A/N: This is pure fluff and romance in this, so no real angst in this… can't promise it won't come later on. But for now, enjoy the fluff.
The locations mentioned here are real, I used Google Maps to find a spot where they could go via boat near LA.
Thanks again to my wonderful beta Jonesfandomfanatic.
Enjoy
Chapter 8Killian locked his car and headed down to the docks, tall sailboats lined the pier, and a few larger yachts lay at the end. In front of one of the small yachts, Killian saw Emma waiting for him. "We're going sailing?" he asked excitedly. "How did you know I love sailing?"
Emma grinned, pushing her windblown hair away from her face. "I've been snooping up on you, Mr. Jones."
"Have you now." He leaned closer and gave her a hug and a small kiss on the cheek, grinning when he noticed a blush on her neck. "Who's boat is this?"
"Ruby's." Emma shrugged, "I had no idea script writing paid so well."
"Money is the name of the game here in Hollywood. And Ruby is one of the good and well-paid writers." Killian walked back and forth inspecting their vessel. "The Lone Wolf?" He chuckled when he noticed the name alongside a silhouette of a howling wolf on the bow.
"Hmm." Emma slipped her hand into his. "Come onboard."
"Who's sailing?"
"Captain Nemo."
"Who?" Killian looked around the yacht and spotted a dark-skinned man who approached them.
"This is Captain Nemo." Emma introduced. "He's the yacht club's Captain who's paid by the hour."
"Uh?"
"Welcome." Nemo offered Killian his hand. "What Miss Swan means is that the members of the yacht club can book me for whatever time they would need a Captain on their yacht, should they not wish to sail themselves."
"Ah." Killian nodded in understanding. "Perhaps you can give me some pointers on what to look for in a ship of my own."
"Gladly. Let me show you around." Nemo offered before leading Emma and Killian to the top deck where a table was set out with a checkered tablecloth and a wine cooler, and long-stemmed glasses.
"This looks perfect, Nemo, thank you." Emma gushed and smoothed her fingers over the table.
Nemo gave them a beaming smile. "Sit down and I'll have you out on the open waters in no time."
Killian turned to Emma. "So where are we going?" he asked, slipping off his backpack. "You said to pack my swim shorts."
"We're going out to Saint Catalina." When he gave her an odd look she laughed. "To Swim, obviously."
Killian looked up at the sky and out towards the horizon, "We're at the beginning of September?"
"It's still nice, and the weather is still hot," Emma offered, then swept her hand to the table. "Let's enjoy some lunch before we reach the island."
Killian slipped onto the bench beside her and took the sandwich Emma was offering him. They enjoyed their meal in silence. Once he finished his food he glanced at Emma who was still eating. The wind had picked up as they sailed over the water, her hair flying into her face. "Do you have a hair tie?"
"Hmm?" Emma slipped one out of her pocket. "Why?"
"Turn around so your back is to me." He took the hair tie from her.
"Why?"
"Let me help tame that beautiful hair of yours."
"You can braid?"
"Aye."
Emma lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" She turned her back to him and relaxed into him as he combed his fingers through her hair.
The hum coming from her lips at his ministrations had his blood rush south and Killian had to shift in his seat to adjust himself to a more comfortable position. Within minutes he had braided her hair in a loose braid. He smoothed his hands over her shoulder, his fingers gracing the warm skin of her neck.
"Thank you," Emma said, turning around slowly, her skin a more rosy tint.
Killian suspected it had nothing to do with the wind or the sun. "You're welcome, love."
Emma was so close he could see the specs of gold in her green eyes. Why had he never noticed that before?
"I'm glad we're doing this?" Emma murmured, softly.
"Hmm," Killian agreed.
"I mean this whole thing of going out and figuring out what can happen if I only…" She looked down and her hands resting in her lap.
"What?"
"Figure out how to climb out of the proverbial rubble." Emma pursed her lips and cast him a shy smile, "You broke me down twelve years ago and since then no one has been as close to my heart as you are right now."
Breath hitched in his throat when he understood the meaning of her words. "You mean?"
"Hmm." Emma nodded and moved closer. "I'm taking a leap of faith with you, Mr. Jones, one I had no hope of ever doing."
"I'm honored, and I'll do my best to keep that precious heart of yours safe." He tugged his finger under her chin, urging her to look at him. "I can't promise you what the world will say to all of this, but can we agree to ignore what they might write online about us?"
"I live in a small town with not much press roaming the streets," Emma mused, her breath now washing over his chin.
