Today is my birthday, second one I've had since finding this place. I'm going to work, and then I'm going to drink with some beautiful freaks, but first I'm gonna post this for you all, and for my favourite TigerCat, who is unleashed on the world again.

Work/school/granny warning is in full force for this one.

I don't own Skins, but it would make me a lovely birthday present, don't you think?

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26. For The Thrill

Emily

"Well how the fuck are we going to get that ashore?" I said, still stood dripping in my wetsuit, staring at the large chunk of metal currently sat incriminatingly on the dive platform at the back of Effy's boat.

"It's not exactly discreet, is it?" added Cat.

But what it was, was perfect. A section of pipe clearly displaying both the dual core, and a stamped serial number that would match up and corroborate Stingray's electronic evidence. We had taken full advantage of Cat's underwater photography skills to take plenty of shots in situ, but here was a piece of concrete irrefutable evidence in our hands. Our problem now was how to get it to where it was needed next.

The dive itself had gone like clockwork, Cat and I hitting the water at dawn with Effy keeping watch up top. The last time I had been here I'd been carrying explosives, and it was a real challenge to keep my breathing regular, and control the Nitrox mixture I needed to breathe safely at the increased depth. The high I'd gotten from it had been incredible. Being able to release after ruling over myself with an enforced calm I wasn't actually feeling sent me hyper. The dull boom of the underwater explosion when Effy flicked the detonator had me dancing on the roof of the boat. Over the years I had left behind the shy little teenager I had been, and developed into a full on adrenaline junkie, seeking out adventure on the wave, but dicing with real danger like that had been a whole new experience. The buzz had stayed with me the whole of the next day. Perhaps that had been why I had reacted so positively to Naomi's reckless dirty shag behind the Post Office, still wanting to ride the wave of irresponsibility. And why I had found it so easy to tell her I loved her that night, buoyed up on a tide of emotion.

This time it was different. Before there had been more physical danger, but we had had the element of surprise. Although the risk had been there, neither of us had really expected to be caught. This time I had spent the whole time under the water expecting to resurface to the shadow of the coastguard's boat, and find Effy under arrest. The enforced slowness of our ascent from depth had been excruciating, and both Cat and I had to keep each other calm and focussed on our breathing. For the first time the sea had felt like a foreign entity that could betray us. I soon as we breached, I spat out my regulator and ripped my mask off, casting my eyes about wildly seeking out the threat that wasn't there.

The relief had been immense, but it wasn't over yet. We couldn't exactly rock back up into the harbour with this big chunk of pipe without arousing some kind of suspicion amongst the prying eyes of the village.

"So how are we going to get it ashore?" I asked Effy, confident that she had some kind of plan.

"Looks like I'm going to have to reveal some of my secrets," she grinned.

Cat laughed at the look on my face.

"I'm guessing that's not something that happens very often," she said cheekily.

"I would say almost never," I confirmed.

"We all have to make sacrifices for the cause," said Effy, pushing the pipe off the back of the boat so that we could tow it to our destination unseen.

Two hours later we were approaching the shores near home.

"Now might be a good idea to fill us in on the plan," I said.

"We have to wait for the tide," replied Effy. "If we get caught before then, the less you know the better."

I frowned. I knew what she was saying made sense, but I figured we were already in so deep, we should be trusting each other with everything. We had all put ourselves on the line for this after all.

"Don't worry, Emily. All will be revealed," said Effy softly.

I tried to relax after that, mainly because I knew that Effy always kept her promises, but I couldn't settle. The next hour was spent fidgeting and pacing, as much as one could actually pace on a small boat. I could feel Effy's eyes following me round, and I knew she was silently laughing at me.

"How can you stay so fucking calm?" I said, rounding on her.

"You don't want to know," she said with a glint in her eye.

"What have you taken?" I said accusingly. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't take any drugs on this trip."

"I'm clean," replied Eff, holding up her hands. "You don't want to know because it involves thinking about parts of your sister's anatomy you probably don't want to be dwelling on."

"Oh gross," I said in alarm as Effy's special smile lit up her face. When she went to her happy Katie place she became invincible. A whole fleet of coastguards could rock up and it wouldn't stop her smiling. I reckoned she wouldn't even crack under torture, if she had Katie on her mind. Sometimes she looked like she would snap in a hefty breeze, but Effy was pure titanium, and one of the strongest women I knew. The other one was Katie, so maybe they were a perfect match after all.

