Afternoons

"Ahoy, Captain!"

I do not budge from the book I'm reading, but from behind my dark glasses, I watch you run toward where I'm sitting.

I trace your leanness with my eyes, drink in the length of your strides, your legs reminding me of the sleek lines of sports cars. You are squinting at the sun, and just at this moment, you are the personification of adorable perfection--a man-boy, naked to the waist, dripping with saltwater, gleaming in the sunlight.

"Effin hunk," I mutter under my breath, my concentration now completely ruined.

"What was that, Captain?" You swoop down to kiss me.

"Ahoy yourself," I dismiss you with a wave of my hand. You slump into the chair beside mine and start shaking the water off your hair and arms.

"If you so much as ruin my book with all that water, you're gonna have to get me a new one."

"Cranky, cranky," you snatch my book from my hand.

"But that's a Hemingway!"

"I'll get you two of these, my Love," you laugh and toss the book to the sand. "From this point, no more reading. It'll be sunset soon, let's go for a walk."

I shake my head and reach for the cooler. "Here, have a beer first. You look like you need one."

"Thanks, Love." You take off the cap and take a swig, and I watch you from lowered lids--head tilted back, the lines on your neck and jaw sculpted to perfection, droplets of water glistening on your skin. You look like some sun-kissed deity come to grace my world with your presence. My breath catches and I groan.

"I know, I know," you wink and grin, "I am very good-looking."

"Shut up and kiss me," I mumble, and you do. My world stops turning, for a moment.

"Walk, Love?" You take my hand and I oblige.

Soon, we are walking along the shore, the sound of crashing waves enveloping us. My hand is in yours and I sigh, content, thinking how all this is more than I have ever asked for. Once in a while, I would stop to curl my toes in the sand. You have made me fall in love with beaches and sunlight, you have made me fall in love with water.

"Do you remember the first time we did this?" You look at me, smiling.

"Yes, Love, I do," I glance back at you. "Something like that wouldn't be so easy to forget. That beautiful blue, that strip of sand. I wanted that walk to go on forever, though I was still too shy to tell you that. I mean, how could I have known you were already planning to sweep me off my feet that time?" I giggle. You make me giggle.

"Well, we could take long walks forever," you squeeze my hand. "We can go to all the beaches in the world and walk along each shore."

One of the things I love about you is that you never fail to surprise me--the things you do and say, all these bursts of sweetness. Changing from straight lines to undulating ones, teaching me invoices one moment, dreaming of sunsets, the next. You are so many wonderful things wrapped in skin, sinew, muscle.

"I like that plan," is all I say.

Distant music reaches my ears. "Look, Love, dancing!" I grab your arm and start heading for the bar to our right.

You stop me in my tracks. "Yes, Love, dancing. But later." You turn me toward you and put your hands around my waist. "Can I just tell you something first?" I feel my heart start to race as you look at me with those lovely, lovely eyes, eyes that mirror starlight and all things beautiful in this universe.

"Love," you say, tightening your hold on my waist and brushing your lips on my forehead, "such a tiny, tiny thing you are."

"Bummer!" I shout, laughing, and break lose from your hands. "You stay there and talk to the waves, I'm going dancing!"

I lift my skirt and start to run, laughing. You catch up on me and we head for the bar, holding hands.

Behind us, the sky begins to change colors. Twilight is waiting around the corner.