Caribbean Passion

Pablo's lips pressed against hers, revelling in her softness and the velvet texture of her mouth. Lucia drank in his love, his desire, her body feeling limp. She flung her arms around him, drinking in the presence of him, his fingers raking through her hair. His kiss was tantalizing, exhilarating, sexy and fun. Their lips parted; breathless, she smiled widely at him. "Thank you for everything."

"What did I do?" asked Pablo, surprised.

"For being in my life and giving me the courage to do that," said Lucia.

Pablo laughed. "You did everything, Lucia. Come on, let's go down for lunch!"

"OK!" She happily skipped after him as he led the way below decks to the Staff Mess.

That afternoon, Dave Richards was in the back office with Rachel Johnson.

"Well, this morning was eventful," Rachel remarked.

"It sure was," replied Dave.

"It's really great what Lucia did today," she went on.

"Yeah! I didn't see that one coming. Hey -- I saw Madson just now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. He's agreed to Lucia's plan in principle -- she and Pablo can leave tomorrow."

"Wow!"

"He needs to clear it shoreside, so he'll call them later but he's thought about it and decided to go ahead."

"Awesome!" cried Rachel, delighted.

A pause.

"Dave, I was thinking -- we really ought to make it up to Lucia and Pablo."

"Oh, yeah? What were you thinking?"

"Well...you know Carmen's not dancing tonight anyway, right?"

"That's right -- Estella's on with Pablo."

"Why don't we tell Estella to take the night off -- she's worked plenty already, thanks to Carmen in the past -- and asked Lucia and Pablo to do a number?"

Dave brightened. "Hmmm! Now there's an idea! Carmen might not like it, though."

Rachel was indignant. "She can shut up! It's not even her night, plus Lucia and Pablo are basically volunteering to give up their jobs on account of her. The least she can do is let them dance together in public on their last night."

"True."

"If I even hear a peep out of her, she's had it with me -- and I'm a pretty patient person!"

"Right."

"I'm even thinking of inviting Madson and his family, plus the Captain to watch it!"

"Sounds great! Let's do it!"

Half an hour later, Lucia was in her cabin with Pablo. The telephone rang. Lucia picked it up.

"Hello?...Oh, hi, Dave," she said. "What? REALLY?...What about Estella?"

Pablo's ears pricked up. Huh?

"GREAT!...OK, I'll tell Pablo. Thanks so much!...Yeah, bye."

"What did Dave want?" asked Pablo.

Lucia turned to him excitedly. "Dave's given Estella the night off! He wants you and I to dance together in the show!"

"What! Wow!"

"Yeah! Plus Madson Banner and his family will all be there, and the Captain, too!"

"Great!" Pablo mind raced. "OK! Well, we'd better start practising, then!"

Lucia agreed. "Let's do it in the Disco!"

That night, the Rendezvous was packed. Passengers thronged the joint, filling the seats quickly. In the back room, Dave, Pablo, Lucia and Estella were getting ready. Dave wore his usual tuxedo and was about ready to start. Pablo's black hair was slicked back, his powerful frame encased in a white, satin shirt and silken black waistcoat. Black satin trousers topped with a cummerbund and shiny black shoes completed his outfit. Lucia wore a skintight black dress, her hair combed back but left loose to hang over her shoulders, her shoulders bare, the dress with cutout features that accentuated the sides of her lithe, athletic midsection, then led down to a short frilled hem slashed to the high, plus black high heels. Her full breasts were accentuated by the thin fabric, while her olive-skinned face was made up with vermilion lipstick, sheen and glitter, and exquisite eye make-up with daring flames reaching back across the sides of her face completed her look. Estella wore a pink evening gown with bare arms, plus matching shoes.

The announcer's voice suddenly boomed across the lounge, introducing Dave, who left the back room and walked onto the stage to deliver his usual routine.

Lucia turned to Pablo. "I'm just going out to the wings to get the lie of the land for the dancefloor, so I know where things are and where I should put my feet."

"OK, go ahead," smiled Pablo.

Lucia went out. Pablo spoke to Estella. "Thanks for letting Lucia take over tonight," he began.

Estella smiled. "No problem."

Pablo smiled, too. He paused for a moment, watching her put on some make-up, then said, "You know, we're leaving tomorrow. You'll be alone with Carmen again."

Estella laughed. "Don't be so concerned!"

"No, but I really enjoyed the time I spent with you before -- I felt good saving you from her clutches, if you know what I mean. I want you to know I believe in you and your lifestyle. You're worth it."

"Well, thanks," Estella smiled.

