Chapter 2: Introductions

I was fairly hung over the next morning, though not the worst I’d ever been. The ship was at sea that entire first day, steaming towards our first port of St. Thomas. I cleaned up, promised myself I’d drink less today, threw on a bathing suit and headed out to the pool, figuring I could sweat the toxins out of my body.

One advantage of being by myself, the only one I’d found so far? It was fairly easy to find a single available lounge chair, second row back from the pool. I plopped down on a chair, my bloodshot eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and started looking around for a waiter, my sobriety vow quickly forgotten.

And that’s when I first saw Riley.

She was sitting at the opposite edge of the main pool, dangling her shins in the water. Leaning back, supporting herself with her arms behind her. Her body was long and lean in a silver and black one piece bathing suit. Her curves were small but definitely noticeable, and her legs were gorgeous.

But what I really noticed first was her hair. Golden and shining in the sunlight, her hair was long and wavy, the bottom tendrils cascading well past her shoulders. Like me, she was wearing sunglasses, so I couldn’t really read her expression. But she was also alone, and sort of lazily scanning the crowd, turning her head back and forth. Unlike most of the crowd at the pool deck, she wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t laughing, she wasn’t dancing or bobbing her head to the music. She was just watching, and I couldn’t help staring at her. She was just so lovely. At first glance, I figured she was maybe 19, 20 years old. A solid 5 years younger than me, but hey, I was only looking!

She raised her arms above her head, then turned her torso to the left and stretched. I could see her small but perfectly rounded breasts straining against her swimsuit, the nipples making small points in the silvery fabric. I felt my cock swell in my pants as I stared at her chest. As her torso rotated back towards the pool, I was so distracted by the view that I forgot to be discreet with my staring.

When I looked back at her face, I found a pair of dark sunglasses facing directly at my own, the corners of her mouth quirking up into a smile. My face reddened, and I quickly looked away, staring at the waterslide which corkscrewed into the upper deck pool.

The next time I dared look in her direction, she was walking away from the pool, and I enjoyed the view without fear of being caught. Her swimsuit wasn’t particularly revealing on the backside, but it was tight enough to show a perfectly formed butt, and a lovely view of those wonderful legs. My cock throbbed again, an unfamiliar sensation; my sex drive had been practically non-existent since I’d caught Lilly cheating on me.

Riley (though I didn’t know that was her name yet) settled down on a lounge chair between the pool and one of the hot tubs and picked up a magazine. I stole glances at her whenever I could over the next couple of hours, and went through a couple of drinks from the roving waiters.

Other than a quick break inside for a sandwich, I watched her pretty constantly over the next few hours. Though I’d brought a book with me, it was nothing but a cover for my voyeurism. About an hour after I started watching her, she was joined by a couple others; a pretty redhead in a blue bikini maybe around her same age, and a slightly older guy who was clearly the redhead’s husband or boyfriend. The couple chatted and laughed among themselves, occasionally including the blonde. But most of the time, she either read quietly or again simply watched the people at the pool.

I did see her whispering in the redhead’s ear at some point, and wondered why the secrecy. Girl talk, I suppose. I couldn’t keep staring, as the redhead’s eyes happened to wander in my direction, so I quickly looked away.

Around mid-afternoon, I catnapped in the chair for a bit. When I woke up, I could see the blonde sitting alone, leaned back in her lounge chair. With the sunglasses on, I couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep. I stretched, and decided to try out the hot tub, which looked fairly deserted for a change.

I walked around the edge of the pool and towards the hot tub, only a few chairs over from Riley. I admired her lean body and how the high cut one piece displayed her thighs.

I climbed the few steps and settled down into the hot tub, the jets pulsing against my back and shoulder muscles, working the kinks out. Sitting down in the hot tub, I couldn’t see the lounger where Riley had been sitting, so you can imagine my surprise when she suddenly appeared at the edge of the tub. She smiled shyly and lowered herself into the water directly across from me, the water level just below her breasts.

For the first time, I saw her without sunglasses hiding her eyes. They were blue and gorgeous, and I stared into those eyes, forgetting my manners briefly. The couple adjacent to us in the hot tub stood and climbed out, passing between us on their way. That distraction was enough to break the spell for a moment, reminding me it wasn’t polite to stare. As the two of us now had the hot tub to ourselves, I extended my hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m Mark.”

“Riley,” she said, blushing a little as she took my hand. Her grip was soft, her palm smooth, and I enjoyed the touch of her skin for that brief moment.

“Hi Riley -- where are you from?” I asked. (Sure, a cliched question, but I wanted to keep talking to her and I didn’t know how long we’d have this moment of semi-privacy, the hot tub to ourselves. Also, talking to her kept me looking at her face, instead of in other, less appropriate directions!)

“I’m from Orlando,” she said. “How about you?” Her voice was quiet and soft, and somehow hearing her talk made her seem younger than my initial estimation. I revised my guess a bit lower, maybe 17, 18? I was hoping for the latter, at least.

“I’m from Boston,” I answered. “I had to fly down to catch this cruise -- I’m guessing you drove down?”

She nodded. “I did -- well, we did, actually my dad drove.”

We chatted for a few minutes. I learned that she was here with her family, they had a couple of balcony cabins a few decks above mine. She then of course asked the question I was dreading.

“Who are you here with?”

I briefly considered lying, making up a story that was less pitiful. But looking into her lovely face, those blue eyes, somehow, I just couldn’t. So I took a deep breath, and over ten minutes or so, told her the story. How Lilly and I had been together two years, how we’d met through mutual friends. I talked about how I thought we were permanent, how the word “marriage” had been thrown around a few times. I told this young stranger about how Lilly and I had planned the cruise, to celebrate her graduation and our anniversary.

And then, finally, I told her how it ended. Out of deference to her age (which I still wasn’t sure of) I left out the graphic details, only admitting that Lilly had “fallen in love with another guy” three weeks ago. I told Riley how I’d decided to take the cruise alone, and how I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, that this didn’t seem to be a great vacation for a solo person.

Some of my own pain was reflected in her eyes as I finished my story, and she reached over and rubbed my shoulder. I thrilled at the feeling of her touch, and she blushed again and pulled her hand back, as if she’d been too forward. I smiled at her as she said in her soft voice, “I’m so sorry, Mark. That must have been awful.”