Author's Note: I posted a quick response on my Tumblr account to a reviewer who had concerns about Piper's age and Alex acting motherly. Thanks for the kudos after that last chapter—I thought of it as a filler, but I'm pleased to see it hit the mark for many of you. This chapter is rated M for Mature.
Piper's spring break rolls around, and I was able to get two days off work, so we're flying somewhere and spending four nights in a hotel. She told me to pack for warm, sunny weather, so I bought two new bikinis and a couple of lightweight dresses. Because we both live in small towns, we have to fly in and out of Boston, which is where we meet before our flight.
"I guess now is when you find out where we're going," she says, handing me a printed boarding pass before we go through security.
I grin when I see the destination. "Miami?"
She nods. "We're staying in South Beach at a hotel called The Beacon. The rooms are normally $400 a night, but if you stay four nights, they drop 20 percent."
"This is awesome. I can't wait." I squeeze her hand. "Thanks for planning the trip."
"I had fun doing it."
Although our seats are in the back of the airplane, the ride isn't long and I'm ready to spend time with Piper outside of our normal lives. I also can't wait to see her in a bikini because this time, I get to touch her rather than touch myself while looking at a picture of her. She also looks a little different now—more curves, less gangly.
We take an Uber to the hotel and marvel at the people walking along Ocean Avenue. There's every shape, size and gender, but I can't help but be drawn to the gay men, prancing around in teeny shorts and no shirts with their chests puffed out.
"This is it." Piper gets out of the car and stares up at the high rise.
There's a patio bar with bass-thumping music outside just like at the rest of the hotels on the strip, and I can't wait to sit under an oversized umbrella out here and have a tropical drink. The lobby is all whites and oranges, and now it feels like we're really in Miami. The same music is playing inside, just at a much lower volume.
We take the elevator to the 14th floor, and our room décor is similar to that of the lobby with splashes of blue throughout the space. Although there's no balcony, we have a view of the ocean.
She opens the curtains. "Look at this."
I string my arms around her waist from behind and admire the view. "Gorgeous."
"What should we do first?"
I kiss the side of her head. "You should change into your bathing suit."
"I don't know why you're so excited to see me in a bikini." She turns in my arms. "You see me naked all the time."
"Naked is not the same as wearing a bikini," I offer.
"Then I want to see you in yours." Piper escapes my grasp and hoists her suitcase onto the luggage rack.
I sit on the king-sized bed. "You first."
"Don't you want to check out the pool or go for a walk on the beach?"
I toss my hair over my shoulders. "Yeah, after."
"Tell you what." She saunters over to me. "Why don't we change separately, and then meet at the pool?"
I give her a look like I don't understand her logic.
"If you see me in my bikini in the hotel room, it's going to be…normal." She strings her arms around my neck. "If you see me in it when I'm laying by the pool, there's a sense of voyeurism that I think you might enjoy."
"But then I can't untie the skimpy little straps." I place my hands on her hips. "And then have my way with you."
"Imagine the anticipation of touching me," she tries.
"I don't know how long I'll be able to last." I lift her shirt slightly to kiss her toned stomach.
She steps out of my reach. "If you don't have the self-control to restrain from groping me in public, we'll come back to the room."
Now she's fucking with me. "I have plenty of self-control, it's just that I don't want to exercise it at this moment."
"Sorry." Piper shrugs. "I'm going to change in here. Why don't you get us some ice or something, then change clothes and meet me by the pool?"
She's absolutely killing me, and the worst part is—she knows it.
Nevertheless, I grab the silver bucket in search of the ice machine while Piper changes in our room. We've only been together for six months, and we don't see each other daily, so I consider it a young relationship. I get excited about seeing her every week, and I still find new ways to pleasure her in bed. Piper is still learning how to be with a woman, and while she's always made me feel great physically, she gets better as time goes on. When she's in Northampton and I'm God knows where, I think about her sexually at least once a day. I've never had carnal desire for another woman the way I do with Piper.
