Voyage To Submission (19 page)

Leaving wasn’t an option since she’d have
to face him eventually anyway. More importantly, she tried to live her life
facing her problems, rather than running away, or burying them under food and
fat. Stiffening her spine, she walked with the other three people for a short
time, and then she excused herself. After refusing an escort, she hurried back
to her suite.

Henderson arrived a few minutes after she
did, to see if she needed anything.

“I’m stuffed,” she mumbled, half-seated,
half-lying on the long sofa.

“Did you have a good time?” he asked,
casually picking up the shoes she’d kicked off on her way to the sofa.

“I was Alice down the rabbit hole. I stuck
my foot in my mouth a few times, but I only picked up the wrong fork once.”

Henderson chuckled. “I’m sure you did fine.
I’ll take your shoes up for you. I’ve pulled down the bed and laid out a fresh
gown.”

Andy saw a smile curl his lips, and then it
was quickly gone. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

Henderson shook his head. “No, miss, not at
all. Would you like me to draw your bath?”

“No, but you are spoiling me. How will I
function back home?”

“Quite well, I am sure.”

Andy stood and took her shoes from
Henderson. “You can go. I’m going to take that bath.”

“Do you want a wake-up call in the
morning?”

“No, I’m going to sleep in. I’ll probably
skip breakfast.”

“Very well, Ms. Bond. I’ll tidy up down
here before I go.”

Andy smiled and started up the stairs.
“Thank you, Rick. You really are a doll.”

“Thank you, I guess. And if you get hungry,
I’ve left a few surprises in the refrigerator.”

“Ooh, now that sounds interesting.”

* * * * *

Rick moved about the downstairs,
straightening cushions and making sure everything was in its intended spot. He
checked his watch. From here, he was going to meet Amalie for a late snack.
They were both signing over to the desk for the night so they could have some
uninterrupted time together. It had been a long time since they had both been
this busy on a cruise. He was nearly ready to go when the doorbell rang.

Opening the door, he found it hard to not
smile. “Good evening, sir,” Rick murmured.

Jack glared, walking past him into the
suite. “I think we’ve passed the usual pleasantries.”

“Yeah.” Rick agreed as he closed the door,
turning to look at the other man. “Ms. Bond didn’t tell me she was expecting
company.”

Jack stopped halfway towards the stairs.
“She forgot. Did she ask for a wake-up call?”

Rick shook his head. He had two choices. He
could try and stop the man determined to reach the woman upstairs. There was a
chance he would win, but they both would end up hurting and bruised. And if
ever he’d seen a man in love, this guy was it.

“No, no wake-up call. And there is some
food in the refrigerator, if anyone gets hungry.”

“Thanks for not making this day from hell
any worse,” Jack told him as he started up the stairs.

“I had a few days like that before Amalie
straightened me out. Good night, Jack.”

Jack had removed his jacket by the time he
reached the top of the stairs. As he entered the open bedroom, he could hear
sounds coming from the bathroom. Water stopped running, and he heard the sound
of the jets starting. It sounded like Andy must be using that great tub, which
overlooked her deck. As he rounded the corner, he had shed the rest of his clothes
and saw the bathroom was lit with a few candles.

Andy was already in the tub, her head back
and eyes closed.

As quietly as possible, he crossed the
room. For a minute he considered climbing in, but then he decided to sit on the
side, facing her. Once he was seated, he made a soft whispering sound.

Slowly, as if waking from a sleep, Andy
opened her eyes.

Even in the dim light, he could see she had
not removed her makeup, which had run down her cheeks because she was crying.
“Damn, honey! Are you okay? Did something happen?”

Andy shook her head, sniffling loudly and
then gulping a little. “No…I-I’m fine.” She stopped as she started crying
again.

Jack slid into the tub, pulling Andy into
his arms.

“No…no…you shouldn’t do that.” She
resisted, pushing against him, but weakly.

Jack shook his head. “Of course I should,
sweetheart. Uhm, I am a little worried about that goop getting in your eyes. Do
you have some kind of remover for it?”

Andy nodded. “Yeah.” She twisted away and
grabbed a small jar. Taking some out she passed it back to him to close.
Quickly, she smeared it all over her face. “You’ve probably forgotten what I
look like without all the war paint.”

“No, I still remember.”

“You have to admit it’s an improvement.”
She continued to work her fingers all over her face.

“No, I don’t have to admit that, Andy.” He
knew immediately he had her attention by the way her fingers stopped moving.

“Don’t be silly, Jack. I thought men liked
a pretty, made-up face.” Her voice was a little shaky when she replied.

He noticed she had not opened her eyes, or
bothered to rinse yet either. “I disagree, Andy. A little makeup is okay, and
for special occasions a lot seems to be required. But in general, and
personally speaking, I like kissing a clean face.” Slowly he reached out with
both hands and started to touch her face, removing the cream. Grabbing a
washcloth, he wet it and gently dabbed at her eyes, working it all off
carefully. Finally, he was done and her face was clean.

