I Cruise with Anna

"Of course. I will wait here, unless you want me to come inside with you."

"No, I can manage." Anna went inside her room and a minute later, emerged with her clothing and shoes bundled in front of her. "Gwen was there, but she was in the bathroom so I hurried and didn't have to face her." After we reached my room, Anna went into the bathroom to prepare for the dance.

When she emerged, looking truly lovely, she placed her discarded clothing on the bed and I told her, with complete honesty, "Anna, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever known."

We hugged then, and kissed deeply, and Anna said, "George, you are an incorrigible flatterer, and I love you for it." Just as she said that, her hand went to her mouth, as if to push "the L word" back in, but it was too late. Being a gentleman, I pretended not to notice and, after another kiss, I went into the bathroom and changed my clothing.

Because of the kissing and other pleasant delays, it was after nine o'clock when I left the bathroom and we could hear the band playing through a public address speaker in the hall. Another speaker was on the wall in my room, there for emergency announcements, and Anna pointed at it. "I can hear the band through the speaker in the hall. Do you think we can hear them through that speaker?" I went to the speaker in question, looked over the controls and made a small adjustment, and the music came thoroughly clearly.

"George, the thing I like about dancing with you is you. Since we can hear the music just as well here, why don't we take off our shoes and dance here, instead of going to the ballroom where people will be staring at us?"

"If they aren't staring at us, they will be gossiping about us even more. That doesn't bother me, if it doesn't bother you."

"It doesn't bother me either, since people will be gossiping anyhow," Anna responded, while removing her shoes. I removed my shoes too and, after another kiss, we started dancing in our stocking feet.

For as long as the music played and we felt like it, we danced together, wrapped in each other's arms the way lovers like to be. If we felt like kissing, we kissed, always on the lips but no tongues yet although sometimes when I bent my face to hers, I saw her tongue almost protrude between her lips. If we felt like sitting out, we sat out, always on my bed, which seemed to have achieved a certain status in both our minds. Sometimes the band took breaks and if we wanted refreshments, they were readily available at the bank of machines just down the hall. We enjoyed ourselves so much, dancing but mostly just being together, that we paid no attention to the time and were surprised when the band started playing "Good Night, Ladies", symbolic of ending the dance.

When the music ended, we stopped dancing and kissed again. This time, I felt the tip of Anna's tongue on my lips, and when I parted my lips and offered my mine, the tips of our tongues lightly touched, but then Anna pulled away. "Well, Anna, is this to be 'Good Night Lady'?" I asked.

"I hope not. You remember when I said about Gwen that saying 'I hate her' would be too strong? Well, the more I think of her, the more I think that it is not too strong, maybe not strong enough. I really don't like the idea of going back and sharing a room with her tonight or any other time. When I brought my clothes here earlier, I brought pajamas and my toothbrush too. What I'm saying is 'Can I sleep on the floor here'?"

"You absolutely cannot. Sleep on the floor, that is. I will sleep on the floor again while you sleep on the bed."

"That's just not fair! You slept on the floor last night and I saw how hard it was for you to get up this morning and I'm younger than you and can handle it better."

"I would not be able to sleep for hating myself, knowing that you were trying to sleep on the floor, and I was in this comfortable bed. At least if I am on the floor, I will be able to get some sleep. After all, I was able to sleep there last night."

"If you don't let me sleep on the floor I will go and spend the night in a lifeboat and probably get raped by stowaways, if we have any on board."

"This seems like an impasse but I might have a solution. Did you ever hear of the movie 'It Happened One Night'? The male and female leads were accidentally assigned the same room in a hotel, with just one double bed, and there were no other rooms available anywhere. They resolved the problem by sharing the bed but putting some kind of barricade in the middle, they called it 'The Wall of Jericho', and it kept them separate. They eventually got married, of course, and removed the barricade, saying something like 'The Wall of Jericho has tumbled'. We can do the same kind of thing."

"I've heard of the movie but it was way before my time."

"It was before my time, too. Way before. Actually, I didn't see the movie but I have read about it. The point is, we can both sleep in the bed with our own 'Wall of Jericho' to separate us."

