STRANDED!

  "What?" His mind was picturing all kinds of things.

  "I want to go to Vegas and see a show."

  "Vegas?"

  "Yeah. I used to go to the casino back home. They had nickel slots. Then I could afford it." She laughed.

  "Don't tell me that you were one of the mindless drones, feeding your hard earned money straight into the casino owner's pockets."

  "Hey!" She threw a nut at him but it bounced harmlessly a foot from him. "For your information this mindless drone once won five hundred dollars playing the slot machines."

  He smiled. "Bet you lost more than you ever won. The real money is in blackjack, baby."

  She scowled. "Too much thought. You have to do mathematics. How is that fun?"

  He saw an ackee tree that seemed manageable and began climbing it. This he had perfected out of necessity. The ackee fruit ripened on the tree and needed to be picked therefore he needed to learn how to climb a tree in order to pick them. "Oceans, you are speaking to a man that makes his living working with numbers."

  "I know, I'm kidding with you Marshall." She watched him climbing, admiring the way he scaled the tree almost as well as the Jamaican youths.

  "Heads up." He plucked a ripe fruit and dropped it to the ground where Oceans hurried to examine it for proper ripeness. Of the five fruit he dropped down to her she discarded two of them. He picked up one discarded fruit. "I don't see how you can tell this isn't ready...it looks pretty good to me."

  She lifted the basket. "There are too many to choose from to take any chances. Not worth getting poisoned from the unripe fruit."

  He tossed it away. "Why is everything in this place poisonous?!" His face twisted into a scowl of annoyance. "If you hadn't been here with me I would have been dead after the first day!"

  She stepped up close to him and placed her lips against his. "You would have survived without me, baby. Because you would have stuck to the things you know."

  He snaked his arm around her waist. "I don't want to think about that." He kissed her back before taking the basket from her hand and leading them back to camp.

  ***

  Marshall had his lips clamped to Ocean's nipple. He could sleep with her succulent breast in his mouth—it was how content he was to be laying next to her on the grass mat. The bed had never gotten made because all of their free time was spent in each other's arms. So they moved the mat and afghan to the sandy beach beneath the shade of the palm trees. The floor of the hut was just too unyielding with its rocky base.

  Marshall's fingers were teasing her slit as she arched her back and groaned in pleasure. He felt lucid and content to suckle from her breast and to stroke her pussy but she suddenly pulled away and snaked down his body to quickly grab his erect cock. Then she lowered her mouth over him and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

  "Uh!" He called out one second before an orgasm ripped through his body. He could not get enough of the feel of her mouth taking him in. She had explained that she was not good at oral, but he could not see anything that she could do to improve her technique.

  Over the last few days she had stopped removing his spurting cock from her lips and now accepted every drop of him. He could hear her swallowing and he thrust one last time before relaxing. She didn't stop sucking him until he was completely flaccid and then she gave him a hopeful look which reminded him of Oliver Twist; 'May I have more please...?' Marshall chuckled and reached down and urged her back up to him. She gave him a decidedly grim look before plunging her tongue into his mouth and kissing him frantically.

  She was still horny and he was sated. Lately her body had been telling her something she didn't understand. She had been celibate for three years with no problems. Now she craved the explosion in her belly that Marshall's touching brought. He had introduced her to something new and special. Each day she wanted to explore this new 'toy'.

  He made her cum with his fingers, his tongue, or sometimes just by licking her sensitive nipples. But at times, there seemed to be something else deep inside of her that was even bigger than the orgasms that she had experienced thus far. She was too ashamed to ask him something that she should know about her own body, but why was it that she would experience a pleasurable release only to find that there was something waiting, lurking in her belly that promised to be even bigger?

  Right now she felt it so close...she reached down to grip his still flaccid cock before remembering that he was already spent. Frustrated she released him, though she was still burning.

  Marshall gently pushed her onto her back and kissed down her nude body. He could feel her need and though he had already orgasmed, he wanted to explore her body. She was sheer perfection. Her skin had darkened by the sun and was now chocolate instead of caramel. Constant daily toil had created a body that was both curvaceous and well toned. His tongue left a wet trail as he circled her belly button.

  Her breath came out in a rush. "Marshall please!" Her hips rolled in need. "Please don't..." She wanted to say 'tease'. She wanted to beg him to make her cum! But those words were not easy to leave her lips. She just knew that her need was almost overwhelming! Marshall did not make her wait as he quickly settled between her thighs. He loved to feast there but did not have long before she was bucking wildly. He loved the way she came; with such complete abandon!

  "That's it baby...cum for me." He cajoled as his fingers slipped into her heated opening which immediately gripped him in rapid spasms. His tongue pushed and stabbed at her clit feeling it pulse in return.

  "OH! Marshalls!" She wasn't coming down from her orgasm, her body just kept gyrating as multiple orgasms hit her in rapid succession. Marshall backed off after a few moments and she seemed to collapse as she caught her breath and moaned.

