The Birthday Present

Excerpt From: The Birthday Present

“Do you want to go to the beach or the pool today?” Tom asked me as he stepped into his navy plaid swim trunks. His tall, lean body was darkening to a deep tan after the hours we’d been spending in the sun.

I loved being on vacation when the hardest decision of the day was choosing between sun and sand or sun and pool. My husband and I were having a great vacation on Tenerife, celebrating my thirtieth birthday. Everything about the island felt exotic to a Midwestern girl like me, the colours and fragrances of the tropical gardens, the spicy sauces of local dishes, the fruit seller walking the black sand beaches calling out, “Ananas, coconut”, the topless European sunbathers, even the British pubs lining the main street. All of it was foreign and intoxicating.

“I would prefer to sit by the pool. I’m tired of trying to get sticky sand out of my bottom creases,” I said, adjusting the fit of my turquoise bikini bottom.

“I offered to help,” Tom said with a suggestive smile.

I laughed. “I know, but I can think of more enjoyable activities you can help me with concerning my bottom creases.”

He walked up behind me as I finished tying my bikini top around my neck. He slid his large, warm hands over my flat stomach, dipping his fingertips into the top edge of my bikini bottoms.

He spoke softly into my ear. “Would you like to partake of some of those activities now?”

I stepped forward, out of his embrace, and threw my cotton beach dress over my head. “No, thanks. I really want to get to the pool. I feel like we’ve been cooped up in this room all day.” We had already spent all night and most of the morning making love, and frankly, I was a little tired and a little bored.

After eight years of marriage, I loved my husband, and his tall, lean body still turned me on. But sex had become a predictable routine. Touch here, rub there, kiss here, suck there, then insert his tab into my slot, a few hip pumps, his and hers orgasms and then finito. Round one was finished and we got prepared for round two.

After going several rounds with Tom in the past twelve hours, I was looking forward to laying still and letting the sun’s warm rays soothe my weary body. I was tired, but I wasn’t fully satisfied from our love making. I wondered what we needed to add to make sex hot and exciting again.

Tom was a faithful and loving husband, but he wasn’t the most imaginative lover I’d ever had. I wanted him to initiate something new into our sex life, without me having to tell him what to do. I wasn’t even sure what we should change. All I knew was that I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with our predictable routine.

Down at the pool, Tom and I found two free chaise lounges and laid down our towels. I handed Tom the suntan lotion and turned my back to him.

“Would you do me, please?” I asked.

“Anytime, sweetie,” he said.