by Adele Hart
The choice is removed from me when Asa reaches over and grabs my hips and pulls me between his legs. He presses a flute of champagne into my hand and relaxes.
His hands brush up and down my thighs, and I rotate my hips so his touch goes higher. I’m rewarded when thumbs slip under the elastic edge of my suit to brush the soft skin of my hips.
“I don’t want to rush you, Libby.” His thumbs pop from under my suit and leave me feeling empty.
He pulls his champagne glass to his lips and drinks. “You edit romance novels, right?”
I sip my champagne and answer. “I do.”
“Do you believe in love at first sight?”
The stars twinkle above us and the sound of the water as it pushes past the ship sets the scene. “I have to if I believe in romance.”
“Perfect. If you could relive a romantic scene from a book you’ve read, what would it be?” His voice is like a drug that runs through my veins making me feel woozy in his presence.
I shimmy back against him until my bottom makes contact with his erection. I feel powerful and sexy knowing that I can make him hard. “I don’t know that I’d want to relive a scene as much as I’d want to create my own.” I am now racing from three quarters all the way to ‘hell yeah’. It’s one night of one week.
“I deserve to experience a moment of real bliss.” I didn’t realize I said that out loud until Asa’s hands pull the straps of my suit down and my breasts bob on top of the bubbling water.
“I’m going to give you that tonight and tomorrow night and the night after that.”
Now is the moment I wish I had a two-piece suit because they are easier to get out of. Asa Cross just promised me three days of bliss and ‘yes’ was the only answer I can come up with.
My suit bunches around my waist and Asa’s fingers cup around my breasts. “Perfect. They are perfect.” He rolls and pinches my nipples the same way I do when I make myself come. I am a jumble of raw nerves quivering in his lap when he slides one hand under my suit and heads straight for my core. “Even in the water, I can feel your slickness. You’re wet for me.”
His words send shudders through my body. “Oh God, that feels good.”
“That’s nothing, sweetheart. After tonight, you’ll never tell me again that sex has nothing to do with orgasms.” He remembers the words we said the moment we met today. “Sex with us will always have orgasms. Lots of them.” He pulls my suit from my hips and it floats away from my body. We shift so my legs fall open and the jets bubble around my sex.
“Asa, oh my God.”
“Better than C batteries?”
“Yes,” I moan and push against his hand. When his finger slides inside me and the water bubbles over me and he squeezes my nipple and whispers in my ear, Mr. Dependable loses his place in my heart and between my legs. “Asa, I’ve never come with a man.”
He stalls for a second and then resumes his touching, tweaking, and teasing. “A woman?”
I sit up and all the passion is locked tight. “No, I’ve just not had…” How do I say that my vagina was deemed inadequate by an asshole, and I’ve never ventured into sex with anyone else? He wants honesty? I’ll give him honesty. “I’m bad in bed.”
He laughs like I told him the funniest joke. “Not fucking possible.” He spins me around with ease and grips my hand. He pushes it under the water until my palm lies on his burgeoning mass. “This is because I’m incredibly turned on by you. My finger barely fits in your channel, and I fear I’m going to come like a pubescent boy the first time I sink myself into your tightness. Sex couldn’t be bad for me, and I won’t let it be bad for you.” His thumb rubs against my clit and the fire burns through me once more. Without thought, I grip his cock and stroke it while he rubs delicious circles around me. My hips rock and buck on their own and the minute he pulls my nipple into his mouth I feel the familiar tightness in the pit of my stomach. Heat rushes out from my core. I grip onto his shoulder with my free hand and I explode right there in the hot tub with a man who for all intents and purposes is a stranger.
Wave upon wave of pleasure washes over me until I sag against him and nearly cry from the experience. What just happened here changes everything for me. He truly has ruined me.
“Sweetheart, that was amazing.”
“For me.” I have no idea what he gets out of it but an achy thumb and possibly sore legs where I’ve ground myself against him.