After another hour, Effy gracefully poured herself out of the deckchair she had been lounging in.

"Its time," she said.

She went to the bridge and fired up the boat. Guiding us along the shore to a rocky section with black jagged cliffs, not entirely dissimilar to the landscape close to my secret lagoon. Effy ignored the warning sign of an unmanned lighthouse perched on top of one of the rocks, and navigated us right into their midst. With anyone else as captain, it would have been a nerve-racking journey, and I could see Cat gripping tightly onto the deck rail, attempting to appear calm, but I trusted Effy completely. In the hands of any skilled craftsperson or artist, their equipment becomes and extension of themselves, and the use of it instinctive. When it came to handling boats Effy was certainly an artist. I don't know many people who could have negotiated a craft of this size through the hazards that this stretch of water presented, but it seemed that Effy knew it intimately, dancing us a delicate pathway between the rocks. Up ahead I spotted the dark entrance to what looked like a cave, and my mouth dropped open as we headed straight for it.

"Your not the only one with a special low tide secret place, you know," she said, as she poked the nose of the boat into the cave.

"How the fuck do you…?" I started to ask her, but gave up halfway through the sentence. There was no way to explain Effy sometimes. She just always fucking knew.

My levels of astonishment grew even higher as Effy manoeuvred the boat deeper into the cave, switching on the searchlights so she could find her way in the dark. The rocks opened out and we entered a larger chamber. In the artificial light it looked spooky and beautiful. Effy moored the boat next to a sturdy metal ladder that was fixed into the wall, and immediately started climbing.

"Give me a minute," she said over her shoulder, leaving me and Cat exchanging amused excited glances back on deck.

"I so want to go up that ladder," grinned Cat.

Suddenly banks of lights set high in the roof of the chamber kicked into life illuminating the whole space. Cat was off up the ladder like a shot, and it didn't take me long to follow. When I got to the top I was greeted by a smug looking Effy.

"Welcome to the office," she said, gesturing to an opening behind her. I passed through a door in the rock, and found myself in another chamber. This one looked like a warehouse, which it effectively was. There were boxes and boxes of booze and fags on the shelves, various high end electrical goods, and even a fancy motorbike. At one end of the shelving, there were several large safes, no doubt containing drugs and money. It was a far slicker operation than I had ever anticipated, she had always seemed so casual and lackadaisical about her affairs. I had always imagined some kind of amateur drug smuggling, mostly to feed her own impressive use and sell to her mates, but it seemed Effy was closer to being her mother's daughter than she liked us to believe.

"You've got an actual smugglers' cave," I said, shaking my head.

"I didn't think it was possible for you to get any cooler, but I think I might need to revise that statement," said Cat.

"A girl's got to earn a crust," shrugged Effy.

"Except you don't, do you Effy?" I said.

One of the secrets Effy had shared with me was that her mother had made sure she had more money than she would ever need. Effy's simple lifestyle meant that she had hardly touched it for her own pleasures, but in some kind of strange ethical money laundering, she used it to invest in and support green businesses, and I knew there was a school somewhere in Mauritania that owed it's existence to Effy's creative usage of her mother's dirty money.

"So why do you do it?" asked Cat.

"For the thrill," replied Effy.

I got it. After my adrenalin-soaked adventures as a Sea Ninja, I could see how the risk could become addictive, especially for someone like Effy, who lived for the thrill. I suddenly became concerned for the welfare of my sister's heart.

"What about Katie?" I asked, sparking off another firecracker of a smile.

"I'd stop it if she asked me to," said Effy.

"You'd do that for her?" I said.

"Don't you know she's the biggest thrill of all?" she grinned.

"I've primed my contact who can get this to the press," said Cat, once we had winched the pipeline up from the boat to the storeroom. "We just need to be able to get it up to London somehow."

"Got it covered," said Effy, with her usual economy of words.

"How?" I asked her to elaborate.

"Rubbish Pete," she replied casually.

Rubbish Pete was a guy who rocked up here from London every now and then. He was some kind of office dude in real life, and he had earned his nickname, because try as he might, he was absolutely crap at surfing. It didn't seem to deter him though, he had a smart looking new van and a range of Katie's finest equipment. But even though he enthusiastically flung himself into the water every time he came here, he never seemed to get any better. I felt so sorry for him, I even offered him some free lessons one time, but his natural incompetence seemed to defeat even my advanced teaching skills. Some of the local dickheads seemed to get annoyed with his amateurishness, but he was a nice enough bloke, and it's not like anyone can own the sea. As long as he was happy in the water, did it really matter that he wasn't any good?

