Along the corridors of the Ocean Princess, two happy passengers, one tall, one adorably short, walked hand-in-hand with contented smiles on their faces.

They walked up one deck and to the Oceanview and when they gave their names, the host's eyes lit up and they were led to a booth that offered a full view of the restaurant's floor, and Jake noted it was slightly elevated. This was definitely the best seat in the place, and naturally was reserved for the Owner's Suite occupants. He told Amanda so, and said that they were located well away from the kitchen, and would have the opportunity for plenty of visual stimulation while they waited for their food.

Both of their hearts were beating nervously when a server approached and they both ordered a simple Dr. Pepper. Would they serve themselves or would they prefer a menu? They both asked for menus. Their nervousness increased as they waited for the arrival of both their menus, and their drinks. What would happen when the glasses were set in front of them? Would they want to drink it? Would it taste the same? They looked to their rights and noticed that in addition to ordering from the menu, they could actually get up and visit a variety of stations where their food would be made to order right in front of them. The Oceanview Café was also buffet style.

They were both drawn to the Mexican cuisine, and Jake selected beef enchiladas and Amanda selected a beef taco salad with extra mild salsa when their server returned with the drinks. After he left, they both stared at the frosty glasses of Dr. Pepper on ice on the table as though they were a ticking time bomb. Amanda put her hand around the glass and spun in around thoughtfully.

To put them both at ease, Jake raised his glass and once again played up her fascination with the 1980s T.V. show she'd told him about. He said, "To a wonderful voyage, Jennifer." Amanda raised her own glass with a grin and clinked it with Jake's. "And maybe a shipboard murder to investigate, Jonathan." They raised the glasses to their lips and took a sip. And then another. And then another...And finally they decided to go for broke. They gulped half their glasses and let out quiet burps.

"Well, we passed that test," Jake said as Amanda giggled. While his body did not react as though he'd been dehydrated for the past year, it did welcome the taste and sensation of the drink. They laughed, chatted, and savored being able to be together in a place outside of the confines of their cabin, and the remainder of their sodas disappeared down their throats. It was certainly nice to never have to worry about eating and have their bodies remain unchanging, but they realized they had definitely missed the fun of eating and drinking. The food had arrived, and their soda glasses had been refilled. They actually noticed their mouths watered. There was less fear when they took their first bite, and it tasted as good as the soda had. They again did not plow through the food as though they were starving, but their bodies enjoyed the sensation of food in their stomachs once more.

They were asked as their empty plates were collected if they needed one more refill, and both shook their heads and complimented the server. Then, Jake stood up, took her hand, and let her to the door. As they left, Amanda said, "It's so weird leaving a restaurant and not only not getting a bill, but not leaving a tip. It feels like we're such deadbeats right now."

"The pleasures of a six thousand dollar cabin, Jennifer," Jake said, choosing to continue Amanda's light fantasy of the couple being the jet-setting Jonathan and Jennifer Hart. This time, he even tried to make his voice sound like what he remembered Robert Wagner's would sound like. "The food is paid for and they've already clipped off the money to tip everyone who serves us their 20 percent. Where to now?"

Amanda begged, pleaded, and whined to go to the casino. She was adamant about it, and Jake could admit that her revelation had come to him as a surprise. He had been unaware she could play cards, and at the game nights in the realm, she usually stuck to board games while Ace and a handful of others played poker with the plastic chips. She swore to him that she would not go broke, and so he of course agreed because she wanted to and because he was not doing to be doing anything to prevent his princess from having fun. They took the elevator down to the deck where the Fortunes Casino was. This early in the cruise, he was surprised to find it was not only open, but occupied by a handful of passengers already.

Three elderly ladies were parked at the slot machines. Four more were playing blackjack and there were three guys clustered around a far table. Amanda walked to the cashier's cage and once she mentioned her name and the cashier glanced at an unseen screen, the cashier eagerly welcomed her and advised her of the credit. Amanda asked if there was any poker going on.

"We have one table open but it's a high buy-in. $20,000 minimum." Then Jake heard her ask for the entire $25,000 credit and a seat at the table. She was definitely serious. Amanda was extremely frugal in some ways, even though she did not need to be, and if she was asking for 25 grand, she was completely confident. The cashier called over someone who was apparently the floor manager and Amanda whispered, "If I'm wrong I'll give you $25,000 in John's money. I know it doesn't matter since we're in the realm but I'll never forget it and I'll pay it back because you're trusting me. It's the gesture that counts, on both our ends."

Maybe she wasn't quite as confident as she appeared. Or maybe she told him that to make sure that he wasn't wondering about it. He asked her, "Where did you learn to play and why didn't you ever say anything? I bet Ace would enjoy some competition during game night, he usually cleans out everyone else who sits at the table."

