Natural Beauty (17 page)

“Sorry
kids, I
gotta
kick you out,” Jim said as he reached
for Delia’s still half full martini glass.

Delia
looked at her watch and felt completely embarrassed that she had just spent
four and a half hours talking to a complete stranger in a bar. She just
couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to him. She had been married to Jason
for four years yet couldn’t recall a time when they had spent more than thirty
minutes talking. And the conversation was usually about him.

Chase,
on the other hand, rarely spoke about himself. Instead, he just listened to
Delia and even seemed interested in what she had to say. He found her former
job with the National Science Institute fascinating and even asked questions
about it.
 
He laughed at her stories
about Donna Lee, and the best part, he didn’t stare at her breasts. Of course,
with the shirt she had buttoned up to her neck, he wouldn’t have seen much
anyway.

“May
I escort you to your room?” he asked, standing and reaching for her hand.

Feeling
as if she were being courted by a gentleman, she felt herself flush. That
simple question and the tiny gesture of him taking her hand nearly made her
cry. For the first time in her life she felt … special.

He
never relinquished her hand. She noted the unique way he held hands with her.
It wasn’t static or stationary. His hands continuously moved over and caressed
hers as if he was a blind man trying to memorize the outline of her fingers and
palms.

They
walked hand in hand along the deck of the Golden Swan, staring out into the sea
enjoying the warm summer breeze drifting from the coast of Barbados. They took
the long route back to the cabins and even stopped along the way to play an
impromptu moonlight game of shuffle board.

“How
are you so good at this?” Delia squealed after missing her mark for the third
time.

“Years
of practice. I told you I’m on this boat every summer. Not only can I spank you
in shuffle board, but I can also whip you in bridge, mahjong, and horseshoes.”
He smiled then said, “By the end of this cruise, you’ll be able to hold your
own. And by next year, I bet you’ll be giving me a run for my money.”

When
they stopped in front of Delia’s cabin to part ways, she realized she didn’t
want to part. Just the idea that she was attracted to a man other than Jason
excited her. Not only was she attracted to him, but he seemed to like her as
well. Maybe she wasn’t as worthless as she thought.

***

Chase’s
heart nearly stopped when they reached Delia’s door. He didn’t want to leave
her, but he also didn’t want her to invite him in. Though he wanted her badly,
he couldn’t afford a relationship at this point in his life. But maybe it
didn’t have to be a relationship, maybe just a … He shook that thought away.
There was no way he could use her like that. After the night they’d had, the
conversation, the long looks into her emerald eyes, he thought he might be
…well, he wasn’t going to use the L word yet, but he did know that something
very special had happened to him.

“Well,
this is me,” Delia said, nodding to the door.

“Right,
of course,” Chase jammed his hands into his creased black pants in order to
resist the urge to scoop her up into his arms. “So, will I see you again?”

“Yeah,
sure, do you want to do breakfast?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Chase
looked down at his shoes and kicked at an invisible stone like a shy teenager
on his first date.

After
Chase had kicked the invisible stone to death, he began to awkwardly pick the
paint off the door frame as he waited for his confidence to surge and give him
the needed boost to make a move. Finally, he took in a deep breath and said,
“Can I kiss you now?”

After
a cute, demure smile crept across her face, she nodded her head and he leaned
in to claim his prize.

Chase
teased her lips with two or three soft, endearing pecks before pressing his
mouth firmly to hers. Then he wrapped his arm around her and brought her body
so close to him that he could feel her heart racing. A warm, velvety tongue
parted her full lips and began to slowly, tenderly and erotically probe the
depths of her mouth. Delia moaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and
returned the passion of his kiss.

They
stood there, lips and bodies locked, until they were both hot and breathless.
Then, Chase remembered his position. This was not the time, he said to himself
as he pulled away. For God’s sake, she lived in D.C. What would happen if they
met after the cruise?

“I
better go,” he breathed.

“Yeah,
you better go,” she repeated as if delirious.

He
tasted her lips one more time before relinquishing his hold. Even after she’d
closed the door behind her, he couldn’t escape the image of her eyes, her smile
and her lips.
 
Chase rested his forehead
on her door. What have I done?
he
thought.