After going to the 6th floor for ice, I make my way back to our room and knock before inserting the cardkey. "Are you in here?" When I hear nothing, I step inside. "Piper?" I set the ice bucket on the dresser, and then dig in my bag for the black and white bikini that I brought. I tried it on before our trip, and I looked fine. We'll see what Piper has to say.
I go into the bathroom to change, and on the counter is a light green bikini with multi-colored straps. I read the scribbled note next to it: I'll wear this one tomorrow. Well, fuck.
I make my way down to the pool on the second floor deck, and as soon as I step outside, I hear similar music to what was playing in the lobby earlier. The area around the pool is crowded, but there appears to be at least three or four empty lounge chairs. I scan the crowd until my eyes land on Piper, and I almost drop my sunhat. She's wearing a white bikini with gold trim that ties on her hips. The little triangles that cover her tits leave nothing to the imagination. I'm one lucky woman.
I put on my thick, black-rimmed sunglasses and walk over to her. "You were right."
She's rubbing suntan oil on her arms. "About what?"
"I have no self-control."
"That's a shame." Piper smirks. "I'm all oiled up now, and I can't go back inside like this."
"I can help with that." I reach for the bottle.
"Take off your cover up."
I toss my flouncy sunhat onto the lounge chair next to her, then pull the teal dress-like cover up over my head and stand in front of her.
She eyes me up and down, lowering her Aviators. "You're so fucking hot."
If I thought we could get away with it, I'd fuck her right here; instead, I'm going to make this as difficult for her as it is for me. I sit on the chair and squirt some oil onto my hands. Piper turns halfway around, allowing me full access to her back. I rub her skin suggestively, allowing my fingertips to touch the sides of her breasts and dip into her bikini bottoms.
"That feels good," she says, head rolling back.
I rub it onto her shoulders and neck, and then stretch my arms around her waist to get some on her stomach. My fingers dip into the low waistband in the front of her bikini bottoms and I feel where her pubic hair begins. She doesn't have much, but the texture of it sends shivers throughout my body.
"All done," I say.
"Can I do you?"
I hand the oil back to her. "I need a little bit more protection than SPF2." I pull out a bottle of SPF30. I know it's not sexy, but it's either this or me burning so bad that she won't be able to touch me for the duration of our stay; I won't have that.
"Can I offer you two something to drink?" A scantily clad waitress with big, fake tits approaches us.
"I'll have a pina colada," she replies.
"Two." I hand Piper the Hawaiian Tropic. "Will you get my back."
Piper does to me what I did to her minutes ago, and now I feel all tingly. "Next time we go on vacation, we're renting a house with a private pool."
She chuckles.
We drink our pina coladas and lay out for nearly an hour, and it's so hot that Piper decides to take a dip in the pool. She stands, pulling the thin material out of her ass, and I wish those were my fingers on her.
I watch her step into the pool, and her skin glistens in the sun. With each step, her thigh muscles flex, and I have the urge to join her just so I can touch her body even in a non-sexual way. She makes it all the way in, then ducks under the water, coming up and flattening her wet, blonde hair.
"Come in. It's refreshing."
There's another couple in the pool, holding hands and talking in the deep end.
I debate whether I want to get wet or not, and then decide what the hell. "It's cold," I mention as I take my first step into the crystal blue water.
She walks over to me. "It's not bad once you're all the way in."
I take a few more steps, feeling my skin prickle and meet her in the 4-feet deep part of the pool.
She wraps her arms around my waist underwater. "I couldn't wait to touch you."
I drape mine over her shoulders. "Same." I lean in for a kiss.
She's the one who intensifies it.
"Are we really going to give these people a show?" I ask, nipping at her lower lip.
"I'm not going to fondle your tits or stick my hands in your bikini bottoms if that's what you're asking." Betraying her words, Piper's fingertips dip under my waistband onto the curve of my ass.
"You're devious," I comment.
She raises her shoulders. "I'm the one who put my hands underwater first."
