Chapter 6
Dana
We all had to clean up for dinner, so we split up; me to my cabin to shower and change into something a bit less comfortable, and the Hutchinsons retired to do the same.
I looked at myself in the mirror, the thin, blue spaghetti-strap dress, backless, was the sexiest item she owned, and the most elegant. Better not cut any corners, I told myself, he’s a billionaire and he rented the whole ship, I couldn’t show up looking like some slouch. I piled my blonde hair over my head, a few ringlets handling over the sides of my face. I was wearing a bit more lipstick and makeup than usual, which wasn't saying much; I barely wore any on strange and never wore it during the day. But it was a good look for me, I had to admit, one I didn’t trot out very often. I was usually happy enough in my light dresses, sometimes wearing something a bit rock’n’roll for the ten o’clock show, a leather mini and black halter. For me, singing had always been a bit like acting, each song a miniature movie, each chapter and verse the confessions of another fictional character or brokenhearted songsmith. But they’d never been my words, my feelings exactly, very often not even close. But it would usually be close enough; at least it always had been. But things were changing fast, I could sense it, I could feel it in my bones, in my blood, in that nervous little curl in the bottom of my stomach.
Wait a minute, I had to ask myself, just what's really going on here? This is more than just being elegant, being professional, I couldn’t deny it. I’m presenting myself to him, painting myself up like some tart, obviously ready to lay myself in front of him like some meal to be torn apart and the carcass tossed aside.
But for the first time, a little voice inside me said, Yeah, so?
No, that’s not me! I don’t do that, I’ve never done that. And I’m certainly not going to do it on the first date! My father will be watching, Caroline definitely will be, I’d almost rather have my father be watching me firsthand, even though that’s about the worst date I can think of.
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. My father 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 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.