Chapter One -- My Awakening
"What do you think of this one James?" my naked Wife Elaine asked me as she held up yet another bikini that was really only an arrangement of four small triangles of spotted pink cloth held together by gold chain. It was the fifth one she had shown me, and each had been flimsier than the previous.
"I like it! And it's revealing," I confirmed, but I had already guessed that she knew that too, "so at least you won't be too warm - given the weather at the moment."
The smile on her face told me that I had said the right thing and, with a tinkling sound, the little scraps of material and chain were thrown into her bag of beach-ware and sun-blocking unguents. I didn't know it then, but those delicate chains were to play a significant part of my future.
The weather in London had been extremely warm due to the mini heat wave we had been experiencing in the UK, consequently Elaine and I had slept fitfully that night and at about four in the morning I had opened the bedroom windows for fresher air only for the room to be filled with a humid warmer slow breeze, that smelled of London traffic fumes. Just like New York, London never sleeps.
Elaine and I had showered together, as is our practice, and I had enjoyed (as was my practice) the view of the water rivulets coursing down her rubbery body and into her secret intimate places. No purist observer I -- perfumed soap and natural sponge were applied by me to every pink surface of her skin; from foot to head and back again. Serving her was my pleasure and accepting my service was hers -- of course.
I was still in my 'birthday suit as I helped Elaine into her panties, shorts, blouse and beach sandals and, after receiving a pat on the head from her, I quickly dressed myself.
We were on the A20 near Sidcup before I asked Elaine the name of the resort we were heading to. It had been just the day before that she had suggested that we needed to get out of London and get some fresh sea air. "I've been told about a small beach down on the South Coast. It's sort of hidden away near a large private manor house, and not many people know about it," she had told me.
"I'm not sure if it has a name," she had replied to my question as I had turned the car off a large roundabout towards Orpington, "but I know you will have an interesting time."
'Interesting?' I thought, suddenly intrigued. 'Not a nice time or fun time. Or pleasant time?'
An hour and a half later we turned off a small lane in Sussex onto an even smaller track through a long line of sand dunes towards the sea; although I had to concentrate in order to keep the car on the road, I had noticed a small, but well maintained, sign for what I assumed to be a manor house Elaine had mentioned just after we had exited the lane. After driving slowly and carefully for five minutes we skirted around one large dune and entered a small car park with a kiosk selling ice cream and cold drinks. The beach was accessed by a wooden pathway, according to a nearby sign.
As Elaine and I walked with our towels and beach bag a smiling couple walked towards us hand in hand, closely followed by a young man who carried their beach bag, towels and rug. The pretty girl, pregnant and clearly in love with the man she was with, had a happy and contented look to her as did the large well muscled Black Man whose hand she clung on to. Good manners required us to step aside onto the sand as they passed us by but their general demeanour told me that the three of them were together somehow.
"Hi Julia," said Elaine as they passed.
"Hi Elaine," replied the pretty blond, while assessing me instantly by looking me up and down with a flick of her eyes. "Good luck!"
"Who was she?" I asked my smiling Wife.
"Friend of Maddie's"
"Oh!" But I was intrigued by what the pregnant beauty had said.
"Good luck with what?" I asked as we made it to the top of the wooden pathway over the dunes to look down on the azure blue sea and small white waves just two hundred feet from where we stood.
"Dunno!"
The beach itself was small but pretty. Unusually for the South Coast, it was sandy and clean with an outcropping of rocks at one end and a larger cliff at the other. On top of the cliff was perched a large manor house and just below was a small wooden tower which I assumed was for a lifeguard, although it was empty at that moment.
Elaine chose the spot for our rug and towels and after we had both changed discreetly into our swimwear we settled down to enjoy the warm sun and, eventually no doubt, a swim in the sea.
After approximately thirty minutes Elaine rolled over from her face down sunbathing position to say, "James I'm parched after that journey down here, could you go to that little shop and get me a cola."
I nodded and stood up in the hot sand as she continued to tell me to take my phone in case they didn't have what she liked. It was a strange request because in all of our married life I had never known Elaine to drink 'cola' (Pepsi or otherwise).
It took approximately five minutes to walk down to the shop, but unlike the time of our arrival at the beach when there had been a queue, there was nobody being served, and I had her can of cola in my hand in seconds. It was when I arrived at the top of the dune that I looked down on the beach to where we had been sitting that my heart missed a beat. I didn't know what to do. I am a small and, some say, timid man and what was happening before me confused and worried me.
A large, heavily muscled Black Man had settled down next to Elaine and was talking to her, which in itself was not alarming; but what did unnerve me was her reaction to him. He was sat close to her and his hand was on her arm as they conversed, but there was no pulling away from him. She was smiling and chatting happily with her breasts bouncing as she laughed at his jokes, her nipples stood stiffly out from the flimsy fabric of her bikini and she was leaning towards him. My Wife was enjoying his company, and I knew instinctively that I should hide myself and watch discretely from behind the long rough grass bush from the top of a nearby dune.
Their conversation seemed to become less jolly and although I could not hear what they were talking about, I could see that they had come to an agreement, as she nodded her head and reached into her beach bag and pulled out her mobile phone.