I don’t even know where to begin with the feast in front of me, but decide on the scallops, which have been poached in a white wine and garlic sauce.
‘Oh, this is divine,’ I say, whilst trying to avoid dripping any of the sauce down Soraya’s beautiful kaftan that I have changed into for tonight. Who’d have thought? Me wearing this, eating the finest seafood onboard a yacht. I feel as though I died and came back as Soraya!
‘I’m glad you’re enjoying it.’
As I wrangle with an oyster, I can’t help looking across to Elias. Such a fine man, yet I still get the feeling he is hiding something – that there is something I don’t know. Call it a hunch, or perhaps it is the words of my family back home that keep echoing in my head, but something isn’t quite adding up. Even the way his late wife’s artwork is on board his boss’s yacht seems a bit incongruous. But I try to quell the feeling. Perhaps it is my mind wanting to sabotage the moment because I don’t feel worthy of such luxury.
‘I have dessert if you’d like some,’ says Elias.
‘That sounds lovely, but I don’t think I could manage another thing.’
‘No, me neither. Maybe we can save it for tomorrow. I know I said we’d stay in the marina but what would you think of taking the boat out for a few days? Maybe take a tour around the coast? We could sail down to Saint-Tropez, Cannes… What do you reckon?’
Whilst I had insisted to myself that I wanted to stay docked up safely where people were around me, the wine and my new-found sense of adventure is making me want to agree.
‘Wow, seriously?’
‘Yeah, the yacht could do with a bit of a spin out. Keep the engines going. You know what they say: if you don’t use it, you lose it. A bit like my dodgy knee.’
‘Your knee doesn’t look dodgy to me,’ I say, as I think of him in his shorts.
‘Hah, well, being up and down ladders all the time will do that. One of the reasons I needed a change of career. Although, this isn’t much better for that. Anyway, enough about the knee injury, how about we go and sit on the top deck, relax with our drinks and plan out the next few days? Will you join me and my dodgy knee for a nightcap?’
‘I’d love to.’
We sit on the deck, with a view that overlooks the whole of the marina. The temperature has started to drop for the evening, but it’s still warm enough to sit out without feeling a chill. A shooting star darts across the sky in front of us.
‘Wow, did you see that?’
‘Yeah, you get lots of them out here. The sky’s so clear. Look up there.’ Elias points up towards a T-shaped group of stars.
‘What is it? I’m useless with stars, unless it’s horoscopes.’
‘That’s the constellation of Cygnus. It’s Latin for swan.’
‘It doesn’t look like a swan.’
‘No, I suppose it doesn’t. That one over there, that’s Delphinus, and that’s Latin for… Can you guess?’
‘Dolphin?’
‘Exactly. You’re practically fluent in Latin now.’
We laugh together, and once again, Elias has impressed me with his knowledge.
‘See, that’s what I love about being here. Dolphins, shooting stars, my goodness. You don’t get that in a city.’
‘You didn’t mention the fine company,’ says Elias.
‘Well, that goes without saying, doesn’t it?’
I grin at him, and he smiles back, and then there is quiet. Under the moonlight and shooting stars, I lean over and kiss him. His lips are soft and send shockwaves all through my body. I am taken aback by my action, yet I feel so happy and free that it feels like the most natural thing in the world to have done.
Elias puts his arm around me, and we lean into each other. I can feel his heart beating fast and strong right beside mine. Two hearts beating side by side. I place my hand on his chest and feel its rhythm. Elias kisses me again and we cannot get close enough to each other’s bodies. Until now, I couldn’t be certain that he felt the chemistry I could when we teased each other, but there is no denying how we both feel now. There is no doubt left in my mind as we hold each other, kissing and cuddling on the deck all night until the sun starts to rise, after we have fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter Sixteen
When I wake up on deck, the first thing I notice is the blanket draped over me. It takes me a minute to remember what happened last night. Elias! Did that really occur, or was it the best dream ever? As I focus on my surroundings, I realise that it was most definitely not some kind of fabulous dream, as Elias stands above me with a coffee in his hand and a beaming smile on his face.
