Chapter 3110 - OVERFLOW

"Will, quick! Pull in here," Katie cried, breaking the droning monotony of the off-road tyres on bitumen.

I stood on the brakes and heaved my maroon Toyota Prado off the road to the right, bumping slowly onto the dirt track between the gates of a vineyard. The name on the sign seemed vaguely familiar, but all of these boutique wineries did. As we crawled up the long, winding drive, I couldn't see any of the usual signage, flags and fanfare that welcomed the pretentious masses to the cellar door.

"I don't know that they're open," I offered as we pulled up outside a nondescript metal farm shed.

"It'll be all right," Katie replied, unbuckling her seatbelt. "we order heaps of wine off these guys for the restaurant. They won't mind."

"Okay, you go ahead. I'll try and give Melissa another call." I flicked and tapped my iPhone until the trill of my wife's dial tone crackled through the car's Bluetooth. Looking over the dash, I watched Katie skip off into the shed to find someone. My eyes fell briefly on her cute little ass in those faded denim cut-offs as she bounced out of the sunlight and in through the gaping roller door.

"Hey, Sweetie," Melissa beamed through the speakers. "Are you guys on the road yet?"

"Yeah, we left a few hours ago. I couldn't get away until three o'clock." I sighed, "And now Katie's making me pay for it. We've stopped at some winery just outside Wollombi. Apparently they supply you guys?"

"Gee, Sweetie! That could be anywhere." I imagined Melissa rolling her eyes with that bemused grin of hers. "We get all our wine from around there."

"I don't know. She's your sommelier," I spat in mock indignation. "I just want to go camping."

"Well, you shouldn't have set her up with your best friend then, should you?" she teased.

It was my turn to roll my eyes. It had actually been Melissa that had forced Rob and Katie together. "Yeah, yeah. So, are you guys at the campsite yet?" I said, watching Katie standing just inside the shed. She was talking to someone who hadn't yet appeared in the doorway. She moved her hands in animated explanation, and her head tilted to the side, causing her mane of glossy auburn hair to wash across her back from one side to the other.

"We're not in the usual spot," Melissa explained. "Ian and Sally are worried about the next few days of rain. You know what they're like?" she scoffed, no doubt with another eye roll. "We're about ten minutes further on up the hill. Ian's convinced the river will burst its banks."

Katie extended her hand to the approaching stranger, now in my view. He looked about my height, a full head taller than Katie. Although he seemed to have a good ten years on me, in his mid to late forties. He took her hand, and rather than shake it, he pulled her in for a kiss on the cheek. Katie welcomed the attention, smiling brightly and brushing her free hand across her chest. She played with the buttons on the front of her shirt a few moments longer, with more smiles and head tilts, then turned to me and waved me over before she disappeared from view.

"Fuckin' Ian," I breathed, shaking my head. Then in my best deep-voice imitation, "Better safe than sorry."

"What is that? Indian?" Melissa taunted.

"Shut up!" I laughed back. We chatted a few minutes more before the usual exchange of I-love-yous, then I hung up and dropped my phone into one of the cup holders in the centre console, and headed in after Katie.

A quick scan around the interior of the vast shed saw neatly stacked boxes stamped with the vineyard's logo, and eventually row after row of towering oak wine barrels. Over to the right, a rustic timber bar stood in the front corner of the shed. It was a functional affair, with half a dozen miss-matched stools in front. Behind the unfinished hardwood counter, shelf after shelf overflowed with countless wine bottles, all sporting the same label as the boxes.

I approached the bar and introduced myself to Michael, who already had a clutch of wine glasses on the bar. Reaching for a bottle behind him, he asked, "So, are you two off for a romantic getaway?"

"Oh no, we're not together." Katie corrected. " Will's wife is the executive chef. A whole group of us are going camping up in the National Park for the next week. I just saw the sign on the gate, and thought I'd pop in to say hello." Then she smiled and fingered the button that was struggling to hold her shirt together across her heavy breasts. "And maybe pick up a case or two."

Michael poured an inch of white wine into the last of three glasses that were lined up on the bar in front of us. "I can definitely help you with that." Michael grinned, then furrowed his brow. "You're shutting down the restaurant for the week?"

Katie jumped in first, "No, Mel's leaving the sous chef in charge."

"We're all friends from school," I added. "We try and get away each year. There's about eight of us."

Michael's brows were still knitted as he looked between Katie and I. "You two went to school together?"

I couldn't help but smile. "So, I guess I'm not passing myself off as being in my twenties then?" I chuckled quietly as Michael blushed a few shades and Katie looked confused. "Turning to her, I explained, "He thinks I look much older than you."

"You do," Katie shot back with a quick grin, causing my own face to warm slightly.

"Nice," I balked. Turning back to Michael, passing my gaze discreetly across Katie's toned thighs, which were crossed alluringly under the bar, I went on, "Little Miss Charming here is seeing a mate of mine. It's her first time coming out with us."

"Oh, okay. This is last year's savvy," Michael announced, as Katie swirled her glass in front of her face and lifted it to her nose.

I watched her slowly close her eyes and breathe in the aroma of the wine. Then she lowered the glass to her full lips, which parted slowly to take in the rim. Katie held the wine in her mouth for a moment, moving it around her tongue, tasting it fully. It was a seductive sight to be sure, and I caught myself holding my own breath as the tip of her tongue flicked across her lips as she swallowed.

Conscious not to stare, I focussed my full attention into my own tasting glass, and threw it down like a shot of something much harder. "Mmm, that's not bad."

Katie wrinkled her nose and glared at me with those steel grey eyes of hers. Her expression said it all: Seriously?

I felt my cheeks flush and my forehead prickle with sweat. I hated making an ass of myself in front of her. At least Michael hadn't seemed to notice. He instead was enjoying the delicacy of Katie's oral performance.

Katie pushed her glass away, leaving the lion's share of the sample swirling gently in the bottom. "Have you still got any of the 2009?"

"You're a tough one," Michael smiled. "It was a bit wet last year. I should have known better than to try and sneak that one past you." He lined up three fresh glasses and splashed another tiny sample into each from a new bottle.

I took my time with the second tasting, holding it in my mouth a little longer, before swallowing it down. "Mmm, I think I prefer the first one. It's a bit sweeter." But really, what the fuck did I know? I would have preferred a beer.

There was no wrinkled nose this time. The look I got from Katie was one-hundred-per-cent-stink-eye. Her impatiently bobbing hiking boot completed the picture.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Like a dickhead, I kept going, trying to find some safe ground. "Have you got any pinot noir?"

"Sorry, Mate," Michael replied, as Katie tasted the 2009. "We just do sauvignon blanc here."

"Oh, don't mind him," she apologised. "Pinot's the only one he can remember from the degustation his wife dragged him too a few months ago. He's more beer and nachos. Honestly, I don't know how she puts up with him.

"That, however," she took another slow, seductive sip, "is beautiful. How much have you got left?"

"Actually, we're coming to the end of that one. The Hilton in Sydney nearly cleaned me out." Michael went on, telling her all about his monster order and other wine-related business.

I gestured at the first bottle still sitting on the bar, and Michael expertly poured me a full glass as he spoke to her. I didn't need to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes.

"You know, the thing about wine," Michael said, pouring Katie and himself a full glass from the second bottle, "is that it's all down to how much you enjoy it. All the rest of it...it's just bullshit."

I laughed and held my glass out to his. "To bullshit."

Michael clinked my glass, repeating the toast. Then he touched his glass to Katie's with a silent nod as she beamed back at him. Katie looked at me with pursed lips and a shake of her head, before we brought our glasses together.

I returned my attention to my own wine, and slowly nursed it during their inane conversation about tannins, oaky lingers and other pretentious nonsense. After lots of flirting and feigned offence, Katie had arranged to buy three boxes of the treasured 2009 sauvignon blanc. I balked at the twelve hundred dollars that she had negotiated him down to, especially as it came off my credit card, but what was I going to do? Melissa's restaurant was my restaurant too, or so I was often told.

We each carried a box of twenty-four bottles out to the car, loading them onto the floor in the rear foot well. And as I was rearranging some of the camping gear, Michael returned with a fourth box. I could see from the date printed on it, it was my preferred from last year.

"This one's on me," Michael smiled. "To bullshit."

"Oh," Katie groaned, with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side. "Don't encourage him."

I thanked him warmly, shaking his hand, then climbed in behind the wheel. As I clicked on my seatbelt, I watched Katie hug him in the rear view mirror, pressing her breasts into his chest and planting a kiss on his cheek. It was the platonic version of her affection, I knew. I often enjoyed it myself.

It was the passion she gave my best friend, Rob, that ripped at me with pangs of unreasonable jealousy.

Once we were back out on the highway, Katie broke the silence, "Oh my God. That was such a good deal."

"Good deal? That was twelve hundred dollars. For only six dozen bottles!"