"Are you sure we can trust him?" I questioned Effy. "I didn't know you even knew him that well."

"He may be a rubbish surfer, in fact he actually hates it, but he's an excellent delivery man. He's been working for me for the past two years. Discretion guaranteed," grinned Effy.

"Fuck, I had no idea," I gasped.

"I wanted to protect you, Emily," replied Effy. "But now we're all criminals together so what the hell."

"So when do we meet with him?" said Cat.

"We don't," answered Effy. "That's the beauty of the system. There's a hidden land based entry to this place. He collects the package, we give him a time and a place, and everything is taken care of."

I found myself bursting out into laughter, as the tension of the last week, exploded casually out of my body. If I was going to break the law to save the world, I could do a lot worse than pick a partner with an inherited genius for crime. We were actually going to fucking get away with this, and my head was filled with dangerous urges to do more. Cat must have recognised the glint in my eye.

"Stand down soldier," she told me. "Discretion is the better part of valour. I really hope to work with you and Effy again sometime, but for now you need to lie low."

"So how about we get the fuck out of here before we lose the tide?" said Effy, grabbing a case of the expensive champagne that always seemed to inhabit her fridge from one of the shelves.

"Ninjas, to the sea," said Cat, and headed back to the ladder.

"This isn't over for us, is it Eff?" I said.

All I got back was one of Effy's infuriating stares, but it held a mirror up to me and gave me my own answer. However much we might tell ourselves we were doing it for the planet, there was always going to be a part of us that was doing it for the thrill.

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They were waiting for us when we eventually got back to the harbour, and I was treated to the almost unprecedented sight of Katie running, as the pair of them sprinted down the jetty. She didn't hold my attention for long though. I became rapidly mesmerised by the moving form of my wonderful blonde. She wasn't much more of a natural runner than Katie, but right then she was still pretty much the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. My heart started beating faster as it anticipated the point of impact, when I could throw myself into her arms, and feel that wonderfully addictive body pressed close to mine again. Her long legs easily outpaced Katie, and she somehow managed to leap from the jetty to the boat, before I'd even fixed the ropes or attached the gangplank.

"Wow, that was impressive," I managed to squeeze out, before the air was taken from me in a crushing embrace. She had no words for me, and instead sang me a whole iPod full of passionate love songs in the searching energy of her kiss. As always I had absolutely nothing to fight back with, and I felt myself opening up to her completely in the face of that glorious intensity. I would have let myself be swept away without a trace, were it not for the timely intervention of my sister.

"Oi lezzers, tie the fucking boat up. Not all of us are about to go all Jack Sparrow on your ass," said Katie.

"I'm on it," laughed Cat, throwing the ropes ashore, and jumping after them to moor us to the bollards. Inevitably, my eyes drifted back to Naomi, who began to touch my face as if it were the first time she'd seen it.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," she said softly, her blue eyes radiating a shimmering density of emotion.

"I think I might have some idea" I replied, my hand almost shaking as I touched her cheek. What had I been thinking? The idea that I could possibly live without seeing this face every day was ridiculous. It felt like I had survived a car crash or something. During the crisis my body's survival systems had kicked in to keep me calm and in control. But now that I was safe again, the flood of fight chemicals flushed itself through me, making me hyper and more than a little dazed. Our eyes locked, and we tentatively touched each other as if making sure the other was real. The tiniest of those touches held me captive. They held weight. Right now those touches were the most important interactions of the planet. They were more than words, more than poetry or grand gestures of love. And that was where Naomi was different. Her touch was so much more than a surface stimulation. Every tactile moment penetrated right through to my heart.

We were distracted by the sound of a loud thud of to our left, and broke the gaze to see Katie practically manhandling Effy down the stairs, whilst all the while keeping her trapped inside a vicious game of tonsil hockey.

"I guessing that might be our cue to leave," said Cat.

"Sure, yeah," I said. "Do you want to come with us and get something to eat, or something."

"No thanks," she smiled. "All this love in the air is making me seriously miss my honey. I'm gonna go back to my place and Skype her. Besides, I think it might be counted as a crime against humanity to keep you from that blonde a moment longer than necessary."

I watched her go, before turning back to my lover. Strong, brave, beautiful, funny Cat. I was going to miss her, but she would no doubt be happy doing what she did best – loving her girl and saving the fucking planet. Naomi was waiting for me when I turned back to her, her face still alive with passion. She still hadn't said anything, but when she did, it made me tremble.

