No More Beige

"That's it!" He leapt up and did a three hundred and sixty degree turn, yelling out as he did. "Joke's over Tony. National Nude Day my ass! Come out wherever you are."

"What?" Cara was confused.

"If this is a set up…" He whirled to face her. "Who put you up to this? Where are the cameras?"

Cameras… Oh my god!

Jumping up, she hightailed it back in to the water, her curvy bits jingling delightfully.

"What cameras?" she panicked. "Where?"

"You mean to tell me there's no-one else around?" His face was a study of suspicion. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"If there was, do you think I'd be swimming naked?" she screeched.

"Hey, it is National Nude Day. At least, according to my brother who can't resist pranks like this."

"In what deviant, depraved country would that be?" she spat, belatedly registering that he had an American accent – a very deep and sexy American accent. "We don't do that here in Aus," she babbled on. "People just go nude, um, on any day."

"Obviously," he said dryly, pointedly looking in to the water, his x-ray eyes virtually parting the river like the Red Sea.

Could he see through her hands? The idea had her flustered.

"Look Mister, I'm sorry if I gave you a fright, but I really need my bikini back now."

His hands turned over, demonstrating emptiness. "Down river by now, long gone." He didn't look one bit sorry about it either.

"Oh." Her mushy brain took forever to tick over. "Oh…my clothes! Just a little bit further down the bank there, there should be some shorts and a t-shirt." She would've pointed but her hands were full – delayed modesty and all.

He considered her request, his fingers absently rubbing his jaw. Sitting down on a rock he motioned downstream. "Go for it. Be my guest."

His answer rendered her speechless. He meant her to walk butt naked out of the water…right past him?

"You…you can't be serious."

He watched her with amusement. "A moment ago you were on display, offering yourself up like a tasty little dish. As I recall, you sucked my finger, you even tried to stroke me."

Cara wanted to fall through the earth, dying of embarrassment.

"Thanks for pointing out my momentary madness." Red-faced, she tried to justify her actions. "I lost my head but I'm thinking rationally now. Please, can you get my clothes for me? I am truly sorry if you thought I was drowning."

Regretfully he shook his head making himself more comfortable on the rock. "What can I say? I'm in shock. I should rest or I might pass out. You'll have to fend for yourself."

"And here I was, stupidly thinking you were a gentleman!"

"I've been called all sorts of nasty things in my time," he smirked, the casual shrug of his massive shoulders making her mouth run dry.

"Don't make me beg. I've humiliated myself enough for one day."

"You've got nothing to be ashamed of," he looked her up and down. "I'd be happy to give you a full, flattering critique if you want to show me again."

Cara rose in the water, realised what she was doing and quickly sank back down again. "I don't think so."

Reluctantly he stood up. "Very disappointing."

And with that teasing remark, the handsome stranger, her personal saviour, took himself off to fetch her clothes.

* * *

She waited a very long time for him to return. Disappearing in to the bush she thought he'd abandoned her until she heard a muttered "Holy crap," in the distance.

What now?

He called out. "Are there crocodiles around here?"

"No," she shouted back, nervously leaping a mile from the water when a branch brushed her calf. Then, with more conviction, "No, we're way too far south."

"Well, I hate to say it," he reappeared beside the river, hastening towards her, "but I didn't gauge you as a punk rocker." She was too busy hanging off his American drawl to identify what was dangling from his hand – a ragged piece of mangled string, a red and white remnant of her t-shirt.

"What…is…that…JED!" she howled.

In all her focus on the stranger, she'd forgotten her wayward mutt. Puppy was bound to be hiding somewhere, well aware of the scolding coming his way. He might be ill-disciplined, but he was also fiendishly clever.

"Who's Jed?"

"My adorably evil puppy," she fumed.

"A dog," he mused. "Not a boyfriend with a rampant scissor fetish."

"Mister," she rolled her eyes. "This is Australia, not a re-run of Law and Order."

Suddenly they were both laughing

His warm, rich laugh was the dirtiest, most alluring sound she'd ever heard. Looking down at herself, one arm crossed over her breasts, the other splayed over her groin like a prim maiden, she couldn't help but appreciate the ridiculousness of her situation.

