CHAPTER 25

BRAVO GOES TO THE BEACH – after 6x01

Saturday morning Mandy woke up quite sore. And it had nothing to do with sex; she was having some back pain that she was sure was caused by long hours driving around the city, getting traffic, and then longs hours sitting and working on her computer. She was hating her new desk job life more and more. She heard Jason snoring beside her, and was wondering where the hell was Cerb, because he usually stares at them asking for food every morning as they wake up, but then she remembered that Jason left him at Ray's place the night before, so he could run and play with his kids for a couple of days.

She honestly thought about spending the whole morning in bed to recover. She wasn't even in the mood for sex, not that Jason was able to do anything, because Mandy literally carried him out of The Bulkhead the night before.

She had to laugh when she was carrying Jason at the parking lot and looked to her sides and saw Emma carrying Brad, Naima carrying Ray, and Lisa carrying Sonny. Brock had disappeared an hour before that, with a red-haired in his arms. The girls laughed their asses off when they saw that ridiculous scene, and Emma took a selfie of the guys semi-conscious being carried by the girls. It was an amazing night, on which all the girls got together to gossip some news, laugh and complain about the guys; and the guys drank, and laughed, and played the pool, and drank some more, and suddenly they were betting tequila shots during the pool game, and in the middle of all that Lisa showed up and the night was even better. She told the girls hours earlier that she would be at DC and would get out of there too late, but she decided to go to the bar anyways and it was great. Mandy couldn't even imagine that she'd have such a great time after how the night had started. She was popping some painkillers throughout that night, to endure until whenever Jason decided to leave, because she didn't want to ruin the night for him. She wasn't feeling much pain then; however, she was feeling it now.

But when the girls were still at the bar, they decided to get together the next day – since they weren't drinking, and therefore, wouldn't be hungover – to spend the day at the beach. Not too early, because they weren't sadistic enough, but around noon. They made that plan after they complained about how the guys get to always hang out for hours and days, and yet the girls couldn't find time to hang out together for weeks. Naima remembered that the last time they saw each other all together, was at Brian's baby shower, and Lisa wasn't even there. So at the end of the night, they made their plans and arrangements, and Emma and Brad were staying at Naima's anyways, since Jason's apartment only had one bed and no extra mattresses, and it was late when they left. So it was decided; they would all get together the next day and be happy and relaxed women together. And if their men wanted to join them fine; if not, who cares.

Jason woke up during the morning thirsty and with a slight headache. He sat on the bed and wasn't even sure about where he was and what day it was. He heard a water sound then he recognized his own apartment. Suddenly he was hit by a headache and moaned. He stayed still for a few moments and then finally could get up. He was used to drinking and mixing drinks, and it wasn't normal for him to have a strong hangover, but still, it was quite annoying. He walked to the bathroom to see if the shower was on or if he was imagining things. He opened the door and Mandy was showering in his bathroom. He thought he was dreaming. It took him a while to remember that she was there and it was Saturday.

Mandy was showering with some very hot water massaging her back, trying to numb her back pain, when suddenly the door opened and Jason was there, just standing on the entrance and looking at her, with a hand rubbing his beard. He had a weird face, and she imagined he was having a huge hangover. "Hey, I thought you were gonna sleep until later" Mandy turned to him. He didn't say anything, and even though it was a warm day, a cold draft of air was flowing into the bathroom. "Jace, could you please close the door? There's a draft".

Jason obediently got in and closed the door. "What day is it?" he suddenly asked, confused. Mandy shivered instantly, because she wasn't sure if it was his hangover or his TBI leaving him confused. She opened the shower door to answer him and see his reaction, "Saturday. Why? You okay?"

"Yeah. Just woke up. I'm a little confused. Hungover." Jason said, blinking his eyes.

