Chapter 15

Christmas came and went. Celebrated at the villa with a huge party Archie threw for all the bar and restaurant staff and many of our friends. Maria brought all her family with her and I must say she enjoyed herself. I had never seen her drunk before, but in the early hours of Christmas day morning I saw her not only drunk, but also stark naked, as everyone still standing stripped off and leapt into the heated pool to celebrate the holiday. That was a sight that will be forever imprinted in my memory. Twenty to thirty people of all ages and sizes splashing around as naked as nature intended, laughing and hugging one another without the remotest sexual overtone. Wonderful night...

My fiftieth birthday was celebrated in much the same way in February of the following year. Same sort of party but sadly without the communal nakedness as the weather was not too clever and the temperature outside was as low as it gets on the coast in Majorca. However I did get a truly wonderful and memorable present from my wife though. When she stripped off I found her pussy totally bare and a cute little tattoo (or so it appeared), across her naked mound that said John's Private Love Palace. I found out later that the writing wasn't actually a tattoo but that one of the girls had done it that morning after she had waxed my lover's previously thick bush for me. My naughty little minx did promise me though that she would have it done permanently if I liked it. And I did like it. Very much. Very horny...

April came along all too soon. Time for us to pack up and start work on the ship, a new experience for me and a chance for Josie to get back to doing what she loved- singing for the public. Archie was home the weekend we set off and drove us down to the docks in Palma where he exchanged tearful farewells with Josie and a warm hug with me. Probably a bit over the top I did mention, as we would be back in three weeks anyway.

That first trip, around the coastal cities of Italy, was the first time I had been anywhere other than England and a previous holiday to Barcelona. I loved it. Being able to see all the other cultures and have my lovely wife show me around the ancient cities we visited was absolutely mind-blowing to this inexperienced traveller with my narrow experience of the big wide world. We usually had the chance to have a look around during the afternoons when we were moored as we both worked through the late evenings, and so had the daytimes free to do whatever we wanted. Josie had seen it all before of course, but took great delight in showing me everything she could think of that I may have been interested in. There's something very special about shagging at sea too- especially with someone you truly love. It's just so ... I don't know ... So much more romantic somehow.

All too soon our first cruise together was over and we were back at the villa. I immediately started babbling to Archie about what we had seen, acting like a kid after his first visit to a zoo. To his credit, he sat there listening to my rambling for at least an hour before I drove him to drink and we all got pissed and jumped naked into the pool once again.

So began mine and Josie's cycle of life as cruise ship crew. We would be away for three to four weeks at a time during the summer, then, after we had transferred to the winter cruises that went farther afield than the Med, we were away for sometimes up to two months at a time during the darker months of November to March. Sadly this meant that we were usually away for Christmas and New Year, missing Archie more than I ever thought possible for me to miss any man.

The lovely man bowled us over with a wonderful surprise the first Christmas we were away from the villa when, instead of dropping us off at the docks, he asked us to get a taxi as he had somewhere to be. When we got to the ship, we found the devious old git waiting for us with his cases. Amid many tears of joy from my wife, he informed us he had nothing on that holiday and thought he may as well join us and have us serve on him hand and foot, seeing as he was a world-famous artist and he was a VIP passenger (according to the ship's passenger list anyway). Of course he was told to "go fuck yourself" by the pair of us, but we did all have a marvellous time together. Josie and I marvelled at the way Archie was able to mix with all the different walks of life on-board a cruise liner. From the richest, snobbiest passenger to the humblest of the crew, he was able to have a laugh and a joke with all of them- usually at himself I might add.

He seemed to be constantly asked to join various different groups for dinner, or drinks in the bar, always willing and able to autograph anything they wanted him to, or have his picture taken with them. He was especially in demand by all the middle-aged divorcees on-board as soon as they discovered who he was. Constantly surrounded by ladies of various degrees of beauty and sexuality, the dirty old sod unashamedly took advantage of the opportunity of being able to choose a different bed-time companion every night from all the adoring women who started hanging around him like bees on a honey-pot. I think the poor old bugger was completely shagged out by the time the month long cruise around the Caribbean was over- he certainly looked it as he staggered away from the ship when we docked back in Palma.