"If the worst comes to the worst and Carmen starts being difficult again, you don't have to put up with her. I won't be there but I think you can certainly save yourself. Believe in yourself and, whenever something happens to you that you're not comfortable with, get out. Life's too short to put up with toxic people."

"You've got that right!" said Estella, happily.

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that."

"OK. Now you go and have a good time with Lucia."

Pablo grinned. "Sure. I think I will." Pablo turned to go out but then Lucia suddenly appeared at the door.

"HEY!" she said. "Who's gonna introduce us? It can't be me -- I'm dancing!"

"Ha!" smiled Estella. "I'll do it!"

"Oh, will you? That would be great," grinned Lucia.

"No problem. Let's go!"

Pablo agreed. "Let's do it!"

Out on the stage, Dave Richards was finishing up, looking slightly nervous as he told his last joke. He had come to the same conclusion -- who was going to intro the next act?

"OK, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for your Cruise Director -- Dave Richards!" came the voice of Estella over the loudspeakers. Dave breathed a sigh of relief. Great, he thought. Smiling and waving at the crowd, he walked off, as Estella walked on.

"Hi, everybody, I'm Estella," she began.

"Wooo!" shouted the crowd.

"Thanks! Well, I'm a dancer but -- guess what? I'm not dancing tonight! I'm here to introduce to you a very special act -- our top Latin American couple -- the one and only Pablo and Lucia!"

A huge cheer went up as the two dancers walked onto the stage and Estella walked off.

Lucia stood, blinking in the spotlight. There, seated in the front row, were Madson Banner, his wife, two children (both of them small girls), plus Captain Papandreiou. They all seemed to be in a good mood.

The music started. Pablo moved forward, delighted and thrilled to be dancing with this fabulous woman, the woman he loved. He was determined to offer her an experience she wouldn't forget, just like the one he had two days before. His steps were sure as he boldly spun her around the dancefloor, the beat of the music and its rhythm syncopating with the pounding of his heart. He held Lucia in his strong arms, one side of her held against his broad, masculine chest, his square jaw angled as he faced the audience.

Lucia felt his strong, calm, masculine presence, melting into his embrace, feeling safe and happy in his arms. As her feet traversed the dancefloor, the pounding rhythm began, as it always did, to permeate her soul, enflame her heart, quicken her spirit and enliven her life as the two of them picked up speed. The tempo increased. Her body writhed in his hands as she moved from one of his arms to the other, first with him, then moving away far from him, as the music entered her heart.

Pablo was content to let her play, knowing that the times when she was far from him in the dance would make her even more desirous to return; and return she did, seconds later.

Lucia felt his strong grasp which, combined with the music, ignited her passion. Suddenly seized, she felt a lightning bolt of exhilaration strike her. Her feet were a blur as she let herself be guided by her lover around the dancefloor, her performance a mix of acquiescence to his lead and glorious abandon and freedom.

The music went on, Lucia's heart ablaze. She could feel herself losing control, the passion rising within her. With her lover guiding her, she felt the rhythm take over her body, become part of her, so she became one with the music. She became aware of the roar of the crowd, as they stood up, clapped and cheered. The passion within her roared into flame, her heart lost to the pounding beat. She spun across the floor, her limbs expressing what she felt in her heart.

Pablo was lost in admiration. Even he, with his presence and experience as a dancer, was swept away, enraptured at the sight of Lucia's movements mesmerizing, hypnotizing his eyes as her soul became a river that expressed the emotion of the music.

Finally, as the music's crescendo approached, Pablo felt a sudden inspiration. Looking into Lucia's eyes, he saw that she felt it, too. Using his strong arms, he lifted her up, high into the air. Lucia splayed her long, long legs out behind her as the music ended. Dropping her down back onto her feet, the crowd roared and cheered, applauding wildly, as the two of them bowed to the audience.

Madson Banner and the Captain looked delighted, as Pablo and Lucia walked off the stage.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET'S HEAR IT ONCE MORE FOR PABLO AND LUCIA!" came the voice of Estella across the speakers. Another huge roar went up and the crowd went wild.

The two dancers turned back to them, bowed once more, then walked off the stage.

Feeling thrilled and exhilarated, Lucia met Estella, who was still holding the microphone. Giving it to an excited Dave Richards, she said, "That was amazing, you guys! You were incredible!"

"Thanks!" said Lucia, happy to be alive.

Pablo looked at Dave and punched the air, as Dave gave him a hug.

"Awesome, big guy -- you were great!" cried Dave.

"Thank you, sir," replied Pablo, modestly. Walking out of the Rendezvous Lounge with Lucia, he had a sudden urge to go outside. "Come on, Lucia -- let's go!" Grabbing her hand, he pulled her along Fourth Deck.

