My husband and I had our holidays fall due and we headed off to the beach for a couple of weeks. A friend of my mother's had a small cottage right near the beach and he let us rent it for the two weeks for a pittance. It's nice having helpful friends of the family.
We rocked up there late on Friday night and went straight to bed. We made up for this by being up early the next morning. For that first day we were just going to go the beach and relax, swimming and sun-baking.
Even though it was shaping up to be a hot day the beach wasn't crowded, probably due to the early hour. Mike found a nice spot under some trees and we set up a bit of a camp. We had shade and by moving slightly to the side we had sunshine for our tanning.
We'd been there several hours and the crowd was picking up when I saw this guy. He was a big man, muscled and fit. I wouldn't call him handsome, but neither would I call him ugly. Pleasant looking would be the way to describe him. He had a golden tan that really suited his blonde hair and I was prepared to swear he had blue eyes. There was something about him that just drew your eye. A sort of charisma, I guess.
One of the reasons I noticed him was because I could feel his eyes on me. He was checking me out, even though Mike was sitting right next to me. I have to admit that there was something strangely attractive about that man. I had this odd suspicion that it wasn't just the sun that was making me feel hot just then.
He didn't try to approach us at all. He seemed to know a number of people there and he stayed with them. For all that I just seemed to know when he was around. For that matter he seemed to be around an awful lot and I could swear that he was eyeing me off whenever he came close to me.
That afternoon we wandered down to the local mall to pick up some groceries and there was Mr Tall and Golden at the mall and I noticed him noticing me. Geez, I've never know a man who could get me all hot and bothered like he did just by looking at me. If he hadn't been at the mall before us I'd have suspected him of stalking me, I'd seen him so often that day.
That was the Saturday. The Sunday was very much a repeat. Us down to the beach, relaxing and taking it easy, and that man everywhere I looked. I am what you would call passably good looking. I don't have an over-inflated opinion of my charms and I know that a number of men find me attractive, but I don't go around thinking that every man should be watching me and lusting after me, which is why it felt a trifle odd to me that this guy seemed to be doing just that. It's not as though he did anything specific, not even coming over to introduce himself, but I was so dreadfully aware of him. I just considered it strange, is all.
The strangeness continued as I seemed to see him everywhere we went. That was to be expected, I guess, if he was on holidays, as he'd probably naturally go to the same places as us, the usual tourist traps. Still, I have to say that he seemed to become an ubiquitous presence.
Tuesday evening we ran out of milk. It was only a five minute walk to the nearest shop so I didn't bother about getting out the car, just trotting down to the shop.
Guess who was in the shop. That's right. There he was again. Now that he was up close and smiling at me I have to say he's just as hot as I thought.
He nodded to me.
"Hi," he said. "I'm Paul. Up here for the holidays?"
I nodded.
"Hi. Ah, I'm Wendy. Yes, my husband and I are here for a couple of weeks."
(There was me subtly putting out the I'm married sign.)
We exchanged a little bit of small talk and then I paid for my milk and left.
Outside the shop is Mr Tall and Golden, just standing there. I was confused, which I considered understandable, as I'd just left him inside the shop. I turned and gave the shop a blank look and there he was, coming out the door.
"Comes the dawn," I muttered. "You're twins."
"Indeed we are," Paul said, "but we're easy to tell apart. I'm the handsome one. That oaf is David. David, this is Wendy."
"Hullo, Wendy," David said while smiling at me. "I think I've seen you at the beach a time or two."
"Probably," I agreed. Think he'd seen me. He'd had his eyes glued to me several times. Ah, unless that was Paul. Had one or the other or both been checking me out? Oh yes, I was most certainly confused.
They were both smiling these killer smiles at me now and it was a case of me getting hot and bothered times two. This was dreadful.
"Perhaps we'll see you at the beach tomorrow," one of them said, and don't ask me which one. I'd already lost track of which was which. Identical twins shouldn't dress the same, damn it.
"Um, yes," I mumbled, quite sure I was blushing.
With that we parted ways, me taking the milk home and them heading off to devastate impressionable young women. Thank god I wasn't one.
I woke early next morning and couldn't be bothered staying in bed. I nudged Mike but he wasn't budging. I decided I'd go down to the beach. It was too early for anyone to be there apart from a few local early risers like myself so I expected to have free run of the place. It wasn't that I was going to go swimming. I was just going to stroll along the water's edge looking for seashells.
I just tossed on a loose top and a pair of shorts then headed down to the beach. The sun was up (just) and the sky was a cloudless blue. It was going to be a fantastic day.
I'd barely set foot on the sand and a voice was hailing me.
"Well, you're here nice and early," Dave/Paul said to me. I can tell you right now I had no idea which one of them it was so I just thought of him as Dave/Paul.
"Um, yeah," I agreed, blushing slightly. "I'd thought I'd stroll along the water and see if I could spot any seashells."
"Getting in early before the children come and clean them all out?" he suggested with a grin. "You're looking in the wrong place. You should try along the high-tide mark. That's your best bet. Come on. I'll walk with you."
He did so, showing me the ripple in the sand that denoted the high-tide and I had to admit that there were more shells there than down near the water. Not that there were any unusual ones, unfortunately.
I sighed as we walked along.
"I give up," I said. "Dave or Paul?"
"Dave," he said with a grin. "Unless I'm lying, in which case I'm Paul."
"You're not helping," I pointed out and he just laughed.
"Dave," he said, and that man had an absolutely wicked smile.
What was it with these twins? I'd only been talking to Dave for a minute or so on a completely innocuous subject and I was already feeling uncomfortably hot, and it wasn't because of the sun.
We'd just reached a spot where the water seemed to come a little higher than normal and Dave stopped and looked around.
"This is the perfect spot," he told me.
"It is?" I asked, looking around.
"Sure. If you look up and down the beach you'll find that this spot tends to be out of sight because of that little kink in the water-line. There's no-one in the water to see and if you look behind us you'll see the trees are high enough to protect us from being seen by anyone in the nearby houses."
"And that makes it perfect?" I asked, puzzled.
"It certainly does," he said sounding enthusiastic. "Why don't you kneel on the sand?"
He was joking, right? Looking at his face I'd say he was joking, no.
"Um, why?" I asked.
"Work it out," he said, sounding a little smug and sinking down onto his knees. He held out a hand to me and I took it. Well, you do, don't you? Someone offers their hand and you just take it automatically.
He promptly pulled lightly and I found myself sinking to my knees. I was about to ask what now when his hand was on my back, urging me forward, and I fell onto my hands.