Page 64 of Hook, Line and Single

‘Monsieur,’ she repeats in an even more dangerous tone. ‘You have reduced one of my staff to tears. I have no interest in what you believe to be your rights, and you are welcome to take that up with the airline once you have disembarked. I do, however, have a great deal of interest in the well-being of my crew, who are responsible for the safety of everyone on board during this flight. I cannot and will not allow them to be subjected to abuse. I will therefore ask you once more to leave the aircraft immediately, taking your belongings with you.’

‘Yeah, well, good luck with that, darlin’,’ the man says, adopting a mutinous tone. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

‘So, just to be clear. You are refusing to disembark, yes?’

‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘I see.’ Again, we all watch as she marches up the aisle and disappears onto the flight deck. Moments later, the captain’s voice comes over the intercom.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to inform you that there will be a short delay to our departure this morning. My cabin manager has explained to me that we have an abusive passenger on board who is refusing to disembark. I’ve spoken to our ground crew and we’re just waiting for the police to come and remove him. As soon as that’s done we’ll close the doors and be on our way.’

‘He’d better not make us miss our connection,’ I say to Cameron. Entertaining as the exchanges have been, the seriousness of the situation is now becoming clear.

‘What did I tell you about bad luck coming in threes?’

‘Stop it.’

It takes around ten minutes for the gendarmes to arrive. There’s palpable tension on the plane as the cabin manager points the man out to them and they advance down the aisle.

‘Please come with us,monsieur,’ one of them says to the man.

‘Why? What have I done?’

‘We will discuss that in the terminal building once you have disembarked.’

‘I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Monsieur. Either you come with us or we will remove you by force.’

The man sits there for a moment, evidently considering his options, before yanking off his seatbelt and getting up.

‘Fine,’ he says furiously, grabbing his bag and setting off up the aisle with the gendarmes behind him. He’s just by the door when he suddenly turns.

‘This is ajoke fucking airline,’ he yells loudly enough that the whole cabin can hear. ‘I’mneverflying with you bastards again, and I’m going to tell everyone I know not to fly with you either. You’re fuckingscammers.’

As the gendarmes bundle him off, the cabin manager gives a small farewell wave, and a ripple of relieved laughter runs down the cabin. The main door is closed and, to my relief, the pushback starts very soon after that.

‘We’re half an hour behind schedule,’ I murmur to Cameron as we finally climb into the air. ‘Are we going to have enough time?’

‘It’s going to be tight. We might need to run.’

‘I’ll bloody sprint if I have to.’

* * *

In the end, the captain managed to make up a bit of time, even though it was a short flight, so we were able to transfer to our connecting flight without breaking into anything more than a brisk walk.

‘We’ve bloody done it!’ I say to Cameron as we touch down in Pisa late that afternoon. ‘All we need now is a taxi, and we’re back in business.’

‘I don’t know whether to be pleased that we’ve made it or miffed that you didn’t fancy spending a night in Paris with me,’ he says with a smile.

‘Another time, perhaps,’ I tell him with a grin.

‘I’ll hold you to that.’

As the taxi makes its way towards the port, Cameron’s words are echoing around my head. Did he mean what he said? Is he expecting us to actually schedule a whole trip to Paris, just the two of us? I mean, I like him and everything, and I’d like us to keep in touch after the cruise, but a weekend away in the self-proclaimed ‘city of love’ seems a bit intense. A scenario forms in my mind, and I let it play. Cameron and I are in a hotel room very similar to the one we stayed in last night, except we’re in Paris, obviously. I’m lying face down on the bed and he’s massaging my back, my buttocks, as well as the backs of my thighs and calves. I close my eyes, remembering the sensations from last night and feeling myself becoming aroused again. However, the fantasy isn’t finished with me. With a sigh of pleasure, I roll over and he begins to massage my shoulders, working down to my breasts, lowering his head to kiss them…

‘We’re here,’ he announces, puncturing the daydream and causing me to snap open my eyes. Although the fantasy was extremely pleasant, the reality of seeing theSpirit of Malmöup close in the flesh again is even better.

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