I grew up near the ocean and learned to fish at a young age. By 16, I was working on a charter boat. By 20, I had my own captain’s license and spent my summers in a well-known resort town in the Hamptons. I mostly worked freelance, meaning any boat owner who needed a fishing guide for the day could hire me. I was good at what I did, so work came easily, and I was booked almost every day, although I rarely booked work more...

I didn’t have my first date until I was sixteen, and THAT went horribly. I wouldn’t have a second date until I was coerced into asking a girl to Senior Prom, and THAT made my first date look like a roaring success. So, by eighteen years old, I still hadn’t kissed a girl, beyond a quick peck hello in greetings. At nineteen and twenty, I managed a few dating experiences and was told I was a good kisser. That led to a few se...

He was bronze-tanned from working on boats all summer. If the sun was out, his shirt was off. His normally dark brown hair weathered in the sun, the tips golden, the base of his hair faded. The nature of the work built the arm strength, and his past as a football (American soccer) player built an athletic frame with powerful thighs and a tight, trim stomach. For most of his youth, he was a skinny, short, average-looking k...

Things with Rosalie got off to a great start. But my work schedule made it tough to take it much further. For the next week, I worked thirteen-hour days, bellied up to the bar in the evening for a couple of drinks, and got in a few massages for the girls, but was on my way home by nine p.m. to get some rest before my four a.m. wake-up calls. Our “secret” didn’t last more than a day because Rosalie and her buddies shared e...