Christmas Present

by Lauren Wood

  No, it's not a date, it’s just escorting him on an evening on the ship, a dance, a stroll in the moonlight, just … escorting him, that’s all.

  Right, that skeptical little voice said, that’s what they call it ... an escort.

  It didn't make me feel any better, but there wasn’t much more time to worry about. I was due at my father’s table in ten minutes.

  When I got there, my chair at my father’s right side was waiting. I always sat on his right, stood on his right, and that’s where I figured I’d always be. But this time our guest of honor, Hutch, was sitting on my father’s left, with Blu sitting on her father’s other side. Caroline was seated next to Blu.

  Hutch said to me, “You look beautiful tonight, Dana, stunning.” I felt myself blush, heat rushing to my cheeks, and I couldn’t ignore the glances I was also getting from Caroline and my father. “You must be terribly proud, sir.”

  “More and more,” my father said with a pressed smile.

  Hutch was gorgeous in a black tuxedo, like James Bond. As much as I wanted to compliment him in return, I weighed the glare I was getting from the others on staff and thought better of it. Instead I said to Blu, “I love your dress, Blu.” She smiled and Caroline sighed, leaning back and looking away.

  Barry and Eric and Sticks were playing softly with Al, the trumpet player from the show band. Their soft jazz lent a sophisticated air to the dinner, our own private entertainment. It was strange being performed for instead of performing for others, and I felt like the boys were shooting little glances at me from the stage, as if they felt the same thing. Eric’s quick looks at me in that sexy blue dress had more to do with other things, however. I hope this isn’t cruel for Eric, I thought to myself, seeing what’s obviously heating up between me and Hutch. I know Eric’s got a crush on me, but what can I do about that? I’ve never strung him along, after all. But he knows my policy, and he’s got to know what everybody else seems to know; that my long-standing policy is about to change.

  My father poured Hutch a glass of fine merlot, which he swirled in his glass and took just a sip. Hutch nodded and my father nodded at the waiter, who poured the wine for the other passengers.

  Hutch’s eyes were fixed on me, and I could sense that he was hungry for a lot more than dinner. He kept staring at me as if he wanted to jump across the table and take me right there and then, and I would have had a hard time refusing. His eyes were glowing, intense, burrowing a hole into my forehead and straight into my brain, reading my mind.

  Take me, I silently pleaded, and I knew he could sense it, hear it in his own mind as clearly as if I had screamed it out at the top of my lungs. I want you inside me so bad ...

  I know, he didn’t say, eye staring back at me from the other side of the table. And I will take you, Dana. Soon, hard and fast and long, Dana, like you’ve never imagined.

  “So, Mr. Hutchinson — ”

  “Please, Captain, Hutch.”

  “Very well … Hutch, I hope you’ve enjoyed your first day aboard our fine ship.”

  “I have, we both have.” Hutch and Blu shared a nod, and then Hutch glanced back at me. “I dare say we all did.”

  I smiled and glanced at Blu. “‘Zactly,” I said and we shared a little giggle.

  Once again, Hutch’s seductive stare returned to me. It said everything about what he was thinking, what he was feeling, what he was intending.

  My father said to Hutch, “For us, all this is, well, it’s rather routine. But it’s a significant change of pace for you, I imagine.”

  “It is, and it should be. That’s important, to step out of the frenzied pace of normal life. There’s a lot of tension out there, a lot going on. My own company, I’ve got so many people calling me all day; buy this, sell that — ”

  Caroline asked him, “You’re in stocks, mostly?” She leaned forward just a bit, presenting her breasts for the first time without the misery of her uniform blazer. She was poured into a tight, shimmering dress that clung to every curve of her bodacious body.

  But even those two perfect breasts heaving in that sexy gown couldn’t disrupt the connection between the two of us. Still looking at me while answering Caroline, he said, “Most of my company’s portfolio is in land, actually, rental property, and some foreign currencies, various other holdings, the Philadelphia Eagles. But it’s a similar principle; buy low, sell high. Do you play the market, Captain?”

  “Please, Hutch, call me Seth.”

  “Well, Seth, there are always a lot of good opportunities, if you’re interested.”