"Will," she explained seriously, "we sell that for ninety-five dollars a bottle at the restaurant. Michael can easily sell a single box for twelve hundred."

"Whoa!"

"Exactly. Don't you think I know what I'm doing?"

"Hey, that's Melissa's thing." I shrugged. "You can serve it out of a box for all I care. I'm an economist."

"You're hopeless," Katie giggled. She shook her head to herself, then turned away to look out her side window.

We chatted and joked as we drove. But before long, the conversation gave way to silence, as the valley of farms gave way to national park, and the clear blue sky gave way to clouds, and then torrential rain.

"Well, camping in the rain should be fun," I mused as we pulled onto another dirt track, or more accurately, mud.

"Yeah, there's nothing like being trapped in a tent with Ian and Sally for a week to unwind. It should be fun," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, they're something, all right. He's a good bloke, but he's pretty full-on." Then I imitated his voice, "You've got to take this seriously, Will. People die in the bush."

"What is that, Irish?"

"Oh, get fucked," I laughed back. Apparently nobody thought I did a good impression.

"I'm glad we've got the wine," she retorted with a smile.

I pulled up as the track disappeared into the river, the heavily wooded mountains looming ominously above us. It wasn't a big deal, I'd done this crossing dozens of times over the years, often in less capable cars than what I had now. It was a shallow crossing. But the water was flowing a lot faster than I ever remembered it.

The white noise of the driving rain on the roof competed with the roar of the river in front of us. The whole time, the sound of the wipers on full bore fought to be heard above the din. The voice inside my head told me not to attempt crossing in such heavy rain, and Ian's deep tones joined it.

I knew I shouldn't, but like a dickhead, I had to impress the gorgeous twenty-five-year-old woman sitting next to me.

I stole one more glance at Katie's shapely thighs, then lifted my foot off the break and eased the nose into the fast-flowing river. It was always a bit unnerving driving into water, but if I kept us pointed at the track on the opposite bank, I knew we'd be all right.

A thick, white, foaming bow wave formed around us, before being carried off downstream on my side of the car. We were getting buffeted a little, but I could see the water was only half way up the body of the Prado. But we were still going down slightly. About a third of the way across, I saw the water in front of us glow as the headlights dipped below the waterline.

"Are we okay?" Katie asked in response to the car being rocked more violently in the deeper water.

"As long as the water doesn't come up over the bonnet, we'll be fine," I replied. I began to wonder whether I should have bought the Landcruiser instead. It was a more serious four-wheel-drive than the Prado, and if I'd got the optional snorkel, it could have coped with having its engine dunked. Rob had been an insufferable ass about it when I had made the decision at the dealer, I remembered.

As it was though, we seemed to pass the centre point of the river, with the water only coming up to just short of the window line. We were heading up, much to the relief of both of us. But all of a sudden, about three quarters the way across, we lurched violently to the right, my side of the car dipping down sharply about forty-five degrees. The side of the track must have eroded under the extra force of the river.

The fast-flowing water started pushing us over.

"Will?!" Katie's hand shot up to the grab handle on the pylon in front of her as our world tilted sideways.

I threw the steering wheel to the right in an effort to throw the Toyota's weight back into the oncoming river, and gunned the engine to get more force behind it.

It worked, the car tipping back upright. But we were well off the track and now driving with the flow of water. I stomped on the brakes, but it was too late.

The bonnet plunged down beneath the surface of the river. The entire windscreen filled with white foam, then murky green water. But thankfully we were stopped. Unfortunately the Prado came coughing and spluttering to a halt as the engine sucked in nothing but water. We were done.

"Oh God, Will!"

"It's all right, Katie," I assured her, tapping at the inch or two of daylight at the top of the windscreen, "we're not all the way under. And we can still get out the back." I could see it from the mirror, but Katie had to spin around in her seat to see the safety of the grey sky out the rear window.

"It's okay," I reassured her. And we exchanged a nervous smile.

She was looking to me now for what to do. I told her to crawl out the back of the car, but to wait before opening the tailgate. She unclipped her seatbelt and nimbly climbed up between the front seats. I followed her as she scrambled over the back seats, my view filled with the perfect vision of her ass mere inches in front of my face.

Katie waited for me in the rear compartment, perched on top of all our camping gear. I asked her how it looked outside as I squeezed up beside her.

"It looks like a river," she said with confusion.

"No," I chuckled. "Is there any debris or anything floating towards us?"

"Oh, no. There's nothing. It's clear."

"Okay then, out we go," I said, not quite able to get myself to the window.

Katie swung the rear door open. But as soon as she did, water splashed up from the rear bumper and poured into the car. She squealed, but I urged her on, pushing her out with my hand firmly on her ass. She tumbled, half falling out the back of the car, but quickly gaining a footing.

"Fuck, that's cold!" she complained, standing in waist-deep water at the rear of the car. The rain was well on its way to soaking her hair and shirt, causing both to cling to her body.

I was quickly out beside her, equally unhappy with the temperature of the water. I grabbed the tent and sleeping bags from the back, and thrust them at Katie, ordering her to the closest bank. I heaved the esky to the edge of the boot, and piled on the blow-up mattress, foot pump, a tarp and some rope. Then power-lifting the load, I used my body to push the rear door closed before following Katie to the shore.

"Get that tent set up as quick as you can," I puffed, stepping up onto the bank.

"Here?"

"No, up there," I replied, pointing to a grove of trees on a small plateau about fifty metres up a steep slope to our right. I fought to keep my eyes from rolling as Ian's voice echoed in my head. "The river might burst its banks overnight. We want to be high up."

"Overnight?" she reeled. "We're stuck here?!"

"The others are about another hour further on," I explained. "Across another river."

"Shit." She sighed. She knew as well as I did that Ian would never let the others cross a river in such heavy rain to come looking for us. And given our current plight, he had a point, the fucker.

Katie struggled up the slope, slipping a few times on the wet grass, but she stayed on her feet and got to the level ground up ahead. For me, however, the climb was a lot harder. I was in a painful shuttle crawl, heaving my load an arm's-length up the slope, then crawling on my knees to follow it.

When I got to our camp site, I saw that Katie already had the tent laid out near the grove of eucalypts, and was threading one of the flexible poles through the sleeve. She'd wrapped the waterproof fly around the sleeping bags to protect them from the rain, and I shoved the inflatable mattress in under the bundle when I dropped my load. When I got to her, she had already started threading the second pole, and I jumped in and guided it through the gap at the top of the dome tent, before threading it back down my side.

With the poles crossed in an X, we both clipped the open ends into the rings at each corner, and the blue dome rose out of the grass in one graceful motion. "That's a mighty fine barn, English," I said in God knows what sort of accent as I grabbed the mattress and sleeping bags to throw inside.

"Now what the hell is that? The Simpsons?" Katie asked with a furrowed brow, as she caught the corner of the fly I threw to her.

"Witness, Gen Y" I said indignantly. "With Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. Oh, she was fine."

"Who?"

"The chick from Top Gun."

"How about something that was made after I was born?" she laughed, now in a crouch, securing the fly and hammering the pegs into the ground through the rings.

"Never mind," I sighed. "Are you all right here? I'll see what else I can salvage."

She waved me away with a nod of her head, and I slid back down to the river on my ass, before wading back over to the car. The water had well and truly got inside, with more splashing in through the open rear door. All our clothes and other soft items were drenched, although I did manage to recover a couple of dry towels from on top of the fishing gear. With those over my shoulder, I grabbed the portable Weber barbeque and made my way back to Katie.

Hauling the awkwardly shaped Weber and its stand up the slope nearly killed me. But when I crested the ridge, I was rewarded with the sight of Katie tying off the last corner of the tarp around one of the nearby trees. She was reaching up on her tip toes, the bottom of her shirt pulled out from the waistband of her shorts, revealing her taut stomach. Her sopping buff shirt was almost transparent, clinging to her lean frame. And the little rivulets of water cascading down her body took my breath away.

I brought the barbeque in under the tarp, and got about setting it up on its frame. Katie came in out of the wet, brushing the excess water from her shirt. I tried not to stare as her hands brushed down across her breasts and stomach, but I just couldn't pull my eyes off her. Even when I snapped my fingers painfully in the frame, I kept leering.

"What about the gas bottle?" Katie asked between chattering teeth.

That was what finally snapped me out of my fixated inspection of the lacy frills across the top of her bra, visible through her waterlogged shirt. I spun around and looked down at the Toyota, ass-up in the river. "Oh fuck."

"Come on then," Katie laughed, "I'll give you a hand.

I made her wait on the bank as I waded back in to retrieve the gas bottle for the Weber. And when I came trudging back to her, she asked me to go back for the wine, complete with pouting lips and a set of big puppy-dog eyes. Of course I went back in, only grabbing three of the four boxes in the end, before hip checking the rear door shut and heading for dry land, rolling my eyes the whole way.

Another bastard climb up to the camp site had me disgorging my shipment of wine in the tent, next to the esky and other items we'd saved. While back out under the tarp, Katie was crouched down, hooking up the gas bottle to the Weber.