“For me as well. Do you know what a turn on it is for a man to get his girl off? I’d put it up there with winning the lottery, or getting an Oscar, or making my first million.”
I reach down and stroke his length. “But you’re still hard.”
He lets his head fall back against the edge of the tub and a look of bliss spreads across his face. “I am because of you. Because you make me feel this way.”
When he opens his eyes, I am smiling because Justice was right. There was never anything wrong with me. “I’m glad I make you feel like you make me feel.” I’m glad I took this chance tonight. Tonight I will experience everything I’ve given up, and I’ll do it with him.
The water no longer bubbles around us. Asa shifts me from his lap and stands. My instincts tell me to slink self-consciously under the water, but I feel like a siren raised from the sea, so I stand with confidence in front of him, and his eyes skirt appreciatively over my body.
“You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, Libby.”
I step out of the tub ahead of him and pull the soft blanket around me. “You make my body feel things it’s never felt before. If this is a contest, I think I’m the winner.” His swim trunks tent in front of him. Confidence surges through me. “Asa, let’s take care of that, shall we?”
I walk into the air-conditioned suite ahead of him and go straight for the room I believe is his bedroom.
When I get to the bed, I drop the blanket and climb on top. There’s no sense in being shy at this point. Asa Cross has broken through that barrier with a stroke of his thumb.
Six
Asa
I wake up wrapped around her lush body. My head rests between her breasts. Breasts I nipped and nibbled on all night. Her nipples are a deep pink from the attention. Last night I tasted every inch of her body, and it isn’t enough. We made love twice after the hot tub and it isn’t enough. I’ll never have enough of her.
I never mix business with pleasure. I don’t sleep with guests. This is different. She is different.
With other women, all I want is for them to leave in the morning. With Libby my heart aches at the thought. Like the novels she edits, I’ve found my perfect love story. Boy sees girl, boy wants girl, and boy will do anything to keep the girl because, against all sanity and reason, boy is in love with girl.
I slide from the top of her body and, even though my cock aches for her, I leave her alone to rest while I call for room service.
She appears minutes later covered in a plush white robe. “I woke up, and you were gone.” She pads barefoot to me and wraps her arms around my waist like she misses me already.
“I wanted to let you sleep.” I run my hands through her messy hair. “How do you feel? Sore?”
She pulls back and smiles. “Oh, Asa, I hurt so good.” I pull her back into the room. We have about fifteen minutes before room service shows up. I can make her hurt a little better in the next fifteen minutes.
She’s wet and needy and as soon as I put the condom on, I’m inside her. The sounds she makes drive me forward. Her pleasure is my reward.
“Is it always this good?” Her cheeks are pink with passion and her ripe red lips beg to be kissed.
“No, it’s only this good with you.” I plunge deep inside her and listen to her soft moans. Her body was made for me. Hot, tight, and wet, her pussy grips me like a fucking custom-made glove.
For a woman of little experience she rises to the occasion, matching me stroke for stroke. Her legs wrap around me, and the soft flesh of her thighs pulls me in deeper. I reach down to s
troke the tight bundle of nerves at her core and she clenches down. The flutter and flex of her inner muscles pulls the orgasm straight from my heart, and I know I belong to this woman body and soul.
After we eat, we dress and I walk her back to her room. Not because I want her to go, but because she insists on checking in with her sister who, no doubt, has not noticed Libby’s absence. She also informs me that despite the fact she would love nothing more that to spend the entire cruise with me in bed, she has work to do. I respect that about her. She takes her commitments seriously, and that is a trait I admire.
Dressed in yesterday’s clothes Libby approaches her room, which still has red beads hanging on the door.
“Holy shit,” she says, “How many single men are on this cruise?”
I pull up the stat sheet and scroll down. “There’s one thousand, one hundred and twenty-three.”
