Chapter 25
DANI
Dani had walked down this dock countless times, always with a coffee in her hand and a fresh uniform shirt on, and the boat had always been a vessel she worked on. Tonight she was here as a guest and that felt strange.
She reached the gangway and stopped. Properly nervous, for the first time all evening.
Lindsay had pulled her brain in too many directions to think about what she was actually walking into and now it caught up with her. Tonight she was stepping into Jordan's private life — the off-duty version of her that nobody, as far as Dani knew, ever got to see.
She stepped onto the aft deck and set her hand on the railing.
"Jordan?" she called softly.
A pause, then footsteps coming along the side deck. "Hi," Jordan said. She was in jeans and a navy t-shirt and bare feet.
Dani's eyes moved over her— the jeans rolled up at the hem, the bare ankles, the way she stood on her own deck, hands in her back pockets without any of the captain's edge in her shoulders. Something turned over in Dani's stomach. Butterflies.
"Hi," she said back, not moving.
Jordan tilted her head, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Dani exhaled. "Sorry. I've never seen you in jeans before. Give me a minute." An embarrassed laugh escaped her, and she shook her head. “You should have warned me before you appeared like this. You look like a very sexy real person and I’m not sure if I can handle it.”
Jordan laughed. "A sexy real person. That's high praise." She closed the distance between them and slipped a hand around Dani’s waist. "For the record, you're a sexy real person too. I’ve never seen you like this and it's — yeah. It's a lot.”
Her hand slid up into the hair at the back of Dani's neck.
Her fingers spread, tightened, and tilted Dani's head back.
Then she pulled her in and kissed her hard and hungrily.
Dani moaned—or maybe it was Jordan, she wasn't sure.
Arousal had taken over the moment she saw Jordan and now she was about to combust.
When Jordan pulled back, she was slightly out of breath. "Okay. Wow," she said.
"Yeah." Dani licked her lips and grinned. "This is a bit strange, huh? I mean good strange. Hot strange."
Jordan laughed and leaned in for another kiss, slower this time but no less certain. "Hot strange," she murmured against Dani's mouth. "I'll take that." She pressed her forehead to Dani's for a beat. "We should probably move to the foredeck in case someone sees us. I have wine and cheese ready."
Dani arched a brow. "Wine and cheese on the foredeck?
Captain Hayes, you're showing off." She took her hand and let Jordan lead her along the side deck where a cheese board, a bottle of red, and two glasses were waiting.
Three candles in glass hurricanes were placed in the middle of the table, the warm yellow light flickering against the rims of the glasses.
“Jordan, this is beautiful.”
“I figured you would have had dinner with the crew but if you haven’t I can also order something a bit more substantial,” Jordan said, pulling out a chair for her.
“No. This is perfect.” Dani sat down and Jordan leaned over her from behind, brushed her hair to one side, and pressed a slow kiss to the side of her neck — right over the bruise she'd left there a few nights ago.
Dani shivered, her eyes fluttering closed for a beat.
The situation was beautifully surreal. She'd polished those glasses.
She'd carried that cheese board from the galley more times than she could count.
And tonight all of it was for her. Dani didn't know whether to laugh or cry or pull Jordan back down by the front of her t-shirt and forget about the cheese entirely.
“Easy, Captain. Keep doing that and we won’t make it through this charming little setup.”
Jordan chuckled as she straightened. She pulled a second chair around next to Dani's, sat down and poured two glasses.
"To not being on a charter," she said, lifting her glass.
"And to the Whitfields,” Dani added. “May they always forget to mention their nanny."
They touched glasses and Dani took a sip. The wine was delicious — soft, dark, with notes of blackcurrant. She sat with it on her tongue and looked out across the harbor at the lights of the boats and the dark, star-filled sky.
"So this is what it's like," she said. "When everyone else has gone home. It’s so peaceful.” She turned to Jordan. “And you. You're sitting on this deck barefoot drinking wine while you’re watching the stars. I’ve never seen you do anything that even slightly resembles relaxing."
"I relax in private." Jordan winked. “Don’t tell anyone.” She rolled the wine slowly in her glass. "I love being here alone. I always have. The quiet. The water." A long pause. "But I love being here with you more."
Dani looked at her and smiled. "We'll see how you feel about that in a few days. I can be quite a handful." She set her wine down on the table and stood up, looking down at Jordan.
Jordan watched her, eyes darkening as Dani straddled her lap, knees braced on either side of Jordan's thighs.
"Try me," she whispered, fisting the back of Dani's shirt as she pulled her closer. Their lips met, hot and impatient.
Dani's hips rolled forward and Jordan made a low sound against her mouth. There was no point pretending either of them was going to behave. This wasn’t just a crush.
It was so much bigger than that, and unmistakably mutual.
Whatever she'd thought she felt for Jordan Hayes had been a postcard. This was the actual country.