Talent Spotting

It had probably seemed like a good idea at the time to hold the inaugural Music Industry Professional, 'MIP', awards at sea with an added opportunity to check out a select few up and coming bands.

For the first couple of days everything was cordial but, since then, old rivalries had surfaced and simmered. Most of these people were unused to staying in one place for any length of time and, despite all of the amenities, allied to a holiday atmosphere, some of them were going stir crazy.

Few had taken up the opportunity to bring their spouses or partners and clumsy attempts to take advantage of the freedom so afforded only added fuel to flames.

I took my time heading to the hall. I had given a lot of thought as to why Hannah had wanted the others to perform without me and, apart from the obvious personal reasons, I had come to the conclusion that she did not want the band to be seen at its very best lest any of her rivals tried to muscle in.

It was doubtful if any of them had yet seen the band in its new incarnation, as we had only performed in the UK up to now, but there was definitely an industry buzz.

I could see why the presence of Beamish at the rehearsal might force Hannah's hand. His syndicated music column was read by millions and if he was disparaging it would take a lot to recover.

When I arrived Hannah was fuming. There had been a tacit understanding, amongst all the mangers, that rehearsals would be closed sessions; she had the events coordinator pinned in the corner and was demanding to know how Beamish had slipped in.

My appearance diffused some of the tension, not least amongst the girls, and after a few moments we launched into "Solidify". It went reasonably well and Roxy had really got to grips with the vocal. My own performance was a little stilted, hindered, in part, by Sophie's presence behind me on drums.

To distract myself I did something that I had not done before. At the chorus I stepped forward to share Roxy's microphone. She looked surprised but did not miss a beat. She gave me room and the conjunction seemed to add a new element to the harmony.

I could not gauge Beamish's reaction in the darkness at the back of the hall but Hannah looked pleased. She left us to it and I found an enormous sense of relief in doing what I loved most.

Chapter 5

The gig that evening went well. We were one of three bands performing and, in my opinion, by far the best. The others seemed to be struggling with the muted amplification made necessary on a ship but my songs, originally written for solo guitar, were well suited.

We hung out together afterwards and everyone chipped in with some good ideas to improve things further. Sophie acted completely naturally and there was no hint that she had said anything to the others.

I still felt uneasy about returning to the cabin with her but events took a turn. Laurel came to our table and, for a moment, my heart was in my mouth but she was completely business-like as she addressed herself to me.

"Can you spare a few minutes for Hannah? There's someone she wants you to meet."

I was a little uneasy as it became clear that we were headed for Hannah's stateroom and I tried to compose myself as she left me at the door. I found Hannah seated at the table with someone I immediately recognized.

Eva Branco had been a huge star on the Brazilian music scene but was now, in her thirties, better known for her national radio show which was the recognized US showcase for new musical talent.

As a young woman she often appeared in lists of the "world's most beautiful" but it seemed to me that she had matured with age. Her lustrous dark hair bespoke her Portuguese heritage as did her deep brown eyes which contrasted with the fullness of her lips exaggerated by her trademark scarlet lipstick.

Her high cheek bones and long straight nose gave the impression of a perpetually smiling face but she had made a reputation as a ruthless business woman.

I remembered, a little while ago, the newspaper stories concerning her state of health and, in particular, her dramatic weight loss but it appeared as though she had fully recovered as she was clearly back to her full figured best. She was wearing a tight fitting dress and displaying an impressive décolletage.

She stood to greet me and kissed me on each cheek.

"I watched your performance this evening, very impressive."

I took this as high praise from a woman whose songs had been cited as an influence by a number of the world's best known musicians but there was more to come.

"I would like to feature 'Samois' on my show but you should give some thought to writing outside the band. You have a real talent and good songwriters are a rare breed. I think I might be in a position to help you"

I felt exultant but something made me look towards Hannah. She stood to gain from any success that I might garner but her expression was ice cold.