"Hey, I only saw one sleeping bag in there," I said, peeling off my shirt under the tarp.

"I'm sorry, Will," she looked up at me, her grey eyes begging for forgiveness, "I dropped it in the river."

I couldn't help but sigh. Then, "That's all right, Katie. We've still got one. We'll just have to share. Right now, just get those wet clothes off before you freeze to death. We'll get the rest sorted later."

Katie undid her buttons and pulled the soaked shirt off, revealing that magnificent lacy bra. I'm sure it had an official colour, like mauve or lilac or something, but as far as I could tell, it was pale purple. Next came her tiny denim shorts, exposing a matching set of panties with a little bow on the front. To that point in my life, few things were more erotic than the sight of Katie pushing those shorts down her long, glistening legs.

I actually felt dizzy.

She left her underwear on, standing there in her bra and panties, and hiking boots as well, wringing out her clothes and long hair. We hung our wet laundry on the length of rope she'd run under the tarp, and I handed her the dryer of the two towels.

We scurried into the tent to finish getting ourselves sorted. After zipping ourselves up inside, I got to work pumping up the inflatable mattress, while Katie hooked up a makeshift clothes line with the string from the cover of our last remaining sleeping bag. She took my towel and hung it up, before doing the same with her wet underwear and then slipping into the sleeping bag. I'd unfortunately missed the show, wrestling with a stubborn knot in my boot laces, but that was probably for the best.

The last thing I wanted her to see was her boss's husband climbing into a tight sleeping bag with her, sporting a massive erection.

I sat on the mattress a moment, trying to delay the inevitable. There was going to be no room to hide from her in there. Oh Jesus, I thought to myself.

"Come on, Will. Hurry up, it's freezing," she whined.

I sighed, then slipped my undies off, hanging them on the last few inches of string left by the towels and Katie's sexy purple delicates. I looked over my shoulder at her, wrapped up like the proverbial bug in a rug. Those big grey eyes watching me intently.

My shivering was uncontrollable. But to be honest, I'm not sure how much of it, if any, was to do with how cold it was.

I lifted up the open flap of the sleeping bag until I saw the gentle curves of Katie's slender body, her pale skin contrasting heavily with the black and red tartan pattern of the inside of the bag. My cock started to stir, so I quickly dived in beside her, then turning my back to her, I zipped the bag closed. But as I did, the zip also pulled Katie and I tightly together.

She was trembling too, but I was sure that was entirely due to the cold. Me on the other hand...

My cock was proudly at attention, and I was in a living hell. I lay there with my back to her, absolutely resolved to keep my erection away from her.

"Oh, Will, this is silly," she eventually said after a few minutes. "Roll over."

I swallowed hard and shifted myself around onto my back. It was agony, her body brushing against mine with every tiny movement.

"They're only breasts. They won't bite you." And with that, she wrapped her arm and her leg around me, pushing herself hard up against the full length of my body. The sensation of her soft flesh pressed against me was indescribable.

Katie rubbed her thigh up and down mine, getting higher each time, until eventually she brought her knee up across my groin. I barely got my hand to my cock in time to shield it from her smooth inner thigh. Crisis averted, but she just kept rubbing against me. It was driving me crazy.

I turned my head to look at her, and she was staring at me. "Are you all right?" I managed, my voice catching in my throat.

"Yeah," she breathed. "I'm just cold. Can you please put your arms around me?"

I swallowed hard again and shifted my right arm around her shoulders, stroking her upper arm. But my left was still dutifully holding my erection away from her leg.

"Both arms, Will," she protested. "I need you to hold me."

Her patrolling leg was on the upstroke towards my shameful little secret, and I just couldn't move my hand. But when her leg swept down again, I shifted myself onto my side to face her. I stuck my ass out hard into the cold zipper to create a void between us for my cock, bending my knees up to hold her legs away from me.

In that position, I was able to get both arms around her, and I rubbed my hands across her back. The friction of my palms on her beautifully smooth skin was warming, and I thought I was onto a winner. "Better?" I smiled.

Katie stared at me for a long minute, then eventually asked, "Why do you keep pulling away from me?"

My blood froze. "Huh? What do you mean? I'm not pulling away from you."

An astonished laugh burst free. "Will! Look at you. You couldn't get further away from me if you tried." To emphasise her point, she theatrically pulled her head back with a grimace, and pushed herself back from me with her hands and knees.

"Shut up! I'm not doing that. I'm not pulling away from you, Katie," I lied, the flush of embarrassment warming my cheeks.

"Yes you are," she protested. "Oh my God! You're blushing! You're such a bad liar, Will."

Of course, being called out on that only made my reaction worse. She had me, and all I could do was huff a nervous laugh. I had nowhere to go.

Seriously, Will, what is it?" The last of her taunting amusement drained away.

My pulse hammered in my ears as I searched for the words. "It's just...I mean..." I held my hand over my face and groaned into my palm through gritted teeth. "I wish I didn't feel like that. I just..."

Her eyes flashed with realisation and her tone became serious. "Are you attracted to me?"

I felt the shameful heat and pressure of the blood in my face. It was so strong around my lips and nose, I thought I would start bleeding. "I'm so sorry, Katie. It's not your fault. I just..."

"Oh, Will." She gently touched my face, her eyes locked with mine. It wasn't pity. It was something warmer, kinder: empathy. She snuggled in, pushing my knees down to allow her to get closer.

"I'm sorry," I whispered again. I was mortified. The admission alone felt like a betrayal of Melissa, to say nothing of my feelings towards Katie. It was only lust, I knew, rather than anything else, but still...

"Oh, I don't care about that," she soothed, wiggling into position with her body pressed fully against mine. "You're a guy. It happens. Hell, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find you attractive myself." Then she giggled. "Especially when you try those dreadful accents."

"Try?" I was playfully indignant, thankful for an opportunity to break the tension.

"You want to do one right now, don't you?" she laughed.

"No!" I groaned with a pout. She was right, of course, and I let my best string of Cockney dialect dissolve back into my subconscious.

Her eyes twinkled with amusement, then she said more seriously, "I work for your wife..."

"And you're going out with my best mate," I whispered back.

"Yeah," she breathed softly, her eyes moistening. She ran her fingers through her thick, damp hair, tucking as much of it as she could behind her ear. The domed walls of the tent had turned everything a muted tone of blue, but her auburn mane had somehow managed to retain its deep glow.

We shared a silent acceptance of our situation as we lay there in each other's arms, listening to our breathing and the constant drum of rain on the tent. Now that we seemed to be past that wall between us, the pressure of her naked body against mine was causing the blood to thicken my cock.

"Is that your...um...?" she asked, looking down between us briefly, but unable to see past her breasts squashed into my chest.

"Yeah." I blushed again. "Sorry. It...ahh..."

"It's okay. I don't mind," she smiled. "But can you move it a bit? It's just a little uncomfortable there."

I reached between us, forcing my hand between our tummies - mine hairy, and hers so sensually smooth. I felt Katie's flesh soften slightly on the back of my hand as I reached my target, and moved my aching cock to the side, nestling it in beside her hip bone.

"Mmm, that's better," she breathed, as she snuggled back into position and we continued to chat.

It soon started getting darker outside, so we decided to cook some dinner while it was still light enough. I hadn't managed to rescue any torches from the sinking Prado. Standing there under the tarp with a damp towel around my waist, I sizzled up a couple of steaks and some onion on the Weber.

"What do we do about that?" Katie asked, tilting her head down to the shipwrecked Toyota. She was also wrapped in a wet towel, and holding a pair of buttered bread rolls.

"We'll have to wait to be rescued. The car's fucked. It'll have to be towed back to civilisation. Unfortunately my phone's in the centre console," I pointed down to the car with the tongs.

"And mine's in my bag. How long before you think someone will come by?"

"That river's picking up, and judging by this rain, it's only going to get worse. I don't think anyone who knows what they're doing is going to be coming past here for a while. Ian sure as shit won't."

Katie wrinkled her nose at the prognosis.

"We've got shelter and plenty of food, I went on. "So we should be all right for a while. I don't think we need Bear Grills out here just yet."

She snorted a laugh and leaned up against me.

"Have you got those buns?" I asked, switching off the barbeque.

"I've got buns," she chirped. "How about these?" And with that, she stepped away, thrust her ass at me and lifted up the hem of her towel to expose that perfect little backside.

My mouth fell open.

"What? I can't have fun with this?" she pouted, as she let the towel drop back into place. "Too soon?"

I smacked her on the ass with my free hand, eliciting a squeal, followed by a long giggle, as she sidled up against me once more.

The Weber secure and our steak rolls assembled, we went back into the tent and ate our dinner, sitting up side by side in the sleeping bag. Katie wouldn't waste one of the good bottles, so we instead shared one of my bullshit freebies, drinking straight from the bottle, as plates, glasses and other utensils also hadn't been rescued from the car.