Mandy was still concerned and felt very protective of him. She reached her hand out of the shower. "Come take a shower with me Jace. It'll help". Jason stayed quiet and started to walk into the shower with his boxers, and Mandy stopped him, and then he realized. He took out his boxers, slowly, and took her hand to walk in. Mandy came closer to him and saw his sleepy face that she loved so much, smirking at her, and she hoped his confusion was only transitory. "Hi" she said to him, caressing his face. "I missed you" he said. Mandy now was even more concerned "I just saw you yesterday, Jace", she said with a shaky voice. Jason opened a charming smile, still with a sleepy face, "I know. I didn't forget, it's not my TBI. I just missed you this week". He kissed her and she relaxed, apparently he was just a bit hungover. But she still wasn't sure, and she would keep an eye on him.

They just kissed lazily under the shower, then they scrubbed and shampooed each other. Jason was finally waking up from his hangover haze and Mandy told him about the plan that the girls have concocted the night before. He thought it was a great idea, but he knew that maybe the guys wouldn't be able to attend. He'd have to check with them. But Mandy said that the girls would all go anyways, and they all confirmed during text messages that morning. Mandy even mentioned to the girls that she knew the owner of a place where they could go for brunch before going to the beach, and said that maybe he could do some special discount for everyone, because the last time she and Jason were there, he told her that any friends she brought would have a table and get 'special treatment', as the wealthy people always say. Which made the girls even more excited, because they all knew which restaurant Mandy was talking about.

Soon after they got out of the shower, Mandy called Mr Henryson and asked him if he had any spare table that she and her friends could sit at his place, mentioning it was a big party, from 8 to 10 people, knowing that it would be okay if he didn't have any, since it was so last minute, and she promised that it wouldn't be an issue because they could gladly go to his place on Sunday or any other day. But he immediately told her that the great thing about being a restaurant owner is that you own everything in there, including the tables and the food, so he of course would prepare an amazing table for them right away. And when Mandy asked, a bit embarrassed, how much would the discount he mentioned the other day be, because she needed to tell them in advance, he said that she was family, and that he liked to think of him as her family too, and friends of the family are guests, and not customers. She had tears in her eyes when he said that, especially because over the last five years she wasn't keeping in touch with him as much as she used to, because she was traveling so much with Bravo or the Agency.

...

It was around 1130 when Mandy and Jason were almost ready to go to the beach and meet up with the girls and the team. They'd park their cars near Jason's apartment, where there was a sidewalk with a great parking space and the perfect spot for them in the sand. They would walk from there to the restaurant and then come back to the beach and hang out there.

Mandy was just trying to reach the end of a zipper on the upper back of her dress, to close it, and she felt the pain on her back again. It was coming and going now. She moaned in pain and Jason heard her and volunteered to help.

"Zip it up, Jace", Mandy laughed at him while he teased her, opening the dress instead of closing it. He kissed her softly on her back and closed the dress. Mandy tried to disguise a shiver that she felt with his gesture, but he noticed.

"There's plenty of time, you know" he started to kiss her neck, that was exposed because her hair was loosely braided, "I can come as fast as a teenager if I have to", he joked, grabbing her ass over her light turquoise dress. Mandy seriously considered his proposal, but it took her a while to braid her hair so nicely, especially with her back pain, and she was afraid that if she started having sex with him now, she'd want more than a few minutes with him. Which was actually why she denied his other sex propositions that morning, because she had to gather all of his beach stuff and find out where the hell was the only bikini that she always kept in his apartment, and it took her more than an hour to do all of those things. Especially because she found her bathing suit inside of Jason's underwear drawer, and he didn't want to say what it was doing in there.

So she, again, denied his proposal and went to the kitchen to take another painkiller before leaving to the beach. Jason didn't know that her back was hurting that bad and volunteered for a quick massage. Mandy raised an eyebrow, and he said that it was a real massage, cockily explaining that he was great at it, because Seals are actually trained to know some techniques in case they suffer from muscles pain or cramps during ops. So since they could spare a few minutes, she agreed and was about to sit on the chair, but Jason insisted that it was better to be laying with the belly down, so she did. He straddled Mandy, opened the dress, rubbed his hands, and started to massage her back, neck, shoulder and arms.

Mandy felt like she was melting from his big hands, he was giving a perfect pressure that reached deep in her muscles, stopping to loosen some trigger points. She tried not to, but she hummed twice. She didn't want to inflate his ego more than it already was, because after the fame he achieved in her neighborhood as The Hottest Man Of The Street, she was truly concerned that he would be unstoppable.

