I Cruise with Anna

That afternoon, after changing clothes again and eating lunch, we played deck shuffleboard, against each other at first. Our competition was very friendly because we were both more interested in touching each other flirtatiously than in scoring with the pucks. As Anna prepared to take her first shot, I put my arms around her from behind, holding her hands on her shuffleboard cue, supposedly to show her the proper form, but actually because I liked putting my arms around her. Anna giggled, turned around, reached her face up and kissed me on the cheek, our second kiss since our role-play began. "You sure are a sweet guy, George Boxlicker," she told me. Our role-playing was progressing nicely and none of our physical contacts had been at all sexual although I was constantly fighting off urges to fondle Anna's beautiful breasts and ass.

Our pleasant, private interlude was interrupted when we were approached by the man, accompanied by his wife, who had been my neighbor at dinner and breakfast but who hadn't been there at lunch. Holding out his hand, he approached me. "Hello, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself this morning. My name is Gary and this is my wife, Colleen."

While shaking hands with husband and wife, I responded "My name is George and this is Anna, who is our table companion." Both Gary and Colleen seemed to smirk when I introduced Anna as "our table companion" and then Gary offered a challenge.

"How about a match, George, my wife and I against you and, er, Anna?" Since he was unsure how to refer to Anna, Gary had taken a safe course.

I turned to Anna, who smiled and was noncommittal and then I replied, "Well, I'm strictly a novice and Anna hasn't shown a lot of skill either but I guess it can't do any harm, just a friendly game." Gary and Anna played from one end of the court and Colleen and I played from the other.

Colleen was uncommunicative, and I am not very talkative by nature, so we played in silence. On the other end, Gary and Anna seemed to keep up a running conversation. The match was very one-sided because Anna and I are totally unskilled while Gary and Colleen turned out to be tournament-class players and highly competitive and they skunked us with ease.

Afterward, while walking Anna back to her room where she would clean up for dinner, we discussed what she and Gary had talked about. "He certainly was curious about both of us. I told him you were an author and I had just gotten divorced and that we lived in the same city but had never seen each other before being aboard."

"Since we are sharing a table with them, they may have been commissioned by the local gossip cartel. Anyhow, we have nothing to hide so we can be completely open and aboveboard," but I winked when I said the last part, and Anna smiled even more prettily than usual.

After reaching Anna's door, we stood in front holding hands for a minute and then she said, "George, suppose you go to your room and get ready and come back here, and we can hang out together until dinner, and get know each other better?"

"That sounds like a great idea because I find myself very drawn to you and I want to know you a lot better." I felt good walking back to my room because our relationship was progressing well.

Back in her room waiting for the dinner bell, Anna expanded her fabrication, knowing that I knew what was true and what was not, and not caring because it was all in fun. Basically, I told the truth because I am single and everything else was inconsequential except that I told her I wasn't seeing any women. Anna knows that I am seeing dozens, including her, but hinted that she was enjoying my company so much that we might continue after the cruise was over. What we said wasn't important, except that I wanted to know her cover story since she already knew mine. What counted most was that, as we talked across her writing desk, our hands were affectionately intertwined. Anna shared her room with another woman but, fortunately, she was seldom there.

At dinner that evening, Gary was talkative, partly because Colleen was more silent than usual so I couldn't pay as much attention to Anna as I would have liked. Gary was especially curious about Anna and me, and I was straightforward enough, unless he seemed to be getting too personal, in which case, I made up a story. Sometimes, being an author comes in handy. I passed on the fabrications Anna had given me and told him hardly a word of truth, except for her first name. Actually, I am always somewhat disappointed that so few people seem to recognize my name, which is not a common one, and I am not entirely unsuccessful in my profession.

On the other side of Anna, the husband and wife (presumably) had traded seats and the woman was engaging Anna in conversation, the same way Gary was engaging me. Apparently, she was hearing impaired because Anna was talking rather loudly and I could hear her repeating some of the things she had made up to tell me, and some flattering things she was making up about me. She was really into the role-playing, and so was I and we would talk about it some more between dinner and dancing.

