Page 54 of The Perfect Deal
The captain introduced himself as Sharky, his first mate as Walrus, and then he told us about how we’d definitely get to see dolphins, and if we played our cards right, he might even be able to get them jumping out of the water for us. Excitement rolled through the crowd as we all took our positions to be able to set off into the sunset.
Joshua sat right next to me, and it wasn’t weird at all because Landon had told him to. “Are you ready to see some dolphins?”
Grinning at him, I wished I could reach for his hand. “Yeah, I’m definitely down with that,” I told him.
“There’s a tube on the back of the boat,” Ethan noticed a few minutes into our endeavor. “Do you think Captain Sharky will let us go tubing later?” he asked no one in particular.
“I can ask him,” Poppy told him, getting a cheer out of the overgrown frat boy. Ethan’s eyes flickered toward me, but before he could say anything, he noticed Joshua sitting very close to me and backed away. I laughed and accepted a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. This boat seemed to have a little bit of everything. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone go tubing off the back of a yacht before, but if it could happen, something told me Ethan would make sure that it did.
Joshua and I sipped our champagne in companionable silence as the yacht headed out to sea. The sunset was gorgeous as ever, like a painting, and I couldn’t help but stare at it. His breath tickled my ear as he leaned down and whispered, “The only thing more gorgeous than that sunset is you.”
I turned to look at him, noting our lips were dangerously close, but we both pulled away. Landon had instructed him to make sure I had a good time, not to make out with me. If my brother saw that, he’d be livid.
In a few minutes, none of that mattered anyway as someone shouted, “There’s a dolphin!” on the other side of the ship. We all popped up and rushed over to see. Sure enough, there were several dolphins in the water, bobbing up and down, coming up for air, or working together to feast on a school of fish we couldn’t see below the surface.
Captain Sharky came over the loudspeaker and said, “We’ve got quite a large pod of dolphins over here to our left. We’re going to see if we can ramp this boat up a few notches and create some waves out the back. If you will make your way to the aft portion of the boat—that’s the back now—you may just see some dolphins leaping out of the water.”
I turned and looked at Joshua, a bit skeptical. Over the years. I’d been on lots of dolphin cruises, and never once had I seen a bunch of dolphins leaping out of the water for any reason. In fact, I’d never seen a dolphin jump out of the water at all.
But I went along with everyone else to the rear part of the boat, and sure enough, as the captain increased the power and the waves began to form in our wake, the dolphins began to swim along behind us. Then, they actually started jumping! First one, then another, until several of them were leaping out of the water, landing, and then jumping again. All of us were cheering and clapping our hands, unable to believe the amazing sight. It was breathtaking to see the gorgeous creatures bounding out of their natural habitat in such a graceful way.
After about ten minutes of excitement, Captain Sharky slowed down. “I think that’s enough for now. We’ll get back to a reasonable pace, and if some of you want to hop on the tubes out back, we’ll make that happen.”
I took one look at Joshua and shook my head. “No, thank you. We are in the ocean, after all.”
“Yeah, something tells me Captain Sharky knows a thing or two about dangerous sea creatures, but I’ll leave this to Ethan and some of the other knuckleheads.”
Ethan didn’t hesitate to get in the tube. Hannah was right there with him, much to Joshua’s chagrin. They had a good time, though, bouncing up and down along the waves. Captain Sharky kept it at a slow pace and constantly assessed the situation, making sure no one was in any danger. Eventually, we neared the shore, and the brave tube riders had to climb back on board. By then, Ethan had relinquished his tube to Kai, and Rose had decided to take a chance and give it a try as well. It was shocking to see Poppy’s shy little sister stepping out of her comfort zone, but she rocked it.
I hoped I’d get a chance to spend more time with Joshua that night, one way or another, but as we made our way back to the house, it became clear that the girls were going one way and the boys another.
“Let’s watch a movie in the cinema room,” Poppy suggested. “We can stream that new romance everyone’s talking about.”
“See you later,” I whispered to Joshua. He squeezed my hand and then followed my brother and the other guys to the game room for billiards.
Once we were in our separate groups, there was more gossiping going on than watching the movie as we munched on popcorn and sat in the oversized recliners. “So, what was up with you and Kai on the tubes?” Hannah asked Rose, blinking at her in an over-the-top fashion.
Poppy’s sister’s face turned as red as her namesake. “I don’t know. It just looked like fun.”
“You meanhelooked like fun,” Autumn said, jabbing her sister playfully in the ribs.
“So what if she likes him?” Hannah asked. “I think we’re past this nonsense that none of the boys on our streets can date the girls because of the little-sister rule.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re in love with Luke,” Sophia proclaimed.
Hannah’s eyes widened, but then she shrugged. “Luke is hot. And he’s nice. So what if I like him? Poppy has broken down the barriers for all of us.”
“That’s right,” I said, conviction overcoming me. “Poppy has been my best friend forever, and Landon, my brother, dated her anyway, so why shouldn’t the rules be the same for the girls as the boys?”
“I think it’s time to break this secret law of the land,” Hannah said, winking at me.
While I felt my cheeks heating up, I nodded in agreement. It was time for a change for the better.
33
JOSHUA
The trip to West Palm Beach ended much too soon. My alarm went off too early the day after the amazing boating trip where we got to see dolphins leaping out of the water. All of us were in a bit of a haze as we boarded the plane back to Tennessee.