Amanda sighed "It was an abusive. He taught me the game with his buddies during their weekly home game and he had premium cable and so we watched the early stages of televised poker. Being eager to please, I watched, I learned, and soon I got to be really good at both playing the cards and playing the player. When I cleaned him and his buddies out one night, he beat me with a belt and never let me play again. Not a fond memory, I'm sure you can understand."

Christ, Amanda really got fucked over at virtually every point of her life, it seemed. He kissed her, and said. "Well it's time to help you have a fond memory of playing poker. Go, enjoy yourself, Jennifer, and don't worry about the money, have fun and play your game."

"Thank you, Jonathan." She ran a hand down his cheek. One of the players at the poker table studied her, and then glanced down at the cards in front of him before reaching for some of his chips.

The cashier handed her a plastic rack with yellow chips of a $100 denomination and purple chips in a $500 denomination. Amanda said, "I'm going to play a lot of hands cheaply if I can, like one of the guys I used to watch. His name is Gus Hansen. He shaved his head, and kept it shaved in every game I saw him play. It's to lure the others into thinking I'm reckless. I'll go up and down on chips but it's a strategy."

She was off. Jake still had several hundreds in his wallet so he parked at a slot machine where he could watch her and bought 200 bucks in credits on the half-dollar machine. The three men at the table were all in expensive suits with no ties. Two of the men checked out the hot little chick in very casual attire. The third man wore a Stetson and when he lowered his sunglasses, Jake saw derision that some rich dude's wife was crashing the man's game. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the visual, a fancy dress game for three, and super casual for one.

Amanda settled herself into seat three and let her sandals fall on the floor next to her chair before tucking a foot under her butt and letting her other foot rest on the floor by her toes. "Blinds 100-200, no ante. You can wait or enter now." Amanda considered. The dealer was asking her whether she wanted to meet the big blind to play now, or wait for it to move around the table to her before she played. Well, she hadn't sat here to just hang out and enjoy the scenery. She had a hubby to impress. Amanda tossed in two yellow chips and collected her cards.

Stetson folded. Blue suit raised, grey suit called, and Amanda looked down at a deuce and a four and decided it was best that she folded also. Blue suit took down the pot on the flop and they were off to the next hand. Jake absently triggered the slot machine but was focused on Amanda. She was stone-faced and appeared fearless. Both Jake and Amanda noted that since the game was short-handed, there were a lot of pots where two, three, or even all four of the players would limp in and see a flop. Very rarely were the pots actually being raised preflop.

She lost a number of the tiny pots limping in. She'd see a flop and toss her cards after there was a raise and she didn't hit anything. But her playing off oddball cards soon paid off in spades. She won a 4,000 chip pot holding Ace/five when the flop came 4/2/3, and then another $5,000 with Ace/7 when she flopped two pair and got called on both streets by grey suit, who had made the mistake of limping preflop with Ace/King. Had she raised, Amanda knew she would have tossed the ace with the weak kicker straight into the muck. The dangers of limping with big cards.

But it was not entirely smooth sailing. She lost 4,000 chips when her K/8 rivered two pair, but her hand had been outflopped by Stetson who had K/Q and a king and queen had flopped. "Gotta watch those weak cards, little lady," he said with a soft Texas drawl. Amanda simply stared at him, expressionless. She could have lost a lot more than that but Stetson let her do the betting and didn't raise her once, so he was in no position to offer poker advice. While she was glad he didn't raise her, he should have, because she'd have likely called him.

After an hour, Jake was a hundred bucks ahead on the slot machine and Amanda was sitting at maybe $31,000 in chips, definitely not bad at all considering the frequency that she was seeing flops, she thought. She got her cards, and limped in from the button and Stetson, unknown to Jake, looked down at Ace/King suited in spades. He raised to 800, blue and grey suit both folded because they knew Stetson only raised with the goods. When the action got around to Amanda, she paused very briefly before reaching for her chips and she added 600 to the pot.

The flop was 4/4/Q with two spades. Stetson bet 1,200 and Amanda raised to 3,000 total. He'd seen the weak cards she'd been showing and instantly knew she had a four. Maybe Ace/four or King/four. Still, it was short handed and a spade would bust her. He kind of wanted to, so he could go back to playing the man's game. After all, her rich hubby who was mooning at her from the slot machine wouldn't let her rebuy, he was sure. She did have some skills, but her loose play was going to finally cost her, and he was looking forward to teaching her a lesson if he could. He was confident that he's make his flush. He could afford it. If he lost the hand he'd eventually get her, he knew. He paused a moment then he simply called.

