Katherine and Somtow lounged comfortably on the cushioned benches that lined the sides of the boat. A young woman in traditional dress appeared with refreshments: ice cold lemon juice and an array of tropical fruit. Somtow picked up a spear of pineapple, dipped it into a dish of white and red powder that sat in the middle of the fruit platter, and offered it to Katherine. "This is the typical way that Thais eat fruit," he said. "With salt and chilli. I know that it may sound odd to you, but try it."
Katherine took a bite. The complex of sweetness, saltiness and spiciness was quite remarkable. She smiled appreciatively. "That's fantastic," she said. "Like nothing I have ever tasted before. But whatever inspired the Thais to try this in the first place?"
"Just our natural creativity," said Somtow with a grin. "Or perhaps our craving for new and exciting sensations." He leaned forward and kissed her, his taste adding to other flavors mingling on her tongue.
The roar of an unmuffled motor roused them from their embrace. A narrow boat with a high, sharp prow raced passed past them, leaving the barge rocking gently in its wake. "A long-tail boat, as they are called," said Somtow. "A modern adaptation of the traditional dragon boats that plied the river in past centuries." He kissed her again, lightly. "Personally, I prefer a more leisurely pace."
Katherine stood up and leaned on the gunwale, taking in the myriad sights of the river. Stretches of verdant jungle alternated with rickety-looking wooden houses, perched on stilts at the river's edge. Women in sarongs squatted on the porches of these shacks, doing laundry or cooking on charcoal braziers. The delicious smell of frying garlic came to her across the water.
She saw the slick heads of children, heard their shrill cries as they splashed each other. A flat-bottomed boat piled high with bananas passed their barge, propelled by a long pole in the hands of an elderly woman in a conical straw hat.
Then she caught sight of tiled roofs and gilded spires through the palm trees. It was a wat, a Buddhist temple, inaccessible except by water. A winding stairway led from the complex of buildings down to the shore. At water level sat a small pavilion, with the typical peaked roof and upturned eaves. Katherine saw a young man draped in orange robes seated there, pensively watching the river flow by. The monk looked up as they passed. Katherine felt an ache in her chest. His beautiful, serious face, lit by the late-morning sun, was too perfect.
Immersed in the scenes on the riverside, Katherine started when she felt Somtow's hands on her hips. She twisted around to look at him.
"No," he said, "please, just stay the way you are." She obeyed, turning back the river and leaning her elbows on the railing. She felt her skirt being drawn up, until it was around her waist. Next, her knickers were pulled down until they were at her ankles.
"Perhaps I should just stop wearing any underwear," Katherine remarked with a little laugh. Gregory's face flashed briefly in her mind's eye; she pushed the thought of him away.
"Perhaps that would be a good idea," said Somtow, completely serious. He helped her step out of the garment.
"Now, spread your legs a bit, Katherine."
"What about the young pilot, and the girl who brought us the fruit?"
"They know better than to bother us," said Somtow. He was kneeling behind her. She felt his tongue, tracing a line up the inside of her thigh.
"In any case," he said after a moment, "you would not really mind if they were watching, would you?" He lingered in the crease where her thigh swelled into the fullness of her buttocks. Katherine let out an involuntary sigh, and opened her legs a little wider.
She did not answer his question. Her imagination, though, supplied an image of the pilot and the serving girl, peaking out of the cabin at her bare backside, liberally anointed with her lover's saliva. The thought brought a strange, forbidden thrill. She imagined the pilot, unbuttoning the girl's top, while guiding her hand to his swollen cock. Somtow could see right through her, she realised, writhing as he swept his tongue along the length of her sex.