"Remember what I told you. If you do everything I ask of you I will not only make you famous I will make you a very wealthy young woman. If you choose to cross me you will never work in this industry again. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

I could not understand why she was demeaning me like this in front of Eva. I thought she was being astute in feting her as a counter balance to any damage Beamish might do but why was she now trying to bring me down?

The next few seconds made it hideously apparent.

Eva rose from her seat and, addressing herself to Hannah, she casually started to undress.

"Does she do everything?"

"She's still an ingénue but she shows some promise"

I was not sure what shocked me more; the way they spoke of me as if I were a mere commodity or the easy manner in which Hannah seemed to accept Eva's nakedness as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

It was a body of which she could be justly proud. She was nicely in proportion and clearly honed by hours in the gym; but for her larger than average breasts she could easily have been taken for an athlete.

Her dark complexion negated the need for any assistance from the sun and she appeared to be free of any body art which, to my mind, was an increasingly worrying trend amongst women.

Inevitably my eyes were drawn to her nipples which had already reacted to the chill of the room. They were perfect circles, so dark they seemed almost black.

She seemed happy for me to look but then she made her way over to the bed. She propped the pillows up against the cushioned head board and proceeded to make herself comfortable.

Hannah took this as her cue to rise and I am sure I detected a hint of lust in her eyes as she headed towards the door.

"Have fun...and don't wear her out."

Then she was gone, leaving us alone.

I did not think that I could have felt any more uncomfortable but as she looked me up and down I wanted to cringe.

"Get undressed. Let me see you."

It was a measure of my conditioning to that point that the request surprised me. Did I dare hope?

I stripped off and stood uneasily lacking all the self assurance that these women possessed.

"Put on some music."

Such was my paranoia I wondered if she was testing me to see what I would choose. The stateroom was equipped with an MP3 'jukebox' and I played safe and browsed the classical selection. I opted for Mahler's 'Resurrection' which always helped to transport me.

"Come here."

She sat up looking totally relaxed, almost regal, as she patted the bed in invitation.

I wanted to feel anger, to convince myself that I was being coerced, but as I drew closer to her all I felt was a sense of anticipation. I stood awkwardly at the side of the bed unsure what to do next.

"Wait."

She reached out and ran her hand slowly over the swell of my hip then down to my thigh.

"You have lovely skin."

I did not know how to react to the compliment, I simply wanted her to keep on stroking me with her deft fingers. I stayed very still, not wishing to disturb the moment, but she withdrew as suddenly as she had started.

"Watch."

She languidly drew up her knees and allowed her legs to fall open. She gave me a moment to glance at her sex before she began to caress herself.

Her mound was pronounced and it looked as if she was allowing her hair to grow back in. It was covered by a sculpted dark frizz which rasped softly as she drew her fingernail across it.

After a moment she began to press gently with her fingertips and her sex opened a little to reveal the delicate ridges of her inner lips. Once into the light they seemed to swell with shiny wetness and she teased them with a single fingertip.

As I watched I could feel a growing heat between my legs, and I was tempted to mirror her movements, but the fascination of watching her as she slowly aroused herself kept me frozen in time.

It seemed an age before she pressed a little less gently and her finger disappeared to the first knuckle. With the portal broached there was another long pause before she flexed her hand and it sank in to the root.

Three fingers and a thumb now splayed her sex and appeared motionless but the tiny play of muscle at the back of her hand betrayed the movement within.

Finally, with a shallow sigh, she withdrew her finger and slowly turned it back and forth catching the light. I fully expected her to present it to my mouth but I was caught unawares as she leaned towards me and put her hand between my legs.

I instinctively tried to bring my legs together but she instantly formed a fist.

"Stay still"

I relaxed and she opened her hand once more.

I was immediately aware of her finger, gently probing, and only now realized just how aroused I had become. Within seconds she had gained an easy access and I could not prevent a groan from escaping my lips.

She was doing magical things to me but it was the conception of our comingled essence that, somehow, increased my excitement.

As she continued to explore she watched for my reaction and she seemed amused at my embarrassment as she elicited ever louder wet nioises from my sex but, discomforted or not, I knew that if she sought out my clitoris I would be taken over the edge.