Each time their eyes met another outburst was sparked, until he was hunched over holding his stomach.

"This is silly," she choked.

"Isn't it just?"

He arched an eyebrow at her and the mood changed, his eyes assessing her in an altogether different light. One that sent shivers down her spine. One that brought back the recognition of how steaming hot he was.

In that instant an intangible spark of comprehension passed between them.

A knowing smile transformed his features, his eyes positively shining at her. Ooh, he was devastating when he smiled, a regular heartbreaker.

"So you're at my mercy Lady?"

She didn't like the sound of that.

Liar.

Being at his mercy sounded deliciously like foreplay. Her nipples drew tight beneath the water line.

"Lend me a t-shirt," she suggested, recklessly lifting higher, rewarding him with a flash of what needed covering up.

Who was this provocative tease who had taken over her body?

"Naughty, very naughty," he sighed, nodding his head in admiration. "But I hate to point out, I have no t-shirt."

"Oh," she feigned disappointment. As if she hadn't known that all along!

Licking her lips, her blood hit boiling point when his charismatic eyes fixed on her mouth.

"So…" Her voice sounded odd, husky, her evil twin breaking out. "What should I do?"

"I think…" he stepped up to the water's edge, his eyes locking on hers, "to be fair…I mean, you are at a disadvantage here…and it is National Nude Day."

"Mm," She cooed, catching on immediately. "Isn't it unpatriotic to ignore your duty?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it supporting the troops," he was up to his ankles, "but you might have a point."

"Absolutely," she agreed, inciting him on in her head. Closer, come closer.

"Wouldn't want to be accused of letting my country down."

Not your country, just please god your shorts.

"It's so important to make a good impression when you're travelling overseas."

He laughed. "You can be the judge of that."

Hands to his waist, he slowly eased his pants down, dropping them over his knees and kicking them carelessly to the side.

Cara's mouth fell open, eyes and tongue fairly detaching and hitting the ground.

His shoulders weren't alone in being monumental.

"Very…very…impressive," she gaped, intimidated. But her mind lost the battle with her body – her curious, awakening body that ached at the prospect of accommodating such a prodigious beauty.

Rising above the water, she let her hands fall away.

"So what now?" she asked, the epitome of faux innocence.

Eyes blazing, he announced, "Swim for your life," and dived in after her.

Cara turned and raced away. She was planning to be easy, but not that easy. A hand caught her foot, reeling her in, but she kicked out, her toes connecting with solid muscle.

A giggle escaped her lips and she took off again. Catch me if you can…

She aimed for the island but he was way too fast for her. Clamping on to her ankle his hands slid up her thighs, catching her around the waist. She slithered in his arms, lifting his hands to tantalise her pebbled nipples, laughing when he growled in her ear.

Throwing his wrists to the side, she set off again, grabbing hold off the rock formation in the centre of the stream and spinning around to wait. Where was he?

A tug on her leg then he was pulling his way up her body, his head breaking water right in front of her chest, his mouth latching on to her nipple.

Cara cried out. He felt so good. She moaned in his arms, watching the handsome stranger sucking at her breast.

He stopped for a moment, his glittering eyes staring up at her. An impish smile twisted her lips. Both hands on his shoulders she pushed him under water, laughing madly as she swam away.

They were running out of river, the chase was almost over and she couldn't wait to be caught, knowing there was no going back.

Her feet touched solid ground and he was there, right behind her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her forcefully against him, his steel smooth erection insinuating its way between her thighs.

Pushing back against him, enfolding her arms behind him, she moaned when his hips swayed back and forth, intimately stroking his swollen length against her. Moving her head to the side he fixed his hot mouth to her neck, sucking and biting at her flesh.

"Kiss me you little tease," he groaned.

She'd thought of little else since he appeared beside the river. Spinning in his arms, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the smouldering heat in his eyes. Holding his head between her hands, she guided his lips down to seal hers.

His tongue glided in like it belonged there. Sucking him deeper and deeper in, she sated herself on his mouth like a druggie tapping a new addiction.

While his mouth set her body alight, his hands fanned the flames, smoothing her skin, squeezing her bottom, rolling and tugging her heated nipples. She exulted in the feel of him, the mutual exploration of flesh and muscle and bone.