Mandy was almost sleeping with Jason's massage, then when she hummed again, unable to hold it, he suddenly closed her dress. "Time to go, come on. Feeling better?"

"U-huuum" She lazily answered, and felt him climbing down the bed. She got up, missing the warmth of his hands already, and he was already getting the beach chairs, sunshades and towels, waiting for her by the door to get her bag and cooler.

Turns out that when you say that there's free quality food, any man would attend. So when the girls mentioned to the guys that they would get the 'guest treatment' at Mr Henryson's restaurant, everyone was more than ready to go. Especially because Jason had already described to the guys about how amazing the food was. They decided to use a great method to battle the hangover, which is to continue drinking alcohol in the morning after, although in a more restrained way than the night before.

The loud group arrived at the door of the restaurant at noon, with Mandy and Jason at the front. The girls were all wearing beautiful dresses over their bathing suits, and beautiful accessories, looking relaxed but also like chic women from Cannes or some island from Greece. They knew brunch could be an opportunity to put in some extra effort. The guys decided to spruce up too, so they put on their best colorful or hawaiian shirts with their black or khaki shorts, and combed their hair and beards. The boys were looking very playful but still handsome, the girls had to agree. And Brock was looking marvelous, the girls also agreed. He brought his red-haired girl with him, and she was looking great too. Emma borrowed a dress from Mandy and earrings from Naima, and she had a bathing suit at Jason's, for when she visited him and went to the beach. Brad borrowed a colorful shirt from Ray. But they both looked great as well.

"Oh hello Miss Ellis", Andrew greeted Mandy with his seductive accent, opening a huge smile at her. He nodded at Jason "Hello sir." And continued, "Mr Henryson made a quick exit but he'll be back soon, he asked me to take you and your friends to your table. It's all set. Just let me put the bracelets on your wrists first". The group was all excited and immediately let him put their bracelets on. Sonny was suspicious, but he'd do anything for free food. Andrew led the group to the same area where Jason and Mandy sat at their last brunch, but now there was a huge table there, decorated with pastel colored flowers and seashells. The group loved it.

They sat and the girls agreed on ordering mimosas and white sangria, and as soon as Jason raised a brow at Mandy, she dangerously asked if he had a problem with her having just a glass of something so harmless. He quickly said he had no problem at all. But then he raised two eyebrows at Emma, and she used the same words, except this time it didn't work so well. So she ordered a 'mimosa without the alcohol', which was basically orange juice. The guys asked for beer.

They ordered their food, with Jason pleading Sonny to only order one of the combinations of the menu, because it was a lot, serving two people. After much debate and the promise that Jason would donate his food to Sonny if he was feeling hungry in the end, he agreed to order just one combination. That serves two people. But just for him.

Mr Henryson approached the table raising his arms and greeting them from the middle of the restaurant. "Oh hello guys! Welcome to my restaurant" he went to where Mandy and Jason were sitting, sounding very happy to see them again. They stood up to thank him for receiving all of them. "Mr Henryson, thank you so much, I'm so sorry for the disturbance. I really can't tell you how much we're thankful for accommodating our group", Mandy said. Mr Henryson caressed Mandy's cheek, "Oh dear, but it makes me so happy knowing that you have so many friends now! And as I said before, you are my family. Unfortunately, you and I don't have a family of blood anymore, but I want to keep my family from the heart as close as I can". Mandy smiled with tears in her eyes. Jason was moved, too. "Sir, thank you for everything. And thank you so much for being so kind to Mandy, and taking care of her for all these years. And I'm sorry, in advance, if the group gets too loud. If you want to, I can make them shut up" he glanced at Sonny. But Mr Henryson was moved. "Oh my God Jason dear, you just keep getting more adorable each day I see you!", then he whispered to him "I'm so glad that Mandy chose you. It seems like I won't be building a new deck on the sand after all, huh". They both laughed about their inside joke.

