Sailing at Sunset

by Cindi Madsen

  “I think we could all use more of that attitude.”

  “Says the impulsive guy.”

  He shrugged, and she fiddled with the strap of her heels, looping them through her clutch so she only had to focus on carrying one thing. “I like to pretend to be above signs and omens, but apparently my brain stored them simply to mess with me.”

  “When clearly that’s my job,” Josh said, taking her hand again, and she flashed a smile at him.

  “You’re very good at it, by the way.”

  Josh removed his invisible hat and tipped it at her. “Happy to be of service.”

  The breeze caught her laugh and tossed it back at her, like a boomerang of joy, although had her laugh always been that high-pitched?

  She breached the wet sand and waited as the water rushed forward to lap the shore. Although it seemed to want to stay for longer, it drifted away, taking sand and shell fragments with it, as if it were reluctant to say goodbye but couldn’t stay any longer.

  That was how she was beginning to feel every night when she had to say goodbye to Josh. How she felt about the fact that soon this trip would be over, and they’d have to part for even longer. At least now they would have the boat christening to look forward to.

  “I wasn’t so sure I believed in luck, either,” Josh said, his voice quiet. Speculative. “But after this trip, I might reconsider my stance.”

  Optimism bubbled up, leaving her steps that much lighter. Regardless of how many times her brain told her it was a bad idea to cross lines with the handsome, funny and kind sailor, her heart refused to listen. “Then it’s an extra good thing we scheduled your boat-christening ceremony. From there, your luck’s only going to get better and better.”

  This time she got the wide smile with the crinkled eyes. Instead of continuing to question herself, she decided to go ahead and let her heart set the course.

  As she’d learned in today’s meeting, sometimes giving yourself room for risk meant a better, brighter plan, with an even more promising future.

  Chapter Eighteen

  For a guy who wasn’t usually an overthinker, Josh was overthinking his head off.

  If that was a thing that could be done. He’d ask Danae, but since she was the object of his hyperactive thoughts, it seemed like a conflict of interest.

  Not to mention embarrassing. A grown man afraid of an attractive woman.

  Which was ridiculous. What was there even to think about? Perfect nights like this one didn’t come along very often, and much like sailing, they required reacting. Taking risks. Seizing the moment.

  After their fingers had accidentally brushed, the urge to hold on had overwhelmed him. So he’d initiated the next contact, capturing her hand in his without fully thinking through the move. He supposed it meant that subconsciously, he’d ruled in favor of savoring the time they had left together on this trip.

  After all, it wouldn’t be as difficult to say goodbye now that they had plans to see each other again.

  More than that, it was becoming more difficult to avoid his feelings for Danae than to face them. His pulse kicked up a notch as he dragged his thumb over Danae’s knuckles. Her hand was so much smaller than his, her skin so soft. It had been a long time since he’d had a woman on his arm, and as they neared the wharf, longing looped itself around his heart.

  Danae stopped just short of the wooden planks and pivoted to face him. The clouds behind her had turned more purple than pink, their rippled reflections gleaming across the surface of the water, until the entire place glittered as much as Danae’s dress, earrings, shoes, and purse. “Tonight was fun. Thank you for being my escort.”

  “I agree, and you’re welcome,” Josh said. He stepped closer, eradicating the foot or so of space between them. “I just realized I never told you how beautiful you look, and that’s completely unacceptable, because wow.”

  In the dim light, he could barely make out the pink that rose to her cheeks, but the slight smile and way she shyly dipped her chin was a dead giveaway. “Thank you. As I told you when we left the ship, you also look very nice. I’d go so far as to say handsome.”

  She sunk her teeth into her lower lip, and just like that, his nerves calmed, like the sea before the storm. If he held up a microphone to his heart, however, it’d sound like thunder, one clap after another, nothing placid about it. The entire walk along the shore had felt like a dream, as if he had one foot in the real world and one foot in fairyland.

