Story #4: Rudy Wins The Grand Prize

Word Count 7,141 words

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Reaching forward from his stool at the bar, Rudy pulled the Hawaiian

Sunrise up in front of him and stirred it with the little green

umbrella. Holding the glass up to the sun he squinted through the

bright colors and tried to remember how many kinds of rum were in

but gave up. Blearily he wondered who the joker was that had been

putting their empty glasses down in front of where he was sitting.

Damn nasty thing to do. The place was short handed, and the bartender

seemed to have only enough time to make new drinks for the crowd,

not to pick up the empties. Counting slowly he made it up to four

empty glasses before he lost count, hiccuped and almost fell off

the stool. "Lucky," he thought to himself, "almost dropped my drink in the pool."

Swaying a little on the tall barstool, he cursed the wind that must

be blowing to make him so unsteady when all he was doing was sitting

quietly at the bar. He didn't want to stumble off the stool, placed

as it was out in the center of the swimming pool. He had swum over

here for a drink, but was dry now and figured he would walk back

on the stepping stones that led to the patio from the bar.

Looking down at his baggy, tropical print bathing shorts he was

amazed to see how dry they were. In the states he would have expected

it to take several hours to dry so completely. Amazing how fast

things dried down here in the tropical sun.

"Well, guess I'll go back to my cabana and take a nap before dinner,"

he thought to himself. Easing slowly off the barstool Rudy drained

the Hawaiian Sunrise then left the glass on the bar with all the

others. Carefully stepping from stone to stone he made his way toward

the edge of the pool. "Good Golly, Miss Molly," he thought, "these

things must be floating to move around like this."

He was standing on the next to last stepping stone when he began

majestically swaying in the non-existing breeze, pushing his arms

out to the side where he slowly rotated them in large circles trying

to balance. Onlookers later teased him that he had looked like ancient

movie footage of the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, and

they started calling him Galloping Rudy. He twisted and turned,

his movements becoming more and more uncoordinated before somehow

turning his arms one way, his body another and his knees an impossible

third. Finally, seeming in slow motion, he toppled into the water,

he remembered thinking, as he fell, "Sure glad I didn't spill that drink!"

A minute later, the lifeguard fished him sputtering from the pool,

and sent him on to his cabana with an attendant to make sure he got there all right.

Rudy was three days into the trip of a lifetime. His company had

announced a sales contest for that summer. The Grand Prize, which

nobody had ever won, was a two-week stay for two at a Caribbean

Island Resort. It happened that was the summer everything Rudy had

learned about his company, its products, and salesmanship suddenly came together.

Rudy had once been described as almost an average man. He wasn't

quite tall, wasn't really athletic, but you couldn't say he wasn't

tall or athletic. He just seemed to be kind of almost average. His

sandy hair always seemed to be slightly disheveled, and though he

had a nice wardrobe, his clothes seemed to be just a trifle mussed.

Everyone was taken with his happy grin, which almost never left

his face, and the girls all seemed taken by his twinkling eyes.

He worked hard, but until the sales contest his supervisor's best

description of the job he did was just about average. That was why

Rudy was so excited about winning the Grand Prize.

Overnight Rudy found it was so much fun selling he wanted to do

it 24/7. To his later astonishment that was almost what he did,

for Rudy being single and unattached and had no obligations at home.

Clocking the greatest summer sales period the 100-year-old company

had ever known Rudy won the Grand Prize.

Which gave him a problem. He not only didn't have a wife, Rudy didn't

even have a steady girl. Certainly none of the girls he dated would

even consider spending two weeks with him on a tropical island.

For that matter there were none that he would consider asking to

join him on a tropical island for two weeks. Actually, he never

mentioned the trip to any of the girls he knew, being pretty shy.

And he would be damned if he'd go off for two weeks on a tropical

island with another guy. Although a couple buddies on his softball

team hinted that it sounded like fun before saying, when he looked

at them strangely, "Not that way, of course."

The problem was solved to his satisfaction when he talked the company

into sending him alone for four weeks instead of him and a friend

for two. He was proud of the salesmanship he used to talk them into

losing their newly explosive salesman for a whole month. The clincher

was pointing out that they would save hundreds of dollars on airfare

if they only sent one person instead of the two they had budgeted

for. The Vice President that had booked the trip at company rates

didn't fight it too hard, he just took his secretary to Cancun again that year.