"Not that I'd ever admit it," Katie said after a long swig of the lesser wine. "This actually goes quite well with a barbecued steak sandwich."

I snatched the bottle off her with a shake of my head and roll of my eyes. She sat there, grinning broadly while chewing a mouthful of steak.

Darkness fell, and we were snuggled up tightly in each other's arms again. My raging cock was sticking into her stomach, but true to her word, she didn't seem to mind. Katie was such a cool chick, so light and easy-going. It just fuelled my attraction to her.

"Does it hurt?" she asked after a long pause in the conversation. "Your hard on?"

"It kind of aches," I replied, growing more comfortable with the freshly-forged bond between us. To say nothing of the wine. "I imagine it feels the same for you when you're uncontrollably horny."

All she managed in reply was an, "Oh." An eternity more of white noise from the rain and river, then she said, "If you need to take care of it, you know, masturbate, I don't mind."

"That's all right," I scoffed, "I'm not going out there in the cold to wank off."

"No. I mean you can do it here if you want."

"Thanks, Katie, but I'm certainly not going to send you out into the rain while I stay in here and do that."

"I'm not going out there," she snorted. "If you want to take care of it here, now, I'm okay with it."

Again, I blushed as my heart thundered. What an incredible offer. Thankfully, the darkness hid the burning tones of my face, as the soundtrack of rushing water masked the stunned silence of my response.

Every fibre of my being wanted to masturbate in that moment, in that sleeping bag, with a beautifully naked Katie pressed against me. But there was no fucking way I was going to. Melissa meant far too much to me to piss it all away for a few minutes of taboo pleasure. While I would forever regret not doing it, I knew in my heart of hearts that I couldn't.

I just couldn't.

As much as it pained me, I wished her goodnight, bringing an end to the conversation, and the temptation. Unfortunately the countless hours of solitary contemplation while I waited to fall asleep did nothing to temper my arousal.

When I woke the next morning, I was spooning Katie tightly. I could feel my engorged cock between her ass cheeks, and the sensation was an unbearable agony. She stirred when I shifted my weight on my arm, pressing back into my cock. It was an electric surge throughout my body.

"Oh for God's sake, Will. Would you please wank that thing. It's been poking me all night, and I haven't gotten any sleep." She was whiney and groggy, and definitely irritable.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Any semblance of remaining faithful to Melissa had long since washed away. I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Just hurry up, so I can get back to sleep," she moaned.

As much as I knew I shouldn't, fuck it!

I reached down between us, grabbing my cock from the soft cleft of her spectacular ass. My pre-cum was all over her buttocks and the small of her back, eliminating the need for any lubrication. It felt so good stroking my shaft, rubbing my palm and fingers up over the slimy head, then back to the base. With every pump of my cock, my knuckles and the back of my hand ran up and down the crack of Katie's ass. Her soft flesh, slick with my own pre-cum, moulded around my fist as I went back and forth.

As much as I knew I should have rolled over to do it, I just couldn't tear myself away from her lithe body. I had to feel her smooth skin. I had to breathe in her gentle scent. I had to come on her.

It didn't take long. Maybe fifteen or twenty strokes before I bucked in pure ecstasy, shooting thick streams of semen all over my stomach and her back. I just kept coming in wave after glorious wave, choking the head of my cock with lusty abandon.

I lay there breathing hard into Katie's neck, the afterglow washing over me in a blissful warmth. I kept stroking my cock slowly, more for the feeling of her ass on the back of my hand, than the sensation in my own loins. And my body sliding against her cum-coated back felt so sinfully magnificent.

Katie's body rose and fell in time with mine, as we lay there quietly until the drum of the rain overtook my breath as the loudest sound in the tent. Then, the sleeping bag's zipper tore through the white noise.

Katie sat up, throwing back the flap of the bag. She knelt forward, reaching for the makeshift clothes line. The sudden absence of her body chilled me, but the vision of her slender torso bent over in front of me, glistening as it was, was well worth the heat loss. She sat back down and twisted, exposing her left breast to me. I was struck with how erect her nipple was, sticking out nearly an inch.

"Hey, I'm up here." Her words jolted me back into the moment. Her expression, thankfully, was amusement. She handed me her panties, which were still damp. "Can you please clean your cum off?"

I folded her panties into a thick square and began wiping my semen off her back in gentle strokes. I'd managed to get some as high up as her shoulder blades, and elsewhere, it was dripping into the crack of her ass. I took my time, savouring the impromptu sponge bath. Then, when I could draw it out no longer, I turned her panties inside out and wiped down my front.

"Well, I'll definitely get pregnant if I wear these," she smirked, evaluating the cum-soaked panties in her hand, before hanging them back up.

Warmly zipped back up with me, Katie snuggled in facing me with her head on my chest and her leg draped across me. She was sleepily caressing the hair on my chest and stomach. Occasionally, her fingertips caught in the sticky friction of the cum I hadn't cleaned off well enough.

Reflexively, I kissed the top of her head, then caught myself. This wasn't Melissa. She wasn't my wife! What the hell did I just do? Not just the kiss, the whole fucking thing?

Before the terror and guilt of the situation overtook me, she gave one of those contented, little hums and snuggled into me harder. Her leg rubbed back up my thighs, then passed over my still hard cock.

"Isn't that supposed to go down now?" She was awake. There was no drowsiness in her tone.

"Um, sorry, Katie. Sometimes it takes a while." Yeah, when you've just wiped your own cum off a girl's back with her dirty panties, I thought to myself. That erection, I knew, was going nowhere.

"I'm obviously not going to get back to sleep," she huffed, sitting up. "Do you want to get breakfast started? I'll see if I can air out this tent a little."

"It is getting a little musty in here," I agreed. The tent reeked of sex.

I got to work on some bacon and eggs on the Weber, while Katie fussed about in the tent. I looked over to see she had it opened up and was wiping down the walls with the sleeping bag cover. It wasn't a great approach, but it was enough to get rid of the excess condensation and water that had pooled at the entrance.

When she joined me with some buttered and sauced buns, she got her first look at the car, or what was still visible of it. The water level had risen overnight, and the river had picked up speed. A white rooster tail of foam plumed up from the rear window, washing down on the front of the maroon roof where it met the waterline.

"So that's us fucked then," she observed matter-of-factly.

"No worse than we were before," I replied, flipping the crispy rashers on the hotplate. "I think the river will go a lot higher. There's no break in this rain. We're in for the duration."

Bleary eyed, a naked Katie sat back in the sleeping bag munching on her bacon and egg roll. Although obviously tired, she had a peace about her that I hadn't noticed before. She watched me intently as she ate, studying me over the chewed rim of her breakfast.

When she broke the yoke, it spilled over both sides of her roll, dribbling down her chin onto her chest, and down her forearm on the other side. She methodically traced the line of yoke on her breast with her index finger, then slowly brought it to her mouth, sucking her finger clean. When she finished with her décolletage, she proceeded to lick the runny yoke from the back of her other hand, and followed the trail down her arm.Her eyes never left mine during her cat-cleaning. And seeing that she'd missed the spill on her face, without thinking, I traced my own finger along the line of egg from her chin to her lips.

In an instant, the tension returned.

Still staring into my eyes, she took my finger into her mouth and sucked it clean.

My heart began pounding, and my face grew hotter with each thumping pulse in my ears. The wet sensation of Katie fellating my finger, sucking hard and cradling it with her tongue, stirred my cock.

"Juice?" I croaked, unsteadily retrieving my finger.

Katie nodded, taking another large bite of her roll to try and capture the escaping yoke. With a mouthful of bun and a mischievous glint in her eye, she teased, "Is it pineapple?"

My blush deepened, if that was at all possible, the doughy smell of cum still thick in the air. Desperate to flee the awkwardness, I buried my attention in the esky. After digging around in the ice as long as I could, I pulled out the bottle and took a long gulp of the orange juice myself before passing it over.

Katie held the bottle while she swallowed the last of her food. Then she giggled, "Oh, get fucked! That was funny." She took a swig of juice, and the imperfect seal of her amused lips caused a trickle of juice to escape. It dribbled down between her breasts, and she quickly wiped it up with her index and middle fingers. Popping them into her mouth, she seductively purred, "Mmm, sticky."

Oh, come on!" I cried, snatching the bottle from her and causing her to burst out laughing. I screwed the lid on in mock indignation.

As I turned to put it back, Katie fell across my back in an apologetic hug. "I'm sorry, Will. I don't mean to make it hard on you." She barely got the words out before the giggle became too much.

I held the pout as long as I could, before joining her in the laughter. The whole time, I revelled in the feeling of her soft breasts pillowing against my back. I could make out the hard nubs of her nipples against my skin.

Eventually we zipped ourselves up in the sleeping bag and settled in for the day. We held each other close and listened to our surrounds. The drum of the rain. The roar of the river. The sound of Katie's breath in my ear as she drifted in and out of sleep.

