Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. (C) Copyright 2002. M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden. Copies of my stories can be downloaded from: </files/Authors/MikeC/> Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net ============= James Part VII. Wandering Afield. Chapter 44 I woke on shoot day to Sara's soft eyes. She caressed my face and softly kissed me. We had spent the night on the front deck of the boat - Brenda and Sherri had monopolized the cabin with their lusty shrieks and flailing limbs while competing to see who could bring the other more pleasure. "Hey..." I smiled. "Hey..." She took my hand under the sleeping bag and squeezed. "Happy?" "Ecstatic!" She leaned her head on my chest while her hand drifted to my erection. "Is this the piss hardon, or..." "Sorry, the former..." "Mmmm, I'm happy enough, from last night..." She kissed my nipple and I had to remove her hand from me. "Let's get cleaned up and go for breakfast." I said. "Let's have breakfast here - let the two of them sleep some more." I started the propane BBQ on the deck railing and made sausages and steaks while Sara prepared coffee and scrambled eggs inside the cabin. That woke the stickily entwined pair on the berth. "Good morning, boyfriend!" Sherri glowed and hugged me. "And how's my Lezzie Lover today?" Brenda started licking Sara. "Some lover! Our first date and you end up in bed with somebody else!" "But honey! You know I have to sow my wild oats before I settle down with my woman!" Brenda drew a finger down Sara's breast. "Hmmmm!" Sara kissed Brenda, "I forgive you, but I get to be the boy today!" We ate out on deck. It was cool and slightly overcast, which was good for the photographers but a slight breeze had sprung up, which could mean a weather change later. "Hmmm, let's take breakfast to Kelly." Brenda said as she carefully licked my lips clean. "I can't wait to hear about her night!" After cleaning up we went to her trailer. "Kelly! We brought you breakfast!" She mumbled something and we let ourselves in. Her bed was in a curtained off area behind the makeup and change space. She was naked with just a sheet across her. "Did you come to tempt me some more?" She peered at us. "Only with breakfast, and to check out your yummy bod..." I said. She made a move to cover herself, then stopped. "Oh hell, after letting you watch me get myself off twice yesterday, I don't suppose I have anything to hide." "Plus you've been waving your boobies at us ever since we've met!" Brenda added. "Yeah, like I told you, it's for my image. My way of saying I don't care what they think, I'm still good enough." She sat up with her sheet around her waist and sipped at her coffee. Cautiously she looked at Brenda, "Brenda, I'm so petrified of you. I can't believe anyone can bring me off the way you did. I came back last night and fell asleep, alone, but not lonely - a strange, strange feeling..." She paused, "I think I'm falling in love with you..." She shook her head, "I still lust after James, but I get all woozy when I think of you..." "Don't fret it, Kell. Way back, Nicole told me I could be in love with any number of people and I wouldn't believe her either. But think about it, by admitting feelings of love for me, you're afraid somehow it could be used to disadvantage you, because, to you, love is a liability, a weakness." She paused, "But I won't abuse that love, that trust, you should know that. So what's the harm in admitting your feelings?" She smiled, "It's not like I'm gonna molest you, or anything..." She looked around, "That's why I have these degenerates with me!" She pulled Sara close, "Like my lezzie lover here!" "Hey, back off! I'm the boy today remember?" "Oh..." Brenda sighed and hung her head. "Sorry - dear..." "God, woman, sometimes you just don't know your place!" Sara turned Brenda's face and licked her nose, "So, sweet lips, what say you we go back to my place and I put you through your paces?" "Whatever you say..." "An' I don't want you to be flirtin' with my friend, neither, hear?" "Yes dear..." They kissed lazily as Sherri held on to me, laughing into my neck. Kelly was rolling on the bed, chortling madly. "You guys kill me!" She managed and wheezed some. After she could breathe again, she said, "I better get some clothes on in case somebody walks in and accuses me of contributing to the delinquency of minors!" She burst out laughing again and ran into the change-room with her clothes. She was still giggling when she came out and wiping tears from her face. She sat and started into her breakfast. "But seriously girls, I'd appreciate it if you can stay and help me with the makeup. What you did to yourselves yesterday was great." She sent me out, saying there was nothing she could do to improve me. Sherri kissed me and told me it was because I was already too handsome. So I went to help Todd marshal the others waiting their turn at makeup. "You guys are going to earn your keep today." He said. "For starters, you and Sherri will do the young family shots - we've even got a little girl for you. Brenda will be everybody's sweetheart - lot's of wig and suit changes, I'm afraid. And Sara will have the pleasure of working with Chuck..." He coughed, "Have you met him?" "Yep..." I growled, "Call me Chuck!" "Yeah, that's the guy. They're going to do some 'Father-daughter' fun-in-the-sun shots and..." "More like grandfather-granddaughter