  “That’s very good of you, Hutch, but I’m happy with things the way they are.” This caught my attention, and I knew precisely why. Before, my father had been encouraging me to spread my wings, maybe even find a life somewhere beyond Oceania. But with Hutch there, requesting me as his escort, a clear and present danger, as it were, with an obvious sexual tension rising between us, my father seemed to have changed his position. To this point, my father said, “It’s an honor to have a daughter, isn’t it? Most men want a son, but I’ve never regretted having Dana here, just the way she is.”

  Hutch raised his wine glass, all of us raising our own glasses too. “To daughters,” Hutch said, the table repeating it in a sloppy mutter as we all took a drink. “Do you have parents on dry land, Captain? Or maybe they’re working in the engine room.” We all chuckled, my father especially.

  “My mother’s living in Philly, that’s my home town. We don’t mess around back in Philly.” After a tense little moment passed, he asked Hutch, “How about you?”

  Hutch nodded. “I got my folks a little place in San Clemente, north of San Diego. Blu’s grandparents are still in Phoenix. We all get together for Christmas.”

  Caroline’s eyes shifted around the table before she said, “My folks live in Jersey. Dad owns a sandwich shop in Peterson, so naturally everybody thinks he’s O.C., but of course he’s not. On what he brings home? F’gedaboudit.” Caroline looked up to see the table sitting in stunned silence, all eyes on her. She cleared her throat and took another big gulp of red wine. Thanks to Caroline’s awkward gaff, it seemed like the conversation was on pretty safe ground, for me and the Hutchinsons at least.

  I’m going to run you ragged, Hutch’s eyes said to me, his unheard voice ringing in the back of my imagination. I’m going to turn you inside-out, change your life forever.

  Yes, oh God yes ...

  And it’s going to take hours, Dana, hours! And you’re going to cum so hard for me, and you’ll keep cumming, you’ll never stop cumming, you gorgeous little thing. You’re going to be all mine, Dana, every inch of you ...

  Yes ...

  Looking at us with increasing skepticism, my father went on, “Is there anything more precious to us than family, our daughters especially? They’re what this is all for, right? All of our efforts, all of our toils, it’s all just to keep them protected, keep them safe.”

  I knew what my father was getting at, but I was instantly worried about the direction of his discourse. The similarities between the two men’s positions are too close, I knew, and if my father isn’t careful he just might hit too close to home for the delicate Hutchinsons.

  Sure enough, Hutch glanced around and said, “I know as well as anyone the lengths to which a man will go.” He chuckled, but it seemed forced, and my father matched it with one of his own. The rest of us just watched, even brassy Caroline rendered silent, stunned and anxious to see how this was going to play out. I was anxious to stop it, if I could, having been central to it in the first place.

  Hutch returned his attention to me. By that time we were all aware of what was smoldering behind those crystal-blue eyes, all but little Blu that is. And I was eager to keep her in the dark for as long as I could.

  I said, “I thought tomorrow we might try the rock wall.” The ruse didn’t go much further, but at least it derailed their conversation, for the time being at least. But I knew that wouldn’t last.

  Chapter 7

&nb
sp; Dana

  After dinner, Hutch and I decided it might be fun if we had a little time after Blu went to bed. So we strolled around a bit, played a few video games with Blu, then set off to the Presidential Suite to tuck her in, then sneak out for a moonlight stroll. Well, I reasoned, he deserves that, it’s part of the experience, and he is paying for it. It’s just a stroll around the ship, maybe a dance, that’s all.

  Yeah, another voice inside me contradicted, right.

  Walking down the hall with them, I got nervous again. I knew what was going to happen eventually if I didn’t stop it. And I really didn’t want to, but I knew that, at the end of the night, I’d be going to bed alone, no matter what either one of us wanted or how badly we wanted it. But there was no denying the attraction, the tension, all those looks he gave me during dinner. I had to wonder, Was I just teasing him, knowing I’d never put out? That’s not right, that’s not the kind of person I am. But to sleep with a man I barely know, and on our first date? That’s just too much, too fast. It doesn’t matter how great he is, how gorgeous, how rich. Not on the first date, no way. But I knew I had to make a plan and make it fast. It was too risky to leave things up to the spontaneity of the moment. I’ve gotta have an out, an excuse, some way to ease out of the situation without insulting him or angering him … or keep him from trying again. We arrived at the end of the Presidential hallway toward his suites and I didn't rush to get to the end of that hall. I’ll tell him we’ve got a lot of things planned for Blu the next day, starting early in the morning. There's lots to do, it's not a total lie. He'll see through it anyway, but if he does objects then he's really not the man he's pretending to be, and I'll be a lot better off. At least then I won't have to face Daddy with that guilty loom. I'll bet parents can tell once you've passed that line!

