Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 18

Ash's Story

Did it feel good to get that damned bikini off!  If I never wore it again it would be too soon.

Looking down over my filthy naked body I notice that weeks of wearing the same skimpy outfit had left me with super pronounced tan lines.  My breasts and crotch looked lily white next to bronze tan of the skin around them.  I leave the bikini with the towel and borrowed dress then turn toward the water.

The first thing I notice is Huali staring at me with a huge grin.  Her thirsty eyes drank me in like a tall glass of water.  I knew I ought to be scared of her, but there was something in her smile that was disarming.  The woman exuded honor and honesty as much as she did danger.  The type of person that would be either a loyal friend or a fearsome enemy.  Perhaps I was a fool, perhaps with all I had been through I was suffering an immediate case of Stockholm syndrome, but I was already starting to trust this woman.

“Huali, you're embarrassing me.”  I bashfully move to cover myself.

“I cannot help it.”  Huali confesses. “Am I offending you?”

“No...no...just...it's okay I guess.”

The look she was giving me was embarrassing yet also deeply flattering.  It was strange to have a woman so openly and boldly attracted to me.  Especially one as hot as Huali.  There was an enticing x factor about her that I was starting to notice more and more.  She wasn't exactly masculine, though the way she carried her tall powerful body had an almost manly swagger about it.  Her energy was feminine but with a confidence and assertiveness I could only dream of.

I decide to play her ogling off for humor.

Holding my arms out wide I give her the full view and ask.  “Well, everything you hoped for?”

Her eyes flare wide, her smiles grows, and she nods enthusiastically.  “YES!  You are very beautiful Ashley.  Your body is so...so...different.  So alluring.  You are the most beautiful woman on our island.”

I scoff.  “You're not catching me at my best.”

Most beautiful woman on the island?  That was high praise indeed.  Huali and Miru were both younger than me, fitter than me, and extremely good looking, even the emerald eyed Makea had an undeniable earthy charm about her.  Marama stood out from the rest of us like a glittering diamond, but he was a man.  I wonder briefly how he and Tony were getting along.  I hoped my husband didn't freak out too badly when he found out.

Approaching the edge of the water I dip my toe in.  It was cool but comfortably so.  Peering down I see the smooth rock continues down into the pool at a fairly sharp angle before dropping off completely about 5 feet out.  It was very deep.

With a smile of anticipation I take a deep breath and dive in.  The fresh cool water was everything I thought it would be and more.  I dive deep then, still using my initial momentum, turn and with a hard breaststroke and a kick of my feet return to the surface.

“Pahh!”  I let out a breath.  “Ha ha ha!  Oh my God, you don't know how good this feels.”

Huali was still treading water almost effortlessly near the splashing fall, her muscular neck and shoulders stay steadily above the surface with the occasional peak up from the top of her breasts.  She is grinning ear to ear at seeing my joy.

“I can imagine.”  She waves me toward her.  “Come, the falling water feels good.”  She glides backward, disappearing through the curtain of water falling from above.

I pause a moment...then swim to follow.  The mist hits me first then I am pelted with the water raining down.  I close my eyes and look up into it and relish the refreshing feel of a natural shower.  I scrub my face.  I run my fingers through my long hair.  I could feel the days of salt and grime and bleak fear wash away from me.

Through the roar of water I don't hear Huali swim up until she is right behind me.  I feel her hands take my hair and start to aid in washing it.  I don't resist.  In fact I lean my head back and allow her to do this as my hands scrubbed my stomach and breasts.  She combs her fingers through the length of it and strokes and squeezes it.  Damn that felt good.  I've always loved the feel some someone handling my hair.

“I will make you a comb Ashley.”  She says over the din.  “It will be a gift, if you will accept it.”

I feel her knee lightly brush across my butt.

“Mmmm.”  I say.  “I would like that Huali. Thank you.”

Huali is silent for a time then says.  “You may keep my dress as well.  It is a gift.  I will get another.”

“You don't have to.”

“I want to.”  Her large hand lightly strokes over my neck and shoulder.  “I will bring you food.  Shells from the sea.  Anything you desire.”

“Huali, stop.”  I gently push her hand from my shoulder.

“Forgive me.  I have insulted you.”

I chuckle quietly.  “No, you flatter me.  But I don't want to give false hope.  I am willing to pull my weight.”

“You are a good woman.”

I look back over my shoulder at her.  “Thank you Huali.  You too.”

Her hazel eyes burned with an intensity I'd not seen since Tony and I were dating.  There was no mystery to what she was thinking about.  The poor woman, I had her as horny as a cat in heat.

“Huali...”  I start to say in a gentle tone.

She shakes her head.  “I am sorry Ashley.  You make me...want to do things.  You make it so hard to control myself.  I have...sinful feelings for you.  You are nothing like how I thought outsiders would be.”

I turn in the water to face her and smile warmly.  “I understand.  Really I do.  Only having your family as company...then Tony and I showing up out of nowhere...it makes sense you'd see us as attractive.  We're the only potential partners you've ever met.  But...Tony and I are married Huali.”

The water thunders around us and over as we look eye to eye.  I am startled as something brushes my legs.  By Huali's position I could tell it wasn't her arms or legs.  Was it a fish?

“What's that!?”  I gasp.  Looking down into the churning water I can't make out much...but then I catch it.  A long dark shape suspended between Huali and I.  What the hell?

Huali lifts my chin up with her fingers to reestablish eye contact.  “Mother told us...that women where you come from...are all like you.  Is this true?”

I was still desperately curious about the shape in the water but Huali kept my gaze held in hers.

“I don't understand.”  I say.  “Like me?”

“Is there no other type of women?”

“Other type?  Uh...I mean there are all sorts of races and sizes and shapes... What are you trying say Huali?”

She narrows her eyes and clenches her jaw.  “Can women in your world not breed?  With each other?  Is this truly how it is?”

Not this breeding talk again.  “Breed?  Huali, women can be together of course but...yeah, they can fool around.”

“Can they breed?”  There was such a pressing nature to her question, as if it was the most important thing in the world.

“I don't think that word means what you think it means.”

“You wish to have children, yes?”

I am flummoxed.  “Uh...yeah...yeah sure but...”

“I want to breed with you Ashley.”

I sigh.  Someone seriously needed to give this woman a talk about the birds and the bees, it looked like I was going to have to be that person.  “I know, you said so, and I am very flattered, but...Huali...”  

The droning beat of water on water continues to thrum around us as we stare at each other.

“Ashley Butler, do not be scared.  Do not be scared of me.”

“I'm not scared of you Huali.”  I say much more honestly than the first time she asked.

“Good.”

Then Huali takes my right hand in hers...and guides it down into the water between us.