"Well, I suppose it is better than being raped by stowaways. What do we have to use as a barricade?"

"As I understand, the physical barricade in the movie was actually more symbolic, although real, and either character could have removed it easily. The real 'wall' was the promise each character made to the other to avoid any unwanted physical contact, and that kind of mutual promise can be our 'Wall of Jericho' also.

"You mean you would stay on your side of the bed and I would stay on my side and there would be no touching between us?"

"I would hate to go that far because it seems we both very much like touching each other." That was extremely true because all during the discussion, we had been standing in the middle of the floor, with our arms pleasantly around each other, and we had enjoyed touching each other all night. "Let's say, no sexual touching, meaning there shall be certain places where I won't touch you and certain places where you won't touch me, and we both know where those places are."

"That sounds fair enough. What do you sleep in, not your underwear, I hope. My ex-husband always slept in his, and sometimes they were sweaty and stinky and they always grossed me out."

"Fear not, fair lady because I wear a clean pair of cotton pajamas every night."

"That's good, so why don't you put your pajamas on and otherwise get ready for bed and then I will do the same. You go into the bathroom first because I'll take longer than you since I need to remove my makeup besides doing everything you need to do."

After putting on my navy blue pajamas and otherwise attending to myself, I left the bathroom to Anna's approving look. "You look very handsome in those; they set off your blue eyes," she said.

Anna did take longer than I had and when she left the bathroom wearing light green pajamas and her face scrubbed, she seemed sexier than ever. "Don't you put your hair in curlers," I asked. "I thought all women put their hair in curlers every night."

Anna laughed and said, "No, silly; I don't curl my hair, just brush it for a long time. That's why I take as long as I did. What side of the bed do you want?"

"Since I will probably have to get up and go to the bathroom during the night, I should take the side toward the room, if that is allright."

"That's fine," she replied, getting into the bed on the side by the wall, "but let's just get some sleep because I'm tired and sleepy and I hope to do a lot of sightseeing tomorrow, if you want to go with me." Anna snuggled her head onto her pillow and lay on her left side with her back toward the wall.

"I have been to the port where we will be going tomorrow, today actually, and I will show you around. Do you have any more shopping to do?" As I spoke, I was lowering myself into the bed, facing Anna.

"No, I'm finished with that. Tomorrow is just for sightseeing and I do appreciate your showing me around." We moved close to each other and shared one long goodnight kiss, and then I rolled over onto my left side. Anna snuggled against my back with her arm around my waist holding us closely together, like two spoons in a drawer.

"I'm glad we didn't forbid all touching because right now, I feel more comfortable and safer than I have in a really long time, maybe ever. Goodnight, George."

"Goodnight, my love." The term of endearment had slipped out but Anna either hadn't heard it, unlikely, or pretended she hadn't. My dreams that night were very pleasant, affectionate dreams of Anna and me cavorting on clouds.

The next morning, I woke up with a big erection, partly from ordinary horniness and partly from the dreams but mostly from the fact that I badly needed to urinate. After going to the bathroom and taking care of that problem and washing my hands, I re-entered the room to see Anna, her eyes open and a big smile on her face. Her hair was fetchingly disarrayed and, in general, she looked alluring beyond belief, even though she didn't think so.

"Don't look at me, George, I look terrible; my hair is a mess." Anna dashed into the bathroom to make herself presentable, although I thought she had been eminently presentable before she went there.

When she emerged, Anna had finished brushing her hair and her teeth but hadn't yet applied what little makeup she uses. "I hope I can leave my toothbrush and stuff in your bathroom and stay here again tonight, with 'the wall' still in place, or not, depending on the issues that I mentioned before."

"As long as you want. Mi casa, su casa. Do you want to go to breakfast on the ship or in town? There probably won't be any gossips or nosy people in town but they amuse me more than they bother me anyhow."