  We arrived at the suite door and I took a deep breath.

  Hutch opened the door and led us all into the central room of the suite and turned to me. “Let me clean her up, tuck her in.”

  Suddenly, I wasn’t so worried. “Take your time,” I said with a smiling whisper of my own.

  Blu turned to me. “G’night, Dana.”

  “Goodnight, Blu, I’m so glad you’re on the ship with us.”

  She smiled as he led her into her private room with an attached bath. I looked around the suite while he tended to her. I already knew, but it was obvious what an attentive and loving father he was, and for me that was as attractive as his tall, muscular body or that amazing face, blue eyes peering out from under that black hair. I shook my head, cautioning myself not to get carried away, swept up in his charm or charisma, all that he had and all that he represented. You’ll get hurt, Dana, I warned myself, all three of you will. But that nervous nausea curled in my stomach, hard to define. Is it anxiousness? Confusion? Lust?

  The sounds of the faucet stopped, a few unseen footprints leading to the bed. I stepped back into the suite's common area, impossible not to hear the conversation they were having just a few yards away.

  “Did you have a good time today, hon?”

  “Yeah. Daddy, you’ve still got your jacket on. Take it off.”

  “Maybe a bit later, hon.”

  “Later? Why?” After a short silence, she asked, “Where are you going? You're not going out?”

  Her voice got louder, but his remained calm, a soothing gravel tone. “I was going to step out for a while with Dana, yes.”

  “No, Daddy no!”

  “Shshshshshsh, take it easy, hon. You like Dana, don't you?”

  “Yes, but … just don’t go out, Daddy. You two can stay in, watch a movie on the TV.”

  “”Blu, you're perfectly safe. I'm going to have somebody standing outside the door -- ”

  “No, Daddy! Nobody by the door, nobody by the door!”

  I stood there with my heart breaking, tears threatening to melt all that carefully applied makeup.

  Hutch said, “You’ll be perfectly safe, Blu.”

  “No, it’ll be like Mommy just like Mommy!”

  “No it won't be, Blu,” Hutch said with a bit more sternness, a bit more authority than I’d heard him use with her before. “Mommy wasn’t safe in her bed, like you are. She wasn’t protected the way you are.”

  “I don’t care -- “

  “You sleep at home every night without a problem — ”

  “We have the dogs at home, Daddy.”

  “And out here we've got the whole Atlantic Ocean, surrounding us, keeping us from anybody who would do us any harm at all.” I stood there, knowing in that long silence that poor Blu was wrenching with fear, that she'd faced terrible horror in her life and not that long before.

  “Please, Daddy, please? Pleeeeeeezzzzzzzzze?”

  I thought I heard her cry a little, but it didn't last before Hutch said, very tenderly, “Okay, Blu, okay. I’ll stay right here, get a little work done. I've always got a little work to get done.”

  “Thank you, Daddy,” was all she said, and all she needed to say, except a pouting, “I love you, Daddy … so much.”

  “I love you too, my daughter, more than anything or anyone in the world.”

  Another tender moment later, Hutch stepped out of Blu’s room and closed the cabin door behind himself. Without giving him the chance, I said, “Y’know, I really don't feel that well, I ... I think I over did it on the waterslides.” Hutch glanced at me, then back at the room, then at me again. I added, “I hope you don't mind if I just … retire a bit early?”

  He knew what I was up to, and he knew why. He smiled, but not because this was the way either one of us wanted the evening to go. But we both knew this was the way it was going to be. He took my hands, and they felt so slight in his, almost trembling. He said, “Thank you for a lovely afternoon.” I tried to answer, but the words got caught up in my bashful smile. “I hope we can take it up again tomorrow?”