I woke some time later to the sound of urgent breathing in my ear. It took me a minute, but I became aware of Katie's arm wedged in between us, rhythmically twitching back and forth. My own cock twitched at the realisation that she was masturbating in my arms. My cock slid against her stomach, resting against her wrist. Katie shifted her head slightly to look into my eyes, her cheeks flushed. Neither of us spoke.

I squeezed my own hand between us, rubbing her smooth belly with the back of my hand. Katie stared into my eyes as my fingers found my throbbing cock and began stroking it against her. I felt her breath in my mouth. Our faces were so close, our noses rubbed together. There was even some incidental contact between our lips.

We lost ourselves in what was happening. I was completely overcome with the feeling of my cock in my hand, and my cock against Katie's stomach and forearm. I wedged the swollen head between her smooth wrist and soft belly with every stroke. Then, without warning, Katie's fingers gripped around my shaft, replacing my hand with her own. My whole body flushed with warmth as she wanked my cock.

I urgently twisted my hand around, pressing my palm flat to her tummy and diving down. I slid across Katie's smooth mound and found her steamy folds with my fingertips. I dove deeper, running my fingers down the length of her slit. Her wet labia parted around my digits as I rubbed back and forth.

Katie moaned into my mouth, and she began rolling her hips in time with my strokes. Then as quickly as it had started, she let go of my cock and replaced my hand on her pussy with her own.

I wanked myself against her a few minutes longer, my hand slick with her pussy juice. Then we swapped again, briefly pleasuring each other, before returning to ourselves.

Eyes still locked, our lips now pressed together, but not kissing, we swapped again. Katie's hold of my raging cock was overwhelming. She was going to finish me. I feverishly probed at her sopping pussy, digging my middle finger deeply into her cunt, while working her clit with my thumb.

She ground down on my hand, her pussy clenching my finger in a spasm that rocked her whole body. She moaned loudly into my mouth and wildly pumped her fist on my cock.

I lost it too, erupting violently in an orgasm that just wouldn't end. My cum gushed up my full length, coating both our stomachs in my warm, sticky seed.

We both kept touching each other as we came down. As our breathing slowed, we melted into an incredibly tight embrace. Our combined body heat was so intense, we were both sweating. I gently sucked her lips between mine, and we began kissing softly, open mouthed, but with no tongue.

"Are you okay?" I breathed into her mouth.

"Uh-huh," she moaned back into mine between those lovely little kisses.

Her eyes eventually closed, and she nestled into my neck. I held her tightly to me, sliding my hands across the toned muscles of her back. The warm wetness of my cum and our sweat between us was strangely comforting. I didn't want this moment to end.

I held her for the remainder of the afternoon, silently breathing in her scent and burning every tiny tactile sensation of her body into my brain. We had crossed the line, I knew. The milk had been spilt. The horse had bolted. Despite my guilt, I didn't want to waste the moment stewing about what I had done to Melissa. I wanted to savour what I had done with Katie.

Besides, it wasn't like we had fucked or anything.

I know. I didn't buy it either.

"Are you hungry?" Katie stretched against me, groaning like a lazy cat.

"That's code for, you want dinner." I flirted, watching her eyes twinkle back at me. "I know female-speak. I pay attention."

"Well, if you know 'female-speak', then where's my dinner?" she grinned mischievously, snuggling her naked body tighter against me in the sleeping bag. She looked so unbelievably cute, her big grey eyes sparkling, and her tangled mop of long auburn hair resisting any attempt to be tamed.

I begrudgingly emerged from the tent, coming out into the driving rain. The freezing droplets pelted my bare shoulders like stinging pebbles. I scurried in under the blue tarp Katie had strung up between the towering eucalypts that overlooked the river. On all sides, the dark, heavily-wooded mountains loomed above me, judging me.

Shivering out by the barbeque in my still-wet towel, I surveyed the river below. It had finally burst its banks, and was easily twice as wide as it had been in the morning. Large branches and other forest debris raced from right to left, crashing into each other and the submerged trees along the edge with loud, frightening cracks.

It was an interesting metaphor, I thought.

My blood chilled as I watched the symbolic ruins of my marriage violently washing away beneath me. I had just masturbated all over another woman. Twice! Hell, I had actually fingered her while she jacked me off.

And she was my best mate's girlfriend to boot. "Good one, Dickhead," I sighed under my breath.

To hell with Rob. He'd have to take care of himself. I was focused on what I should do about Melissa. Oh, God, Melissa, I sobbed in my mind, my eyes welling on the outside. What the fuck did I do? Eleven years of marriage pissed away, and for what? A couple of cheap orgasms. Brilliant.

I flinched at a loud crash from the debris below. Another chill of guilt washed over me. I couldn't tell her, I knew. It would destroy her. Coming clean was all about alleviating my own guilt. It had nothing to do with Melissa. I'd just have to wear it alone.

Alone, I silently snorted to myself. I hadn't been alone in this. Katie was just as much to blame as me. For some reason, albeit a stupid one, I was comforted that she was in it with me.

I remembered my dad's story about the two National Geographic photographers, all his fatherly advice dispensed in joke form. I snorted another laugh. They had been approaching a pride of lions, when suddenly, one of them stopped to put on a pair of sneakers.

"What are you doing, Mate?" the other one asked. "You're not going to outrun a lion in those."

"I don't need to outrun the lions," he said. "I only need to outrun you."

"Fuckin' Dad!" I chuckled as I poked at the sausages on the Weber. He was right though. I did feel better.

Besides, I rationalised to myself, it wasn't like we had sex. It was only masturbation. Hell, I had jerked off thinking about Katie more times than I could count over the last four years. The nubile twenty-five-year-old had featured in my fantasies from the day Melissa had hired her at her restaurant.

Sure, she'd been in the sleeping bag with me when I had done it, but still. It wasn't that much worse, I lied to myself. But the line moved with every new detail I remembered. I touched her ass while I did it. I came on her. I put my cock in her hand and let her wank me. I finger-fucked her to an orgasm. I kissed her.

Looking back, I couldn't see where the original line in the sand had been. All I knew, all I hoped, was that wherever the new line was, I hadn't crossed it.

"Where's the car?" Katie asked, scaring the shit out of me as she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind, pressing her cheek against my bicep.

"It might still be where we left it," I replied, regaining my composure and turning the sausages. Then waving the tongs down the steep valley to the left, "But I'm guessing it's most likely somewhere down there."

She gave me one of those disinterested Generation Y grunts of hers and continued caressing my stomach. The little, dried globs of cum stuck to my hair pulled annoyingly as she went, but there was no way I was going to stop her.

"More importantly," I went on, unable to help myself, "where is your pubic hair, Young Lady?"

She giggled into my arm, "I wax, Will."

"The whole lot?" Even then, especially then, the inappropriate conversation about her intimate grooming rituals thrilled me, my cock rising against the heavy towel.

"Uh-huh, the whole lot - legs, bush, armpits, everything." Then another giggle, accompanied by a tussle of my chest hair. "You could do with some attention yourself. You're like a big teddy bear!"

"Yeah, Melissa's always at me to get the old back, sack and crack done. Kind of a job lot, I suppose." I paused at the mention of my wife, then deflected, "There's going to be no manscaping in this backyard."

"Good." She squeezed me tightly with a giggle. "I like you all rough and manly."

Katie's flirting washed away the last tatters of rational thought. She seemed to want this, whatever this was, as much as I did. I tried to think through it, but with my erection doing its best to push the towel into the barbeque and set me on fire, I wasn't thinking at my best, at least not with my brain.

We retired to the tent with our sausage sandwiches and another bottle of the cheap stuff. Katie sat beside me while we ate, my free hand wrapped around her. With no hair on her delightfully smooth tummy, my dried cum crumbled and flaked off her skin as I found excuses to touch her and brush over it. We sat like that, talking well into the darkness about life, love and all the gossip at the restaurant.

"Can I teach you about wine?" she begged, pressing her breasts into my chest as she leaned across me in the dark.

Sure," I smiled. I didn't give a shit, but if she was happy, I was happy.

She began with a brief tutorial on aromas, but given we had no glasses and could only smell the wine from the bottles, it was a lost cause. She went on with a general description of sauvignon blanc, explaining how it was crisp and elegant, and perfectly matched with fish and cheese.

"And what will Melissa say when she finds out you think it goes well with a steak sandwich?" I teased with a tickle in her ribs.

She softly giggled in my ear. "We're not going to tell her. This little camping trip of ours is a secret. It's just for you and I."

"What happens on tour, stays on tour?" I whispered back, letting myself get carried away with the forbidden thrill of the moment again.

"Exactly!" she slurred slightly, showing the early signs of inebriation.

Katie continued with her lesson, teaching me how to taste wine properly. I rolled my eyes with impunity in the darkness. But obviously the test bottles we were working our way through were having an effect on me, because I just couldn't get it.

