Cassidy, one hand on the small of her back to keep her balanced, sent the sea horse prancing south down the beach. By the time she’d regained her breath, they were completely out of sight of the game and when she started squirming and trying to swear at him he headed onto the beach and grasping her firmly around her waist he tucked her under his arm and dismounted, sending his mount back off to the Ondines with slap on its flank and headed up onto the dunes. He ignored her struggles, a huge grin on his face as he admired her vocabulary and pictured her threats. He conjured a blanket and then set her down, keeping hold of her hand, pulling her down onto the blanket as he settled himself comfortably.

She returned to a position on his lap and increased her volume. He decided to risk it, and yanked her towards him, stopping the flow with a kiss. It surprised her enough that she stopped struggling and he deepened it, coaxing his way into her mouth where he stayed, the minutes spinning away.

When she tried to knee him he was so surprised he let her go for a second. She took advantage of that and jumped to her feet, standing there, her feet wide, her hands on her hips her eyes shooting daggers at him.   He was rather confused since she'd been, only a second ago, an enthusiastic participant in that kiss.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed at him, bending down toward him so their noses almost touched, so he could see the absolute fury in her eyes.

"I was kissing you.   I was liking it a lot, too. Weren't you?   You seemed like you were."

"That is rather beside the point. What, you're some knight errant who thinks he can just pick up a woman and steal her off to his castle, locking her in there and ..and... and doing what he wants to her?!?!"

"I don't see any locks, or a castle."   He studied her.   "Okay, how about we back up and I say to you, 'I like you, I want to date you' and then you can say....?"

"I can say, 'I don't date my bosses. Period.' I don't sleep my way to promotions, Cassidy, even if I might find the boss intriguing. Got it?!" She turned and started to march off.

He grabbed a hold of her arm and stopped her. "Wait a second!    What the hell does that have to do with this?   I mean I approve of your ethics but I ain't your boss, so what's your point?"

She shook off his hand and was a bit relieved he let her do it. "Look. Office politics are bad enough, office affairs are worse. We go to bed, we get in a fight, then we have to look at one another, and hate each other and it all goes to hell, and I'm out a job!"

"Aren't you assuming an awful lot with that scenario?   Beginning with affair and ending with fired while including the  notion you have that I'm the sort of crass son of a bitch that would do that?"   He might have been analyzing a problem in tactics, given his tone, but his face her something else.

"Look," she replied sounding more reasonable. "I've been there before. It sucks. It's the thing, don't you see?   The woman is always the one who has to leave. I like my new job. I don't want to leave. I don't want to mess this up."

"Just tell me one thing, truthfully...is that the only reason you have for not wanting to date me?"   he demanded.

"No!" she hissed at him. "You're a crass son-of-a-bitch who grabbed me and gave me no choice but to go off with him while he played caveman."

"A mistake I admit, but hardly fatal.   Irisa, I'm a lot of things but stupid isn't one of them.   So try again."

"You define stupid!   You ... you... you ... Man!" She stomped her foot, which granted wasn't all that impressive since it was in sand. She whirled around and began marching off in a direction she thought led to Dinah's.

"Absolutely, to my bones and beyond, and I'll never apologize for it." He strode after he and got in front of her.   "Damn it, stop walking away from me! Or," he said, having long since taken her measure, "don't  you have the backbone to deal with it?"

She stopped walking and her hands flew to her hips again. "Oh, mister brave big man, who orders me around. You're damn right I have a backbone. To tell you to go to hell. If you want a date, the proper thing to do is ASK for it."

"Okay, I'd like to take you to dinner, tomorrow night.   May I?"

"No."

He studied her face.   "Liar," he said softly.   "I'll tell you what.   How about I give you my word that no matter what, if it comes to it, I'll quit...you won't have to."

She stood there, breathing hard, which did quite distracting things to her chest, her eyes narrowed.   "Why would you say that?'

"Because I think you're worth it.   Because it's a risk I'm willing to take.   Because I think that you shouldn't  have to choose between me and your job.   And, just so we have the record straight and you can never tell me I didn't warn you, because I think I'm in love you and I'm coming after you...so if that's what it takes, then ...you're worth it."

"Don't be ridiculous. You don't even know me. And is that a threat?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her.   "I'm not, I do  and it's a statement of intent, unwavering, and set in granite."

"And what, I have no say in the matter? If   I tell you to get lost, you stalk me forever?"

"Yes, you have a say and I have a response.   I'm not a stalker, Irisa...I won't hurt you or force you.   But I'm not going to go away either just because you say shoo.   Why would I?   I'm no more afraid of you than you are of me."

"This is too bloody bizarre," she said with a sigh. "I need a drink."

"Fine, I can arrange that.   And I'll pick you up at seven tomorrow evening."   Then he grasped her shoulders and turned her in the other direction.   "Dinah's is that way.   And dinner will be formal."

----------

As the water polo game ended, damn those women!, the Ondine threw out of the water all the loose bikini bras into a heap on the beach. There was suddenly a male scrum over them, everyone (except notably Stephen since Doni was far too sensible to get involved in the games) for the appropriate, or sometimes not, top.   Reno crawled out from under the pile, Melly's top clutched tightly in his hand.   He slogged off through the sand to find her. She was standing, unconcerned that she was mostly naked, chatting excitedly to the Jos, reliving the game, her eyes animated, her nipples standing out ever so invitingly from the cold of the water.