"Same here. Some people have nothing better to do than snoop and blab about it and they are more to be pitied than cursed. The food on board is good but I think I would like to try something different in town, but I will need something else to wear. I don't want to wear the dress I danced in last night and the other clothes I wore yesterday are all sweaty and yucky. If it's after nine o'clock, Gwen will be at breakfast, I hope, and I can get a change of clothes and some other things and bring them back here. Since this will be our last night on the ship," Anna winked meaningfully at me when she said that, "I might as well bring everything, suitcases and all. George, how did a wonderful guy like you ever get involved with a nut case like me?"

"Extremely good luck, I guess, but it's 9:30, so why don't we go to your room, get you moved in here and get ourselves ready for the day? You can even watch me shave again, and it won't cost you more than a few kisses. Or a lot of kisses if you prefer.

Our evacuation went smoothly because Gwen wasn't there and we moved Anna, suitcases and all, into my room. She showered first, while I fought off the urge to offer to wash her back, put on a summery dress and made up her face in the bathroom. When Anna left the bathroom, she turned around so I could button her dress up the back. Then it was my turn and, after showering and putting on my pants, I invited Anna to watch me shave again.

She hugged my back while I lathered my face and when I started using my razor, I stood beside the sink so Anna would have a clear view of the process. When I was through and my face was washed and lotioned, Anna came to me and we held each other tightly and kissed, and kissed again, and on the third kiss, I could feel her tongue pushing against my lips. When I opened my mouth, our tongues enjoyed their own reunion, wondering what had caused the delay, and I moved slightly away because I didn't want my stiffening cock pressing against Anna.

When we separated, Anna brushed back her hair and said, "George, my issues are almost resolved and I expect them to be completely resolved by the end of the day and I know that both of us will be a lot happier when they are. Now, since you just removed my lipstick, I will apply some more and wipe off what is on your face, and we can be off to town. I'm really hungry and I hope you have a good place to take care of that problem.

I did have a good place in mind, a seafood brunch house, with the freshest shrimp and oysters in the state. They catch what they serve. Besides seafood they have bacon and eggs and other more conventional breakfast items and we ate hungrily. Because of what I anticipated for later that evening, I went heavy on the oysters and Anna grinned when she saw my plate.

This is the biggest and the oldest city on these islands and one of the major tourist attractions is the Colonial Rose Garden, dating back to when the city was a provincial capital. Locals claim there are more varieties of rose there than anywhere else in the world, and I would not choose to argue the point with them. We found the Rose Garden to be a great place for kissing. Besides kissing in the Garden, we held hands while we toured the former governors' mansion, and when we left there we visited another shady, sweet-smelling park, where we found secluded arbors with benches, seemingly just made for private hugging and kissing. Once again, we were the last persons up the gangplank.

Although our brunch had been filling we were both hungry by 7:00 o'clock and waited impatiently by the entrance to the dining room and when the bell rang, we were the first persons inside. The couple that usually sat beside Anna either missed dinner or ate later because we didn't see them while we were there. Gary mentioned that neither he nor Colleen had seen us at breakfast and asked about our day.

"I slept late," I told him, emphasizing the pronoun, "and ate breakfast in a place I know in town."

"How was Anna's day?" he wanted to know then.

"Okay, I guess. I found her in the Colonial Rose Garden and showed her around there and took her to some other touristy places."

"I'll bet you showed her some places." Gary resumed sulking and trying to get the monosyllabic Colleen to speak to him.

Sunsets on the ocean are spectacular and we hadn't seen one yet and Anna wanted to remedy that this evening. After we finished dinner we strolled to the railing and watched while the sun sank into the ocean, showering the water with brilliant color, a spectacle we both enjoyed. Just before the sun was completely gone, Anna turned to me, rested her hands on my hips and said, "George, do you remember when I told you yesterday how I had issues to work out and again this morning when I told you I had them almost all worked out?" Not wanting to interrupt Anna, I nodded my head.

"Mostly, the issues are my ex-husband. All the issues are related to him. I've told you what a rat he was and what a skirt-chaser and how gross but that wasn't the worst of it. He liked to use me for a punching bag and threatened to kill me a couple of times, until I finally worked up the courage to leave him and go to a battered women's shelter. The people there gave the support and everything else I needed to dump him. I still don't like to think about it and I don't want to talk about him anymore." I listened carefully, curious as to how far Anna would go with the role-playing, because I knew she was making all of this up.