Then Mr Henryson turned to the group and asked them to be free to order anything they'd want, and the group instantly thanked him for everything. They started chatting, and when Mr Henryson found out that they were from the Navy and these were their women, he called one girl from his crew to take the names of all of them, to be on The List, and told them the story of his late husband and how much he loves people from the Armed Forces. They were all moved and extremely thankful to Mr Henryson, and invited him to meet them at the beach that afternoon. He was very pleased about that, and he said that he usually stayed there at the restaurant for a few more hours, but he'd go there if he had the time, for sure.

Then the food came and it was a festival of 'ahhh' and 'ooooh' and 'ohmygod', and even Sonny confirmed that it was a lot of food. They ate, drank and laughed a lot, staying at the restaurant until around 1500 hours, practically rolling down the sand until they reached their spot at the beach.

After the group, that is, the guys arranged all the stuff at the beach, the boys sat on their chairs, with some of the sunshades open above them, already opening some more bottles and cans of beer, while a few feet away the girls started to take off their dresses and lay on their towels on the sand in their bathing suits. They were all complaining about how huge their bellies were from all of the food, and that next time they should go to the beach first and then have the brunch, but then they observed that they would be all sandy and wet at the restaurant. And in that meantime, the guys were staring at each of their girls getting undressed in front of them, under the sun, with the sea as background. Sonny tried to disguise his drool for Lisa when Ray and Jason glanced at him, and Brad nervously disguised his drool for Emma when Jason stared at him. But then Jason looked back at Mandy, all relaxed and stretched out on her towel, and he drooled too. Then all of a sudden the red-haired girl, that they now knew was called Jessica, said something, and all of the girls sat back up at the same time and called their guys to come. And they all quickly put their beers down and rushed to their ladies. They were all gentlemen.

Turns out, they needed 'big manly hands' to spread sunblock on their back and other parts of their bodies, ASAP.

Mandy obviously saw an opportunity there. As soon as Jason started to spread her sunblock on her back, she moaned and pretended to stretch her neck a bit, like having pain. She actually wasn't feeling any pain since he massaged her that morning, but she wanted to be sure. "Is your pain coming back?" Jason asked behind her, worried. "Yeah, a little. Could you massage there a bit? Since you're already spreading the sunblock". Jason agreed and started to massage her, but he warned her that maybe the massage wouldn't be so effective since she was standing up. But Mandy was feeling amazing nonetheless, so she just nodded and enjoyed it with her eyes shut. After Jason had no lotion to spread anymore, he whispered in her ear that she's all set, receiving an affectionate thanks from Mandy.

She sat back down on her towel, feeling relaxed and happy, and Naima, who was next to her, gave her a knowing look, "Seals give amazing massages, right?" she mentioned to Mandy. They laughed.

The girls kept sunbathing belly up, talking and listening to some music that was playing on one of their phones, when the guys decided to play volleyball in front of them, closer to the sea. Emma said that she was done tanning on her front and that she was ready to turn, and the other girls agreed. But Mandy said she was in a mood for coconut water, and Lisa wanted some too, so they both walked to a tent nearby to buy some. Jason and Sonny came out of nowhere as soon as they were ordering their coconut water. According to them, they were taking a break from the game. That started seven minutes ago.

"Hey, let me pay that for ya" Jason meddled in front of Mandy, and Sonny was doing the same with Lisa. Both of the girls tried to argue, but the guys quickly gave the seller their money. Mandy took a sip and smiled, and Jason asked for a sip. He said he didn't want one for himself, just a sip. He took many sips then.

"Why is it that guys never get a coconut for themselves" Mandy said, receiving her coconut back a lot lighter than when she gave it to him. But she couldn't complain much, since Jason paid for it.

"Well, we only remember how good it tastes after we take a sip. And I'd look ridiculous holding a coconut" Jason joked.

Mandy looked at him from head to toe. He was wearing some black shorts and his black hat with the US flag that he loves. And in between that, he was all big chest, shoulders, arms and forearms. He looked like an evil Superman, but with cute smile. Someone this hot could never look ridiculous, she thought.

"Say again your last?" Jason was looking at her, crossing his arms and laughing.

Mandy blinked, surprised. Then she realized that she murmured her thought out loud. "What?"

