Page 91 of Rule Number One
“This is perfect.” I stood on the bow and looked around at the tall palm trees stretching around us on three sides. “I feel like we’re inBlue Lagoon.So completely isolated.”
I dropped the anchor off the bow and let the line slide through my fingers until I felt it touch down.
“I got the rear anchor hooked,” Ethan called as I tied off the line.
When we got ourselves secure, he came to join me on the bow carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and a blanket in the other. I bit my lip as I savored the view of his tanned, shirtless torso coming right at me.
“You eyeing up the wine or me?”
“Both,” I teased, reaching up and grabbing him by the front of his board shorts and pulling him down beside me.
He handed me the bottle of wine to hold while he spread out the blanket, then we scooted onto it and lay side by side, staring out into the space opening to the ocean. The colors in the sky swirled together like a painter had closed their eyes and started wildly swooshing colors across a canvas.
“Gonna be a good one,” Ethan noted as he stared at the colorful sky.
“Every sunset is good when I’m with you.”
His soft smile pulled up his lips, and he leaned over and kissed me gently. Even after a year together, I still felt the same excitement every time we touched. My skin tingled. My heart raced. My body ignited with love and desire for him. The simplest touch, and I was gone.
Ethan pulled the cork out of the bottle and handed it to me. “I didn’t grab glasses. You care?”
I grinned and took a swig from the bottle, finishing with anahh.“Nope.”
“That’s my classy girl.” He took the wine from me and took a long swig. “Is it just me, or does it taste better from the bottle?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. It kinda does.”
Twisting his lips, he shrugged. “Well, that’s a good thing because that means fewer dishes to wash. And fewer dishes to wash means more time to do this.”
He set the bottle aside and rolled over on top of me. I melted into his kiss and his touch, softening into his embrace as he pulled me against him.
We made love on the bow of the boat, our passion igniting like the fiery sky blazing above us. This time it was soft and sweet, and he moved slowly inside of me, coaxing out my moans one slow inch at a time as we connected together again and again. When I finally cried out my pleasure, he shuddered before falling limp onto me.
“You are incredible.” His ragged breaths lifted his muscular shoulders as I continued holding him tight.
“Right back at you,” I whispered. “You really make keeping rule number one easy to follow when you do things like that.”
He chuckled and rolled over onto his side. I crawled up into the nook of his arm, laying my head against his chest as he slid his hand down my side and rested it on my hip. He drew slow circles with the tip of his finger along my hip bone, and it sent a happy shiver slithering down my spine.
“We sleeping here tonight?” I asked.
“You want to?”
Nodding, I rolled over on top of him. “Let’s add sleep naked under the stars on a boat in a lagoon to the list.”
His eyebrows rose. “Wow. That’s a very specific entry, but I don’t see any reason we can’t accomplish that one tonight.”
I smiled the way I always did when he agreed to another one of my list entries. “Awesome. I’ll go get something out of the fridge for dinner, and we can just eat up here and watch the stars tonight.”
“That sounds perfect, baby. I’ll be waiting for you.”
I slipped my dress back on and walked down the bow back to the cabin of the boat. After picking through the mini-fridge for something that resembled dinner, I came out with a handful of cheeses, nuts, breads, and meats to make little sandwiches.
And then I froze.
Sitting on the bow beneath the flickering twinkle lights he’d wound around the railing the other day was Ethan on one knee. A ring box in his hand.
“Oh, my God,” I gasped, clutching my armful of snacks to my chest.