Post-Noir: The Return of Light

As we left the office, Paula asked, anxiously, "how'd I do?"

"You impressed me," I said sincerely.

Just then, Gretchen leaned out the door and said, "Ian, may I talk to you for a moment?"

I left Paula standing outside the office and went back inside with Gretchen. "Paula did very well," Gretchen said.

"You ok hiring her?" I asked.

"Yes," Gretchen answered.

"Can we afford it?" I asked.

"Yes," Gretchen said. "She told me what the University paid her. I think we should start her ten grand a year above that. Our cost of living here is higher than Ohio."

"What's her position?" I asked.

"How about 'Director of Marketing and Assistant General Manager?'" Gretchen replied.

"Assistant GM?" I asked.

"Yeah," Gretchen said. "I think she can help with more than just marketing and that gives her broader authority. You know I'm not going to stay forever. Let's audition Paula to be my successor." Gretchen was not a nudist and had worked in mainstream resorts before coming to The Cove. I thought she probably wanted to get back to mainstream clothed resorts. "Are you on board?' Gretchen asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Paula's impressed me too."

Gretchen smiled a meaningful smile. "That's good," she said.

"May I tell her?" I asked.

"Please," Gretchen replied. "She'd prefer to hear it from you. Just make clear she reports to both of us."

I went back outside to Paula. "Congratulations," I said. "If you accept, you are now Director of Marketing and Assistant General Manager of Bougainvillea Cove."

Paula shrieked "thank you!" She threw her arms around me and kissed me. An older couple walking by looked at the nude young woman hugging me and smiled.

"It was Gretchen's decision as much as mine," I said. "You made a good impression on her. We're both your bosses."

Paula gave me a grin. "I'm happy to be under you any time. We've already done that. We both enjoyed it."

Joining Paula's spirit, I said, "you've been on top a couple of times. That was pretty nice too."

"What do you do every day after the meeting?" Paula asked.

"Not much, really," I said. "I should get actively involved if I'm the owner."

"I want you in the office with me," Paula said. "Now, please show me around. I want to see the whole place." That was easy. I knew every inch of The Cove from having overseen its security for years. We spent nearly two hours going over the entire property. There were many things that Paula thought needed to be repaired, upgraded, or re-designed. In each instance, I could see she was right. That was on me for having been an absentee owner, even though I lived there.

As we finished the tour, I asked, "What are you going to do about a place to live?"

Paula's face clouded a little. "I was hoping I could live with you," she said.

"That's what I hoped you had in mind," I replied. Paula didn't shriek with glee his time. We just came together, hugged, and kissed each other. Finally, I took her hand and we walked back to my Unit. Once I had closed the door, Paula wordlessly took my hand and led me upstairs to the bedroom.

In the bedroom, we started kissing again. Paula stroked me. When I got a little hard, she stopped kissing, knelt down, and took me in her mouth. She was good. Well before I was ready to come, I stood Paula up. I gently backed her to the bed where she lay down. I spread her legs, crawled between them, and started licking. I moved to sucking on her clit. I was reminded how wonderfully responsive Paula was. Soon, she said, in an urgent tone, "Ian. In me. Now!"

I moved up the bed until I was above her. Aroused, Paula was even more beautiful than she was usually. She grasped my dick firmly and I let her guide me into her vagina. I hoped I remembered what she liked best and immediately tried to do that again. I was rewarded with a breathy "you remembered."

Paula was, I was also reminded, a highly active sex partner. Her hands played with my ass. She licked my neck. She rubbed her nipples against my chest. And she pushed back at me almost as hard as I pushed into her. I'd forgotten some of the sensations of making love to Paula Taft. She reminded me that day. This was, however, more than what we'd done in Jamaica. There was a new tenderness and caring on both sides.

I did remember how Paula's hips sped up and moved more forcefully as she approached orgasm. I remembered how she yelled "Oh GOD" as she came, with her voice rising an octave on "God." I remembered, and experienced again, how she induced a powerful orgasm in me.

After we both came, I pulled out and lay beside her. There was another of those moments when we just looked into each other's eyes. I liked Paula's eyes. She finally said, "thank you."

