Sand Trap
(No, I don't mean golf)
by: Rebecca Lawe
“No way, I had you pegged as a Cali boy for sure. Pish?” the dark-haired, fit woman said as she shifted her hips in the tight black bikini I had been admiring all day.
“Peshtigo,” I corrected for her. “A little place in Northeast Wisconsin. Home of the Great Peshtigo Fire,” I told her proudly with a wide smile. I chuckled at her dubious look and continued. “No really, it was bigger than the Chicago Fire, but since so few people lived there no one has heard of it. I came to Cali,” I said drawing it out like she had, “after college and loved it so I never left. I have been here for 12 years, does that make me some sort of honorary Cali Boy?”
Rhea punched my shoulder for copying her inflection and laughed at my remark. “Yes, I will get you a plaque as an Honorary Cali Surfer Boy.” Her smile was bright and infectious. I noticed smiles. One of the hazards of being a dentist perhaps. But Rhea was easy to notice all over.
I had jogged down to the beach to spend the day. I figured I'd hang out on the beach, eat some lunch, and check out some bodies. It didn't take long to see Rhea walking past. And speaking of bodies. Wow. Rhea had dark hair that hung long down to her lower back. Her face was pleasant and attractive but nothing special. Her body, on the other hand, was spectacular. She was tall, probably about 5'10” or even a bit more. I was just a bit above her at my 6 foot height. Saying you are 6 feet tall is often code for being 5'11” and some change and you just prefer to say 6 feet. At least in my case, that is true. She had wide shoulders and maybe she was a swimmer or a surfer girl herself. Her arms were exceptionally toned and even showed a hot vein rippling down her biceps. She wasn't big, just toned. Her stomach was – perfect. After teeth, I think stomachs are my favorite body part and it was what I first noticed as she came by in the black two-piece suit. Hers was tight and showed hints of the muscles underneath when she moved. There was a line you could see in the transition from the front abs to the side abs that I found heavenly. Her chest wasn't huge, but solid and seemed to lift and move all on its own when she got animated. She talked with her hands and it made her arms, shoulders, chest, and abs all do a dance that was close to hypnotic. Her legs copied her arms in being long, toned, and showing ripped musculature. Her butt in particular screamed power and made me revise my swimmer idea Maybe she was some sort of athlete that required a lot of fast-twitch, explosive movements. Her bottom was thick and lifted, giving it almost a shelf look as it wiggled behind her as she moved. This was a body used to extreme physical effort. If she was this ripped and tight, just strolling on the beach, what did she look like fully engaged in effort? I hoped to find out.
My own body was no slouch. My 6 foot frame contained a tight 190 pound frame. I was a swimmer and surfer, so I had broad shoulders and a powerful chest. My legs were tight, perhaps not to the level of my upper body. Even with my busy practice I was outside a lot and kept a deep tan to match my curly blonde hair. I liked looking like a stereotype California Surfer Boy. What I had said was true. After graduating from undergraduate school in Biology, I took a trip with a friend to California. I loved it so much and wanted to move here. My grades didn't allow me to get into a California Medical School, and to show how committed I was, I changed it to Dental School so I could stay in Cali. Now, 12 years later, I was 34 and the senior partner of the clinic I worked at is, well he is pretty senior. I stand to take over the entire thing and really clean up in a couple of years.
I had approached Rhea and we talked as we walked down the beach. She seemed to enjoy that I was funny and could banter. She was intelligent and that only made her way more attractive to me. I was thrilled when she had accepted my offer for lunch and we pulled into a beachside bistro where they knew me. It sure didn't hurt for the waitress to be calling you Dr. Rick to help impress such a fabulous babe. This was more a chance meeting than a real date, but this was the best date since I had broken up with my last girlfriend. The stunning Cherri was sexiness incarnate, but she was young, and in the end, we had little to talk about once we left the bedroom. I had more interesting chats with Rhea in 2 hours, than I had over 6 months with Cherri. OK, you might say I was smitten. She was a total package for sure. After being called Dr. by the waitress, I talked about my practice with Rhea. She remained a bit cagey about what she did and I didn't push it. This was just a chance meeting after all.
We left the bistro and went through a few tourist shops, laughing and goofing around like kids. I can't remember a more delightful day. We passed by a stretch of sand and Rhea grabbed my forearm and pulled me over to the sand.