"What! Hey, where are we going?" she asked, following along.

"Outside!" He led her through the Cafe Miramar out to the Lido Deck, where he stopped against the railings.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to see you in the moonlight under the stars," said Pablo, looking down into her beautiful, olive-skinned, Hispanic face.

Lucia laughed. "OK, Romeo," she replied, smiling.

The sound of the Oceanwave cutting through the wake, the moonlight shining on the surface of the sea, the stars twinkling in the sky and a few fluffy clouds dotting the heavens, barely visible in the darkness, juxtaposed against the brightly lit ship with its blaze of lights from aft to stern, gave Pablo the perfect opportunity. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.

Lucia sank into his arms, relishing his power, presence, strength and the passion of his kiss. Her lips were waiting, wanting, as she fell into his arms.

Back in the Rendezvous, Banner left his front-row seat to walk briefly across to Dave Richards, standing in the wings, watching the comedian, who had by now begun his act. "Dave -- a word," said Banner.

"Sure." Dave followed Madson's lead as they stepped out of the Rendezvous. Madson turned to Dave.

"That performance was incredible, Dave," began Banner.

"Yeah!"

"If that's the kind of level of talent we can attract -- YOU can attract - then we should try harder to keep this talent onboard."

"Right!"

"It's a pity we employed her as Social Hostess instead of Dancer -- and, as it is, we now have to put up with Carmen, who was good last night but Lucia's better."

"Uh-huh?"

"Yeah -- so when I get back to the office shoreside, I want a review of recruitment procedures, so we employ people to do what they're good at. As it is, we're now losing these two brilliant performers and left with a couple of good-but-not-great dancers with no male lead."

"Yeah, sure."

"It's a major bummer, this whole situation. This is the one and only time we're ever going to see this, thanks to Carmen."

"I get it."

"That annoys me, to be honest. So, look -- I'm going to offer them ten grand, split between Lucia and Pablo. They can have five each -- I'll get Rachel to disburse it."

"Hmmm -- she may not have enough onboard."

"Don't worry about that -- if the worst comes to the worst, I'll get the Casino Manager to lend it and she can repay it later."

"Cool."

"One other thing -- I'm sorry but I'm gonna fire Carmen."

"Oh!"

"I know Lucia tried to stop it but it's out of my hands. I spoke to the office on the phone and Recruitment were OK but then our attorney got word of it. He said offering compensation to Lucia and Pablo was a wise move and would stave off lawsuit claims from them in the future but the situation with Carmen engineering Pablo's dismissal through ganging up with Kostas is really serious."

"Wow."

"That's why I'm splitting the ten grand. Rather than give it all lump sum to Lucia, by offering half to Pablo, he hopefully won't sue us for Kostas' behaviour, so we kill two birds with one stone."

"What about Kostas?"

"He's an officer, so there are laws of the sea, he can lose his Captain's licence, there's Safety of Life at Sea, there are organisations we can report him to, all kinds of stuff, so as long as we do due diligence, we can make life difficult for him; he can't sue us for doing everything by the book and we should be OK."

"Very well, then."

"Sorry to give you this unpleasant task."

"It's OK -- I had to fire the DJ only yesterday, so I guess that was a warm-up for tomorrow's showdown."

"In truth, I feel good about getting rid of her. I don't usually feel like that about dismissing staff and I'm not into schadenfreude of any kind but this time I kind of feel a sense of closure."

Dave laughed. "I'll feel that when the 'unpleasant task' is done."

The next day, the SS Oceanwave glided up to its mooring place adjacent to the Terminal. It was another bright, fine, sunny morning in Canaveral -- just another fabulous day in the Sunshine State.

As the "gangway manager' opened the door, Ship's Agent Nigel was first onboard. Striding along the corridor, he arrived at the Pursers Office. Tall, American, with slightly greying hair, glasses, a moustache, white shirt, a tie with a name tag and brown trousers, he carried a two-way radio in his hand. He spoke into it. "Woo-hoo, Chief Purser, wakey-wakey, come in, please!"

Rachel Johnson, standing directly in front of him on the other side of the counter, grinned. "Get off my radio, Nigel!"

Nigel laughed. "Any news?"

"Ha!" replied Rachel. "A lot of stuff! We're losing two dancers, a Social Hostess and a Staff Captain today!"

"Wow! Heads roll when Madson shows up, huh?"

"Hahaha! They certainly do! Anyway, it's kind of OK -- there's a feel-good vibe to the ship this morning that I haven't felt for some time."