The turn was the three of hearts. This time, Stetson checked and Amanda bet 6,000. She was putting him on the flush draw and he gave her credit for that. Since he was sitting behind a stack of over 150,000 chips, and the bet was more than affordable, he went ahead and tossed in six light blue 1,000 chips.

The river nailed it for him. The seven of spades. Did he check, or bet? She seemed like she might follow up if he checked, so he did, and Amanda bet 8,000. Yep, she thought her set was still strong. He asked her what she had left. He noticed in that moment that she was even more of a pro than he gave her credit for. Instead of counting the stack out herself and telling him, Amanda didn't reply, she simply leaned away from her chips and let the dealer count what sat next to her right arm. The dealer announced she had 14,500 remaining. It was a clever move. She gave up nothing in her expression and gave no tells in her voice by letting the dealer do the count and telling him.

Stetson stacked up 8,000 light blue chips, and made a separate stack with 14 more blue chips and one purple 500 chip and said, "Raise you all-in." He tossed the 8,000 for the call and slid the other 14,500 stack in right after it. Amanda called immediately and Stetson grinned and turned over his ace-high flush. She actually believed her set was still good. She'd not hesitated for even a moment to call, and he was waiting with anticipation to zing her with his 'shouldn't play weak hands," statement.

He'd expected her to cry, but instead she looked at him and her stone-face expression changed to a slight smile and she turned over the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of diamonds. When the dealer announced Stetson had a flush Jake's heart fell, but it swelled when the dealer announced Amanda had a full house.

Stetson was kicking himself. She'd flopped a full house and hoped that he'd make some sort of a hand and he had, and then had hanged himself. The dealer pulled a few chips from the pot for a rake and Amanda tossed him two $100 chips as a tip before stacking her winnings. After losing another 8,000 to the chick in the shorts when he'd overplayed Ace/Queen against Amanda's A/K when an ace flopped a few hands later, he knew he was on the verge of tilting and stepped away, racking his remaining chips. Blue suit and grey suit played a few more hands and after Blue suit dropped a few more thousand to Amanda after he declined to call her re-raise, he also departed. Grey suit said, "I'm not a fan of heads-up," and he got up as well. He hadn't lost a lot to her so he smiled and said, "Good playing." Amanda smiled and thanked him.

Amanda waved to the floorman for chip racks and stacked up her chips and after tucking her feet back into her sandals, she carried them to the cashier while Jake cashed out his now $30 in winnings from the slot machine. The cashier counted Amanda's racks and advised she had 73,400 chips in total. Jake was astonished. She'd nearly tripled her 25,000 chip credit.

After the cashier departed she admitted her big hand was more luck than skill. Even though it had netted her a double-up in her stack, she was humble about it. "It was kind of lucky that we both had strong hands," she told him of her win against Stetson. "But that's poker sometimes. When I played at the games before, there were times when I had the guy in the cowboy hat's hand, and he had something like mine. It hurts, but it happens. Glad it didn't happen here."

Jake kissed her and said, "quit being modest. They all looked at you like vultures and were swarming to pick the meat from your carcass. You cleaned their clocks. I'm proud of you and you should be proud of you too. Don't undermine your victory, you earned it...Oh...And we're going to Vegas on one of our future realm holidays, bet on that."

Amanda grinned and kissed him. She turned to the expectant cashier with a decision on her winnings. She left $25,000 of the newly-acquired bankroll on top of the $25,000 credit, and opted for the remainder in cash. The cashier returned with two tightly-bound stacks of $100 bills with a band that indicated there was $10,000 in cash in them, and then a smaller stack of $100s for the remaining $3,400. She stuck all three bundles in her leather duffel bag purse.

She looked at Jake with a grin as he sheepishly turned in the ticket from the slot machine to collect his $200 and $30 credit. After the cashier left, she said, "You spent a bundle on the cabin, but now the princess has added coffers to the kingdom. Looks like our trip is free." She grinned. "Now I'm in the mood to hire someone to satisfy my sexual needs for the remainder of the trip, and I'm frequently insatiable. You look like a strapping young man. What can I get for $20,000?"

Jake whispered in her ear, "Nine toe-curling sexual encounters every day, and God knows how many orgasms. I've sized you up and I'm pretty sure nine times will be enough to completely fulfill your lust for sex every day, and thankfully, I'm the man who can do it."

She grinned and licked his cheek. "Sold." After they left the casino, she handed Jake the small $3,400 bundle. "Put some of that in your wallet. I'm sure you tipped the massage staff for...Earlier." She grinned. "I may wish to be fucked in the captain's quarters. That may grease the skids...Ooo...Or maybe right on the ship's bridge. That would be fun, but we better fuck on the floor so my ass doesn't hit something that puts us at full speed or sends us in reverse or whatever."