  With Danae standing in front of him, her hand still curled inside his, there was no doubt in his mind that luck existed. Tonight, he was feeling extremely lucky.

  “Talking about my dad and his superstitions brought back a lot of good memories.” Danae tipped back her head and blinked at the enormous sky overhead. There were certain places in the world where the sky seemed bigger, and near the ocean was one of them. Partially because away from populous cities, there weren’t as many lights and skyscrapers to interrupt the view. “One of the other things that always stuck with me were his lessons on the stars. Whenever we sailed at night, or even walking or driving somewhere, my dad would ask me to find Polaris.

  “When I was two or three, I’d tell him I found it, only to point at a plane. Or a streetlight.” A soft laugh escaped, the exquisite sound hanging the air between them. “He’d always kindly correct me and turn me in the right direction. He often warned me that if I set my sights on the wrong star, I’d find myself going in the wrong direction.”

  The first time she’d mentioned her father, she’d used a different, slightly disappointed tone. Tonight there was a fondness and a bit of that childlike wonder that people lost far too early, thanks to the bumps that came along with life.

  Josh tightened his grip on her hand, affection and attraction melding and strengthening her elemental pull. “Even before my sailing days, I always had a fascination with finding the North Star, too.”

  Danae’s grin widened, and speaking of stars, it felt as if he’d been suffused with stardust. “I guess I just exchanged the actual stars for stickers.”

  “Hey, a gold star’s a gold star as far as I’m concerned.”

  With a sigh, she tilted her head toward the wooden planked walkway. “I suppose we should make our way back to the ship.” From the sound of it, she was as reluctant to end the evening as he was.

  As they stepped onto the wharf, Danae nudged him toward the middle. “I’m always wary of piers that don’t have fences or rails. I feel like I’ll suddenly trip and fall into the water.”

  “Some of us like a little danger,” he teased. “Or perhaps it just makes it easier to fish off the sides.”

  “Big surprise, Mr. Improviser doesn’t want guidelines or rails, even if they make him safer. Let me guess, getting knocked off and ending up going for a lovely swim would only feed your spontaneous nature.”

  He burst out laughing. “Not quite. When it comes to swimming, I’m all for planning—at a minimum, five minutes in advance. Enough time to shed my shoes at the very least. But if anyone knocked you in, rest assured, I’d jump in, shoes, jacket, and all.”

  “You’d better,” she said with a smile, and he tugged her to a stop. She swallowed, and her eyes widened as they met his. “What are you doing? I’m warning you, if you even think of pushing me i—”

  Josh cupped her cheek, and the rest of her sentence died on her parted lips. He took a couple of seconds to soak in the way the harbor lights lit up her profile, her sharp intake of breath, and the endless stretch of water behind her.

  Sometimes life gave you perfect moments.

  It was up to you whether or not you did something with them.

  “I’m improvising,” he whispered, using his thumb to tip up her chin. Time slowed, and his entire body hummed with emotions he thought he’d rid himself of long ago.

  He dipped his head, and then there was a mere inch of space between
his lips and hers.

  She gripped his elbows, her fingers wrapping around them as she angled closer, and Josh closed his eyes as he lowered his mouth to—

  “Danae. Hey, I’ve been looking for you. I even called your phone, but…”

  Of course it was Mark.

  Danae’s eyes flew open, going from fluttering to panic mode, and Josh cursed her ex-boyfriend’s timing. He couldn’t help wondering if it was happenstance or purposeful.

  Josh’s arms complained as he lowered them to his sides, his entire body protesting at putting space between him and Danae. He longed to collect every wasted second and pile them together until he had a handful for the kiss he hadn’t gotten to follow through on.

  Although he couldn’t call any of tonight’s seconds a waste, not when he’d been completely captivated. What did Mark want? Too bad, so sad, you missed out, he wanted to tell the guy. Now it’s my turn, so get lost.