"I want you," she whispered.

"Where?" I replied breathlessly.

"Anywhere," she told me.

I didn't take her home. I didn't take her back to the cottage. That would have been too normal, and I wasn't ready to give up the adventure just yet. Instead I drove her to the Fitchwater boathouse. All the way over there she had clung to me as tightly as she could manage, her fingers tightening and extending against my stomach. Again, I rejoiced in her touch, in this precious contact that meant so much to me. I used to wonder about falling in love. I'd imagined finding some intellectual soulmate, or some fit adventure girl I could share experiences with, but I had never imagined that so much of love would be about the physical. I'm not just talking about the fucking, though God knows that was spectacular enough. I had just somehow imagined that love would be more ethereal. I had never thought that so much of the emotion would be understood and communicated through touch, that if I were to somehow lose my other senses, I would still know that Naomi loved me.

I let us into the boathouse, and opened up the big boat doors to reveal what I had been hoping to find. The boathouse sat on a small river that opened straight out onto the sea. We were almost at the summer solstice, and despite the lateness of the hour, the sun was still hovering above the horizon, but starting to cast long evening shadows, and lighting up everything with a deliciously warm orangey glow. Naomi came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me from behind, as I looked out at the sun leaving a diamond trail across the water. I turned round to see her beautiful face illuminated in that gorgeous light, and I could contain myself no longer. I grabbed a handful of her top and pulled her to me, trapping her in an open mouthed kiss. A kiss that was a promise. A kiss that was the start of something. She responded immediately, her tongue robbing me of any self control, and dragging me willingly down the path of abandon. I wanted her to overwhelm me.

"I want you to fuck me like last time," I hissed in her ear. "I want you take me over."

Naomi didn't hesitate. She grabbed me, picked me up and threw me over her shoulder. I would have wondered where such a geeky kid got her strength, but Effy once told me that the chemicals that run through our brain when we are in love are more powerful than any drug, that they can make us superhuman. And Naomi was most definitely a woman in love. She set me back down on the jetty, and leapt down into one of Dad's speedboats, immediately turning to reach up her arms and lift me down to join her. Her next passionate kiss steered us towards the padded bench seating at the back of the boat, one hand pressed into the small of my back to push me towards her, the other already pushing away layers of clothing and reaching for my breast.

"Oh fuck," I groaned into her mouth as her hand reached its destination, squeezing me through the fabric of my bra.

"You got that right, angel," she told me, pushing me down onto the seat and attacking my neck with hungry kisses.

I pulled her down on top of me, and rolled my body against hers, already wet and desperate for the feel of her inside me.

"How do you make me want you so much?" I said as she dragged my hoodie from my body.

"I don't know," she replied. "But I'm fucking glad I do."

She pushed my T-shirt up and licked my belly, her hands pushing my thighs apart and shoving her tits against my groin.

"Need to get you nekkid, Ems," she said, undoing the button of my jeans and pulling the zip down with relish. "There's something in here that I want."

And Oh God did I want to give it to her.

I raised my hips to help her as she pulled my jeans away from me, casting aside her own top and bra as she did so, leaving her completely topless and me grasping desperately for that beautiful flesh. She grabbed my wrists, and pushed them back over my head.

"Not so fast, Ms. Fitch," she said, ramming her hip bone between my thighs, and making me gasp. "You're mine now."

I wanted to tell her that I was pretty much going to be hers forever, but I thought it prudent not to interrupt. She seized me with an invasive kiss, still pinning me down and grinding into me with her hip. I opened my mouth and my legs for her. I loved the feeling of her dominating me. I had never let myself go like this for anyone before I met her, and I'm pretty sure Naomi had never been quite such an aggressive sex fiend, but somehow we seemed to inspire it in each other. I let her take me with deep kiss after deep penetrating kiss, wanting to be her prisoner, wanting her to trap me with her weight as she made me wetter and wetter.

"You're fucking beautiful," she told me. "But I need more flesh."

"Take it," I told her. "Take whatever you want."