Anna's roommate was there when we returned so Anna went into the bathroom to change her clothes, and I waited for her. Since we wanted privacy, we would go to my room until we went dancing. The roommate's name was Gwen and she was talkative and nosy after Anna introduced us.

"Anna is certainly pretty, isn't she? Aren't you too old to be her boyfriend?"

"She is very pretty but I'm not her boyfriend. We're just friends who like to hang out together."

"I've heard differently. People have asked me if you are sleeping together and I tell them 'not in our room that I know of.' Are you sleeping together in your room?"

"Of course not; like you said, I'm too old to be her boyfriend."

Anna reappeared, preventing any more impertinent questions and we went to my room where I changed clothes in my bathroom and we talked and laughed about our day so far.

The dance was well underway when we arrived and we immediately merged into each other's arms and our dancing began where it had left off the previous night. Instead of dancing at arm's length, we hugged each other tightly, moving around the floor as if we had been partners for years. As a youth, I was always clumsy and uncoordinated and never much of a dancer but with Anna, I was grace personified. After a while, instead of dancing in the classic way, with our arms extended, we embraced each other, dancing cheek to cheek with her arms around my neck and mine around her waist. This is the way lovers dance together and we did it for the gossip mongers, which was fun but, even if we had been by ourselves, we would have wanted to dance like lovers.

Because we didn't sit down much, in order to avoid having some man snatch Anna away, and we had been active and in the sun all day, we both became tired early and left, our arms around each other as we walked out. People watching us leave probably believed we were on our way to bed together but they were wrong by two nights. Neither of us was bothered by what people thought anyhow, and half the fun was having them believe what they wanted.

Our destination was Anna's room but when re arrived there, we saw the universal warning: a towel tied around the door handle. "Oh, dear, I certainly don't want to barge in on them but I don't feel like standing out here all night either." What seemed like a problem to Anna didn't seem like a problem to me.

"Why don't we go to my room and hang out there until he leaves? Surely, Gwen wouldn't be so rude as to have an overnight guest in the room you share."

"You wouldn't think so but who knows? Gwen is not overly polite or circumspect and I think she is envious of me because I have such a handsome boyfriend, she thinks. She might want him to stay overnight just out of spite."

"Well, c'mon, then. You certainly can't stand out in the hall for hours. Don't worry; I will be a perfect gentleman." Anna held my arm with both her hands again as we walked to my room.

After reaching our destination, I moved my laptop and we sat, holding hands and talking across the writing desk. "You know, George, Gwen didn't say anything to me earlier so this must not have been a planned date. Probably she picked someone up at the dance, the slut, or at dinner and brought him – or her, who knows – back to our room to do – whatever it is they are doing there. I'm tired and I'm sleepy, George. I keep telling you that you are a really sweet guy, and you are, putting up with me." Anna gave my hand an extra squeeze when she said that, and leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"You are the sweet one, Anna, and I have totally enjoyed your company the last few days. Later, I will check on your door but you may have to stay here tonight. You can have the bed and I will sleep on the floor; I have a pretty checkered past and I have slept in worse places. Besides, that would give people something else to gossip about, not that they need anything more."

"I can't let you do that, give up your bed for me. I can sit up all night or go and chase away whoever it is with Gwen. Let's just give them a little longer."

A little later, I went to check on Anna's door and saw the towel still in place. When I let myself back into my own room, Anna was prettily asleep on my bed, her smile looking even sweeter with her head on my pillow. I smiled also, and prepared to make myself as comfortable as I could on the floor. Although I had told the truth about sleeping in some strange places, that had been when I was a lot younger and usually I was drunk at the time. Even so, the last thing I remember before falling asleep was looking over at Anna again, and smiling at how unbelievably beautiful she looked.

The next thing I remember is feeling someone nudging my side with a foot and when I stiffly rolled over, there was Anna, smiling as usual. When she was sure I was awake, her face assumed a stern look and she shook her finger at me in mock anger. "George Boxlicker, how could you do that? How could you let me sleep in your bed while you slept on the floor? You should have just kicked me out into the hallway and left me to fend for myself."

