“Hey, Ellie, how ya doin’?”
A sexy Texan. Lord, help me. All my teenage Mills & Boon fantasies came flooding back.
“Oh, right, yes,” I said, suddenly realising I’d been staring. “Hi! I’m Ellie.” I took his hand and then never wanted to let it go; warmth spread up my arm from the contact with his fingers. “Oh, you already knew that. Yes. Absolutely smashing to meet you.” I was babbling. Ah, the return of my tendency to fill awkward silences. Hooray.
He turned my hand over and pressed it to his lips. They were warm and soft.
Be cool, Ellie.
Telling myself to be cool when quite frankly I’d never been cool a day in my life was a bit of a lost cause. I felt giddy, like I had an excess of hormones swirling around my body. I was going to get paid to work with this guy. I snuck another look at him and supressed a dreamy sigh. This guy could have been a Grecian god, he was so perfect. I suddenly wondered why I’d wasted the last four years with a man who’d greeted me with little more than a grunt most mornings.
Caitlin disappeared to get on with her own duties, leaving us alone. It was slightly surreal, getting straight to work after hours of flying and only a few hours of sleep on the plane…but I had a feeling that as tired as I was, working with Seth would make everything just a little more bearable.
“So, tell me, Ellie, have you worked in a shop before?” he asked, looking at me intently.
“Um, yes, I spent four years as a retail assistant in a really unfashionable boutique,” I said, cringing as I remembered the horrid old lady clothes I’d had to sell to pay the bills. I’d hated that job, and it had only been made worse because Dan spent his money on lads’ weekends away and season passes to the football. “My real passion is photography, though. I’ve got a BA in Photography, but this is the first time in years I’ve had a job remotely related to taking pictures.” Which was true. I very much wanted Seth to know I wasn’t just a salesgirl. I had depth, dammit.
“Wow,” he said, smiling. ”You’re even more impressive than I first thought. We need someone like you around here.”
I felt my cheeks burn, and tried my best to concentrate as Seth went on to explain the shop operations. Despite my best efforts, I kept getting distracted by the long lock of hair that repeatedly fell into his eyes as he spoke. Every time it happened, I had to bite my lip to keep from dribbling. He really was ridiculously good looking.
To make concentration more difficult, Seth regularly stopped speaking and gave me a very slow, sexy smile. More than once he followed that smile up by asking, “Are ya with me there, Miss Ellie?”
I just giggled in response. I was acting like a pathetic schoolgirl, and failing miserably at projecting a cool image. But in my defence, I’d been living with a soulless twat for four years and had become completely starved of attention. And Seth had complimented me, so obviously he saw something in me!
Also, a woman is never at her best when suffering jetlag. Yes, now I mention it, jetlag was definitely the biggest contributor in my inability to focus on his instructions. Probably.
Despite my wandering thoughts, running the shop didn’t seem like a difficult task. The Pic Stop would only open when the ship was sailing, as customs regulations meant I couldn’t open while we were in port, but it would close at 11pm so guests could focus on drinking and gambling.
“So I’ll only be open from 5pm till 11pm, with a break from eight till nine?” It didn’t seem long, but I wasn’t about to complain. More time for me to have fun.
“Yep,” Seth said. “Except in Martinique; we don’t dock till after 11am, so you’ll be open in the morning. Saturday’s pretty long and dreary—the shop is open all day.”
Gosh, his accent was dreamy.
He grinned. “So most days, you can party all night and sleep late…”
“Sleeping in has always been one of my favourite hobbies,” I said, smiling.
“Well, I bet a pretty girl like you will have all kinds of attention on this here boat,” Seth said, raising his eyebrows. “You’ll be glad of a little sleep-in come mornin’.” One of those sexy smiles spread across his face. “If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll be a-sleepin’ next to you.”
Oh, Lord. A sexy, confident man I’d known for less than an hour was flirting with me in a completely obvious way. And he was sober. I’d never experienced anything like it. Dan hadn’t bothered to flirt with me in years, and I’d completely forgotten how it felt to be sexy and attractive. And I liked it.