"Anyhow, he totally soured me on men. Until I met you, I thought all men were like that, and I wanted as little to do with them as I could. Then you came along, and changed my mind completely. You are the sweetest and most wonderful man I have ever met or even heard of, head and shoulders above anybody else. You are so much not like my ex-husband that I can hardly believe you are both members of the same species. I thought I loved him once but that was a long time ago and I thought I could never love again but, George, I think I am in love with you. I've noticed that you seem to be growing more and more attracted to me and I think that we could have something really marvelous between us."

"Well, Anna, to say that I seem to be attracted to you is like saying the ocean seems to contain water, because I think I am in love with you too and with every kiss, every hug, every time I see you smile, every minute I am near you, or just thinking about you, I get further from 'I think' and closer to 'I know'. If there two things in life that I am sure of, they are that, right now, your happiness is the only thing that matters to me, and that 'really marvelous' barely describes what we could have and will have between us if you want us to."

As I was speaking, Anna's hands left my hips and her arms went around my waist as she moved in close to me. My arms went around her shoulders and this time when we kissed, there was nothing tentative about the invasion of my mouth by her tongue and nothing reluctant about the way my tongue welcomed the invader. When our kiss ended, Anna snuggled against me and I held her tightly, because it was cold and because we wanted to be as close as we could be. The band started playing in the dining room and Anna looked at me and said, "I don't feel much like dancing tonight. What I really feel like doing tonight is going back to your room and locking the security lock and demonstrating to each other what a bed is good for besides sleeping. I want the 'Wall of Jericho' to not only tumble but to vaporize. I have a clean pair of pajamas set aside for tonight but I don't want to wear them."

"Anna, if we want to demonstrate what a bed is for, we will need one to use as a demonstrator and I know where there is one available. What 'Wall of Jericho' is that you are talking about? There is no such wall within thousands of miles of here or thousands of years." We walked to my room as fast as we could with our arms around each other.

Once we were inside, I locked and bolted the door and we stood in the middle of the floor, hugging and kissing. Anna whispered to me "George, I so much want to make love with you, but we have been walking around in the sun for the last twelve hours and I am sweaty and sticky and I am sure you are too. Let's take a shower together and then make naked love so I can show you what the bed is for.

I had to admit that, even though I would lick Anna's body even if it were caked with dry sweat, I would enjoy licking her more if she showered first. I was also aware that my crotch, where I know that Anna likes to lick, was pungent with my sweat and desperately needed washing. "You're right, Sweetheart, but let's undress each other here and walk naked into the shower."

Anna reached out and unbuttoned my shirt and when she was done, I turned around while she removed it and knelt to untie my shoes and remove them and my socks. When she stood up again, I unbuttoned her dress in the back and pushed the sleeves off her arms so the dress fell to the floor and Anna stepped out of it. While I was behind her, I unhooked her bra. Anna turned around, holding her bra in place so I could remove it, letting her breasts spill free. They were just as lovely as I remembered them even though I remained in character and pretended I had never seen them before. In character or not, I knew quite well what Anna likes, and that was what I intended to do, until we had enjoyed a week's worth of making love in one night.

"Anna, your breasts are beautiful," I murmured, as I bent over to kiss them, first on their firm flesh and then their nipples, fully erect by that time in anticipation. I cupped one of the lovely globes in either hand and gently squeezed them. Although Anna enjoyed what I was doing, she knew we would both enjoy ourselves more after we had washed off our sweaty bodies. She reached down and unfastened my pants and pulled them and my underwear off, and then bent down farther to fondle and kiss my erect cock. After she straightened up, it was my turn and I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of her panties and slowly pulled them down, caressing her beautiful ass on the way, and breathing deeply the aroma of her pussy. To tell the truth, Anna's pussy smelled more pungent than I would have preferred, and I continued to agree with the idea of a mutual shower.