Free Love on the Malecon by Aubrey Parr Page A

when they could enjoy each other in the water under the
cover of dark with the moonlight shining over them.
    He kissed her slow but deep, wanting to taste
every part of her mouth. He couldn’t imagine ever taking her kisses
for granted. This would never get old. The feel of her lips and the
taste of her mouth, nothing had ever felt so much like home to him.
He grabbed her hair at the back on her neck and tugged slightly.
She let out a moan and he kissed her along her cheek bone. He saw
her take a quick glance over toward the closest family to make sure
that the kids weren’t watching and he forced himself to pull away
from her.
    They both dunked their heads under the water
and watched all the tiny little fish swimming around them. There
were schools of them darting everywhere. Nicole had never
experienced that before and she laughed and pointed like a little
girl. She was so comfortable in her skin. He loved that about her.
They waded deeper into the water and let the waves crash into them
and bring them back closer to shore. Derek always made sure to have
a tight hold of her hand each time, so there was no risk of the
ocean grabbing hold of her in the undertow.
    Out in the water just a bit, where families
were playing, was a floating trampoline. Kids were jumping off of
it and laughing. Derek watched Nicole as she smiled at the kids.
One did a front flip and she clapped and cheered for him. When she
saw Derek watching her, she told him that she used to be a gymnast
when she was younger.
    “Wanna give it a try?” he asked.
    “Definitely!” She smiled and started swimming
towards it. As they reached the ropes attached to the side of the
floating island, Nicole grabbed a hold and hiked herself on top of
it. Derek was impressed with her abilities, but hoped that he would
have been able to cop a feel while assisting her. She turned and
looked down at him.
    “Coming up?” she smiled, blocking the sun out
of her eyes.
    “On my way,” he yelled up to her and pulled
himself up onto the trampoline. Since the kids hadn’t climbed on
again, Nicole jumped and laughed and did a few flips in the air. She really does love life , he thought.
    “Are you going to try a flip over the edge?”
he asked, knowing that’s what got her excited while watching.
    “Wanna see me do a backflip?” she looked
ready to impress him.
    “Let’s see it!” He walked over and kissed her
cheek.
    She went closer to the edge and leaned over
to take a look. She turned and faced him, standing as close to the
edge as she could. Then she began to hesitate. “ I just
realized that it might be twenty years since I’ve done a backflip.”
She had a look of terror in her eyes. “ I can’t believe I’m
this freaked out.”
    “Oh love, you don’t have to do it then.” He
started to feel bad for her.
    “Yes, I do,” she said quickly, maybe before
she could think too much about it. She got a look of determination
on her face, winked at him, and flew her body back over her head.
He ran up to see as he heard a huge splash in the water. Moments
after she went under, she shot back up, laughing and cheering for
herself. He would have been impressed regardless, but he was
extremely proud, considering she did it in spite of being
scared.
    He dove into the water after her and she
threw her arms around him as soon as she could. She was beaming
from the experience.
    “I’m very proud of you!” he said between
kisses.
    They swam a bit closer to the shore so that
they could both reach the bottom easily. He saw her shiver a bit
when a gust of wind came, so he picked her up and threw her over
his shoulder. She laughed and hit his butt and kicked her legs. He
just squeezed tighter until he reached the beach and set her down
in the sand.
    “You seemed cold; I thought I’d get you to
your towel,” he said with a smile.
    “You are crazy!” was all she could say before
he wrapped her towel around her and pulled her into him to warm her
with his body heat as