“What will I do the rest of the time?” I asked. Despite being completely thrown by Seth’s flirting, I was genuinely intrigued by the stipulations of my job. It seemed crazy to work so few hours and get paid over $2000 a month, cash in hand, tax free, and with no living expenses. I kept waiting for the catch.
“Whatever you like,” he said. Putting on a bad Jamaican accent, he added, “Hang out with me, maaaan… Dance a little…” He grabbed my hand again, pulling me into a dance hold for a moment.
“Oh, right, sounds cool.” I giggled again. He was really quite full-on. I’d read about this kind of thing on a crew forum back at home; the guys had to get in quick to call dibs on the new girls. I’d just never imagined I’d actually be one of those girls. I thought I’d be out of sight behind scores of gorgeous, leggy blondes with exotic accents.
I heard a long, loud horn, and Seth opened the doors. “The ship’s setting sail. Time to open shop. You got out of the safety drill today, but you’ll be expected to do it next week.” He slid back behind the counter, pulling me with him. “I’ll help out in the shop tonight, but you’ll be on your own tomorrow.”
I said a little prayer for the evening to pass slowly.
Despite my wishes, the night passed by in a blur of friendly and inquisitive faces. I lost track of the number of times I was asked where I was from. My name badge said ‘Ellie – England’ in bold black type, but I realised pretty quickly that nobody actually read name badges.
Seth was lovely, helpful, and friendly to everyone. The men laughed and the ladies twittered and blushed. He certainly had a very special magnetism, and it became rapidly apparent that I wasn’t the only one taken in by his charms.
At the end of the night, as we closed up shop to leave for the crew bar, Seth reached over and cupped my face in his hands.
“You did real good here tonight, Ellie,” he said. “You’re going to fit in here just fine.” He looked deeply into my eyes for a moment, and I breathed in sharply.
The magnetism between us was totally electric. I could feel the energy coursing through his hands, sending a lovely tingling feeling zipping from my head to my toes. I felt such a connection with him—okay, it was mostly physical, but it was a connection all the same—but I couldn’t believe how fast we’d clicked. A whispered “Thanks,” was all I could manage in my completely failed state of nonchalance.
Seth gazed at me for a moment longer, and then dropped his hands from my face, breaking the connection. “Righto, let’s go,” he said. “I’m fixin’ for a drink.”
I trailed after him like a puppy to the crew bar. The music was loud and the mirror ball reflected dozens of tiny sparkling flecks around the room and across its inhabitants—a far cry from what it had looked like earlier in the day. Most of the people on the dance floor looked like they’d been there for a while.
Seth leaned over and said, directly in my ear, “Let’s get you drunk, new girl.” He winked and grabbed my hand again, dragging me to the bar.
The barman greeted me with a lovely, Scottish lilt.
“You must be new,” he said, brushing his hair off his forehead and smiling. “Unless you’ve never been here before, but I think I’d’ve remembered you.” He chuckled, and his blue eyes crinkled up at the corners. He looked like he was around thirty; I couldn’t tell for sure because of the lighting, but I thought I saw a few flecks of grey in his dark blond hair.
“I’m Jock,” he said, extending his hand.
He had a really warm spirit, and I liked him immediately. Not
hing at all like my connection with Seth, but I felt immediately comfortable with him.
“Hi,” I said, moving to take his hand, “I’m—”
“This is Ellie,” Seth interrupted, grabbing a napkin off the bar and knocking my hand away from Jock’s in the process. “Can I get a couple of rum and Cokes?”
Jock said nothing, just looked at Seth with a blank expression. There was some kind of unspoken tension between the two and it made me feel uncomfortable, though I’d no idea what it was about.
A couple of guys came up to Seth, greeting him loudly and interrupting the awkward moment. Seth turned to them to answer a question about a recent surfing trip, leaving me looking sheepishly at Jock across the bar.
“Sorry,” I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Nothing to worry about, lass,” he said, shrugging it off and pouring our drinks. “I’ve had much worse in this gig.” He slid one of the glasses across to me. “So you must be the new photog, then?”
