The sun warmed her face and calmed her, much the same as the seas breeze did when it ruffled her hair. She looked completely out of place, standing on the dock in her deep blue designer suit and heels, scanning the rows and rows of boats tied in their berths, but she didnât care. Slipping off her jacket, she unbuttoned two of the mother of pearl closures that went up the neck of her silk blouse. Her outfit was fine in air-conditioned offices and cars, but it was sweltering outside in the real world.
Glancing down at the slip of paper in her hand, she read again his boatâs berthing location. She doubted that heâd really thought sheâd write it down when he gave it to her, the last time they chatted, but something had made her do it â marina address and all. What had made her carefully tuck it into her wallet and keep it was beyond her understanding. She was only realizing that sheâd intended to make this detour all along.
She smiled as she read his boatâs name again: âTime to Ponderâ. Pondering is precisely what she had been doing in these long months since they had met on line. Theyâd met on line in a writerâs chat room. Both had proverbial âdayâ jobs, but their hearts were into writing and theyâd corresponded for some time about it. Critiquing each otherâs works had been very helpful to her especially â his praise giving her the confidence that she needed to put her writing on the line. While she still kept her previous position, she was beginning to get responses to her efforts at publishing.
But that wasnât what brought her to the marina on this hot summer afternoon. Jack had sparked her imagination and touched her heart and sheâd decided she wanted to meet him. The fact that her most recent business trip had taken her to his town only made it seem like kismet.
Walking carefully along the wooden dock in her high-heeled shoes, she watched for his boat, thinking sheâd recognize it from the pictures heâd sent. Sure enough, there it floated, all 33 feet of sleek comfort, bobbing on the gentle swells in the harbor. Standing next to it, it occurred to her that she didnât know how to âknockâ on a boat. She knew he was there â or at least heâd said that heâd planned to spend the weekend on it â but part of her had pictured him on deck. She wasnât comfortable just getting onto someoneâs vessel any more than she would have walked into someoneâs house.
So even though she felt foolish, she cleared her throat and said. âUhâŠ. Ahoy?â
Thatâs when she heard the music coming from below deck, so she summoned up some more courage and called louder, âAhoy, there!â
The radio was turned down and there he was, poking his head up through the door in the deck. âYes, whatâsâŠâ and then he saw her. She was the last person heâd expected to find on this dock, at his boat, but there she stood â more lovely than he had realized, even from her picture. âLianneâ, he breathed, staring. It was awkward for a moment, her standing on the dock, dressed for a cabinet level meeting and him in his trunks and t shirt with a dirty rag in his hand, but she made it work.
âPermission to come aboard?â she asked and they both laughed. He dropped the rag and stepped up to take her hand.
âPermission granted,â he answered, waiting while she kicked off her heels and raised her shapely leg over the boatâs side. He couldnât help but watch those legs as her skirt rode up her thighs and he glimpsed the lacy tops of her thigh high stockings. She caught his glance and though her cheeks reddened, she didnât lower her gaze. âIâm glad you came,â he said softly and she decided that she liked his voice as much as his writing.
âSo am I,â she smiled, still holding the hand that had helped her aboard. Their eyes were locked on each other for an endless moment and she wondered if they would kiss then. Instead, he released her hand and taking her elbow helped her to one of the cushioned seats on the deck. The sun was setting and the afternoon breeze had picked up somewhat, but it was still hot and perspiration was making her silk blouse stick to her skin. She felt out of place and physically uncomfortable and began to wonder what sheâd been thinking â coming to a marina dressed in a business suit. Even as the thought entered her mind, she knew that it had been a now or never move. If sheâd taken the time to go to the hotel and change her clothes, sheâd also have changed her mind.
When Jack offered her a cold drink, she gladly accepted wiping some sweat from her brow and smudging her makeup at the same time. She looked up into his face and felt her nerves relax â he was so obviously pleased to have her there. She also felt heat wash through her body like molten lava as she followed his gaze to the way the wet silk was clinging to her breasts.
Once again, their eyes met and they smiled, accepting both the pleasure of meeting for the first time in the flesh and their attraction to one another. âYou know, âhe said, âI have a shower on board ⊠you look hotter nâhellâŠâand even as he said it they both caught the double meaning and laughed lightly.
âA shower would feel great, â she agreed and he liked the music of her laughter as she spoke, lingering on his ears. âBut I havenât brought a change. Iâd hate to get back into this sweaty stuff after Iâm all clean and coolâ
He offered her his hand again. âNo worries. Iâm sure Iâve got something that will work for you. Câmon.â and he led her into the below deck cabin. She sighed with pleasure as the cooler air hit her and laughed lightly.
âI never thought that your boat would be air-conditioned!â
He smiled. âHey! What pleasure vessel could live up to its name without it?â He loved the way her face reddened at the word âpleasureâ. Was it possible she was thinking the same way about him?
After giving her a quick explanation of the showerâs workings he told her heâd be on deckâŠif she needed him.
The cabin had never seemed quite so small before. He could feel her presence everywhere he turned, brushing up against her needlessly on his way up the steps. Once in the blaze of the setting sunâs heat again, Jack shook his head at Lianneâs affect on him. He wasnât a schoolboy or some callow youth smitten with the âbig cityâ career woman. He knew what he wanted and what he liked in a woman as well as what he could offer to her.
He glanced back down the stairs and caught sight of her through the window in the door, her slender leg propped on the edge of the bunk as she slipped her stocking off and wasnât startled by the rush of sensual heat that shot through him. She affected him that way on line, so it only made sense that he should be gripped by the desire to race down there, take over the task of peeling those silky hose from her legs and then taking their place, plastered to her body. Perfect sense.
Not.
Sense and reason had nothing to do with it, he knew. And while it might well be the only thing on HIS mind since he saw her mere minutes before standing on his deck, it might have nothing at all to do with why sheâd come to see him.
Smiling ruefully at himself as he finished coiling the rope that secured the boat to the dock, checking it for the night he thought; but a man can dream, canât he?
The sound of her voice calling from below deck brought him out of his reverie and he took one last, calming breath before going to join her. Lianne had had more than her share of stress over these last few months and heâd tried to be there for her, as a friend. Heâd be there for her again â no matter where his mind and body wanted to take them.
Secure in this resolve, he stepped down into the cabin, only to be brought up short.
She was standing in the dwindling sunlight, still damp from her shower, clad in nothing but one of his clean tee shirts. Her short, dark hair was still wet and rather than the smooth coif of her normal hairstyle, it was drying into soft, unruly curls. Sheâd washed her face clean of make up and while it no longer accented the drama of her large, dark eyes, it made them seem almost doe-like, vulnerable. He noticed that there was a small beauty mark at the corner of her lip ⊠one normally hidden by meticulously applied lipstick.
Through the baggy tee, he could see the contours of her breasts, full and even pendulous without the shape defining constraint of her bra, the slight roundness to her belly and the inviting curve of her hips and bottom. He felt his bodyâs primal response to this vision in his stirring manhood.