by Box Set
“Look,” Patrick said. “I really don’t blame you. Now that you’ve told us, I don’t think it’s a bad idea if we all help look out for each other.”
Rider gave a close-lipped smile that Trish could only interpret as meaning he wouldn’t put much trust in Patrick. Was that something to do with Patrick, or because he didn’t trust people in general?
“That’s a great idea,” Carrie said. “And since we wanted to hang out together tomorrow, we’ll be able to have a good time without worrying. I don’t want this to spoil our trip.”
She was worried about the trip being spoiled? And here Trish wondered if it was even possible to have fun on this cruise, considering the rate the other passengers were disappearing. It was surprising that Carrie could think about her own enjoyment after having been with Carl, even if she didn’t know about him going overboard.
Some people were just different, she supposed. Trish already struggled, feeling guilty that she’d had a good time with Rider today when people were dying. If something happened to Rider that would be it for her. She’d search for him until she found out what happened, and then she would make the person responsible pay.
Not move on to the next guy lining up to sleep with her...
“Why don’t you and Patrick decide what we should do?” Trish asked, suddenly wanting nothing more than to get back to Rider’s room and hold him close. It was amazing how someone could become so important over such a short time. She didn’t want to even consider losing him to the killer.
“We’ll meet you around ten-thirty near the dock.” Carrie smiled, appeased and happy. “We’ll have a blast!”
Trish seemed anxious to get Rider back to his room, and despite the gravity of the situation on the ship, he hoped she was in the mood for him to exhaust her in the best way possible.
“Slow down a bit,” he said. “We don’t want to appear nervous to any cameras.”
That slowed her up, and she squeezed his hand. “It’s odd to think they’ll be watching us now, as though we’re the criminals.”
“It doesn’t matter what Barry or the captain think. The FBI will know we had nothing to do with this.”
“And we’re each other’s alibis, so it doesn’t matter what the camera sees.”
She had a point, but Rider still couldn’t decide if the captain was truly clueless about the crimes on the ship, or if the man was so desperate to protect the ship owner from any bad publicity that he’d do whatever it took to keep things quiet.
A person came rushing down the hall toward them, marching full speed. For a second, Rider worried the captain had sent security after them. It was the small, fear-filled squeak from Trish that tipped Rider off to who it was.
Thomas Baker stopped in front of them, breathing heavily. “Trisha, I need you right now.”
“Step back,” Rider warned. “I think I already told you that Trish was off limits for this trip. She’s on vacation, not at your beck and call for work.”
Thomas’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared, obviously pissed that Rider challenged him. “If you want to keep your job, Trisha, you’ll take me back to your room to talk.”
“We can talk here,” Rider said, not even giving Trish a chance to respond. “I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to force an employee to work during their vacation anyway.”
He matched Thomas glare for glare, making it clear to the man that Rider knew exactly what the bastard wanted from Trish.
“You aren’t going to be alone with her,” Rider said bluntly. “Not ever, if I can help it.”
Thomas finally looked away from him toward Trish. “Do you always let a man talk for you? I might have misjudged what kind of trial lawyer you’ll make if that’s the case.”
Trish shook her head. “Rider just knows exactly what I want. I’ve told him that he’s the only man for me. We agreed we wouldn’t be with anyone else on this trip. I’m afraid that includes you, sir. Now, if you’ll excuse us. We were headed to have wild sex, so I’ll catch up with you when we get back to Sayle.”
She marched forward, pulling Rider along with her.
He tried to hold in his shock, but she couldn’t get any blunter than that. Thomas had to know he didn’t have a chance with her now.
Rider flashed grin as he passed the man. “Have a good night. I know I will.”
Chapter 18
The next morning, Rider waited for Trish to finish putting on her makeup in his tiny bathroom so he could get himself ready. “You know,” he called to her, “I don’t want to seem uncaring about what happened to Sara, but maybe we should move to your suite when we get back on the ship this afternoon.”
She stepped out of the room, looking as hot as ever, brunette hair still damp from the shower. “Worried we’ll miss Carrie and Patrick if we’re late because I hogged your tiny bathroom? I didn’t know you were so eager to spend the day with them.”
Holding his arms out, it was gratifying when Trish stepped into them and let out a contented-sounding sigh.
While they hadn’t done what he’d hoped they would last night, the evening had been enjoyable anyway. Trish had been in an odd mood after the confrontation with Thomas and the talk with Carrie. All she’d wanted to do was cuddle and talk about their plans for spending Christmas together when they returned home after the cruise. He could tell something bothered her, but she didn’t want to talk about whatever that was. He wasn’t about to push her, especially when he figured he knew it had everything to do with Sara and Carl. The fact that she’d wanted to be with him, seemed almost desperate to have him close by, was all he needed.
Rider realized he had no need to worry about the fact that his feelings were turning real, not just something faked to protect them from Stacy Baker’s malice. Trish’s actions and plans for the future spoke volumes as far as Rider was concerned. This wasn’t a vacation fling for her. She felt something for him.
