Present Day:

At 0358 in the morning, Charlotte woke up two minutes before her phone beeped and buzzed. She canceled the alarm and rolled over to put her arm around her somnambulant lover. She kissed his warm shoulder and whispered. "It's 0400 babe."

Justin stirred a bit and opened one eye. "Wha?"

Charlotte smiled in the predawn darkness. "I'll go and shower first, you can sleep for a couple more minutes."

Charlotte then slid out of the soft bed and made her way to her luxurious spa. The heated tile floors were warm under her feet and the smart thermostat had turned on the heat to warm the house on the cold Idaho winter morning. Charlotte took care of her morning needs, took a quick shower and dressed in layers. It was 18° in Boise and 81° in Hawaii. She walked back into the bedroom and turned on the light. Justin slid out of bed and embraced her. She smiled at his naked form and admired her lover for the 10,000th time. She slapped him good-naturedly on his firm butt and kissed him. "Shower up lover, and make it a cold one if you have to we don't have time for anything else this morning. I'll go and make coffee. Charlotte made a sexy leer and gestured to her semi-aroused lover. "Get moving soldier and we'll continue this discussion in the islands."

Less than two hours later, Charlotte and Justin boarded their flight right on time at 0535. They were in the forward exit row with an empty seat between them. As they got settled, Charlotte said in a low voice. "There's no first or business class on this flight, so this was the best I could do."

Justin reached over and squeezed her hand. "I'm usually in a middle seat way in the back Char, so I think that this will be okay."

Their plane landed 15 minutes early on a foggy rainy dawn morning in Seattle. Charlotte checked the airline's in-house scheduling app on her phone as soon as it powered up after landing. "Everything is right on time so far J. The aircraft for our connecting flight plane has been parked at the gate since midnight so we don't have to worry about that. We do however have to go two terminals over, but we have plenty of time, so no rush."

The two lovers held hands as they made their way through the thin early morning crowd from terminal A to terminal C. At one point, Charlotte gripped Justin's hand and smiled. "What? He asked.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm new to the whole PDA thing, that's all."

He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "Well, get used to it."

They arrived at their gate a full half hour before boarding. They picked a couple of quiet seats near the window and both stared out at the early morning rain. Justin yawned and asked his friend. "Want to share a cup of coffee Char? I hear that they have a few different kinds here."

Charlotte laughed. "Right, just a couple of varieties. So sure, how about a nice breakfast blend with no fru-fru, and while you're there, care to buy a hungry girl a scone or something?"

Justin tried not to roll his eyes at the need to keep his pretty girlfriend fed properly. "Sure thing, be right back. Save my seat will ya'."

At just before 8 AM Pacific time, Charlotte and Justin boarded in the first group. They made their way to seats 1A and 1B in first class. They stowed their carefully packed carry-ons in the overhead bin and sat down. A moment later the flight attendant arrived. "Good morning Ms. Janssen, good to see you again."

Charlotte smiled. "Hi Mindy, this is my boyfriend, Justin, we're taking our first island vacation together."

The short but attractive woman smiled and took in the handsome young couple. "Sounds like fun. I'm going to take a couple of days off myself. Maybe if I get a minute we can talk about places to see, I've been to Maui a bunch of times. But for now, what can I get for you? Coffee, juice, or a mimosa to start the vacation out perhaps?"

Charlotte looked at Justin and then to Mindy. "I think we're all coffeed out for now. J, do you want to start our vacation now with a couple of mimosas?"

Justin smiled. "Don't think I've ever had one Char, so why not?"

A couple of minutes later after Mindy brought them their drinks, they toasted each other and each took a sip. "This is real good Char. What exactly is in it?"

Charlotte sipped her drink and smiled. "Tropical fruit juice and champagne, so it's practically a health drink."

As the rest of the passengers continued boarding and walking by their front-row seats, Charlotte said in a low voice. "Like I said before, I pretty much know everyone on the crew and they all know me. It's also pretty much standard procedure to treat other airline employees traveling in non-revenue status as rock stars."

