They watched a ferry come in and there was something vibrant about the noisy reverse of the engines that churned up the water and the delayed slap of heavier waves on the pier as the deckhand jumped off and secured the vessel to a wharfside cleat.
‘That’s my ferry,’ Emily pointed. ‘It docks two minutes from my door and goes on to Luna Park jetty. You could have taken the ferry and walked up the hill to your apartment.’
He glanced across the water as other ferries did their business. ‘Would you like to take it now? I can return for my car tomorrow. It is safe. We could have more time on the water. Perhaps stroll around your Luna Park, eat an ice cream?’
‘Or fairy floss?’
He squeezed her hand. ‘Fairy floss?’
‘Pink balls of spun sugar. A dreadfully evil sweet.’
A wicked look. ‘Dreadfully evil is good.’
It would be silly to leave his car in the car park. Mad to jump on a ferry just because of a whim and walk around an amusement park at nine at night. She so wanted to do that.
She gave in to the child within. ‘Let’s.’
So they did. She explained how the vending machines spat out the ferry tickets, dragged him up to the front of the boat so they could get blown to pieces on the deserted bow, and they lifted their faces to the spray. ‘This is much faster than our sailing boat.’
She looked back at their beautiful three-masted vessel. ‘Not quite as romantic.’
His arm slipped around her shoulders and he turned her to face him. ‘We could change that?’
She stood on tiptoe as he bent. Met his smiling mouth with hers with a light-hearted press of lips that never intended to be anything else—except for that second farewell light press that deepened just a touch and invited a third quick kiss, which deepened just a little more …
What magic was this? What spell had she cast? Lust slammed into him like their ferry had hit a solid wave and it was Marco who stepped back. If he didn’t stop he’d have crushed Emily into him and who knew what might have happened?
Always he had control, was the master of his own desires, but this Emily’s sweet innocence gripped him with more power than the most experienced woman and forced him to pull back while he still could.
He wrapped her in his arms and stared over her head at the lights on the edge of the harbour. What was he doing?
He would leave in three weeks. Began to realise she might not know the rules by which he played and did not need the complication he offered. A darker voice within disagreed. Perhaps she did?
Emily snuggled into the warmth of solid muscle. Lo-o-ovely kisses. Mmmmmm. Shame he’d stopped but that was good. She needed to be sensible. She could remember her mother’s cold voice very clearly even after all these years. ‘Your father and I don’t deserve this shame. You’re a tramp!’ Though how one fumbled night and a broken condom made her a tramp she didn’t know. And Gran had shooshed her and said it wasn’t true.
Well, she hadn’t tramped at all for the last sixteen years. A few pathetic-in-hindsight kisses and a meal or two. No wonder she hadn’t been tempted to chase those men. They didn’t kiss like this. She felt Marco’s arms loosen from the after hug and she guessed it was time to step away.
His hands slid down her shoulders with a lingering reluctance and dropped right away, and she pushed the hair from her eyes so she could see his face. He looked serious. Too serious.
‘Is everything okay?’ Crikey. Maybe she’d been a hopeless kisser and he was embarrassed.
‘You kiss like an angel.’
Her cheeks flamed. Had she said that out loud? He went on with a twisted smile. ‘And it seemed prudent to stop.’
Not quite sure how to take that but maybe with sincere gratitude because it wasn’t unreasonable to think that kiss could have led to an embarrassing incident. ‘Oh. Well.’ She brushed the hair out of her eyes again. ‘You’re pretty good yourself.’
The ferry pulled into Balmain East, tied up then untied and chugged across the harbour to McMahon’s Point. They both watched the busy deckhand with an intensity born of diversion from what they wanted to really do. Marco squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
When the ferry pulled into Milson’s Point wharf, at least they had a purpose as they stepped across the walkway to the pier.
The laughing-clown mouth of the entrance invited them to join the milling crowd and Marco couldn’t help looking up at the squealing victims spinning above their heads on a swirling circular ride. His stomach contracted at the thought.
‘You like these rides?’
Emily laughed. ‘Not those ones. Though I am partial to the view from the Ferris wheel and a trip on the Wild Mouse.’
‘A wild mouse?’
She pointed. ‘Up there. It’s a mini roller-coaster that makes you think you’re going to fly out over the harbour and instead turns the corner suddenly. It’s Annie’s favourite.’
‘It sounds like your favourite. Not Annie’s.’ This one didn’t look too bad. At least it didn’t turn upside down.
He crossed to the payment window and purchased a wrist-banded ride pass for both of them.
‘Come.’ He lingered over the word until she grinned. ‘We will see who is the most frightened.’
They jogged up the gaily painted steps hand in hand and Emily turned to him. ‘Can’t you feel the infectious enthusiasm from the young crowd?’
He wasn’t sure if he was infected yet. The teens were having a ball on this Friday night and her smiling face turned from side to side as she caught glimpses of the screaming occupants … and perhaps seeping some foolishness into him.
A battered little red car on rails trundled across and stopped in front of them with a clang. ‘Jump in,’ the laconic ride attendant drawled, ‘man at the back, lady between his legs. I do the seat belt.’ Marco could tell he’d said the same a million times.
This idea improved with time, Marco thought with satisfaction, as Emily snuggled into the space between his legs with her skirt smoothed out in front of her. Nice. Warm and soft and in need of protection during this coming adventure. It was a very small car.
She had to lean back into his chest and his arms came along the outside of hers to grip the same handle. Snug. The car shunted off with an unexpected jerk and Emily was forced back into his chest with a bump. He tightened his hands and prepared to enjoy the ride.
They rolled down the first hill and jolted onto a runner to be pulled up the next and then gathered speed. It blurred after that.
The first sharp corner loomed as they rocketed towards it and he read the sign just before they turned.
‘Brace Yourself!’
He braced and Emily slammed into him and he slammed into the side of the car, she laughed and he had to laugh as the next corner came up and it seemed they would sail out over the harbour, but the trusty wheels remained hooked to the track as they flew around that one.
Emily laughed again and he could feel the spread of a huge smile across his face as the ride rocketed on. Up and down steep little hills that lifted them out of their seats as they bounced at the bottom, still stuck together, and he decided then they would repeat this experience before they went home.
The car rolled to a stop. It was over. Shame, that.
‘Lady out first. Then the gent. Keep to the left and down the stairs.’
Emily waited for him to climb out, not as elegantly as he could have wished but that smile seemed glued to his face and she laughed at his expression. ‘You’d