I woke up with the sun burning into my naked body. The feeling of dehydration and disorientation took a few minutes to disappear, as I wandered over to the giant fridge for a beer and quickly drank the whole thing.

Jessie was still fast asleep and I looked over at her. A tear welled up in my eye as I looked at her naked body on my bed. Why did this strange, alluring woman cause me to get so emotional in every way imaginable?

Life had just got very complicated. For a start, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t get emotionally attached to another woman again so soon after my past disappointments.

Then there was the fact that my uncle had made it very clear to me just a few days ago that I was only going to get my full inheritance if I married the right kind of woman. There was no way he was going to approve of a penniless, headstrong backpacker who had just come out of the jungle.

He wanted me to get hitched to some sort of minor royalty or someone from the same background. The only problem was that they were all hideously boring. Only Jessie has managed to make me feel as though I was truly meant to be with someone.

I felt a dark mood settle over me. After I had finally found a woman that pushed all the right buttons I had taken very little time in seeing my dreams fall apart. My uncle would undoubtedly find a way to cut or stop my allowance if he found out about my relationship with Jessie.

I could still remember how he had looked at me so coldly as he fixed his club blazer and tie in the mirror.

“Get a wife that won’t let you down, son. There are lots of pretty little duchesses and heiresses out there that will let you carry on with your lifestyle even after you get married. Heck, you can even get a mistress if you like the common touch.”

“Are you talking about a marriage of convenience?”

“Call it what you want, Adam. It is the smart move for the family and for the business.”

“I couldn’t…”

He had laughed bitterly while smoothing out his trademark moustache. There wasn’t a single photo of him at any age without that moustache.

“You’ll see sense eventually, Adam. We all do.”

Come to think of it, I had never heard him say anything nice about his own wife, the pretty but slightly dim duchess from central Europe.

Jessie stirred slightly and I put a blanket over her. Would I ever see her naked, happy, and utterly defenseless like this again?

It was a sunny day but the breeze on this giant river made it feel very chilly on the yacht. I was feeling a cold chill on my skin too but it was nothing to do with the weather.

Everything had been perfect last night but in the cold light of day, I could see that this relationship was doomed from the very start. Why hadn’t I controlled myself instead of diving in headfirst and getting my emotions all mixed up?

Now I was going to hurt Jessie and hurt myself at the same time. Which one of the two was most important to me? I couldn’t decide which came as a real surprise to me.

I looked at the map but honestly had no idea where we were. I could steer the yacht well enough but I had no idea how to read a map or work out our present coordinates. My captain was probably in Puerto Madero right now wondering what on Earth had happened.

Were we still in the might River Plate, the body of water that divided Argentina from Uruguay and the scene of historic World War Two battles? Or had we already drifted out into the Atlantic Ocean?

Perhaps we were heading towards the controversial, British controlled Falkland Islands that the Argentines still called Las Malvinas and were desperate to claim back? I had no real idea what else was out there, as we had flown into Buenos Aires rather than sailing in? Was the Antarctic close enough for there to be a real danger of us drifting down there?

A pair of silky smooth arms slipped around my waist. I had put my shorts on but I could feel that Jessie appeared to still be completely naked. Then I remembered that I had thrown her clothes overboard last night.

Her hands teased my shorts a little but she seemed to sense that something wasn’t quite right and she stopped abruptly.

I turned around and tried to paint a smile onto my face. I knew I had failed, though, as soon as I saw her expression.

“Jess, we’re a bit of an odd couple, aren’t we?”

She looked at me suspiciously and grabbed a sheet to cover herself up. The barriers she had joyously lowered last night were back up again and probably higher than ever before. That might not be a bad thing in the long run but it was tough to watch it happening in front of my eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

“We’re from different worlds. My uncle…” I let the words trails off, as I genuinely had nothing to say.

“I still don’t know what you mean. Do you think I don’t belong on a rich playboy’s fancy yacht?” She looked around my favorite possession as though it disgusted her. “You’re probably right.”

My head was spinning out of control. All I wanted to do was hug her and make it all better but every word I said only made it worse.

“Maybe we just need to take things more slowly.”

“Ah, more slowly. Well, that’s rich coming from the guy who kidnapped me and then seduced me on his boat in the middle of the ocean.

“It’s a river.”

“Who cares? Just take me home.”

I stared out at the water. This was one of the widest rivers in the world and I couldn’t see land on either side. Uruguay should be over there to the right. Or was it now the left.

“You do know how to sail this heap of crap, don’t you?”

“Kind of.”

“What? So are we just kind of lost rather than really lost?”

“Just give me a minute.” I was in full-blown panic mode now but couldn’t afford to show it to Jessie.

“This rich kid’s toy must have some sort of radio or internet on it.”

“Yeah, about that…I was kind of getting the communication systems fixed in Buenos Aires.”

“Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you lured me onto a yacht that you can’t sail and that doesn’t have any radio or internet on it? What kind of stupid, spoiled little brat are you?”

Jessie’s words stung me but I had to admit that I had been foolish. The opportunity to spend time on here alone with her was too good to miss and I hadn’t thought things through at all.

“What about your cell phone, Jess? Mine has got hardly any battery left on it and I think Joe has the charger.”

“You threw it overboard along with my clothes.”

The words made me remember our night of passion last night. I looked down at her, still wrapped alluringly in a towel that left enough skin on show to get me excited.

“Stop looking at me. I’m going to find an old t-shirt to wear or something.”

Jessie went into the cabin and I stared out to sea all alone. The dark, open expanses of the sea always made me feel very small and insignificant, which is why I always avoided sailing alone.

The truth was that meeting Jessie had shown me how trapped I had become in a pathetic, artificial world of pointless luxury and gold plated frustration. She had nothing but had somehow found out the true meaning of the word freedom by just being herself at all times.

Could I learn how to be like her? If you had asked me at that moment whether I could give up all of my money to be with her then the answer was easy. I would have sunk that yacht with all of the expensive goods in it without a second thought.

Yet, I knew that it could never happen. I was only fooling myself if I tried to pretend that there was some sort of future waiting for us. We came from different worlds and we wanted different things from life.

Well, it seemed as though Jessie knew what she wanted but I was completely lost and had no idea what would make me happy apart from being with Jessie.

With no sign of land on the horizon, it was going to be a long trip for both of us.