Walking in my room, it smells of her. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply, taking it in. Jumping in the shower is necessary before dinner or I’ll never get through it. Watching her ass walk around is going to drive me nuts.
I am already hard as I step into the shower; it is all her fault and that damn sexy scent she leaves behind after she exits a room. Under the hot water I pumped my cock hard and strong as my mind has visions of her, and that string bikini she walked around in a few days ago. It’s been invading me since I saw her in it. Following my release, I turn the water to cold so I can get a grip before my vision is impaired at dinner…not by alcohol but by her.
* * *
“Let’s have a seat, shall we?” I announce to everyone. They all have been enjoying a quick cocktail before dinner. I, on the other hand, have only had a Diet Coke.
As everyone sits, I notice almost promptly that George is wearing a white captain’s outfit and it’s not Tripp’s. This time, it’s mine. How the hell…I’ll probably never know.
“Well, now he has a choice who he wants to be when he goes out…either a boat captain or a pilot,” I lean into Tripp to let him know.
“I guess so. He’s a good guy, a little klepto, but it’s all in good fun.”
We both let out a low chuckle, allowing only us to really hear it.
“Hey there, Captain, you’re looking good tonight.” I look up and so does Tripp, only to our surprise, Muriel is looking at George. It only makes Kendall and us guys smile again.
“Why, thank you,” he says in response, as he presses his hands down his shirt; he’s proud of his new suit. I guess he’s lucky he fits in both of our uniforms. If me losing one of mine brings him and the ladies joy, then who am I to say anything.
“Have you all had a good time on the boat?” Kendall asks the rest of the guests.
“This has been a dream,” Muriel answers.
“No kidding, I’ve never been waited on so much in my life. Your staff, Captain Nichols, is amazing,” Bertha replies.
“I’m always spoiled by these two,” Tripp nods toward his older lady friends, “but I’m glad that you both have been spoiled a little yourselves. That was the goal.”
“I’m happy to hear everyone has had a good time. I do have a pretty great staff.”
We are seated for about twenty minutes before the first course comes out, carried by all the ladies as well as a couple guys. We put more staff on dinner service tonight, so we could make sure all guests eat at the same time and that everything is hot for them.
“First course, is a small side salad of mixed greens, topped with cranberries, walnuts, and a side of fresh mozzarella cheese, covered in a light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Enjoy,” Marie announces.
Their preference sheets only stated to keep things basic, they didn’t need fancy meals so I’m glad to see Marco did exactly what was expected and didn’t go over the top with anything. Though his presentation is great. The way he drizzled the dressing over the salad, and thick slice of cheese, in a zigzag design, makes it look fancier than it is. And it is good. The combination of everything together is perfect.
The next course comes out in the hands of the staff again and it all smells incredible.
“For your main course, there is filet mignon for the gentlemen, cut perfectly and cooked to perfection, if I do say so myself,” Marco lets them know, “and for you ladies, grilled chicken, filleted thin with the perfect amount of seasoning.” He winks at the older ladies, making them feel extra special. They love the attention he gives them; they eat it right up.
“You have a side of loaded mashed potatoes, topped with asparagus. I hope you all enjoy.” As he finishes his sentence, everyone gives him a round of applause, showing him appreciation for the food he has prepared for them.
His presentation with this course is just as good as it was with the first. On one side of the guys’ plates lies the steak, and the same with the chicken for the ladies, with the potatoes swirled up in a neatly shaped cone, while the three stalks of asparagus are placed in a tipi over them. My mouth starts to water as the plate is set in front of me, but it has nothing to do with the food, it totally is due to the person delivering it.
The staff has retreated to the kitchen and I’m left with our guests by myself. I’m sitting at the head of the table. I have Kendall to my right and Tripp to my left. Ben and George are next to Tripp, and the ladies are next to Kendall. It’s a table full of friends and love. They all have it for each other; you can see it in their actions toward one another and in their words when they speak. The four older ones are going back and forth, arguing about something to do with a card game they play. I didn’t hear the start of the conversation or even what they’ve been really saying now, due to my distraction…a tan-legged beauty.
“Reed?”
“Huh? I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“I asked how your steak was? But I can see you haven’t even cut it yet. Everything okay?”
Kendall is being sweet, mixed with a bit of sarcasm; her facial expression gives her away. She is biting her top lip to stop herself from laughing at my expense.
“Leave the man alone.” I thought Tripp was coming to my rescue until he continues, “He’s pussy-whipped.” He let out a chuckle, “I’ve been there my friend.” He slaps me on the back with one hand and winks at his woman.
“Neither of you know what you’re talking about.” Deny, deny, deny. Isn’t that what they say?
“Oh, honey, we can all see how much you want her.” And here comes the other end of the table.
“I agree with her,” Bertha states.
“He really does, doesn’t he?” Muriel and Bertha are both nodding their heads toward each other, like I’m not even sitting here.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Now the guys, George is first.