Unfortunately, she had her own agenda. Her fingertip reached a point high up in my sex and, having found it, she began a delicate manipulation. The immediate sensation made me gasp for breath. It was as though my clitoris was being stimulated from the rear and I had never felt anything quite like it.

I could feel my climax building with a reckless inevitability but as I braced myself for its onset she suddenly eased off.

I looked at her with a desperate pleading in my eyes but she simply smiled, let me cool off, and then began again. In all she brought me to the brink three times and, at the finish, I wanted to scream in frustration, but this was precisely the point to which she wanted to bring me.

Leaving me quivering she took her hand away and settled onto the bed once more. I felt shell shocked but she was not in a mood to indulge me. Taking hold of my wrist she pulled me onto the bed.

"I want you to eat me."

After what had just transpired her words sounded coarse but they resonated with something deep inside of me. She raised her legs again and I could not rid myself of a sense of destiny as I prostrated myself between them.

She gave no further orders, no guidance, she wanted me to submit willingly and knew that I would acquiesce.

For my part my world seemed shifted out of phase. As I looked at her sex, open and inviting, a thing of beauty, I could believe that this was the path that I was always fated to follow.

There was no doubting that it felt right in some way but what frightened me was the unexpected excitement engendered by taking the role of supplicant.

It ran contrary to everything I believed about myself. I was self reliant, ambitious, some would even call me headstrong but, in this arena, all my preconceptions were turned on their head.

Her sex was seeping, a sparkling runnel tracing its course down her tensed cheeks to dampen the bedding. It beckoned to me and I answered its Siren call. Settling between the comforting enclosure of her thighs I used the tip of my tongue first to stem the flow but then to trace it to its source.

Acceptance imbued the taste with an added sweetness and I lingered for a while enjoying the tautness of her perfect skin before savouring the softness of her sex itself.

The word 'ingénue' echoed my mind as a mild taunt and I determined to prove to her that I was just as capable as she. I began to tease her labia with a gossamer touch and to make her suffer the same exquisite agony that she had visited upon me.

The throbbing heart of the ship's engines marked the passage of time but it was many hundreds of beats before I blessed her with a firmer pressure. By then she was leaking copiously and her scent was a stifling thickness in the air but I breathed it deeply.

Outwardly, she appeared composed but her sex opened like a ripe fruit and, inside, she was molten. My tongue was drenched with the fullness of her taste and I felt an urge to suck it from her but I held myself in check.

Her muscles clutched at me but I withdrew partially. Curling my tongue I began to explore the roof of her sex.

After only a few moments my jaw began to ache and my tongue felt strained but her breathing had increased rapidly. I do not know if it was her intention but I was seeking that same spot that had triggered such an incredible reaction from me.

She was now tightly strung and there was a strong temptation to focus on her clitoris and bring her release but I persevered and was rewarded when her legs clamped fiercely about my head.

It was suffocatingly hot but there was now no escape even if I had wanted it. Her body began to rock and, whist all sound was lost to me, I sensed the vibration of a muffled scream as she started to come.

My mouth and nose felt filled with moisture and the drowning sensation almost made me panic, but there was something else. I forced myself to relax and, as I did so, I felt a vivid tingling between my legs.

I crossed my ankles and began to squeeze and, for a few seconds, I feared I would fail but Eva chose that moment to exert even more pressure as she rode out the final tremors.

We were bound as one, rigid as steel, but at the core I felt an exhilarating release of tension.

I had never experienced an orgasm like it. It was centred on my sex but it reached out to each extremity of my body vibrating like a sonorous chime. I would have cried out with the intensity of it but my mouth was still choked by her wetness.

I could have stayed there forever, suspended in that moment, but she could finally take no more and had to set me free.

I lay there gasping, between her legs, unable to summon up the strength to move but I wanted to look into her eyes.

When I did she tried to feign indifference but I could see that she was as surprised as I was at the turn of events. In an effort to reassert herself she drew the covers over her body leaving me vulnerable in my nakedness but I now held myself with renewed dignity.

