Clothing Optional/Optional Clothing

 Clothing Optional/Optional Clothing

EPOV

I woke with a start lying in the cave alone. I had the nightmare again where Sookie had run away from me crying and when she wasn’t in my arms when I woke up I felt the panic rise in my chest. I sprung up off of the cave floor calling out “SOOKIE!” as I ran outside. The cave was close to the base of the waterfall and as soon as I made it outside I saw her in the lagoon.

Her head had whipped around as I called out her name and upon seeing the concern on my face and hearing the urgency of my voice her eyebrows furrowed with worry as she said, “I’m right here Eric. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She had been in a shallow portion of the lagoon and stood up as she spoke.

I couldn’t breathe, so I couldn’t answer her. She was naked. Completely. Standing. Just a few feet away. From me. With water dripping down her body. And her body was exquisite. Even better than I had imagined in my dreams. She had curves in all of the right places and I could tell from where I stood that her breasts were real. Perfect and real. I couldn’t help but follow a drop of water with my eyes that trailed down her neck to the top of her breast and coming to rest at her hardened dusty pink nipple that was just begging for me lick it off. I felt lightheaded, more than likely because all of the blood left my head to pool down in my pants.

“Eric?” Her voice pulled me from my trance and I immediately looked away and tried to gesture something with my hands, but I wasn’t sure how to convey Hey, you’re naked. Do you know you’re naked? If you do, by all means, remain naked. I don’t mind. At all. Instead I was pretty sure I looked liked a drunk attempting to Vogue like Madonna. A drunk that still couldn’t breathe.

Since I was no longer looking at Sookie, I didn’t see her expression but I heard her gasp, followed by water splashing and something about Jesus Christ, shepherds and Madea? Wasn’t that a Tyler Perry movie? Odd, but no time to contemplate now…

Being the gentleman that I am, without turning to face her, I asked, “Umm, Sookie?”

“Yes?” she squeaked out.

“Can I turn around now?” Please still be standing! Please still be standing!

She sighed deeply before responding, “Yes.”

I turned to see just her head sticking above the water, damnit, and her whole face was bright red. Looking down I noticed her clothes lying on a rock at the edge of the water. I also noticed that I could still see her naked body pretty well even under the water because it was so crystal clear. I decided I wouldn’t mention that to her since she was obviously mortified. Yes, I wouldn’t tell her I could still see her perfect heart-shaped ass to spare HER the embarrassment. Not.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face. Her eyes had yet to meet mine so I wasn’t really trying all that hard, but still, I wanted to know I COULD wipe it off if I had to. The silence was just a tad awkward so I said, “How long have you been up?” I forced my grin down a notch in case she looked up.

“Not long enough” she mumbled. Her eyes finally met mine and my grin didn’t go down any more notches. It got bigger. She looked appropriately abashed and explained, “I felt a little dirty from the rain water yesterday and wanted to rinse off. You sounded so panicked when you called my name I wasn’t thinking and just stood up.”

What a coincidence. I was feeling a little dirty too but it had nothing to do with rain water. “Do you need some help with that?” I couldn’t resist prolonging this little exchange after all of the other non-nightmare dreams I’d been having about her.

When she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth to chew on it I felt my hope rise up thinking she might actually be considering taking me up on my offer. I felt something else rise up too. My hope was dashed a moment later when she replied, “Ha ha. Could you turn around please so I can get dressed?”

Reluctantly, I turned around forcing myself to stand still. I could feel my muscles thrumming to just jump on her like a lion pouncing on its prey. I heard her move through the water and while she was getting dressed she asked, “Why did you run out of the cave screaming my name?” Before I could answer her question she said, “Okay, you can turn around now. I’m decent.”

“You’re much more than decent,” I said as I spun around to see her standing there with her hair still dripping wet and her clothes sticking to her wet body. Her blush was still in full bloom and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to make her body flushed with color from what I wanted to do to her and not my words. I know I had told myself that I wouldn’t flirt until I knew more about her, but I obviously had no willpower where she was concerned. She was my own personal kryptonite and the realization scared me a little. I needed to find out more about her before I let myself fall under her spell any more than I already had.

“I wasn’t screaming” I lied. “Normally you’re still lying there when I wake up so I was just calling out to see where you were.” I didn’t want to continue this particular conversation afraid of what I might let slip if she kept questioning me so I said, ” Let’s go get a look down by the beach and see if anything’s left.” I motioned for her to join me and we started heading back. Everything was still wet and there were a lot more branches on the ground so it took a little longer to get there. What we saw when we got there made us gasp in unison.

The beach was littered with small debris from the plane and clothing. The storm from the night before must have churned up some of the lighter items in the water and deposited them on the sand when the tide went out. Sookie gathered all of the clothing while I started gathering everything else into one area so we could sort through it all to see what we could use.

I was unloading another armful of stuff when Sookie walked up to me holding up a few shirts and asked, “Are these yours?” I looked up at her and was once again struck by her beauty. Her hair had dried into soft waves that framed her face with the slight wind coming off the ocean water blowing it softly behind her. Without any make-up or designer clothes she still looked like someone you’d see pictured in a fashion magazine. I hadn’t realized I’d been staring at her until she cleared her throat and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?” She started brushing her hands across her face wiping away the nonexistent marks.

“No, there’s nothing on your face.” I reluctantly looked down at the clothing draped over her arms and quickly changed the subject by answering her original question. “Yeah, I think some of those are mine. I’m guessing the others must have belonged to the pilots.”

