He was still slumped in the shade of the cliff, face-down on an old blanket that vaguely smelled of vomit. It hadn't been all that long since his last drink. His mouth was wide open, and some dribble had pooled on the rug around it.
The young woman looked up from her magazine and glanced at him again. He had fallen asleep just after she had arrived an hour ago. She noticed his grubby singlet had ridden up around his neck. A smile crossed her face when his leg twitched.
She was in one of her funny moods right now. To spice up the moment, she had spent the last five minutes recalling mind games she had played in her late teens with men. She had used them as individuals to explore her sexuality by enticing them into dares. If they were bold enough to respond to her bait, she played fair. She always let them have a nibble before their release.
She remembered commuting by train to work. Over the hour plus journey, she would often fake going off to asleep, trying to tempt the man next to her to ease his shoulder over to her leaning head. She knew they got an ego boost when the pretty young stranger hugged an arm in her sleep and snuggled in until one of them had to leave.
Her crowning achievement though happened at a cinema when she was nineteen. She'd gone there with a girlfriend, and was sitting next to an anonymous man holding hands with his wife or girlfriend on the other side of him. Just into the film, on a whim, she had put her hand against his on the armrest. In a dark part after the halfway point of the movie, she had begun circling the back of his hand with hers. By the end, his hand was slowly retracting back to his side having spent the past half hour slowly stroking up and between her quivering bare thighs.
She looked over again to the face under the sparse hair. He was still out to it. When she looked over at him just after her arrival, she had got a toothless smile.
What would he do if she changed position, her teasing mind started to wonder. What if she gave him just one of her sweetest smiles and a hand gesture beckoning him over when he woke? What would his reaction be? She wondered at this stage of his life if he had it in him to come over and join her. Could she plot something that would tempt him to consider it?
Her mind slipped into gear. He might wake soon, so she had best hurry and set something up. Firstly, how close should she be to him? Quickly picking up her towel, she moved to a spot about four metres to his right. She guessed that should be far enough, and close enough.
She needed to set some simple rules quickly. The ones she had used in those dares in the past would do. First, she could offer no explicit invitation or encouragement after the initial moves. She would have to lie down and stay completely still. Secondly, she had to ignore him from that point on, saying and doing nothing right up till the end.
How near her would he have to get? Was half a metre enough? No, too easy. He had to get right to her. That was too vague. Wait. Perfect. Yes, he would actually have to touch her.
She lay back and ran through the whole scenario again. Then a vital fact hit her. Success was getting him moving. Otherwise, he might be content to just stay where he was and look at her.
She needed something to tempt him to think about getting closer? She came up immediately with a cheeky possibility. A bit of a tease perhaps, but it could work. She sat up and checking they were all alone on the beach, pushed off each shoulder strap and lowered the one-piece to her waist. If he didn't end up coming over, she thought, at least she'd improve her tan.
She smoothed her towel, lay down flat on her back, and checked his line of sight. No, she decided she needed to move the arm on his side to give him the best view possible of her unusual bait. Lifting it, she draped it across the top of her head on the towel. Perfect. Sunglasses adjusted, she half-turned her face in his direction and lay in wait.
She just finished in time. He was beginning to stir. Finding himself face down, he wearily lifted his head, squinting in the sunlight. Already, he was feeling the powerful craving to drink that so often dominated his waking thoughts. Sitting up groggily, his belly drooped from under the singlet as he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Looking around, he spotted her lying on her back, conspicuously topless. He saw the smile break out on her pretty face and the 'come hither' hand gesture.
He felt the urge as old as mankind itself. He looked around, as though confirming there was no one else about. Then he took a long look at her young face. Seeing no sign of her noticing him now, his eyes moved straight back to her chest.
She allowed herself a faint smile within as she casually watched him taking in her breasts. Clumsily rolling onto his arm, he sat there, facing her. Gee, he wasn't too good-looking a sight at all right now, was he? she thought. But her curiosity about whether he would go any further made her quickly bury that notion.
She watched, curious, as he teetered slightly forward for nearly half a metre on his hands and knees, struggling with his balance. Her mood upped to a sense of glee and self-congratulation when he continued with a little more of his unsteady crawl towards her. The eyes under his sweaty forehead switched constantly from her face to her breasts as he painstakingly made his way closer.
That's when a sudden thought seized her. She'd of course had decided that him coming all the way over was a sure sign of his ability. Her curiosity satisfied, she would probably sit up and acknowledge him at the very end. His prize would be a smile and for her to say some nice words to him. Then probably she'd just get up and go home.
What though if he opted for a different end prize? She was after all teasing him to come closer with bare breasts offered as extra bait. Only then did the thought hit her. If she went on and, by her rules remained passive to the end, he might probably want to do more than just touch her somewhere. A scenario she had not initially considered began to play itself out in her mind.
While she was pre-occupied, he had managed to crawl just over halfway and was resting, propped on one arm, just over a metre and a half away. Cautiously, he seemed to be looking right at her face for further encouragement.