Rudy reached his island paradise Saturday afternoon, having left

Friday afternoon and traveling the 'feeder line express' until climbing

aboard the final leg on a flight out of Miami that morning.

Rudy had checked in, and begun checking out the ladies. Not surprisingly,

all the women he saw were very firmly attached to men who were looking

very proprietary. There were some real babes, along with some really

nice looking older women he considered to be wives. He didn't know

if the babes were wives or not and he sure wasn't going to ask.

Tired as he was, he didn't want to wait a moment to begin this dream.

That was why he found himself falling into his cabana, a nice little

bungalow a hundred yards from the main resort, and then crawling

into bed. It was something he sure wasn't going to tell anyone about

back home. That is, that he had been so bombed he fell through the

door into his cabana and then had to crawl across the room and into bed.

Waking up the next morning he found fruit and juices had been delivered

to his cabana before he awoke. It was a pleasant surprise to discover

that whatever combination of fruits he had tried absolutely eliminated

his hangover. Somehow he was never able to produce those results again.

He spent that day sightseeing and snorkeling. It was his first time

in a snorkel mask, and it was even more fun than softball.

That evening Rudy enjoyed an elegant dinner and discovered the pool

bar. It was stuck way out in the swimming pool, and it was obvious

to Rudy only a wimp wouldn't swim out to get a drink. That evening

he concentrated on Singapore Slings. Getting pleasantly mellow,

he had a great conversation with some visiting Italians and went

to bed after watching the sun fall into the sea.

Which led up to today. Rudy went snorkeling again that morning with

a party from the resort. While in the water he met a party of Brits

who had just arrived and were staying together in a large private

bungalow about a mile down from his cabana. They all had a ball

swimming, and the Brits joined him that afternoon at the pool bar.

There they were joined by a quartet of nurses who also had just

arrived from the states. When the Brits and nurses left to get dressed

and ready for dinner Rudy had stayed for a few more drinks. That

was when he began his experiment with the Hawaiian Sunrises and

discovered other people were putting their empty glasses on the bar.

Rudy woke up in his cabana several hours later, still flying a little

but anxious to get back to the resort for dinner. The Brits and

nurses both had promised to be there for dinner and dancing. Rudy

was darned sure looking forward to it.

The Grand Prize was looking like a real winner. Tonight was what

two weeks in the Caribbean was all about, and he was having a great

time. And to top it all off, he was going to be there an extra two

weeks! Being honest with himself he didn't anticipate a bed partner.

He was a pretty ordinary guy, and while the nurses were all great

gals, good pals, they obviously wouldn't be into one-night stands.

The Brits' women were all gorgeous but they were also very married

and their men were there with them. The men were as big as their

wives were gorgeous. Even more disgusting, they were nice people.

"It didn't matter how great a salesman he was," Rudy told himself

pedantically, "I couldn't do that to those nice people."

And that's how the evening went, up to a point. Sometime in the

evening everything got cloudy. He could remember dancing a lot with

one of the wives whose husband didn't like to dance. And he danced

a lot with the nurses. That memory black out cursed him the next morning.

Rudy awoke with a hangover. He tried to focus his eyes on the ceiling,

but it wouldn't stop moving long enough for him to accomplish this

task. He rolled over to his left and almost fell off the bed in the process.

"This day is not getting off to a good start," he muttered to himself.

As he rolled onto his back again, his right arm landed on something

hiding under the covers. He looked over and saw some blonde hair

poking out from under the covers, and heard a sleepy moan come from

somewhere in that direction. The lump moved slightly and he felt

a bare foot press against him as the movement stopped.

Maybe today wasn't going to be so bad after all!

Rudy stared at the figure lying next to him and tried to reconstruct

the events of last night in his mind. This was not easy to do because

the room kept spinning, and when he closed his eyes he felt as though

he was floating on a stormy sea, bobbing up and down. He instinctively

reached out to steady himself and again made contact with the person

sleeping next to him. This time his movements caused the person

to stir briefly, and Rudy saw the satisfied grin on their face.

Rudy couldn't believe his eyes. He pinched himself to see if he

was dreaming, but when he looked again the same person was still

lying next to him. Last night must have gotten a lot more out of

hand than he could have imagined. He gingerly slipped from the

bed and unsteadily made his way to the bathroom. Taking three Excedrin

in hand, Rudy staggered towards the kitchen to get something to

drink - he didn't want to chance waking his bedmate with the sound of running water.

