Captain John’s Playmate

I knew then that I was in for some ‘entertainment’! I heard a deep throb from down below as John started the twin diesel engines and while he allowed them to idle for a few minutes he poured us each a glass of ice cool champagne and proceeded showed me around the yacht. It was certainly something to see, real Italian craftsmanship, glorious woods of various hues and grains, polished brass fittings all over, soft pile carpets, a couple of what looked like original oil paintings (I didn’t want to peer to closely) and some fine Romanesque sculptures. At the fore of this large cabin was another set of controls, the same as on the flybridge, for sailing in more comfort or in the rain, behind a row of three cream leather ‘captains’ chairs. The focus of this bridge area was a huge ship’s wheel in the traditional style, a large eight-spoked wooden affair with a central brass boss and the eight spokes protruding outside the wheel for easy handling.
‘Right, engines should be warm now’ said John, ‘Shall we go up?’ and he led me back up the stairs to the flybridge before he returned and cast off the fore and aft mooring ropes. Returning to the bridge, he throttled up the engines and expertly swung the boat out into mid-stream and headed upriver. I kicked off my shoes, settled back down on the sun lounger and John expertly angled the back for me so I could watch the beautiful countryside slide past while catching the sun on my legs and arms. We chatted pleasantly as we glided along and I found John’s company stimulating and relaxing in equal measure. There was a keen flirtatiousness about him but it never felt tacky, always having a sophisticated, gentlemanly air. With the warmth of the sun on my skin and the effect of the chilled champagne, I could feel myself relaxing and enjoying that slight numbing of the senses you get when drinking on a hot day. Attentively, John reached over and refilled my glass with a twinkle in his eye. ‘If I’d known I would end up here I’d have brought my bikini’ I ventured.