Honeymooning

After this post, there are two posts left.  One will finish up the honeymoon and their homecoming, and then the very last post will take a jump into the future (it's okay, you don't have to pretend to be surprised).  I anticipate a post on Sunday and the final post on Monday.  If you missed the post I put up late last night, make sure you scroll down to see that one.  I definitely exceeded my goal of 5 posts this week!  
______________________________

I was surprised at how many of guests had brunch with us.  It was delicious and it was nice to see everyone one last time before we all went our separate ways.

Between visiting with people after we ate and getting my parents to the airport, we didn't get home until almost 8.  For all the time we'd spent in the bed that morning, I was surprised how tired I was.  Brody and I brought our bags and gifts in from his SUV, leaving the couple boxes of random stuff from the wedding (leftover favors, etc) on the dining room table to deal with tomorrow.  Then we put our suitcases for our honeymoon in the car so we'd be ready to go the next day.  For once, Brody had packed prior to the morning we were leaving, and I was glad I wouldn't want to kill him a mere two days into our  marriage.

I collected some snacks (some fruit and cheese we needed to eat or throw out before we left, crackers, and a few other random things that needed to be eaten) while Brody opened a bottle of wine, and we took our makeshift light dinner into the living room to open our gifts.  Luckily we'd received several prior to the wedding and had a lot of cards, so we didn't have many physical gifts from the wedding to open.  I made a careful list of what we received and tucked it into my purse with a box of thank you cards so we could use part of our really long flight to get them taken care of right away.

Our flight didn't leave until 5 on Monday, so after sleeping in and enjoying French toast, eggs, and hash browns for breakfast, courtesy of my amazing husband (which still feels weird to say), I did some cleaning.  "What are you doing?" Brody asked as I got the cleaning supplies out.  "We're on our honeymoon."

"We're going to be exhausted from traveling when we get home," I pointed out.  "I don't want to have to spend my last day off cleaning and doing 3 weeks worth of laundry, do you?  This way, everything will be nice and clean when we get back and we can spend the last day of our vacation relaxing and being jet lagged."

"That's actually a really good point," Brody said.  He grabbed the broom and helped me clean.  With his help, we were done by lunchtime, except for the last two loads of clothes that were in the washer and the dryer.

"Will you be mad if I make a couple of work calls?" Brody asked, glancing at the clock.  "I just thought of something I need to tell Pete before I'm unreachable for two weeks.  I'll call, not email, because if I log into my email, I'll get sucked in."

"Go ahead," I said.  "I'm just going to figure out something to throw together for lunch."  He kissed my forehead and disappeared towards his office while I scanned the meager contents of the fridge.  I'd planned very carefully so we would have as little as possible to throw out before we left for two weeks, and there were only a few random things left.

I ended up sautéing some chicken, halved cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and garlic in some olive oil and a splash of what was left of the white wine we didn't quite finish the night before.  I was draining some pasta when Brody came back into the kitchen.  He helped me finish up and we sat to eat our last meal at home for awhile.  Not long after, we made our way out the door and headed towards the airport.  

We had a short layover at LAX, then we were on another plane for almost 12 hours.  It was seriously the longest 12 hours of my life.  It was also probably the best flight of my life.  Our Air New Zealand first class seats were self contained little cubbies with personal TV screens.  The seat felt like a leather recliner with an ottoman, and it folded completely flat to sleep.  Despite that, I barely slept on the overnight flight.

We spent the first day and a half of our trip on "mainland" Fiji at a resort that was nice but not extravagant.  Brody had figured we'd spend most of our time there sleeping at weird times, trying to adjust to the time change, so he had smartly booked a cheaper (at least by Fiji standards) room at a fairly basic resort.  We landed at 5am Fiji time (which was 18 hours ahead of Denver, so it was actually Wednesday).  I felt like we'd completely skipped Tuesday, which we essentially had.