"There was no way I could ever do that, Anna, turn my back on a damsel in distress. Besides that, you looked so sweet, sleeping there and smiling, I could never have brought myself to disturb you. Sleeping on the floor is not a big deal; I told you that I have done it many times before." As I spoke, I was having a hard time standing up, being a little stiff from the previous day's exercise and from the way I had spent the night.

Anna saw my difficulty and helped me to my feet. "Before you start bawling me out some more, I have to go to the bathroom," I told her, and this was for real. After relieving myself and washing my hands and face and brushing my hair, I reentered the room and saw Anna sitting on my bed. She got up and held out her arms and our hug was the most affectionate one yet, with Anna nestling comfortably against my shoulder, with her cheek on my chest. When she kept her arms around me and leaned back, her face was irresistible, and I absolutely had to bend toward her and kiss her. This time, Anna did not turn her face and I kissed her firmly on her lips, but with our mouths closed. Waking up on the floor is a bad way to start a day but so far, the rest of the day more than compensated for the bad start, and it was early yet.

We sat on the bed, Anna leaning into my chest and my arm around her with my hand resting on her thigh in a pleasantly affectionate manner. She looked up at me in the sweetest way possible and said, "George, you've been so wonderful, and we hardly even know each other, and now I have a really big favor to ask from you."

"Anything your hear desires, fair lady. The highest mountain to climb? The deepest ocean to swim? Stars to be plucked from the sky? A dragon to be slain? Whatever your lovely heart desires, just say the word." Fortunately, I don't use clichés like that when I write, or I would be broke.

"Nothing like that, silly. We will be putting into port today and I want to get some souvenirs for some friends. Will you go shopping with me?"

Shopping! With a woman! The other things I had suggested, I might seriously attempt but the prospect of shopping with a woman, even a woman as sweet and pretty as Anna would bring terror into the heart of the stoutest of men. I looked at her again, sitting by me with that incredibly charming smile on her face, and valor got the better of discretion. "Okay, we can go shopping together. I will get a few things also. What time are we docking?"

"Ten o'clock so we can go right after breakfast. I have to change my clothes first because I don't want people seeing me in the same dress I wore last night; they might get the right idea and they would be wrong about it."

When we walked back to the room Anna was sharing with Gwen, the towel was gone but she knocked on the door anyhow, and Gwen let us in. When she saw both of us, standing with our arms around each other, Gwen smirked and said "Well, good morning, Miss Not-my-boyfriend. How was your night? Mine was great, and I'm glad you were taken care of last night. I can't stay to talk about it because I have an early morning date." Gwen finished buttoning her blazer and left.

"It's still too early for breakfast, George, so why don't you sit and wait for me while I clean up and change? When I started to sit, she stopped me, "Not there; that's Gwen's bed, and might have cooties." While I waited, safely seated on Anna's guaranteed cootieless bed, she showered and put on clean clothes, almost ready to face breakfast and the port. "Okay, button my dress and let's get you ready to face the day," and she moved her brown hair out of the way while I buttoned her dress.

Back in my room, Anna sat on my bed while I showered and when the water stopped running, she called out "Are you going to shave?" When answered in the affirmative, she asked "Can I watch you?"

"Sure, but wait a minute." After I had put my pants on, I opened the bathroom door and Anna entered and sat on the closed toilet bowl, watching while I lathered up my face with cup soap. When I started applying the razor, she got up and put her arms around my waist, sniffing the shaving soap and watching as I positioned the razor.

"You can watch all you want, and it's rather nice, but I have to move my arms in some rather strange ways, so please stand back." After she stepped back, leaving her hands on my hips, I finished shaving and applied after-shave lotion. When I was done, Anna approached me and hugged me around the waist again, leaning her cheek against my shoulder.

"I like your cologne," she said, sniffing my face. "When we were first married, I watched my husband shave, until he made me stop because he said it made him nervous. I don't know what I ever saw in that a-hole."

"Actually, it's after-shave lotion, and I don't know what the difference is. You can watch me shave all you want. Actually, I rather enjoyed it, especially the part, like right now, where you have your arms around my waist."

