Chapter 31: Isabella and the Passion

It was after 3:00 Monday afternoon before I woke up. I could tell by the fragrance on my pillow that Jeanne had been in bed with me at some time. But for now, there was no one around. I jumped in the shower and then made my way upstairs.

“How many tacos to tide you over until supper?” Isabella asked. I loved Isabella’s tacos.

“I’ll start with three,” I told her. “Your tacos are the best!”

After the tacos, I went to find Captain Tony. Turns out, Cécile had the bridge.

“Poppa went to take a nap after lunch. He said that you would adjust the sails when you got up here,” she told me. “We’re making about six knots and the genoa is flapping a lot.”

I went out and looked and then adjusted the sails. We picked up a knot or two. Then I checked the bow for any loose lines. We had been seriously pounded for a few hours last night.

“I’ll take the bridge if you want to go back downstairs,” I told Cécile.

“That’s okay. You can have the bridge, but I wanted to talk to you,” she said. “Jeanne sure has it bad for you.”

“I know she has a little crush on me, but I don’t think it’s as dramatic as you make it sound,” I told her.

“Alex, listen to me,” she said. “I have loved being with you, and I am hoping to be with you some more before we get home. But after that, I’ll have my life and you’ll have yours.”

“I hope so too,” I said. “That we’ll have the chance to be together again before we reach Monte Carlo, I mean.”

“The same is true for Fleur and maybe even Marta, if she can get her nerve up,” Cécile said. “But with Jeanne, it’s different. That girl is in love with you but you don’t respect that. You treat her as if she was a child. You’re really tearing her heart to pieces when you don’t acknowledge her. Hell, you don’t treat her as a human being, with feelings. You treat her more like a pet!”

“Really?” I asked. “I hadn’t realized. I thought I was treating her the same as everyone else.”

“I’ve seen you flirt with me and my sisters. I even saw you flirt with my mom and Isabella. But I’ve never seen you flirt with Jeanne. Sure, you kiss her if she asks, but you’re just forcing her to beg. Do you know what that does to a girl’s confidence?”

I stayed standing by the wheel, even though I had engaged the autopilot, and thought about what Cécile had said. Maybe she did have a point. Frankly, I had been put off by Jeanne’s little tantrum last week and had mostly dismissed her from my mind. I certainly didn’t mean to hurt her, but at the same time, I had a lot going on.

I remembered all too frequently about someone trying several times to kill me. And now there was this pink island to figure out. I needed Roland and Carina desperately. Only six more days until I could see them. That reminded me I needed to call them.

When I looked up, Cécile was gone. None of the girls came up to the bridge that afternoon, not even Jeanne to practice dancing.

“What’s up with the ‘brat pack’?” Isabella asked when she brought me my supper. It was grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. But someone had put something spicy in the soup. I loved it.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, normally they fight over who gets to bring you a meal. But tonight, they just sat and glared when their mom asked. Have you done something to piss them off?”

“It sure looks like it, but I’m not exactly sure what to do about it,” I told Isabella.

“Tell me the story,” she said. “I finished the book I was reading last night and so I need some good entertainment tonight.”

So between my periodic checks of the bridge, I began to tell Isabella the entire saga of Jeanne Mauresmo. It took over two hours with my frequent interruptions to check the bridge and Isabella’s more frequent interruptions for more information or clarification.

“So you simply unleash your passion in a kiss, and she does the same, and then you travel to this pink island?” she asked.

I should have read the weather, or the warning signs. But she blindsided me like a sudden storm.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” I replied.

“Then why the hell haven’t you kissed me with this passion,” she said sharply.

“I ... I just recently figured it out,” I told her.

“Is everything alright?” Captain Tony asked as he entered the bridge. “I’ve come to relieve you. I’ll help the girls tonight.”

“It seems our boy here has pissed off every girl on the boat, and now he’s pissing me off as well!” she told him.

“Well, skipper, you’d better get it worked out pretty soon. It doesn’t help your rating to have your entire crew mad at you,” he said.

“C’mon,” Isabella said, pulling on my arm. “You’ve got some explaining to do. Starting with this thing about your passion you’ve never shown me!”

“Oh, wow!” Isabella said breathlessly. “It really was a pink island!”

“Yeah,” I said as I caught my breath.

“Is it possible to see more of it?” she asked. “To maybe check it out?”

“So far, I’ve only been able to stay there for less than a minute. However, each time I go there, I stay a little longer and see a little more. This time I saw smoke coming from the volcano and a small valley on the other side.”

Isabella looked at me with a glint in her eye. “Well, since we’re here and naked, would you like to see if you can make me happy?”

“C’mere,” I told her as I pulled her to me and buried my face in her ample breasts. Isabella’s nipples may not have been as sensitive as the teens’ nipples, but she knew what to do with her body and soon had me tied in knots and seeing stars.

“Don’t you quit on me!” she warned when she felt me cum in her pussy. “Almost ... there!”

I hoped that Isabella appreciated the resiliency of youth. That and our amazingly short recovery time. She seemed to hang on the edge of her orgasm forever, milking it, and me, for all she was worth. It was so long, I came again when she did!

“Give me something,” she said, holding her hand on her soddened pussy. “You must have put a gallon of spunk in me!”

I got her a towel from the head and then spooned up behind her.

“Did you figure out what to do about Jeanne?” she asked.

“Not yet,” I replied.

“Good!” she said.

“Good?” I asked.

“Well, until you figure it out, the teenagers aren’t going to be waving all that prime pussy in your face and that leaves more of your cock for me!” she said. “Goodnight!”

I couldn’t sleep. Between the late nap and what Isabella had said, I found myself tossing and turning. Finally, I hit the head for a quick shower and then went up to the salon.

Captain Tony was sitting on the sofa with his wife, Monique. Fleur was sitting across from them and they were all talking in low voices.

“Hi,” I told them. “Is this a family meeting?”

“Please, Alex. Have a seat,” Monique said. “We were just discussing the message.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Fleur said coldly as she left.

“Message?” I asked.

“Yes, Alex. We received a communication over the La Royal (French Navy) channel, requesting us to stop at the Greek naval station at Cardus to pick up passengers.”

“Passengers?”

“Yes. That was the whole message. Because it came through official channels, I cannot ignore it,” Captain Tony explained. “I’ve already put the new course in the chart plotter. We should get there by sunset tomorrow.”

“I wonder what’s going on?” I said out loud.

“Obviously, it’s not something that they felt comfortable discussing over the satellite phone. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I’m going to get some sleep. The girls should be fine handling the watch. Tomorrow, you and I will work on navigating inside a harbor,” Captain Tony said.

“Goodnight, dear,” Monique said, as he kissed her cheek. I sensed some kind of hidden message in their eyes.

“And Alex,” he added before he left, “You really need to get this stuff with your crew straightened out before we get to Cardus. Why don’t you spend some time with Monique. I find her advice extremely helpful when it comes to the girls.”

We sat there for a moment, just looking at each other while I processed everything that Captain Tony had told me. I couldn’t imagine what was so important that we should detour out of our way to pick up passengers. But I assumed that it had something to do with me. So I put that aside to ponder what I should do about ‘my’ crew.