Jason came closer to her, saying in her ear, "You know, if you want to, I can put some more sunblock on ya. Make sure your back doesn't get all red. And your butt" he laughed at her.

Mandy noticed he was acting a lot more cockily than usual, and she was afraid he was realizing that she really enjoyed his massage. "No thanks, I'm good" she causally said, leaning against the pillar of the coconut tent.

"You sure then" Jason whispered at her, grazing a finger from the middle of her back to her butt. In the area covered by her bathing suit. "Oh my God, Jason" Mandy almost jumped. They were in a very public place. Although they were kind of hidden and no one was close. But still. "You do realize that when you're all cocky like this it turns a woman off, right?" she professionally lied. She needed to slap that excess of self confidence off of him.

It didn't work. "Oh, so when you do all your teasing stuff at me you're not being cocky?" Jason gesticulated, pointing at her body.

"What teasing stuff?" Mandy lied.

"The things you do sometimes, and I pretend to buy it. Like when you wore that pink lingerie. Or took off your shirt on top of me. Or wore the navy dress. Then you avoid contact, pretending you're doing it all unconsciously, you know, teasing" he enunciated, and Mandy was shocked that he got almost all of them right.

"Oh, come on. Why would I do that? When I could simply ask you to have sex and you'd always say yes", she said, now cockily.

"No I wouldn't" his voice raised an octave. He was indignant, and gesticulating "You know what, I'm a person. A human being. I have feelings. There could be moments that I won't be in a mood for sex and you'll have to convince me, ok".

Mandy stared at him. "Oh really? Because two minutes ago you were putting a finger on my butt"

"Oh yes, I was teasing. Feel good now?" he crossed his arms.

"Pff, please. You don't know how to tease. Guys never do", Mandy took a sip of the coconut and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, but I do. I just never needed to tease you, because you're always so desperate to have sex with me" he stared at her, and she knew she acted a little desperate for him lately, and now she was annoyed that he was throwing it at her face.

"We'll see who the desperate is" she muttered, aggressively putting the coconut on his hand. Bring it on, bitch, Mandy thought, this time to herself. And she started the game by rubbing her ass against him when she passed through him to leave the tent. But Jason held it together, muffling any sound he might let out.

Jason was anxiously walking when he came back to the volleyball game, still holding the coconut. He took a sip to calm down, and Sonny approached him, asking for a sip. He gave Sonny the whole coconut.

"Did you know that women think we don't know how to tease them?" Jason suddenly asked to Sonny, who was sipping the last drops of the coconut.

"Excuse me, boss?" Sonny asked in a dangerous voice.

"Yeah", Jason nodded at him, dramatically. "Just now Mandy said she doesn't even have to tease me because she could only ask for sex and it'd give it to her. Immediately".

"But wouldn't you?" Sonny was confused.

"Well, yeah. But she just assuming it is kinda disrespectful, right? She said that I can't tease her. Like as if she's the boss, and I could never convince her to have sex with me if she didn't want to already".

Sonny made an indignant face, and they both glanced at Mandy, who now was walking back to where the girls were with Lisa. They both said something and started laughing. Then they glanced at Sonny and Jason and laughed again, nodding.

"This is no good, boss. Women thinking that we're that easy, huh" Sonny grumpily concluded, still holding the coconut.

Mandy and Lisa arrived to where the girls were laying and continued to whisper about Sonny and Jason, noticing how they were obviously talking about them too. Mandy already knew that Lisa and Sonny had a thing, not because she told her, but because it was impossible not to notice, and Lisa knew that Mandy had a suspicion and was ok with it. So they decided to tease the boys a bit, to show them that they wouldn't be able to resist to them. They decided that they really needed to wet their bodies in the ocean, it was too hot.

Sonny and Jason we're playing volleyball with the rest of the boys and watched as Mandy and Lisa slowly walked in front of them, during a break of the game. The girls now had their hair loose and made a quick eye contact with them, passing their hands on their hair. Then they wet their feet in the water, laughing about the coldness of the sea, and bent to gather some more water with their hands and wet their arms, legs and bellies. And necks. And chests. And butts. And it wasn't a quick scene to watch, but Jason and Sonny watched it 'til the end, until Ray called them back to Earth, so they could resume playing.