As Rudy opened the door of the refrigerator the phone rang. Almost

simultaneously there was a knock on the door, followed by a loud

groan from the direction of the bedroom. Rudy's head felt as though

it was going to split open from the sudden noises. He grabbed the

telephone as it started to ring a second time and managed to croak, "Hello?"

"What the hell happened to you last night?" The shrill female voice

coming through the receiver added to Rudy's headache. "I waited

for almost an hour before I decided you had left without me. Where the hell did you go?"

The knocking on the door turned to pounding, and a male voice called

out, "You better not try to hide from me, Rudy! I know you're in

there, and I know who you're with. Open this door right now!"

And as Rudy tried to sort out what to do next he felt a warm body

press against his back. A voice whispered in his ear, "You certainly

make it hard to sleep, lover!"

Thinking slowly but desperately, Rudy babbled something into the

phone about a household emergency and asked for the woman's telephone

number, promising to call her right back. She hung up on him, instead.

Then Rudy yelled at the door, wincing at the noise he made, "I'll

be right there after I find my clothes." This announcement was met

with hearty and vicious cursing from behind the closed door, and

renewal of the hammering on the door.

Scooping the blonde into his arms, he picked her up, kissing her

soundly as he did so. It was a luscious smooch, but he was really

trying to keep her silent. He sure as hell didn't want the gent

outside to hear her, the man was violent enough already. Half running

he carried her back to the bedroom, only bouncing off the wall once.

Plopping her on the unmade bed he tried to explain to her that there

was an emergency and he had to get her out of the cabana without

the guy outside seeing her. While explaining he took a very long look at the gal.

It was a pleasant look, as she hadn't bothered to put a robe on

to come see him in the kitchen. More to the point, he recognized

her as being in the party the night before, but couldn't remember

whose wife she was. She was about average size, and all of her various

parts fit together just right. He was particularly pleased to see

she was not one of those girls who thought the half-starved look

was chic. She certainly didn't carry any extra weight, but she was

padded like a woman is supposed to be padded, giving her all the

curves that turn men's heads, and other parts.

Luckily she had worn very little to the dance, none of which apparently

included any kind of underwear, and he was able to slip her dress

on over her head as she protested. Clothed, almost, she was a nice

looking woman, but nothing spectacular except for the little glimmer

of devilment in her eyes. He knew from looking at her that she would

never be a beauty queen. Which wouldn't matter because she would

be more fun to be around than a dozen of the hot looking girls.

Kissing her again, he made her promise to meet him poolside at 2:00

that afternoon. Flustered now and confused, she agreed as he helped

her out the bedroom window. Then as he pulled on his pants he shuffled

back to the front door to let his belligerent guest in, having only

a little accident with the zipper.

He hadn't even been aware the doors could be locked until he got

there and fumbled to get it open. The moment it was unlocked the

man crashed it open, knocking Rudy backward and onto his back on

the wooden floor. He suffered a nasty crack on the head, and looked

up from the floor at the biggest of the Brits. Thanking his stars

that it wasn't the one they called Bruno, he tried to get up only

to have the Brit plant a foot on his chest and command Rudy to stay

where he was while he got his wife. Then the man disappeared into

the bedroom, where he broke into another fit of cursing before he

thundered back into the living area.

With the Brit towering above where he was still lying on the floor,

Rudy couldn't figure out what the man was going to do next. Squinching

his eyes shut he groaned weakly, "For God's Sake, if you're going

to kill me, do it quick. This hangover is killing me slow. Be merciful,

be quick." Then keeping his eyes squeezed shut he waited for the kicks and blows.

Instead, there was dead silence for what seemed like hours to Rudy,

cringing on the floor. Then there was a low chuckle, followed almost

at once by a deep laugh, and soon the man hovering above him was

holding his sides while the tears ran down his face.

Rudy, deciding finally that he was going to be allowed to die from

hangover, opened his eyes and struggled to his feet. Standing there

in only his trousers, he hesitated a moment then went to make coffee.

Over his shoulder, he asked the Brit if he wanted to stay for a cup.

"This is going to sound strange," Rudy added, "but what's your name?

My body is upright but my mind is still asleep, I'm sorry. And who is your wife?"