  Danae tucked a loose curl behind her ear and cleared her throat as she turned to address her ex. “I’m right here. What did you need?”

  Mark glanced between them, and Josh silently encouraged him to say whatever it was so they could get their moment back.

  “I told everyone how great you were at charades, so we thought we’d have game night.” Mark gave Josh a smile too smug for his liking—not that he’d be a fan of anything of Mark’s right now. “You’re free to join us, if you’d like. Everyone else is onboard already, eager to get started.”

  “Well, guess we’d better not keep them waiting,” Danae said, her voice a pinch higher than usual.

  Josh didn’t mind if they waited all night. He was the one who only got Danae for a little while. They could play games at the office.

  Not in a million years would Danae ever do that, but couldn’t they give her a few more minutes?

  Wait, that wasn’t long enough. Twenty minutes. No, more like an hour.

  The fact of the matter was, he’d beg for one more minute all night long. Stifling a groan, Josh nodded. “Sure. Yeah. We’ll be right there.”

  As if he hadn’t spoken, Mark stepped up to Danae. “Are you cold? You look cold.”

  Before she could answer, the guy took off his suit coat and draped it over her shoulders. As if he was trying to mark his territory. What a jerk move. For one, Danae wasn’t anyone’s territory, least of all Mark’s.

  It hit Josh that he’d done the exact same thing with his own jacket the night they’d gone fishing…which left him without a leg to stand on, dang it.

  “Uh, thanks,” Danae said, too polite to refuse the gesture. She cast Josh one last glance, and then the three of them headed down the wharf and climbed onto a boat where there were suddenly too many people.

  For the first time in the past couple of days, Josh missed Solitude. Both his boat, and his privacy. Only, if he had his way, he’d make room for one extra person onboard. She had blond hair, a sharp wit, and an amazing laugh.

  Unfortunately, she was also walking away from him seconds after he’d made a move.

  What are you doing?

  Who asked a question like that? Especially after a romantic stroll?

  Evidently, she did. The instant she’d blurted it out, Danae wished she could stuff it back in. Then she’d winced at how easily she could ruin a moment. Until Josh had replied, I’m improvising, and her heart had taken off, soaring all the way up to the sherbet-colored clouds in the sky.

  As they stepped aboard the Fortune 703 Model, she glanced over her shoulder at Josh, imagining what would’ve happened if they’d had a few more minutes to themselves. Since they were about to be around her coworkers, though, she put on her best game face.

  She shrugged out of Mark’s jacket, thanking him again, in spite of how not-cold she’d been on the wharf. With Josh so close, his lips a mere breath from hers, she’d been pleasantly toasty, and her blood was still firing hot with the idea of everything that could’ve been.

  What might be.

  After all, they still had two and a half more days during which a whole lot could happen.

  The entire team cheered as the awkward trio entered the main cabin, and she told herself to focus on how close everyone had grown and how much they’d accomplished.

  By the time her turn to act out a clue came around, she had to overact a bit, so that no one would catch on to the fact that she was this close to falling head over fabulous heels for the captain of their ship.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Most days, Danae could hardly wait to disembark and get to their destination. Cape Cod was one of the places she’d been most looking forward to, too. Yet after their idyllic morning sail, when they’d seen two whales, a big part of her yearned to return to the Atlantic.

  “You okay?” Josh asked. He paused at the mouth of the wharf, gripped one of the posts, and gave it a good shake. “Not only do they have railing here, it’s sturdy.”

  Danae smiled at him. “I appreciate your testing it for me. Although thanks to my special skills, I could still trip and fall through the gaps in the rope.” She cast one glance at the ocean and then continued down the wooden walkway. “It’s just…In all my time sailing, I’ve never seen whales. To see one of them come out of the water like that was amazing.”

  “Do my ears deceive me, or are you saying that you’re happy about an unplanned surprise?”

  She flattened her lips and gave Josh her best glare.

  He held up his hands in supplication. “Don’t shoot the captain.”