  “Of course, I … I don’t want to monopolize your time with Blu.”

  Hutch raised his finger to my chin, raising my face to his. “No, Dana, no. I want to spend more time with you, and I want to spend some of that time alone.” The way he stressed the word alone sen a chill up my spine, and a wave of heat down my front. He went on, “You’re a very special young woman, Dana Ballard, and I very much look forward to discovering just how special you are. And I look forward even more to watching you discover that for yourself.”

  *

  My knees were wobbly walking down that empty, quiet Presidential Hall to the elevator. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I knew the whole ship was probably gossiping about me and Hutch by that time, my father was probably especially concerned. So it seemed like a good idea to go down alone, show somebody that I wasn’t just holed up in Hutch’s room, doing something nasty in the next room over from his traumatized young daughter.

  But I was also concerned that Caroline would see it the same way she saw Hutch riding the SkyRide alone earlier that day; as my failure, as his rejection of me, as an invitation for her to move in.

  Well, she’s free to do what she wants, I told myself, heading toward the Cove, a little bar where Hector was tending. It was a quiet little nook, but with the only two passengers upstairs in their cabin, every spot on that huge, magnificent ship was pretty quiet. Though the place was by no means a ghost ship. The bands were instructed to play, all the shops and restaurants remained open, a full buffet had been spread out as if the ship had been full. But the crew was also invited to eat what the Hutchinsons didn't, and it was one of the rare times the crew would be able to dine like kings, practically without end, and they'd be doing it for another six days straight, as long as I could keep Hutch and Blu happy. Seeing me alone ordering a daiquiri from Hector wouldn't exactly convey that message, but I was never really one for appearances anyway.

  Hector asked, “How’s it going?”

  “Good, Hector, they’re really quite charming, she’s such a cute kid.”

  “Not to mention her father, eh?”

  “Hector!” But a knowin
g silence passed before I glanced around and leaned over the bar to whisper. “Of course, her father, I mean, honestly … ” We shared a little chuckle. “He’s a great guy, Hector.”

  “And you’re a great girl, I always said, always said.” After a nervous pause, Hector leaned forward too. “But I don’t know if that’s what he wants, a great girl … or a good woman?”

  “Hector, really, that’s enough.” Hector shrugged and backed away, palms up and flat to calm me. “Look, Hector, I’d really much rather if people around here didn’t make too many assumptions.” Hector looked me over, my slinky dress, my makeup and hair, and he didn’t need to say anything about them. We both knew. But I said, “We had dinner at my father’s table. He wanted to stroll around in the moonlight, I couldn’t wear a coconut sack!”

  “No, of course not.”

  “I’m representing the ship, my father, the whole cruise line.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” After a terse moment, I took a sip of my virgin daiquiri and said, “Well, it’s been a long day. I’m going to my cabin, take a shower and go bed.”

  “Yes, Miss Dana, of course.”

  “Alone,” I added, without any of the lusty suggestiveness Hutch had employed.

  “Yes,” Hector repeated, “of course.”

  Chapter 8

  Dana

  The next morning I was excited to see Hutch and Blu again. The day before had only been our first day of the cruise, and it had been an amazing time. Not only had I never enjoyed the ship so much in all the years I’d been on her, but I never enjoyed anybody’s company as much as I enjoyed theirs. Hutch was charming and gentlemanly without losing any of his strength or personal power. He had so much muscle he didn’t need to flex it, so much raw masculinity that his reserves were in excess. The world was his and he seemed to know it. And Blu was quiet and shy and courteous, but I felt like she was ready to open up to me even further. And I wanted to think she was grateful for the sacrifice both her father and I had made the night before, but I wanted even more for Blu not to know anything about any of it. I knew she had an inkling, of course. But it had been a long time since I was nine years old, and the world had changed a lot since then. Though for Blu Hutchinson, I knew the world was a more sheltered place, even her development seemed a little obstructed by it. But I felt I could help that, I felt I was already having some kind of positive influence, and that was more than enough encouragement for me to keep trying, as if I didn’t have plenty of that already.