Free Immortal Moon by June Stevens

glow.
    Wondering what he could possibly want to
show me on the river in the dark, I quietly followed him down the
dock until we stood in front of a sailing ship that looked to be
around fifty feet long. It was well taken care of, but I could tell
it was quite old. Mostly because the design and materials were
nothing like any other boat I’d ever seen on the river. It was
missing the steam-powered paddle-wheel all the wide, flat barges
used to propel themselves up and down the river. Instead, it had a
large pole with an attached sail shooting out of the front, high
into the air, resembling the smaller versions on the fishing boats.
This boat was also about twice their length, and the deck was
nearly even with the top. In the center was a room surrounded with
windows, and there was an area raised about three feet over the
deck. On the side, “The Minnow” was painted in bright red
letters.
    “Is this the boat you came in on today?” I
asked.
    “It is. Actually it’s my boat. My home.”
    I felt my eyes go wide. “Your home? You live
on a boat? That’s kind of cool.”
    He laughed. “I don’t disagree. Want a
tour?”
    “Absolutely!”
    He laughed and helped me aboard. We went
into the windowed room first.
    “This is the wheelhouse,” Jarrett said.
“It’s where I steer and run the boat.”
    I looked around. Seats lined the sides and
the front wall. To one side was a dashboard with levers, dials, and
a spoked wheel. There were two doors low in the wall on either side
of the room.
    Jarrett went through a door and downward. He
peered up at me through the opening. “Be careful on the
stairs.”
    I followed him into a room with built-in
cupboards on one side and a table and benches built into the other
side.
    “As you can see, this is the dining area.
And this is the galley, or kitchen as you would call it,” he said,
stepping through another doorway. “And through that door is a small
cabin I use for storage.”
    I followed him into the narrow room that had
cabinets built on both sides. It had a sink, a small crystal-stove,
and several cabinets overhead. “This is wonderful.” I said, running
my hand over the gleaming, polished wood.
    “It’s home,” he said, but his eyes
brightened. I could see he was pleased I liked his space. He
brushed past me and walked back to where we started. I followed him
up the stairs back into the wheelhouse. He pointed at the other
door. “Through there is the head and two more cabins, including
mine, which I’ll show you later,” he said, his voice dropping into
a sultry timbre on the last few words.
    “The head?” My curiosity was more powerful
than his seductive ways.
    He laughed. “The bathroom.”
    My eyes widened. “You have a bathroom on
your boat?”
    His eyes twinkled. “It’s kind of a
necessity, even for vampires. It has a working shower too. I’ll
show you how to use it later,” he said, but this time he was
laughing too hard to be seductive.
    His laughing was due to my eyes growing even
wider when he’d said “working shower.” I’d never taken an actual
shower before. Pinky had told us about them, but plumbing just
wasn’t what it once was. We didn’t even have running hot water in
the pub. We used a bathhouse a few blocks away, soaking in tubs of
hot water to bathe. I tried to imagine water cascading down my
body.
    I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes until I
heard Jarrett clear his throat.
    “Sorry, I was imagining a shower. I’ve never
had one.”
    His eyes were dark and seductive. “That must
have been one heck of an imagining, you were moaning like you were
being caressed.”
    My face burned with embarrassment. “I guess
I was, by water.”
    He laughed again. “Okay, before I get
sidetracked, want to go for a ride?”
    “Oh, can we?” I asked, not caring that I
sounded like a five-year-old asking for candy. “It’s so dark and
there isn’t any wind.”
    Jarrett touched his hand to a crystal on the
dashboard and several crystal