Joe turned to see a familiar tall and silver haired man. “Hi Philippe, long time no see. I just got here. You must have done well to be here.”
‘Yep, we took a gold for our chardonnay and a silver for our mourvèdre.”
“Looks like there’s going to be quite a crowd.”
Philippe winked at Joe. “With the warm temperatures, the ladies, especially here in Oakland, are not going to be wearing a lot of clothes. This should be very entertaining.”
Joe gave Philippe a polite smile. ‘You never change. What does the Mrs. think of your discerning eye?”
Philippe responded with an evil grin and pulled out a pair of dark glasses from his shirt pocket. “That is why I wear these.”
Ed and Pauline stood at the desk of the Manchester Hotel in Oakland, both giggling at the parking valet’s reaction to the Citroen. Pauline glanced over at Ed. “There is something that I should tell you now. I took the liberty to upgrade your room to a suite.”
Ed’s eyebrows raised and then he smiled. “Thank you. That is very thoughtful of you, but you really shouldn’t have spent the extra money.”
“Not to worry. I travel a lot more than you do. I just cashed in some of my travel points. There is one more surprise.”
Ed questioned Pauline with his eyes.
Pauline just smiled in return. “You will see soon enough.”
A few minutes later they stood in the hallway outside their rooms. Ed glanced at the room numbers. “I see that you managed to get us both suites, right next to each other.”
Again, Pauline just smiled and said nothing as they each unlocked their doors.
Ed dragged his luggage into the room and immediately noticed a door to the adjoining suite. Opening it, he found Pauline standing there, grinning widely, having already opened her door.
“Now I know your second surprise!” Ed then was at a loss for further words as Pauline reached up, grabbed his neck and deeply kissed him. Ed then took a deep breath. “These are some awesome suites! This is wonderful.”
Then standing in Pauline’s suite, they both noticed the gas log fireplace, the balcony with the view, and…. the two person jetted bathtub.
Pauline suddenly felt overwhelmingly aroused, her passion being expressed by her body through the thin dress fabric covering her breasts. Ed too suddenly felt warm and dizzy, his blood coursing strongly through his loins. Pauline reached up and started to kiss Ed deeply, finally giving in to her passion.
After the first kiss, Ed pulled back. “You were so right back in your apartment. We have to try to take this slow. Let’s go to the wine festival. We won’t be there past eight o’clock. There will be plenty of time then.”
Getting control, Pauline nodded her head. “Yes, it would be better if we go to the wine festival now. You should know that I find you incredibly attractive. I love it when you hold me tight and when we kiss. But there is plenty of time for us to go a little slower.”
Robert leaned back in his office chair and looked up at the clock. “So the word is that the Honolulu will be in a little sooner?”
Juan stood at the bar in Robert’s office nursing a shot of Irish whiskey over ice. “According to Eric, they are calling to pick up the pilot a little before 7:00 PM. The ship should be pulling up to the docks just about sunset.”
“Perfect. We should have enough light to get off some clean shots and then have darkness to help us get away. Are the escorts for the pilot ready?”
“They are heading out to the pilot dock as we speak.”
“In the next hour we should get down to the boat and get everything ready. You better notify the crew. Maybe we should go out and shadow the ship a while when it comes in.”
“Yes sir. By the way, is there any way that we could test fire the twin 50s before show time?”
Robert scowled at Juan. “Those twins are pretty loud. Not bloody likely in the bay.” Continued ...
