Page 6 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

Jessa looked surprised, but her manners prevailed, as they always did. She looked to me quickly, to which I smiled and winked at her, and then she shook the captain's hand. ‘Yes, nice to meet you,’ then turned back to me. ‘Matt?’

‘So, I may have lied, my client doesn’t own this, nor do I have to drop off documents to him.’ I smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. ‘We get to spend the weekend on this incredible yacht.’

She jumped up and down with excitement, and just seeing the joy on her face made my day. After everything I put her through, I was pleased I could elicit that reaction out of her again. ‘Really?’ she questioned, then settled, and asked seriously, ‘But you hate boats.’

I shrugged, ‘But I know how much you love them.’

She leaned in to hug me, and I thought that was a good sign for things to come. It had been a long time since she had initiated any form of physical contact with me, even a hug, that wasn’t just for show. She looked happy, and it seemed genuine. ‘This is our getaway?’

I squeezed her hand, ‘Yeah.’

After gathering our bags and locking up our cars, we walked back to the yacht hand in hand. We were then introduced to the two other crew members, a chef and a steward named Sonja, then given a tour by her. We settled our things into our cabin as the captain set sail.

My sister went all out in an attempt to woo Jessa. The plan was to sail around the Cape to Edgartown tonight, where a romantic and fun evening had been planned for us. After relaxing and getting settled in, I suggested that she get dressed for dinner off the boat. She wore a maxi dress with a cardigan and flat strappy sandals. I hated when she wore heels, they slowed her down, and she’d be too close in height to me. We got off the yacht, walked down the beach where a table was set up on a rug, under a canopy tent, with candles and lanterns. Off to the side, two staff stood behind a portable kitchen of sorts.

‘Wow,’ she commented when it came into sight. ‘Is that really ours?’

‘Yeah,’ I smiled shyly. ‘Is that ok?’

She laughed, ‘It will do,’ pretending not to be impressed at all. After a dinner of fresh fish, grilled vegetables, rice, salad, and apple pie for dessert, she stood when I did and started back in the direction of the boat.

‘You want to go back, or would you like to see the next part of our night?’

She turned to look at me standing a few feet away, holding my hand out to her. ‘That’s not it?’ She was surprised.

‘If you want it to be, but I do have one more thing, just down the beach a bit.’

She walked towards me, took my hand and we walked slowly in the deep sand. She was equally impressed with our private screening of Dirty Dancing, one of her favorite summer flicks, on a big screen that Jules had also arranged. A cushioned patio sofa and ottoman were set up, with blankets, wine, and snacks.

Jessa sang each song off-key, as she always did when she watched this movie. She had a truly horrible singing voice, but I let it go tonight, she looked too happy and I wasn’t about to spoil that.

During our dinner and throughout the movie, Jessa seemed happy and was pleasant, but she was still distant. She allowed some physical contact, holding hands, hugging and some kissing as long as it wasn’t on her mouth or involve any tongue.

‘Please understand, that I still need some space,’ she told me as we got back to the boat after the movie. ‘I really appreciate everything today, and tonight was pretty spectacular,’ she told me, holding my hand. ‘But I’m going to sleep tonight in one of the guest rooms.’

‘Jessa,’ I pleaded. ‘Stay with me, we don’t have to do anything, but we need the time together.’

I hated that on the boat, we had no privacy, but it was odd that she didn't even care the crew could hear all of our conversations. Perhaps she thought I had asked them to sign an NDA, which I hadn’t.

‘Let me come back to you, don’t force it. Please,’ she smiled at me. ‘I’ll get there, but I’m not ready yet.’ It had been months since we’d last had sex, I didn’t see how it was possible she didn’t want it. It wasn’t as if she was getting it anywhere else. I knew everyone she hung out with. I made sure she had given up all her male friends, and most of her female friends for that matter, but the ones who remained were all girls with the exception of her cousin and the hired help who’d been around too much this summer. But let's face it, he was so far out of her league that I didn’t even bother worrying about him; nonetheless, I didn’t want her spending time with him.

‘I’ll sleep in the guest room, you take the master,’ I told her, giving her a hug.

She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t feel right about that, you went out of your way to arrange all this,’ she waved her hands around, and then placed them on my chest. ‘And planning everything tonight,’ she bit her lip, something she did when she was hesitant. ‘Matty, I didn’t think you had it in you. Better be careful, I may expect romance from you more often,’ she smiled a truly genuine smile up at me, the one she used to have for me, and I felt a pang of shame in my gut.

‘Noted,’ I smiled down to her, nodding in agreement with her. ‘You deserve it.’

‘Wake me when you're up in the morning so we don’t miss any time together,’ she told me as I led her down the steep narrow stairs off the main room.

The plan was to sail overnight to Cuttyhunk, where I had a few things planned for us.

‘We will be docked already in Cuttyhunk in the morning. The captain will be asleep, but chef and Sonja will be up.’

‘Sounds great.’ She hugged me goodnight and kissed my cheek. ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow.’

She washed up in the master bathroom, took the nightclothes she needed from her bag, and left me in the master suite alone. I was pissed off, to be honest, I had expected more from her, it had been months since I’d had Jessa in my bed, and I thought for sure she’d be more than ready for me again. It wasn’t like our physical relationship had ever really developed, but with married life and living together, I was expecting it to. I still planned to keep Cindy on the side, she was too good to give up, and I didn’t care what my sister had to say about it. Besides, Jessa wasn’t too keen on sleeping with me, and I’d never force her to.

It may have all started as a con, but I hadn’t expected her own sweet charm to draw me in. I wanted her to be happy, and I’d never want harm to come to her. It was one of the reasons I didn’t want her with many of the people she used to hang out with. They weren’t good for her; yes, I wanted to control every aspect of her life, but I also wanted to protect her and keep her safe.

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