Cruising

"Dallas, Texas, yes sir. Good guess."

"Delaware for us three," Scott's mom said.

Then Madeline said, "Well, I'm gonna return to my book. Nice meeting y'all and maybe we'll see each other again." She looked directly at Patrick and winked before swimming to the other side of the pool.

Patrick looked at Kim. "Did she actually wink at me?"

"She absolutely did. She's interested, dad. You might not be a third wheel for long."

*****

With two-thousand passengers aboard, Patrick doubted if he'd ever see Madeline again. Except he did, in the dining room at dinner. Kim, not wanting her dad to eat alone, included him, along with Scott. When they walked in, Madeline was already seated with two other people, presumably, her sister and brother-in-law. Scott and Kim stood a few feet away while Patrick made his approach. As Kim had said, he had nothing to lose.

"Madeline, hi. You might remember me from the pool today."

She looked up and narrowed her blue eyes as if she was trying to guess. "Patrick, right?"

"Yes. Just thought I'd say hi."

She turned toward her sister, who looked about ten years younger, and her husband. "Susan and Gary, this is the guy I told you I met today. Patrick, my sister Susan and brother-in-law Gary."

They all said hi in unison.

Madeline looked past Patrick to see Scott and Kim. The three of them waived. Madeline said, "Patrick and his daughter Kim came on this cruise alone. Then she met Scott, the guy she's standing with, making Patrick a third wheel. Did I get that right, Patrick?"

"You did."

Kim stepped up to the table and said, "He's a third wheel but not one who's in the way or unwanted."

Gary, sporting a bushy mustache, said, "Which would be the strict definition of a third wheel. Well, our Madeline isn't in the way either." He turned to her and smiled. Then he said, "Patrick, like Madeline and us, I guess you and your daughter have separate staterooms."

"Um, no. Kim and I are doubled up."

"We give each other plenty of space," Kim chimed in, repeating what Patrick had told Scott's parents earlier.

The two sisters looked at each other, not saying a word. They didn't have to. Their expressions alone conveyed their view that dad and daughter sharing a small space seemed a little weird. But that didn't stop Madeline from suggesting that she and Patrick take a table of their own. "It will give us third wheels a chance to get better acquainted," she said.

They took a smaller table on the level above. Besides knowing where Madeline was from and what she was reading, Patrick learned that she was a sergeant in the Dallas Police Department's sex crimes unit. "I guess you guys prosecute rape and child pornography, stuff like that."

"Yes, and other sex crimes. Incest, for example. In a few states it's legal. But not in Texas."

Patrick got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Even if it's between consenting adults?"

"Yes, sir. We consider it a perversion. In my opinion, people who engage in that

kind of sexual activity need help. Don't you?"

"Ah, well, maybe so. Not to defend it, but if it's between consenting adults, no rape, no coercing a child into doing it, is there any harm done?"

The curious way Madeline looked at him made Patrick regret the question. Too late now.

"I wouldn't know, Patrick. I've never gone there and don't know anyone personally who has. But to me, it's sick behavior. Think about it. I don't mean between distant relatives like Franklin and Elenore Roosevelt. I mean between close relatives. I once had to arrest a couple, a forty-something year-old man who was shacked-up with his twenty-something year-old daughter. Both did over a year in jail, then got put on probation on the condition that they not live together. They got off easy. In more serious incest cases, you can do up to twenty years."

Patrick nodded, momentarily speechless. He knew he should probably drop the subject but felt compelled to go on. "Okay, if it's sick behavior, don't you think it should be decriminalized, treated as a medical, mental health issue instead of locking people up?"

"Sounds like you're on the side of decriminalizing possession of illegal drugs also. Look, I think it's both and that includes drug use, excluding dealing and distribution which is a serious criminal matter. As far as incest, to me it's also a moral issue. Sex with your son or daughter, sister or brother, mom or dad? I mean, come on."

A moral issue? Okay, maybe, depending on one's morals. Still, he didn't think that people like Kim and himself deserved to be criminally prosecuted, let alone locked up. After all, they were adults and nobody but them knew what they were doing. Don't ask, don't tell. And don't argue further with Madeline.

