by Andrews, Amy
“They might start taking all complaints seriously, now. Even against the officers. A pity your Ari wasn’t on the boat when Jamilla was being dicked around.”
Your Ari. Those two words slid like a serpent through the dark recesses of Kelsey’s mind. “He’s not my Ari.”
It was important to remember that.
To say out loud. Important that she knew it. After how he’d intervened on Luzviminda’s behalf overnight, she was likely to start donning rose coloured glasses and forget they were nothing more than a seriously fucked up indiscretion.
“Well he should be. The man stood up for a waitress. Someone he didn’t know. He’s one of us, Kels.”
Kelsey smiled – Tiffany was giving her whiplash. “I thought he was a bad idea?” she teased.
“Oh yeah.” She nodded. “He’s most definitely a bad idea. But it’s too late now. Despite your insistence to the contrary, your emotions are already involved. At least you chose a good guy to crush your heart this time instead of a smarmy little con artist.”
One of the things Kelsey loved about Tiffany was that she didn’t pull her punches. But sometimes, she wished her friend would deliver them with less of a jab. She had been a blind, naive, hopeless fool with Eric.
Not anymore.
She’d learned her lesson. Innoculated herself against men – the good ones as well as the smarmy ones.
“No one’s heart is getting crushed,” Kelsey said firmly.
Tiffany looked as if she was going to argue but rolled her eyes instead. “Fine. At least promise me you’re going to thank him for what he did.”
Kelsey laughed. “I’m going to thank the pants right off that man.”
Tiffany grinned. “That’s my girl.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kelsey’s chance at a special thank you came after breakfast was over. She was clearing tables when Tiffany sidled up to her, taking the plates out of her hands.
“According to that cute new Peruvian waiter...”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Ernesto.”
“Yes.” Tiffany nodded. “Ernesto. Anyway...Ari is apparently spending the morning in his cabin working on some last minute report his boss wants.”
Kelsey frowned. Ari’s boss had ordered him to take leave and now he was bugging him with work? That hardly seemed fair.
“Go now. You won’t be missed too much and we’ll cover for you. You’ve got thirty minutes.”
Kelsey’s belly pulled tight at the implication. Go have some kind of quickie, clandestine tryst in Ari’s cabin in the middle of the day? In broad daylight. It was wildly inappropriate. Fraught with things that could go wrong and their resultant dire consequences.
But also secretly thrilling.
She didn’t want to want Ari but she did and she’d been hot for him ever since she’d found out what he’d done for Luzviminda. Hell, who was she kidding, she’d been hot for him since she met him but her motor had been revving like crazy this morning.
She’d never done anything so utterly daring.
Tiffany bugged her eyes at Kelsey. “If you don’t blow him, I will.”
Kelsey grinned. “Time me.”
Pausing only to grab a tray out of the kitchen with an empty teapot and a teacup, Kelsey scurried to deck seven. Her heart was beating like a kettle drum with every step that took her closer, the sharp edges of anticipation prickling through her veins, tightening her nipples, tingling between her legs.
She was excruciatingly aware of the cameras in the passageways watching her every move. Excruciatingly aware as she smiled a polite hello at an elderly couple stepping out opposite Ari’s cabin that not all passengers had decided to spend the day in Santorini.
Knocking on the door, her hand shaking she said, “Room service.”
Seconds later the door was opening and Ari was standing there, looking at her. “I didn’t order tea,” he murmured, his voice low, his gaze roving over her mouth and dropping to her neck and her cleavage and Kelsey lost her breath for a beat or two.
“This isn’t tea.”
She didn’t wait for an invitation, she just shoved the tray at him and stepped straight into the room.
He chuckled as she advanced, stepping back and back and back until they were at the foot of the bed. “What is it, then?” he asked.
Kelsey smiled. “It’s thank you.”