"Bloody hell, yank," the Brit answered, "I knew you had a skin full,

but this is too much. I'm Peter, and my wife Julie and you were

dancing last night; danced with her a lot. She was the medium tall

blonde with hair down to her arse. The one with the red dress on, remember her now?"

The big man sat down at the table and buried his face in his hands

and blurted, "I don't know where she's gone off to. She never made

it home last night. It's not at all like her. I'm so scared something

has happened to her, and then I thought since she was with you and

she dancing so much last night and she enjoyed the gin as much as

you I figured the two of you just, wandered over here never happened

before she's never been off over before. I don't, know what might

have happened to her! Buggers! My head hurts!"

"Well, let's get some coffee, and maybe a bite to eat, too, then

go looking for her," Rudy offered. "I see my morning ration of fruit

and juice is already here, help yourself."

Rudy dressed, and they sampled the bananas and papaya before heading

out the door. Once outside Peter told Rudy that he got to the cabana

by following the road from the bungalow where he and the other Brits

were staying. Rudy suggested they go back to the bungalow on the

beach. It was a more pleasant walk and a little shorter, what with

the way the road twisted and turned.

As they walked Peter kept telling Rudy, between moaning about how

his head hurt, how worried he was. "Julie never disappeared before,

it just isn't like her. If anything she keeps too close to me. I'm

really worried about her, can't imagine what could have happened to keep her away."

They were just over half way to the bungalow when they saw what

looked like several bodies lying under the palm trees a hundred

yards or so up the beach ahead of them. Rudy and Peter sped their

pace with Peter wondering aloud if that was his Julie. They soon

found themselves running. Both men's faces were ashen as they got nearer.

There were indeed three bodies lying still under the palms.

As they neared the three figures, lying so still, Peter broke into

sobs. Calling his wife's name he sprinted forward, throwing himself

on the figure farthest from them. Just before Peter fell onto the

poor woman lying so still, Rudy saw it wasn't the girl he had just

helped out his bedroom window. He recognized his dancing partner

from the night before, the one whose husband did not dance. He froze

for a moment in horror, a moment suddenly broken by a loud, "Ooof!" as Peter landed on her chest.

"Oh, God! Help! Help! Rape! Fire! Help..." the erstwhile corpse

began screaming while ineffectually beating at her captor's head and shoulders.

Peter leaped off the struggling woman, looking like a man who had

seen a ghost. He bent down and scooped the terrified woman into

his arms, smothering her in kisses. The other two corpses stirred.

The man lying in the middle clambered to his feet and he too began

beating on Peter while trying to pry Julie out of his arms. For

a moment the three wrestled, with Peter continuing to rain kisses

down on Julie's terrified face and anything else of hers he could

reach. The third body sat up, took a long look, and fell back down,

joining Rudy in gut shaking laughs. After a moment the three combatants

slowed their separate attempts at assault, and soon joined the others in laughter.

The woman Peter was holding so tightly definitely was not the one

who had awakened that morning in bed with Rudy. Rudy wasn't sure

if he was glad or not, Peter's wife was sure attractive.

Once everything was sorted out, the three bodies; Peter's wife Julie,

Pauline, and her husband Steve, explained they had stayed at the

resort long past when Peter had gone home, "...a bit the worst for

drink" and after Rudy had, "...gone walking with his lady friend."

They decided to stroll home on the beach. When they got tired, they

sat down to rest a moment and enjoy the tropical dawn. They had

fallen asleep, not to awaken until Peter had thrown himself onto

his wife, almost scaring her into an early grave.

The Brits invited Rudy to another breakfast, and together they proceeded

to their bungalow. Once there the five of them sat down to rolls, jam and coffee or tea.

Their talking and laughter soon had the other Brits awake and joining

them at the table. Rudy kept his back to the door to the sleeping

wing. If, when, the woman that called him came in, he didn't want

her to think he was ignoring her because he didn't recognize her.

She obviously had a real temper. At the same time he kept an ear

cocked to warn him when the woman she came in the room. He was prepared

to run if or when things got dicey. None of the women had the kind

of voice he remembered hearing over the phone, and none of them

gave him strange looks either. Well, none stranger than could be

expected considering how the morning was going.

