Sophie's Journey: Eternal Flame, #1

Sophie’s Journey

Eternal Flame Series Book One

A.J. Milton

Copyright

Copyright © 2016 by A. J. Milton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

www.ajmilton.com

Publisher’s Note: The plot and the story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, or institutions, is completely coincidental.

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Authors Note

Sophie’s Journey is the first part of the Eternal Flame Series of books.

More information and free books can be found on the author’s website:

www.ajmilton.com

This book is an adult romance and contains some quite explicit adult scenes.

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Chapter 1

Reflections

~ Sophie ~

Earth calling Sophie. Soph… are you with us? I blinked my eyes and my college housemate Rachel swam into focus. She was peering at me with a slightly concerned expression. Rachel was a nice girl, much taller than me, but slightly quieter than the other two girls in the house. We shared some classes where my Business Studies course overlapped with her Accountancy studies and we helped each other out with coursework and lectures. In a few months’ time, we would be starting our final year.

Oh Rach, I was a million miles away on a nice planet with no useless men.

Her questioning look meant I had to explain that I had just split up with David who I had been seeing on and off for several months. I gave up trying to pretend I was reading my study notes, so we opened a can of beer each and spent the time until dinner revisiting the best and the worst of the boys we had encountered since we started university together. From my side, it was a fairly lengthy but uninspiring list. Rachel had gone out with only a couple of boys over the same period, although now she was single just like me.

Later that evening when I was alone in my room, I wondered what it was about me and men. I never seemed to find one who ticked all the boxes. David was energetic and sporty. He was involved with lots of clubs and he had introduced me to scuba diving, which I now thoroughly enjoyed. But he simply didn’t appreciate my focus on my studies, and apart from sports and sex, we had scarcely anything in common. And when we had last been together, I had said a few things which I now regretted. So, breaking up with him meant that going to the scuba club would be difficult, as he was one of the organisers.

But it wasn’t just him. None of my relationships had ever lasted long and I truly couldn’t figure out why. I know I can be a bit sassy and assertive, but the rest of the time I’m a real softie. Honest!

I need a break. I need a holiday. I pondered my pitiful student finances and decided I would have to blow some credit card debt on getting away from it all somehow. Then I remembered Alex who was a distant relative. I had only met him a few times and so I didn’t know him very well, but he seemed like a nice sort of guy, and he had talked about diving in the Red Sea when we had last met. When he had described the warm clear tropical water, it sounded lovely. So much more appealing than the colder and more challenging seas off the south coast of England. Perhaps I’ll give him a call.

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I sat in the shade outside the hotel’s diving centre, letting my mind wander. My cheeky call to Alex three months ago had turned out to be a brilliant idea. He had been happy to talk to me, and now he had brought me to this wonderful place where the diving was extraordinary compared to anything I had done before.

And as I had gotten to know him better, I had confirmed my opinion that he was a nice guy. He treated me like a grown-up, which my parents and my elder sister hadn’t quite figured out yet. They all still treated me like a troublesome teenager. I’m twenty-one for goodness sake!

But Alex treated me as if I was an equal and listened to me. Our conversations were always warm and interesting. I genuinely felt comfortable just being with him. Why couldn’t I meet someone of my own age who had all those qualities?

There was a group of Italians staying at our hotel who were also diving with us, and one of them was definitely interested in me. His name was Paolo and I could tell that he was attracted to me from his frequent glances.

Earlier in the week, I had gone out for the evening with some of the younger divers and I had chatted a bit to Paolo over dinner. But although he was very good looking, in truth I didn’t find him interesting. What was the point of getting together for a couple of nights, when I would probably never see him again? And although the idea of a hot, fit body was a little bit tempting, in the end, I decided that I didn’t want a quick holiday romance.

My thoughts went to my ex-boyfriend David. In reality, he and Paolo were quite similar. Good looking hunks but they didn’t do anything much for me intellectually or emotionally. I had half-heartedly considered trying to get back together with David, but now I knew for sure that I wanted more than that. I needed more than that now. Enough about men, Sophie!

The diving all week had been excellent, and this afternoon had been no exception. Many varieties of exotic fish and colourful coral. Alex had been my diving partner or buddy, and he always managed to spot interesting things to point out to me. After we had returned and put our gear away, Alex had returned to his room, and I had agreed to meet him later for dinner.

I sauntered up to the bar that was upstairs above the dive centre, and joined up with a group of people from the dive party. At my table was a French girl called Yvette and a German couple in their late twenties or early thirties. During the week, Yvette and I had become quite friendly, as I had studied French all the way through school but rarely got to practice it. She was pleased when I spoke in her own language. When we were with the other divers we spoke mostly English as that was the common language. She had a lovely accent and spoke English very well, much better than my French. She was a few years older than me, but she was an interesting and likeable person.