“Honestly,
I think I was born in the wrong decade,” Chase said two days later at lunch. “I
mean, how cool would it be to live in a time when people got dressed up to go
to the supermarket? Men wore suits and ties and hats and just looked sharp all
the time.”

Chase
took a bag of nacho cheese Doritos and crumpled them all over his shrimp salad.
Delia noticed he added Doritos to nearly every meal. At first she thought it
was odd; now she thought it was one of his many adorable quirks.

“And the music.
Don’t get me started on the
music. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Perry Como, music that is
timeless and just plain … beautiful.”

He
smiled and looked at Delia when he said the word ‘beautiful’ as if he was
referring to her as well. Then he continued with endearing child-like
exuberance as he said, “I mean, think about the music today. Are we going to be
talking about it like
this
fifty years from now?
Probably not.
Young people today don’t listen to music with
such simple, pure, yet honest, relevant, and poetic lyrics.”

Then
suddenly, he was out of his seat and singing the lyrics to “Embraceable You”.
He took Delia’s hand, stood her up and started swaying to the imaginary music
and continued singing the incredibly romantic lyrics. He actually had a pretty
good voice. Other people in the restaurant began to smile and stare at the two
young lovers dancing around the tables to no music at all. Then someone sat at
the piano and began musical accompaniment.

Chase
wrapped his arms around her and dipped her. Normally, Delia would have been
mortified with this sort of display. She would have needed to bring out her
allergy medication for the fit of sneezes it would have caused, but something
about Chase put her at ease. She just let herself relax and enjoy the moment. When
he finished, the restaurant erupted in applause.

“There
are two fatal flaws in your desire to return to the fifties and sixties,” Delia
said once they had sat back down to their lunch.

“Really, what?”

“Well,
in the fifties, our relationship would not be accepted.”

Chase
knew she referred to their different races, but what struck him more was the
fact that she thought they were in a relationship. He had already let it go too
far.

“Do
you have a problem with my race?” she asked, noticing a change in his demeanor.

“What?
Oh, no, of course not. I couldn’t care less that you’re … Actually, I don’t
even know what race you are.”

“Honestly,
neither do
I
. Since I’ve never met my parents, there’s
no way I can be sure.”

“Have
you ever thought about trying to find them?”

“I
wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, I wouldn’t want to upset the only
mother I’ve known. I don’t want her to think she wasn’t enough for me.”

“I
can’t imagine how hard it
is for you not knowing
where
you come from.”

Delia
looked down at her plate and started pushing around the pasta noodles as she
had suddenly lost her appetite.

“So
what was the other fatal flaw?” he asked cheerfully, trying to lighten the
mood.

“What?
Oh, well,” Delia reached across the table, grabbed the half-empty bag of chips
and dumped the rest of the contents on top of her pasta.
“In
the fifties, no Doritos.”

***

After
lunch they went for a swim together in one of the ship’s outdoor pools.
Completely self-conscious of her body, including her freakishly large boobs,
Delia sat on the edge of the pool still wearing her bathrobe as Chase splashed
around her trying to convince her to jump in.

Now
he had a great body, Delia thought. He was built kind of like a soccer player
with well-defined muscles, but nothing over the top. His muscles were natural,
long, and lean. Not like Jason, who would spend hours a week in the gym,
tanning beds, and waxing salons searching for that hunky look. It was a look
that was attractive to the majority of women. Jason could take off his shirt and
women would faint. For Delia, however, his beauty rituals wore her thin and
made her feel even more inadequate about her body. Somehow Chase’s body turned
her on even more than Jason’s did.

Looking
around the pool didn’t help her self-consciousness. She felt she stuck out too
much. There were sixty and seventy-year-old women strutting around in bikinis
letting their wrinkles hang in all their glory. Meanwhile she was sitting there
with a 34D bust and a 26 inch waist afraid to show her modest one piece for
fear she’d look like a cartoon character.

After
pleading with her several times to join him in the water, Chase decided to take
matters into his own hands. He swam up to her innocently then grabbed her by
the legs and dunked her underwater, bathrobe and all. Delia squealed and tried
to kick herself free.

Her
kicking and squirming proved fruitless as he was much too strong for her. After
a few moments, she relaxed in the water and let him hold her.