“As far as being silly, you will have to
promise me you won’t tell a soul about this,” he paused, knowing she would open
her eyes out of curiosity. She did a few seconds later, nodding her head in
agreement. “Very well. I reached the height of silly this morning. When I woke
up and you weren’t in bed, I thought I would be funny…well, I assumed you were
downstairs. I put on your see-through robe, the golden one.”

Andy covered her mouth with her hand.

Jack could see the laughter starting to
bubble over. He went on deliberately, knowing this would break down any
barriers she had built during the day.

“I came sailing down those stairs,
anticipating surprising you—”

The laughter came out. “Oh no! Oh my God,
Jack! I’m so sorry.”

He held up his hand. “It would be hard to
say who was more surprised. Needless to say, I’m sure
that
is why
Henderson took pity on me tonight when I came banging on your door.”

“That’s awful. I am sorry,” Andy said
again.

“It wasn’t your fault and it gets worse. I
came back up here and called Ray to bring me some clothes so I wouldn’t have to
walk through the halls…well, you get the idea. He got here faster than I
thought, or I was daydreaming. Anyway, Ray came barreling up those stairs and
found me…in my golden morning splendor.”

Andy shook her head, still chuckling. “You
better have a big, bad secret to hold over his head or he is going to tell
everyone.”

“It came close tonight at dinner, but he
remembered at the last minute. Gayle was threatening to tickle it out of him.
Ray won’t say a word.”

Andy moved back to sit beside Jack in the bubbling
tub. As she leaned back, she thought she should warn him. “I hope you aren’t
holding the belly dancer story as the threat.” By the way Jack started, she
knew she’d guessed correctly. Turning to smile at him, she shook her head. Her
hair fell forward and with wet hands, scraped it all straight back, off her
face.

“Gayle already knows that one, but Ray
doesn’t know that she knows. And, she doesn’t want him to know that she knows.”

“Wait, this is too complicated. I figured
she’d be pissed.”

Andy shook her head. “I can’t tell you why
because then I’d have to kill you. And if Ray breaks down, Gayle won’t talk.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she doesn’t want Ray to know…this
is confusing. You promise you won’t say a word?”

Jack held up three fingers.

“All right. We heard about the surprise for
Ray’s birthday, and we set up you guys. I got Tony to call the number to
arrange a dancer. A big guy I knew from Chemistry lab went as her bouncer and
protector.”

“She thought she’d need someone to protect
her from us?”

“You didn’t know it was Gayle. Anyway,
that’s why.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Did she tell you
what happened?”

“Just that she danced. She and I had taken
an exotic dance class one semester together, and—”

“You know how to dance like that?” Jack
knew his voice went up a notch, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t recall a
whole lot of the dance but he did suddenly have a recollection of veils
dropping. Arousal shot through him. This time when he spoke, his voice was much
deeper and husky. “I would have liked to have seen that.”

Andy glanced at him. “Uh, you did see it.
You were there.”

He saw her confused look as she spoke. Jack
reached out and pulled Andy around to face him. As if she knew what he wanted,
her legs parted and he eased her forward onto his lap. He shook his head as he
pressed her against his hard cock. “No, Andy. I meant I would have liked to see
you perform the same dance, back then.”

He saw the look in her eyes—doubt, arousal
and then fear.

She pushed against him but he refused to
let her move even a millimeter. She looked away as she stopped struggling.
“Please don’t say things like that.”

“Why not, Andy? I’m not lying.”

“I heard all of you that night. I know what
you thought.”

Jack threaded his fingers through her hair
and tipped up her face. Finally, she lifted her gaze to meet his. “I’ve thought
a lot about what you said, Andy. I’ve tried to recall that conversation, but
other than bits and pieces, I can’t. I do know I volunteered to ask you out on
the last night, Andy. I didn’t lose the draw, or anything else.”

“Pity,” she whispered.

“That’s not what I was feeling on the
beach.”

She looked away, unable to hold his gaze.

He released the hold he had on her head,
moving his hands down her back, stroking up and down, rubbing and caressing. “Whose
idea was it to lose a piece of clothing?” he asked a few seconds later.

“Yours,” she mumbled.

“Who lost the most clothes?”

“You did because you didn’t know the
answers.”

“Funny that, huh. The guy who scored
sixteen-hundred on his SATs?” Jack answered slowly. He could feel the effect
his words were having. Slowly, he felt the tension leaving her body. “I had no
idea you didn’t have a bra on that night.”

Her head moved up and down, almost like a
bobble-head doll. “That was a dumb idea, huh?”

“I couldn’t believe how the fortune gods
suddenly favored me. I picked the hardest question I knew, pretty damned sure
you wouldn’t know the answer. I wanted to feel you next to me, Andy. I wanted
to kiss you, but I knew if I made the first move you would bolt.” His arms
moved to pull her closer and his mouth lowered to kiss her neck. Slowly, he
rubbed his chest back and forth against her breasts.