  "Are you okay?"

  She closed her eyes without answering. He saw her bite her lip and then her fingers moved between her thighs where she rubbed herself in slow circles. Marshall caught his breath as a jolt of pleasure brought his erection back. Watching her masturbate was the most erotic thing he'd ever experienced. How could he ever get off of this mat when she lay there looking like a sex goddess? He watched her silently, transfixed by her movements, the slow rolling of her hips and the way her lips parted. Her other hand came up to rub her swollen nipple. His mouth went dry when she slowly tugged the flesh, stretching the darkened nub.

  This was too much...he wanted her. He wanted to be inside of her fucking her, slamming into her accepting pussy...

  Marshalls rolled over, covering her with his body. Her legs came up and wrapped around him holding his pelvis in place, pressed against hers. Marshall gripped her wrists and pinned them to the sand and then he pushed into her. Oh god...he panted. She was so tight. Quickly, frantically his pelvis rolled and rocked against hers and she met each thrust just as furiously.

  "Yes!" She was screeching. Her arms wrapped around him tightly and she buried her head into his shoulder. Now that he was deep inside of her, she could finally feel the release that had been at bay, waiting for the final trigger to release it. The trigger was this act of coupling. As he filled her most intimate of areas, Oceans felt the final lock fall into place and her body was plunging into oblivion! It was amazing—the feel of him filling and stretching her in pain laced pleasure. He was relentlessly pounding in to her, possessing her. She gripped him with clawed fingers, scratching through his skin and driving him to fuck her harder!

  Marshall was like a man possessed. There was no thought but the completion of their coupling and when again, the semen began to course down his shaft and spurt from his body, he could not hold back his cry of sheer exultation! This was the puresest moment of pleasure. Their mingled cries filled the island beach which had now become their own little universe.

  Afterwards, neither could move. Moving would bring them back to reality and right now they were still in a cloud of pleasure. Oceans finally pushed against him slightly and he rolled onto his back. He was sweating and panting but when he took in her look of horror he remembe
red why this was not such a good thing.

  "Oceans," but she had jumped up and was hurrying to the water. He jumped up as well and hurried after her. "I'm sorry..." Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she was intent on reaching the ocean. "Oceans?"

  "I need to wash!" She said quickly. He walked along side of her without speaking, feeling like he was a demon from hell. He'd ejaculated in her. How could he have done that after all the care they'd taken not to complete the act?! He glanced at her and she just seemed scared. He wanted to hold her but was afraid to.

  "Oceans-"

  She looked at him. "We shouldn't have done that." He stopped walking at the water's edge and watched her as she immersed herself to her waist. He could see her reaching between her legs, washing away any evidence of his semen. Oceans kept at it, dipping her fingers into her sore canal where they continually scooped away the slick fluid. She glanced over at Marshall knowing that she had made him feel guilty, and that had not been her intent. It hadn't been him. She should have known that it would lead to this. He was a man and he was a good one. Yet, it was up to her to set the boundaries of what would happen within her body. Damnit...

  After a long time, she finally walked back to the beach. Marshall hesitantly placed his arm around her shoulder and together they headed back to camp.

  ***

  Things were more tense than they had ever been between them. That night, instead of meeting in front of the fire on the beach, Oceans climbed into her repaired hammock and fell into a restless sleep. Sleep for Marshall did not come as easy. He had violated an unspoken promise to her.

  The next morning while they ate their simple breakfast of leftover bammie spread with mashed fruit, Marshall cleared his throat. Oceans tensed. She didn't want to talk about it, argue, or disagree. She just wanted to wait. He clamped his mouth closed, seeing her reaction and quickly finished his meal, then he went about repairing the lobster trap. Oceans looked over at his back as he hunched over his work.

  Marshall wove the pieces of vine through the base that Oceans had carefully created. It normally collected enough small fish to be used as bait in order to attract more lobsters—well as long as the struggling lobsters didn't destroy the trap. He sighed forlornly. He missed his best friend...worse is that he couldn't stand not knowing if she hated him. Then he felt her hands on his back, gliding along the sun bronzed flesh. He shivered at her touch and squinted up at her.

  Oceans sat down beside him. "I'm not angry with you. I'm just scared." He nodded. She was scared because of something he'd caused.

  "When is your period due?"

  "In a few days."

  His stomach dropped. He had paid attention in health class, and had needed to know these things due to 'close calls' that he had avoided in the past—Marshall understood that a woman could only get pregnant during ovulation. Ovulation is what happened right before a woman's period. Days, she had said. He gathered her in his arms and didn't make false promises. She needed not to be pregnant. He needed for her to trust him again.

  Ocean's period did not come.

  Weeks later Marshall was leaning against the fallen log which amounted to their second home. It is where they ate their meals, where they'd made love, where they relaxed. Now he watched her with reverence. She was poking at the fire with a long stick in deep thought. They both were. She was carrying his baby. That made this woman his world. The three of them were the sun, the moon and the stars and there was nothing else in the universe but that.