"Look, just take a small bit into your mouth," she repeated. "Hold it on your tongue and let it flow all over it. You've got different taste buds in different parts of your tongue. You've got to make sure you coat them all.

"No! Don't swish it around like mouthwash." She slapped my arm. "Look, like this."

I was about to explain to her that it was pitch black in the tent and I couldn't look at anything, but as I opened my mouth, she slipped her tongue between my lips. It was so soft and warm, and wet. And tasted sweetly of wine.

I don't know how that was supposed to teach me anything, and wondered if she'd actually intended it to. Regardless, I sucked her tongue gently, swirling and probing my own back into her mouth. Judging by the way she kissed me back, it was definitely a ruse on her part.

We collapsed onto the mattress, kissing passionately. I held her head in my hands, running my fingers through her soft hair. She was breathing heavily through her nose, whimpering into my mouth as we lost ourselves.

Katie's legs parted as I rolled on top of her, bouncing comically on the inflatable mattress below. I brushed her long hair out from under her shoulders, fanning it over the edge of the pillow, and continued to kiss her. I felt her left hand clutching at my right hip, her smooth thighs hooked tightly over my own.

Her right hand burrowed down, finding my shaft and gripping it tightly. I let a moan escape into her mouth as she manipulated my cock in the non-existent space between us. I felt my super sensitive head squelching against her sodden lips, just rubbing back and forth.

Oh shit, this was it, I thought. We were going to have sex. Any pretence of not having cheated on Melissa before was about to be shattered. I stiffened, trying to hold myself back with the last ounce of willpower I had left. "What are you doing?" I gasped, finally pulling myself away from her kiss.

"I'm wanking with your cock," she moaned.

I suppose that's all right then, I bullshitted myself.

I kissed her deeply again, working my way down to her neck with gentle little bites and kisses. I then sucked her earlobe into my mouth and whispered how much I wanted her in her ear.

Katie continued rubbing her pussy with my cock. She spiralled my head against her clit, periodically running it down the length of her soft folds to her opening. About half a dozen laps in, she let my swollen glands rest at the bottom of her downstroke, her wet labia softly clasping the end of my penis in a perfect kiss.

A gentle tug and a roll of her hips engulfed the first few inches of my cock in her tight, wet pussy. She bore down on me with her nubile cunt, pulsing around my hardness. I couldn't believe it. I was inside her. Every filthy, adulterous desire fulfilled in a single wanton moment.

That line in the sand had been kicked smooth.

Then, without warning, she unsheathed me and slid my engorged head back to her clit. She teased me like that for an eternity, deeply kissing me and moaning seductively into my mouth.

Once again, she dipped the end of my cock into her molten core. An agonizing infinity later, her right hand released my shaft and slid around to my hip. I trembled with anticipation, unable to believe this was really happening.

"Oh, Will," she exhaled, as her fingers dug into my buttocks and pulled me into her.

Her hips bucked up to meet my full length. I was instantaneously buried to the hilt in this gorgeous young woman. I cried out in ecstasy. Katie's hands moved up from my ass, stroking my back. I slowly pumped myself in and out of her.

"Oh, Will," she moaned breathlessly. "God, I've wanted this for so long."

"Me too. You feel so good," I panted back. "You are so sexy, Katie. I've wanted you since the first moment you walked in that restaurant."

Katie's pussy was a hot, slippery glove around my cock. Her toned, silky smooth thighs were the perfect vice, along with the confines of the sleeping bag, holding me tightly to her. And her whining moans were music to my ears in the pitch darkness.

My thrusts in and out of her picked up speed, exaggerated by the bouncing of the blow-up mattress beneath us. We both grunted like animals, licking at each other's mouths and faces. Katie snorted in between grunting moans, trying to speak. Finally, she managed to get out a series of disjointed words that announced she was coming.

Her nails dug painfully into my back as she convulsed in spasms underneath me. She desperately fought to stifle her pleasure, holding her breath and sounding like she was trying to stop a sneeze. But finally the dam burst, and she overflowed with a primal, guttural scream.

She completely let go, letting herself be swept away by the euphoria.

Her sopping cunt drowning my cock, her total, utter abandon swamped me. My own orgasm built like a tsunami, filling my body with impossible tension, before crashing ashore in a torrent of unadulterated pleasure.

I exploded inside Katie's beautiful pussy, flooding her womb with my seed. One electric spasm after another had me blasting spurt after spurt of spunk into her until I just couldn't move anymore.

I collapsed, spent on top of her, puffing and moaning like a madman. Katie ran her fingers through my hair and kissed the side of my face until I calmed down.

"I am so perfectly happy, Will. That was incredible," She sighed. "Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh." I kissed her again, completely enamoured with her.

"Listen," she said, the smile audible in her voice.

"What?"

"The rain. It's stopped."

Sure enough, the drumming rain on the tent had fallen silent. Only the roar of the swollen river remained.

I fell asleep on top of her, inside her. The next morning when we woke to the sound of the rushing river and birdsong, we lazily made love in the sleeping bag. We stared into each other's eyes the whole time, her grey orbs sparkling in the muted blue tones of the tent.

There was nothing for it anymore. There was no line, at least not in front of us. We were adrift in a full-blown affair. No regrets, no second thoughts, just the moment.

The sun was out as I barbequed up the last of our bacon. It's warming rays emitted a fresh natural scent from the wet vegetation around us. Eucalypt and wattle filled the air, unusually, but pleasantly blending with the aroma of the sizzling rashers. And while the river had obviously peaked overnight, it still raged beyond its banks. The Prado was nowhere to be seen.

"I reckon we've still got another day here at least," I said, laying an egg on top of the bacon already in Katie's bun. "It'll take a while for that river to go down."

She juggled the bun lids into place. "It'll at least give us a chance to dry out these clothes."

"And that sleeping bag," I grinned.

"You're terrible," she laughed knowingly, bumping me with her hip.

The sleeping bag never got a chance to dry out. We spent the rest of the day snuggled up inside it, and made love twice more before falling asleep that night.

The faint sound of diesel engines woke me the next morning. I slowly became aware of Katie snuggled in tight against me, her hair in unruly tangles across my face. Brushing the web-like strands from my mouth and smoothing them over her head, I let my eyes focus on the seam of the blue dome tent above. Our legs were interlocked, and my cock began to stir against her hip."Will?!" a booming voice echoed in the distance. "Katie?!"

"Oh my God!" It was a woman's voice, familiar, but too distressed to identify. "Will?! Will, where are you?! Oh, God, Will, please! Where are you?!"

"Huh?" Katie stirred next to me, nuzzling into my neck. "What's that?"

Rob's voice joining the desperate calls outside was the first I recognised. He had joined the others, screaming for Katie and I. I sat bolt upright in the sleeping bag, half throwing Katie clear like a ragdoll. "Oh fuck!" I gasped. "It's Rob and the others. They're here."

"Oh shit!" Katie cried, tearing open the sleeping bag zipper and frantically grabbing for her underwear.

I fell over myself as I struggled to get my own undies on. We exchanged a panicked look as we desperately kicked ourselves into our pants and wrestled with our shirts. Shoving my head through the sleeve of my t-shirt, I ripped it open. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

My entire world became not getting caught in such a compromising position with Katie. And judging by the look of terror on her face, she was thinking exactly the same thing. Finally getting my sodden hiking boots laced up, I tore open the zips on the flaps. I tumbled out of the tent, leaving Katie behind to re-button her shirt.

I bounded past the barbecue to the edge of the plateau. Down the grassy slope, by the river, two Toyota Landcruisers were stopped on the track, one white, one silver. They were Ian's and Rob's. Two women were in front of the white one on the bank: the brunette comforting the blonde as she kept calling my name.

"Will?! Answer me! Where are you?!" It was Melissa. Sally tried to hold her back, but my wife was slowly dragging them downstream.

I scanned left to see Rob splashing thigh-deep through the river, pumping his arms to gain the necessary momentum. Farther on, another fifty metres or so, Ian had already scrambled up onto my maroon Prado, which was half-submerged on its side. He lifted up the driver's door and almost fell inside to check if we were there. Not finding us, he crawled towards the back of the wagon and lifted up the rear door for another careful inspection.

"Ian?" Sally called out, causing me to tennis-spin my head back to the right.

"They're not inside." Ian's deep voice boomed back.

I stuck my thumb and index finger in my mouth, and whistled as loud as I could to get their attention. All four of them froze and looked up at me. I could see Ian and Rob both slump with sighs of relief. The girls, too, were elated, Melissa holding her hand over her mouth.

"We're okay," I called down. "Everything's fine."

"Oh, thank God!" Ian shouted back.

Katie appeared at my side and waved down at Rob. "Hey, Babes," she smiled, almost too softly for him to hear. But he did, and he flashed her a wry smile, still standing in the river a dozen or so metres away from my shipwrecked Toyota.