Walking back to his cabana Rudy tried to puzzle out who the blonde

was that spent the night in his bed. She hadn't been at the bungalow,

so who in tarnation had he pushed out the window that morning? More

important, considering the day so far, who was the mystery woman

belonging to the voice on the telephone?

Rudy spent the rest of the morning breathing in the fumes of the

tanning lotion covering his body while sitting on a lounger under

a beach umbrella between his cabana and the sea. The sun was gloriously

warm, the breeze was just right, the smells from the jungle behind

were heavenly. The sounds of the exotic birds in the jungle were

soothing and the hangover slowly dissipated. Finally dressing just

before noon, he meandered to the resort proper where he sat himself

under a blue patio umbrella. Carefully judging the extent of his

remaining hangover Rudy enjoyed a tropical salad, and ordered iced

tea while breathing in the perfumes drifting on the air from the

jungle and the visiting wives at tables around him.

After eating, he sat back and watched the breeze stir the palm trees

as he mused on how the tropical vacation had gone so far. It was

just beginning and he wondered how it was going to progress over

the next three and a half weeks. Right away, he knew he would have

to go easy experimenting with the other exotic drinks he saw on

the menu. Back home he seldom had more than a single beer at one

sitting. If he continued the pace he'd unintentionally been setting

he wasn't sure if he would live to fly home.

And who were the two mysterious ladies that had crashed into his

life this morning? Try as he might, he couldn't remember enough of last night to help.

Shutting his eyes he could catch occasional glimpses of dancing

with a lovely, fun blonde. In his memory she seemed to be different

sizes at different times, and occasionally he almost, barely, caught

a picture of Julie's proper and very pretty English face. But it

was always laughing, never with that mind bending, smoldering look

some women get at certain times. And he remembered that look coming from this morning's blonde.

No, he was sure Julie and he had only enjoyed dancing and laughing

together. Though he did seem to remember half carrying her off the

floor one time and sitting her back down to the table late in the evening.

Trying to remember voices proved impossible, so he got nowhere figuring

out who the woman on the phone had been. Rudy decided to just accept

whatever his mysterious caller did when the mysterious caller finally

showed up. Not that he had a choice.

He kept checking his watch, more frequently as it neared 2:00PM.

As the magic, or was it fatal, hour approached for the blonde to

meet him he grew morose and more and more nervous. He kept picturing

three and a half weeks of sitting alone at the bar; maybe dancing

with someone else's wife while the someone else was carefully chaperoning

in the background. It wasn't the vacation he had been dreaming about.

He was lost in a cloud of 'dissipating hangover' self pity when

he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning he saw a medium sized blonde

dressed in a loose-but-clingy soft yellow sundress with big red

and burgundy flowers all over it. The girl had lovely blond hair,

a plain-but-pleasant face and curves that were just right for the

woman standing in front of him. A faint perfume captured his senses.

As he was registering that she had really, really nice legs under

that dress his eyes snapped back to her face and he saw the hint

of devilment he had seen just that morning as he pushed her out the window.

Rudy stumbled to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process,

and reached to put one hand on her shoulder, the other to shake

her hand. Unfortunately he was off balance and found himself giving

her a hard, full body hug instead.

She stumbled a little as he pushed into her, but managed to keep

her balance and prevented the two of them from falling onto the

patio deck. Once he got his feet under him again, he tried to step

back while apologizing for his clumsiness.

Instead he pulled her with him as he stepped back. Any bystanders

would have thought she was throwing herself into his arms. In that

process he kicked the knocked-over chair into the swimming pool.

Once the two caught their balance again, they carefully extricated

themselves and Rudy offered her a chair at his table while he ruefully

looked at his chair floating in the middle of the pool.

Her face flaming red, the blonde shook her head, telling him they

needed a bigger table for her party. It wasn't until then that Rudy

saw the other three nurses grinning at him, and realized there had

indeed been bystanders to his near fatal clumsiness. His face also

now a flaming red, he pointed to a collection of several unoccupied

tables set in their own separate grove of palm trees, then led the

way, abandoning the chair which the life guard was just then rescuing.

The rest of the afternoon turned around completely. The blonde,

who the other nurses called Nancy, turned out to be even more fun

than he had guessed. Deciding she was as much stimulation as a man

needed Rudy stayed with iced tea, abandoning his experiment with

the various exotic cocktails. This was carefully but surreptitiously noted by Nancy.