Her eyes flared with furious lust and she released my wrists so she could pull me to sitting and drag my T-shirt over my head. I wrapped my arms around her back, and closed my mouth around her tit, taking her nipple in my teeth and flicking my tongue rapidly across it. The unbelievably gorgeous sound of her moan, and the way she arched her back into me as she straddled me, made me hungry, and I moved my mouth to her other tit whilst reaching up and grabbing the one I had just abandoned with my hand. I buried myself into her pliant flesh. It never ceased to amaze me how wonderful it felt to taste her like this. The deepening intensity of the light from the setting sun painted itself across her torso, and she writhed in front of me as she let me worship her. I felt my own aggression rising, and I almost turned the tables on us, but I felt Naomi's hand grab into my hair, and seconds later I was yanked away from my feeding frenzy and was held tantalisingly just out of reach of my precious treasure. I attempted to struggle, and wrap my mouth round her once more, but she held me firm.

"Nu huh," she said, as she undid the clasp of my bra with one hand. "My turn.

She pushed me back down onto my back, casually tossing my bra over her head. I think it may have landed in the water, but I had no time to worry about such trivial matters, as Naomi had pinned my hands above my head again, and was licking at my nipples with long, flat strokes of her tongue. My ravenous hips bucked up against her, but she used the full weight of her body to keep me pushed back into the seat whilst she had her way with me. I watched her as she licked, and sucked and bit at my breasts. Every now and again she would raise her head to make sure I was watching her, and to gauge my reaction to each of the countless new pleasures she would inflict upon me. Even with a saucy look she could have me moaning and squirming and pushing myself back up against her. The pleasure was so intense, I wasn't entirely sure I was going to survive her fucking me. But in the end I didn't really have much choice, because I definitely wasn't going to survive if she didn't fuck me.

"Oh fuck, what are you doing to me?" I cried as she kissed her way down to the hem of my knickers, and simultaneously scraped her nails down the inside of my thigh.

"I'm taking you to another dimension in which I rule the world," she quipped. "And on NaomiCampbellWorld pants are illegal. So these…"

She pinged the elastic on my knickers.

"These are going to have to go," she said, sliding the offending garment down my legs.

She slid her hands back up my legs towards my thighs, all the while keeping her eyes focussed on her glistening wet target.

"Oh Fuck, I can't wait any more," she said, entering me with two fingers and pushing deep inside me.

"Fuck, you're beautiful, Ems," she said, with pure honesty in her eyes, and I shuddered under her touch.

"Show me," I begged her, as the friction began to light its beautiful fire inside me.

Naomi was done with words. She needed her mouth for more important tasks. She closed her lips around my breast, sucking me hard. She knew what I wanted and she brought me right to the tipping point between pain and pleasure, attacking my soft flesh with teeth and tongue, whilst she began pumping in and out of me. I was desperate for her, and my body undulated frantically beneath her, not knowing which of her proffered pleasures I was craving the most. Once again, I felt myself becoming wanton in her hands. I was a proud and powerful woman, I was a skilled surfer and a badass eco-warrior, I had control of my own destiny and could do what I wanted, but the thrill of giving myself to Naomi like this was unparalleled. I'll admit I used to sometimes take the piss out of Effy for being such a lovesick wimp over Katie, but just like she always did, Effy had known. Effy had known what it is to love. What she had waited for all those years, was this. This moment of absolute abandon to the one woman with the strength to own you completely and yet whom you could still trust to see you came to no harm. It was the ultimate rush, faster than a rollercoaster and more unpredictable than the wave. It made your heart beat faster than a bungee jump, and took you higher than cocaine. And I wanted all of it, and more.

Naomi's whole focus was upon me. I could feel her, not just in the glorious hard fuck of her thrusts and the savage motions of her mouth. Those were just the beginning. I could feel her. Every time she pushed into me I could feel her beautiful spirit. With each breath that strained with the effort, with each of her hungry moans, with each touch of her confident fingers as she claimed her property, with each glance from her desire ravaged eyes. Our sweat-coated bodies slid against each other, the tops of my legs were coated in my juices, and the taste of each other's spit lingered our mouths. We were etching ourselves into each other's flesh with scratches and bruises. This was raw, it was elemental, and yet it spoke of an exquisite emotional intimacy. There was nothing between us anymore. This violent clashing of skin and blood and muscle and bones was nothing less than a fusion of souls. I screamed her name with the volume of an opera singer, and she smiled and fucked me harder. I flung my limbs asunder. I wrapped myself around her. And all the while she pushed me and pushed me relentlessly to get me where she wanted me. To the point where she could look me in the eyes and watch me come. It was getting closer. Naomi the Barbarian was here to ravish me, and I was all for being ravished. Both of us were screaming our heads off, and smashing ourselves against each other. Something had to give before we reached critical mass and set of some crazy nuclear reaction that could devastate the earth.