She took the tray out of his hands and shoved it on the table barely registering the papers strewn there and the open laptop. Then, she stepped in close, wound her arms around his neck and kissed him, long and deep and sloppy filling her head with maple syrup and toothpaste. He groaned and slid his hands to her ass, pulling her in close and for a moment Kelsey let the kiss run, let herself get lost. But...time was ticking.
Reluctantly, she pulled away.
“What was that for?”
His mouth was wet and a thrill zipped up her spine from base to nape. “For Luzviminda.”
“Oh...” His dark gaze went a little wary. “You heard about that?”
Kelsey laughed. “Are you kidding? It’s all over the staff quarters this morning. You’re a goddamn hero.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t anything.”
“Yes it was. I think Tiffany wants to cast you in iron and mount you on the bow as a figurehead.”
He threw back his head and laughed exposing the salt and pepper of scratchy whiskers and Kelsey wanted to lick him there.
“Is she okay? Luzviminda?”
Kelsey nodded. “She’s still a little shaken but they gave her the day off. I think the fact the sleaze bucket’s been removed from the ship has helped.”
“Has that happened before? With Jean Paul.”
She shrugged. “He’s always been...handsy, I guess. The kind of guy who stands a little too close, who accidentally brushes your body as he’s passing, who stares a little too much, who makes sly sexual digs, you know? He tries it on with a lot of the newbies at least once but if you make a stand with him, he backs down.”
A vein pulsed in Ari’s temple. “Has he tried it with you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I think he prefers...easier targets.”
“And nobody’s ever complained?”
“Sure they have. But then they’re either reassigned or transferred to another ship. He’s good mates with a lot of the officers. Sometimes it’s just better to deal with it yourself.”
“That’s...terrible,” Ari spluttered.
“Yeah.” Kelsey nodded. “It is.” And it was. But it wasn’t the first incident of questionable male behaviour on the face of the planet and unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last. It could be pretty damn fraught being a woman. “And then you came along,” she said tightening her arms around his neck, “and gave us all a little bit of hope.”
Ari rolled his eyes. “I spoke up, that’s all.”
“Well whatever you said to H.R. it must have been something else because I’ve never known them to act so damn fast.”
Ari shook his head. “I complained to the captain.”
Kelsey blinked. “You did?”
“Of course I did.” He looked at her like that was the most logical course of action. “I was making a serious allegation against a member of the crew. That kind of thing needs to go straight to the top.”
“Wow.” She smiled at him. “You’re kind of hot when you’re kicking ass.”
Ari chuckled. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Still...” She leaned in and kissed his neck and she loved that his eyes fluttered closed. “You’re my hero.”
His amused sounding, “Oh really?” buzzed against her lips as she brushed them against the thick thud of his pulse just to the left of his windpipe.
“Uh huh...” Her lips drifted lower. “You wanna know what heroes get?”
“Capes?”
Kelsey laughed as she pulled away slightly, planting her hand in the centre of his chest and shoving, watching him land on his ass on the mattress behind. “Blow jobs.”
A strangled kind of noise came from the back of his throat. which managed to be both endearing and hot as fuck. He reached for her, circling his arms around the backs of her thighs and pulling her in close. “I don’t need a sexual favour for being a decent human being, Kelsey.”
“I know,” she said, pushing on his shoulders to loosen his arms so she could kneel between his thighs.
His hand grabbed hers as she fingered the tab of his zipper, his hot dark gaze meeting hers and holding. “I mean it. You don’t need to...reward me.”
Integrity blazed in the inky depths and hell if that wasn’t the biggest turn on of all. “I know.” She smiled, her green eyes dancing. “But I want to.” Her fingers yanked down his fly. “Now lay back and take your reward like a man.”
With the cries of Ari’s orgasm quietening to loud pants, Kelsey pushed to her feet, backing away from the tempting bracket of his thighs. She straightened her skirt and blouse, the fabric skimming across her erect nipples, heightening her arousal. Her knees wobbled slightly both from the position she’d been in and the way he looked right now.