“Lord, I’ll never get into my room.” She looks at me and then back to the door. Her fisted hand pounds on the door for several raps. “Justice. I need to change. Get up.”
The lock turns and the door opens. Justice looks like she was rode hard and put away wet. “Sorry, I forgot to take the beads down. What time is it?”
Justice looks past her sister to me and her eyes open wide. “Who the hell is he?”
I step forward and hold my hand out to the woman whose eye have bags big enough to hold a week’s worth of clothes. “I’m Asa.”
Justice looks down at her slinky nightgown. She pulls her hands through her hair and then opens the door wider giving me a full view of a woman I have no interest in.
“He’s with you?” Justice asks. I watch the confident woman that is Libby wilt into a different person in front of me. Gone is the sexy siren that stepped from the hot tub and back in her place is the girl who hides behind books and lives her fantasies through them.
There’s not a fucking chance I’m letting that happen. “She is with me. Or in truth, I’m with her as long as she’ll have me.” I place my hands of Libby’s shoulders and feel them rise beneath my touch. “Your sister is going to pack up her things and move over to my suite.”
I lean in and brush my lips up Libby’s cheek to her ear and whisper, “Please.”
“She can’t move in with you. I don’t know you.” Justice crosses her arms over her chest and stares at her sister. It’s not one of concern, but a look of irritation. Something tells me that Justice likes it better when Libby has to live through her experiences.
“Sweetheart, the choice is yours, but I’ll never hang red beads on my door all night unless you’re the one in bed with me.” I run my hands down her arms while her sister takes in the familiarity of my touch.
“You slept with him?”
Libby laughs. “No, we hardly slept.” She turns toward me and lifts on her tiptoes to give me a kiss. “I’ll be right out.” She breezes past Justice, and over the blonde’s head, I watch Libby toss her suitcase on the bed and throw her belongings inside.
Justice turns toward Libby. “You can’t move in with him. This was supposed to be a trip we took together. Besides, you know nothing about him.” She looks at me and says, “He could be a criminal. He’s probably using you.”
Libby stalls at that statement. I wait to see her response. If it doesn’t come soon, I’ll address the situation myself, but Libby slams her suitcase shut.
“Justice, I love you, and I’ve been living in your shadow for long enough. This cruise was never about me, it was about you, and you know what? I need something to be about me every once in a while.” She swings the suitcase off the bed and pulls the retractable handle up. She scoops her laptop off the desk and stares at me. “Asa has been amazing, and you’re right, he may be using me, but you know what? I want to be used by him because even my best days have never felt as good as yesterday.” Libby walks with purpose toward the door and nearly runs her sister over with the suitcase.
I take it from her and place my hand on her lower back. We take a few steps down the corridor when Justice calls out. “What room number are you in? What’s his last name?” Now she is playing the roll of concerned big sister, but it’s a little too late.
I turn around and say, “I’m Asa Cross, and I own this ship. If you need us we are in suite 8150.” Justice stands in the doorway wearing a negligee and a shocked expression.
I turn back to my girl. “You okay, sweetheart?” I ask and then I lead her back to our room.
She enters and flops onto the couch. “I’m sorry about that. She’s a bit spoiled. She’s always been the pretty one, so she’s used to getting the lion’s share of attention.”
I want to growl, but instead I laugh because describing Justice as the pretty one is like saying the Elephant Man is prom king material. There is nothing attractive about Justice, all the way from her bag of bones body to her unattractive personality.
“There is nothing pretty about your sister except her absence. You are the most beautiful of the two of you.”
She kicks her feet up on the coffee table. “I’m glad you're blind.”
“I’ll make you believe it before the cruise is over.” Mention of the end of the cruise pulls the light from her eyes.
“Are you sure I’m not going to be a burden?” She bites her lower lip. “I mean I can stay out of your way in the library.”
