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Sunrise found the still sleeping campsite peaceful, for the most part. One by one, the campers staggered out and grumbled their attempts at 'good morning'. Katie and Cody were the brightest, not having anything but a good night's sleep - even if punctuated by the occasional cry or very loud groan.
"Morning everybody!" Katie chirped cheerfully. "I've already got the coffee started and breakfast is ready to be cooked. Go wash up and meet me by the campfire!"
Down at the cold showers, there was a small trough next to them just right for brushing teeth and washing hands. Alex and Cody were there first, followed by Monica, Frank, Tyler, Christian and Shay. They were all drowsy and the women were semi-glowing.
"I think I slept on a rock." Alex grumbled.
"You did." Christian grinned with a wink. That elicited a round of laughter from everyone.
"I think tonight we'll all need earplugs. I kept hearing strange noises in the night." Frank snickered softly.
"Oh, you know what?" Tyler said, "I did too. Some of them even coming from over by your tent there, Frank."
"Hey..." Cody stopped and looked around. "Where's Jake and Frankie?"
Alex, Shay and Monica snickered so badly that the guys thought they were going to choke on their own tongues. But suddenly they all remembered the eavesdropped conversation and Frankie's comments about an energizer bunny. The guys too burst out laughing at the thought.
A pair of strangled cries coming from across the camp broke the laughter. All seven stopped what they were doing and turned around towards the tents. A strained silence filled the campsite as one by one they all took a few steps towards the tents. Katie had heard it too and stood up from her place by the campfire.
Precious few minutes passed as they all inched closer to the one still closed tent. When they were about 10 feet from it, the flaps burst open and Frankie stumbled out, lost her footing and sagged to her knees. She was wearing a long t-shirt that covered her down to her thighs and her hair was helter-skelter and tangled like a rat's nest.
Slowly she stood up, carefully testing out her footing as she did. When she looked up and said good morning, everyone could hear the glow in her voice and see how much her lips were swollen. Anyone who looked at her neck would see the love bites and hickeys left there from the night before.
"Uh... Frankie..." Shay whispered. "Are you... alright?"
"Why, Shay darlin', Ah'm right as the rain." she chirruped and stumbled off towards the porta-potties. As she pushed past them, they all heard her singing something similar to "your eyes met mine, you skirt began to rise, and so did I now you know that I took that prize... does he run it deep enough to take you there? Oh, tell me baby..."
Frank, Shay, Katie and Cody stood on one side, Tyler, Monica, Alex and Christian on the other side, watching her as she sashayed across the campsite. A noise made them look back to see Jake stumble out of the tent in a pair of jeans with his t-shirt in hand. Their eyes widened at the bite marks on his chest and neck, accompanied by the hickeys left along his neck and chest at random places.
"What?" he asked as he grinned boyishly and followed his wife towards the water facilities. All eight pairs of eyes watched Jake sidle up behind his wife and slid his arms around her waist in a tight and intimate embrace.
"Amazing." Frank said.
"What?" Monica whispered as they all watched Frankie turn around and lay the mother of all kisses on Jake.
"He is the Energizer Bunny."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"Their tent is next to ours." Shay answered. "We both heard them about 10 minutes after we heard you, Alex."
"WHAT?" Alex gasped.
"And several more times that night. Rather, I should say we heard Frankie... " Frank said with a touch of awe in his voice.
Shay grinned and winked at Katie, Alex and Monica. With a giggle, she offered a last comment before moving off towards the campfire. "I think there's a new record."
Frank joined her at the campfire. He took a deep breath as he slid behind her and pulled her backwards into his embrace. "Record?"
"Oh, you know...how long Jake can hold his wad," Shay replied coolly as if this was just talk about the weather.
"His wad?" Frank asked incredulously. "Tell me you ladies weren't swapping sexual tales while we were preparing dinner."
"Burning dinner," Shay corrected and turned to face him within the circle of his arms. "Does it bother you to know that women discuss sex, Hotstuff?" She wound her arms around his neck, kissed his chin and giggled when the soft hair of his goatee tickled her upper lip.
Frank thought about the conversation they had eavesdropped on the night before. No amount of embarrassment could erase the love he felt and heard radiating from her very being when she discussed him, the kids, their past together and apart. "No, I suppose it doesn't bother me all that much. But I must know..."
Shay smiled knowingly. "Tiger, thirty minutes...an hour, two hours...FIVE hours or more...would make little difference to me if you were not my lover." When his lips met hers, she sighed happily as his tongue slid past her parted lips to dip inside the warmth of her mouth. They touched and tasted each other and subsequently lost track of time.