"Like this," Anna asked, teasingly, as she squeezed me and pressed her sexy body more tightly against my bare back.

"Exactly like that. You can do that all day and I won't object."

After I finished dressing, with Anna watching, we went to breakfast. When we walked through the door, everybody's eyes seemed to be on us, and they remained on us until we sat down. The women at our table gave Anna sour looks and the men grinned at me, and I could imagine them thinking, "You lucky dog." I thought of myself the same way, and every day I looked ahead more and more to the last night of the cruise, although I already considered myself a "Lucky dog".

Nobody wanted conversation with us so we sat as close together as we could while eating, touching affectionately at every opportunity. At ten o'clock, right after we had finished breakfast, the social director announced that we were docked and the gangplank would remain in pace until 5:00 PM, and that we should all have a nice day.

We intended to have a nice day and we walked down the gangplank, along the dock, to the plethora of souvenir shops along the waterfront. There are several reasons why I, and probably most men, dislike shopping with women. They take too long, examining identical objects before selecting one and will spend long periods of time and energy to save a few pennies. Sometimes women expect their escorts to serve as pack animals while they shop until they drop. Anna wasn't like that; at least she was better than most of the women of my experience and we finished the shopping spree by early afternoon, including the few things that I bought.

"If you're sure you are done shopping, let's get lunch and then do some sightseeing, but only if you are really sure." I had been in this same port several times on previous cruises and knew a good spot for lunch and the best sightseeing spots and, after enjoying some excellent food, I spent the rest of our time ashore showing Anna around. Although there was no sexual contact at all, we hugged and touched each other at every opportunity and Anna kissed me twice as I pointed out some unusually beautiful scenery. Because this was her fantasy, I let her set the pace but I continually watched for hints that she wanted me to more aggressive.

People going ashore had been checked out by crewmembers and the same people were watching to see that everybody got back safely, because they wanted to be sure nobody was left behind. At a few minutes after five, we boarded the ship, and the crewmembers hoisted the gangplank right behind us. There were still two hours until dinner and, after leaning over the railing and watching the ship slip past the dock and make its way to the open ocean, we went to Anna's room to sort out the results of our shopping.

Gwen was there again and she apologized, extremely insincerely, for having company the night before in the room they should have been sharing. "I do thank you, though, for recognizing the towel on the doorknob and not disturbing us."

"Oh," Anna responded, "I didn't know you had a towel on the doorknob. I certainly had better things to do than look for towels."

Simultaneously and without speaking, we decided that my room was a friendlier place to wait for dinner and sort out the results of our shopping, so we went there. Sitting on my bed, her purchases and most of mine between us, we both felt our mutual attraction grow. Anna put her hand on my shoulder and leaned toward me, turning her face to be kissed. My other arm went around her and we kissed, deeply and passionately, although only with our lips.

Anna moved away and said, "I really shouldn't be doing that, George. You are just about the sweetest and most wonderful man I have ever met but I still have issues to work out. I hope you understand."

"Of course," I replied, "I understand," although I actually didn't, at least not everything. "I will wait for you to work out the issues, even until the twelfth of Never which, as you know, is a long, long time."

Anna smiled and giggled, "It shouldn't take that long. I have them almost worked out now. Can I leave these things here for now?" she asked, pointing at the souvenirs she had bought. I don't trust Gwen at all; she might steal them just for spite." The dinner bell rang then, and we went down to the dining room. I had also bought some souvenirs and, when I had the chance, I had bought condoms and filled my Viagra prescription at the local branch of the big drugstore chain I patronize. I don't know whether or not Anna knew about what I had bought, but if she did, she pretended otherwise.

Our table companions continued giving us the cold shoulder, which was fine with both of us, because we preferred to devote all our time to each other anyhow. When we finished, we started toward Anna's room, hoping, that Gwen wouldn't be there, and wondering what we would do if she was. "If she is inside, can I just get what I will be wearing tonight, and then go to your room and change? I want as little to do with Gwen as I can manage. To say 'I hate her' sounds too strong but 'dislike' sounds not strong enough."