Chapter 41
Captain Kendra’s Log: Rigorous field testing is required
“Where are we going?” Rowan asked as I tugged his hand toward the docks.
“You’ll see,” I said, looking back at the man. Dark circles smudged underneath his eyes. His clothes were looser on him. And my heart clenched as I worried that I had done this to him.
When I left Pleasure Point, I planned to tour the East and Gulf Coasts, but my first stop kept me closer than intended.
Rown and I called and texted, but I refused to video chat with him because I felt it would confuse things.
I sent Rowan pictures of the weather and boats at different marinas.
Rowan sent me pictures of Pleasure Point: Ziggy trying to sell crabs out of a shack, Bert and Ernest walking through town, and my dad driving my mom in The Bolt - her expression of fear was freaking priceless.
I told my parents what I had been up to, but not too many details. There were things I needed to figure out myself without a committee weighing in.
I stopped before the pristine white ship in the Flamingo Cove marina. “We’re here.”
“Second Chances?” Rowan read the name of the ship. “Whose boat is this?”
“Mine. Come on board. I want to show you something,” I said.
He followed me up the ramp and into the main area. Everything gleamed as the fading sunlight peeked through crystal-clear glass windows.
Rowan ran his finger along the stainless steel railing, the vinyl seat backs, and the hardwood table. “This is incredible.”
I nodded. “Wait til you see the bedroom.” I dragged him down the hallway toward the stateroom.
“Wider doorways.” Rowan ran a hand over the trim. He walked to the bathroom entrance, poked his head in, then looked back at me. “Walk-in shower with proper grab bars and a bench?”
“I know a guy who helped me make it a reality.” I shrugged.
“When did you do this?”
I went to the bed and patted the mattress beside me. Rowan took the invitation to sit down.
“I might have fibbed to you a little bit.” I bit my lip.
He frowned. “Okay. What about?”
“I wasn’t touring the coast.”
“Where were you touring?”
“I never left the Tampa Bay area,” I admitted.
“Where did those pictures come from? Stock photos?” Rowan asked.
“Oh, no. I loaned my houseboat to a friend so she could find herself,” I laughed at his confused face. “Hey, when a runaway bride needs a getaway boat and turns in her Bride Card, you have to stand aside.”
“True,” Rowan breathed. “That was nice of you.”
I raised a shoulder. “I like her. She wasn’t mad at me for trying to keep her wedding on track. Oh, boy, you won’t believe what she’s been up to.”
“Goldilocks, I don’t want to talk about True. You’re here. Does this mean what I think it means?” Rowan clutched my hands to his chest.
I smiled. “First, I will tell you what’s been going on. I loaned True my houseboat, which meant I had nowhere to stay. So, I asked your dad if I could crash in his guestroom, poolhouse, or wherever billionaires let homeless people crash.”
“I can imagine how well he took that,” Rowan snorted.
“He took it well. It turns out he has a pool house! He also seemed glad to see me, especially when I told him I wanted to make my eco-ship a reality.” I waved around the room.
“I asked if we could take the boat you got for me and revamp it. He agreed. Everything on the ship is designed to be self-sustaining. There are solar panels on the roof. I have an automatic sail that raises and lowers at the touch of a button - let me tell you how nice that is. And there are rainwater catchments throughout that provide potable water.”
“You’re amazing,” Rowan breathed.
“I almost called you to help me with the design, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“It is a surprise.”
“Good.”
“You’ve been working on this for two months?” Rowan asked.
“It took about a month and a half to reconfigure everything, and the last two weeks were in testing.”
Rowan sucked air through his teeth.
I patted him on the chest. “That’s another reason I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Now that I know, I’m going to worry in arrears. It’ll probably be nightmare fodder for months.” Rowan paused and looked around. “What are you going to do with this ship? Run charters?”
I smiled at him. “Eventually, but you promised me something before I left Pleasure Point. You said we could travel together.”
His eyes widened, but he said nothing.
“I planned to travel alone, but the further away from you I got, the more my heart hurt. I didn’t want to go by myself.
I’ve been by myself long enough. I wanted you with me.
But, I still needed to work on my personal issues, so I thought - why not make a boat that Rowan and I could sail together while I sort through my shit?
” I grinned at him as I stood up. “It worked.”
“It did?”
“Yes. A therapist has been helping me learn to appreciate myself, just as I am. To accept the abundance I have in life. And to treasure those people who see me as a gift - adding to their lives,” I said, dropping to my knees.
I placed my hands on his thighs. “Rowan, I love you. I think I fell in love with you when you told Jesse we were engaged. I definitely fell in love with you when you cleaned my boat, and cooked the dinner, and washed the dishes. I fell deeper in love with you when you stopped me from making an ass of myself at Jesse’s wedding events.