“Look, they haven't taken down the rings from the beach wrestling yet.” She said this like I had any idea what beach wrestling was. She must have noticed my perplexed look because she beamed that bright smile at me and clued me in. “Yesterday was the US Beach Wrestling Finals. Not ringing a bell?” She laughed. “Beach wrestling is held in one of these rings,” As she talked she dragged me so we were standing in the middle of a circular ring using some soft ropes as an outline. I estimated the circle to be about 20 feet across. “You get a point for taking your opponent down into the sand or for pushing them out of the circle. First to three points win.”
I nodded. “OK, so it's like the tournaments in Karate Kid movies. First to three wins.”
“Ok, sort of,” she replied. “A grappling Karate Kid tourney if you like. I was here all day and saw a lot of it. Some great moves. There was a college girl here, a pretty blonde collegiate wrestler. Never been on the sand before, but never lost a point the whole day and won the 60 kilo class. Amazing stuff.” Her eyes seemed to go all wistful and I snapped my fingers in front of her and she blinked and laughed. She quickly grabbed my hand and dragged me towards her closer. I didn't resist that. “Come on, they will be taking this stuff up soon, let's grapple.”
I stared at her body in a ready stance. Weight shifted, hands up she looked serious and hot as hell. I figured we were just goofing around and doing some physical foreplay here so I went with it. I peeled off my shirt and shoes we had put on for lunch and tossed them over where they were out of the ring. Then, I copied her stance. I bounced on my toes digging into the cool sand and shook out my arms. If she wanted to push bodies together, I was sure all for that.
Her smile widened and had this feline hot quality to it. “OK, Honorary Surfer Boy, let's see what you got.” Her steps were purposeful. I kept my eyes on her midline, so I wouldn't be caught off guard by anything speedy as I intended to get our bodies together more sumo style.
This seemed to be Rhea's idea as well because she simply stepped right into me and locked up with me. Delightful. The contact was electric and I was having a hard time not watching how her shoulders broadened. How her arms rippled. How her abs engaged and flexed. How her legs... Ohhh, I had to stop and dig in as I was going backward under her force. Damn, she was strong! My competitive juice fired and I stopped staring at her and started concentrating on my body. I tensed and flexed and just when I thought I could not stop her, I dug in and strained every muscle to its limit. Red-faced now, I AHHHH pushed back and we turned a bit so now I angled her towards the edge of the circle. Each step was like a workout from hell, but I pushed, strained, and got her about one step from the edge.
Then, Rhea planted her left leg but let the right leg go up so we spun and turned sideways. Her hands got under my armpits, lifted and I actually flew in the air! My body spun like a top and I landed hard in the sand - ending about 6 full feet or more outside the circle. Even though it was on the sand, it was still quite a hard crash landing.
As I shook my head and rose a bit shaken, I heard some clapping. A small group was watching from the bench at the boardwalk nearby. Rhea turned and bowed to them and then turned to me. Hands on her hips she looked like a freaking goddess as she flashed that bright smile. “Well, that's one point for me then isn't it?” She dusted off her legs for sand but needn't have bothered. I was the one covered in sand. I had begun to sweat and then rolled many times over in it so I looked like I had been dipped in sand and was ready to be cooked now.
I nodded, “that might be a point and a half,” I said as I shook myself off and made sure all my parts were working correctly. “Impressive, I guess surfing doesn't help me here.” I stepped back over the line and patted her shoulder as a sign of respect and cocked my shoulder to indicate if we should keep walking. Her move had been so explosive and powerful. I didn't just trip over the line, I went flying ass over teakettle.
Rhea pushed my arm up and retook her stance. “Well, that's only one point, we need to finish it.” She was smiling but the look was also serious like she was into this now. She shuffled on her toes digging a path in the sand and her hands waved, urging me to step in.
I backed up and put my hands up in a wait a minute gesture. Again, I was struck by the shape and tone of her body as she tensed in readiness. I felt myself stir some, which was bad. I am well endowed and this was going to show pretty obviously in these shorts if I didn't get a handle on it. And with her looking like this all pumped and stunning, good luck getting a handle on it. The veins in her arms practically throbbed, and her legs which had always looked spectacular were taking on a whole new level. The calves particularly were immense with a perfect heart-shaped tone.
Rhea smiled. I couldn't tell if this was because she saw my engorgement or because I was backing up. Or both. Something in her look made me feel challenged and I set my back foot and came slamming forward to meet her.
