The wind billowed Karen's blonde hair back as she snuggled close to Bill in his '57 convertible Bel Air. The wide whitewall tires hugged the road as the big heavy car leaned into each twist and turn. A 60's radio station blasted tunes into the air, and they sang along, laughing at each other when they got the words wrong. Bill had his arm draped over Karen's shoulder, and her hand rested on his bare muscular leg.
After meeting Bill at a mutual friend's party today, Karen immediately felt comfortable and at ease with him. Earlier, in response to her dare, Bill exposed his cock to her, and Karen reciprocated by showing him her perky breasts. They laughed like teenagers in the front seat of his classic car before he drove off, relieved no one observed them flashing each other.
"Have you ever gone skinny dipping?" Bill asked as the momentum of turning a sharp corner forced Karen to lean into him. "We could head up to Birch Lake and cool off; I know a quiet spot."
"How quiet is it?" she shakily asked, as she flashed him a nervous smile.
Bill heard the concern in her voice. "It's so fucking quiet we can do more than skinny-dipping."
The look on Karen's face made him cringe inside; the last thing he wanted to do was overstep the boundaries of their budding friendship.
"I mean, if that's something that interests you," Bill said, quickly backpedaling.
Karen wanted to do ‘more’ with Bill, at least she thought she did, but she was also a little intimidated by his size and directness. Bill was a big man not only between his legs but in physical stature; he easily outweighed her by a hundred pounds and stood at least a foot taller.
She decided to ignore his comment and change the subject. "Claire said you saved Ben's life, and she is forever in your debt. What did you do?"
Bill knew the incident Claire was referring to; he and Ben worked together at the fire department for over twenty years and shared dozens of close calls. But that ‘incident’ left a deep mark on his soul and mind.
"Yeah, I guess I fucking did," Bill responded as he pulled out and passed a slow-moving tractor on the road. "It was a long time ago."
Karen waited for Bill to expand on the story, but instead, he clenched his jaw, which made the dimples in his cheeks more prominent. She liked to look at his handsome face and his full head of silver-grey hair. His pale blue polo-shirt stretched to accommodate his chest muscles; everything about Bill was big.
"Well, are you going to fucking tell me what happened or not!"
"You sure do say fuck a lot!" laughed Bill.
The new joke between them started when they first sat on the bench at the back of Ben and Claire's yard; Karen mentioned how often he used the word fuck.
"Well?" she asked.
"Really? It was a long time ago, and I almost got both Ben and I killed?" Bill said with a touch of guilt in his voice.
Karen sensed the faraway look in Bill's eyes reflected a responsibility for his past decisions; he was reliving the moment in his mind.
"It's okay, Bill," she said, "You don't have to."
"Maybe later," Bill said, giving her a forced smile. "Let's enjoy the ride."
The City awarded Bill the Medal of Honor for his actions on that call. In Bill's mind, he didn't think it was deserving. In his thirty-five years of service to the department, he had done it all. His list of accomplishments was lengthy. Bill helped deliver two babies; rescued people from raging waters in a flash flood; performed CPR on dozens of people, even saving some of them; pulled kids and adults from a burning building; fought fires of all sizes and shapes; extricated crash victims from accidents; and of course the odd cat or two in a tree.
"Okay," Karen said, as she sat tight against him. With Bill's arm around her shoulder, her bare leg repeatedly touched his making the butterflies in her stomach multiply. The sunlight felt good on her face, like a cleansing of her soul.
The road twisted and turned as it led them higher into the hills, away from the oppressive heat in the sun-drenched dry valley. The traffic thinned out until they were the only vehicle on the winding road. Birch Lake was her favorite lake to kayak on. Karen searched her memory, trying to think of a private place to go skinny-dipping, but not coming up with a spot; the thought of being naked in public and in front of Bill terrified her.
Bill slowed down and pulled into a private entrance. He drove down a long tree-lined gravel driveway arriving at a quaint lakeside cedar-clad cottage set back from both the road and the lake; the mature spruce, pine, and birch trees hid the cottage from view. Karen spent many summer days exploring the shores of the lake and never once noticed this cottage.