“If I close my eyes, Andy, I can still feel
how wonderfully warm and soft your breasts felt against me. When I finally held
you in my hands, God! You felt better than I had imagined…yes, Andy! I had
thought about you like that. I just couldn’t accept it.”

“Because I was fat!”

“No, because you were my friend. You so
easily supplanted Ray, it was eerie at times. I told you all my personal shit.
I was so stupid to tell you about that one girl…hell! I can’t even remember her
name—”

“Helen.”

“See? That’s how little she meant. I admit
I let the pressure of my peers guide my judgments in the earlier years, but
senior year was different, damn it! And then you became Miss Invisible after
spring break.”

“I was too embarrassed. I was afraid you
were only kissing me out of pity.”

“Pity? God, no, Andy! Didn’t you feel how
hard I was for you that night?”

Andy flushed brightly. She remembered very
well how he’d felt—to her anyway. “Yes,” she replied, choking up a little bit.
“I hated the thought you might have told the others about what almost happened,
and you were all laughing at me.”

“Andy, sweetheart, I would never have done
that. I’m just sorry you felt like you didn’t know me well enough to believe
it,” Jack told her a moment later.

She glanced up, shaking her head.

“And if anyone should be worried, it’s me,”
he added.

Andy shook her head. “What do you have to
be worried about?”

“Because you have a gorgeous body now and I
work sixty hours a week sometimes. I also skip some workouts and don’t eat
right all the time.”

Andy slid her hands down Jack’s sides.
There was only a little bit there to pinch.

“Hey!” Jack objected quickly.

“Something to hold onto,” Andy told him
quickly, lowering her head and pressing kisses to the side of his neck. A
moment later she shrieked in surprise as Jack showed her what he could hang
onto. Then she groaned as Jack proceeded to squeeze her breasts, gently.

“I can just imagine you, Andy, swiveling,
shimmying and sashaying around, dropping veil after veil. Slowly, you reveal
one more luscious curve or valley. When I put my hand between your thighs that
night, Andy—” Jack groaned loudly. “I knew I had to be inside you. It hurt like
hell, getting interrupted.”

Andy remembered every single second of that
night. Suddenly, she spoke from her heart. “I wanted to stay, Jack. I was so
angry they came back early.”

“So, why did you give me the cold shoulder?
I tried to ask you out again.”

Andy shook her head. “You said something on
the beach, right after we heard the others.”

“What? What did I say, Andy? I’ve replayed
that night countless times and I don’t know what happened to change—”

“You said ‘they will know’.”

“Yeah, if we’d gone up there half-dressed.”

“You didn’t want them to know. You were
afraid to have them know we’d almost made—” Her voice broke, but she forced
herself to go on. “You were ashamed the guys would know you’d made out with the
duffer.”

Silence followed her accusation and she
felt him tense. She’d known all along she was right, and this was obviously
proof—

“You’re wrong, Andy. I said we had time for
a quickie, and then I said ‘they’ll never know’. You see, I’ve replayed that
time more than once myself. Look at me, Andy.”

Reluctantly, she lifted her head and met
his steely-eyed gaze.

“I was hard as hell, frustrated and angry
at being interrupted. I hadn’t had sex for well over a year and I was lying
half-naked with my hand on your pussy, which I might add was dripping wet.”
Jack paused as he saw a blush spread across her cheeks.

“God, Andy! I was a horny kid. I was with
you
,
damn it! I wanted you. But I didn’t want to share what we had with anyone else.
I knew what they would say and how they would look at you afterwards. And I
knew if I didn’t think fast, the decision would be out of my hands. I’m sorry.
You have no idea how many times I wish I’d driven us to another beach, away
from the house.”

Andy could feel her stomach twisting into
knots.
They will know.
It did sound completely different from
they’ll
never know
. And she had wished so many times he’d picked a different spot,
or that their friends had come home later. Slowly, she opened her mouth to
reply. “Me too, Jack. I wished the same thing. But afterwards, I was sure you
were ashamed of what had happened and didn’t want the others to know. Even
though logically I knew you weren’t like that, I couldn’t shake the idea.”

“What about the night before graduation? At
the party?” Jack swallowed hard. It was his turn for some answers.

“The one where you got me drunk and were
about to have your wild college boy way with me?”

“Don’t tell me…that’s Gayle’s description
of the events, after the fact. Do you remember anything?”

“I’m not sure. I remember drinking tea, and
then I thought we were sitting on your bed.”

“I tried to find out your plans for after
graduation, like where you were going, grad school, work? You hadn’t told
anyone…or at least none of the guys knew. I asked Ruthie, but she clammed up,
and Gayle pretty much refused to talk to me for the next year or so.”

“I do recall one thing.”

Jack felt his stomach clench again,
wondering what she did remember. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“I know I wanted you to touch me, when we
were sitting on your bed. I imagined you pressing me back onto the mattress.
You pushed my shirt up and out of the way. It was hot that day, and you had
already stripped off your tank top. I wanted to feel your body against mine,
even if it was only one time. I desperately hoped you would put your hand
between my legs again—”