“You’re
beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.

The
weight of the bathrobe soon tired her so she took it off and laid it by the
side of the pool.

***

Even
though they had spent every waking moment together —even a few non-waking
moments —for the past few days, he had never seen her in anything revealing. He
loved her modesty. She reminded him of the classy women of the forties and
fifties. But when she took off her robe and he got a glimpse of her true
figure, he gasped. She was simply breathtaking. He had to control his manly
urge to grope her right there in public.

***

Feeling
a little guilty for monopolizing all of Chase’s time, Delia suggested he spend
the afternoon with his grandmother. Well, the real reason for the suggestion
was that she wanted some time alone to shop for the perfect dress for their last
night on the ship. She wished she had taken Donna Lee up on her offer to go
shopping before she left DC. But she hadn’t anticipated meeting someone like
Chase. He was absolutely the right guy at the right time. She didn’t feel
insecure or invisible when she was with him. She just felt … alive.

While
looking through the clothing racks at Becky’s, the ship’s dress boutique, she
tried to imagine what Donna Lee would want her to wear. In fact, she wondered
what Donna Lee would do if she were about to go dancing possibly for the last
time with a handsome perfect stranger.
 
She didn’t have to wonder too hard. Delia had memories of detailed Donna
Lee exploits and one night stands. She never remembered her beautiful, confident
sister ever crying over a guy. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad way to live, she
thought.

***

Every
night ended the same way. After dancing the evening away in one of the ship’s
nightclubs, they would stroll along the deck and talk for hours then kiss in
front of Delia’s door. Chase told himself that as long as he didn’t let it go
any farther he’d be fine. He wasn’t too attached and he could leave the ship
with no strings.
 
In a few days or weeks
he’d get over her. He looked down at the sexy black cocktail dress she wore.
Okay, maybe months.

“I’m
not wearing underwear,” Delia giggled, suddenly snapping Chase out of his
thoughts about how to end their romance. She rested her head onto his chest and
nestled closer to him as they slow danced to “Bewitched” by Frank Sinatra. His
whole body tightened as he resisted the urge to run his hands over the smooth
curve of her butt.

“Did
you hear me? I’m not wearing any underwear.” Delia lifted her head and kissed
the bottom of Chase’s chin. Then she kissed down his neck to the top of his
chest, sending a thrill throughout his body that landed in his loins.

“Delia,
I think you’ve had too much to drink.” For the first time in a week, he had
seen her drink more than two sips of an alcoholic beverage. That night at
dinner, she’d had not one, but two glasses of wine and he could see the effect
it had on her.

“You’re
probably right. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m not wearing
underwear, does it?” she said in a singsong voice before giggling again.

He
had tried to be a perfect gentleman all week. He had tried not to get too close
to her even though their make-out sessions in front of her door lasted longer
and longer each night.
 
He only let the
conversation dwell on superficial things, especially after he learned that she
too was from Washington D.C. Even though Delia had revealed so much about her
life including her sister, her failed marriage, even about being adopted, Chase
hadn’t revealed anything about himself.

All
she knew about him was that he and his grandmother were very close. Anytime
Delia wanted to know more about him, he expertly directed the conversation
toward the topic of Felicia or to his fascination with the fifties. He’d played
it as careful as he
could,
knowing the feelings that
were developing in him and knowing that if she found out the truth about him,
she would probably run away screaming.

“Maybe
we should go,” Delia said dejectedly after she received no response from him.
She pulled away and ran her fingers over her long hair which she had recently
straightened.

“Delia,
I
— ”

“No,
it’s okay. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so embarrassed.” She turned and
dashed out of the nightclub.

He
had to be discreet. He had to use discretion.

“Delia,
I just don’t want to take advantage of you,” he said once he caught up with her
in the hallway.

“Chase,
I’m a grown woman. I know what I’m doing.”

Discreet.
Discretion.

“But
there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“This
has been the most romantic week of my life, Chase. I just wanted … I just
thought
… ”

He
sealed her lips with a kiss that made her melt in his arms.
 
They stumbled around the corridor until he
had her pinned against a wall. His hands caressed the silky contours of her
dress until they reached her glorious panty-less bottom.

Screw
discretion …

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