"We've arrived," Bill said, parking his 'baby' under a carport.
"Are we trespassing?" Karen asked, concerned about getting into trouble.
"Well, if the fucking owner comes home, I guess I'll deal with him," he said, puffing out his muscled chest.
Nervously, Karen stepped out the driver's door as Bill held it open for her. The ride was exhilarating, it was her first ride in a classic car, and she secretly hoped there would be many more. The birds greeted them with a pleasant melody as they walked up the worn wooden steps onto the wrap-around deck. Bill held her hand as he guided her around the cottage to the lakeside. The view was not what she expected, even though the cottage was on the lake. Mature trees mostly hid a channel that entered one spot and exited another, leaving a treed island in-between. In all the years she had been coming to Birch Lake, she never noticed this channel or cottage.
"It's beautiful," Karen finally said as she took it all in. "Private, and yet the lake is so close. Is this your place?"
Bill wasn't one for words, but right now, even simple ones didn't want to flow from his mouth. Sunlight reflected off Karen's blonde hair, and it made her look like an angel. She was much younger than him, at least ten years or so, and suddenly he felt very insecure.
"I promised you a private place to skinny-dip," he stammered, trying to maintain eye contact. "Are you still up for it?"
Even though they just met today, Karen instinctively knew he wouldn't take advantage of her unless she wanted him to. Still, the idea of sharing their nakedness unnerved her. "Okay," she said as she looked in the cottage windows to see if anyone was inside.
"I'm just as nervous as you are," Bill said. "And, yes, this is my place; no one will be spying on us. Why don't you walk down to the pond, and I'll grab a couple of towels for us." What he didn't say was he needed a little time to reflect on the day's events and also about what they were about to do.
Karen walked down a path covered in pine needles to the beckoning red Adirondack chairs. They were her favorite chairs. She sighed as her bum hit bottom. The relief was mostly emotional, the strength of the chair wrapped her in physical comfort, and the surroundings' serenity soothed her soul.
Bill watched from the living room window as Karen walked down the path that he and his late wife used over the years. He didn't want to compare Karen to Tina, but it was hard not to. They were both very similar in size with the same cute smile and a naughty attitude. He instinctively knew Tina would approve of Karen. It had been a long time since he courted a girl, and Bill hoped he didn't fuck it up.
After Bill retired, four years later, he lost Tina to cancer, and the tragedy turned him into a recluse. Today was the first time he allowed himself to attend a social gathering. He gave a quick mental note to thank Claire and Ben for coaxing him to attend their barbecue and come out into the light; otherwise, he wouldn't have met Karen today.
Karen tried to control her racing heart, but it was no use; the thought of being naked in front of Bill made her anxious. With a quick look back at the cabin, she undressed and jumped into the refreshing water. The cold water instantly made her nipples firm up. At least this allowed her to preserve some modesty until they eventually got out of the water. The slamming of the screen door on the cottage drew Karen's attention, and she watched the mountain of a man come down the pathway. The closer he got, the more self-conscious she felt in her birthday suit.
Bill had taken off his shirt and changed to swimming trunks. He made his way down the path with an armload of towels and a small cooler. "Looks like someone was impatient to get naked!" he laughed.
Karen stammered for a minute, and tried to seem calm, then decided to go with the truth. "Sorry, I was nervous about getting undressed in front of you."
Bill kicked himself internally for being so ill-mannered. "I understand; that's why I threw on my swimsuit. I didn't want to scare you off so soon."
"You're nervous?" asked Karen in disbelief. Bill seemed so sure of himself that it didn't seem possible.
"Fucking terrified!" he laughed. He threw the armful of towels and blanket off his shoulder onto the red chair, revealing a dragon tattoo on his chest and upper left shoulder. "Can I join you?"
"Sorry," Karen boldly exclaimed, "this is European hour, so you have to be naked like me. By the way, I love your tattoo!"
