I shouldn’t want her this way.
But I can’t help myself.
As we leave her room together, I can’t take my eyes off her.
I’ve been waiting for the right woman to come along, to impress me enough to give up being a bachelor. I was beginning to think I’d never find a woman worthy of the role.
But now, everything is different.
Tara has proved that much.
She’s everything I didn’t know I wanted. Suddenly, the vision of the woman I’ve been craving isn’t so blurry anymore. With each passing second, it feels like she fits the bill more and more.
It’s not just the sway of her hips when she walks and the curves of her impossibly delicious body. It’s something deeper than what’s on the outside.
It makes no sense to me, considering that I don’t even know her yet, but it’s true all the same. I felt something inside me stir to life when I first laid eyes on her. Something emotional, something important.
I know just by looking at her that this meeting was always meant to happen. We were meant to come together because this is meant to be. Us.
I’ve never really been a big believer in fate before. I’ve never assumed that anything is meant to happen. But this feels like it was foretold, somehow.
It’s like I’ve always known that my life would begin today, begin with her.
My length is throbbing, needing her more than I’ve ever needed anything in my life.
How is it possible that one woman can turn my entire world upside down? How is it possible that I didn’t know what it felt like to be alive until now?
“Let’s see the whole boat,” I say, leading the way.
She falls in step with me, eager and curious.
I get the feeling that she’s normally a confident woman. She’s certainly the kind of woman who deserves to be in the spotlight. Her father and I don’t see much of each other because of my job but he would often mention his daughter and how lucky of a father he was to have such a beautiful daughter but I chalked that up to him being her dad. But now that I’ve met her for the first time as a grown woman, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tear my eyes away from her ever again.
I can barely concentrate on anything else as I show her around.
I show her the entertainment quarter, the bars, the restaurants, the pools. She nods along with interest, asking all the right questions, but she must be able to feel the tension. It’s practically electric, moving through the air between us.
How can we ignore this feeling between us when it’s so apparent?
“What do you think?” I ask, just as an excuse to get her talking to me. I love the sweet sound of her voice, the gentleness of her tone despite the fact that she’s clearly a force to be reckoned with.
She offers me a smile, looking a little shy as I put my attention on her.
“It’s amazing. I can’t believe you own all of this.”
“Neither can I some days. It’s still hard to believe I got so lucky. I won the lottery and used it to start this business, but I was never much for being behind a desk. I wanted to be outside so took my chance and now here I am captioning my own boat and running my business from here…but before all that, I barely had a penny to my name. But I guess some people just strike luck sometimes.”
“You’ve invested it in something amazing. Most people would just retire and spend the rest of their days relaxing. It’s cool that you wanted to build something bigger,” she says in awe.
I smile at her. “What would you have done with the money?”
“Well, I would have retired and spent all my days at home,” she says deadpan.
I laugh out loud. I wasn’t expecting her to be funny, but this woman is clearly full of surprises and in the best possible way.
I feel even more drawn to her as she smiles back at me.
Damn, I just met her and already I’m in deep.
“I’m kidding,” she says as we continue walking. “Maybe I’d do something similar to what you’ve done here. I don’t know much about boats, but I do love the idea of travel. That’s why I’m here, to see a little more of the world.”
“So your dad mentioned. Although unfortunately, you won’t see much of it at the beginning of our journey. All there is here is water for miles and miles…”
She smiles sadly. “Yeah. To be honest, this wasn’t my first choice of an adventure.” She pauses, looking a little guilty. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful to be here, and I can’t wait to go on the excursions I booked at our destinations,” she adds.