Reno stopped outside that circle, getting his fill of looking at her. She turned then, seeing him, and blushed scarlet, her hands flying up to cover herself. He held out the bikini top and waved it at her and took off running down the beach away from the crowd. After a second of indecision, she took off after him in hot pursuit.

She caught him, possibly he let her, and the two went down into the soft sand, wrestling for the bra. But the laughter and silliness didn't last long. Close contact shocked them both and the wrestling halted as both fell silent. They looked into each other's eyes, and then Reno pulled her toward him, his lips closing over hers, his tongue finding its way inside her soft and willing mouth. His hands moved to explore the softness of her breasts and the eager hardness of her nipples. As he massaged them she moaned even through the kiss. One of his hands headed southward toward that tiny little bikini bottom. He found the strings that tied it to her and was wrestling with the wet knot they were in.

Melly, reluctantly recalled to a small sense of her responsibilities  by the realization of how far they'd traveled in a matter of  minutes,  tried to lift her head just a bit, just enough to have a word with him.   "Uhm...."

Reno, despite an erection that was throbbing and stealing most of the blood from his now only partly functioning brain, froze.

He looked at her and repeated, somewhat dumbly, "Uhm?"

She nodded, "I ah...well uhm...before we ah...before this...and I like this, "she hastened to assure him, "it's just that, uhm...I ah never uhm have..if you see what I mean."

It took what seemed to Melly like an eternity for the words to make it through to that tiny bit of function brain left in Reno. When it finally did, his hand fell away from her bottom, and he sat up even if it did make things below a bit painful. "Say that again?" he asked.

She blushed scarlet and said, "I've, ah, never done this before.   I thought you should know, in case I er...uhm...aren't any good at it."   She flushed even redder and hurried into speech again assuring him earnestly, "But I'm a really fast learner, I promise."

The blood in his bottom head suddenly made a mad dash for the top one, as he squinted at her and tried really hard to make sense of what she'd just said. When the blood managed to reinvigorate the barely living brain cells he stammered, "I... Uhm... You mean you've never...." he made a weird little hand motion that was not clear at all to Melly as to what it indicated, and frankly wasn't much clear to him either.

She gritted her teeth and tried again, deciding bluntness was her only hope.   So, scared to death, she said, "I'm a virgin.   I've never done this before.   I never wanted to until now and I don't want to disappoint you."

Reno's head hurt. Okay, both of them. He was trying to think, honestly he was, but it was hard. And the other place wasn't so hard any more, so he couldn't even blame it on that. "Okay..." he finally said, softly.

He looked at her, saw her lower lip quivering just a little bit, like she was about to burst into tears or something, and it was all his fault and what the hell did you say to a virgin you had almost deflowered in seaweedy sand stinking like a seahorse. 'Uhm, okay," was all he managed to get past his lips.

When her lip quivered even more he did the only thing he could think to do, since English seemed beyond him at that second, he kissed her.

She melted into him, relief making her light-headed.   When she came up for air she said, earnest again, "I was going to tell you, before it...before we....but well, it just never came up before."

"Uhm," he said, regarding her in a completely new light. Like, uhm, maybe he shouldn't touch her, as his member seemed to have a mind of its own around her and it had no functioning moral brakes. Well, okay, his whole body had few, but still... "Uhm, well, yeah. I can see that."   He winced because he knew he was saying the entirely wrong thing, and was going to botch this up and what the hell could he say and maybe he should just kiss her again?   That seemed to work last time.

She was just as willing the second...or maybe it was the third time.   But she still had just one little thing she needed to be sure of first, so when he let her breathe on her own again she sighed and smiled at him, a dazzling smile, while her hand stroked his chest and clarified her remaining concern.   "I don't know...not exactly anyway...I mean I understand the theory...but uhm, you'll have to uhm...teach me how to...well, in case I make a mistake or get something wrong."

"Ohhhhhh kaaaay," he said, stalling for time. Think, dammit, think... She's really interested. She's made that clear, but... but... I mean he couldn't do it now, there was just no way in hell he could do it now.. Not knowing that... Uhm... Seriously, didn't most girls want their first time to be a special sort of thing?   Dammit, that bottom lip was starting to go again.

"Melly," he finally said, deciding kissing was fun but was too damn dangerous at the moment.   "Melly", he repeated, not nearly so hard as it had been the first time, as he was terrified she was going to burst unto tears and run screaming up the beach.     "Melly," the third time he reached out and laid his hand along the side of her cheek. "Uhm, ya know.. the first time, don't you think it should be kind of... uhm, like special?"

It confused her.   "Special?   But it...you are special."   Hadn't she made that clear already?

"Uhm," what the hell could he say to that.... "Yeah," he finally settled for, then came to a screeching halt. "Well, I don't have a condom on me," escaped from his lips before he could recapture it.

She digested that, from several angles and came up with the right interpretation.   "You want to, uhm, wait?"

"If you don't mind," he replied cringing, hoping like hell she wasn't going to, like, slug him.

She beamed at him, nestling closer.   "I can wait.   It'll give me time to read a few more books...I wanna get it right for you."

"Uhm..." he said wrapping an arm tightly around her. "Yeah." Not that he thought reading books was much help. But hey, if that made her feel better it was fine with him. "Maybe we should go back. I could use a drink," or ten....

She nodded happily and started squirming around looking for her top.   "Maybe you know a book I should get?"

"Uhm," he said as he found her bra and handed it to her, tying the strings around her when she indicated he should, groaning under his breath as he did so. "I'll see what I can find."