The Brits joined them later that afternoon, and the party was on.

The nurses were glad to see the crew and the owners son from one

of the yachts anchored in the harbor come in after dinner. The Brits

asked them to join the party, which proved to be another Wingding.

Rudy fixed it with the barkeep to send him iced tea in a fancy disguise,

and Nancy kept her drinking down. Both of them felt last night had been a little too much.

Tonight Julie kept her dancing down too, with Rudy enjoying a couple

dances with her while Nancy was being danced by the yacht owner's

son. But Nancy and Rudy soon sat together and monopolized each other's time.

Sometime around midnight, just as the moon was coming up, Rudy invited

Nancy for a stroll, which she was quick to accept. They thought

they had slipped away unseen, but everyone in the party smirked

as they faded into the night, hand in hand.

The night was soft and silky, the stars shining brilliantly in their

different colors. The sound of the soft surf folded around them,

carrying them into their own velvet universe. The breeze, warm against

their bodies, carried the memory of pirate treasure and battles

won, the tang of salt sea and tropic gardens.

Nancy's arm felt natural wrapped around his waist. She didn't remember

putting it there, but definitely that was where it belonged. Rudy's

arm encircled her shoulders, pulling her close where her head just

naturally fell against his strong shoulder. It felt so right! Rudy

couldn't help burying his face in that soft hair and breathing in

her personal perfume. Her left arm snaked around him, to where it

joined the other where it was so gently caressing his warm smooth

flesh under his shirt. She couldn't remember putting her hand under his clothes.

Alone in their world the two lovers moved to the water's edge. Looking

out over the gently breaking waves they listened to the private

symphony the surf was playing for just the two of them. In the background,

as counterpoint to the depth of the surf's music was the light strains

of the resort orchestra playing the swing classic, "Moonglow".

With no thought, no volition, and no intention they mutually turned

one to the other. Nancy's lips lifted to meet Rudy's as they joined

in the first kiss of man. A kiss that had been passed from lover

to lover since time began. For moments, or eons, they stood joined

at the heart. Finally their lips drifted apart, their eyes opened

and they stood motionless in the light from the others eyes.

Nancy was the first to move, slowly turning her body away from Rudy's

and, leaning back toward the shadow of the palm trees, never once

taking her arms from around her man she led them back to the privacy

of the palms. Once at the marge where the sand met the palms they

turned and strolled, now hand in hand, down the beach and away from

their friends and the resort. The only sounds the wind in the palms,

the small rustle of the small creatures of the night and the soft

strains of the orchestra at the resort.

It was Nancy, not Rudy, who recognized his cabana. She drew him

to the wide lounger Rudy had pulled back into the shadow of the

palms that afternoon. It had been built wide and sturdy, to encourage

the newlyweds often sharing the cabana and it comfortably held Rudy

and Nancy as they rested on it.

Somehow no words had been spoken on the walk and none were needed.

The band at the resort could just barely be heard playing, "How

High the Moon" as Rudy felt Nancy's indescribably light touch as

the blonde with the laughing eyes explored his chest. Rudy leaned

forward, burying his face in her bosom, kissing her cleavage, Nancy

moaned and the 47-year-old lounger collapsed beneath them.

Nancy fell straight down, with Rudy's not inconsiderable weight

landing directly on her sternum. For seconds after her loud, "Wumph!" nothing was heard.

Then the soft night breeze carried Rudy's light curses as he struggled

to extricate his left leg from between the slats of the lounger

while valiantly, but futilely, trying to protect Nancy from his flailing arms and weight.

It was some small moments before Nancy was able to draw a complete

breath. Finally able to breathe, she almost lost it again when she began laughing.

Tears from the laughter running down their cheeks, they finally

struggled clear of the now defunct lounger and rolled on the sand

in each other's arms. When finally able to partially control her

laughter, and the hiccups that followed, Nancy turned to Rudy and

gasped between hiccups, "Rudy, being with you is so much fun! What

are you going to think up next?"

It was a full five minutes more before they could control themselves

enough to stand. Then without speaking they gathered the clothes

they couldn't remember removing and strolled, hand in hand, with

Nancy's head nestled in his shoulder, to the cabana.