Justin sipped his first-ever mimosa. "Right makes sense, and you guys all do the same for them right?"

Charlotte winked. "Exactly, it's a very good system and quite self-regulating, if I remember the term from Econ-3 back in the day."

"Self-regulating? Help a guy out here Char, I pound nails for a living."

With her voice still low Charlotte said. "You know, be nice to the other kids and they will be nice to you."

Justin nodded. "Right, I get it now, and if someone is a jerk they don't get the good seats or the complementary mimosas."

Charlotte nodded. "You got it."

At just past 3 PM local time in Hawaii, Justin and Charlotte opened the door to their second-floor condo with its glorious ocean view at the small tourist town of Kihei on the south shore of the island of Maui. Both of their checked bags had actually made the trip with them. The two lovers made their way to the lanai. Justin put his arms around his beautiful girlfriend. "Wow Char, it's like they said. Deep blue water as far as the eye can see."

Charlotte pulled him close and kissed him. "Told you Idaho boy! No snow here."

Justin returned the kiss and looked into her eyes. "Okay Char, what next?"

She smiled and took a sip of her nearly empty water bottle. "Well, it's just after three local which is 7 PM back home. Did you manage to get a little sleep on the plane?"

Justin shrugged. "Yeah, I think that I did. Thanks for letting me have the window seat. I just put my ear buds in to listen to some tunes and covered my eyes with my hat. I did wake up a few times and looked out the window and I really can't believe how big the ocean is. But hey, I feel good and it's still the middle of the day here, so let's rock and roll."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the 90s movie quote. "Good idea J. Let's unpack, rinse off the stench of the airport, and," she gestured to the king-sized bed, "and then let me welcome you properly to the islands. After that, we'll change into something island casual and then will find a nice café and then and stop by at Foodland for some supplies for tonight and tomorrow morning."

Justin smiled. "Roger that!"

Charlotte smiled and whispered. "You almost have that right but I think you and I need to try out that over-sized entertainment shower."

And they did.

The next morning Justin and Charlotte awoke half an hour or so after sunrise feeling quite refreshed. The sheets of the soft and luxurious king-sized bed were in disarray, but the two lovers were mostly covered and pressed closely together. Charlotte pressed her breasts and hips against his warm body and pulled him close. She put her left hand around him and on his chest and gently nibbled at his shoulder.

After a couple of minutes of gentle kisses and caresses Justin opened one eye and then the other. He smiled and turned to kiss Charlotte on the lips. "Sorry for sleeping so late, it must be like 11?"

Charlotte returned the kiss and laughed. "Nope, more like 0730 island time. We have the whole day ahead of ourselves. Want to start it out right?"

Before he could answer, she rolled on top of her now very aroused lover and whispered. "Hmmm, I guess that means yes."

They made love slowly and passionately and luxuriated in the soft bed and voluminous sheets. After a while, Justin closed his eyes and let his very eager lover take complete control. He felt her first orgasm and then gently switched positions and made sure that her next was even more powerful. A few moments later, she heard a soft moan and felt her lover's powerful release deep inside of her. They lay together, unmoving for a couple of minutes until he finally slid out of her and rolled onto his back. Charlotte turned over on her side, put her hand on his chest and sighed deeply. "Wow, that was a nice welcome to the islands."

"No kidding, we are definitely coming back here again. Now, if I remember correctly, someone promised me coffee?"

Charlotte laughed. "Yes my king, please allow me to serve you."

She slid out of bed and made her way to the kitchen of their large studio apartment suite. Justin admired the view as his beautiful lover fired up the coffee pot. "Is Kona okay babe, it's only the best coffee in the world?"

"That will have to do."

A couple of minutes later after the Keurig unit efficiently fulfilled its mission, she brought him a cup as he was sitting up in the bed with two pillows behind him. The coffee was black just the way he liked it as did she. They toasted each other and Charlotte quipped. "I don't think I ever made coffee naked before."