shots!" I grumbled. Todd waved a little blond girl of around 10 over and introduced us, "This is Anna, James. She's a real water baby - knows everything about boats." I smiled at her and she shook my hand and said, "Hello, I hope we have a good time today." "I think so, I like boats too and I can't wait to try these ones out." I said, impressed by her charm, "Which one is your favorite?" "Oh, I like them all, but for this lake, I think the 22' runabout is best, what do you think?" "Hmmm, it looks fast. Actually, if I'm going water skiing, I prefer smoother rides, I think the fins on the sides and bottom would make a choppy wake... I mean the water behind the boat." "I know what you mean. The fins are called strakes, by the way." "Wow, you sure know a lot about boats!" I said. "Hmmm, but you're right, the wake is not good for skiing. Weak ridges..." "My friend Brenda loves water skiing, maybe later we can do some!" She brightened and smiled, "That would be nice!" "Ah..." I lost my voice when Sherri came out. She wore a blue bikini with an impossible amount of boobs and legs showing. Her golden brown hair was done up and she was a walking dream, sultry and mysterious. She came up, "Hello..." and softly kissed me, "Husband of mine." "Wow!" Anna and I murmured. "Are you my... mother?" Anna asked. I hastily made introductions. Sherri knelt and held her hands, "I would love to have a pretty girl like you as a daughter, even for a day!" "Er, are you married... to James?" "He's my boyfriend in real life, so we're sorta married - right?" Anna nodded as Sherri stood up, "Wait here, I'll be right back!" "You have a really pretty girlfriend!" Anna said. "I think so too. She's very nice as well!" "I can tell." Sherri came back with a small makeup kit and started applying it to Anna. "I'm not supposed to wear makeup!" "It's OK, we'll just wipe it off later..." The shoot was taking place at both ends of the lake simultaneously, with shore shots on the sandy strand separating them. Todd had us start in the smallest runabout. "Wow, I'm impressed!" I enthused as we came back in the 17' bowrider, "The acceleration is really nice, the planing surfaces and the stepped hull really does the job!" "You think so?" Anna asked, "It's good?" "Oh absolutely, and it works really well with the smaller V-6 engine... Although it may have problems with the V-8's." "How so?" "The extra power will make it hard to control in turns. Already it's relying too much on the chines to do the job." "Yes, we knew it was a tradeoff, but..." "Anna," Sherri said, "How come you know so much about these boats..." "My family owns the company." Anna stated, "But anyways, we knew early on that would be a problem, but since straight-line performance is more important, we decided to go with it." "Hmmm, I guess it's one way of looking at it, and it would probably be apparent in the smaller hulls only." "Exactly," Anna crossed her arms. "How come you know so much about boats as well?" "Oh, we work at a Marina and Sara, she's the one out with Chuck, she does the tune-ups and setting up of hulls like this." We took the 22' Cuddy cabin out next. It was nothing like the 'fat' cuddy that the Gyro 2 was, but had long and sleek lines. It had a really nice ride, the problems I had felt with the small boat all but eliminated. After that we were given three hours off while Brenda strutted her stuff with her bevy of young men. We took Anna back to Jewel and I started the BBQ again. "What are you doing James? We had breakfast just 2 hours ago!" "I'm hungry again - I need my nutrition!" We were interrupted by Sara roaring up in the 22' bowrider. She looked grim, like someone had told her she couldn't play with her Lezzie Lover any more. She looked at me, "Don't say anything - just give me the toolbox." I was not about to say anything, not even how she is so amazingly ravishing and how much I would love to ravish her. Even covered under a top, and fuming mad, her simple black one-piece oozed sex. "Listen..." Chuck was slouched in the passenger seat. He was not smiling either. "Wait, Chuck, you wanted to do this. Your way doesn't work. Period. Now let me do my thing. If it doesn't work, you can laugh at me and I'll publicly apologize to you, fair?" She gave him the full treatment of 'The Look', "But for now - Please. Shut. Up." She pulled open the engine cover and gifted us with a view of her lovely backside while she fiddled inside. She slammed the toolbox back in my hand, restarted the engine and roared off. "Kaboom!" Sherri said. We waited for the dust to settle and looked around for Anna. "Anna, you can come out now! The fire breathing lady is gone!" She had been lurking behind the cabin door. It took a bit of reassuring before she ventured out. "Is he gone too?" "Yes, Anna, it's safe now. Sara is the world's sweetest person, I have no idea what happened just now!" "You know I've never heard anyone talk to him that way before?" Suddenly the skin crawled on my head, "Er, Anna, what's your relationship to Chuck?" "He's my grandfather." "Uh-oh..." I looked at Sherri, "Do you think we should warn Todd?" "It's probably way too late..." She sighed. Ten minutes later Sara pulled up again. She grabbed the tools from my hand and disappeared under the hatch again. "OK," Chuck was saying, "You were right that one time! But I've done this for a long time, much longer than..." He faded as Sara turned 'The