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“Aye aye captain,” I replied cheerily, and felt more than a little pride when I heard Alex growl under his breath. I loved teasing him. It had become my way of showing affection towards him.
“Come on,” he said. “I thought I’d take you for a spin today.”
He reached out a hand, and I took it and stepped down into the hull of the boat. Inside it was more comfortable than I expected, with cream leather seats and a wooden control panel, covered with electric dials and sliders.
“It looks like a spaceship in here,” I said breathlessly, as my feet slowly adjusted to the rocking motions of the bay.
From here, you could see all the way across the bay. On the far left, I could see Jersey City, and Staten Island in the distance. To the right, I could see the tall, gleaming spires of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge, as its arches reached up into the sky. It was a bright day, and Alex produced a pair of sunglasses from the glovebox for me.
“Why, thank you,” I said, charmed by his thoughtfulness. I put the glasses on, and the white glare on the water receded a little. Alex was at the other end of the boat, and I watched as he bent low, his powerful back arching as he stood up quickly, pulling a cord.
There was a splutter and a rumble, and then the boat’s engine flared into life. He strode confidently over to the pilot’s seat, next to me, and I watched him angle the wheel away, skillfully maneuvering us out of the bay.
“Since when do you know how to drive a boat?” I said. Even at this low speed, the wind was already whipping my hair.
“I know how to do a lot of things,” said Alex, and his blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me. Instinctively, I reached out for his strong arm, and rested my head on his shoulder as the boat rumbled on, gaining a little in pace.
“You might want to put your seatbelt on for this one,” Alex said, reaching over and clipping his own down into a lock.
“Seatbelt?” I said. “I didn’t know boats had seatbelts.”
“They have to,” he said. “When they go as fast as this one does.”
“Is that a threat?” I said.
Alex looked behind him as he put the engine into reverse, and backed us round until we were bobbing precariously on the Hudson River’s waves. “It might be,” he said, and I saw a hint of a smile play on his lips.
Then, in one swift movement, he kicked the boat up a gear, and we lurched forward at an incredible pace.
The boat didn’t glide swiftly through the water. Instead, its prow bumped against the waves, and the high-pitched roar of the engine made me clasp my hands over my ears with shock. I opened my mouth, and let out a yell of excitement. “WHOAH!” I screamed, as we thundered across the water.
And then, I saw the city sliding past me. Manhattan, its towers and blocks, the ferries and sailboats on the water. Alex expertly charted a path through the water, his mind moving at a speed I could barely comprehend. I felt the boat tipping upwards, as the engine drove even harder, and Alex kicked us into a higher gear.
“WE’RE GONNA TIP OVER!” I said.
“NO WE’RE NOT,” he boomed, and before I knew it, I could see the buildings in midtown, the spiked top of the Chrysler building and the skyscrapers sliding past on my left.
Then, I saw us approaching the Brooklyn Bridge. Up close, from all the way down here, it was enormous, its dark iron pillars and enormous arches rising so far above me I couldn’t lift my head high enough to take it all in.
My eyes blurred over the speedometer, as I watched the needle rising.
“WE’RE AT FIFTY-FIVE KNOTS,” said Alex, noticing my eyes fixed to the speedometer.
“HOW FAST IS THAT!” I yelled at him. It was the only way to communicate over the roar of the engine, the crashes and bashes of the waves around us. A thin spray of water snaked up around us and splattered the protective screen in front of the cockpit.
“NOT SO FAST,” replied Alex. “70 MILES AN HOUR? I CAN GO FASTER IF YOU LIKE?”
“NO!” I said. “THIS IS FINE!”
As we passed under Brooklyn Bridge and came up by midtown, I felt the boat slowing, and eventually, I saw the prow of the boat bend down as we came level with the water. Completely unfazed by the incredible speed at which we’d been traveling, Alex steered the boat into the harbor, towards a jetty on Manhattan’s side of the East River.
Once we’d come to a stop by the jetty, he pulled up a rope by the deck, and looped it into a lasso. He lobbed the knot over the side of the boat, and I watched, amazed by the accuracy of his throw, as the rope landed over one of the capstans on the jetty and Alex pulled it tight. And once again, I savored the view, the curves of his muscular arms and strong shoulders, and felt an amazing sense of triumph at having been carried across land and sea by Alex Lowe.
***
The car felt still and peaceful after the incredible time on the speedboat. In the back seat, as we were driven into the city, I reached out my hand and put it onto the seat between us. Alex extended his in turn, and I looked into his eyes.
What was I thinking? A part of me was still questioning my motives. I knew that it was wrong—even dangerous for me—to be going down this path. But I was already in that cloudy-eyed world where it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Maybe I was still on a high from the speedboat ride. Or maybe it really was Alex’s presence, so calming to me.
