Spirit of the Sea
Marley Quinn
Spirit of the Sea
by Marley Quinn
Table of Contents
Dana
Reunion
Dana
Edward yawned.
Here he was, living his dream of a summer abroad in Italy, and yet he was bored out of his skull.
When his friend Roberto had first offered him the job working at his beachfront kiosk, Edward had been pumped. Making a little money and spending all day watching beautiful girls in bikinis? What more could you ask for?
But what Roberto hadn't told him was that, first of all, the temperatures every day were scorching hot, as in burn your bare feet if you walked on the sand hot. And secondly, the beach was basically abandoned.
Unfortunately, Edward didn't speak enough Italian to truly understand what was going on, but he knew it was something about inflation and the exchange rate of the euro or something.
And so, today, like every other day, he was stuck sitting in the tiny two-by-three-foot kiosk, waiting for someone to come along and ask for a can of Pringles or an overpriced bottle of some very warm water.
With no electricity, and far out of range of the nearest hotel's wi-fi, every day felt like an eternity.
Edward was sitting back, flipping through an Italian fashion magazine, when all of a sudden, he noticed that he had a customer.
Squinting through his sunglasses, Edward was astonished to see that it was a beautiful young woman with waist-length brunette hair. Even more surprising was that she was wearing only a skimpy black thong.
Edward had known that women sometimes went topless on beaches in Europe. In fact, that had been part of the reason why he'd agreed to take the job working for Roberto.
But so far, the only topless ladies he'd seen had been in their 50s, and their sagging tits certainly weren't something worth flying across the Atlantic Ocean for.
But this girl was different. She wasn't very curvy, but her petite breasts were certainly well-formed. And she had a gorgeous face, even if she looked even more bored than he was.
"Hi there, buon giorno," said Edward. "What would you like? Chips? Peanuts? Water?"
"You are American," said the girl, her accent giving away that she was a local.
"Yeah. Scusi, I am still working on my Italian," said Edward. He couldn't believe that such an attractive young woman had shown up on the beach, and here he was, talking to her! "So, what can I get you?"
"No, thank you," said the girl. "I do not want anything."
"Oh," said Edward, feeling his face grow warm in a way that wasn't caused by the sun. "Okay, well, I guess this is as good a place as any to admire the view."
The young woman looked at him, her face so expressionless that he couldn't tell if she was angry or just indifferent. She then took a seat on one of the three bar stools in front of the kiosk.
"So, uh... you speak English, I see," said Edward.
"Yes," said the young woman.
"I'm, uh, here working for my friend Roberto. His family owns that hotel over there," said Edward, feeling foolish, but he didn't know what else to say. He didn't want the young woman to leave, but at the same time, he worried that his endless blabbering would drive her away.
"I am here with them," said the young woman, gesturing at the far end of the beach. Edward squinted and could just make out a group of three little kids playing in the surf while two or three adults sat nearby on brightly colored towels.
"Ah," said Edward. "Well, they look like they are having fun."
"I do not like them right now," said the young woman. "They are making me angry. I wanted to go to Sorrento today, but I am stuck here at the beach."
"Right," said Edward. "Well, that's what family does! They drive you nuts."
Edward chuckled, but the young woman remained expressionless. He kept sneaking glances at her bare breasts, worried that she'd catch him leering, but so seemed completely indifferent to everything.
"Well, um, if you need something, let me know," said Edward, gulping nervously.
"Okay," said the girl. "I will tell you."
"Anything for you, signorina," said Edward, feeling quite awkward.
For a long time, they remained there in silence. Edward kept looking back and forth at the girl and then down at the bar. The girl, however, seemed entranced as she gazed out at the sea.
Suddenly, she then turned to him. "Tell me, American. Do you think I am beautiful?"
"What?" said Edward, caught off-guard. "Um, yes. Molto bella. Very beautiful."
The girl seemed to ponder his answer for a long moment. Then she spoke. "If I am so beautiful, then why does my lover cheat on me with other girls?"
"Um, gosh, wow. Um, I don't know," said Edward, gulping hard. "But if you were my girlfriend, I'd never even look at another woman."
The girl laughed. "I will never be anyone's girlfriend. Men are too... stupid. No offense."
"Oh," said Edward. "Sure. No offense taken."
The girl sighed. "I just want to have some fun before I am fat and old. I want to dance. And I want to feel the wind in my hair and the grass underneath my feet."
"Sure," said Edward. The girl was certainly strange, but, nonetheless, he was starting to get a little aroused.
"Tell me, American," said the girl. "It is 40 degrees outside. Why are you wearing a shirt?"
"Oh, this?" said Edward, chuckling nervously. "I... um, well I guess I was trying to look professional. I am on duty, you know."
The girl laughed. "Don't be stupid. What is wrong? Do you have an ugly scar or something?"
"What? No?" said Edward. "No scars."
"Show me," said the girl.
Edward felt his cheeks flushed with warmth, but then he grinned and pulled off his shirt. He'd been hitting the gym three times a week back in the States, so he knew he had nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Not bad," said the girl. "Tell me. Does that feel better?"
"Yeah," said Edward. "It does. It's maybe half a degree cooler now."
"I do not think so," said the girl, giving him an intense look. "I think you are warming up, instead."
"What?" said Edward.
"I do not know how to say it very well in English," said the girl. "But you are looking at me, and this is making you hot inside."
Edward blushed. "Yeah, I think you might be right."
The girl grinned. "Tell me, American. If you took off those shorts, what would I see?"