Chapter 21

I noticed that Shannon was away from the office a lot more than usual, she seemed to be gone for the whole day at least once a week, I asked her about it and she would just say she was looking after something for Rick or Jim or James, Always someone else, I told her that maybe she should hire an executive assistant to do some of the errands, she told me that she liked to get out of the office sometimes. The only time I really noticed was when she wasn't around to go for lunch with me.

Shannon asked me one morning on the way to work what I wanted for my birthday, I responded by telling her that my birthday was still more than a month away, she still kept bugging me and I really didn't know what I wanted, over the next couple of weeks she took me shopping for fishing gear, every time I looked at a fly rod she would tell me that they were a little small for the size of fish she wanted me to catch. I got the feeling that she wanted to do some fishing and she had everything planned out except telling me what it was. She had gotten me thinking though and I used to really like fly fishing so one day I just went out and bought my fly fishing gear without her, the next day I drove my pickup to work telling Shannon that I had a couple of errands to run and needed the truck for them, once we got to work I grabbed Rick and we went fishing for the day, we had a very relaxing time and even caught a couple of small fish while we were out, Rick had a great time and even though we never kept any of the fish he asked if he could join me again next time, I said sure but don't tell Shannon where we were.

Shannon kept looking at different water sport types of things, Sea-Doo's, power boats, water skis, that type of thing, I decided I would buy a small power boat and some water skiing equipment for her and we could have some fun on the weekend, I mentioned it to Rick and he seemed to be all for it but he convinced me to wait until after my birthday as he thought Shannon might be getting something like that for me, that made sense as she was always showing me these things to see how I would react to them.

My birthday was on a Friday, Shannon woke me up and told me to get my lazy ass out of bed, I got up and got a cup of coffee, she came over and sat on my lap kissed me and wished me a happy birthday, we went to work just like any other day, Shannon had told everyone it was my birthday so every time I left my office all I heard was people wishing me a happy birthday, we had a small party at lunch. After work Shannon told me that we had to get to the airport as soon as possible so we could start my birthday trip, Ok I told her but I wanted to tell Rick something before we left, Shannon told me that Rick had left early as he had something to do.

We went to the airport and the Leer was waiting for us when we got there, Shannon opened to trunk and pulled out some bags she had in there, she made me carry my own luggage to the plane, I would have complained but she had to deal with Michele. Once we were on the leer I asked her where we were going and she told me that she couldn't tell me that would ruin the surprise. She went to the bar and poured us both a birthday drink and came back to play with me and Michele on the floor. Michele was running around playing hide and seek; not many places to hide on a plane but she didn't seem to notice.

We landed in Vancouver and there was a Limo waiting for us, we got in and he started driving without being told where to go. The driver drove down to the marina, I figured out what was happening then Shannon had charted a fishing boat for us, I asked her if that was it and she said I was close but not quite right, we walked down the dock and Shannon started pointing out all the big yachts, Michele seemed to be really impressed with all the boats, she really seemed to like a little row boat that was docked there, I laughed and told Shannon that she wasn't impressed by all the money people spent on these big boats, we walked to the end of the dock and at the end was a really large boat, Shannon pointed to it and asked what I thought of it, I told her it was really nice, and turned to start walking back, Shannon grabbed my arm and pointed, look at that one going by there she said.

I looked and all I could see was the bow starting to come into view but I could tell it was a really big boat, I read the name SWEET MICHELE it said, I turned to Michele and told her it was named after her; Shannon looked at me with a stunned expression on her face.

"How did you know it was named for her?"

"I didn't it just had her name" I explained

"Ohh, I thought you figured it out but I guess I gave it away in the end, Happy Birthday, we bought you a boat."

"You bought me a boat, that's not a boat, a boat is something you tow behind a truck, that thing must be 100' long."

"112" long and five stories high, it took six months to build it." Shannon told me

The boat was docking right in front of us and I could see a couple of girls standing at the walkway with mooring ropes in their hands, once the boat was close enough they jumped off and tied the boat to the dock. Shannon went over to the back of the boat and stood there waiting for me and Michele to board, once on board Shannon started to give us a tour of the boat, she took us down stairs and showed us the guest quarters and the crew quarters, we had four crew on board and they would live on the boat permanently, she took us up to the galley and showed us that they even had a dishwasher on board, she then started to go up the stairs to the living room, she stopped at the top of the stairs and told me that the living room was designed by some woman that I guess she assumed I would know who it was by the name but I didn't have a clue.

She continued into the living room with Michele and me following her, when we got into the room Rick, Julie, Jim and his wife Sharon jumped out and yelled surprise. I was very surprised, so was Michele they scared her a little and I felt her jump in my arms, we went in and sat down on the leather couch, Michele jumped off my lap right away to go exploring, I wished I could go with her. We talked for a few minutes when I realized we were moving, where are we going I asked Shannon.

Shannon replied "Ohh I thought you might want to take her for her maiden voyage, so we are going to cruise down the coast to California, maybe go to Disney land or something."