Legs rising in the water, locking around his waist, she greedily adhered herself to his body. Little mewling sounds filled her ears, transient sighs of pleasure that escaped her lips only to be hungrily swallowed by his.

There was nothing left of her but insatiable need, nothing left but nerve endings and building points of sensation. It was too much, she was coming apart.

And when his fingers slipped between them, parting her swollen lips and sliding inside, riding up and striking her enflamed clitoris with a deft touch…she really did explode.

Lost in ecstasy, she let out an incoherent cry, wild with bliss and wonder as her body shattered against his hand.

"That's it River Nymph, come for me. Don't stop."

Hands dragged behind her knees lifting her up, draping her legs over his shoulders. Cara fell backwards, floating in the water as he lowered his head to her pulsing flesh and plundered her with his tongue, drinking the oozing honey from her flesh.

"Oh… Oh…," her eyes flew open, watching the gorgeous man feast where no man had feasted before, feeling his tongue dart in and out, around and around. How many times had she dreamed of this? The reality was more sensuous, more explicit, more beautiful than she'd imagined.

Clutching his face between her thighs she rode his mouth to oblivion.

"Oh my god, oh my god," she splintered again and again, sucking his tongue inside her with muscles she didn't know existed.

She went limp in his arms, her head thrashing from side to side.

"I can't take it, I can't take anymore."

"Yes you can," his sultry tone denied, stoking the inferno

She thought she'd found the agony of paradise, that nothing could feel any better.

She was so wrong.

Replacing her legs around his waist, he carried her above the waterline and thrust in to her.

Filling her up inside, stretching her, his silken, immense cock gave her something to tighten around, a springboard for the delicious spasms that started up again, breaking her body down in to one endless tremor.

Her arms flew around his neck holding him close as he rocked in to her. She tasted his mouth, sobbing when she realised the flavour on his lips was her. She bit down on his shoulder, trying to stifle her cries.

"Look at me," he ordered.

Their eyes met and she felt a sense of connection she'd never had in her life. She wanted their intense communion to go on forever.

Cradled to his body, he carried her across the rocks and entered the natural spa.

"I'm sorry we can't lie down." The regret in his voice melted her heart.

He withdrew slowly, sliding her feet to the ground.

"No," she protested, bereft.

But he didn't leave her for long. Turning her he bent her forwards, placing her hands on the stone, positioning her so that her breasts were dangled in the waterfall, droplets flying up to splatter her arms, her heated face.

Parting her legs he sank in to her from behind, one arm holding her tightly around the waist, the other sneaking back to her core, dipping and swirling.

It was impossible to hold back. Cara screamed her rapture out loud. She cried and sobbed and begged as he drove in to her.

His rhythm took off, his thrusts harder until he was pounding her with a fury, hammering in, setting off more eruptions in her body, her legs shaking so hard she would've toppled if his arms weren't around her.

Hearing his guttural moans spurned her on. She thrust back against him, conscious of nothing but being impaled on his flesh, wanting him faster, deeper, harder, forever.

Feeling him thicken and jump inside her she backed up against him, clutching his arm to her waist, pressing his hand between her legs as he shouted out, emptying his precious seed inside her, his trembling flesh pressed to her back.

They shuddered together, their legs shaking, their breath identical ragged gasps.

Joined as one they rested, panting as internal waves subsided, slowly falling back to earth to the sound of the water rushing over the rocks, the birds calling in the trees. Finally he faded away and sank down in the water, pulling her on to his lap.

It seemed the most natural thing in the world to hold each other, her cheek resting under his chin. She raised her palm to his heart, feeling the erratic pulse through his skin, knowing that she'd just tasted heaven.

"River," he lifted her chin to study her face, his dark eyes glowing. "You are…unbelievable."

"And you." Her breath hitched in her lungs when he raised her wrist to his lips.

They kissed; a pure meeting of mouths that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with being overwhelmed by the other.

* * *

"Now what?" he asked.

Words failed her.

Colin's earnest face slammed in to her head. The man who had never shown her ecstasy like this. The man that she finally acknowledged she could never marry.

She sighed sadly, looking out across the water.

"I suppose I have to track down my dog."