He was relieved when she changed the subject and asked about his line of work. "Real estate probably isn't as exciting as what you do," he said. He then gave her the basics of what he did before a server came over to take their order. He didn't feel as hungry as he once did. Even so, he'd go along and eat his meal. After that, who knows? Her personal views on incest made him feel like a fraud. She was attracted to him, it appeared, but if she knew about his "crime," she'd probably slap his face and then run the hell away. Good thing they were on the high seas, far from her jurisdiction. He once looked up Maryland law regarding incest. Not legal but not as strictly enforced either if between consenting adults. He didn't fault her for her moral stand on the issue. Lots of people felt the same way--no surprise there. But should their opposing stand on anything, from morals to politics, keep him from getting to know Madeline better? She was so 'purty,' as they might say in Texas, with her layered blond hair style and sexy smile, not to mention a figure that some health club might use in a promo brochure. Besides, Patrick figured this would be no more than a cruise ship hookup, normally a relatively brief encounter, where the "rules of romance" that applied at home got dumped overboard.

*****

"There are a few things I didn't tell you earlier at dinner," Madeline said. "My last name is Brewster, I'm divorced and I haven't been intimate with a man since Trump lost the election."

"That's quite a long drought," Patrick said, surprised at this revelation. "Sounds like you've been a third wheel for too long."

They were sitting on pink upholstered chairs at a round, marble-top table in one of the ship's lounges, dimly lit and not too crowded.

Madeline nodded as she took a sip of her apricot sour. "Yes." She giggled. "Not that I came on this cruise to get laid." She paused for another sip. "So how long has it been for you?"

'It's only been a few hours for me,' he thought of saying, while sipping his Kahlua and cream. "Well, not quite that long. For the record, I'm not here to get laid either. Kim and I are here just to relax and see the islands. It's her college graduation present."

"Nice gift. But..." She shook her head and took a couple sips.

"But what?"

"Well, I'd think that you two would take separate rooms. I mean, if I was your daughter's age, there's no way I'd share a stateroom with my dad." She rolled her shoulders in a shiver. "Ooo, creepy."

"Well, like Kim said, we give each other plenty of space. Although, I must admit, space is limited in those lower-tier staterooms. But, so far, it's worked out."

Was it his imagination or were those beautiful blue eyes of hers eyeing him with suspicion? It sure looked like it. "Madeline, I hope you're not thinking about what we discussed just a few moments ago. Because it's not like that. We sleep in separate beds."

She chuckled. "Oh, my, Patrick, I never implied that it was. What makes you think that?"

"Bringing up Kim and I sharing a room and then using the word creepy makes me think that." 'This date is going downhill fast,' he thought.

She sighed, then took another sip. "Okay, look, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry if I did. My work has conditioned me to think in a certain way. That incestuous father-daughter couple I told you about also took vacations together, sharing the same room. So, when you told me about you and Kim...Well, not an excuse, just the best explanation I can come up with."

Patrick realized he was clinging to a slippery slope. He got defensive about something he knew to be true and that this cop, her denial to the contrary, apparently suspected. He couldn't fault her for suspecting the truth. On the other hand, it wasn't her place to pass judgement on his and Kim's room accommodations. She overstepped her bounds.

Madeline broke the tense silence. "Patrick, if I really thought that you and Kim were lovers, I wouldn't be here. I'm here because one, I find strong, muscular, hairy men sexy; two, you seem like a decent guy; and three, as you said, it's been a long drought for me. Seeing your big hunky self at the pool, brought home just how long it's been since I was intimate with a man."

Patrick excused himself when he heard his phone go off. It was a text from Kim: "How's it going? I'm at the piano bar with Scott. You and Madeline are welcome to join us if you'd like."

He texted back: "Maybe. If not, I might end up in her stateroom. Lol."

Kim: "Go for it, dad. But don't deplete all your energy. Lol."

Patrick laughed and then tucked his phone back into the pocket of his dark cotton pants. "That was Kim. She and Scott invited us to join them at the piano bar."

She drew a meh kind of face. "Not really my thing but we can if you'd like."

He nodded. "Mine either. Besides, it wouldn't do much for ending your drought."

"No, it wouldn't." She finished what remained in her glass. Then, after slowly chewing the cherry, she said, "Are you okay with it? I mean, I hope you're not still ticked at me."