Justin sipped his coffee and mused. "Don't think I've ever drank coffee naked before. We might have to add more mornings like this to our list."

Later that lazy tropical morning they made each other breakfast, sat out on the lanai watching the ocean and listening to the tropical birds and drank more coffee. Then, they made love again and then finally got around to packing a couple of picnic lunches. Before leaving the hotel, they picked up some beach mats, chairs, towels and a body board from the recreation desk. They got in their rental car and drove a couple of miles south to Makena, Big Beach State Park. They parked the car in the lot, paid the fee and made their way to a shady spot under some Koa trees well above the high tide line on the wide white sand beach. After they set up their mats and towels, Charlotte handed Justin a tube of sunscreen. "Will you do my back babe and then I'd better do you..."

Justin took the # 60 sunscreen and laughed. "Right must be another pilot joke."

He carefully and gently rubbed sunscreen on her back and shoulders and then kept going south. Earlier that morning to Justin's delight, Charlotte had showed off her new and perfectly fitting red bikini. Even though he had seen her naked just hours before, the few scraps of red fabric did their magic on his male psyche. "Sorry Char, got distracted for a moment by something..."

"Shiny?"

He shook his head. "No. Red, very red, firm and..."

She turned and pushed him gently in the chest. "Focus mister, I don't want to get burned."

He smiled, and turned her around. "Right, where we left off. Let me make sure to get the back of your legs..."

After a couple more minutes they were both getting aroused again. Charlotte laughed, removed his large hand from her thigh and took the sunscreen from him. "Okay, enough. Now it's my turn. I've seen your Idaho tan, you need this is much as I do. We Janssens don't tan, but we can get a massive sunburn in like five minutes. And it looks like your people are the same."

Justin held out his fading construction guy tan on his well-muscled biceps and forearms. "Hey, I got a tan last summer framing and roofing."

Charlotte put her hand to her mouth and giggled. And then pointed at his pale legs. "Right. Let's get you taken care of. You'll get no sympathy from me."

Charlotte and Justin enjoyed sitting on the beach for a few minutes, but even in the shade of their spot, the tropical heat started to get to them. Charlotte took off her pilot's Ray Ban sunglasses and stood up. "Come on J, let's go for a swim."

Justin stood up, smiled and took her hand in his. They walked down to the surf and waded in together. The surf was a mild 1-2 foot swell and many kids and people of all ages were enjoying the wide tropical beach. Justin and Charlotte were still holding hands as they made their way into deeper water. "Not too bad, a little colder than I expected."

Charlotte let go of his hand and splashed him with her foot. "It's March, what did you expect? Come on, let's dive in. On three, one, two, three, go!"

The two lovers ran into the surf together, dove in and came up laughing. They kissed the salty foam off of each other's lips and laughed again.

Later, they tried body surfing on their borrowed board with some success. They had lunch, napped and decided that sitting on the beach reading a worn paperback with their best friend was just about as good as it gets.

After half a day on the beach, the two lovers made the short drive back to their ocean front condo. As they got out of the car Charlotte said. "J, I had a great time at the beach, but the sun has really zapped me. I think I want a shower and a short nap in that order."

Justin smiled. "Sounds good. Why don't you go first and I'll clean up our beach stuff and join you in a few."

She answered him with a kiss.

When they got back to their room Charlotte put the remains of their lunches on the counter and then went to the en suite and stripped out of her T-shirt and shorts which were covering the tiny red bikini and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. She showered a little longer than she usually did to make sure all of the sunscreen was gone and there was no sand in embarrassing places. Still naked, Charlotte made her way to the bed and pulled back the sheet. Justin was sitting on the couch watching some game or other. He took one look at the beautiful woman and clicked off the remote. "Let me rinse off and I'll be right with you babe."

A few minutes later, Justin left the en suite. He closed the window blinds and slipped into the bed next to his sleeping lover. She was smiling but was also fast asleep. He smiled and put a pillow on his head gently, touched her thigh and joined her in a perfect late afternoon nap.