"You still want to live here?" I asked.

"If we can do that at least daily," she answered with a smile.

"At least," I said. A voice in my brain said I was a sorry, lonely old man who had become infatuated in twenty-four hours.

Paula seemed to read my thoughts. "Ian," she said, "you know this didn't start yesterday. Our relationship started in Jamaica almost a year ago. What let us get back together is sad, but I'll never be sad that we are together."

I was happy to be with her again, too. That caused a feeling of guilt that I was being disloyal to Laura.

Again, Paula read my mind. "You're not being disloyal. Laura's not here anymore. She enjoyed life and wanted you to enjoy life too. I don't have the slightest doubt that she approves of what we're doing." Maybe it was rationalizing, but I chose to think Paula was right. More realistically, I also thought at this point it makes no difference to Laura whether I stay celibate or not.

"You start work tomorrow," I said.

"We still haven't emptied my car!" Paula responded. There was no point in showering again because we'd be sweating carrying her things from her car in the Florida heat. We wiped off the most obvious remnants of our lovemaking and went outside.

After we had Paula's things put away, we spent the remainder of the afternoon by the pool. That evening, she let me take her to the restaurant. Paula was excited by her first restaurant meal in the nude. I hadn't been in the restaurant in months. I knew all the staff. I think they were pleased to see me back and pleased to see me with someone.

The next morning, Paula and I showered. She asked, "do I have to wear clothes to work?" Gretchen and the women who staffed the front desk did, but I was also going to the office (for the first time since inheriting The Cove) and I didn't want to go dressed.

"As the owner," I said, "I think I have the authority to let staff work in the nude. So, let's do it." The problem with Paula and me going to the office was not that we went in the nude. The problem was office space. Gretchen had her own office. I wasn't going to make her move or share. Paul Westerfeld's old office was in the back of the building. It had been closed since Paul died. We decided Paula and I would share that office. It took a couple of days to get an extra desk and get computers set up. Paul had hated computers.

Before taking pictures for ads, we had to deal with the things that were shabby, old, or broken so The Cove looked inviting. Paula took charge of that. I was impressed that she had no qualms about going nude when meeting with contractors. "I don't care if they're staring at my ass so long as the job gets done," she declared. Instead of having to beg contractors to come out, we were now turning the away.

It took a couple of months to get The Cove truly presentable. I can't fault Gretchen. Paul and Lillith had chosen to let some things slide and I'd been too preoccupied with self-pity to notice.

Paula found a photographer she liked, but we had an issue with models. "Not to be judgmental," Paula said, "but whoever we use is meant to depict a guest here. We need people prospective guests want to be around. We don't want strippers or anorexic fashion models." In the end, Paula modeled for the first shoots. She posed in places where she could be obviously nude, but not show anything; like the pool or sauna, or partially concealed behind a plant.

I thought the first pictures were good. Along with copy Paula wrote, the pictures appeared in ads in carefully chosen national and international publications. Within weeks, our bookings started trending up and the people booking were younger. Having Paula model for the pictures saved us money, but there was a cost, as we learned later.

Paula and I were together 24/7 for days at a time. We seemed to enjoy each other more the more we were together. Our sexual relationship also got more adventurous.

The Cove's clientele was exclusively adult. However, Paul and Lillith had a rule against overt sexual conduct in the public areas. That rule was violated often. I'd violated it myself more than once. However, it was still stated policy. Paula and I started by making love beside the lake after dark, which had risks beyond just getting caught in Florida.

We progressed to making love by the lake in broad daylight. We were caught a time or two. When an older couple caught us, they didn't say anything because, I guess, I was the owner. But the couple never came back. One younger couple, first time guests, caught us and watched until we came. Afterwards, they introduced themselves and told us how much they had enjoyed watching us. Paula told them, "Making love outdoors in the sun is a special experience. You should try it." I hope they did.

Paula began pushing for The Cove to become a more "sex friendly" environment. "Younger people," she said, "don't accept that social nudity and sex must strictly be kept separate. A nude couple enjoying their nudity may be inspired to enjoy each other. They don't want to fear being thrown out if they act on that."