Nigel looked around. "Actually, yeah -- I felt as much getting on here -- something bright and sunny." Suddenly, he thought of something. "Hey, did you say Social Hostess?"

"Yeah -- why?"

"Oh, there's a new one out in the Terminal waiting to get on."

"Seriously? Already? That was fast! Any new dancers or Staff Captains?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Tell Security to bring her on. I'll have to get Lucia up to meet her."

"Right." Nigel spoke into his radio. "Duke, come in."

The lagubrious voice of the elderly security guard/driver/Terminal staff/whatever came crackling over. "Duke here!"

"Do you see that young woman standing around down there with the couple of suitcases and the long hair? Tell her to come on -- I'll meet her at the gangway."

"Right-o!"

Rachel spoke into the PA. "Social Hostess to Pursers Office, please, Social Hostess to Pursers' Office. Thank you."

"I didn't hear that on the speakers," remarked Nigel.

"It's below decks only," explained Rachel.

Lucia was in her cabin, already packed and ready to go. She and Pablo had returned to their cabins after that amazing kiss, Pablo wanting to go further, but she had told him to pack everything and would see him later. They had finished around ten. Then Pablo had showed up in her cabin, hungry, brooding, ready, willing and able. Her hands had pawed at his clothes then, her desire filling her, then he had ripped off her clothes with abandon before they fell into bed together and made mad, passionate love. Her breasts had felt his adoration; her pussy, weeping with pleasure, had pulsed with need, filled by his hard, insisting cock; then he had stroked and stroked orgasm after orgasm out of her, until her soul cried out with pleasure and passion, her heart melding into his, before they collapsed together and slept.

Now, however, there was no time to linger on that memory of her body's satisfied desire, as Lucia scooped up her hair into a ponytail, grabbed her bags and went outside. Trundling her luggage along the corridor, she knocked on Pablo's door. Pablo had got up early and gone back to his cabin to shower and grab some last-minute stuff. "Are you there?" asked Lucia.

"Yeah, just coming," replied Pablo's voice. The door opened and Pablo stood there in a crisp, white shirt, shaven, clean, masculine and inviting.

Lucia hugged him, kissed his waiting lips and spoke. "Come on, let's go!"

Pablo smiled as they made their way upstairs to the Pursers Office.

Upon arrival, Lucia saw a young, tall woman, Black, with a mane of gorgeous, long hair almost down to her waist. She wore a denim blouse, with the sleeves rolled up exposing bare arms, while three buttons were undone at the front, exposing an enticing and demure expanse of delicious, chocolate-coloured, smooth breast, anchored in place by a peekaboo amount of jet-black bra. Skinny blue jeans revealed a sinuous pair of shapely legs, held up by generous hips, the other ends finished off with cute, black, leather ankle boots.

Rachel Johnson, behind the counter, said, "Ah, Lucia! Good morning! Hi, Pablo. Lucia, I would like you to meet the new Social Hostess."

"Oh, wow," said Lucia, surprised but pleased.

The Black woman, with sparkling eyes and a wide mouth full off dazzling white teeth, smiled broadly. "Hi, great to meet you!"

"Yes, same here."

"I'm Jadzia," she announced. "Jadzia McCormack. I'm the new Social Hostess."

"Lucia Gonzalez, from Brazil. I'm the old one, ha!"

"Right!" Jadzia laughed.

"McCormack -- that's a Scottish name, but you don't look Scottish," smiled Lucia.

"Well, I'm a US citizen but my family hails from Jamaica originally," Jadzia explained.

"Oh, right." Lucia turned to Rachel. "This is great, Rachel -- but I don't have time to teach her the job, like Lisa did with me."

"That's OK," answered Rachel. "Dave can fill her in with her duties."

"Who's Lisa?" asked Jadzia.

"The Social Hostess before me," replied Lucia.

"And who's this handsome creature?" smiled Jadzia, looking beyond Lucia to Pablo.

"He's my boyfriend," said Lucia, secretly thrilling at the words as she spoke them.

"Wow, if that's the kind of quality you get on here, this could be fun!"

"Hahaha!" said Rachel. "We don't get too many looking like that."

"Hi, Jadzia," said Pablo, beaming at her with a broad smile.

"Well," said Rachel. "Jadzia, I'll call the Cruise Director and he'll show you to your cabin."

"Sure."

"Lucia and Pablo, come around the back."

The two dancers did so. In the back office, the Chief Purser gave them their pay packets, together with an extra five thousand dollars each.

"Wow!" they cried.

"It's not much, really," remarked Rachel. "Considering it's a fob-off manoeuvre designed to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit and another one for attempted unfair dismissal."