As they stepped onto the veranda, Nancy thrilled to Rudy's hand

on her waist as he ran it slowly up her back to cup the nape of

her neck. Involuntarily shivering, her head bent forward giving

her lover access to her neck. Rudy leaned forward and, opening his

mouth wide covered the small smooth column of her neck with his

mouth. She stopped still, unable to move as he tasted her throat

and pulled her warm body back against his chest.

Nancy felt herself falling backwards as Rudy pulled at her, but

her limbs seemed unable to respond to her will. Not knowing how

she arrived there she found her body lifted and cradled in her lovers

arms his left arm under her shoulders, that hand also clasping her

left breast. Her legs were draped over his right arm. If she had

wanted to protest it would have been impossible to do so, for Rudy's

lips were sealed to hers, his tongue playing with hers deep within her mouth.

This strong, masterful lover was not the man the world outside the

cabana had ever seen. He gently laid her on their bed, and began

exploring her slender, succulent body with his lips and tongue.

All Nancy could do was emit soft moans as shivers of arousal coursed

one after the other through her trembling body.

She cried out with passion as her man's lips closed on a nipple,

and her first orgasm of the evening shocked her as she spasmed under his hands and mouth.

Letting her come down from her passion, Rudy lifted himself between

her knees, pushing her legs wide. Then bending forward he began

exploring her center, tasting and touching her outer lips and running

his tongue's tip up the creases where her legs met her body. In

only seconds Nancy was again shuddering with arousal, her hands

first gripping the sheets, then tangling themselves in his hair,

then pounding the mattress as she came. Then the man's tongue wiggled

and wormed its way between the nether lips and her juices were suddenly

undammed to anoint her groin and spill into his mouth.

Nancy couldn't stop the waves of pleasure that wracked her body,

one after the other. Until Rudy closed his lips over her clitoris,

concentrating the sensations on that hard and needy protrusion.

As she began blanking out, the invading tongue suddenly dove down

and thrust hard into her vagina. Nancy screamed, screamed again, and then all went black.

Coming back to awareness, the sexy blonde was comforted to feel

Rudy's body resting full upon hers, his manhood deeply impaled into

her channel. Lifting her arms she encircled his shoulders and caressed

his back. She raised her mouth to taste her lovers lips and tongue.

Soon they were slowly dancing the dance of love, Nancy's lovely

legs twined around her man's, and her middle lifting eagerly to meet his every thrust.

Again and again, Rudy's lover cried out her passion. Again and again

Rudy fought off the urge to complete the coupling, driving her on

and on. He was lost in the ecstasy of her center, until some indeterminate

time later, they reached their mutual goal, screamed together and

collapsed temporarily in each others arms.

Each silently vowed to themselves that they would do all that was

needed to continue this liaison. They would not allow the other

to escape. Both held that vow secret, afraid to let the other know.

Much later, as "Tea for Two" was drifting away in the air from the

resort orchestra, to be replaced with the traditional "Good Night

Ladies," a listener would have heard, "Oh God, Rudy! Just there...

There! Yes! Yes! Yes?" Then silence until, "Oh Rudy! Again...Again? Oh yes, Again!"

There were no listeners, nor were there any others throughout the

long tropical night. For the two sharing the night together there

was never agreement on whether it had been short or long. At different

times, different partners claimed time had changed and transmogrified.

The next morning, an extra portion of fruits and juices were delivered

to the cabana. Rudy and Nancy wondered for years how the resort's

'extra portions' manager knew to deliver the additional food.

The Brits and the nurses had a glorious time the next several days

with their quips. It seemed every new sally brought the sunset's

colors out to shine on both Nancy's and most particularly Rudy's

cheeks. Then the couple grew accustomed to being seen as a pairing

and the blushes grew less. They were finally replaced by proud and

satisfied grins on both their faces.

Nancy was careful not to be seen noticing that Rudy, while still

enjoying a drink, was no longer trying to drink the bar dry. Still

it amazed her how she could be walking with Rudy along side the

pool, then stretch her lithe body and watch as Rudy stepped fully

clothed into the pool. After the third time she did it, he made

her promise to keep him out of the pool. It took away some of her

fun, but she experimented and found there were many ways she could

distract him. Some were more fun than others, but then some could only be used in the cabana.

To their delight when the couple compared lives they discovered

that Nancy's hospital was located only 47 miles from Rudy's apartment,

and that Rudy's office was just a 53-minute drive from Nancy's condominium.