“I’m in the Pic Stop, actually,” I said. “I want to be a photographer, so obviously being in the shop’s not as glamourous as it could be, but it’s a start, right?”
“Glamorous, you say?” Jock chuckled. “I hate to disappoint you, Ellie, but there’s not a lot of glamorous activity going on here at all.”
He was obviously joking. Seth alone qualified for the Most Glamorous Man of the Year award.
“Come on, Jock,” I protested, “we get paid to see beautiful islands, meet new people, and have a good time!”
He snorted and held my gaze for a few moments before smiling and moving away to his next customer. Then, as though he had a sudden thought, he turned back to me and said, “Just be careful, lass. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Get to know your way around before you do anything crazy.”
I followed his line of sight and found Seth. I returned my attention to Jock as he slid Seth’s drink over to me.
“This one’s on me,” he added, gesturing towards our drinks. “See you around soon, I hope.”
And then he trotted off to the other end of the bar.
I didn’t have a chance to ponder Jock’s words, as Seth reappeared by my side and threw his arm around my shoulder.
“C’mon, you,” he said, leading me towards a dark corner.
I glanced back at Jock, but he was busy at the other end of the bar with a group of men who’d just come in.
“Well, Ellie, I’m real glad you joined us,” Seth said in my ear as we sat down. I put Jock out of my mind and focused on the very sexy man I was sitting next to. He’d appeared a bit rude at the bar, but thinking about it, I figured he’d probably just been showing off. Alpha males are all alike.
Now, I’ve…had…the time of my life…
My ears pricked up at the opening strains of the most classic boy-girl anthem of all time, certainly rather apt in this very ‘Dirty Dancing at Sea’ environment. My first instinct was to jump out of my seat, link arms with the closest girl, and sing at the top of my voice while waving my drink in the air. Key dance moves were optional, but when drunk they were always my favourite part.
I didn’t have to restrain myself for long. Seth caught my controlled reaction and, laughing, launched into the chorus.
“I’ve had the time of my life; no, I’ve never felt like this before…” He sang with unabashed enthusiasm.
A rum and Coke for courage? Three dollars. A man who was brave enough to sing with me, especially in a room full of other men? Priceless.
We sang, drank, flirted, and laughed our way through the night. I was surprised how much I had in common with a football-playing, horse-loving, rum-chugging Texan—and even more surprised at how freely the conversation flowed. Almost everything I was into, Seth enjoyed too, and every story I told, he laughed until his abs hurt. And when I thought about what those abs looked like…
After being with Dan for so many years, I’d stopped telling stories. Dan never listened; he was bored and disinterested, and if he paid any attention at all it was only to complain that I wasn’t any fun anymore. As I met Seth’s eyes yet again, and felt his hand resting on my knee, I was pleased to think that I was proving Dan wrong already. I knew how to have fun and, even better, real, live men actually found me attractive. And interesting. Maybe I’d just been fishing in the wrong pond all these years.
I blushed, laughed, and giggled my way through several drinks rather quickly, certainly more quickly than I was used to. The atmosphere was as intoxicating as the alcohol; I only had to look around to see that everyone was enjoying themselves. The lights were festive, the music was loud, and it was way too easy to swipe a crew key card at the bar for another round. I offered to buy a couple of times, but Seth wouldn’t allow it.
“Your money’s no good here,” he said, playfully swatting my hand away.
In the middle of a story about a drinking game gone horribly wrong, a small but noisy group took over the booth next to us. As I carried on my conversation with Seth, I couldn’t help but keep catching the eye of one of the guys at the other table. He kept chatting with his friends, but his attention clearly wasn’t on the discussion; his eyes kept darting back towards me. Finally, he smiled widely and stood up.
“G’day,” he said as he approached, extending his hand to me and completely ignoring Seth. “You must be new. I’m Mike. Can I buy you a drink?”
Hello, Australian accent. This place was like the bloody United Nations.
I looked down at the drink Seth had just bought me. “Erm, thank you, that’s ever so kind of you…but, erm, I’ve already got one for now.” I glanced at Seth, who didn’t look too happy, then back at Mike. “Thanks,” I said again for emphasis, adding a smile to soften the blow.