Jason and Sonny glanced at each other, indignant with the game the girls were playing.

Mandy and Lisa walked slowly back to the girls' area, glancing at the boys and then at each other because that was too easy. They had their mouths open, literally. They showed them the lesson, so they laid on their towels, now belly down, and continued to chat with the girls.

Until two big shadows covered their sun.

"Hey ladies" Sonny joyfully greeted them. "We couldn't help but notice that you ladies were at the sea."

Jason knelt beside a confused Mandy, "And as recommended by the doctors, you have to reapply the sunscreen every time you wet your delicate skin, right Sonny?"

"That's right, boss", he said, kneeling beside Lisa.

Then the girls noticed that they had the bottles of sunscreen in their hands already.

"You know what, that's not necessary", Lisa began, trying to turn around.

"Oh, but it is" Sonny said, in a sexy voice, putting his big hands on Lisa's back and practically shoving her face into the towel. Jason was already holding Mandy's back against the towel and pouring the white lotion on her skin.

Mandy knew it was best to play it cool. "How thoughtful of you, Jace" she said, sarcastically.

Jason lowered his face to hers, whispering in her ear, with a husky voice "Yeah. I am thoughtful, aren't I? Let me just open this to make it easier" and proceeded to open the back of her top, and now Mandy couldn't get up from the towel even if she wanted to. Jason then spread the lotion, massaging her whole back deeply, reaching until her butt, a bit under her bathing suit even, and touching the sides of her breasts. He glanced to the sides to make sure the other girls weren't watching, then he took some lotion and spread on her butt, squeezing them a little. "Jace" Mandy whispered, immediately tensioning her body. Mandy could hear Lisa beside her complaining about something, and Sonny sensually laughing at her.

Sonny's laughter caught the attention of Naima, who turned her head and looked at the boys giving what seemed to be amazing massages on the girls. "Well, I need someone to reapply my sunscreen too" she said, with envy, and called Ray.

The boys took long minutes massaging them, even their arms and hands, and when they made sure they did a thorough job, they closed their tops. Jason came close to Mandy's face again and teased "Could you imagine not having this massage ever again? Well, maybe if you begged", and kissed her neck, smelling her hair. Only then he got up and walked away with Sonny. Mandy was left paralyzed, and she was sure she was very wet between her legs. She and Lisa didn't say a word to each other for another hour.

When it was closer to sunset, Emma and Brad decided it was time to leave, since they had quite a long drive back home. They said their goodbyes to the group, who decided to stay a bit more, to finish their beers at least. The boys all sat back on their chairs, sweating and tired from the volleyball game, and the girls decided to get some drinks and ice creams for themselves at the tent.

Jason was joyfully taking off his hat and wiping the sweat off his face with his towel when the girls came back. Naima and Jessica sat on their towels with beers, Lisa was holding an ice cream. And Mandy came back with a red long strawberry popsicle.

Ah, crap. Jason knew he was going to lose the battle.

But he couldn't take his eyes off Mandy while she laid on the towel, belly down, and started to lick the popsicle. Without looking at him, she bent her knees and raised her feet, crossing them. Exactly how Jason remembered and would never forget. He discreetly put his towel on his lap, over his shorts, and glanced at Sonny, who seemed hipnotized by something that Lisa was doing with her ice cream. Jason swallowed and looked back at Mandy, and right then she sucked from the middle to the tip of the popsicle, looking directly at him. Then softly kissed the tip of the popsicle and smirked, and Jason felt his member twitching. He was already getting hard.

He tried to glance away and took some sips of his beer, nervously fluffing the towel on his lap to disguise any extra volume. Ray said that he was getting sleepy and there were no more beers, and Brock told him he was spent. They both asked their girls if they wanted to stay or go home, and they said that they would want to go home too, in about five or ten minutes, they were tired. It really was a long day.

But Jason and Sonny just glanced at each other and answered to Ray and Brock that they didn't want to rush Mandy and Lisa, to let them finish eating their sweets, so they would go home after that. Maybe even a few minutes after that too.