Mostly the way he looked right now.
Fully clothed, his spent cock - still impressively aroused - was the only part of him exposed. His arms were spread wide, his eyes were shut and his facial expression was somewhere between blissed-out and utterly trashed.
And she’d done that to him.
“Mmm,” she murmured, taking this opportunity to explore him fully, wishing she’d had the time to strip him naked. Wishing she had more time to spend because climbing on top right now and seeing what he had left in the tank was mighty tempting. “You look pretty damn rewarded to me.”
He cracked an eyelid open, then two, his gaze molten. “Come here.” He lifted his arms with what seemed like a monumental effort on his behalf.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Gotta get back.”
He made grabby hands. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Kelsey had zero doubt. The man had powers. “I’m very busy, you know,” she said, a smile playing on her mouth.
He dropped his hands but his gaze sharpened then intensified as it drifted south, running over her body. The slick heat between her legs fired up and dampened her panties as he slowly found her eyes again.
“Fine stay there,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Just take off your clothes.”
His low, silky suggestion slammed into her pelvis with all the power of a force ten gale. Kelsey was surprised the impact of it hadn’t just torn them from her body. It had certainly made her wetter. “I’m going now.”
“Come back tonight.”
God, he was like Adam waving the apple at her. “Ari...” Her voice held a note of warning and regret. They weren’t supposed to be doing this. Sure, she’d come to his cabin and blown him but there were extenuating circumstance.
He vaulted upright and Kelsey’s breath caught. He should look silly with his dick out but he didn’t. He was a prime male animal and the pheromones he was exuding enveloped her in a fog of lust.
“You gotta give me right of reply,” he said, his voice a low burr against her already aroused flesh.
“Ari...This has to stop.”
His eyes went suddenly hooded and she saw the kind of struggle there that was currently squalling around her insides. “I know. I just didn’t expect to want you so much.”
“Yeah.” Kelsey nodded, her eyes locking with his. “Me neither.”
It didn’t make her feel better and she probably shouldn’t have admitted it to him but it was the truth, damn it. And if he was man enough to own it then she was sure as hell woman enough.
“So come back tonight, after your shift. What time do you finish?”
“Eleven.” God, was that her voice? She sounded like she’d just smoked an entire packet of cigarettes.
“Okay. Good. Come back here after and let me –” His gaze drifted down her body and zeroed in on the juncture of her thighs and Kelsey was surprised her skirt didn’t burst into flames. He flicked his gaze back to her face. “Repay the favour.”
Kelsey felt the low pull of his words deep inside her sex, the muscles clenching in anticipation. She should say no.
But the man was a freak with his tongue.
“I...don’t know,” she obfuscated. “Maybe.”
What she was doing was against the rules. She could lose her job. She’d already been stupid where one man was concerned - had she learned nothing? But there was just something about Ari George that made her want to throw caution to the wind.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Good question. Kelsey hated that a guy she hadn’t even known four days ago could have her in such a dither. Sexual frustration and denial were like prickles under her skin, needling and irritating. “It means maybe,” she said, testily.
“Okay.” He held up his hands in a placatory manner.
His calmness added more prickles. “I really have to go.”
“Then go.”
His voice wasn’t angry or accusatory or sulky. It was completely without emotion or emphasis. But, given what had just happened between them, his absence of emotion increased the prickle count exponentially.
Goddamn it. She did not want to go. But she did. She turned around, grabbed the tray and exited his cabin.
Kelsey didn’t go to Ari after her shift. With Jean Paul gone there was controlled chaos all day as Ramon made a series of changes and that night, when he asked her to work the casino bar after her shift at the Aphrodite lounge finished, she’d said yes.
She could have said no but the bar staff at the casino earned the best tips. And, as tempting as Ari’s proposition was, it was important to remember, she’d been working on cruise ships for seven years for the money, not sexy Greek men.