  She looked at him and hid a grimace. She could see the look of acceptance on his face. He already saw a baby in their future. She knew that there wouldn't be. With a sigh she went over to him and lay against his strong body. Marshall's arm went around her protectively.

  "Oceans, by your calculations you're three weeks late. Have you ever been this late before?" He was staring down at her as she lay cuddled in his arms and she was staring at the fire. It was dusk and they didn't need the warmth, but they took great strides to keep at least the embers burning.

  She shook her head slowly. "I've been late but never like this, a few days is normal, but for me, not more than a week." Even the first month that she'd had a cycle on the Island hadn't been this late, and that had been after a traumatic event.

  "I'm sorry." He said for what seemed like the hundredth time. And for the hundredth time she gave him the obligatory response that it was both of them, not just him. "I'm coming up with a plan to build a cradle. It can hang from the branch like our hammocks, but using vines-"

  "Marshall." She said suddenly. "I don't want to have a baby."

  He sighed. "I know, Oceans." He tightened his grip slightly until she looked up at him. "This is not optimum, but I want you to know this; I love you. I love you! I want you in my world and that includes WHEN we get off this island. You and our child are a part of my life now." She shrugged out of his arms and stood turning to stare down at him.

  "You don't understand, Marshall! I don't intend to have this child!"

  His head shook back in forth in confusion, or perhaps denial. He gaped at her, incapable of speaking for several moments. "What? H-how...?"

  "There have long been ways for women to abort an unwanted pregnancy, Marshall. There are many roots and herbs right here on the island...some of the things that we eat every day can cause a miscarriage." He closed his mouth after a moment and frowned. He was having a problem trying to process her words yet she continued to speak. "The sooner I take the medicine the better-"

  "Oceans are you crazy!" He jumped to his feet right before her. "You want to self-abort on a deserted island?" He just gaped and stared at her. Was she out of her mind? He tried to calm himself and tentatively reached out to stroke her arms. "Baby, this is crazy-"

  She shook him loose. "I'm just forcing my period!"

  He took a calming breath. One of them had to stay sane in this moment. "If it were that easy then why do so many women die from having an abortion?" He threw up his hands, giving in to his anger and confusion. "I can't believe that you would even consider doing something that dangerous! Something that could cause a miscarriage could kill you too, am I right?"

  Ocean's took a moment to answer. "Yes, it could be dangerous the further along you are, but at this point-"

  "Then no." He shook his head and walked away toward the water where he spent so much time fishing--where his mind could shut down and be at peace. He turned around suddenly. "No." He said again. Marshall came back to Oceans. "I won't take a chance of losing you-"

  "Giving birth is dangerous too!"

  "Not the same thing, baby. And you know it!"

  Oceans closed her eyes. Marshall just wanted what Marshall wanted. He wanted her, a baby and a little hut on the beach where they could fish, make love by the fire, and be entertained by their baby. How wonderful! They could sit and tell stories to their tribe of children; about big buildings and electricity and those strange things that fly through the air called planes! She would rather slit her wrists then to live an existence like that! Her eyes flashed fire as she glared at him.

  "I know that you don't get it. It doesn't even matter if you do or don't. I've already made the decision, Marshall. I'm sorry, but I'm going to end this pregnancy." His heart fell in his chest and he couldn't breathe.

  "Oceans how can you say that? You really don't think I have a say in this?" She looked at him feeling his pain down to her core.

  "Yes...no. I mean-" she swallowed. "I do think you have a say, Marshall. But it's not a situation where I'm confused or need convincing. I have no confusion over this. I do NOT want to have a child on this Island! Period. Women do this every day...on Islands without the help of doctors. So honey, as much as I love you, I am not changing my mind." Her eyes took on a steely glint that He'd never seen before. Marshall licked his lips and then he turned away and walked down to the rock wall along the beachfront. He climbed to the top of the dangerous, slippery surface and stared at the Ocean until the sun set and the light of the moon was a
ll that illuminated the distant horizon.

  ***

  When Marshall returned to the hut it was in the wee hours of the night and Oceans was already in her hammock sleeping. He carefully climbed into his own, still in deep thought. For the last several hours he had examined the situation from all angles. Oceans didn't want to bring an additional person to this Island to be stranded with them. And he didn't want to risk aborting the pregnancy, harming her—and frankly, he wanted the baby.

  This child, that she carried, represented a union of their love. Marshall wasn't a stupid man. He liked to think that he had a better understanding of things, maybe a better grasp of how things worked then the average man on the streets. He'd been involved with women that he had thought he loved. But if one of them had gotten pregnant he would have looked for the first out possible. He didn't think that made him a bad person. It just meant that he didn't want a link to someone that he didn't want as a permanent fixture in his life. He knew that his strong link to Oceans was most likely attributed to the fact that there was nothing but the two of them. But the REASON that he loved her was not important. He did. And he already loved their baby.