Wednesday Briefs – Flash Cruise

This is a special flash today in celebration of Pride Month. The Wednesday Briefs writers have all written a special flash for today, all set in the same background of a cruise ship. I’ve brought Mitch and Darrin back for a cruise. I hope you enjoy!

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Cowboy Waltz

By Jon Keys

Mitch tugged at the black tie as if it were a hangman’s noose. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the look of distress on my husband’s face. He caught me grinning and scowled.

“What’s so funny, giggles?”

“You are. You look hot, but it looks like someone poured red ants in your undies.”

Mitch glared for a moment, then started to chuckle. “If my pants were full of red ants, I’d be stripping clothes faster than you could say ‘Dairy Queen.’”

“Dairy Queen, Dairy Queen, Dairy Queen.”

Mitch looked at me, and one eyebrow slowly lifted. “And that was—for what?”

“I thought I’d see if you’d strip. It might be entertaining.”

“Yeah, big time entertaining. About like Country/Western night was.”

I frowned at Mitch. “Oh, don’t be such a prick. You had a great time.”

“The band was the Steers? Do they know what steers are?”

“They were going for humor. And it was the Queer Steers. I thought they were good, too.”

Mitch grumbled, “I ain’t no damn steer.”

My frown deepened “No, you’re working on being an asshole.”

Mitch studied the room; his lips in a thin line. “What is this?”

“Ballroom dancing. The crew’s supposed to teach us.”

Mitch glowered at me. “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me! I’m not doing any ballroom dancing. The two-step is more than I can handle.”

I pulled Mitch close. “Stop acting like a freaked-out hick. I know you’ll enjoy everything if you’d just chill out.”

“Ah! My two favorite cowboys! Mitch! Darin! I’m so excited you could make it. Do you have experience with ballroom dancing?”

Before I could reply, Mitch popped off, “Evenin’ Lisa. Darin thinks this is going to be fun. I’m not that easy.”

“Yes, you are,” I said.

Lisa covered her mouth with a hand, her blue eyes twinkling with amusement. I winked at her and grabbed Mitch’s arm. “I thought it would be fun. Tomorrow we get to Honolulu and we’ve promised several couples we’d come to the wedding.”

Lisa grabbed Mitch and pulled us closer to the dance floor.. “It will be fun, Mitch. I promise. Captain Blye is an excellent instructor, and I’m not too bad myself.”

Mitch’s scowl faded as his attitude softened. Lisa seemed to have a magic touch with the passengers. His lips twitched, and he looked at the two of us. “I can’t dance. Never learned. The closest I’ve come was at the prom we let Josh have in the barn. But those kids were mostly interested in grinding against each other and finding a dark place to make out.”

Lisa’s laughter sounded like our brass wind chimes on a warm spring evening. It made me miss home, just a little.

Lisa grabbed Mitch’s hand and pulled him onto the floor. “Here, hold my hand like this, and put your hand on my back. That’s right…”

She talked him through the steps and then they started. With only a few stumbles, they were soon gliding across the floor. I couldn’t help but admire how sexy my husband looked. The tan that graced his skin and the sprinkling of grey at his temples set him off perfectly. I still couldn’t believe I’d landed him. Grad school was the best thing I ever did.

“You better be careful, or I’ll steal him away.”

I glanced over my shoulder to find Lex smiling at me. I shook my head at our new friend. I clasped my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We’ve been through a lot of crap, Lex. I doubt he’d be as easy to tempt as you might think.”

He watched as Mitch and Lisa twirled across the floor. “He’s good. He must have taken lessons for years.”

I chuckled and looked down at my watch. “Nope, he’s had lessons for about twenty minutes now.”

Lex let out a low whistle. “Impressive.”

“Yeah, sometimes I hate him just a little bit. He’s been bitching about me dragging him here, and now look at him.”

Lex pulled me onto the dance floor, his hand between my shoulder blades as we turned into the first step. After a handful of moves, we were dancing in unison. The room spun past me and I began to relax.

“Excuse me.”

We came to a stop and I was a little relieved to see Lex panting and gasping a little for breath. I knew who’d stopped us. After all these years, I can recognize Mitch’s voice.

“Can I cut in?”

Lex stepped back and swept into a bow in front of us. “I will release Darin to the competition.”

Mitch gave a quick nod and, before I could say anything, he pulled me into the dance. The waltz drew me in, and I was lost in our fun.

The first dance melded into the next and the evening became a blur. Most of my dances were with Mitch, but a few others worked in and out during the night. We finally stumbled into out cabin at well past midnight.

“So, did you have fun?” I asked.

Mitch kicked off his boots and sat on the end of the bed. “Yeah, it was okay. I kinda got into the swing of the dancing.” He stood and stripped off his tux, and then his underwear as I enjoyed the scenery. He winked at me and then disappeared through the bathroom door.

The water began running as I stripped and draped my tux over the back of a chair. I was pulling off my last sock when Mitch landed on me. I pushed him backward, laughing, and realized he was buck ass naked. “Come on! What are you doing?”

Mitch bit down on my neck and ground his erection against me. “The last dance of the night, the horizontal mambo.”

-End-