Page 52 of Meet Jon, the Billionaire

I helped her onto the deck at last, and showed her around. “So, shall I give you the grand tour?”

“How about you tell me what it is you wanted to talk about instead?”

I felt my smile drain away. “That… what say we wait until we’re out at sea to talk about that?”

Her eyes narrowed. “If that’s how it has to be.”

I considered her for a long moment and then tried to regain control of the situation. “Hey, you want to take her out?”

“What?”

“You can pilot the ship if you want.”

“I don’t know how.”

“It’s so easy. I’ll teach you. Come on.”

She followed me up to the top deck, where the cozy but well-appointed bridge awaited. There were two seats, both raised up enough to give a great view over the bow of the ship. I indicated the seat behind the wheel.

“You know, I’ve always wondered why the wheel has these little things sticking off of it. Why not just a hoop like a steering wheel?”

I shrugged. “I asked my father that question once. He said that in the old days of sailing ships, they would tie a piece of rope to those pegs as a sort of autopilot.”

“So they serve literally no purpose on your yacht?”

I noticed her mischievous smile and laughed.

“Not true. They serve a purpose.”

“What purpose?” She asked incredulously.

“They look cool.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh my GOD. No matter how old you get, you men are all really such boys on the inside.”

“You sound like someone who doesn’t want to pilot the ship.”

Amelia cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, I want to. I’m just afraid that I’m going to wreck the boat.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

I showed her how to turn over the engine. Once it was purring, I indicated the controls.

“Pull that lever back, and the rotors will reverse course and take us backward.”

She pulled the lever, and the yacht lurched. For a moment fear crossed her lovely features. I put a hand on top of her own.

“That’s normal. See, it’s smoothing out. Now keep backing up and turn the wheel hard to port.”

“To what?”

“Sorry, to your left.”

She did so and the yacht slowly backed up and faced the open sea.

“Okay, now push the lever up, and open the throttle a little.”

The sound of waves slapping the prow soon reached our ears. The yacht skipped along the relatively calm Atlantic, and a big smile formed on Amelia’s face.

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