He was more aroused than ticked--if ticked was even the right word. She was sitting there with her shapely legs crossed, wearing a short, blue and yellow, sleeveless dress, flashing him a big Texas smile, inviting him to deplete the sort of energy that Kim had alluded to. So why not?

*****

Kim had fun at the piano bar, singing and clapping along with Scott and others that made the scene there. They kissed between songs, and when they left, they kissed even more and held hands strolling along the deck. When he invited her back to his room, she didn't hesitate.

Soon after they got there, clothes began to come off. "You're one hot girl," he said when she began to peel her red panties down her lovely thighs.

"Yeah, my dad thinks so, too." Whoops! 'Ohmygod, what did I just say?!' she thought. It was a slip of the tongue, and her brain worked feverishly to find a way out of this potentially incriminating faux pas. "He tells me I'm pretty--that's what I mean."

Unbuttoning his shirt, Scott said, "Yeah, that's what I hope you mean. A dad who thinks his daughter is hot is a dad who maybe shouldn't be a dad."

A piqued Kim pulled her panties back up from her thick ankles. Who was this guy to say who should or should not be a dad? Hands folded over her bare chest, she said, "Scott, a dad who thinks his daughter's hot isn't necessarily abusive. If that's what you're implying."

Stripped down to his underwear, Scott blinked, stunned by her scolding tone. Then he drew a pained, woeful look, as if he'd just been slapped across the face. "Kim, I didn't mean any offense by it. But you hear about these abusive dads sexualizing and molesting their daughters. You can't think that a dad molesting his daughter is okay. Dads who do that should be locked up."

"No, it's not okay and yes, abusive dads should be locked up," she countered. She was fully aware that arguing might invite suspicion. But Scott touched a sensitive nerve. Plus, her love for Patrick compelled her to come to his defense. Not that she was about to reveal the thing she was defending. "But what if the daughter is an adult who welcomes that sort of flattery from her dad? Should he still be locked up?"

"Oh, I don't know," Scott said, waving his hand in annoyance at being subjected to this unexpected turbulence. "No, not if it didn't go any further. But if it did, I'd have to question the daughter's sanity as well as her dad's."

"Really? So they both should be locked up."

He stood there, bare feet on the brown rug, only steps from the double bed that he and Kim should have been in by now. Hands by his sides, drawing a look of clueless disbelief, he stared at Kim as if he didn't know who the hell she was or what the hell she was doing here. "Kim, are you some sort of crusader for father's rights or something?"

"You're missing the point, Scott. And that is you shouldn't be taking this holier than thou attitude about things you know nothing about. Judging people. Moralizing."

"And I suppose you do know. I can't believe you're reacting this way about something that most people would find aberrant at best, repulsive at worst."

Kim blew out a breath of exasperation laced with anger. "You know what? I think we're done here." She reached for her bra, snapped it back into place, stepped into her white shorts and then threw on her blouse.

Scott continued to stand, bemused and confused. "Kim, mind if I ask you something?"

"Make it good because it's probably the last thing you'll ever ask me." She stepped into her brown slip-ons, then stood facing Scott, hands on hips.

"Does this have anything to do with your dad?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, not to judge, but even my parents thought it was strange that you and your dad shared a room. Just saying."

"Strange? Strange how? If you're thinking what I'm damn sure you're thinking, you should know that we sleep in separate beds."

He sighed and shook his head. "Kim, daddy's girl or not, a grown woman sharing a small space like that with her dad on a cruise ship looks weird. Raises eyebrows. That's all I'm saying. What goes on or doesn't between you and your dad is your business."

She glared at him for a few moments. Then: "You damn right it's my business. Anyway, I'm outta here. See you around. And don't raise your eyebrows for too long. It might give you a headache."

She didn't bother closing the door on her way out. Didn't look back, either. She leaned against the outside wall, put her hand over her eyes and shook her head. Then she climbed a flight of stairs to the nearest deck. She needed fresh salt air to decompress, to process what had just happened. She knew about things spinning out of control, about situations that take on a life of their own, usually with bad results. She felt so much loyalty and love for Patrick that she let a judgmental remark by a guy she liked--or thought she did--ruin what started out as a pleasant evening.

