Sailing at Sunset - Cindi Madsen Page 0,66

in his without fully thinking through the move. He supposed it meant that subconsciously, he’d ruled in favor of savoring the time they had left together on this trip.

After all, it wouldn’t be as difficult to say goodbye now that they had plans to see each other again.

More than that, it was becoming more difficult to avoid his feelings for Danae than to face them. His pulse kicked up a notch as he dragged his thumb over Danae’s knuckles. Her hand was so much smaller than his, her skin so soft. It had been a long time since he’d had a woman on his arm, and as they neared the wharf, longing looped itself around his heart.

Danae stopped just short of the wooden planks and pivoted to face him. The clouds behind her had turned more purple than pink, their rippled reflections gleaming across the surface of the water, until the entire place glittered as much as Danae’s dress, earrings, shoes, and purse. “Tonight was fun. Thank you for being my escort.”

“I agree, and you’re welcome,” Josh said. He stepped closer, eradicating the foot or so of space between them. “I just realized I never told you how beautiful you look, and that’s completely unacceptable, because wow.”

In the dim light, he could barely make out the pink that rose to her cheeks, but the slight smile and way she shyly dipped her chin was a dead giveaway. “Thank you. As I told you when we left the ship, you also look very nice. I’d go so far as to say handsome.”

She sunk her teeth into her lower lip, and just like that, his nerves calmed, like the sea before the storm. If he held up a microphone to his heart, however, it’d sound like thunder, one clap after another, nothing placid about it. The entire walk along the shore had felt like a dream, as if he had one foot in the real world and one foot in fairyland.

With Danae standing in front of him, her hand still curled inside his, there was no doubt in his mind that luck existed. Tonight, he was feeling extremely lucky.

“Talking about my dad and his superstitions brought back a lot of good memories.” Danae tipped back her head and blinked at the enormous sky overhead. There were certain places in the world where the sky seemed bigger, and near the ocean was one of them. Partially because away from populous cities, there weren’t as many lights and skyscrapers to interrupt the view. “One of the other things that always stuck with me were his lessons on the stars. Whenever we sailed at night, or even walking or driving somewhere, my dad would ask me to find Polaris.

“When I was two or three, I’d tell him I found it, only to point at a plane. Or a streetlight.” A soft laugh escaped, the exquisite sound hanging the air between them. “He’d always kindly correct me and turn me in the right direction. He often warned me that if I set my sights on the wrong star, I’d find myself going in the wrong direction.”

The first time she’d mentioned her father, she’d used a different, slightly disappointed tone. Tonight there was a fondness and a bit of that childlike wonder that people lost far too early, thanks to the bumps that came along with life.

Josh tightened his grip on her hand, affection and attraction melding and strengthening her elemental pull. “Even before my sailing days, I always had a fascination with finding the North Star, too.”

Danae’s grin widened, and speaking of stars, it felt as if he’d been suffused with stardust. “I guess I just exchanged the actual stars for stickers.”

“Hey, a gold star’s a gold star as far as I’m concerned.”

With a sigh, she tilted her head toward the wooden planked walkway. “I suppose we should make our way back to the ship.” From the sound of it, she was as reluctant to end the evening as he was.

As they stepped onto the wharf, Danae nudged him toward the middle. “I’m always wary of piers that don’t have fences or rails. I feel like I’ll suddenly trip and fall into the water.”

“Some of us like a little danger,” he teased. “Or perhaps it just makes it easier to fish off the sides.”

“Big surprise, Mr. Improviser doesn’t want guidelines or rails, even if they make him safer. Let me guess, getting knocked off and ending up going for a lovely swim would only feed your