They dressed casually, he in swim trunks, a T-shirt and tennis shoes and Cassie put on a simple bikini that exactly met her tan lines. It was a soft peach color, cut high on her hips and leaving most of her bottom bare. It wasn't quite the butt floss that the younger girls seemed to favor, but enough warm curve was visible that it was stimulating for any man who looked. With blond hair falling in waves down her back, her cleavage high and full, he couldn't imagine any man not looking.
Cassie pulled out a colorful tote and when he looked curiously, she said, "Beach stuff."
She took out a long sarong with a pastel floral pattern and folded it in half. When she tied it around her waist, she put the knot to one side. The fold of the fabric ran just below her belly button and the bottom of it went to mid-thigh. She showed him a couple of other things in the bag - sunblock, sunglasses, flip-flops and her own T-shirt to keep off the sun if needed. She put the glasses on, pushed them up on top of her hair and stepped into the flip-flops.
"I'm ready," she smiled.
"Wow, I'm impressed," Doug said. "You break the stereotype of a woman taking hours to get dressed."
"Yes I do," she admitted. "I hate vanity."
He smiled as he watched her walk to the door, thinking that she'd still look better than most women if she had curlers in her hair and a wart on her nose.
Cassie opened the door, paused and turned to him expectantly. "Coming?"
Doug couldn't resist that straight line. He answered, "Not right now, but hold that thought."
She couldn't let him have the last line. "Bring it over here and I will, " she smiled sweetly.
The snack bar was a fifteen minute walk around the back of the huge hotel. They were lucky because it served breakfast until noon. They arrived with all of ten minutes to spare and had coffee and doughnuts under an umbrella on the lanai.
"Want to walk awhile?" he asked when they finished and threw their trash away. The sun was high in the sky and it warmed their skin despite the cool breeze off the ocean that ruffled the palms over their heads.
"Sounds great to me," she agreed.
A green and shady park separated the hotel from the beach. On one end, right out on the sand, was a little bar with a thatched roof, something like Gilligan might have built on his island. At the other end of the park there was a volleyball court and an equipment rental shack - same kind of thatch.
They strolled across the soft grass hand in hand, dodging a Frisbee and several little kids running from their mommies. Even with the shouts and laughter from the clumps of people they passed and the sound of the constant surf only 50 yards from them, the place was relatively quiet, very peaceful and completely conducive to romance.
They both paused at the edge of the wide white beach long enough to remove their shoes. Cassie put hers back in her bag and slung it over her shoulder, adjusting the dark sunglasses on her nose.
The sand was pleasantly warm crunching beneath their feet and the beach wasn't all that crowded here since it was reserved for hotel guests and not open to the general public. However, as they turned left, towards Diamond Head, they could see throngs up ahead. Waikiki on a Saturday afternoon - no space to drop your towel.
"It's okay," Doug told her when she voiced her concern. "We'll just walk and then come back here to swim."
The noise grew louder as the approached the public beach. Doug recognized areas to his left along Kalakaua Avenue from different movies and TV shows. This was the main strip. The smells of suntan oil, beer, the salt water and exhaust from the road mingled uncomfortably in his nostrils. It made him wonder what all the big fuss over this beach was. Hell, the Gulf Coast of Florida had nicer beaches.
What he did find interesting was the way Diamond Head, that ancient volcanic crater, loomed over the area. It leant the place an ominous air, watching like some beast getting ready to leap down and devour all the half-naked people here.
"Can you go up there?" he asked her, shielding his eyes and squinting to see the top of the crater.
"Yes you can. You can drive right inside through a little tunnel. There's a military installation inside."
"You're kidding. Really?"
"Yeah, a bunch of commo equipment. It hasn't always been open to the public. And over here," she pointed to the highest point of the hollow mountain, "There are steps inside you can walk up and come out on the rim."