I left them to it and trotted down the slope towards Melissa. As I approached, she tentatively let go of Sally and padded forward. Her green eyes were filled with tears, her bottom lip quivering.

"Hey," I soothed as I swept her up in a tight hug, cupping the back of her head and stroking her curly blonde ponytail. "It's okay. Everything's all right."

Melissa leaned back to look into my eyes. "I missed you. I was so worried. And when I saw the car..." Her eyes darted over my shoulder to the trashed Prado in the river. Then she started to cry.

I held her close, letting her release the tension. Then gently lifting her chin, I stared into my wife's eyes. I softly smiled, "Okay, that's enough. Lock it up now."

Melissa snorted a laugh through her tears, and then playfully slapped me on the chest. "Shut up."

I caught her smiling lips in mine and kissed her. As our tongues found each other, I was struck with how totally in love with her I was. This woman, this incredible woman who had chosen to share her life with me. I was so lucky to have her.

I was such a fucking dumbass.

The fact that I had spent the last two days cheating on her cut me to the bone. What the fuck did I do?

All I knew in that moment was that I would never do anything to risk losing her again. No matter what, she was mine. I would forever honour that. What's done is done. Melissa was my present, and God willing, she would be my future.

I couldn't help but scoff a laugh at the irony of it all.

"What?" Melissa looked up at me.

"Nothing," I smiled. "I'm just glad to see you."

"Hmm, I can feel," she teased, pressing her pubic bone into my growing erection.

"All right, you two, don't make me turn the hose on you," Rob interrupted as he came over, already reunited with Katie.

Melissa let me go to give Katie a big hug. Despite being only ten years older, she was overly motherly, making sure I had done everything possible to look after her. "I'm sorry," Melissa said after the clucking had finished. "I needed to borrow some of your clothes. All mine were in there." She pointed over to our Prado.

"That's okay," Katie smiled.

Seeing them both together, my wife and my...mistress, there was no comparison. Melissa was who I was supposed to be with. I knew it. I was drawn to her.

Katie on the other hand: I was actually repelled. I didn't want to look at her, or talk to her. I wanted to get away from her. Turning away, I gave Sally a big hug, thankful to divert my attention.

Releasing Sally, I gave my wife the once over. I was immediately drawn to the blue yoga pants, which showed off a visible panty line. She was about Katie's size, but her bum was a little bigger, and her boobs a little smaller. She was also wearing a red t-shirt with FIGJAM printed in white block letters across her chest. "Sounds about right," I snorted."

"What?" Melissa was oblivious.

"Fuck I'm good, just ask me," I explained.

"Oh my God!" Melissa blushed and held her hands across her breasts. "Rob!" She slapped him in the arm. "How could you let me wear this?"

"Trust me," he replied. "That's the most respectable thing she has."

"Hey!" Katie punched Rob, the poor bastard copping it from both sides.

Ian strode ashore, letting Rob off the hook from the girls. He gripped me with hands the size of shovels and checked how I was, before engulfing Katie in a giant embrace. "I'm so glad you two are okay," he boomed after letting her go. "What the hell happened?"

I gave them all a detailed, albeit edited account of our adventure. Katie and I explained how we had become stranded in the river, and ultimately abandoned the vehicle. Ian seemed impressed that I had at least managed to keep the Prado upright during the ordeal. Sally, on the other hand, was more chuffed that we had been able to salvage so much camping equipment and stayed relatively comfortable during the downpour. But that's unfortunately where it ended.

Things soon degenerated into a double-barrelled lecture about the dangers of river crossings, with both Ian and Sally giving me a stern talking to. I took my lumps as best I could, trying to make light of the situation. Melissa and Rob fighting to keep straight faces really didn't help. But as always, it was often more expedient to just own the fuck-up and move on.

Eventually Ian outlined an elaborate plan to recover the Prado. They would cross the river and head downstream, using their winch to pull my car upright. Then doubling back across the river to where we were, they would winch it out of the water. And finally, they would tow me back over the river and into town. It seemed like a lot of fucking about, but Ian knew what he was doing. I was certainly in no position to argue.

He waded through the river, surveying the condition of the track, while Sally eased their white Landcruiser into the water behind him. The rest of us climbed up the slope to take down our campsite.

"So, how's that Prado working out for you?" Rob stirred with a big shit-eating grin as we trudged up the hill.

"Shut up, Dickhead," I laughed back, punching him in the arm. He returned the blow, and we were soon wrestling like a couple of adolescent brothers, much to the amusement of our respective partners.

When we reached the plateau and I saw the blue dome tent, my blood ran cold. Katie and I had been fucking each other's brains out in there the previous few days. That sleeping bag, I knew, was covered in cum stains. To say nothing of the smell. Katie realised too, her head whipping around to give me a panicked second or two of eye contact.

"Hey, Honey," I suggested to Melissa. "How about you and Rob sort out that tarp and barbeque? Katie and I'll pack up our shit in the tent."

"Sure," Melissa chirped, leading Rob over to the Weber and directing him to reach up and untie the tarp.

Katie and I shared a silent moment of relief as we nonchalantly tried not to sprint into the tent to cover up our indiscretions. We dived inside, and I bundled up the sleeping bag and shoved it into its nylon case. Luckily, everything we had done had been contained inside that bag, so as long as I got it into the wash before Melissa got to it, I was convinced we would get away with it.

Careful to check there were no other tell-tale signs of our infidelity, we piled the rest of the gear out onto the grass. We ferried everything down to the bank in a couple of trips each, Rob and I doing the lion's share, while Melissa and Katie faffed about deflating the mattress and taking down the tent.

Ian's plan to recover the Prado, of course, went off without a hitch.

Rob and Katie decided to go back to the campsite with the others, While Ian and Sally towed us into town. We said our goodbyes, Katie and I overcompensating with an awkward ass-out hug, rather than her usual full-body press. Melissa and Rob seemed to do the same, and then we were off.

We got to Cessnock at about lunchtime, Ian and Sally towing us to a local smash repairer. Thankfully, they were affiliated with our insurance company, and they assessed the damage while the four of us had lunch at a quaint café in the centre of town.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back with us?" Sally pleaded. "We're still going to be out there another five days."

"No thanks, Sal," Melissa smiled warmly. "It's been a bit much. I just want to get everything sorted out here, and then get home. There's an Avis over there." She pointed across the street. "We'll just rent a car and go home."

Ian and Sally were disappointed, but they understood. Our camping trip was over. We walked them back to their white four-wheel-drive and farewelled them back to the wilderness.

"Next time we'll all head out together," Ian offered solemnly, swinging open the driver's door.

"No worries, Mate," I agreed as I shook his hand and slapped his shoulder.

We waved goodbye as they drove off, before we headed across the street to rent some shitty little Hyundai. Back at the garage, the repairer hadn't finished quoting the repairs to our Prado. It was going to be another couple of hours until he was ready for us to sign the paperwork.

"We can take some of these clothes and shit to a Laundromat while we wait," I suggested, making a mental note to include the sleeping bag in the load.

"Let's just check into a nice little bed and breakfast somewhere." Melissa looked up at me hopefully as she pressed herself against me. "Get them to wash them for us."

"Great idea," I grinned. "Like Sally said, we've still got five days until we have to go back."

"Ha! Five days? You'll never make it, Lover Boy." Melissa laughed, snatching the keys out of my hand and skipping around to the driver's side.

"Wanna bet?" I landed a smack on her ass before she danced out of reach, her squealing giggle hardening my cock.

We jumped in the car and headed off in search of somewhere to stay, eventually finding a cute guest house about forty minutes out of town. The owners were lovely, gladly taking care of our laundry after showing us to a gorgeous little cottage, nestled in between a few dozen rows of grapevines and a small lake. It was perfect - plush and homely.

Melissa loved it.

She jumped in the shower while I waged war with the open fireplace. It took me about a month's worth of newspapers to get the damn thing lit. But when I did, it popped and crackled nicely, filling the darkening space with a beautiful warm glow.

Far too pleased with myself, I stood up and headed towards the bathroom to get cleaned up. It was then I realised that I was covered in dry cum and God knows what scent from Katie's pussy. In an instant, my blood froze as my terrified heart pumped it at high speed throughout my body. Swallowing, trying to return some moisture to my mouth, I uprooted myself from the spot and eased forward.

Melissa was standing naked at the sink, teasing her hair with a hairdryer. I approached from behind, catching her gaze in the mirror. She watched me with those emerald green eyes of hers as I kissed her left shoulder, just above her blue butterfly tattoo.

"Okay, that's enough," she playfully scolded as I cupped her ass. "Get yourself hosed off first, Smokey."

I stripped off my clothes and shoved them into the plastic laundry bag with Melissa's, or more accurately, Katie's. Unable to stop myself from wondering if she'd borrowed her panties too, I jumped into the shower and got to work on that dried cum. As I stood there, letting the hot water wash away the sins of the previous few days, I took stock of what had happened.

I had cheated on my wife.

