Captain made a face, mocking my words and earning a laugh from me as Finn and Palmer jogged down the stairs to join us. Captain scooted toward the middle of the table — fist clutched around his candies — and Finn and Palmer slid in beside him with a curious smile aimed at the two of us.
“Alright, charter three,” Captain Gary said, his grin wide as he tapped the preference sheets on the table. “And no one is sick this time.”
“Hallelujah,” I muttered.
“Let’s get into it. Our primary guest is Nicole Irving. She’s a mom of three who has made her fortune in the pornography industry.”
Captain’s bushy eyebrows shot into his hairline at that, all of us sitting up a bit straighter. We had the guest preferences before this point — what they wanted to eat and drink, the themed parties they preferred, et cetera — but the producers left out the guest details until we had this meeting on camera.
Now I knew why.
“Oh, this is going to be a circus,” Palmer said, rubbing his hands together with a grin.
“Nicole is traveling with her husband, her sister and brother-in-law, and two girlfriends from the industry as they celebrate Nicole’s latest film winning a Nudey Award.”
Finn whistled low. “I gotta ask — what category?”
I laughed, which made Finn grin wider, which made my neck heat.
“Best Group Scene,” Captain Gary read off the page, adjusting his glasses. “And before anyone asks — I will not be googling it.”
“Coward,” Palmer teased.
I scribbled down quick notes, smiling to myself as I realized now why the provisions list had been so… interesting.
“You look thrilled over there, Ember,” Captain mused, arching a brow.
“Listen, I grew up in a very reserved household,” I said. “I think my father still assumes I don’t know pornography even exists. But we worked with some guests in the industry on our last season together, remember?”
Captain chuffed. “How could I ever forget?”
“They were amazing,” I said. “So fun, so kind. This is going to be great. Besides, how often do you get to throw sex-themed parties as yourjob?”
“You and I have very different ideas of fun,” Captain said, but he was smirking. “Speaking of parties, for the first night, they want a ‘Studio 69’ theme. Think disco balls and platform heels, but with way more… skin.”
“Oh, my God. I can already see the outfits,” I said excitedly. “Palmer, do you think you and the other guys would be up for helping us serve?”
“Why do I feel like I willnotbe wearing my black uniform for this?”
“I was thinking more like tiny silver banana hammocks,” I said, waggling my brows.
He laughed, running a hand back through his hair. “Eli is going to eat this up.”
I caught Finn staring at me, a soft curl on his lips before he flipped the page. “What about food? Are we talking lobster tails and caviar, or are they more of a pizza rolls and Jell-O shots crowd?”
“A bit of both,” Captain said. “Nicole’s husband, Mark, is a big foodie and specifically requested a tasting menu for the first night — paired with wine and cocktails. But then they want ‘guilty pleasure’ snacks served at midnight.”
Finn grinned. “I can work with that.”
We continued on through the rest of the preference sheet, which included a request for a Nudey Award “after party” theme for night two, complete with a red carpet and champagne wall. They also wanted a photoshoot on the beach in Positano… on a giant circular bed. I had a feeling that photoshoot wouldn’t exactly be family friendly, so I would need to do some calculations to figure out how to pull it off without breaking every maritime rule in the book.
But I wasn’t overwhelmed or worried — I was excited.
These were the kind of charters I lived for. Every night had a theme, every guest had a dream of what their yacht experience would be like, and I was the one with the key to make it all happen.
From the moment they stepped on board, it was my job to make fantasy reality, to take a bare table and transform it into a Studio 69 wonderland, to plan menus and excursions that felt like magic, to read their minds and anticipate needs they hadn’t even thought of yet.
It was a kind of creative chaos that fueled me — part high-stakes event planning, part luxury hospitality, part performance art. And I was damn good at it.