“Sure.”
He walked her back to her room but stopped outside the door. “So I get you all day?”
She nodded, biting at her lip. “Not sure what that means to you, but yes, I’m at your beck and call.”
A slow grin crept over his face. “Well, I’m hoping at the end of the day you’re going to be begging me to kiss something other than my dimple.”
She touched his dimple with her index finger. “I love that dimple, though.”
“Do you now?” He pumped his eyebrows.
She pushed at his beautiful chest. It was sweaty. He’d earned that sweat and she liked that he did sweat. “Go shower,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. See you in a few.”
“A few? Give me half an hour. I’ve got to get pretty.”
“You …” he swallowed and said in a reverent tone, “are always beautiful.”
She smiled but her lips trembled. That was sweet. He’d seen her coming out of the ocean with no makeup and now all sweaty after the gym and he said a line like that. “See you soon,” she managed so she didn’t simply kiss him right now.
“No, half an hour. I need to get pretty,” he teased her back.
“Yeah.” She laughed. “Get that makeup done to perfection.” She shook her head and hurried into her room.
They took their time with breakfast, eating in the dining room instead of the buffet. It was a lot slower but Jade didn’t care. She loved chatting with Joshua and she wanted to slow time down. After breakfast they decided to try to do as many of the ship’s attractions as they could. They started with mini golf. Jade was horrible. She basically hit the ball as hard as she could and succeeded in launching one off the ship into the ocean. Which made Joshua laugh really hard.
There was a pickup basketball game going on so they got caught up in that next. Joshua was a natural and Jade was certain he’d played in college or something. The boys they played with were all so impressed. Jade was horrific. She fouled everybody, mostly Joshua, and the only thing she could do was run fast.
As the game was ending, Joshua handed her the ball, plucked her off her feet, and lifted her high above his head. Jade screamed out, wobbling and clinging to the ball. She was so high off the ground.
“Dunk it,” he encouraged.
Jade didn’t dare stretch high enough to dunk it, but she tossed it the foot to the hoop and made it.
The boys all cheered as Joshua lowered her. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Finally!” she yelled. “Finally, I made one!”
“You’re amazing,” he told her.
“I’m horrible, but I love you.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. Everything but Joshua’s blue eyes widening with hope and awe faded into the background. Jade thought it might be true. She did love him. She couldn’t go there. Not until Joshua fully trusting her was resolved. “I mean … I love you for helping me make a shot. Like love that you did that for me.”
She pulled away and glanced desperately around. “Climbing wall?”
Joshua’s face was filled with disappointment but he took her hand and said, “Sure.”
They went to the activity window where a cute girl from California, the first employee of the ship Jade had met from the States besides some of the entertainment staff, started outfitting them with shoes and the harnesses. Her heart was racing from telling Joshua she loved him but now as she put the gear on and looked up, up, up at the wall children and teenagers and the random adult were scrambling up, fear ratcheted her heart again.
They walked over to wait in line, the harness making her shorts and rear look funny. Joshua turned to her, his brow furrowed. “I, um, forgot about your fear of heights, with, uh, you know, after the basketball …” His voice trailed off.
Jade thought it was so endearing to see him off his game. “I’ll be okay,” she reassured him but she was scared.
“The harness will hold you, and watch.” He pointed to an older boy who’d reached the top, rung the bell, and then fell back and the cables lowered him easily back to the deck. “So you just lay back after you reach the top. You’re so fit, you’ll be great at this. Try to use your legs more, most people use their arms too much.”
She nodded, as if she was listening. Apprehensively, she watched each climber and tried to think how to mimic what they were doing. Her stupid slip of the tongue after basketball and all her other worries were put on the backburner, for a minute.
One of the three spots came open. Joshua gestured for her to go first. She shook her head quickly. “You go. I want to watch the expert.”
He smiled but she could see he was worried about her. “Okay. Watch and learn.” He winked.
Striding over to the wall, the instructor clipped him in and then Joshua scrambled up the wall like a monkey. He was so tall and lean she watched him skip handholds that others had to use. He would push off and leap to the next spot. It was incredible watching his muscles work in synchrony.
“Your turn, ma’am.” The instructor indicated an open wall.
She wanted to claim she was watching Joshua but he reached the top, rang the bell and laid back, already floating down. He waved to her. Jade walked on unsteady legs to the spot the instructor indicated.
He clipped her in and stepped back. Jade waited for some kind of instruction.
“You can go,” he said.
Joshua was unclipped and headed her way.
“I’m sorry, sir, you have to step over there,” the instructor said.
Joshua obeyed but called to her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She tried to paste on a brave smile. Turning to the wall she muttered, “Don’t look down.” Then she grabbed the closest hand holds and started pulling herself up. It was surprisingly easier than she had imagined, and exhilarating to climb. She remembered Joshua’s instructions about using her legs and pushed herself up with her legs, looking for handholds for her hands. Her hands stopped trembling and she felt tough and cool as she ascended the wall. Nowhere near as fast as Joshua, not a tenth as fast, but she was doing it.
