down the steps. Another wave shifted the boat while they were passing through the galley and Keri stumbled against the table as she moved past it. Linda caught her before she could fall, helping her the rest of the way. Since the only open bunk was in the captain's cabin, Linda led her there. Once Keri was there, she sat back slowly on the edge of the bunk, her eyes almost closed.
"Okay, I'll help you undress." Linda grinned. "I had to undress Ely as well, so why not you."
Linda found it was much easier to undress someone who could cooperate, even if she was bushed.
"My panties and bra too?" Was Keri's only comment.
"Absolutely." Linda grinned at her. "First off, they're wet and need to dry, besides, you've been showing off those tits since you came aboard. I want to see for myself if they're real."
"Bitch." Keri laughed weakly, but tried to cooperate.
Unfortunately she overbalanced and almost slipped off the bunk onto the floor. Linda caught her and helped her to sit up again.
"Relax, Beautiful. I'll help." She leaned forward, reaching around Keri to undo her bra.
With their faces almost touching, she suddenly found herself being kissed. She waited a second before she broke the kiss, then finished undoing the bra.
"Not yet, Babe." She pulled back, laughing softly.
"What do you mean, not yet?" Keri asked, sounding a lot less sleepy.
"If you're wide enough awake to kiss like that, you can take off your own clothes. " Linda grinned.
"Are you going to watch?" Keri asked quietly as she slipped off her bra.
"Yes, I'm going to put these up out of the way and let them dry." Linda answered taking the bra and scooping up Keri's jeans and blouse, then taking the panties as well when Keri slipped them off.
She turned and hung them up, by the time she was finished Keri was lying back on the bunk but hadn't pulled up the covers. Her skin was light in colour and now she looked quite small. Lying on her back, she looked about eighteen, her breasts still seemed to fight gravity and stood more upright than most women's would have. Linda smiled at Keri's barely open eyes.
"Slide over a bit, love." She said quietly and sat at Keri's waist, taking one of Keri's hands in one of hers.
"Just to get things straight, I'm not offended by your hug and kiss. If things were different, I might have taken you up on the offer."
She lifted a hand and rested it lightly on a tight breast, whose nipple had swollen to a tight cone.
"I think you're lovely and I'd love to play with your body for a few hours. Just so you know, I have been involved with a woman before, so there's no way that I was offended by your attention. I'm not offended by you trying to seduce Karl either, he is a hunk, but you have to understand, this trip is like our honeymoon. We're rather involved in each other right now." She grinned then at Keri's strangely surprised look. "I'd like you to tell Ely too, if you would. For now, I'd rather you limited yourself to hugs and kisses for both Karl and me. If we decide we want more, we'll let you both know. All right?"
Before Keri could say anything, she bent forward, lightly kissed her lips and Keri moaned softly. Linda lifted her head then.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." She whispered.
"That's okay." Keri sighed softly with a smile. "I'm going to take that as a promissary note. I'll tell Ely, but I want a goodnight kiss and hug."
Linda leaned forward slowly teasing Keri with a light kiss as her hand gently caressed a tight breast for an instant, then before Keri could really react, she lifted her head.
"Now that was a promissary note." Keri sighed. "I thought we were limiting it to hugs and kisses?"
"Ah, but Karl and I get to choose, remember?" Linda grinned. "Now you need sleep."
"Oh but that's not fair." Keri protested
"Quiet Baby. Karl told me you two have teased him for years. Now it's his turn and I'm going to help him" Linda whispered mischievously. "We'll talk sometime tomorrow."
Linda grinned at her as she pulled the blankets over Keri, bent and kissed her lightly one more time, then wished her goodnight. The motion of the boat was actually less violent as she moved back to the wheelhouse.
"That took a while." Karl said as she came up. "I need the head, can you take the wheel for a few minutes?"
"Sorry I was so long. I had to put her to bed" Linda said quietly but had to grin. "Should I just keep it on this heading?"
"Yeah. I'll be right back."
"Take your time." Linda responded as he rushed below.
It seemed to take forever before he got back. The rain was steadily easing and the wind was dropping as well, even though the swells were still quite large. It must have been almost an hour, before he reappeared. He looked dishevelled and surprised, yet in another way he looked like the cat who had eaten the canary.
Linda broke into laughter when she saw he was wearing dry pants. She knew he would have had to go into his cabin to get them so the combination of his dry pants and the fact that Keri was bunked there, as well as the look on his face, struck her as extremely humourous.