Once we were to the resort and checked in, we went to bed.  We slept for three hours, then got up.  I was groggy and crabby and hungry and felt bad that I was so grumpy--especially that I was grumpy while on a trip to Fiji.  We showered and went to find some food, and by the time we finished eating, I was feeling a little more normal.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach, trying to stay awake as best we could.  We ended up in bed around 7:30, immediately following dinner, too tired and jet-lagged to even have sex on the first day of our honeymoon.

When I woke early up the next morning, I felt significantly better.  Still a little tired and disoriented, but much more awake and cheerful.  Brody did not agree.  He'd actually slept on the plane on the way here, so he wasn't quite as exhausted as I was the day before--which had been good for him yesterday, but bad when he tried to go to sleep.  I had been so exhausted that I had slept through the night, but he had tossed and turned all night and hadn't gotten much sleep.

I let him sleep awhile longer and got up and got dressed.  I went in search of breakfast, and was soon eating some fresh fruit and bread on a patio overlooking the ocean.  After breakfast, I wandered around the resort for awhile, then went back to our room and read on the small balcony in the sun until Brody got up.  He got up just in time to check out, so we packed up our stuff and dropped our suitcases off in the lobby before we went to eat lunch.

After lunch, we got to relax on the beach for about an hour before we took off for Turtle Island.  Brody was in a much better mood now, and I felt like we were starting to settle into our trip.

We had to take a seaplane to Turtle Island, which was equal parts really cool and absolutely terrifying.  We landed late in the afternoon with one other couple, and we were welcomed warmly by the staff.

After showing us to our "bure" (villa), Elle introduced herself as our "bure mama".  Essentially, she would be our personal concierge for our whole trip.  "Is there anything you would like right now?" she asked us.  When we looked at her blankly, she suggested we pick out a bottle of wine.  She led us back towards what seemed to be the main part of the resort and into a huge wine cellar.  We picked out a bottle of champagne and asked to have it after dinner.  Elle promised it would be chilled and delivered after dinner, and asked if we wanted to join the community dinner or have dinner in our bure.  We elected to have dinner in our bure that night, as we were both still pretty tired.

When we got back to our bure, Brody looked at me.  "What would you like to do?" It was late afternoon and we didn't have a whole lot of sunlight left.

"I want to take a nap on the beach," I said, looking out the front windows.  We had our own private beach just yards from the door.  Brody agreed and we quickly made our way down to the beach.

Even though the sun would be setting soon, I still slathered sunscreen on my pale skin.  Getting sunburned early in the trip would not be fun.  I handed the bottle to Brody and turned around so he could put some on my back.  He carefully rubbed it into my shoulders and down my back.  As he slid his down my ribs, his fingers slipped under the sides of my bikini top, just a little.  As his hands came back up they slipped under again, this time a little further.  I sighed contentedly and on their next pass down, his fingers went just a little further.  When his hands came back up, he dropped the pretense and just slid his fingers all the way beneath my top.  He massaged the sides of my breasts, inching further until he trapped each nipple between the index and middle fingers of each hand.

I leaned back against him and lifted one arm, wrapping my fingers around the back of his neck, then sliding them up into his hair.  I twisted it between my fingers and tugged, and he groaned softly, his mouth inches from my ear.  He continued to massage my breasts, tugging and rolling my nipples between his fingers until my legs started to get a little weak.

One of his hands left my breast and I exhaled in disappointment.  Brody chuckled softly at my response, then tugged at the knot of my bikini top at the back of my neck.  He quickly worked the strings loose and let them fall, the small triangles of fabric dropping off my breasts and hanging down my torso, now held in place only by the tie at the middle of my back.

I had to admit that I was not only a little nervous, but also excited at the fact that though our beach was private, someone could accidentally stumble onto it and see a lot more than they bargained for.  My nap on the beach was completely forgotten when Brody moved the hand that untied my top down to my hip, then ran his fingertip along my stomach, just under the edge of the fabric there.  I leaned more heavily against him and shut my eyes, now completely unconcerned with the slight risk of getting caught.