She could hear Joshua cheering for her and she glowed. She was conquering her fear of heights. Jumping off those small cliffs had helped and now she was doing even better. Before she truly registered that she’d done it, she looked up and there was the top and the bell to ring. She rang it and then she looked down. It had to be over fifty feet down. She was going to fall … and die.
Everything froze. She was pretty sure even her heart froze.
“Let go and lean back,” Joshua called.
“I can’t,” she muttered.
“Let go,” more people were yelling now.
She looked down again and clung tighter to her handholds on the wall. She was so high. Her entire body was trembling. Glancing around desperately for Joshua, she could see him down there, calling to her. She met his gaze and felt a surge of power go through her. She could do this, but she definitely couldn’t let go.
She started scrambling down the wall, moving fast as she was going down instead of up. People were still yelling at her to let go but she ignored them all and climbed down as fast as she possibly could. As soon as her feet touched the ground her legs gave out. She crumpled to the mat.
The instructor was right there. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said, embarrassed but so shaky she couldn’t stand.
Joshua ran to her. He gently helped her up and waited as the instructor undid her clip then Joshua swept her into his arms and against his chest.
Jade let out a trembling breath and laid her head against his neck. She was safe. She was home. This was her spot.
Joshua easily carried her over to the bench where they’d put their gear on. He sat her on the bench and knelt in front of her. “Are you okay, love?”
Jade’s eyes widened. Had he just called her love? She’d told him she loved him earlier but then quickly retracted. She felt love, for him, but they hadn’t even kissed and they had so much junk between t
hem.
“I’m fine, I’m just embarrassed.” She laughed shakily. “I couldn’t let go.”
“You did great.” He grinned, clasping her hands between his.
“I was horrible, worse than mini-golf or basketball.”
He chuckled. “What do you mean? You rang the bell. I was super proud.”
“I bet you were just beaming with pride when I climbed back down instead of letting go.” She gestured to the climbing wall, where a five-year-old was floating back down after climbing, no fear, just trusting that a simple cable would keep him from falling to a painful death.
He smiled. “It was pretty cute.”
Jade looked him over. “You’re pretty cute.”
“Ah … shucks, darlin’, I feel all warm and fuzzy.”
She laughed. She stood shakily and started removing the gear. Joshua tried to help her, but she batted his hands away from her upper thigh. “Now that is too fresh,” she said.
He laughed loudly but kept his hands to himself.
The girl from California came and took their gear, and they thanked her.
“Flow Rider?” Jade asked bravely.
“You up for more?”
She shrugged. Not really sure. Her legs were still kind of shaky. They walked around to the Flow Rider but it was a bodyboarding session. They’d already done that and the line was horrific.
“Lunch?” Joshua asked.
“Sure.” Jade was pretty sure they’d barely had breakfast, but when they went through the amazing buffet and she built a huge salad, she found she was hungry and it was already almost one o’clock. The time made her sick. She didn’t want her day with Joshua to end.
After lunch, they put on suits and decided to try out every pool. The first pools they arrived at were the kids’ pools. Some parents looked at them strangely as they ran through the water features and went down the small water slides.
Joshua looked uncertainly at the “lazy river.” “It looks more like a toilet bowl,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t.” It had glass walls and was a flowing circle. “Come on, you wimp.”
“I’m pretty sure some kid has peed in that.”
“Probably a lot of kids. Buck up.” She took his hand and tugged him up the stairs then down into the water.
They laughed as they chased each other around, dodging kids and the current making their swim strokes go faster.
After the kids’ pools was the main section. They swam through the two pools and took a dip in each of the hot tubs, then went to the adults only section and swam in that pool by themselves for quite a while. The rest of the adults lounged on the chairs or at the side of the pool, but no one else seemed inclined to swim in the cool water.
They soaked in each of the hot tubs. In the final hot tub there wasn’t much room. A guy yelled out, “Come over here, we’ll make room.” He grabbed his wife and tugged her onto his lap. She squealed happily and raised her beer to them.
“Thanks.” Joshua led her to the open spot, sat, and also tugged her onto his lap.
Heat not created by the warm water rushed over her as Joshua wrapped his arms around her abdomen and her back pressed into his bare chest. She relaxed back against him yet was as keyed up as she’d been at the top of that rock climbing wall.
“This is the life, eh?” the guy who made room for them asked.
“It sure is.” Joshua’s grip on her tightened.
Jade didn’t want him to ever let her go. They sat in the hot tub for so long she was becoming a little lightheaded, and her fingers looked like raisins, but she loved every second of simply being held by him, chatting with their new friends about what they did on each island and their favorite vacations.
Finally Joshua said, “Should we find a chair and a drink?”
“Yeah, we’d better. I think I’m getting loopy.”
He laughed. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
She glanced back at him. “I don’t think I could worry with you around.”
His gaze was very serious. “Thank you. Does that mean you’ll keep me around?”
Jade’s pulse quickened. “We’ll see,” she finally managed.
She stood and they said goodbye to their friends and found some chairs in a quiet corner overlooking the ocean flowing by far below through the glass walls. A server brought them waters and virgin pina coladas.