In a nine month contract she could earn about thirty thousand Aussie dollars and, with the tip money on top and no outgoing expenses, she was able to save almost all her income.
She had to remember her long term financial goals.
Remember the cottage in Pelican Bay she wanted so much for her and her mother who was going to be fully dependant in the next few years. Ari was for a week - her mother was for life.
So she worked the casino bar and hung with her bestie all night and between the two of them the punters were kept charmed, liquored up and very happy to part with generous tips. And she refused to wonder what Ari was thinking about her absence or to feel guilty. She’d made him no promises.
But she was out on her feet at quarter after five the following morning when her and Tiff finally headed back to their cabins. Through the portholes Kelsey could see they were docking in the port of Pireaus and she knew, in a few hours, passengers would be disembarking to spend the day in Athens.
But she would be snatching a few hours sleep because she had to be back on again in five hours for a ten hour shift. It wouldn’t be anywhere near enough after pulling an all-nighter but Ramon had offered her tomorrow off as recompense so it was worth it. She’d finish at ten tonight and wouldn’t have to be back at work until six pm the following evening.
She could sleep then. In fact, she planned to. She was going to sleep every last minute of it.
Unfortunately, at eleven pm, Kelsey was still wide awake. She was tired, so tired but her mind was ticking over. Thinking about Ari. Thinking about how they’d left it yesterday morning.
She’d seen him in the restaurant tonight and he’d smiled and nodded politely making the briefest of eye contact. The sort of interaction he had with any of the servers and that had felt ...like a blow to her ribs.
It was ridiculous. It was exactly how she wanted him to treat her – like she was just another woman on the ship. One he hadn’t seen naked. But the lack of acknowledgement had...hurt.
Freaking hell. What was wrong with her?
Kelsey rolled on her side and pulled the covers over her head ordering herself to stop. Stop thinking about him. Stop remembering how good they were between
the sheets. Stop remembering the timbre of his voice or the way he slipped into Greek in the throes of pleasure.
But God...she wanted to hear him in the throes of pleasure again. Although she’d settle for just hearing his voice, period.
And she owed him an apology, right? For the weird way it had ended yesterday morning.
Right.
Decision made, Kelsey rolled up into a sitting position and reached across for the cabin phone. Before she could talk herself out of it, she direct dialled his cabin, lying down on her side again, pulling the covers back over her head.
Lordy. What was she doing? Her pulse pounded so loudly through her ears she was amazed she even heard him pick up.
“Hello?”
Kelsey shut her eyes on a hot flood of relief. Man...he sounded good. Soft and low and sleepy as the silence on the line stretched between them and Kelsey, who was having a sudden attack of the doubts, almost hung up. It was only his rumbly, “Kelsey?” that stopped her.
Gripping the phone, she pressed her lips together for a moment, her pulse roaring through her ears. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice husky. “About yesterday morning. About being a little...testy.”
There was a pause for a beat or two then a gruff, “It’s okay.”
“I...” Kelsey swallowed. In the dark, with her crazy-mixed-up feelings for him stirring around inside her it seemed easy to confess. “I want you too much, Ari.”
“Theé mou...Kelsey.” He groaned her name like it was some kind of endearment and he’d never sounded more damn Greek. “The things you do to me.”
His words stroked between her legs and wrapped around her heart. “I shouldn’t have called,” she whispered. Even down a phone line she wanted him.
“Come to me.” His voice was rough as gravel. “Please...”
Kelsey shut her eyes at his husky request so full of need it oozed into every part of her body. She squeezed the phone hard and her thighs even harder. “Okay,” she said and hung up.
Driven by an imperative she didn’t understand, but wasn’t about to ignore, Kelsey leapt out of bed and threw on some clothes - yoga pants and a t-shirt. Scraping her hair into a messy knot, she zipped up a hoodie, pushed her feet into flip flops and shoved some Hermes issued condoms into the front hoodie pocket.