I lean in to kiss her again. "I really want to fuck you right now, babe."
"You can't."
I look around the pool to see that most patrons aren't paying attention to us. There's a man at the far end who appears to be watching us, and he lowers his book to cover his swimming trunks. He probably has a hard-on. Gross.
"Let's go upstairs," I offer.
She sighs. "Fine."
"If you really want to stay out here, we can," I say. "I'm just surprised you don't want this as much as I do."
"Oh, I do." She leans closer. "I'm just a little more patient than you are."
I take her hand, leading her out of the pool. "I'll let you win that argument."
She grabs a towel and dries her face first, and I'm left staring at her body in that skimpy fucking bikini. I don't know if I've ever wanted her this much. Even the first time we had sex I didn't have this kind of desire.
We enter the empty elevator, and I press the button to our floor, and as soon as the doors shut, Piper is all over me. I place my hands on her face, returning her fervent kiss and feel her fingers creep down my sides. The elevator dings, and we step off, still tangled up in each other.
"Key," she mumbles against my mouth.
I push her against the wall and kiss her even deeper. That lasts another minute before Piper reaches into her small beach bag, pulling out the cardkey. We enter the room, and I swiftly remove her cover up, then pull back and stare at her bikini-clad body. My hands cover her tits first; she moans.
"I knew what this would do to me," I say before kissing her again.
Sometimes it's hard to fathom that she's mine—that I get to fuck her whenever I want to, and she loves it.
Our hands roam each other's bodies, and I can't get enough of her slick skin. The silence is filled with sounds of kissing, which turns me on even more. I untie the strap around her neck, letting the material fall and revealing her hard nipples. I take one in my mouth as one hand travels to her center. That fiery feeling in my belly rumbles, and I need to quench my desire. With other women, when I got to this point of sex, I needed her to get me off, but with Piper, it's the opposite. Above all else, I want to make her feel good. My reward is the way her body reacts to my touch.
I untie the strings low on her hips and immediately replace the fabric with my hand. Piper lets out a low, satisfied moan. My mouth returns to hers as we kiss. She tugs at the hem of my cover up, so I rip it over my head, and then place my hand back where it was before. She walks us backwards until my legs hit the dresser, and I spin us around, hoisting her onto the wooden surface. I kiss a trail down her body until landing on her thigh, and then I get on my knees and blink up at her. Piper always has a look of anticipation and desire in her eyes before I go down on her, and this time is no exception. As soon as my lips touch her center, she arches towards me and lets out a low moan.
If I have any complaints about sex with Piper it's that she cums too quickly. This time, she's able to endure almost five minutes of me licking her before she explodes into a loud orgasm that I'm sure any passers-by would hear.
I wipe my mouth with my arm. "I hope that made our limited pool time worth it."
"Lucky for you, it did." She runs a hand through my hair. "I love the way you make me feel."
I stand between her legs, kissing her far more gently than our other kisses. "I'm glad."
Seconds later, it's Piper on her knees staring up at me. I last longer than she does before an orgasm rips through me, but my stamina is nothing to brag about. One look at her head between my legs, and I'm gone.
We shower together, where not surprisingly, we have a difficult time keeping our hands to ourselves. That leads to us simultaneously fingering each other until we both get off at the same time. We dry off and lie in the king-sized bed, exhausted from a full day of travel, lots of sunshine and of course, sexual exertion.
We wake from a nap about an hour later, and Piper suggests we go for a walk down Ocean Avenue and stop for a drink to people watch at one of the patio bars. The weather is perfect—82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The sun will set soon, but from what I understand, the temperature doesn't drop like it did in Dana Point, so we can enjoy a warm breeze throughout the night.
We turn onto the Miami Beach Boardwalk and watch scantily clad patrons frolic on the beach. There's a group of six women playing volleyball, three buff men throwing a frisbee, and at least 30 people laying out to enjoy the last moments of sunshine or splashing in the ocean.
"Do you remember the last time we watched the sunset together?" Piper asks.