"I meant –"

"I know," she hushed him with a fingertip. He was referring to the horizon, the future, more heart wrenching sex… she knew it in her bones.

"Dog first, talk later."

"I'll hold you to that," he nodded, breaking out a grin. "Can't wait to meet your clothes eating extraordinaire and give him my undying thanks."

They stood and collected his shoes, going in search of hers, picking up his shorts along the way.

Jed had done a thorough job – typical for an unsupervised pup. Not only shredding her clothes, he'd also chewed her slip ons in to hundreds of miniscule leather bits strewn throughout the woods.

"Bloody puppy," Cara complained.

"Can't blame the dog River," he said with a laugh. "Destroying shoes is in their DNA."

"Do you have a dog?"

A shadow passed over his face. "Not any more."

Cara swallowed her curiosity. Somehow she knew the time would come to know each other.

It was amazing how at ease, how comfortable she felt with him. Never one to walk around the house naked, Cara was surprised to find her nudity didn't inhibit her in his presence.

Under his hot gaze, for his appreciative eyes only.

"How far away is your camp? Or do you live in the water, a River Siren who lures men to the rocks and drains them to death?"

"Hardly," she laughed. "About an hour's walk that way," she pointed vaguely downstream.

"I'm ten minutes that way," he waved upstream towards the spa pool, "Why don't we head to mine and I'll drive you back? Then, we can look for your dog."

"Good plan," she agreed, frowning when he reached for his shorts. "That's not fair!"

"You want me to walk back like this?"

"Well I am!" she laughed. "Remember Nude day? Remember gracious skies, purple mountain majesties, God and Country?"

His black eyes sparked, travelled up and down her bare skin, came back to rest on her face. "I'll give you a purple mountain," he wisecracked, pouncing on her.

Cara's cheeks glowed with heat. "I don't think that's what the powers that be had in mind."

"How short-sighted of them," he griped when she stepped away from him.

It was difficult to take her eyes of him, harder still to move out of his arms, and even more of a test subduing the urge to shape him with her hand. But Jed had been missing for over an hour reaping God knew what havoc in the bush.

Responsibility won…by a hair.

Wrestling his shorts from him she gave him a playful wet slap.

"Keep your mind on the job Mister."

"I'm trying," he groaned, "but you're making it so hard."

She planted a teasing kiss then danced away. She didn't know how or why but they had an instant rapport. He felt like a long lost friend. A long lost lover. A lover who was having trouble with the open-mouthed staring as much as she was.

Her breasts tingled under his scrutiny. When his eyes dropped down to the soft nest of blonde fuzz between her legs, she knew she was in real trouble.

If she didn't act soon she'd be flat on her back in the mud.

"Look…" her strangled voice squeezed out.

"I am," he agreed, distracted.

"No, I mean… think about football, French fries, radiators, beige… I think I'll paint the ceiling beige."

"What?" His mystified look was priceless.

"That's it," she giggled, "eyes on my face, Mister. Only on my face"

Grabbing him by the hand, holding his shorts in the other, she tugged him in the direction of his camp but tall, dark and handsome was rooted to the spot.

"Would be a lot easier to concentrate on your face if your bottom wasn't as pretty."

She threw up her hands in mock exasperation. "You know, you're coming very close to being fired from this rescue gig."

"I'll lead," he suggested, edging out in front.

He'd made a good point. His backside was as show-stopping as his frontside. Nevertheless, she was glad he'd opted to go first. This way she could have her full dose of perving without feeling shy about it. And perv she did; openly, tongue on the ground, hands itching to touch.

They made it past the rocks at the spa pool, but once they hit the path she was in a world of trouble. Not just the 'if-I-drool-any-more-I'll-die-of-dehydration' trouble, but also, the 'ouchies' kind.

"Yow," she called out, nearly spearing her foot.

The path was littered with dried leaves, fallen twigs, honky nuts, and a particular nasty well known to West Australians – double G's. Ingeniously evolved super prickles, no matter how they lay, one spike always pointed up. Double G's were perilous to bare feet.

"You OK River?" His concerned tone softened her heart.

Wordlessly she gestured at the path.

"One white steed on its way," he quipped, crouching down in front of her. "Hop on."