"Thanks, remind me to tell you someday what it means to me. Okay, you may want to look away while I drop my drawers; otherwise, I will spoil you for any other man," he laughed.
"Spoil me!" beamed Karen, surprised at her forwardness.
Bill slowly lowered and raised his suit while humming a striptease tune enjoying the vast smile on Karen's face. With a quick push, he dropped his swimsuit to the pine needles and stepped out of it.
"Fuck! Fuck!" Karen exclaimed as she eyed his cock. "You're huge! I mean REALLY fucking big!" Her pussy tensed up at the thought of having it inside her. Even though Bill gave her a quick glimpse of his cock at Ben and Claire's place, it looked to be twice the size.
"I warned you!" Bill laughed as he climbed down the rock steps and jumped into the clear water spraying Karen. When he emerged, she splashed him back, and they laughed like two school kids as they had a water fight.
"You win!" he laughed, swimming to Karen's left, sitting on the rock ledge, leaving his chest exposed. "Join me?"
"You won't take advantage of me, will you?' Karen teased as she swam over.
"Never! I promise to respect you and only do what you want me to." After he screwed up once, he didn't want to make it worse.
Joining Bill on the small ledge, their bare legs touched. She blushed as her perky breasts were just above the waterline, and she noticed Bill's attention.
"I have to admit I can't stop staring at your hard nipples," he confessed. "They look so fucking suckable! Fuck is that even a word!" he laughed.
Karen laughed along with him, relieved that he didn't think her breasts were too small. Bill's dragon tattoo caught her eye again, "I love your tattoo; you said it has a special meaning. Do you want to share?"
Looking at Karen, he debated with his inner anguish. The risk in disclosing the true meaning of his dragon tattoo meant sharing the burden in his mind. He did save Ben's life, his best friend and co-worker, but it also meant telling her about the guilt he carried about the incident. He decided to go with the short version.
"I spent my life fighting the burning flames from the dragon's breath. I always looked at fire as my enemy, my adversary, until it saved my life and my men."
Bill stopped to gather his composure; even now, after all these years thinking back on that day made him emotional. He sensed Karen was looking at him, waiting for him to continue. If he looked at her, the tears would start flowing, and everyone knew big men don't cry.
"I carry this tattoo proudly, as a reminder that a dragon can be a protector as well as the enemy. I didn't know it at the time, but for some reason, the dragon watched over me for my whole career, making sure I was safe." Bill lowered his head; he had to stop again and regroup.
Karen saw whatever Bill went through left an indelible scar on his psyche. The memories were opening up old wounds, and she wished she never asked about his tattoo. Her first instinct was to comfort him, but she instinctively knew that's not what Bill needed. Whatever he felt was between him and his dragon.
"Sorry, I always get stirred up when I think of that day," Bill said. "It was the last fire I ever went into."
"Claire said you saved six men that day, that you individually carried them out of the building, and that Ben was the last one."
The faraway look in his eyes took him back to that precise moment, "I couldn't leave him behind," he said more to himself than Karen. "I wouldn't."
He didn't feel the tear silently roll down the cheek closest to Karen. The thought of almost losing his best friend in the fire still tormented him. Especially when it was all his fault, he should have never let his men go into that fire; the dragon tried to warn him, and he missed the clues.
The comfortable quiet between them spoke of their new bond. Karen slipped her arm through his and leaned her head on Bill's arm. Neither of them needed to say anymore. Her breast pressed against him but not in a sexual way.
A female Loon swam up the channel, and they watched it come closer and closer. It stopped in front of them, sang its melancholy tune once, then floated out the other end. Even nature was sympathetic to Bill's memory of that day. The towering pine trees surrounding them provided a sanctuary of privacy from boats on the lake.
"It's beautiful here," Karen said, breaking the tranquility, "You're lucky to have a cottage in this spot."
Karen's right, Bill thought; he was lucky. "I'm glad you like it; I cleared the land and built the cottage myself. Well, with my late wife's help too."
"What was her name?"
"Tina." He wanted to tell Karen more but hesitated. "She would have liked you. I'm sorry about your dad passing away," he added.