We went on the Princess Line to Paradise Island, San Juan, and St. Thomas. A friend of a friend worked in the Princess office and we got a great free upgrade to the best suite in the ship. It was a 2 room suite with a full balcony.
We spent the day of departure in the ships bar. The ship leaves at evening and there was a thunderstorm in progress. As the ship left there was lightening all around and it was a great light show. We had dinner in the late seating and we went to the early show. There we signed up for scuba lessons. I had already had a card, but Ashley was generally afraid of diving and these lessons would all be in the swimming pool on the ship. Then there was a free dive in San Juan and one in St. Thomas.
The lessons started the next morning. The dive instructor was a man named Mark. He took a liking to Ashley and spent a lot of time with her, going over the fitting of tanks, vests and belts. When we had dinner, she confided in me that his hands all over her near naked body had turned her on and could I see that?
I told her that I thought she had handled it pretty well. That night, late, we met Mark in the ships lounge and we had a Mai Tai. He couldn't take his eyes off Ashley's tits. She had a sundress on and no bra, with lots of cleavage.
I know that it turned Ashley on, because we made love like minks that night on the balcony lounge chair.
The next morning a break fast, we had our usual juice and muffin and then at the pool by 10. Mark made sure that each of his students, there were seven altogether, had all their equipment. He again spent a lot of time with Ashley, and I could see her glancing at me, for my reaction.
I showed none.
After the lesson, Mark came over and asked us if we would like to start on the bookwork that night. He could come to the cabin and get us started.
Ashley looked at me; I shrugged my shoulders and said, "If that's what you want to do, honey." She told him yes. We skipped the show that night and Ashley put on a killer outfit. I mean drop dead killer. It was a one piece red jumpsuit, form fitting.
At 8:30, Mark showed up and came in. He had brought a bottle of Red wine. We opened it up and sat in the sitting area. He brought out the two sets of books and we really started going over them. I thought I had mis read the entire deal. Ashley must have thought the same thing. I could tell by her body language, that she was disappointed.
After 1 hour, Mark said that was enough and did we play any card games. My trusty schwantzstick came to attention. I knew exactly what he had in mind. Ashley must have missed that boat, because she had this deadpanned look on her face. I said, "Sure we play cards, what do you have in mind?"
"Poker."
It was at this time Ashley got an inkling as to what was happening. She said, "What are the stakes?"
Mark, Said, "Pennies."
Ashley agreed and we went to the table with the wine and the cards. We rummaged through all the pockets and purses and came up with a shit load of pennies.
We sat down and Mark pulled out a pencil and grabbed a letter stationary from the bureau. He came over and sat down and we dealt out pennies. I knew there was something going on, but just didn't know the angle. Ashley was breathing deeper than normal, so I figured she was getting warm with the idea.
We dealt the cards. The pennies included foreign coins, dimes, quarters and nickels. We greed they were all worth a penny each. Everyone had 50 pennies. The rules were: 1 penny to ante, five card stud, and one eyed jacks wild. (Yes, five aces beat everything) Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out 25 pennies isn't very much and wouldn't last 20 minutes.
Mark said "don't worry; there will be more pennies, soon."
Finally, it came to pass that Ashley was down to 3 pennies. Mark said, "You can buy back 25 pennies for an article of clothing."
Ashley almost gagged on the wine she was sipping. "What?"
He explained to her that she could buy pennies (25 for an article of clothing) and she could redeem them for 25 pennies for an article. Seemed fair to me.
Ashley stammered and I thought she was going to nix the deal, but then she leaned across the table and asked a very pointed question, "and what happens when we run out of clothing?"
Mark smiled and said, "Well let's work that out now."
Ashley said, "I want it understood right from the start that Erik is not going to leave me alone with you at any time."
Mark looked at me, I smiled and then Ashley stopped again and said; "Now look, I only have 4 things on. This is not fair."
Mark said, Ok, that's understandable, we'll give you 50 pennies per article."
Ashley considered that, and then she said, "What is in it for me? What do I win?"
The following rules were agreed upon:
1. Clothes for Erik and Mark were 25 cents; Ashley got 50 cents, with a 25 cents buy back. (Exchange rate)