Unforgettable cruise

Chapter 3 - (actual chapter 1 concludes…)

Leigh’s destination was the Sports deck. It was prime time for her to introduce herself to the Fitness Center: her essential travel companion on this journey. After all, it was her gym activity which routinely kept the flabbergasting flab off her body in her home life, along with occasional nature and/or beach walks when she could fit either of those into her schedule and away from crowds.


Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, it appeared well-equipped, with higher-end versions of the typical gear she knew so well from her local gyms over the years. Plenty of busy bodies dressed in a range of “please don’t look at me” through “please look at me” activewear were making good use of the facilities.

As acceptable as the Fitness Center was, and as much as she knew she really ought to return to her stateroom, change, and come back up and get in motion, the potent spell of the adjacent spa called to her. It wasn’t so much its very light, delicate, pleasant aroma as the promises which lay within which drew her longing attention. Beautifully appointed in well-lit shades of whites and pinks with subtle yellow and sky blue embellishments, it drew her in like a magnet.

{*I’m goin’ in!*}


**
“Good evening” the smiling woman of the two white-coated spa employees currently standing near the counter greeted her, with the gasp-worthy hunky gentleman next to her asking, “How may we benefit you tonight?”

{Friends With Benefits might work for me, once we get to know one another} Leigh brashly thought as she looked him over. “I’mmm… freshly boarded this afternoon and familiarizing myself with the ship’s amenities. I’m a Pampered Gem, uh, *member*, so I’m highly likely to want to partake of your services here.”


The range of services on display and enumerated by Gabi and Raphael (per their name tags) dazzled her.


“Middays, mid-afternoons, and evenings tend to be our busiest times,” noted Gabi near her presentation conclusion, “during which reservations are recommended.”

“We currently have one sauna and one massage table open” Raphael added.

“Who does the massages?”

As they’d been doing throughout their explanatory presentation, Gabi and Raphael took tag-team turns speaking. It was again Gabi’s turn, “At all times we’re open there is at least one female and one male massage therapist.”

“More during busier times, as now, with Humberto and Lydia currently assisting other cruisers.”

“So I could get a Thai massage from you right now, Raphael?”

“Absolutely” he smiled. “Soon as you’re signed in, we can get you going.”


**
The sensual delights of Raphael’s big, strong, skilled hands working her energy meridians from foot to head and, well away from her erogenous zones and societally-sanctioned private areas, skin to skin had what felt like buckets of stress and tension dissolving and melting away out of Leigh’s body.

Busy professional woman that she was, Leigh’s primary reason for the lack of loving, sensual hands at her ready beck and call in her life was a lack of time and inclination to date. Parts of her mind minimized or suppressed thoughts of additional factors in play. In a society warped to apparently agree that a woman’s value as an intimate lover rapidly declines with age, being 3 years shy of the most common retirement age benchmark put her so far out on the asymptote near zero value that the exact positioning wasn’t worth a moment’s quibble. She thought the “skunk” shock of brilliant white hair visible amongst her still-predominantly and still-naturally medium brown hair made her look more interesting and younger—which in a way, it did. Lines and other wear and tear elsewhere told a different story she’d rather not be told. What had always been with her was her plain appearance, especially her face. Neither ugly nor beautiful enough to draw attention, it had often been a beneficial attribute when she wanted to be ignored and left alone to enjoy her solitude, as at dinner this very night. It had historically proven less beneficial during the times she wished to draw positive, and especially amorous, attention to herself.

Counting back the number of years to the last time a man had intimately had his hands on her for any meaningful length of time made her feel queasy.


Raphael felt her body tensing up. “Doing alright, Ms. Down?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I may have found a spot with some tension. Permission for me to ease back down then resume working up, to narrow in on it?”

“Gladly!”

“Stay in the moment and feel all there is to feel of the experience to the best of your ability, to get the most out of this.”

“Mmmmm… alright” she happily sighed.


From his training and experience, Raphael had a strong sense of what Ms. Down most needed: midsection tension release, especially between her lower buttocks and the small of her back. The time, place, and society within which they existed precluded his directly addressing this region with the necessary rigor. To a degree, so too did his lack of amorous interest in her, much as the professional in him wanted to help her body release what needed freeing.

Deeply skilled as he was, he worked around the limitations with aplomb.


Leigh Down left the massage session a satisfied, refreshed, deeply relaxed woman, all ready for a great night’s sleep in her amply-sized pillowy cloud-soft stateroom bed. So far on this first night, this pricey cruise left nothing to be desired.