"Sounds divine," Killian whispered and when she gave a small nod he lunged forward and claimed her lips with his. He weaved his fingers in her hair, most likely ruining the braid he just made but all he cared about right now was enjoying the feel of kissing Emma. He'd re-played their first kiss over and over in his head for the past several days. His heart thrummed in his chest and skipped a beat when she curled her fingers into his shirt and let one hand move to the back of his head. A groan slipped over his lips when her tongue gently probed at his lips and he eagerly welcomed the intrusion.
Killian didn't know how long they kissed, but when he finally pulled away, he noticed a sliver of land on the horizon. Catalina Island.
Emma turned her head, her arms still wrapped around him. "We're close."
"Hmm." He nuzzled into her neck.
"Look, Gallagher Beach is just there."
Killian glanced at the island fast approaching. He'd never been out here, having never stayed long in L.A.
Twenty minutes later they hopped out of the yacht's dinghy, their bare feet digging into the soft sand. Emma had her sundress tugged up to her hip, giving him a nice view of her shapely legs.
"Let's find a spot," Emma suggested, hauling along the blanket and her bag.
Killian jogged after her and took the blanket from her. "Let me take that."
She gave him a big smile before scanning the beach.
It didn't take them long to find a place near the edge of the beach where they could be more alone from the crowd. Though there were only a handful of other groups of various sizes scattered over the large area.
Killian unfolded the blanket and slumped down on the blanket, he looked up at Emma who fiddled with the string holding her sundress up behind her neck.
"Will you help me with sunscreen on my back?" Her face flamed red and she hunched down rummaging around in her bag before pulling out the lotion.
"Aye." He sat up with his legs crossed. "Come here."
He swallowed hard when she turned her back to him and let her sundress slip down her form, revealing her two-piece suit, its bottom not doing much to hide her backside. Emma kneeled down, giving him the sun lotion with a timid smile.
She turned her back to him and waited.
"Killian?"
"Uh?" He shook his head trying to clear up the fog clouding his brain.
"The lotion?"
"Oh, aye, sorry about that, I got a bit distracted." He shifted forward and clicked upon the bottle in his hand.
Emma gathered her hair on top of her head and turned her face towards him. "Is that so?" A sweet smile spread over her face, a smile he very much liked to kiss right now.
"Hmm." He let drops of sun lotion slip down her back, before he smoothed his hand over her skin, rubbing in the lotion.
When Emma moaned in response to his actions, he silently cursed when his swim shorts suddenly felt a little tighter. He tried to keep his movements slow and steady, but he really wanted to get it over with or he would become less of a gentleman if she kept making those sweet little sounds.
"All… all done," Killian mumbled, smoothing his still lotion-sticky hands over his arms.
"Thank you." Emma turned around before grabbing the lotion to begin applying it to her arms, stomach, and legs. Only when she looked up at him did he realize that he'd been frozen in place. "What's wrong, Killian?"
"I uh, sorry…" He mumbled and rubbed behind his ear.
"Turn around."
"Uh?"
"Take off your shirt and I'll get some lotion on your back."
Killian inhaled deeply before he did just that. As he turned around, he reached for his own bag and pulled out his towel, which he placed on his lap. Gods, he hoped Emma hadn't noticed his state of semi-arousal.
Cold lotion ran down his back and soon her fingers smoothed over his skin making him shiver. His fingers curled into the towel in his lap, trying to breathe evenly and calm down his body.
"All done." She rubbed her hands down his back one last time before Killian heard her rustling about.
"Thank you." He twisted around so he lay on his stomach, it didn't help much on the predicament between his legs but at least she wouldn't be able to see it.
"Sure you're okay?"
"Hmm." He nodded, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Shouldn't you put lotion on your front?"
"I'll do it later," Killian mumbled against his arm, his eyes closed while trying to do internal mathematical equations, to calm himself down.
Emma plopped down next to him, laying on her side facing him. She propped her head up on her hand, her green eyes sparkling in the sun.
"This is nice." She reached over and traced the backside of his hand with her fingers.
"Hmm."
"Away from the glitz and glamor, people taking pictures."
"People do take their phones with them on the beach," Killian mumbled, glancing toward the group nearest them. None of them seemed to have noticed who they were on the beach with.
Emma shrugged and pushed her hair away from her face, "I like this."
"What?"
"Being here with you." She looked down. "We were quite stupid twelve years ago weren't we?"
"Aye, I believe we were." He reached out and traced a finger down her forearm, ending at her elbow resting on the blanket. "I'm giving you goosebumps."