Look' on again. "Listen Chuck, experience does not automatically make you right! I KNOW what I'm doing. What you should be interested in are results, not who's right or who's wrong!" Sara said as she roared them off again. We went back down to retrieve Anna. They were gone even longer this time, I calmed my nerves by eating my steaks and polishing off the leftover salad. Sherri sat and chatted quietly with Anna and wove tiny braids in her hair. Kelly walked up, grinning ear to ear. "That Sara of yours, she's something or what! I'm glad I didn't try anything before she gave me permission! Oooh mama!" Apparently Chuck wanted some shots of the boats doing hard turns to show off the fancy strakes and chines but the speed and the spray made photographing them impossible. Then over Chuck's vehement objections, Sara did something to make it work. Then Sara told him there was a problem with the handling of the boat they were in and, of course, had to convince him the hard way. "We got off less than half the shots with them. Good thing Todd's got all the shore shots in the bag or else we'll be seriously behind!" They came back and Sara climbed silently on board. Without a word Chuck took off. Sara looked intently at me, then she took a deep shuddering breath and turned to Sherri, "Sher, Can you take your friends for a walk, please?" She watched as they left and then took me below decks. "Don't move!" She hissed as she slipped out of her clothes, getting sexier by the second. She was flushed all the way down to her navel and her breathing was already labored. She knelt to take my shorts off and held my erection as she laid back on the berth. "Fuck me 'til I scream." she commanded. Ten minutes later, the entire lake heard us. I held her in my arms, all curled up and tiny, still shaking from the exertion and adrenalin. I stroked her soft hair, "Better?" I whispered. "Hmmm, MUCH better. I liked that, you just swept me away." She nestled closer and kissed my chest. "Remember when I said I could do anything when I'm with you?" She shivered, "Never in a million years could I even envision something like that!" "You just made your point and didn't back down, that's all, you should be very proud of yourself." "Hmmm, we have to get up... Chuck's giving me a tour of his operation." "Really?" "Really. It's his way of making up for his bull-headedness. I've got to say this for him, he's not afraid to admit when he's wrong... Trying to prove it to him is the problem!" She kissed me and stretched up. I watched as she sat on the edge of the bed to fix her makeup. She turned at my murmured appreciation. "Am I a sexy fox?" "You're a sexy just-fucked fox!" I caressed and kissed her back. "I'm YOUR sexy just-fucked fox." She smiled, in a husky whisper, "And don't you forget it!" "What exactly did you do to the boat? The turn shots?" I asked as we made our way to the girls waiting at the pavilion. "It was simple, really, I disabled one of the trim tabs and lowered the other one during a gentle turn, the drag made us list way over, as if we were making a 50mph turn instead of a 15mph one!" She shrugged, "But by then I had also realized that at around 25mph, there was enough of a gap between the sets of strakes and the chines that allowed the boat to slip out from under us." "So you had to prove it to him, again. I noticed that on the 17-footer as well, but it was way down around 14, so it's not as serious. It didn't seem to affect the 22' Cuddy though." "Hmmm, but why the runabout, then?" Sara drifted off in thought. "You OK?" Sherri asked as we walked up. "One hundred percent!" Sara beamed. "We heard the hi-speed drill on the boat, was that you?" Brenda snickered. "Nickel steel," I said, "Tough to punch through." And got punched. "I'm going to the plant. Chuck's invited me on a tour." Sara said. "Me too! Anna's taking me." "Me three!" Cried Brenda, "The boys want to show me their hardware..." At our looks, "Computer hardware!" She grinned, "Actually it's software - what they use for modeling and wave simulation." I turned, "Er, have fun girls, if you need me, I'll be in Kelly's trailer." "You, buster, are staying with us!" "Kelly!" Sara smiled at her, "You will never, under any circumstances, even THINK about touching James, right?" "Oh, great and powerful mistress, your very wish is my command!" Kelly bowed deeply. "May this unworthy one retire to the ranks of the cloistered nuns now?" Anna took Sherri's hand and led us along a tree-lined road by a river towards a large compound. We must have been announced as Chuck met us as soon as we stepped inside the huge reception area. He introduced the man with him as Bob, the chief engineer. "This is the young lady I was telling you about! She put me in my place but good!" He took Sara's hand and bowed over it, "Sara, please accept my apologies for assuming that your great beauty could not be matched by your intelligence!" Sara grinned happily and made introductions. "Ah yes, James, the cabin cruiser. And of course the lovely ladies who had my staff in turmoil since yesterday!" He bowed over their hands as well. "And Anna! Have you been bothering Sherri?" She was half-hiding behind us. "No, Chuck, Anna's been a real angel." Sherri smiled. "I asked Bob to be here to explain to Sara why she had the problem with the 22 Bowrider just now..." "That's fine, Chuck," Sara said, "It's probably because someone matched the cuddy hull to the