  “That’s not even a saying.”

  “It should be. How else would people get where they’re going?”

  “Um, hello. Experienced sailor right here.” Danae lifted her thumbs and pointed at herself.

  “Oh, so I’m totally replaceable? Is that what you’re saying?”

  She almost nodded and continued the teasing, but the thought of this trip—of being on the sailboat without him—scraped at her. “I’d never say that.”

  His smile faded, a tender expression taking its place.

  “Come on, slowpokes,” Vanessa called over her shoulder, adding a hurry-up gesture. “I’ve been waiting for this shopping excursion for six days! Trendster ranked the top ten boutiques in the nation, and one of them happens to be here. Perhaps none of you fully understands how cool that is, but I do.”

  “After you,” Josh said, sweeping an arm in front of Danae, and she quickened her pace to catch up to Vanessa.

  Mark gave her yet another strange look. There wasn’t the twinge of animosity anymore. Over the past few days, it had veered closer to curiosity. He’d also stuck fairly close since interrupting her and Josh last night, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.

  Had he known he was interfering? Or had he put the almost-kiss together too late?

  Worse, what if he was thinking it was unprofessional of her to go around kissing the ship’s captain?

  A likely option, since she was having that same internal debate. Granted, good guys like Josh, who were age-appropriate, funny, and handsome, didn’t come around often. Still, what was she thinking, getting swept away like that?

  Last night during their walk along the beach, she’d been experiencing far too many butterflies to think clearly. This morning, her anxieties had woken up before her body fully had. It wouldn’t cast her in a very good light if it got back to Mr. Barton that she’d been flirting instead of doing her job. What if Mark tried to use the information to prove he’d be a better chief marketing officer?

  Surely he wouldn’t use that against her. They had their boundaries and their truce, and he’d never been vindictive. It wasn’t like spending an evening with Josh left her incapable of doing her job, either.

  “I seriously adore you, Danae,” Vanessa said, interrupting her internal dilemma, “but don’t think I won’t leave you behind. Then, when I show up at the office in fabulous new duds, I’
ll remind you that you were moving too slow to snag all the amazing steals and deals.” She swung her pointed finger in a vague circle. “That goes for everybody.”

  The entire group snickered, even Paige. But they also walked faster.

  Most of the shops on Commercial Street were colorful two-story buildings with dozens of people peering through windows, checking out merchandise, and ordering food. From the looks of things, the businesses were on the ground floor and the owners lived in or rented out the second.

  “I love old architecture,” Danae said. “I can never tell whether they belong to the Victorian or Georgian era, or why we classify houses by monarchs in England in the first place.”

  The seashell shop to their right had giant, beautiful shells for sale, along with every type of jewelry that could be made from them. Next up was a yellow-and-green house where they made fudge. Another place, kitty corner from the intersection, had been painted in rainbow colors, almost as if the building had been tattooed from top to bottom. Just beyond that sat a shop with pale wood and giant windows.

  Between the mishmash of styles and colors, the entire street felt as diverse as the people strolling along it.

  Finally, they reached the boutique Vanessa had been excitedly jabbering on about. The guys in the group glanced inside and all pulled the same bitter face—good to know it was universal.

  Danae stifled her laughter and then decided to keep on extending the olive branch, just to ensure things between her and her ex remained cordial. “Mark, did you see that puzzle shop? It’s bright pink and just down the way.”

  Right in front of her eyes, he transformed into a kid. He swung his head from side to side, an excited gleam flickering when he spotted the store.

  “Shall we take an hour to explore? Then we can meet up at a restaurant for lunch?”

  Vanessa commented that she wasn’t sure an hour would be long enough, before eventually agreeing to the plan, as well as a spot for lunch. With that checked off her list, Danae attempted to make eye contact with Josh. She still wasn’t sure what to do about the burgeoning crush she had on him, yet she didn’t want things to be weird or for him to think she was avoiding him.