Gazing out across the ocean, she rubbed her arms against the chilly night air, hair blowing around her face. Right now, she imagined her dad in bed with that cop from Texas. Well, good for him. As for her, maybe meeting a "special" guy on this cruise wasn't in the cards for her. She chuckled, thinking that maybe SHE was now a third wheel. No matter, tomorrow was another day--she looked forward to seeing the islands. She just hoped that Patrick didn't fall so hard for this Madeline that he'd call a hiatus on their sex life.

*****

Kim needn't have worried. For the first time in his life, Patrick couldn't perform. He had gone back to Madeline's stateroom, where they talked awhile before getting down to business. He got further than Kim did, made it into Madeline's bed, clothes off, ready to rock and roll. However, neither her stunning bod nor performing oral on him would do the trick. It wasn't her, per se, but their tense conversation over incest. It had turned him off, made him almost feel guilty--not about his incestual relationship with Kim but about deceiving Madeline. Of course, he wasn't about to admit that she had been fully justified, in her mind, in calling his and Kim's room sharing weird and creepy. Weird and creepy to her, exciting and natural to Kim and himself.

But Patrick wasn't the only one turned off. His failure to perform left Madeline the same way, not to mention profoundly disappointed. "Guess I'll have to find someone else to end my drought," she had said.

Patrick returned to his room, surprised to find Kim there, stripped down to just her red panties, propped up in bed, reading.

Kim dog-eared her book and said, "Geez, dad, I didn't expect to see you until late tonight, if not until tomorrow morning. Either you and Madeline had a quickie or things didn't go so well."

He sat on the edge of his bed and explained what happened. Then Kim told her story. After they both had a good laugh, Kim said, "Well, dad, the night's still young and somehow I doubt that you'll have any problem performing with me." She slid a finger over her crotch. "I hope you want to after what you've been through. Cause I sure do."

He dropped his eyes to her breasts, the most beautiful breasts he'd ever seen. Not huge but so firm and perfectly shaped. But such endowment was secondary to her skin, smooth, soft and milky clear, with no tattoos to mar it.

He sat on the edge of her bed, reached out and pulled her to him. "Kimmy, you better believe I want to. But what happened with Madeline made me a little anxious about performing." He cupped her breasts in his hands, kissing them all over and in between. "You always smell so good."

For the second time that night, Kim peeled her red laced panties down her luscious, white thighs. This time, though, they came all the way off. Well, almost all the way. She left them looped around an ankle, a sexy touch she knew drove him wild. Still propped up in bed, she drew one of her seductive looks, sliding her tongue across her mouth, while touching herself in places she couldn't wait for him to touch.

Patrick's cock responded to this incredibly erotic display in a way that it failed to respond a little while ago. Not yet fully undressed, he was close to fully erect. Who needed a sexy blond Texan when he had Kim Kellerman, his beloved sexy brunette to love and make love to?

Sliding next to her in bed, he said, "You know, we both ended up in the same boat. No pun intended."

Picking up on that theme, Kim said, "Yeah, we both met potential lovers that didn't work out. Dad, I don't know about you, but I'd rather we just keep to ourselves for the rest of this vacation. We can be sociable without taking on what we tried to take on. That's the way we planned this trip and that's the plan I'd like to stick with. Is that okay?"

Patrick said he was "fully onboard" with that proposal.

"Good. Now, let me dispel any doubts that you might have about your ability to perform."

Just moments after Kim began to perform oral, Patrick's alleged performance anxiety went out the port hole. After his "tree trunk appendage, as she called it, reached its zenith, she climbed aboard, bouncing up and down and moaning so loud into her climax that it had to be heard by passengers in proximity. As if that didn't restore Patrick's confidence, Kim "treated" him to a second round, this time with him on top.

*****

In the morning, they were among hundreds of other passengers that lined the decks, watching the islands come into view. They stood, bodies touching, arms around the back of each other's waists, less inhibited about what people might think or whisper.

"I'm so excited, dad," Kim gushed, bouncing on her toes in her flip-flops like the little girl she once was.

"Yeah, me too, Kimmy."

Caught up in her elan, Kim leaned in and planted a kiss on the side of his face, covered in the stubble of five o'clock shadow. Patrick turned to face her, wanting to kiss her on the mouth but hesitating because he wasn't sure if she'd feel comfortable with all those people around. But she did, and briefly they locked lips, oblivious to the crowd, cheering and waving and too caught up in their own excitement to notice or care.