And especially when you kept him busy during the bachelorette party. ”
“I love you so much, Kendra,” Rowan breathed as he leaned in to brush a kiss across my lips.
When he pulled back, I reached for his zipper. “I haven’t forgotten the promise I made you.”
He stayed my hand. “You don’t have to do this.”
I arched a brow at him. “This is the new-and-improved Kendra. I don’t do things I don’t want to. And right now, I want to suck your dick if you consent to that, Boss.” I laughed as his dick twitched in his pants. “He likes that.”
“I like that,” Rowan corrected as he pulled me on the bed beside him. “Can I take a raincheck on that blowjob?”
I pouted. “Why?”
“Because I need to fuck you hard and fast, and if you put your mouth on me, it won’t last long.”
“Promises, promises,” I teased.
His pupils went wide as he yanked my T-shirt over my head. “Sports bra.”
“They hold things in place while working on a boat,” I said. “I can take it off—”
“Don’t you dare,” he warned. Then, he pulled my pants and underwear off my legs in one smooth maneuver.
I reached for his pants, and he swatted my hands away. “Hey!”
“I am trying to control myself, love. Give me a minute,” he husked. Then, he unbuttoned his pants and slid them off his body.
“Commando,” I squealed. “Yes!”
I watched him sit on the edge of the bed, his dick standing at attention, waiting to be put in the game. My eyes roamed down his legs toward his prosthetic, and I gasped. “You painted it!”
He grinned.
The formerly antiseptic look of the prosthetic was now painted as a pirate flag wrapped around the device. It was airbrushed like—
“Did Callie do this for you?” I asked.
Callie Atwell was an engineering genius who ran the local garage on Pleasure Point. She also custom-painted all of The Bolt carts.
Rowan nodded. “You said I inspired you to see yourself as enough. Well, you inspired me to love myself for who I am and take ownership of my life.” He patted his lap. “Now, get over here, turn around, and let me take you from behind while you ride me.”
I bit my lip. “But what if—”
“I’m not worried about you breaking my dick. I am worried that I never got to finish what we started in the marina shower,” Rowan said.
“Yes, Boss!” I scooted off the bed and stood before him. He ran his hands up my thighs, caressing my skin. I leaned down to kiss him while gently massaging his thighs.
I broke the kiss, turned around, and straddled his lap. “Guide me,” I asked as I gingerly lowered myself on his erection. I slid slowly down the shaft until he was seated fully inside me.
“So wet for me,” Rowan hissed in my ear. He wrapped his arms around my waist. “Have you been thinking about this?”
“Every day,” I admitted. I turned my head to look at him, then raised slowly and lowered back down.
“Harder,” Rowan ordered.
I stood up, then slammed myself back down.
“Fuck. Yeah. Faster.”
I got to my feet quicker this time, then bounced back down on his lap as he cried out, “Shit, Kendra.” He gripped my hips and began directing me the way he wanted me to move.
I could already feel the impressions of his fingerprints burning into my skin, and it only turned me on more.
Before long, the only sounds in the stateroom were our grunts and the slapping of flesh on flesh.
It was a filthy sound that took me right up to the edge of orgasm.
I might have stayed right there until Rowan pinched my nipple through my sports bra.
“Rowan!” I cried as I went over the edge.
He grabbed me tighter, slamming me up and down on his dick as if I weighed nothing. I rode the wave of my orgasm that built up for number two.
“Fuuuuuuuck!” Rowan yelled as he spilled inside me, slowing things down until I sat on his lap. That last bit sent me over the edge again, and a string of profanity-laden praise left my lips.
I leaned back to rest my head on his shoulder. “I love you, Rowan.”
“I love you, Kendra.”
“Good. Now, rest up. I still have to show you that bench I built in the shower,” I said. “Your dad didn’t ask too many questions about my improvements, thank goodness.”
“I can’t wait to see all of them,” Rowan said. “But first, I think I need a nap.”
“Okay. Oh, and there is one thing I will need help with,” I admitted as I got off his lap and turned to face him.
“What’s that?”
“My spice cabinet. It’s a hot mess in there.”
Rowan growled and pulled me down on the bed beside him. I squealed in delight and laughed harder as he tickled me. His eyes twinkled in the sunset light, and his smile warmed me from the inside out. When we settled down, he pushed my hair out of my face.
“I love you.” Rowan smiled at me. “And I can’t wait to sail off into the sunset with you.”
“For the rest of our lives,” I added.
“For the rest of our lives,” he echoed. “Boss.”
It’s not every day your new best friend makes you an offer you can’t refuse.
And I was here for it, one hundred percent.