Chapter 7

“Let’s go, I want to get out on the water early.”

I followed Jay out of the condo and down to the street. He parked in the pay parking lot just down the street. I was glad he’d gotten the hint from having his car keyed and didn’t park in the no-parking zone in front of my building now.

We approached a deep blue Bentley.

“Where’s the other car?”

“Being painted.”

I laughed. “How many cars do you have?”

“Several.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have a chauffeur.”

He gave me that look again. The one he gave me every time I say something normal and naïve that betrays my ignorance about having money.

“I have a driver but I only use him when I need to get work done while I’m moving. Otherwise I drive myself because I enjoy it.”

I laughed. Of course he did. I had to stop being so surprised at these things.

As soon as we were out of the parking garage, he floored it. The car rumbled and my body pushed back into my seat. I gripped the door handle as Jay wove his way in and out of cars, never stopping for a yellow no matter how far back we were.

We arrived at the marina, and I plodded along behind him, slack jawed at the sight of all the boats. Yachts and cabin cruisers of all sorts. Jay led me to the biggest cabin cruiser in the marina, which didn’t surprise me. He plunked the picnic basket down on the boat.

It was a huge boat with a deck at the rear and sundeck on top. The name Bourbon Chaser was written across the back. Jay started untying it.

“Why’s it called Bourbon Chaser?” I asked.

“My parents used to own racehorses, and Bourbon Chaser was the best. He won every race he entered.”

“Wow,” I said. Racehorses? He must have come from money. I knew less than nothing about horses. Other than that Matt would sometimes talk about them. I’d always tuned him out.

“I thought you said you made your fortune on your own, without any help from anyone.” From his kneeling position on the dock, he looked at me.

“I did. My mother lost all her money. Now she only has what I give her.”

Jay usually clammed up when I asked him about his family or his past. That he now feels comfortable enough with me to share warmed my heart.

“What about your father?”

His eyes shifted to the ground. “He died when I was a baby.”

My insides welled in grief for him. “That’s terrible,” I said, going over to him and rubbing his back.

“Bourbon Chaser was his favorite, so I named my boat after him. Anyway, it’s all long ago. Hop aboard.”

* * *

It was warm for October, and I even took off my jacket. Jay fired up the engines. I stood beside him as he piloted the boat out of the marina and onto the openness of Lake Michigan.

“I like to come out here to get away from everything,” he said, looking straight ahead.

“It’s amazing how quickly life sinks away,” I said, looking back at the Chicago skyline.

“Exactly.”

I gripped his arm and squeezed, his bicep taut under my touch. We traveled straight out, until the skyline was a faint outline against the sky. Jay cut the engine, and we drifted.

“Now…” he said, grabbing my waist. He didn’t finish his sentence because he planted his lips on mine. A slow, deep kiss that could have gone on forever.

My insides fluttered, willing his hands to rip off my clothes. Instead the kiss went on, and my hunger for him grew.

“Is there a bed on this boat?” I broke the kiss to ask.

“Several,” he said, kissing me again. My lips, my neck.

“Guess we have our work cut out for us.”

“I hope you have some sexy lingerie on under these clothes.” He toyed with the bottom of my sweater.

“Sort of.”

He nuzzled at my neck. “What do you mean ‘sort of’?”

“I learned my lesson about wearing g-strings out.”

“Oh? So what are you wearing?” He slid his hand between my skin and jeans. I sucked my tummy in, giving him easier access.

His hand moved all the way down to my mound, and he groaned in approval when he found I wasn’t wearing any panties.

I tugged at the bottom of the black shirt that clung to his body, wanting access to his chest. I ran my hands underneath the shirt, over his perfect body underneath. A body I could never get tired of touching.

He broke away and said, “Come with me.”

Jay took my hand and led me through the glass siding door at the back of the boat. A narrow set of stairs led up from it, and he herded me up them, then a second set.

We emerged onto the fly deck, a large, open area at the top of the boat. A metal chain hung around the outside, and there was a large chest in the middle that looked like a part of the boat with built-in seating wrapping around it. The deck was otherwise empty.

Jay unlocked the chest and opened the lid. He flicked on a speaker, took out his phone and soon after Ed Sheeran sang out across the water.

He pulled out cushions and chucked them on the floor in front of the built-in seating they were intended for. Only then did I clue into his plan. Still bent into the chest, he came up holding a bottle of Champagne and flutes.

“Sit,” he said, passing me a glass.

I smiled and took the glass in my hand before making myself comfortable on the cushion.

Jay sat beside me, and said, “To the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. My beautiful woman.”

I blushed as we clinked glasses. I leaned against his body and we sat, drinking our Champagne and looking out across the water. The water that seemed to go on forever in all directions.

“You know how you said we should just keep driving?”

“What, all that time ago?”

“Yeah, you said we should take off and leave everything behind.”

“That was before I knew who you were.” I cringed, embarrassed at the memory.

“We should do that.”

“Huh?”

“We could take this boat and go.”

I laughed. “Before I said we should go until we run out of money.”

“Except we’d never run out of money. Ever.”

“And what about our responsibilities? If I remember correctly I accused you of not having any.”

He laughed and took a sip of Champagne. “I can hire people to run my companies. Easy.”

“Okay, where would we go? What would we do?”

“We could boat through the lakes, out to the Atlantic and down the coast. We could winter in the Caribbean, and summer there as well. If we got bored we could fly over to Europe.”

I looked at him, studying his face. “You sound like you have this all planned out.”

He looked away. “I’ve been thinking about it. About what I want out of life.” He paused and looked back to me, held my eyes captive in his intense gaze. “I concluded the only thing I want out of life is you.”

I swallowed and took several breaths while he held my eyes in his. Was he serious?

He leaned into me, placed his hand on my cheek, and kissed me. A deeper, more loving kiss even than the one we’d shared below deck. Every iota of my body came alive, and I wondered what else I needed in life aside from this. This man, right here, right now. I couldn’t think of anything else I needed.