I took a chance and glanced back to her face and saw her expression sadden as she held up a few articles of women’s clothing. It was my turn to ask, “What’s wrong?” She kept looking at the clothing in her hands and answered, “These aren’t mine so they must have belonged to Bi, uh, the flight attendant.” Her eyes welled up with unshed tears and the sight alone broke my heart a little. I stood up and pulled her into my arms while rubbing soothing trails up and down her back with my hand. We stayed that way for a few minutes before she pulled back saying, “I’m okay. I just feel bad they didn’t make it.”

I wiped away the wet trails her tears had left on her cheeks with the pads of my thumbs and nodded my head in agreement. When she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath I knew the tears were behind her for now at least. I gestured towards the bamboo rods we had gathered the day before that were now scattered everywhere by the storm saying, “Before I start working on that mess do you want me break open your breakfast?” I pointed towards some of the coconuts on the ground and tried to lighten the mood by adding, “It’s one of the benefits you get being my only employee.”

She snickered before answering, “I guess I could eat something. But I have to admit, I’m already getting sick of coconut.” She looked out into the trees adding, “I could really go for something citrus-y.” For some reason my mind flashed to tequila and what it would be like to do body shots with Sookie, sucking the lemon wedge from her mouth. All I could do was mumble, “Yeah, me too.”

I had to shake the image from my head before walking over to pick up a coconut. After serving our breakfast we agreed to explore more of the island once we got everything else situated. Sookie continued to walk up and down the beach bringing back stray items when she found them while I continued building our bamboo hut.

By the time I had finished the frame for what would become the roof of our new home Sookie had gathered a large pile of clothing and carried what she could to the waterfall where she rinsed the saltwater from them and laid them in the sun to dry. Hours had passed since breakfast so while she was ‘doing the laundry’ as she put it, I went down to the fishing hole to try to catch our lunch/dinner. I was standing knee deep in the water, spear in hand, when I heard her call out, “Do you want some help?”

I looked towards the sound of her voice and froze. She was wearing a fitted pink tank top that scooped low enough in the front that the tops of her breasts peaked through along with the dip in between them over a pair of khaki short shorts. I knew I was standing there with my mouth hanging open, but I couldn’t stop.

I must have made her feel self conscious because she started smoothing her hands over the fabric of the top and shorts asking, “Does it look alright? The flight attendant was a little smaller than me, but I thought they fit okay?” Boy did they! When I failed at answer her (I also failed to blink or close my mouth) she nervously laughed out loud saying, “I know there’s not a lot to them, but it gets pretty hot during the day. I figured what the hell since you’ve already seen me naked.”

I choked on the drool that had pooled in my mouth at her last statement and coughed a few times before it cleared from my throat. The look on her face was almost, challenging? Like she knew the effect she was having on me. I was never one to refuse a challenge, whether or not it was all in my mind, so I agreed with her saying, “Yeah, it does get pretty hot here.” Picking up the metaphorical gauntlet, I stuck the spear into the sand next me and pulled my shirt off, tossing it to the beach away from the water. I worked out at the gym at least four times a week from the time I was 16 years old and it showed. I didn’t lift weights to bulk up, but I was definitely muscular with defined cuts all the way down my abdomen. I made sure to stretch out my arms and back before picking up the spear again. I glanced in her direction and had to hold in the laugh building inside of me when I saw her expression. I had no doubt it was a mirror image of what I looked like both this morning when I saw her naked and again when she walked up a few minutes ago wearing hardly anything.

Because paybacks are a bitch and I can be an evil bastard sometimes I knelt down and cupped some water in my hands splashing it down my chest and back. I looked back at her and saw her eyes had glazed over as they travelled up and down my body. When her eyes finally made it back to mine I grinned asking, “Well are you going to help me catch dinner or not?”

It took a minute for my question to sink in and she blinked a few times before going to get the other spear and joining me in the water. As we stood mere feet from each other I wanted nothing more than to reach over and pull her into my arms. I wanted to know if her lips felt as soft as they looked and if her skin tasted as good as she smelled. But, I had to find out more about her before I could even consider finding out the answers to those questions.

Since the fish weren’t cooperating with either one of us I figured now was as good of a time as any. Trying my best at sounding casual I asked, “Can I ask you something personal?” She was concentrating on the water below her with her spear poised for attack when she answered, “Sure.” Here goes nothing, I thought. “How long have you been married?” I figured that was a fairly innocent question considering what I REALLY wanted to ask was, “Are you happily married and if not, do I stand a snowball’s chance in hell of being with you?”

I risked looking at her and saw that she had lost her focus on fishing. When she didn’t answer right away I started to worry that maybe by my asking about her marriage I had inadvertently reminded her she was, in fact, married and our little flirt fest would be history. I was just about to apologize and change the subject when she finally answered.

“We’ve been married for five years, but we’ve been together since high school.” I trained my eyes back on the water below me when I felt my heart sink in my chest, but I thought I should at least acknowledge her words before I sunk into my impending depression. The most I could muster up was, “Oh, that’s nice.”

She actually snorted when she replied, “Not really.” My head shot up at her statement and when my eyes found hers she smiled softly saying, “We have a lot of problems. So many in fact that if and when we ever get off this island I’m filing for divorce. The last few days have shown me that life is too short. I’d rather be alone and happy than married and unhappy. I want the fairytale, the Happily Ever After, and that’s not going to happen staying married to him.”

I could feel the smile spread across my face and my heart swell up in my chest upon hearing her words thinking maybe I could be her Prince Charming.