She must have seen it coming, or guessed it, or I was slow. Pick your choice. Because when I slammed in, she just wasn't there. She ducked low and my shoulders and arms just flew out over her body in a complete whiff. Thrust forward, she easily thrust under me with her shoulder, hitting it into my torso and crotch. She ended up scooping me up in a quick lift and I was now draped over her shoulders. I vaguely heard the clapping of the onlookers, it sounded like the number had grown, as I thrashed wildly trying to clamber my way back down. All Rhea had to do was dump me in the sand and it was a takedown. She drew it out and walked with me, carrying me back to the edge of the circle. “Careful or this might be a bad landing,” she warned as her hands shifted position. Her hands were flat on my chest and thigh as I rolled to try and slide off. She grunted, “No you don't,” and heaved her hands - pushing out like a shotput. Which is what it ended up looking like as my body was the shot being put out into another rolling slam into the sand. From this height, this one banged hard and I gasped. “See,” she said as she came over to check if I was ok.
I waved my hands and kind of brushed her off saying I was fine. I was stumbling off to the side, away from the ring but she led me back around in a circle to it. “OK, OK,” I grunted shaking my arms loose. “You proved your point. I was a macho idiot slamming in like a Viking Berserker and you took advantage. Remarkable stuff. OK, let's go.” I shrugged and my shoulder ached and my back wasn't far behind it now.
“Hey, sorry, sorry. I was going to just set you lightly down outside the ring, but when you moved...I had to.... Damn. Sorry.” The words weren't helped by the look on her face which appeared to be about one micron away from laughter. A quick scan showed it was about twenty people watching now and the laughs and applause left no doubt what they thought of her missile throw. It was an amazing thing, no doubt, unless it was your body being propelled. She reached her hands out to brush some of the sand off me, but I pushed them aside, and her look sort of hardened. “And thanks, I think it was pretty remarkable also.” She clapped her hands, “Well, that's two points for me then.”
Oh, she wasn't serious? She wanted to finish? Yeah, right. I turned to go around her toward the boardwalk but she snagged my am and jerked me towards her. I shrugged it off and moved sideways and she did it again. It was clear she didn't intend to let me just walk off the sand. On the side of her now, we slid around she bent a bit forward. I grabbed my arms down at her head in a sort of modified side headlock and gripped tight. I hissed anger into it and cranked down hard to try to force her knee to the sand in response. I made sure it wasn't a choke, just a grip that I cranked down hard. The idea I would strain his hard on her would not have even entered my mind a few minutes ago. But now, I really wanted to make her touch down and I put my all into it.
Rhea gasped, “That's the way to do it,” she hissed out encouragingly. That I was straining at my max and she was happy about it didn't do my confidence any good, but I tried to use it to strain even harder. Her back and shoulders flared to a level I hadn't seen before, even when she lifted and tossed me. Just when I thought she was going to drop, she tensed and held there shaking in effort. Her face screwed up and turned red in total effort. Her body started to rise back up.
I growled, “No way,” and I struggled back down. Her butt was sticking back in the air now as all my pressure was up too high on just her head. Her head was bent way down but her body was steady and lifting. I needed to find a way to switch this and shift my position. I tried to step my foot in tight to her side and give her a hard nudge with my thigh into her side. I hoped this plus my yank with my arms would take her down into the sand. I tried to bang my torso into her side into a takedown and ride my body over onto her.
Again, she reacted like this was exactly what she was waiting for. Rhea's arm shot in between my legs and lifted into my now throbbing erection. As she rolled and twisted from my push with my leg she lifted me across her back. She lifted the one shoulder and dipped the other and my body rolled across. My body moved over her like on a pitching boat and I flew over her to the other side. It was an all-or-nothing move as she bent her knees a bit and heaved up like she was jumping with me on her back. She was betting that my body would go over the side faster than she was falling herself. She thrashed in sort of a rolling tumble lowering the one shoulder and raising the other as her arm pulled and lifted.
I howled out holy fuck! The pressure between my legs was extreme, I lifted like a shot and flew to the other side like a spike being driven into the sand. And drive I did. Right onto my shoulder. I didn't see how Rhea ended up but I would guess she also tumbled and rolled hard into the sand. I was busy screaming as something in my shoulder popped. My scream silenced the cheers that broke out for another amazing move by the athletic babe as I thrashed around violently tearing up the sand.