"Ahem," Cody cleared his throat loudly. "Get a tent."
Katie chuckled softly as she stood beside him.
Cody turned slightly and smiled at her. "You would never believe this, but the Big Guy, here...he's not much in the way of PDAs."
"PDAs?" Katie questioned.
Shay moaned as Frank broke their kiss. "Public Displays of Affection. And...Cody's right, normally we're pretty low keyed."
Frank pulled her close to his chest and laughed. "I'd like to think that's only because we work together. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise, I'd be puking from all the sappy shit that went on in the nest," Cody remarked with a wink at Katie.
Katie found herself smiling at the "goofy one" as Frankie and Shay called him. Funny, she was finding him less and less goofy. Must be all the mushiness in the air with these paired lovers, she reasoned to herself. Things would get back to normal once this 'vacation' was over and they were gone. Back to normal...and boring as all get out.
"So, what's on the agenda today, Miss Ranger Guide-like person?" Cody asked, grinning like a fool.
Katie giggled. "Nothing too taxing. Want you to get used to the thin air before we do anything tough. Today...just a little target practice."
"You said no guns," Alex said, joining the group and grinning, eyeing her boss who was still busily kissing up a storm with his wife.
"Sheesh..." Katie said, shaking her head. "What is it with you guys and guns?"
Alex shrugged. "All I know is...I feel damned nekkid without mine."
"Nekkid...who's nekkid?" Christian joked as he joined Alex. "You don't look very nekkid to me...but that could be arranged." He wiggled his brow.
Alex slapped him playfully. "Isn't it bad enough that they heard...." she trailed off and her cheeks turned a deep crimson.
"Heard you coming?" Shay finished for her and received a soft shake from Frank for her lack of decorum. "What? The whole camp heard her."
"Um..." Cody said, shifting nervously on his feet. "Hate to break it to ya, Boss's wife...but you weren't too quiet yourself. Either that, or you sure call to God a lot..."
Monica laughed as Shay buried her face against Frank's chest. "No hiding it now, Shay. You shouted to the heavens last night, girlfriend."
Shay had the nerve to look piqued. "Oh, come on! I wasn't that loud."
Frank chuckled deeply. "Well...let's just say on the scale of one to ten..."
"That you better shut-up before I make Lorena Bobbit look like Little Miss Suzy Sunshine," Shay snapped.
'Ohhhkay," Frank replied, grinning. "What were you saying about target practice?"
"Yeah...do we get to pick the targets?" Shay asked, glancing sternly at Cody.
"Hey..."
"Mornin' guys." Frankie piped up softly. "I hope everyone slept good."
Everyone turned to see Frankie standing behind them, dressed in a pair of black jean shorts and a red low-cut tank, her hair twisted up into a clip. Her boots were on, but unlaced and Jake was nowhere to be seen. "What?" she asked.
"You hope WE all slept good?" Shay asked with a giggle. "YOU hope? Oh 'She Who Bounces The Energizer Bunny Until..' " she checked her watch, " 8 a.m.?"
"Oh, that." Frankie giggled softly and sat down to lace her boots up. "Jake's rather... ahh... amorous in the mornings. This morning, while most excellent, was nothing compared to a few others."
Tyler looked at Christian, who looked at Cody, who looked at Frank. If THAT noise they'd all heard this morning was excellent but paled compared to others, their neighbors must really hate them.
"Morning!! What's on the plate for today?" Jake smiled and fairly chirped as he joined the group. "What's for breakfast? I'm starved!"
All the guys looked at Jake while the girls all bust out laughing.
"What?" Jake asked, completely confused.
"Hey Jake, I need to ask you a question." Tyler grinned and put his arm around Jake's shoulder, leading him off to another part of the campsite.
"Wait!! I need to ask him too!!" Christian shouted and followed after.
Frank looked at Shay with a grin, and then silently followed after them. Cody was left behind with an indignant look on his face.
"Well, it's not like I have a reason to ask him..." He looked over... then took off running for the group.
All the women just fell down giggling hysterically.
"Ohhhh good heavens," Monica wheezed out. "They are all so damned transparent!"
"What do you mean?" Katie asked.
Alex sobered up a bit and winked. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"
Shay laughed and put her arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "They're all over there trying to figure out a polite way of asking Jake how he keeps it up for so long. If they can get Jake to share some of his tips and secrets, then I think we're all in trouble later on tonight!"
All five of them dissolved into giggles again, leaving the guys to turn around with some devilish looks on their faces... and one pink-cheeked Jake standing in the middle.
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bows, arrows and mischievous men....what good can come of that? ....find out next chapter!