The other table was a bit rowdier with a couple of English guys who were teachers, and some of the Italian group. Paolo had grinned and waved at me when I arrived. Of course, the main topic of conversation was about the day’s diving and the things we had seen, and the different fish and creatures that we still wanted to see before we had to go home.

I sipped my beer and chatted to the others. After a while, the German couple got up and left the bar, so I switched to speaking French and carried on talking to Yvette. The language was starting to come back to me, although I was often stuck when talking about scuba diving because I had never learned the words for all the tropical fish or the technical diving terminology.

We continued drinking for a while and then Yvette said, Mario and the others are going into town again to find somewhere to eat. Would you like to come too? Mario was the loud and bouncy de-facto leader of the Italian group. It was a tempting offer. I had enjoyed the night out with them earlier in the week. And after all, I am a young carefree student on holiday, so having a fun night out was something that came naturally!

But that was not what I wanted to do that evening, and I had agreed to eat with Alex.

No thanks, I’m staying here at the hotel for dinner tonight.

Yvette rolled her eyes, Hmm… dinner with your sexy older man?

I spluttered on the last of my beer and blushed. He’s just a relative, well a sort of distant cousin, I amended.

If you say so, she said. If he was my companion, I would certainly want to be close to him… and maybe more. You know what they say about us French girls and older men. Well, it’s quite often true! And your man Alex is certainly very nice.

Well, yes he is nice… I said.

"Life is for living, Cherie, she interrupted. I will see you tomorrow."

Then she got up and left, calling "Ciao, see you later" to the other group.

Feeling quite flustered I got up too, waved my farewell’s and headed back to my room. Yvette was at least partly right. I wanted to have a nice quiet dinner with Alex.

In the shower, the warm refreshing water felt good and I soaped myself all over to wash off the accumulated salt and suntan lotion. Yvette’s words came back to me: Sexy older man… hmm. Well, he was quite good looking. He had a strong handsome face, not Hollywood star pretty like Brad Pitt, but nice. I loved his eyes which were hazel like mine but a different shade entirely. And they were always warm and friendly, with laughter lines which crinkled when he smiled. And yes, his body was attractive too. He was medium height and about three or four inches taller than me, which was a nice size. His body was firm and fit, not totally ripped like an athlete but with some tone and definition in his muscles. And at most he had a couple of pounds extra padding which didn’t bother me at all. In fact, he would be rather nice to cuddle up to.

OMG! I do actually fancy him: the realisation suddenly hit me. I already knew that I was attracted to him as a person because we when we talked we had discovered that we had many things in common. But now I finally admitted to myself that I found him attractive as a man. I felt a tingle and a glow of warmth down between my legs and as I rinsed the gel bubbles away I realised I was wet and puffy around the lips of my pussy. I touched my clit and tried to get my thoughts straight. But now my brain seemed to be focused on Alex in his swimming trunks or Alex with his graceful strength when he was underwater. I felt the heat in my groin increase. Well, Sophie what are you going to do about it?

I stopped touching myself and grabbed the big bath towel. I wanted his hands touching my body not my own. He was most likely in his room right now, and although I had never heard any noise from the adjoining apartments I didn’t dare continue playing with myself while I was thinking about him because I know I can get a bit noisy. I would probably end up moaning loudly and I couldn’t bear the thought of him hearing me below and wondering what was happening.

I put the kettle on to make a coffee while I finished drying myself and picked up the hair dryer to try and make some sense out of my hair, which insisted on staying fluffy and frizzy due to all the tropical sun and immersion in the sea. But I didn’t care because this diving trip was fantastic and all too soon we would be back to the variable ups and downs of the English climate. I pulled on a fresh pair of panties and a loose t-shirt and sat outside on the secluded veranda to enjoy the final moments of the sunset and the warm fragrant twilight that followed.

He’s experienced and worldly, what if I come on to him, and he merely thinks I’m a silly immature little girl? Does he even find me attractive?

I knew that having a relationship with a second cousin was not actually illegal or taboo, and he wasn’t even a blood relative because he was just a relative by marriage. But it was quite unusual. Would that bother him? Or would the age gap concern him more?

Oh, shit Sophie, this is a tricky situation. Yvette’s words came back to me again "Life is for living, Cherie." I made up my mind. Age be damned. He was exactly the sort of man I had been looking for. I was going to show him that I was interested. I just wasn’t quite sure how.

~ Alex ~

Back in my room I had stripped off and headed straight to the shower. I loved diving and I loved the sun and the sea but it felt so good to wash the salt out of my hair and get cleaned up. After drying myself, the after-sun moisturiser soaked into my parched skin like water in a desert. With that cool sensation restored, I lay down on the bed with the towel wrapped around me to contemplate the day.