“Never enough, babe,” I said, putting my hand on the small of his back and guiding him to the door. I tried to shake off the bad mood. I had Ari here with me, ready to take him out and show him off to the world. And then later, he was going to let me take him to the upper deck, where he was planning to bare his body and dance with me under the stars. No way was I going to let anything stop me from enjoying every second of this night.Chapter TenEliOur itinerary told us what restaurant we were expected at for which meals, so after arriving at the finely appointed and huge restaurant on an upper deck, we followed the hostess to a table with four other diners, all presumably gay men who were dressed similarly to the way we were. I pulled out a chair for Ari and we sat down, introducing ourselves to the men already seated. One of them was a banker, he told us, named Henry. He was from Atlanta, while the other, much younger man was a gorgeous blond.
“I’m Cody. From Tennessee,” he told us with a soft southern drawl. He glanced appreciatively at both of us and then back at his boyfriend, who looked at us suspiciously. Great. That’s all we needed.
Ari seemed oblivious though, and greeted both of them happily, receiving a warm response from both the men when he turned on that natural charm of his. “And how is everybody this evening?” he asked, as he reached over and took my hand in his. I saw Henry notice and visibly relax. It was part of Ari’s personality to always seem to be able to put people at their ease, and showing Henry that both he and I were “taken” seemed to soften his attitude a lot. For his part, Cody seemed a little bored, though, as the dinner wore on and the waiters began to bring in the various courses. Poor Henry.
I skimmed the choices and picked out a simple entrée and salad, asking for Evian rather than a cocktail. Cody and Ari, however, both decided on the peach Bellinis, then toasted each other when the pink, frothy drinks came. The dinner wore on and finally it was over. Then, to my annoyed surprise, Ari asked Henry and Cody to accompany us to the upper deck.
“Oh, I’ve heard about that,” Cody gushed as his husband frowned. “There’s a party up there every night of the cruise. Clothing optional.”
“That doesn’t sound like anything we’d be interested in,” Henry said, and Cody turned on him.
“Speak for yourself. I think it sounds like fun, and it’s exactly what we need. You promised you’d try to loosen up some on this trip and stop being such a stick in the mud, so let’s do it!”
Taking pity on the guy, I shrugged. “I don’t think everyone takes off their clothes,” I said in a conciliatory tone. “I’m not going to, for example. But why don’t we take them up there and let them have some fun?”
Henry grunted, but Cody grabbed his hand and practically pulled him out the door, calling back over his shoulder in excitement. “We’ll go get changed and meet you upstairs at the party, okay?” They disappeared in the large crowd leaving the restaurant and I shook my head.
“I think you may have caused old Henry a problem tonight.”
“Ah, he’ll be fine. We just have to get a few drinks in him. But what’s this about you not taking off your clothes? Are you chicken?”
“No.”
Ari laughed at me, pulling me out onto the deck and down toward our room, making little “buck buck” sounds in my ear.
“Not all of us are exhibitionists, Ari. I’ll take you and let you see it for yourself. Maybe you and Cody can show yourself off to the crowd up there. That ought to be fun for you.”
Even as the words came out of my mouth, I could hear that I sounded a little pissy. I guess I was more upset over his remarks earlier than I thought.
“Are you saying something’s wrong with that?” he asked, hands on hips as he glared up at me. “You’re the one who encouraged it today at lunch.”
“No, I’m not saying…look, I’m sorry. I guess I got too much sun today, and it’s made me a little tired and grouchy. Let’s go get into our suits and go to the party.”
Slightly mollified, he nodded and we went below decks to get our swimsuits on. Neither of us talked much as we were getting ready, and that was fine with me. I couldn’t seem to shake the mood I was in, ever since he’d announced to me that he didn’t like BDSM because he didn’t want to ever be controlled or told what to do.