Successive surges of sensation stared to ripple through my cunt, taking me close but not quite pushing me over. I let them wash over me. It was like waiting for my wave, watching and waiting anticipating and feeling. Waiting for the one. The one I was going to ride all the way home. Then I felt it. My eyes snapped up to meet Naomi's, that were waiting for me, filled with smiles. I gave her what she wanted. I let her throw me off the cliff, and I let her watch me fall, knowing she'd be there to catch me at the other end. I came hard, and came again. I lost myself in the fog of love and it felt like flying. When we shuddered to a halt I started laughing. It was the same laugh as I had laughed the day me and Effy had jumped out of a plane for her twenty-first birthday. A laugh that sprang from the mere joy of living, from the truth of knowing what it felt like on the edge. Naomi collapsed in exhaustion on my chest and joined in with her own laughter.

"Fucking hell, Ems," she said. "What was that?"

"That was us," I shrugged.

"We're kinda awesome, baby," she said, smiling lazily up at me.

"Don't ever forget it, Naoms," I urged her.

"I think that would be pretty much impossible," she assured me.

She peeled herself away from my lazy-limbed body, stood up and offered me her hand. I let her drag me to standing, and then she picked up my discarded hoodie from the floor of the boat, and popped it over my head. We climbed up onto the nose of the speedboat and sat side by side to watch the sun starting to dip below the horizon. She put an arm around my shoulders, and I snuggled into her, as we watched the display of pinks and reds and oranges dance their way across the sky, illuminating the clouds into our very own transitory masterpiece. It was breathtaking, a moment that would etch itself onto my brain forever. When the last fragment of the fiery disc had disappeared beyond the dark sea, Naomi turned to face me.

"I don't really need to say it, do I?" she asked me.

"No you don't," I replied. "I know."

"Don't ever forget it, yeah?" she said.

"Yeah," I nodded, the beginnings of tears in my eyes.

The walls of the boathouse began to glow from the strings of solar powered fairy lights that hung along the walls as the light from outside started to fade. We weren't done here yet. I drew Naomi in towards a tender kiss, but suddenly flipped us, so that I had her trapped her against the deck of the boat.

"Oh yeah?" she looked up at me challengingly.

"Ms Campbell, you are under arrest," I said. "You are not obliged to say anything, but anything you do say may be taken down and used in evidence against you."

"On what charges?" laughed Naomi.

"Well, I'm not sure," I said. "But I'm pretty sure you are harbouring an illegal item under here."

I unzipped her jeans and dragged them down her legs, and then crawled back up her body.

"Much as I expected," I nodded. "Pants. How do you plead?"

"Guilty," smirked Naomi.

"You do realise I am going to have to subject you to the full weight of the law for this?" I grinned.

Can the human eye actually twinkle in real life? Cause I'm pretty sure Naomi's ice blue wonders were doing exactly that.

"Bring it on," she smiled.

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I woke up to bright sunlight streaming through the doors of the boathouse. I was lying half naked, practically on top of Naomi, under a couple of the fleecy blankets we kept for when we took passengers out in the speedboats. I lifted my head to find her already awake. I don't know how she does it, but even with messed up hair and make up smudged around her eyes, she managed to look impossibly beautiful. I shuffled up her body till I could tenderly take her lips with mine. We kissed softly, as flashbacks flooded my brain, and stirred a fresh desire that snaked its way through my body. I started to kiss my way down her neck, until I noticed a red mark down the length of her jugular vein. I ran the tips of my fingers slowly down it.

"Was that me?" I said tentatively, but I was shocked by her reply.

"I don't want to ever go through that again," she said seriously.

"What?" I said in confusion. Hadn't last night been beautiful?

"I can't do it," she said, cutting into my soul. "It might work for Katie, but it doesn't work for me. I'll drive the boat. I don't know, I'll even make the fucking sandwiches, but next time I'm coming with you."

My panic subsided and I breathed a sigh of relief when I realised what she was talking about.

"What makes you think there'll be a next time?" I asked her.

She shifted her weight until we were both lying said by side, our eyes only inches apart.

"I know you Emily," she said, playing with the loose strands of my hair. "I know you."

She was right. She knew me more intimately than any other human being on earth. And she knew as well as I did that this wasn't an end to it. Some day I would take to the sea again. For the planet, for my lover. For the thrill.