runabout top. The dynamics got screwed..." "How did you figure that out?" "Actually James did. He took the cuddy out and it rode fine, but with the lighter bowrider, the chines would not be low enough to be effective at certain speeds." "Sara, you amaze me!" Chuck exclaimed, "You are absolutely right - but I'm glad it was a matter of expediency, for a while I was afraid we had to redo a mold!" "I presume you know about the 17-footer at 14mph?" Sara added. "Yes," Bob looked pained, "It was such a small window..." He sighed. "It was also an earlier test model." "Chuck," Sara turned to him, "I have to tell you that we do some consulting work for one of your competitors, so I'll understand if you don't show us around." "But if I do, you'll not use anything you learn for my competition?" "Of course I won't! You have my word." Sara stuck her hand out and, after a moment, Chuck shook it. "No, I don't expect you will..." Chuck looked at us, "Sara has told me she wanted to see the lay-up area. I propose we take a quick tour first and you can decide what interests you." We went to the upholstery section where they put together the seats and berths; then to woodworking where they produced and assembled the decking, cupboards and shelving. Each section took up a corner of the huge assembly plant and was as large as a football field. Brenda was intercepted by 3 of her young men and was whisked away to the R&D area, where wooden scale models were milled from computer designs and hydrodynamically tested. There the interior was mocked up to test for efficient usage. After a design was finalized, robots would cut a replica out of foam, then, carefully and painstakingly hand finished, so that molds could be made from it. A series of these were waiting in the Fiberglass lay-up, or 'Laminating' area, which was over 400 feet long and about half as wide. Each carefully protected mold was hand cleaned and waxed, then a layer of clear protective gel was sprayed on the inside, upon which successive layers of fiberglass, foam and other material were applied and built up. The chines and extended running surfaces were further reinforced with Kevlar. The finished mold was gently heated and, after they separated, the fiberglass insert became the hull of a new boat. The top and cabin were similarly constructed and attached to the hull after the engine and other fixtures were installed and tested. At the end of the assembly area was the engine shop, which had a wide water channel leading out to the river. Upstream, away from the twin lakes used for the photo-shoot, was another large lake where top-secret tests were conducted. Sara became intrigued by a low squat craft moored in the channel, similar in shape to Neta but double the dimensions all around. Finished in cobalt blue, it was almost all engine behind the dual bucket seats. "Wow, small-block V-8!" She breathed as she turned to me, "They modified a car engine for water use!" "That's Bob's baby - a 351 coupled to the XR transmission." Bob was obviously proud of it, "Guess the top speed..." Sara hmmm'd, "75... 80?" "Ninety-five!" Bob glowed. Sara was impressed, "Who'd think - smooth hull, a century!" "Well, not quite, we got up to 95 and the engine quit pulling." He fired it up and it rumbled most impressively. At the rear, two vents for cooling started spitting water and steam. He tried to say something but was unable to get himself heard. Sara signaled for him to cut the engine. "I'd offer to take you out but it's a bit too choppy now." "Bob, was it on choke?" Sara asked. "No, it's warmed up already. Idling at 1000." "920" Sherri corrected. Bob looked at her. "Sherri can tell rpm better than the tach." Sara explained, "But Bob - you know you're losing power by running it rich, why?" Bob looked back at her, "You can tell just like that? Geez..." He looked in amazement at the girls, "But we have to - we're still having cooling problems, the water intakes lose contact and so..." He shrugged. "How 'bout a sponson?" "That's what we're going to try next." Bob admitted, still shaking his head. "We're just trying to determine the exact placement for it..." "Well!" Sara hugged me and smiled widely, "Gentlemen, it just so happens the genius boyfriend here has a patent pending on a device to locate plane points!" They looked at me and Chuck said, "How much?" "It's not for sale - we're using it for our consulting work... For this boat though, I'd figure $1200, 2 weeks, maybe quicker. Placement to within a inch, two load groups." I thought about it. "Perhaps, if I can make a suggestion? I can see a tunnel working better than a sponson once we have the placement. Inductive take up will be less resistance." "Is he a genius boyfriend or what?" Sara grinned. "And my Daddy!" Anna chimed in. That got her a dark look from Chuck until we explained about the match-up for the photo session. "Speaking of photo session, we have to get going!" I said. "Can you stay over tonight? As my guest?" Chuck asked. "I would like to talk some more. Besides, I also owe James for the delightful meal he made me!" "Yes, please! And then we can go water skiing!" Anna urged. "Well, then it would be our pleasure to accept. Thank you in advance." ============= (C) Copyright 2002. M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden. Copies of my stories can be downloaded from: </files/Authors/MikeC/> Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net