Jake got a visual of them in the throes of sex, and then Amanda accidentally putting the ship in reverse and grinding it to a halt before it went backwards. A lot of the passengers would DEFINITELY be confused, and he giggled at the thought of it.

They went back to the room and Jake put $1,500 of the money into his wallet and the rest in his bedside table. Amanda kept $2,000 of her own and put the rest in HER bedside table. "Just because we have credit doesn't mean we have to USE it, and now we definitely don't have to."

the clock said 4 p.m., Jake suggested dinner at six so they could be ready for the welcome party at eight. Amanda said, "Good plan. I'm going to run a quick errand. You mind if I leave for a bit?"

He shook his head. "I haven't looked closely at all the amenities of the room like you did, and I've been wanting too. I'll do that while you're gone."

She kissed him and left the room and Jake wandered, looking at everything. $6,000 was a lot for a stateroom, but this one really was worth the money. He'd been in one overpriced dog, and this wasn't that. Plus, Amanda was thrilled by it.

About a half hour later, she returned carrying a bag from one of the boutiques. "I wanted to get something to wear later and there was no time like the present. Hang on, I'll put it on."

She disappeared into the bathroom and Jake wondered what she'd gotten. She looked fantastic in sexy dresses but since the realm she lived in shorts and a tank top. He sat on the couch and looked at the waves through the big windows and after a few moments, Amanda said, "What do you think?"

He turned and felt stupid. He should have known better. Amanda hadn't bought a dress, she'd bought lingerie. It was entirely in a shade of deep purple. "They said this shade was Purple Passion," she told him.

Her sexy legs were encased in thigh highs. Her pussy was barely covered by a thong. the romper she wore was sheer, and her wonderful tits were clearly visible under the virtually see-through silk. She closed off the ensemble with a sheer robe, as see through as the romper, which hung open and just barely reached the top of her thighs.

Jesus Fucking Christ he almost came in his pants. He looked at the clock. It was pushing five. Did they have time? Christ did he hope so.

But Amanda said, "After party. But...I can see a tent has been pitched. Come here."

She led him out to the private terrace and helped him from his shorts, and let him stare at her body in the lingerie as she got on her knees and sucked his cock. She stared into his eyes as she sucked him and he was torn between staring at her eyes and staring at her body. She played with him with her tongue while he was in her mouth and eventually he couldn't do either. He threw his head back and his hips rose and fell as she bobbed her head on his cock.

The new build-up of cum in his balls suddenly rushed out of them and she licked and bobbed her mouth up on his cock just past the head of his cock as he erupted. She savored the taste of him pooled on her tongue before she swallowed his seed and he kissed her but no, he wasn't going to just let her satisfy him. He pulled the thong from her and sat her where he had been sitting, then got to his knees and spread her legs and licked her clit while his fingers dived into her wet pussy and stroked her G-spot. Amanda's own head went back and her own hips rose and fell as he worked his magic and soon she climaxed herself, and a small gush of fluids from her orgasm wet his face.

Contented for the moment, Jake slipped his shorts back on and Amanda remained in the lingerie sans her thong and they relaxed on the day bed and quietly watched the waves passing by the ship. They'd left port and in their excitement hadn't gone on deck to watch and wave, but...By not doing so, Amanda had netted them close to $50,000. Who cared if they didn't really need it in the realm?

At 5:30, they got up. Jake washed his face, although it had been tempting to leave her scent there on him for the rest of the evening. "Cosmopolitan?" he asked her.

"Sure? Is there a dress code?"

Jake looked at the booklet. "It says "evening chic."

Amanda carefully removed the lingerie and stood naked in front of the closet. "And that means what?"

Jake said, 'Hang on, maybe there's an explanation...Ah, here we go. 'Evening Chic is intended to be less dressy than Formal attire. Women should feel comfortable wearing a cocktail dress, or a skirt, pants or designer jeans with an elegant top. Men should feel comfortable wearing pants or designer jeans with a dress shirt, button-down shirt or sweater, with an optional sport coat or blazer. If you would like to still wear a tuxedo or formal gown, you absolutely should. So...Slightly dressy but something we'll be comfy going to a party in."

Amanda pulled a clingy black dress from the closet and a pair of black heels to match and slipped into black silk panties and a lace bra. Jake went with black as well, slacks, dress shirt, and a sport jacket and black loafers. It was 6:05 when they left the cabin and headed down to the Cosmopolitan.