The fact that she seemed like the perfect girl, someone he could imagine planning a future with, was unexpected but entirely welcomed. Stacy might be a complete bitch, but the woman had done Rider a favor. She might have forced him into accidentally discovering the girl of his dreams.
The faint smell of coconut wafted from Trish’s hair as she pulled from his embrace. “As much as I want to stay in all day and forget the rest of the world exists, we do need to go.”
“Unfortunately, you’re right. If Patrick is the one doing this, he has to know we’re keeping an eye on him like we said.” Rider leaned into her, stealing a soft kiss. “But I won’t lie. I’m thrilled you’re thinking about staying in bed with me all day.”
She giggled. “I didn’t say anything about the bed.”
“But I know what you meant.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down. “We really better move to your room though. It has a bigger bed. We’re going to need all that space tonight when I show you how much better loving can be than what we did on the boat.”
He didn’t want Trish thinking he was only after sex, but the fiery glow that lit behind her eyes right before she winked told him she liked knowing Rider desired her.
“We could order room service,” she said, voice cool and calm, even though Rider could tell she held back a smile. “We don’t need to stay with Carrie and Patrick all day.”
He nodded his agreement, grabbing her hands and lifting them to his mouth to kiss the backs of them. “Not all day. We have more important things to attend to tonight.”
Rushing through a quick shave and shower, Rider was ready in record time. He walked from the bathroom to find Trish messing with her cell phone. “Does that work here?” he asked, wondering if the Virgin Islands possibly had service since the islands belonged to the United States.
She looked up, shrugging. “I haven’t tried to call out. The only person I would call is Lucy, and I don’t need my sister hearing about what is going on here and worrying.”
“True.” He shrugged as he walked around the bed and found where his shoes had slid to, putting them
on. “I just thought if we had service, I could call the FBI. Maybe they could meet us tomorrow in Antigua.”
“I doubt they would,” she replied. “We’re headed back to Florida after that. They’ll just wait there. Why go to the extra expense?” She stood, slipping the phone into her pocket.
Rider raised an eyebrow, surprised. “I thought you wanted the FBI here pronto.”
She shrugged. “I can’t worry about something that won’t happen. What I need to worry about is taking more pictures today. You kept me wonderfully busy yesterday on the boat, but I didn’t think to snap any shots of that private cove. If I don’t have lots of pictures to show Lucy, she’ll be disappointed.”
“And we won’t be able to do anything quite so fun today as what distracted you from taking pictures yesterday,” he said. “Considering we won’t be alone.”
“Exactly. You can’t whisk me off on a private sailboat when we have company. I’ll need to concentrate on photography so I can stop thinking about what you’ve promised to do to me tonight.”
He chuckled, loving how open Trish was today. Maybe she was half playing, teasing about tonight, but he had a feeling she also didn’t say things she didn’t mean.
Tonight was the night he’d make love to her for the first time.
Maybe it would be his very last first time—and hers too.
Trish waited in line with Rider to get their cards scanned before exiting the ship. Carrie and Patrick stood at the bottom of the ramp, waving and smiling.
“At least she’s safe,” Rider noted, waving back. “I don’t know if that’s because Patrick is innocent and we were total jerks last night, or if we saved her.”
Trish shrugged. “Either way, I’m not sorry we went over there.”
Something was nagging at the back of her mind, and she couldn’t quite figure out what was bothering her.
As they reached the front of the line and had their cards scanned, the thought fully formed.
“Wouldn’t they know if Sara exited the ship and then didn’t make it back on?” she blurted.
Rider folded his card into his wallet, shoving it into his back pocket. “I suppose so. They know where we are at every second, considering we have to be scanned like merchandise.” He leaned in close to whisper, “But we already know Sara didn’t leave this ship willingly.”
“I know that. It’s just that we worried about Barry not reporting stuff to the FBI in order to protect the owner of the ship.”
Rider put an arm around her waist, pulling her close as they walked. “Keep it down. If anyone overhears you, the Captain will make us stay on the Virgin Islands.”
She turned to place her mouth directly against his ear, trusting Rider would guide her safely down the ramp and not let her stumble or fall. “I just mean they can’t lie about Sara staying behind. Barry and the Captain truly didn’t want to worry to other passengers, and that’s why they shut us up. The FBI will get the real story because they can see that neither Carl nor Sara exited the ship voluntarily. Their passes were never scanned. They can track exactly when they disappeared because they would have stopped showing up for activities around the ship.”
Some of the rigidness left Rider’s posture. “I never considered that, but you’re right. The scans will help the FBI trace the last steps Carl and Sara made on the ship. I’m sure Barry already knows that, but he saw no reason to share more information with us than he already had.”
Trish lifted her head, watching where she walked, but not moving far from Rider. She liked feeling his body so close by, safe and strong. “So we can stop worrying so much about this whole thing. There isn’t any cover up going on because there can’t be. They truly don’t want to worry the other passengers, but there’s proof of what happened for the FBI to look over.”