Brody's fingers moved further beneath my swim suit bottoms and finally made it where I desperately wanted them.  I moaned as he pressed one finger against me and started making slow circles with it.  Meanwhile, his other hand was still busy at my breast.

When my legs became unsteady, Brody quietly suggested we go back up to our bure.  We made it as far as the veranda, where we collapsed in a tangled heap on the outdoor daybed there.  My hands reached for Brody's swim trunks, but he pushed them away and tugged my bikini bottoms off before lowering his head between my thighs.  Conscious of the fact that were outside and not too far from the public beach, I clapped my hand over my mouth to help quiet my moans and gasps.

He didn't stop until I'd had two shuddering orgasms.  Then he made his way back up my body.  "What time did Elle say she'd bring dinner?" he asked quietly.

"7:30," I mumbled, still dazed. My heavy-lidded eyes slid back towards Brody, and I saw him check his watch.

"We're okay then," he replied.  He lowered his head again and I shivered as he sucked on my earlobe.  Brody gently pushed my thighs apart with his knee and settled between my hips.  "I love you, Olivia," he said softly, his gaze holding mine with a fiery intensity.

"I love--" I started to reply, but my words were cut off by a strangled moan as he thrust into me.

We took advantage of the outdoor shower to clean up and rinse off the sunscreen I no longer needed, since our little tryst had taken us well past sunset and the beach was no longer appealing.  Once we were dressed again, we curled up in the hammock outside our bure.  We stayed there, cuddling and talking until Elle arrived with our dinner and two glasses of wine, which she explained were selected by the chef to pair with our meals.  She set everything up on the small table on our veranda and we carefully extricated ourselves from the hammock and sat down to eat.  The meal was delicious and consisted mostly of fresh seafood and fresh, local fruits and root vegetables.

We had just finished when Elle returned with our champagne, two champagne flutes, and a plate of small assorted fruit tarts.  "Dessert," she said cheerfully.  "Did you enjoy your dinner?"

"It was amazing," Brody said sincerely.  "Thank you."  Elle cleared our dinner plates and instructed us to leave our dessert dishes on the veranda for her to come back and get later.

We sat and enjoyed the champagne, which was perfectly chilled and went well with our light dessert. The air had cooled slightly and the humidity had decreased, and it was heavenly to just relax in the beautiful night air together.

Over an hour later, Brody divided the last of the champagne into our glasses and left the bottle with our dessert plate and forks on the table on the veranda.  It was getting a little chilly for me in my flimsy sundress so I gladly followed him inside.  I giggled as I bumped into the doorframe on the way in.

Brody turned and lifted an eyebrow. "Are you drunk, Mrs. Adler?" he teased me.

"Far from it," I replied.  "I'm slightly tipsy.  And always clumsy."

He laughed.  "That's very true," he admitted.  "Come here, clumsy."  He set both our champagne glasses down and wrapped his arms around me.  I relaxed against him and slid my hands under the back of shirt, gently massaging the muscles of his lower back.  He sighed and rested his cheek on top of my head, and we stood like for a long time.  "I love you, Liv," he said softly.

"I love you, too," I replied.  "So much.  And I'm seriously impressed with your honeymoon planning abilities."

"To be honest, so am I," Brody said, laughing.

We finished our champagne curled up on the couch together, then got into bed.  Brody seemed about ready to sleep, but when I kissed him he quickly responded, curling one hand around the back of my neck and wrapping his other arm around me, pulling me tightly against him.  We had easy, comfortable, leisurely sex.  Neither of us was in hurry and it was far more about connecting than getting off.  Of course, that happened too, but this time it wasn't the point.  It was the first time I'd ever kept my eyes open and on his the entire time, and even in the dark room, the eye contact completely changed it for me.

 "Jesus," Brody breathed, nearly an hour later, as we lay spent, foreheads pressed together and limbs tangled.

"Yeah," I replied.  I had nothing else to say, but that was enough.