"I do." I grin. "I think that was the only time we've watched the sunset."
"True." She takes my hand and leads me down to the sand. "Think about how far we've come since then."
A small sound escapes my mouth.
"I know it's only been six months, but it feels like six years," she comments.
"I don't know about six years," I chuckle. "But it definitely feels longer than six months."
We walk on the hard sand where the waves glide up and down the beach.
Piper looks up at me. "Imagine us doing this almost every day."
"You mean if we move to San Diego?"
She nods. "I love everything about the ocean—the way it sounds, the way it smells, the way it feels against my skin even when the water is cold."
"It's nice."
Ever perceptive, Piper gives me a look and asks, "Are you having second thoughts about moving?"
"No second thoughts," I reply. "I'm just worried about getting a job."
"What's the likelihood of your company being able to place you in San Diego?"
"Slim," I respond. "In my three and a half years working for this company, I've only seen two opportunities in California. I don't know if it's because they aren't as familiar with the work we do or if the clinics are staffed so well that they don't need coverage when someone takes a leave of absence."
"You have money saved if you can't get a job right away, right?"
I nod. "Enough to last four or five months, but anything beyond that would be a stretch."
"UCSD has housing for married couples and domestic partners," she begins. "So if we live on campus, you won't have rent to pay," she says.
Although the thought of putting a ring on Piper has crossed my mind, I'd like to actually live together for a few months before making that kind of commitment. "We're neither of those things."
"I'm sure there's a way around it," she offers.
I don't share her confidence, but I don't want to dwell on our possible living situation right now. "Health insurance is something I worry about."
"Could you get temporary insurance?"
"COBRA?" I ask. "I have to check with my employer, but the monthly payment for that is something insane like $600. I guess if I don't have to pay rent, that's where my money could go."
We turn around and begin walking back towards the boardwalk, remaining silent for the next few minutes. I listen to the birds chirping and ocean waves crashing against the shore. It would be nice to experience this in San Diego with Piper every day.
"Do you feel like getting a drink somewhere?"
She nods, tugging me closer. I can tell she's still thinking about the move to California, and it's not sitting well with her.
"If you can't find a job before we move, maybe you should take another placement and stay with your company even if I'm already in San Diego."
I figured this conversation wasn't over. "It's only April. I'll do at least one more placement before late August when you have to be at school." I lift my shoulders. "We'll see what happens."
Piper smiles at me, but it's a weak, hesitant smile.
I lean over, kissing the side of her head. "Let's enjoy this vacation, babe. We can talk about this stuff later."
We have a drink at one of the fancy hotel patio bars and watch the people stroll by. Miami certainly is unique—there's everything from the fit, baby-strolling, jogging mom to the overweight, ice-cream eating 50-something man. For the most part, however, the people who walk by are either tourists or suntanned Miami locals who look like they're heading out for a night on the town.
The rest of our vacation goes similarly to the first day—we spend time at the pool, go for at least one walk a day, and have an early evening cocktail at one of the grand hotels or trendy bars. We eat as much authentic Cuban food as we can, and I discover my love of Medianoche, a type of sandwich that's typically served in nightclubs in Havana. Piper can't get enough of the fried plantains and Lomo ahumado. She promises to make a Cuban meal for me when we're back in New England.
The one afternoon when a thunderstorm blows through, we make slow and lazy love in our hotel room and order room service that night as the sky is illuminated with bolts of lightning. We also spend an afternoon absorbing the Miami art scene by taking an Art Deco tour, visiting the Bass Museum of Art, and checking out an art fair called Scope near our hotel in South Beach. We go to a gay bar on our last night in town, and Piper is disappointed that we only discovered the vibrant club when it's almost time to return home.
We leave Miami early the following morning, and my heart sinks at the thought of being away from Piper again. I'm glad we're only two hours away from each other rather than four, but that means we have to resort to seeing each other only on weekends. If this trip has proved nothing else, it's clear that we're compatible in every way and will have no trouble living together.
