And she realised she now wanted to know what it was like to be kissed by someone like Eric. Someone rich. Someone famous. Someone who, for all he had, seemed to want her. Who didn’t think she was second-rate.
She closed her eyes and felt his breath wisp over her skin as he lowered his face to hers. “EJ,” he whispered.
“Mm?”
“Oh my gosh! Is that a whale?” Julia screeched.
EJ’s eyes flew open, and the boat hit a bump, making her stumble.
Eric muttered something about the fools running the boat, then disappeared below deck.
“You two looked like you were getting pretty cosy,” Gwen murmured.
Words stalled, as she struggled with what to say. No way was EJ going to admit he’d been about to kiss her. Well, she hoped he had been about to kiss her. Oh, if only they hadn’t been interrupted.
“Look!” Julia gestured for them to come closer and pointed over the deck.
“What are we looking at?” Gwen asked.
“See? Over there, that water spray? That’s the whale. It just jumped up.”
“That’s called breaching,” Neil said.
Hmm. EJ watched, the breeze whipping her hair into her face, forcing her to snag a hair tie from her pocket and pull back her hair. She should’ve brought a hat, something to keep the sun offso she wouldn’t squint. She could get her sunglasses, though. That way she might see better.
She went inside, down the wooden stairs to the luxurious cabin filled with leather lounges and wooden trim. Someone giggled, then was hushed. Someone was having fun down here who probably wasn’t meant to be. She retrieved her sunnies and headed back up, joining the others at the railing.
A minute later, Eric joined her. “See anything?”
EJ pointed to where the spray of the whale could be seen. “It’s so amazing.”
“Very amazing.” He grasped the railing, the heat of his body next to hers as he murmured close to her ear, “But not as amazing as that moment before.”
She shivered as his breath tickled her ear, and was very tempted to turn her face so her mouth could meet his.
But a murmur from someone nearby made her realise that they still weren’t alone, and she didn’t want her first real kiss to be in front of witnesses.
He smiled, and she found herself swaying closer. He grasped her arm, his hand sliding to her shoulders. “Maybe that champagne has gone to your head if you’re unsteady on your feet.”
She blinked. “I didn’t have that much.”
But maybe she’d had more than she realised, seeing she was feeling these feelings that she hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. If ever.
A round of oohs drew her attention away from the golden glints of his eyes to the water, where the whale breached again, as if knowing it had an audience. “So spectacular.”
“Mm.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, and this time she didn’t shudder. This time she felt treasured, like the fact that this man noticed how her hair was bothering her made her feel like she was special.
“I just love how nature puts on shows like this,” Julia said.
Once upon a time, it would’ve been on the tip of EJ’s tongue to say it was God who was putting on such a show. But these people didn’t believe in God, and she didn’t want to ruin the moment by expressing her beliefs that more than one of them had described as quaint. Guilt struck as, for a second, she wondered about the wisdom of letting a man whose faith in God she didn’t even know claim her with his kiss. She wasn’t the kind of girl who kissed without it meaning something. What was she doing?
“Hey, EJ, come and look at this,” Gwen called, pointing to something on the other side. Port? Starboard? EJ didn’t know which was which.
She joined her as a smaller Sydney ferry chugged by, like one of those used by the smaller north shore wharves, not the more popular places like Manly or the zoo. A few kids waved, and she waved back, grinning.
Gwen laughed softly. “You’re having fun, aren’t you?”
“This is amazing.” So what if she sounded gauche? Yachting on Sydney Harbour wasn’t her normal, that was for sure.
