"I hope you like it," Jonathan said, smiling to try and cover his nervousness. He tried to pass this off as just a fun nothing but so far, every time Jonathan showed Jennifer a part of his life, he felt this worry that she might not like it, that the magical spell of whirlwind love would break and she would realize that she did not want to tie herself to him for the rest of her life. It was one thing taking her to the stables and going horseback riding. He knew she would love that. They had talked about how she loved horses and grew up riding. But this was different. This was a part of Jonathan he wanted to share that he couldn't predict her response to.
Today they were going on Jonathan's boat. He had started sailing a few years ago. Growing up in San Francisco, he'd always been near the water and around boats but never on one. Why would anyone bring a foster kid onto a boat? He was bounced from house to house where no one necessarily treated him badly but certainly no one cared at all about him, particularly whether he got interesting, exciting experiences on a boat.
This boat had been a dream of his ever since he was that young kid yearning for a life of his own choosing. It was one of the many things he'd hoped for when he started making his money. The Navy had taught him all about navigating the ocean and the air, but sailing was a different skill that he'd learned much later. And he loved this boat. He loved its simplicity and its classic beauty. He loved the way he felt out on the water far away from everything, the freedom to jump in the ocean for a swim or lie out on the deck in the sun or sail wherever the wind carried him.
Max joined for some of the longer trips especially if Jonathan had a guest, but he got a tad seasick sometimes. He didn't love the boat the way Jonathan did. Neither had anyone else he'd ever brought here, frankly. This boat wasn't usually what people expected of him. Why would a man with his wealth have a sailboat and not a yacht? Why would a man of his position sail himself and not hire a crew? There were a lot of benefits to wealth that Jonathan Hart had taken full advantage of, but he was still the boy who went to Fisherman's Wharf to watch the boats in the San Francisco Bay disappear out in the fog.
But as Jonathan was reminded each and every day of the month or so they'd been tother, there had never been anyone in his life like Jennifer. They were both learning more about each other every day, but each new thing seemed to connect them more and more. So far, nothing had come up to detract from this wild, crazy love that they'd found for themselves. Jonathan still worried the other shoe might drop.
"Oh Jonathan, she's beautiful," Jennifer said in awe as they walked down the dock towards the Valentine. He'd felt a little silly naming his boat after himself, using his Navy pilot callsign, but he owed so much to that time in his life and the skills he'd learned, so it only felt right to honor it with the name of the boat.
"Well, let's board and you can see the whole thing. It might not be what you're expecting," he warned.
Jennifer raised her brow. "I'm expecting a beautiful sailboat with impeccable style. Is that not what I'll be seeing?"
Jonathan didn't answer. He just boarded and took their picnic basket—thoughtfully packed by Max—from Jennifer so he could offer her a hand. She hopped right onto the deck and practically collided into him. "Careful," he advised with a chuckle, happy to have her pressed up to his chest for any reason.
She looked up at him with a very sexy smirk. "I know what I'm doing," she said in a husky voice. She pushed and rubbed her body against him for emphasis.
He shivered, wondering if they could get away with hiding below deck for a quickie right here at the dock. But before he could make the overture, Jennifer had stepped away from him.
"Show me around, sailor," she requested, smiling.
She really was amazing. Jonathan didn't think he'd ever get over it.
He took her around the deck and to the spacious area below, featuring not one bedroom area but two. Jonathan liked to travel in comfort, now that he could afford to do so, and he always tried to ensure that Max did, too. But of course the master bedroom was bigger so Jonathan and his guest could have their privacy and a feeling of luxury. He managed to fit a king-sized bed in there.
"This is where we'll stay when we take longer trips," he told her. Visions of a week sailing down to Baja or perhaps an even out to Hawaii.
"Or where we can make love on shorter trips," she replied with a cheeky smirk.
He grinned, since his own thoughts had already been going that direction. "Care to test that out now?" he offered.
"I don't think the dock manager will take too kindly to the kind of rocking we'll be doing while the boat is tied up," she warned. "But might be worth trying out another time."
Jonathan tended to agree with that. But god, he wanted her. She was wearing a pair of very short, tight jean shorts to show off her gorgeous legs, and her top was sheer enough to show off her blue bikini top. He was dying to get his hands on her and untie all those tempting strings.
"Shall we set off?" Jennifer asked, thankfully distracting him. "I've never been out to the Channel Islands, and I bet we can find a quiet spot to dock where no one with bother us."
So much for distracting him. "I like the sound of that," he answered, feeling his heart beat just a little faster. The sooner they set off, the sooner he could have her naked.
"How can I help?"
Jonathan hesitated at her question. She had told him she'd been on boats before, but he wasn't sure her level of experience with actually sailing. He decided to test her out a little with some basic commands using technical sailing terms. To his surprise, Jennifer just nodded and got right to work. Clearly she had been sailing before and certainly knew her way around a boat.
Once they cleared the dock and got out into the water with the sail taking them in the proper direction, Jennifer came over to stand behind him at the helm. She wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her chin on his shoulder. She hummed happily and said, "I love it out here. I love the wind and the smell of the sea, and this is the most beautiful boat I've ever seen. The modern boats all have automated machinery and GPS and all that, but this one doesn't. It's nice."
"I learned to sail on an old boat, so I don't know how all of those things work." He would tell her another time how he had learned how to sail using an old retired boat down in San Diego with a couple of his Navy buddies.
"I'm sure you could figure it out," she teased.
"My company makes half the software," he answered with a smirk. "But I don't need my work integrated in my hobbies."
"What do you say we drop anchor and engage in a hobby of our own?" She pressed herself against his back a little tighter and seductively stroked her hands down his chest.
"My thoughts exactly."
