Duncan rolled over into the softness and warmth of Reed's sleeping body. He snuggled in, eliminating all space between them, reveling in the pliancy of her. Through the open sliding glass door he could hear the gentle sounds of the surf, and see a bit of bright blue sky.

He looked back at Reed to see that she'd opened her eyes and was blinking sleepily at him. She smiled, a slow thing of beauty that eventually reached her lovely eyes, making them narrow as she watched him.

"I'm so glad you're still here," he murmured, leaning even closer to plant a gentle kiss on her mouth.

"Really? It's okay that I stayed?" she asked, stretching hugely, one arm reaching out from under the sheets.

"Absolutely. I would've been utterly bereft if I'd woken up to find you'd left me in the night."

"Utterly bereft?" Reed bit her lips together as she smiled.

"I'm English, we're allowed to say things like that," he retorted, giving her bottom a gentle goose through the sheet.

They snuggled for a moment before he continued talking. "How about if we take the day off and just spend today outside? Looks like it's going to be glorious. Or at least if we take our stuff outside to work, until it gets too hot?"

"A day off, or at least outdoors, sounds fabulous," Reed agreed.

"First, though, let's take a shower, doesn't that sound like fun?" Duncan slid his hand up her back.

"Do you mean together?" Reed looked at him carefully. "Like at the same time?"

"Of course at the same time, what else would I mean?"

Reed took a deep breath. "You really want to?"

"Not if you really don't," Duncan replied, "but why? Or why not, rather?"

Reed cut her gaze away from Duncan, unwilling to look him in the eye.

He gave her a gentle shake.

"It's daytime," she finally responded.

Duncan just stared at her, brows drawn.

"It's really bright, and you'll be able to see me."

"That's sort of the point, you muppet," Duncan said with a laugh. "I'm randy as fuck, in case you couldn't tell." He rubbed his erection against her belly. "I was hoping for a little action in the shower stall."

"Oh."

"What's this about, darling?" He lowered his head a little so he could catch her gaze, his expression earnest.

"Well, to quote Bridget Jones, you'd see all my wobbly bits," Reed finally acknowledged.

Duncan laughed, a loud sound in the quiet bedroom. "But those are some of my favorite bits," he told her. "Your breasts, your hips, your bum, they're spectacular, and yes, I was hoping to see all of them in the shower, I freely admit it."

"Oh. Okay. I'll try," Reed said with a nod. "But don't expect me to become all exhibitionist or anything."

"Not today, at least," Duncan replied with a grin.

So they took a shower together, and Duncan admired all of Reed while she admired all of him. They came together under the warm, gentle spray as Reed sat on the ledge and leaned back against the tiled walls.

Duncan leaned in and licked some of the water from her neck, sighing as he did so. "Feels amazing," he whispered. He put a hand between them, rubbing her, forcing a moan out of her. "You first today, yeah?" He continued until he felt her convulsing in his arms, her fingernails digging into his back as she climaxed.

He then sped up his thrusts, and they laughed at the loud slapping sound their wet bodies made as they came together. He grasped one of her shapely legs and hoisted it higher on his hip, changing the angle to something amazing.

"Ah, fuck, fuckfuckfuck," Duncan groaned as he came, grasping at her strongly, feeling like he was pushing Reed through the wall. He leaned his head against her as he gasped for breath, lowering her leg gently.

Then they had fun washing each other's hair, scrubbing backs and fronts and just generally having an enjoyable, splashy time.

"Thanks for suggesting that," Reed said as she toweled her hair dry after.

"What, showering together? You telling me you've never done that?" Duncan asked as he pulled on cut off sweat shorts.

Reed shook her head, thinking of Sam, who carefully closed the door when he showered, not emerging until he was fully dressed.

"Well, it's one of my favorite things, so hopefully we'll have a repeat, then," Duncan declared with a smile as he leaned in to kiss her.

An hour later they were holding hands as they stood barefoot in the gentle waves that broke on the sandy beach. As usual, when she was on the beach, Reed was visually scouring the sand, looking for shells. She already had a small collection which she kept in a bowl by the doors leading outside.

"You were right, it's absolutely beautiful today," Reed declared.

They began strolling along the water's edge. They had the beach more or less to themselves today, with only a couple of joggers visible in the distance. Eventually, Reed released his hand to go look at something interesting in the sand.

"You'd better be careful or you're going to turn into one of those nutters who wanders about the beach, pouncing on shells," Duncan teased.

"But look, Duncan, how pretty this is," she held out a sea urchin skeleton which was a pale shade of pink, the ridges and bumps slightly darker.

"Oh, you're right, that is a nice one," Duncan acknowledged, enchanted by her smile as she showed him her treasure.

"It's hard to find anything on the beaches around here because there are so many people looking, and the water's so cold. Most of the really beautiful sea shell beaches are tropical, I think. I've never been anywhere like that."

"But you're from Florida," Duncan protested. "Surely there are scads of nice beaches there?"

"Well, yes, but Orlando's a little bit inland, and I didn't really go to the beach a lot," Reed responded, hoping it was true. Orlando was the place she'd told him, right?

"Yeah, I know how that can be, when you live so close you just don't think about it," Duncan answered easily, and Reed heaved a mental sigh of relief.

Eventually Duncan headed up to the deck and picked up his guitar, while Reed stayed on the beach, picking up pretty pieces of shell, or sometimes sea glass. They called to each other occasionally, Reed when she found something particularly nice, Duncan when he wanted her opinion on something he was writing.

Duncan stopped what he was doing from time to time to just look at Reed, usually when her interest was occupied elsewhere so she wouldn't catch him.

Today she was wearing cotton capri pants with a sleeveless sweater that had flowers all over it. Duncan found that clothing somehow made her look leaner, disguising all of her wonderful curves and roundness.

Reed eventually sat down in the sand, above the high water mark, looking out to sea as the gentle breeze lifted her hair off her shoulders from time to time. Duncan took the opportunity to admire her back, the way it narrowed to her waist before flaring to her abundant hips.

She was stunning.

Strange how he hadn't noticed it when they first met. His first impression had been of a normal looking woman with nice eyes, certainly nothing like the beauty he saw before him now.

When had that happened?

Mystifying.

He played a few chords on his guitar, playing around with some lyrics in his head about a woman who pensively watched the ocean. He kept looking up at her as he wrote, occasionally writing the lyrics and chords down on the pad he kept handy. Duncan always wrote his songs longhand, inputting them to his laptop later.

"What are you thinking about?" he called eventually, setting his guitar aside.

Reed turned and smiled at him before looking back at the ocean, shrugging her pretty shoulders.

"Nothing much," she said. "Just admiring the view."

"Me too," Duncan said, rising to join her at the water's edge.

"Ha, I see what you did there," Reed said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"You're beautiful to me, all of you," Duncan responded, grasping her hand.

"Sounds like a song lyric," Reed responded.

"It is," Duncan said as he turned to kiss her bare shoulder.

"What? You're writing a song about me?" Reed stared at him.

"Might be," he answered, not wanting to tell her that he'd already written many, many songs about her.

"Can I hear it?"

"Maybe when it's finished," Duncan hedged. He wasn't a huge fan of playing unfinished things for people as a rule, since it usually didn't sound as good as it did in his head. Also, he knew that Reed would be uncomfortable and embarrassed.

"What do you say we head in for lunch?" he suggested. "We have that great roast beef, and that new horseradish? We could make sandwiches?"
"Sounds good," Reed responded.

Duncan rose and held out a hand to help her and they went inside to make lunch.