“Liberty Ferall.” Each time I say that I chuckle. “You are needed right here. I want you next to my side at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the times in between. Don’t you get it? You’ve stolen my heart.” I sink into the soft cushion beside her and pull her into my arms. It’s where I want to feel her every second of the day.
We kiss for what seems like a lifetime, and then she pulls away from me. “Don’t you have work to do? I do, and if I keep kissing you, I’ll never get it finished.” She peels her body from my embrace and rises to get her computer.
In all honesty, I do have work to do. Our next ship is already in production, and I have to go over the numbers, but if Libby would allow me to sit here and kiss her all day, I’d be glad to oblige.
“Tell you what. Make a goal and when you reach it, I’m your reward.”
She opens her computer and turns it on. “Perfect. So let’s say every twenty-five pages I edit I get a kiss or something.”
I prefer the “or something," and just so she hurries through her work, I strip off my shirt because she seems to like my chest. I pull a chair up to the coffee table and plant myself in her direct line of sight.
While she works on her manuscript, I work on my stuff. Each time her eyes skim my body, my dick twitches, and I pray she works fast. And it turns out she does. She makes record time editing that manuscript, and I enjoy kissing her, eating her, and fucking her until she screams my name. I don’t get much done because all I can think about is the next time she closes her computer and gives me that I’m-ready-for-my-reward look.
Libby and I have been connected at the hip for three days. We skip touring Grand Cayman and Falmouth to stay in bed and make love. And that's what this is. It’s love because each time I see her, my heart swells to the size of a beach ball, and I can hardly breathe.
Today she’s having lunch with her sister in the cafeteria while I meet with Captain Christos to discuss any issues he sees with the ship.
Every second I’m away from her is awful. My stomach twists and tightens and my heart feels all achy. I’m turning into one pussy-whipped bastard, and the thought of it makes me happy.
I rush through the meeting and return to our suite. I keep checking my watch and looking toward the door hoping she’ll be back soon. I’m a thirty-eight-year-old man for God’s sake. I run a multi-million dollar empire, and I can’t take my next breath without her.
We’ve had hours to talk to each other and there’s nothing I don’t love about her. She lives on her own in a small apartment in Los Angeles. She has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in creative writing. She loves to travel, but doesn’t do it much because it’s not as much fun alone.
She believes work and play should be split evenly, although this morning after we made love, she said she is edging toward the concept that play is healthier and more fulfilling. I agree.
She wants to marry someday and have two children. One for each hand she says. She is my mirror when it comes to her life’s desires.
After my fifth glance at my watch, I decide it’s time I reward her some more. We have a well-stocked jewelry store on the ship, and after that first night when I noticed her pierced ears were empty I’ve been meaning to rectify that situation.
As I look through the selection, I feel a body sidle up to mine. This body isn’t Libby’s. The breasts that push against my arm are all silicone and wrong.
“Where have you been hiding, handsome?” She leans in and squeezes her boobs together with her arms. I’m seconds away from calling a medic because I’m pretty sure when those bags bust she’s going to need help.
I look up and see the woman from the casino. “Hello, Ms. Hollander, I hope you’re enjoying the cruise.” I go back to looking through the jewelry case. She follows me like a lost puppy looking for a new owner, but I’m not him.
“It’s been nice, but it just got better.” She lifts her hands up and grips onto my bicep like she is feeling me up. Actually she is feeling me up, and I don’t like it. She’s not Libby. Her hands are like vices on lockdown and it takes some effort to shrug her loose.
I see a pair of earrings that look like something Libby would love. They are diamond-encrusted ampersands. In my head the symbol connects us, Libby & Asa.
“Package these up, please.”
“I love those.” Ms. Hollander says, “Who’s the lucky girl?” She leans in until her boobs are almost touching my chest, but just before I can say, "Libby", I see my girl walk past the jewelry store. She stops when she sees me standing next to Gretchen. Her sister halts beside her and shakes her head. I can read her lips, and what I see sends a rage racing through me. Justice is telling her, “I told you so.”