Rhea had rolled and was covered in sand now herself and bowing to the crowd when she heard me writhing. I had popped to my feet and was bent toward my left side as the arm hung there like it didn't belong to my body anymore. I hopped and swore and danced down the beach away from the circle. I crossed out of the circle and was back on the path. In anger, I punched a signpost on the beach with my right hand, which only made it all worse as I danced in agony. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jerked. Rhea pushed on my shoulder, so my chest was against the beach sign. I gasped and held onto it with my right arm. She took my left hand at the wrist and lifted it forward. Gently she lifted it until I winced, then she backed off a touch and jerked it forward. My chest slammed the post so my body didn't move, only the arm. For a second, I thought she was continuing into a new hold. I panicked some and let out a yelp.
There was a horrendous popping noise, but maybe that was only in my ears. As YAHH another blinding pain ripped into me but then it eased. I think she had worked the shoulder back into the socket. My breathing eased some and I waved at her ok as I backed away. I stumbled to where I had left my stuff and scooped down to pick it up. Rhea was talking to me, but to be frank I didn't even hear what she had said. I was carrying my shoes and wallet and shirt as I sort of cradled the arm and went on down the beach.
I am not sure how far I had gone when Rhea tugged on my side. “Wait, Rick. Let me help.” Even like this, I was still struck by her body and how remarkable it looked. But I was also pissed.
“You win, you win, that's three. Thank you for the lovely day. You are amazing, but I got to go, I suddenly have a pressing engagement at the doctor.” I shot it all out in a fast patter an auctioneer would have been proud of. It was oozing sarcasm and barely holding back from screaming as I knew she hadn't meant to hurt me. Embarrass. Sure. But not hurt. “I will be fine, go to the adoring fans and soak it in.” I winced as I turned a bit more abruptly than I intended and moved along again.
She looked back down the beach at the gathered crowd that had witnessed this spectacle. “I didn't intend for that. I..” She paused and then restarted. “I get overly competitive. I apologize.” When she saw it was clear I wasn't going to stop or listen right now, she handed me a card. “Here, call me. Let me know how you're doing.” As I picked up my pace I thought I heard a muffled “Shit” behind me but I didn't look back.
Going inside my place, getting my stuff, and driving the car to the ER was agony. I should have let her help, but I was upset. After the exam, they told me the shoulder was separated but not dislocated. They didn't do much but give me pain medication, a sling, and a timetable for recovery exercises. There didn't appear to be a need for surgery unless the recovery went bad.
The pain was only moderate but it took a while before my arm could do simple tasks. They said my recovery was pretty quick, but it was over 4 weeks before I tried to paddle out on my board. It took over three weeks before I could perform all the things I needed to do in my job, and it had been quite a juggling act to keep the operation moving along. We ended up doing sort of a tag-team approach. I would do the things my arm allowed and pass on the rest to the other dentists. My new office nickname was Dr. Lefty which I hated with quite a passion.
I still had her card. It had been crumpled in my pocket. I had about tossed it out, and I am not sure why I kept it. Rhea Johnstone. CEO of Stone Princess Apparel. Then it clicked She was the Stone Princess. Sheesh. Rhea Johnstone had won two silver medals in the Olympics some years back. One in the heptathlon and one for the 400 m hurdles. Her final race in the 800 m heptathlon event was one they still showed highlights of all the time. She was behind the woman from France and was racing with her in the final heat of the event. She tore down the final straightaway and looked to perhaps have the gap needed to win. Both racers collapsed at the line in an epic race. In the end, Rhea had won the race, but not by enough points to claim gold. I knew there was some story about how she had gotten her nickname, but I didn't search enough to recall. She had been an announcer some I think as well, but now she was known for her apparel company. No wonder she had been at the Sand Wrestling thing. Her company was the main sponsor.
I had almost called her. She had seemed genuinely distressed and upset at the outcome. Almost. Then I saw the video online. OK, I was searching her name when it popped up as trending. Someone had a phone video of the last two falls. The filmer must have been a late arrival and didn't get the first one. It started with her sort of goading me into fall number 2. It ended after I punched the sign. At least it didn't have my name in there. It just said Stone Princess and some guy at the beach. Hopefully, it was not close up enough for me to be recognized and I could just remain some guy. The comments were about what you would expect from the internet. Half of them praised Rhea for how amazing she was, and how she should go into MMA or wrestling or some such thing. And the other half laughed at me. It certainly poured cold water on any feelings I had for The Stone Princess. It was just a story to tell many years from now when we could all laugh about it. Many, many years.
