Page 77 of Little Gray Dress

“Nah…” My breath catches in my throat as he moves closer to me. “What would I have said without sounding like a crazy lady?”

As soon as I stop talking, his lips meet mine. It’s quick, but if I was standing I feel like it would’ve knocked me off my feet.

“I’m sorry.” He pulls away, his cheeks flushed. “I just…”

“No, no, it’s OK. It’s really, really OK.” My heart finally starts to beat again and I take a deep breath to try and focus.

“I’m not normally so forward. Actually, this is more the guys I was with than me. I’m the guy who stands in the corner and watches everyone else score. But there is just something about you.”

“You watch everyone else score?” I ask nervously, hoping he’s not into weird sexual voyeurism crap with his frat friends.

“No, ew, I mean… God.” He runs his hand through his dark messy hair. “I don’t actually know what I mean.” He turns his attention to the boat, turns some knobs, pulls some levers, and turns back to me. “Did you ever meet someone and feel like you’d known them forever? Like there was some kind of connection you had previously?”

“Not until now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it?”

“It is.” He laughs away whatever tension he had built up. “How about we have dinner and get to know each other, and see where that takes us?”

“You mean… physically?” My voice cracks as I say it, nervously. I’m not exactly experienced with a lot of men, and this is a man I don’t want to prove that to on Day One.

“No. No, I don’t… uh… I don’t… Jeez, I… That is something I don’t push quickly.” His nervous laugh is becoming cuter and cuter every time he does it. “I’m really looking like a perverted loser here, aren’t I?”

“I don’t think so.” I shake my head.

“Come on.” He grabs my hand and leads me out onto the deck. “Help me get the food and we’ll come back out to eat?” The sun is starting to set, and the music on the shore in front of us is getting loud.

I carry the two bags of food while he grabs a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. “My mom never runs out, so she won’t miss a bottle.” He winks at me.

I’m on a yacht, having dinner with a guy I’ve dreamed about, and he just stole a bottle of wine out of his mother’s collection. Be still, my heart…

Over the next hour, Jack and I learn everything one could learn about each other on the first three dates. He’s got a sister, he’s from a wealthy family, he’s in law school, he’s only ever had one somewhat serious relationship that lasted a year, and he believes in fate.

I learn that I’m completely in love. I love the way he raises his right eyebrow when I say something questionable or unladylike, which is often. When I tell him, hesitantly, that I’ve never been in a serious relationship, he seems relieved instead of scared.

“I’ll drive you home,” he volunteers as we hop back onto the dock after the fireworks end.

“It’s clear across town; I don’t mind calling a cab.”

“I want to, Ems,” he says. He started calling me Ems about midway through dinner. Normally only the people closest to me use that name. It’s another sign from fate that we are meant to be. “It gives me a bit more time with you.” He takes my hand in his and leads me to a black SUV parked in the lot of the pier.

“I can’t argue with that.”

Even though I just had the best, most unexpected date of my entire life, the car ride to my house is quiet and awkward. There isn’t much left to talk about, and the sexual tension is far too much for me.

“It’s the house on the right.”

His eyebrow rises again when he looks over at me with a smile. “So, I’m guessing you’ve been on a yacht before…”

“Actually, I haven’t. My parents are, uh… old. So, their yacht days are long behind them. I just reap the benefits of a big house and not lacking in anything.”

“Gotcha. You have my number?”

“Yes.” I’d pull it from my purse to prove it but I don’t want to look like that obsessed girl. “You have mine? Because you know it’s the man's job to call.”

He nods. “And I’m not going to wait forty-eight hours either, so be prepared for that.”

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