Despite my guilt, in fact, because of it, I reasoned that if I could just make love to Melissa, get her back, it would smooth over everything I had done with Katie. Like painting over some terrible graffiti. Absurd logic, I know. But it felt somehow natural.

As I dried myself after my shower, Melissa studied me intently with her big green eyes. I stood up after towelling off my calves and feet, and smiled at her. She was standing there in the nude, with her head tilted to the side.

"Come on," she smiled, leading me back into the bedroom.

Two steps onto the carpet, Melissa turned to face me. Without saying a word, she ran her hands down my chest to my stomach. As she got lower, she went down onto her knees in front of me. Her eyes locked on mine, Melissa took my cock in her hand and kissed the head softly. I stared down at her, running my fingers lightly through her freshly shampooed hair. She smiled, then sunk her mouth halfway down my length.

The sight of my cock disappearing into my wife's mouth was incredible, to say nothing of how it felt.

Her lips gripped my shaft and slid back to the sensitive glands, her wet tongue cradling my cock as she went. With just the head in her mouth, she licked at the seam, then sank back down on my prick again. The visual and tactile sensation of Melissa sucking my cock like that was amazing. She bobbed up and down on me, holding my hips for leverage. My own hands were on either side of her head, pulling her closer as I fucked her mouth.

I got carried away in the heat of the moment, and pulled her head into my groin a bit too hard. I felt the head of my cock wedge into the back of my wife's throat, and she started gagging.

"Oh, Honey! I'm so sorry," I cried.

"It's okay, Sweetie," Melissa smiled up at me, wanking my shaft with her hand while she caught her breath. She took my cock back into her mouth, but kept her hand gripped around the base to protect herself as she fellated me. Her other hand, I saw, had slipped between her legs and was feverishly rubbing her pussy.

Melissa sensed I was getting close to orgasm. She pulled herself off my cock briefly, but still pumped it with her hand.

"Are you okay?" I gasped.

"Uh-huh. I want to taste you, Sweetie," she breathed. "I want you to come in my mouth."

And with that, my raging cock was warmly enveloped in my wife's mouth again. She pumped her fist up and down my shaft as her lips clamped around the head, with her tongue swirling around and around.

"Oh, Melissa...!" I cried, ejaculating spurt after spurt of thick, ropey semen into her mouth.

"Mmmm," Melissa smiled, as she sat back onto her feet. She looked up at me, still with her hand on my prick. I could see her moving her tongue around inside her mouth, making sure my cum coated every single taste bud. She closed her eyes as she swallowed. Then she licked and sucked at her lips, and ran her tongue around her teeth to clear my sticky cum away.

I lifted her back to her feet by her shoulders, then kissed her deeply. I could taste my pungent, earthy cum on her lips and tongue, and the thought of it, more than anything, drove me wild: my wife just swallowed my come.

I lowered Melissa gently to the four-poster bed a few steps away. She scooted back until she was leaning against the headboard. I crawled onto the bed, moving up between her legs. But she seemed to be holding them together, almost denying me access to her pussy. She tried to pull my face up towards hers, but I resisted. I wanted to taste her, gorge on her.

Caressing the outside of her thighs, I coaxed her legs apart. Melissa's pretty little vagina blossoming open before me. The sticky smell of her pussy was overwhelming, much stronger than I was used to. Her glistening petals were stunningly beautiful. I dropped down onto my belly and buried my face in her cunt.

I licked and sucked like a man possessed. I nibbled her clit, sucked her labia and plunged my tongue deeply into her canal. There was no technique. It was a frenzied feast. As I fucked her with my tongue, my nose mashing against her clit, her body seemed to relax.

She giggled in between her moans. "You're getting carried away again, Sweetie."

"I'm sorry, Honey," I smiled, "I just love the taste of this 1979 vintage."

"Katie bored you shitless about wine, huh?" she giggled, wrinkling her nose at me, before pushing my head back down to her pussy.

I felt myself blush at the mention of Katie's name, my forehead prickling. I prayed Melissa didn't notice, or read anything into it if she did. She knew me too well. And if there was any indication that I had done something wrong, she would be all over me.

Fortunately, she seemed happily distracted with my oral performance. I found comfort though in the fact that I hadn't gone down on Katie. That was something I had thankfully saved for my wife.

I regained my composure, and licked and sucked at her clit, while I fucked her with my index and middle fingers. Melissa moaned loudly as I spiralled my tongue around her button and rubbed hard at the change in texture on the front wall of her vagina. Before long, Melissa bucked her hips as she came, crushing my face with her thighs, the increased wetness in her pussy flowing around my fingers.

It was our well-practised routine, finely honed over many years. She would suck me off until I came, usually on her breasts, but sometimes on her face or in her mouth. I would then go down on her until I got hard again, often bringing her to a couple of orgasms. And then we would make love. You could set your watch to it.

Far from boring, it was tremendously comfortable. And now that I desperately needed this routine to press some sort of sexual reset button, I was more excited than I had been in years.

We stared at each other a moment, silently communicating we were both ready for the next step. Melissa jumped up and spun around onto all fours in front of me. She was looking over her shoulder at me, her eyes blazing with anticipation. I knelt up behind her and fed my cock into that hungry little pussy. With my hands on her soft hips, I fucked my wife for all I was worth.

The sound of my wife's grunting, and the wet slapping of my hips into her ass was hypnotic. I stared down at my rock hard prick plunging in and out of her tight, wet hole, and could imagine no better sight. Melissa threw her head back in ecstasy as I thrust in and out of her. Her long honey blonde hair falling across her back in glossy waves.

The whole time Katie and I had been together in the tent, I'd never actually got a good look at her, wrapped up tightly in that sleeping bag. I smiled to myself, somehow reassured. This was something else only Melissa and I shared. This was ours.

With every stroke, my dalliance with Katie became a more distant memory.

But it didn't seem right somehow, fucking my wife doggy-style like a dirty slut in a strange bed. She deserved better from me. I wanted to honour her, make her feel special.

I slowed my pace, and caressed my hands from her hips up towards her head. As my fingers passed in under her flowing curls, I felt the delicate contours of the muscles in her back. I savoured the touch of her slender body. When I reached her shoulders, I pulled her up close to me, and wrapped my arms around her.

"I love you, Melissa," I breathed into her ear.

"I love you back," she smiled, kissing me over her shoulder.

We fell down onto the bed into a spooning position, my hands cupped around her modest breasts. I gently squeezed and kneaded her soft globes, rolling her nipples between my thumbs and forefingers as I slowly rocked in and out of her. Melissa held my hands, interlocking her fingers with mine. I needed to be so close to her. It was so perfect.

"Melissa, I'm going to come," I said after an eternity of making love so tenderly.

She brought our hands down her soft belly to her pussy, and together, we rubbed her clit. I felt my cock sliding in and out of her slippery cunny, her gentle folds sucking at my shaft. Melissa's whines and moans increased in pitch. The roll of her hips intensified. I lost myself in the moment, and pulled her close as I came deep inside her. The hot torrent of my cum pushed her over the edge, rocking her in a trembling climax of her own.

I lay there holding my wife in the afterglow, caressing the sexy curve of her hip. The warmth of the fire embraced us, its flickering crackles punctuating the rise and fall of our synchronised breathing. With her, I was home. There was nowhere else I wanted to be. There was no one else I wanted to be with.

I had found redemption, if only in my own mind.

"So, you got along well with Katie then?" Melissa purred, a smug edge to her tone.

Huh?" I furrowed my brow, wondering why she'd mentioned Katie. "What do you mean?"

Melissa giggled, the same way she did when she knew she had me beaten long before I ever did. "Will, you called me Katie when you came."

My blood ran cold, my heart pounding out of my chest. I even think I stopped breathing. "What?" I croaked, my voice catching in my throat.

Melissa rolled over, unsheathing my cock from her sopping pussy as she turned. I fell onto my back, overcome with terror. But she snuggled into me, resting her head on my chest and sweeping her smooth thigh up over my legs. She giggled again, fingering the hair on my chest.

"It's okay, Sweetie. I know you're mine," she whispered. "I know I'm yours. Besides, what happens in the bush..."

"Really?" I blurted, before my feeble mind could warn me to continue the charade.

Melissa lifted her head up and stared into my eyes. There was genuine peace in hers, and her smile was so beautifully sincere. "Really," she whispered. She gently kissed me. "I love you, Will."

"Oh my God. I love you so much, Honey," I breathed, my eyes welling. I really was deeply in love with her. I kissed her again, then kissed the top of her head as she laid it back on my chest.

Melissa squeezed me tightly, groaning with contentment as she did. She really was the most amazing woman.

She was so incredibly understanding, pragmatic even. She had patiently given me space to pack up the tent without her. She had been awkward when hugging Rob goodbye. She had tried to stop me going down on her.

Hang on a minute! "What did you do?" I balked, my heart thumping for an entirely different reason.

She giggled wickedly, "Obviously nothing you didn't."