Jade closed her eyes as she sipped her pina colada. It seemed like seconds later that Joshua was touching her arm. “Jade, sweetheart. It’s five-thirty. Do you want to get showered for dinner?”
“Oh my!” Jade shot up. “Five-thirty?” She’d fallen asleep. She looked in panic at Joshua’s handsome face. She’d missed out on time with him to sleep. No! And had he just called her sweetheart?
Jade realized it was inevitable. Hang the issues between them. She was kissing him tonight.
Chapter Thirteen
Jade rushed to get ready, not wanting Joshua to wait but also not wanting to miss out on a second of being with him.
She put on a long pale blue dress that showed off her shoulders and neck nicely. Her hair was still wet when she heard the rap on the door. She scrunched some gel into it and figured it would dry wavy.
Flinging open the door, she felt the now-familiar rush at seeing this handsome man. He was wearing a white button-down shirt, light blue tie, and navy-blue slacks.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said.
“Hey, handsome,” she said back.
He grinned and offered his arm.
“You’re getting pretty comfortable with the touching thing,” she teased him, “Might just be breaking some rules.”
He chuckled and leaned closer, brushing his fingers across her shoulder. “Just being a gentleman.”
“Oh? That’s your pure motivation, eh?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She took his elbow and he escorted her down the steps to the dining room. She felt like she was walking on clouds simply being close to him. He settled her into a chair at the table she’d eaten at every evening, and he’d joined her for four of the seven meals.
The assistant waiter brought them menus, drinks, and rolls. Jade perused the menu then an odd thought struck her. She glanced up at Joshua. “You don’t really act like a billionaire sometimes.”
He took a drink of water and said, “What do you mean?”
She gestured around. “I think this dining room and the food are fabulous, but they’re all included. Why don’t you pay the extra for the steak house, sushi, or the fancy Italian place?”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind spending money, but my parents taught us not to waste. Like you said, this food is fabulous and I like our waiters. There was no reason to eat somewhere else.” His voice lowered. “Plus I was a little afraid to upset the status quo with a beautiful woman whose eyes match her name.”
She smiled at that but pointed out, “Yet you have no problem wasting money on chocolate for me or giving generous tips.”
“Money spent on you would never be a waste, and I like to give generous tips for a job well done. Plus I appreciate any person who’s working hard for their living and not expecting someone else to pay their way.”
Her eyebrows went up. “But you’re paying my way on this trip.” He’d paid for everything and she hadn’t put up much of a fight.
He shook his head. “That’s different. You earned this trip as my employee.”
“Not your employee anymore.”
He nodded but there was something in the tightness of his eyes and mouth. Neither of them had brought up the embezzling for a while. Were the investigators ever going to find anything? Did Joshua still not believe Jade?
The waiter came to recommend food and take their orders. The slightly uncomfortable moment and thoughts disappeared as comfortable conversation, delicious food, teasing with the waiters, and meaningful looks replaced any worries Jade might have had. Joshua was incredible. She didn’t want tomorrow to come. Maybe Priest would advise her tonight
to forget all about Jesse. Could she really do that?
As they stood and Joshua hurried to pull out her chair, he murmured to her, “Just one second, please.”
She watched as he pulled three envelopes out of his pocket and gave one to the assistant waiter, the main waiter, and the head waiter, shaking each of their hands and thanking them. Jade swallowed hard. First she hadn’t known she was supposed to do this, she thought tips were included in the price of the cruise. Second it was just another testimonial to her of what a thoughtful and caring person Joshua was. He still hadn’t told her that he trusted she would never steal from him but he never treated her like a thief.
The waiters all shook her hand also and waved them goodbye, wishing them safe travels and happy lives.
Joshua put his hand on Jade’s lower back and delicious tingles traced through her as the thin material of her dress couldn’t negate the feel of his warm, manly palm.
They walked quietly from the dining room then he leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Where to, love?”
Jade glanced up at him. His blue eyes were searching her face, they appeared full of hope that she was going to make his dreams come true. Her breath caught. She could make his dreams come true. She felt it, and loved it.
Swallowing hard, she decided to take Priest and Teal’s advice. “How about we walk on the quiet parts of deck thirteen?”
Joshua’s grin came sure and beautiful as his eyes lit up. Then he grew more serious as he stared deeply at her and said, “I would love that.”
He reached out his hand and she took it. They took the elevator, neither of them saying anything but the anticipation growing in the air between them. Jade was nervous and excited. She had to kiss him. She knew it. Hang her getting the interview for her blog. Who cared if Joshua was reclusive and didn’t want the world to hear his story? She only wanted him.
They wandered slowly toward the front of the ship. It was dimly lit and no one was on the deck where earlier in the day sunbathers had laid on all these lounge chairs. Joshua stopped next to the railing. The breeze ruffled Jade’s hair but the air was warm like a kiss. Like a kiss. Her brain was as ready as the rest of her.
Do Marry Your Billionaire Boss (Jewel Family Romance Book 1) Page 13