I understood Paula's point. Gretchen did too. Our older regulars, who had come to The Cove for years and were friends of Paul and Lillith, would not. We finally bit the bullet, sort of. We changed our rules to prohibit "ostentatious" sexual conduct in public areas. We instructed staff that "ostentatious" meant most sex was ok unless it got more than one or two other guests angry or was in an utterly inappropriate place, like the restaurant. Humping in the hot tub was usually ok.

A challenge was making our new attitude known to potential guests without being so blatant we drew unwanted attention. Paula produced what I thought was, if not a stroke of genius, a damn good idea. We would run new ads showing couples together, nude, being openly affectionate with the sexual conduct implied.

Again, models were a problem. Paula thought it would work best if our models were a real-life couple. We weren't going to get that by calling an agency. Paula and I had been together for months by then and, motivated by her, I'd been working out. We were discussing the issue in a meeting with Gretchen when Paula said, "Ian, I think we should be the models. We're hot for each other. That will come across. We're completely comfortable anywhere in The Cove. I've modeled for our ads before and you're looking great these days."

Before I could say anything, Gretchen said, "I agree."

Paula and I posed in the pool hugging each other. The picture we used was shot from the side. Our asses were both under water, but the positions of our arms made it clear we were each holding the other's bare ass. Another picture had us in the hot tub. I was sitting with my back to the camera. My back and shoulders covered Paula's body, but it was clear she was facing me, probably sitting in my lap. A third was by the lake. I was lying on my back in the grass. Paula was lying face down on top of me. The picture was taken at about ground level from the side with the lake in the background. A plant concealed our hips, so the picture showed her bare legs on top of mine and her bare torso on top of mine. We were kissing so only the sides of our heads showed. Posing with Paula was great. We had prints of some of the pictures made and framed. We hung them in Unit 7.

Our bookings continued to go up and our demographic got younger and more affluent. We added tennis courts where only shoes could be worn. We rebuilt the sand volleyball. We added an outdoor basketball court. We expanded and upgraded our gym. We added racquetball courts. The percentage of previous guests returning rose significantly.

Paula's mother, who is a story unto herself, visited us at The Cove. Her college friend Jen Proffitt visited a couple of times. I still thought about Laura, almost every day but that ugly, empty feeling was gone. I reveled in waking up next to Paula each morning. Paula coming to The Cove had been a success by every measure.

As we approached a full year of waking up together, I quietly visited the lawyer Paul and Lillith had used to set up Bougainvillea Cove, LLC, the entity which formally owned the resort. I was sole member of the LLC.

We had our "first anniversary" dinner at The Cove's restaurant. We had to eat that dinner in the nude. I had made arrangements. Along with desert, Shelly, our server, brought out an envelope. I handed it to Paula and said, "open it."

Paula opened the envelope and pulled out a legal document. She read for a few moments, then stopped. She looked at me. "Ian, this says you and I each have a 50% interest in the LLC," she said in a perplexed tone. "You're the sole member, you own The Cove."

"Under the old operating agreement," I explained, "I had the unilateral power to amend it. I used that power to give you a 50% interest."

"Why?" Paula asked.

"Well," I said, "partly because you've done such an excellent job here, you've earned it. Mainly, I did it because I love you."

"Ian!" Paula said. "I've been here exactly a year. We live together. We've made love hundreds of times. That is the first time you've ever said you love me."

I was embarrassed. I'd decided I loved Paula not long after she showed up. I felt something of a shit for not saying it before now. To cover, I said, "If you don't want to be a 50% member, I can have it changed back. I should have asked you first."

"Ian," Paula said. "You know I'm thrilled to be half owner of The Cove. You realize, though, this means I'm never leaving."

"I was hoping to produce that result," I replied.

"Ian," she said, "I love you too." As I thought about it, Paula had said many affectionate things to me, but I couldn't remember her saying "I love you" either.

Paula had arrived in the spring. It was spring again, and warm out even at night. After dinner, we walked to the lake. We stopped under the one light around the lake that stayed on all night. We hugged and kissed. Paul ran her index finger around the head of my dick. I ran my finger over her lips and then slowly pushed it inside her. Being with her, giving her pleasure and getting pleasure from her, made me feel so good!