“You going to make a move, Captain?” Ben follows him.
“Seriously,” I chuckle at them all. Thank goodness the staff is all in the kitchen.
“They won’t stop, so you might as well admit it and move on,” Kendall giggles.
“It’s complicated right now.”
“Why, she’s a woman, you’re a man. What’s the problem?” Clearly Bertha’s not letting this go.
“Like, I’m her boss and she’s my employee.”
“Oh, please. You think you’re the first one to ever sleep with their employee? You’re crazy, boy.” Tripp is eating away, smiling through every bite while Muriel goes off on me.
“Okay, you two, let the man eat.”
I think…Thank you, Tripp.
“Look, Hot Stuff, we looked out for you two, didn’t we?” Bertha says to Kendall and Tripp; they both nod their heads in agreement.
I decide I better say something, or they aren’t going to let this go. “Look, I promise that after we are done working together, I’ll see where it goes. How’s that?”
“I just hope it’s not too late; have you seen the way the Italian chef looks at her?”
Why did you have to say that, George? My blood starts to boil as I cut into my steak, probably a little more forcefully than I normally would have.
And out she walks with Marie.
“Can we clear any plates for you?” Marie asks.
I stare at her, not Marie. Glancing at her tanned legs up to her long brown hair, I then look down at my plate. I can’t look up again or the harassment will start again after they walk away. Instead I continue eating. The two ladies reach forward and take the plates that are empty from the others. I’m not sure how any of them ate, considering they were giving me grief for the last ten minutes.
“We’ll be out with desserts in a moment,” Maci states.
“Tell me, Maci, do you have a man?” Oh Bertha…
Her face immediately goes red as her eyes gaze toward me quickly, before she looks over at the two older ladies who are giving her an “inquiring minds want to know” look.
“Umm, no I don’t.”
“So, let me get this right. No man at home waiting for you when you leave here?” Muriel is as bad as the other one.
“Nope, there’s no one.”
“Hmmm, interesting. Did you hear that, Bertha? She’s available.”
“I did. She’s single, for anyone to snatch up. Good to know.”
Thank God Marie and Maci both walk back to the galley, leaving us alone.
Through dessert they let it go, I’m grateful. I couldn’t take it any more. If they thought this was easy for me, they were crazier than I thought. Gotta love the hopeless romantics they are. We’ve come close to crossing the line, and I’m not so sure it won’t happen again but I’m trying to restrain myself.
After dinner they decide they want the staff to play cards with them, including myself. Screw My Neighbor is the title of the card game. I played it several times back in college but we played it as a drinking game. I wasn’t sure they’d know that version, but I was completely wrong.
“Does everyone have a drink?” George comes out with.
“Okay then,” I chuckle, “I’ll be sitting this one out or we won’t make it back to Miami.”
“Seriously, Captain, don’t you want to screw your neighbor?” Bertha asks, knowing Maci was to my right and no one to my left, as I was at the end of the table.
I bypass her question and say, “Umm, I think it’s best I just watch the game playing tonight.” Pushing back my chair, I excuse myself.
“Party pooper,” Muriel comes back with when I stand off to the side.
“My staff can play, but only for one round, they have work to do themselves tonight.”
“Geez, who pissed in his cornflakes…he’s no fun.”
“Bertha,” Kendall says with a laugh, then tries to act serious, “Now stop, the captain is doing his job. You wouldn’t want Tripp drinking on the job or the people working on the plane with him, would you?”
“Whatever, let’s play the game already.” Ben was ready to go with his beer in front of him.
In the end I allow the crew to play two rounds, due to the begging going on by our charter guests…that would be the ones who were ladies. After that, the four elders were left to play by themselves. While Kendall and Tripp took a nightcap and went back to their cabin for some alone time, and the rest of us got back to work.
* * *
“Let’s all change to our whites. Guests will be departing in fifteen,” I announce over the walkie-talkies.
We are all standing in the same line we were when they first stepped on board days ago. Marie is to my left, followed by Rob, his staff, and the rest of the stewardesses. She’s the farthest away from me and it’s probably for the best; that way my hands can’t touch her.
All the guests hug each of us, saying goodbye. After making it through the line, they all gather to my right. Tripp and Kendall are last to arrive in front of me.
“Thanks for a great cruise, it was a nice change of pace for me. I’m pretty sure they all had a great time,” Tripp says, as he pulls me into a half-hug, while he pats my back.
“I’m glad you decided to take me up on my offer of coming.”
“I couldn’t say no; the deal you gave me pretty much gave me the boat for free.” We both laughed as he shook my hand.
“Come back anytime. The deal is on the table whenever the boat’s available; it’s yours.”
“Will do.”