"Hmm." Emma leaned forward and when her eyes landed on his lips he gulped down.
In seconds they both closed the gap between them and Killian moved forward gently pushing her backward as her arms dragged him closer. He rested his body partly on her, his hand wrapped around her scalp, tilting her head so he could deepen the kiss. Her fingernails scraped down his back, sending more electricity to his groin. He groaned. "Emma please, I can't."
Emma whispered, "I think you can." She lunged forward and fused her lips to his and shoved at his shoulder. Reluctantly he rolled to his back and let her slide her body over his, one leg draped over his middle. Fear of her noticing the bugle in his swim shorts he slipped his hand down to rest behind her knee, holding her leg in place.
"Emma," Killian groaned when she peppered his chin with tiny kisses and nibbles. "What are you doing?"
"Kissing you."
"Aye, but you do know we're on the beach, right?" He chuckled when her heated face looked down at him with a sheepish grin.
"Got a little lost there I think."
Killian rubbed over his face with his free hand, the other still holding onto her leg. "Ya, think?"
"Trying to make up for lost time." She gave a slight shrug and nuzzled close to him, resting her head on his shoulder, her fingers tracing idly over his chest.
"We've got all the time in the world, love," Killian whispered and kissed the top of her head. "Wanna test the water?"
"Uh, now?" Emma lifted her head and blinked down at him.
"Aye, I need to cool down a bit." When she looked at him puzzled, he gently pushed her leg downward, just close enough for her to feel the rise of his swim shorts.
"Oh, shit, I see," Emma smirked and chuckled. "Sorry about that."
"No need to be sorry, just not sure I'm that interested in getting caught doing something illegal on a public beach." He waggled his eyebrows and laughed when Emma scrambled off him, rising to her feet.
Emma reached for her tangled hair. "Can you fix my braid?"
Killian nodded and walked behind her, untied the braid and in a short time, he'd made a new one. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder, looking over the beach before them. "The last one in is a rotten potato." He pushed around her and sprinted to the water.
Emma's pearly laugh echoed behind him and just as he was a few feet from the water she leaped in front of him, splashing the cold water on him. She squealed in surprise when the cold water engulfed her body. "This is freaking cold."
"Chicken." Killian laughed, lunging out beside her, splashing even more water on her as he tried to do swim strokes on the still somewhat shallow waters. He twisted around on his back and saw Emma still contemplating if it was worth submerging herself into the water. "Come on love, the water is nice once you're in it." He backstroked a few times, letting her take her time.
Finally, she slipped into the water and swam the short distance to him. The water was not deep, so he could rest his knees on the bottom and his shoulders would be out of the water. Emma swam to him and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a kiss.
"That won't help me cool down." Killian groaned while he still wrapped his arms around her waist holding her close.
Emma laughed and kissed him again, this became their game, swimming around in circles catching up to each other, and kissing at every opportunity they could get.
The afternoon went faster than either of them cared for and soon they packed up their things and headed for the dinghy.
"So am I planning the next date?" Killian asked as he helped her into the little vessel which would bring them out to Ruby's yacht.
"Next date?" Emma asked as she sat down on the middle bench.
"Aye, I assume this wasn't a one-time thing?" He raised his eyebrow in question.
"Oh, no definitely not." She smoothed her hands over her sundress and looked up at him. "So what do you have in mind?"
"I can think of a few things I want to do."
"Can't wait."
"And there's the premier party in a few weeks," Killian suggested hopefully, knowing it would set a spotlight on this new relationship.
"Yeah." She looked over the water as he pushed the dinghy out into less shallow water so he could start the engine.
"You don't want us to go together?" He waited a bit with his hand holding the starter.
"I want to be with you, make no mistake about that." Her green eyes found him again, and she sighed. "It's just still so new and crazy in this world." She waved her hand back towards L.A.
"I understand that." Killian bit his lips. "But think about it. This thing we're starting here is something I want to stick around for. I'm in this for the long haul, premier parties included. Then be damned about the public interest in all of this."
"I wish I could be so at ease about all of this." Emma looked back at him. "I want you in my life Killian, I will try not to let that part of our world scare me."
"Aye, we're in this together."
"Together," Emma said, smiling.
He started the dinghy's small motor and navigated out to the yacht. Their trip back to the city was done in the pleasant company of Captain Nemo, who did in fact give him a few pointers on what to look for in a ship of his own.
Hopefully, the next few weeks would be filled with many more moments like this with Emma at his side. He knew that life in the press's spotlight would take some time for her to get used to.