"Would you like a drink?"

She seemed momentarily taken aback by my temerity but answered civilly.

"A spritzer, please."

I stood at the bar and made up two glasses and imagined her surreptitiously taking in my naked form. The thought brought with it a renewed tingling.

I handed her a glass and sat the edge of the bed with mine. After a long pause she spoke.

"I was serious about your songs. If you wanted me to I could buy you out of your contract with Hannah."

I looked at her unsure what was implied but I could take some guesses. Professionally, I now knew that I was a valuable commodity but she wanted to possess me entirely.

For a fleeting moment, her rare beauty, and what had passed between us provided a temptation but I was under no illusions. She would tire of me and, once she did, I would be no better off than I was with Hannah.

She must have misinterpreted my silence because she played another card.

"There is nothing Hannah has that I cannot take."

With that she got up and began to get dressed. I felt an odd frisson of disappointment but there was now a coldness about her.

She took her phone from her bag and dialled.

"It's me. I'm ready"

I assumed that she was speaking to Hannah and I reached for my own clothes. I was still sexually charged but I felt physically tired and in no mood for Hannah's predilections. I was certainly caught in a bind but my recent self revelation had cast a new complexion on things.

As I finished dressing the cabin door opened and I braced myself for a confrontation but I was taken by surprise when Laurel walked in.

Remembering our last encounter I felt myself starting to blush but, unusually, she too looked ill at ease. The band had taken to calling her 'The Ice Maiden' because of her total unflappability in the face of the chaos that was an inevitable part of life on the road and Hannah was definitely not an easy woman to work for. It was also noted that she bore a strong resemblance to Nancy Kerrigan the Olympic skater.

She kept herself to herself for the most part and I knew little about her except that she held an MBA from Yale and that Hannah had poached her from Apple Corp.

Closing the door behind her she gave me an odd look and then turned to Eva.

"As we agreed?"

Eva smiled as she replied.

"Exactly as we agreed."

She saw my puzzlement but she let me stew for a moment before she approached Laurel and put an arm around her shoulders.

"When we reach the States Laurel is flying on to Los Angeles to get married. She is then going to resign her position with Hannah and she will be taking up a new post as my business manger in San Diego."

Anticipating my obvious question she continued.

"No, Hannah doesn't know yet and it will teach her a lesson. Laurel has no problem with her predilections it's simply that Hannah can be embarrassingly indiscrete.

Which brings me to you...

Laurel here is as straight as a die but she is a little curious as to what all the fuss is about. I promised her that I would give her a chance to find out before she tied the knot. Call it a deal clincher if you like."

I could not quite believe what I had just heard and I replayed the words in my mind to reach a different interpretation but one look at her was enough to confirm that she was totally serious.

It was outrageous. It was nothing less than an attempt to pimp me out but, shockingly, I felt a renewed surge of arousal.

From then on events seemed to take place in slow motion, allowing me all the time I needed to turn my back on them, but I remained still as she slipped a sleep mask over my eyes and whispered a single word into my ear.

"Kneel..."

The sudden darkness afforded a strange feeling of comfort even though I knew it was just another form of degradation. I could hear the enticing rustle of clothing but she did not want me to bear witness to her state of undress.

The chink of ice in a glass betrayed Eva's position on the bed but other sounds were harder to fathom until I realized that Laurel had set a chair in front of me and made herself comfortable.

Without a word she unceremoniously put her hand to the back of my head and pulled me in.

For a second I panicked, caught off balance, but then I was nestled between her open thighs. She had removed her skirt and underwear but my head was brushed by the silk of her blouse.

Despite her cool demeanour she was extremely aroused. I was almost overcome by the reek of her excitement and I was surprised to find that the area surrounding her sex was slick with moisture.

I immediately conjured up a vision of her touching herself as she waited for the anticipated phone call with growing frustration. For some reason I was able to picture this in my mind with such vivid clarity that I let out an involuntary moan.