Even more remarkable to Rudy, whose job had him flying in and out

of the airport, Nancy's condo was only a 15-minute drive from the

airport on the opposite side from where Rudy lived. Everything was so convenient!

They discovered several of their favorite restaurants lay between

Rudy's apartment and Nancy's condo, and it would be only natural

for them to meet occasionally for a meal together.

When Rudy bemoaned how lonely he was going to be when Nancy left

to return home she took pity on him and wired her supervisor, telling

her she was taking an extra two weeks vacation. It proved easy to

change her return ticket to the same flight(s) Rudy was going home

on. Lodging for Nancy was ridiculously easy to arrange, they only

needed to lug one of her two suitcases from the main resort building

to the cabana she was going to share with Rudy. The other was already there.

When Rudy wasn't concentrating on the little blonde dickens now

sharing his cabana, he was listening for a voice. He swore to himself

that he'd recognize that angry voice he had heard on the telephone,

and would be prepared for it when she confronted him.

Two days after Nancy and Rudy had listened to the surf's symphony

together they were sitting close by the resort pool. Rudy had figured

out that a Singapore Sling was really just fancy lemonade and had

talked the bartender into making him a 'Rudy Special'. It was a

Singapore Sling without the alcohol, and was pretty good. The bartender

thought it was great fun, and when a couple patrons asked to try

a Rudy Special he loaded it up good. It became a pretty popular

drink, and Rudy got a big reputation for being able to drink them

like they were water. Any one else ordering a Rudy Special had a

great deal of trouble walking after only two or three. No one had been known to order a fifth.

As the two were enjoying the sun and trying to tell each others

fortune with palmistry, a man and woman sat down at the table next

to theirs. The man was explaining that he had stepped on some sort

of poisonous sea critter, and just gotten out of the hospital that

morning. The woman was having none of his story. Finally the man

called the resort manager over and asked him to confirm where he

had been the past couple days.

The manager graciously confirmed the man's story, and then the woman

seemed to come unglued. "Look, Arnold!" she shouted in a very shrill

voice. "I called you the next morning, don't give me any of this bullshit! I talked to you!"

"Flo," the man replied reasonably, "I was in hospital. And that

morning I was delirious. It would have been impossible to talk to

me then. Call the hospital. I just got out this morning and came

right over to see you. I was really hurt you never came by to see how I was doing."

The woman's shrill voice suddenly clicked in Rudy's memory as she

continued, "Well, I talked to someone! If it wasn't you, who the

hell was it? I waited over an hour for you to come, and you stood me up!"

Luckily, Rudy had just swallowed a large mouthful of Rudy's Special

or he would have choked. Trying to be unobtrusive, he pulled Nancy

to her feet and quickly led her off the patio. As they headed back

to the bungalow he tried to explain who the woman was and what was

happening. Just as they disappeared from sight of the pool, Nancy

began laughing hysterically, while taking the opportunity to cling

hard to Rudy. Rudy just smiled enigmatically as he wrapped his arms around the lovely woman.

At last Rudy could dismiss the shrill voice that had berated him

on the phone that magical, catastrophic morning. The mystery of

the shrill voice on the telephone was solved.

As luck would have it after the trip was over and they returned

home, Rudy discovered that the most reasonable air connections could

be made when he spent the night before at Nancy's condo. It was

also much more convenient to stop overnight at her place when he

returned, and then to proceed directly to his office the next morning.

Unless it was a weekend of course, on weekends Nancy would accompany

him to his apartment Saturday morning after they got up. There she

would help him straighten it up, then stay for dinner that night

and church the next morning. It just proved to be so much more convenient.

Eighteen months after the dream vacation, Rudy and Nancy had an

unexpected emergency. Nancy, the career woman, discovered that she

had somehow forgotten to take a birth control pill (or two or three)

on a ski vacation that the two of them took to Aspen. Luckily they

discovered a perfect four-bedroom ranch style house almost exactly

half way between the hospital and Rudy's office, and moved in right after the marriage.

That was the same month Rudy was made Sales Manager. He could plan

his 'now-to-be-infrequent' sales trips at his own convenience.

The boon of scheduling his sales trips was to be of special benefit.

Rudy discovered he had a talent for coaching both Girls' Softball,

and Little League Baseball. Luckily he was good at each, or one

of the twins may have felt slighted.

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Story #4: Rudy Wins The Grand Prize

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