Kendall leans in next and gives me a hug. “This was wonderful. I’m jealous that this is your job.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
“I did. You and your entire staff really made this better than I could have imagined. Marco, your food was amazing. Ladies, thanks for taking care of us from the minute we walked on board. Your service was impeccable. And guys, well you held your own against the ladies. The hustle you gave to help where needed wasn’t missed. Thank you all.”
I am surprised as she leans in one more time to give me another hug, when she starts to speak in my ear. I could tell this time her head went purposely to my right, as Marie was on my left, “Don’t let her get away. She’s a beautiful lady, inside and out. I spoke to her on several occasions and she really is someone special.”
“I’ll definitely think about your advice.”
“You better.”
“This is for you and your staff. It’s a little something to thank you for all you did for us.” Tripp hands me an envelope full of cash; his little something is pretty thick.
They start to walk away when Muriel and Bertha turn around to say at the same time, “Thanks for the sweet pleasure, Captain.” They were clearly referencing the name of the boat.
We all stand, waving goodbye to our guests as they walk down the ramp away from us.
“Okay, you can all go change to your green shirts and shorts; we have cleaning to do but before we even start, I want us all in the staff galley in fifteen for the tip meeting.”
I watch her walk away through my sunglasses; it’s a sight to see. Her ass is perfection. Good Lord above, help me.
* * *
We have been sailing now for several hours; there are still a few more to go before we’ll hit the coast of Rhode Island. Once we get there, we’ll be docked for about fourteen hours before the next set of guests arrive. The staff has been cleaning all day and I’ve given them the green light to just relax tonight. They don’t ever have the chance to enjoy the boat itself; so it’s theirs for the taking. Once we tie off in Newport, they will make sure everything is back in pristine shape before they’ll get the night off to go have an evening off the boat.
Sitting here in the flybridge brings me right back to days with my dad. I wonder what would he do with the dilemma I have? He was never a rule breaker, but he used to say, they were made to be broken or rewritten for the right reasons. So, I think, would he break the number one rule in this line of business, the one he taught me well: don’t mess around with your crew/employees. I haven’t ever even wanted to, up until now.
Maybe I should call my sister, then again, maybe I shouldn’t. She has a big mouth when it comes to my love life. She is always telling me, “You need to find someone to settle down with, make a life, a family.” I hope she’s not thinking I’ll give up sailing, because I don’t see that happening anytime soon. She likes coming on the boat, but she loves living on land more. For me, I love working and living on the boat and I only like visiting land.
Her phone rings once before she answers.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Big Brother?”
“Hello to you too, Gabby.” Her name is Gabrielle, but I’ve always called her by the nickname Dad gave her.
“Yeah, yeah, what’s going on?”
“Can’t a brother call his sister without having a reason?”
“Not usually,” she giggles out, “with you, it usually involves Mom or the company. Which is it?”
“Neither, actually.”
“Really? Okay, now you have me intrigued. Spill it.”
“I’ve been thinking…is it company policy that coworkers can’t date each other?”
“Why are you asking me this? Did my brother finally find a mermaid out there in the ocean?”
“No, I’m wondering because I have a couple crew members who have been messing around a little.” A small lie is okay, right? No harm, no foul.
“I guess it depends; are they doing this on the clock?”
“No not really. I mean, they have had a couple moments that were on the clock, but it was mainly flirting back and forth.”
“Okay, have these said people done anything to cross the line?”
“I don’t believe so. Now can you tell me if there is truly a policy about sexual relations within the office, or in my case, the boat?”
“Dad had it in place for the offices, in the same department, mainly because we are in close quarters and he didn’t want shit starting between coworkers.”
“So, if a worker in the advertising department wanted to
date someone in the accounting department, he allowed it?
“They can now, but he didn’t allow it at first. The policy went across the board, from land to the water, no one could date or have sexual relations with anyone within the company, though as years went on it changed. He had a guy from the security department come to him and ask to talk to him. He was willing to give his notice so he could date a secretary. Once Dad found out who the woman was, he knew he had to make changes.”
“Who was it?”
“Judy.”
“Judy? Really?”
“Yes, it was her and Fred.”
“Seriously. I didn’t know that. I never even thought about it. I guess I always knew them together, I didn’t give it a second thought that they didn’t start at the company at the same time.”
Judy was my father’s secretary from the start. When he passed, she retired. It was time for her to go enjoy her life too. She was dedicated to him for many, many years, and Fred had worked being a security guard for just as many. He was one of the first ones Dad had hired. They are like family to us, coming to any family functions we have.
“Yeah, Dad had a huge heart, it was never a thought to tell them no. That’s when he changed the policy. He purposely left off the boat side of things when he had the human resource department rewrite the policy.”
“Why did he do that? I always thought we followed suit.”
“He didn’t want people messing around on the boats either, so he never admitted it to anyone that it wasn’t in the policy anymore. He let people think it was the way it was. But I think he did it honestly because he knew you’d be driving one of the yachts at some point. He didn’t want you to be alone forever.”
Sexy Seaman Page 10