Paula said, "as your partner, I want you on the grass on your back." I complied. She straddled me. While I held my dick at a right angle to my body, she very slowly lowered herself and I very slowly slid inside her. That was the best start to a lovemaking session I've ever experienced. It got better from there. Paula on top let her set the pace. She could do what she felt like. I got to look up at her chest and her gorgeous face. I'm not sure we really did anything different that night, but the mutual "I love you" over dinner made it seem better.

Paula's voice went up more than an octave when she came that night. I was still shooting inside of her when she lay down on top of me. Looking at the night sky, I saw a shooting star. Maybe that was a message from Laura.

We kissed for a very long time before Paula got off me. When we both stood up, I heard applause. About half of the restaurant staff was standing a little way off watching us. I was proud people had seen me make love to a woman as great and beautiful as Paula Taft. We walked back to the pool area with the clothed staff. They went back to closing the restaurant for the night. Paula and I washed each other off under an outdoor shower.

Walking back to Unit 7, I made another decision. "Paula," I said, "may I ask you something?"

"Sure," she replied.

"Will you marry me?" I asked.

"What? Are you serious? Really?" Paula exclaimed. She looked at my face. I meant it and she saw that. "Yes Ian, I'll marry you," she said. "There's one thing."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Since we were nude when you proposed, we must get married in the nude," she said. I'd done that once before and enjoyed it

"Absolutely," I said. We hugged and kissed for a very long time. I was as happy and excited as I'd been when Laura said "yes" several years before.

We wanted to have the wedding soon. That idea ran into a snag when we couldn't reach Paula's mother, Elaine, for days. Paula finally got an e-mail from Elaine saying she was in Malaysia working on a story and would likely be there another month or two before going on to Thailand. Elaine was a freelance writer/journalist. It was not unusual for her to be on another continent for an extended period. Paula had never met her father.

We decided to have the wedding the following May. Paula thought that would give Elaine enough time to work it into her schedule.

When we told Gretchen, she replied, "serendipity. I've been offered a job as co-general manager of a ski resort in Colorado. The man who is currently GM is overloaded, and he is an old and very special friend. I told him I'd probably need a year to wrap up here and he was ok with that. If you agree, I'd like to use the next eleven months training Paula to replace me. I'll stay through your honeymoon. Paula can take over when you get back." Paula and I agreed to Gretchen's plan.

Paul and Lillith had a rule that The Cove did not admit unaccompanied men. That was also changed on Paula's recommendation. We started allowing single men in, but they could not stay overnight. At the same time, we enhanced security.

I'd persuaded Paul and Lillith to install security cameras covering the perimeter of the property. We now installed cameras covering all the public space inside the resort. Since I'd developed a friendly relationship with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, we made a deal to always have an off-duty deputy present monitoring the feed from the cameras. The deputies stayed in uniform in the security office watching the monitors. For obvious reasons, we did not routinely save the feed from the cameras. However, if a deputy saw something wrong, she or he could press a button and save the feed from the specific camera starting two minutes before the button was pushed.

A month after Paula and I got engaged, we were walking through the resort's pool area. We were both nude, of course. It was a Saturday afternoon, and The Cove was crowded. Suddenly, a large nude man jumped up from a lounge chair and grabbed Paula's arm. I pulled the man's arm off her, and he swatted me away like I was a fly. As I regained my balance, I got a better look at the man. I was close to my Chicago PD weight of 195. This guy was, at least, seventy pounds heavier, and it looked to be all muscle.

The man grabbed Paula a second time, around the waist. Paula yelled "Nick!" I didn't have time for that to register. I grabbed the meaty arm around Paula with both of my hands and wrapped a leg around the man's leg closest to Paula. My idea was to trip him.

Pulling backwards with all my strength and my bodyweight, I was able to pull the guy's arm off Paula a second time. The big guy and I fell on the concrete pool deck. I yelled, "run Paula." The big guy shook me off as effortlessly as he had the first time. He got to his feet and went after Paula. Despite my size and strength disadvantage, I couldn't let him get to her. I went after the guy.