“Which means we can enjoy our trip without feeling like we have to play detective.”
“Exactly.”
For the first time since discovering Carl’s disappearance, Trish felt herself relax. The FBI would check the records to get all the information they needed. It wasn’t up to her and Rider to solve this case.
They could keep an eye on Carrie since she seemed to be at the center of it with Carl being the first victim, but the rest of the ship wasn’t their responsibility.
Maybe she didn’t need to feel guilty about finding a sliver of happiness with Rider.
The views on St. Thomas were almost as beautiful as his date. Rider posed for selfies with Trish’s camera over every overlook on their walk toward Paradise Point to ride the sky tram over the island.
The lush greenery around them felt like spring, not winter, and Rider envied the people who spent their lives in this paradise. He’d give up city life in an instant. Or, at least, he would have before meeting Trish. Now, he figured he might find his own paradise, simply being wherever she was.
She jabbed him in the ribs, giggling. “What are you thinking about over there, Trench Coat? You’re missing all the sights!”
Rider took her hand in his, squeezing it. “You, and you’re the only sight I care to see.”
She snorted and pulled her hand back, still laughing. “You’re such a flirt. Don’t worry. You don’t have to pretend to be in love or something. You’re going home with me tonight.”
In love... that was what he needed her to feel before the end of the fifteen days, and Rider knew, for a woman like Trish, that probably wasn’t possible. She’d spent so many years with the same man, planning to marry him, and then admitted it was for convenience and to do what her family expected, not any feelings of love.
Trish had never been in love, and it didn’t seem to be an emotion she trusted. Not that Rider had much room to speculate. He’d never been in love either. He was always running from his past, and he knew he’d never truly be able to commit himself to a woman unless he told her what had happened when he was a teenager. But what woman would believe his side of the story? All she’d have to do was check old newspapers to hear the other side, and Trish was a lawyer. He knew she’d investigate it and not just take his word.
Even if she wanted to fall for him, the more Rider got to know Trish, the more he realized Stacy Baker’s plan was faulty from the start. He’d have to be honest with her, and then give her time to make up her mind on whether she decided to believe him and still give him a chance.
For today, she wasn’t promising forever, but she did promise tonight. Rider needed to live in the now and take what he could get.
Carrie and Patrick had gone up the mountain in front of them, and Rider purposely slowed down, separating so they wouldn’t be overheard.
“You seem a lot more relaxed,” he noted. “I’ve been a bit worried. Want to tell me what happened last night and why you were so weird after running into Thomas? Not that I’m complaining about cuddling, but it wasn’t what I expected.”
“It had nothing to do with him.” She sighed softly. “You’ll think I’m crazy. Or at least a clingy woman who’s moving too fast.”
That sounded promising. “Clingy? How so?”
“It’s Carrie,” she said, so softly Rider could hardly hear her, so there was no chance Carrie could. “I don’t understand how she moves from man to man, not affected in the least. When I thought about you and how much I...”
“How much you what?” he prompted.
She shook her head. “Nothing. Never mind.”
“Trish, come on,” he said. “You’ve been so forthright, and I really love that about you. Don’t hold back now.”
“You love something about me?” She looked up, hope on her face. “I don’t think anyone except my sister has really loved me in any way.”
“But your parents—”
“Love that I’ve done what they wanted,” she interrupted. “As far as my ex, David needed a respectable wife, just like I needed a remarkable husband to impress my folks. We did have some good times together, but I don’t think he ever once said he loved something about me. I definitely know he never lov
ed me.”
The pain on her face when she said that made Rider’s heart ache. She truly never felt loved before, or at least hadn’t had anyone convey it in a way she understood. Even if she would turn away from him once she learned the truth about his past, Rider owed her the truth of what he had started to feel.
“There are a lot of things I love about you already, Trish. You’re smart, funny, compassionate towards others. You’re a good person.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m really not, but I’m glad you don’t know me enough yet to know that.”
“You are a good person,” he insisted. “Maybe you’ve done some things you aren’t proud of, but we all have.”
“Fair enough. I’ve been working on it, learning to be better since my sister showed me how wrong I’ve been about everything my entire life.”
“I love that too,” he said. “You aren’t afraid to admit when you’re wrong.”
She looked down, cheeks growing pink but a large smile on her face.
He definitely had to tell her the truth. Everything about his past. He wanted to be with her, be the man she thought he was. That couldn’t happen with so many lies hanging between them.
But not today. He wanted one perfect day. One night of passion. Then, he would tell her about everything—Stacy, why he truly came on the cruise, and most importantly, about his past.
If she turned away from him forever, he wanted to have one day to remember.
Chapter 19
It had been a wonderful day. Trish had plenty of pictures to show Lucy when she returned home, and plenty of special memories that she and Rider could look back on in the future.
Not that thinking about a future made any sense. Two people had been killed on the ship. Not to mention the fact that she barely knew Rider. Still, he was the nicest man she had ever met, and the flutters in her stomach every time she looked at him were a new, fabulous sensation.