“Yeah, buddy,” Seth said, puffing out his chest. The alpha male asserting his dominance. “She already has a drink, okay?” He placed a protective hand on my knee. My skin tingled at his touch.
Mike shrugged. “Let me know if you change your mind,” he said, completely ignoring Seth and giving me an exaggerated eyebrow raise before returning to his mates.
It was truly bizarre. My online research meant that I’d expected the guys to compete for the new girls, but I’d hardly anticipated being in the middle of a pissing contest on my first night. Of the first three men I’d met, two of them had been clearly interested. I contemplated my brief chat with Jock, and decided that though he’d been charming, his warning had felt more friendly than anything else. It was becoming rapidly evident that I’d have plenty of options available to me, so there was no sense in being interested in someone who belonged in the ‘friend’ category.
No, my focus for now was Seth, as he’d made his interest clear; males marking their territory is more or less the same the world over. It wasn’t like I thought I’d be interested in everyone—I’m reasonably picky—but it was certainly good to feel desirable for the first time in many years, muffin top and all. It had been a very long time since Dan had last made me feel good about myself.
And anyway, I was here to have fun! And, you know, further my photography career in the process. There was that, too.
“So, Miss Ellie,” Seth said, abandoning the macho display and moving straight back into sexy mode, “the other photographers have been up in the gallery, selling embarkation photos. There’s not much point waiting for them here. We’ll catch them later…or in the morning.” He moved his hand a little further up my leg.
I hadn’t played the flirtation game in years, but four or five—or was it six?—drinks into the evening, I was really getting into it, leaning into Seth, laughing at his jokes, enjoying every time we touched…
A few drinks later, I suddenly felt a little giddy and sick, and wondered how much I’d actually had to drink; I never usually drank this much. On top of only a sandwich to eat and way too many hours awake, the alcohol had hit me hard.
“Can we go back to the cabins now?” I asked. My stomach gurgled, and I fervently hoped that Seth hadn’t heard it.
He s
tood up, pulling me with him; I caught my foot under the table and tripped, but Seth caught me before I fell. The room still seemed to be tilted a bit, and then I remembered that I was on a ship, so that must be normal.
As we headed out, I glanced at the bar to see if Jock was still on duty, but a different guy was behind the bar. Oh well, I’d check in with him tomorrow—just to thank him for the drink.
As we walked back to our little area below the water line, the ship’s tilting felt much worse, like the whole thing was lurching from side to side. Surely that wasn’t normal?
Oh, bollocks, I thought, I’m drunker than I thought.
With that in mind, I concentrated hard on walking as straight as possible, which proved to be an incredibly difficult thing to do given how much my head was spinning.
Ooh, gosh, I thought, squinting down the corridor, I’ve drunk too much. Hope Seth doesn’t mind I’m a bit squiffy…
The hallway seemed to run on forever, and I had a momentary mental panic that I was never going to find my way around. If the ship would just stop moving… I tipped slightly and knocked against the wall, and for a moment thought I was going to topple over. And then I felt Seth’s firm hand beneath my elbow, steadying me. Look at that, I thought fuzzily. Found myself a man who’s funny, strong, chivalrous, sexy…
When we reached the photographer’s area, Seth opened his cabin door and ushered me in. “Just come in for a drink of water and take a load off,” he said. “We don’t want Caitlin thinking you’re a lush.”
I hesitated for a moment before stepping into his cabin. Should I go in? I needed time to think.
Okay, time’s up. Yes…yes, I should. I mean, it was probably just as well I try to sober up a bit before going in to sleep; Caitlin had been lovely earlier in the day, but I didn’t really want to embarrass myself by turning up absolutely plastered on my first night.
I tried to focus on Seth’s cabin. It was pretty much the same as ours, but the top bunk was folded up against the wall.
“Uneven numbers,” he explained, seeing the focus of my attention. “I don’t have to share.” He flipped a switch above the desk and the room sparkled in a wash of fairy lights and added, “Leftover from the previous occupant.”
Sex, Lies, and Cruising Page 2