After about an hour Michele had slowed down and was laying on the floor almost asleep, I picked her up and asked Shannon where our bed was, upstairs she said, I looked around and couldn't see any stairs, ok show me I told her, she got up and opened a small door and behind the door was a circular staircase, I went up the stairs with Michele in my arms and Shannon right behind me, once I got to the top I looked around, the entire floor was a bedroom, it was finished in teak with a large king sized bed in the middle of it, the room was surrounded by windows, it felt as if you where outside, there were a set of sliding glass doors at the back of the room and when you went out them you could look down on the sundeck in the stern of the boat. It was perfect.

Once Michele was asleep we went back down stairs and everyone looked tired so we all called it a night, it was about 11:30pm in Alberta.

In the morning I got up careful not to wake anyone, I took a quick shower and went hunting for the coffee pot, in the galley I found the coffee on and it seemed to be fresh, I took my cup and went out on the bow to find a seat, I was sitting there enjoying the view and the sun when a stunning tall blonde woman came outside, I had never met her before, she was wearing a white captains blazer and a pair of white almost see through linen pants, she didn't see me and stood by the rail with her back to me, I was studying her ass trying to see if see was wearing anything under her pants, I didn't think so, when she turned around and I could see she was obviously not wearing anything under her blazer. She saw me.

"Oh, I am sorry" she said with a surprised look

"Sorry about what?" I asked

"Sorry that I didn't see you sitting there. I am Cathy, the Captain of this vessel." She said proudly

"I am John, the owner of this vessel." I said just as proud then I laughed at my pretentiousness

She laughed a lovely little laugh. I asked her

"Did you make the coffee?"

Cathy replied "yes, Shannon told me you got up early and liked a cup of coffee first thing; I didn't expect you to be up at 5:00am though."

I looked at my watch and then realized "Oh, I am up early but it is 6:00am in Alberta and I never sleep past 6:00am."

She grinned, "So how do you like your birthday present?"

"I haven't seen it all but everything I have seen so far is fantastic. So how did you come to work for us?" I asked her.

"I just finished my tour in the Canadian military and applied for my Captains papers, I received them and got a call from the ship builder that this vessel was going to be built and they were looking for a Captain, I had taken quite a few of their ships through sea trials and they told me to come down and meet the owners wife. I went down and met Shannon and she hired me on the spot, she had me look after the building of the vessel and here I am three months later with a crew and on the maiden voyage." She explained

"Oh, and there are four in the crew, how are they liking having a female captain, isn't that bad luck or something?" I asked with a big grin.

"Well all the crew are female as well, so they like having a female captain, as for bad luck, I have been the first mate on the last three boats I have been on but never saw a female captain in the Canadian Military." She said with a laugh.

I raised my eyebrows, "all female crew, this should be interesting." I said.

"Yes three beautiful girls to tend to you're every need." She said still laughing.

"Oh, there is an ugly one?" I asked still laughing myself.

"Well I don't include myself in that statement" she said and blushed a little.

"Oh you are not to look after my every need?" I asked her "Because you are definitely beautiful." I stated.

She blushed even redder all the way down her chest, "Thank you, and yes we are all here to cater to your needs."

"Well I hope I will not be too much of a burden on you." I said.

"I don't think you can, I have done my research and I believe this is probably the best job anyone could ask for." She replied.

I smiled at her, "So did we anchor somewhere last night, in a little cove or something?"

"No we kept going all night there is a small storm coming and we are trying to outrun it" She told me.

"Oh and how are we doing?" I asked.

"Well so far so good, it looks like the storm is going from west to east and we are going south so I think we will miss it, but the weather can change at anytime." She explained.

"What kind of storm can this boat take?" I asked.

She smiled "This BOAT, can take anything short of a hurricane without you really even knowing that there is a storm going on, it has so many features for crossing oceans that it is perfectly safe almost anywhere" She stated with authority.

"Well that is good, a standing order for you Captain, avoid hurricanes." I said with a giant smile.

"Ok I will try to do just that. They are no fun anyway."

I got up to go and get more coffee, "would you like some more coffee?" I asked.

"Oh I am sorry; I will get some for you." She said and started to rise.

"No that is fine, I am not an invalid, I can and do get coffee for my self and anyone else that needs some, now would you like some more?"

"Yes please, just black." She said.

I went to the coffee pot and poured two more coffee, when I got back there was another woman standing there talking to Cathy.

"Hello" I said "I guess I should have gotten one more coffee?"

The other woman twirled around at the sound of my voice, she was wearing a tight white t-shirt, no bra, and a short skirt that flew up when she turned and I couldn't see anything under it.

"This is Tina our first mate, Tina meet John he is the boats' owner."

Tina stuck out her hand "Hello John, no I don't need any coffee I am going to bed for a couple of hours sleep, I have been up all night."

"Oh ok, and I was just starting to enjoy the view" I said with a grin.

Tina blushed and giggled "Oh not to worry, I am sure you will have lots to look at, I met your wife remember?"

"Yes she is something to look at for sure." I said honestly.

"Well I am off to bed now good night." Tina said.

"Good night" Both me and Cathy said.

"Well you were right they are all beautiful, I saw the other two crewmen or crew women last night when we came aboard." I stated.

"Yes you're wife really seemed to be able to pick them, they are all very good at what they do and look great at the same time" She told me.

"I am surprised that Shannon picked an all girl crew, I would have expected a bunch of old guys." I stated.