by Ellie Pond
He closed the door behind her. He enjoyed watching people’s behavior out in the actual world, but on the ship it was intensified. Like now, the moment where the guest in your tiny space had to decide to sit. It said a lot about what they’d come for or what they expected. Would she sit on the lower bunk, the floor or the only desk chair? The desk chair sat, mounded with Zach’s clothes as it was laundry day. Normally he would tell someone where to sit. Maybe that made him a dick, but he wanted to know what she would do.
From behind her back she brought out three granola bars, the same brand he was using to aggravate Hope. She held them out for him to take. “A little birdy said these are your recent favorite.”
He laughed. The pain cloud from talking to his father began to clear. “Thank you. I first I thought they tasted like shit. But it was funny. So? Now I am kind of addicted.” He placed the bars on the desk.
She stared at the mound on the chair. “Do you think Zach would mind?” She motioned to sit on the bed.
“Go ahead.” He sat next to her. His head brushed his top bunk. He waited.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that you couldn’t be a security crewman… I was wrong. You’ll be great. And I didn’t mean you not being a shifter because you can’t shift. I can’t believe I said that. I would worry about you being on that crew no matter what.”
“Thank you.” The conversation with his father rolled around in his head. She put her hand on his knee. And his pulse exploded. He brushed her hair away from the side of her face. His hand went to her hair. He pulled her in tight and took her mouth, her apple bloom scent enveloping him. Their tongues dueled. His pants tightened. Daniel pulled her onto his lap so that she straddled him. Her glossy red flip-flops tumbled to the floor. He trailed kisses down her neck as she rubbed up against him they wore, far too many layers of clothing. He cupped her breast and kissed the hairline beneath her ear. She moaned, her breath staccato. Daniel’s hard cock pushed against the waist band of his sweatpants.
The door flew open. Naomi pulled away and Daniel bounced his head and hit the underside of his bunk with a loud smack.
“Dude. On my bed? Get off. Jeez. I am a cat shifter and I let you have the top bunk, because you wanted it, blah blah blah, and you’re getting all handsy on my bunk! And you won’t take the other room.”
“Sorry, Zach.” Naomi stood up out of the bunk.
Daniel glared at his roommate.
“Did he tell you?” Zach dropped his laundry basket by the chair, grabbed a shirt, shook it vigorously and hung it up. He pointed at Daniel with a hanger, his blond hair flying around.
“About the department change? Yes,” Naomi said and leaned against the closet, her cheeks pink and her hair messed from his hands. She glanced at the door as if she wanted to bolt.
Daniel leapt into his bunk while he snatched her hand and pulled her up to his top bunk with him.
“Oomph,” Naomi huffed as she sat on the edge of his bunk, Daniel’s arm around her waist.
“The other thing, did he tell you about the other thing?”
Naomi shrugged her shoulder. “I don’t know, did you?”
Daniel shook his head.
“They’re giving us a room—deck one off of the highway—with this promotion. But does he want it? Nooo? Says we’re nice and close to everything here. Deck one. Deck one, how can you not want that room, man? Those rooms are so big.”
“Deck one rooms, they’re usually for officers and mated couples. The rooms are enormous. Why don’t you want it?”
“I like where I am.” He liked how close his room was to Naomi’s.
“Don’t those rooms have space for the beds to be un-bunked?”
“Yes, thank you for pointing that out, Naomi, and you know what some of them have? A fucking porthole.” Zach wagged another hanger up at Daniel.
“The porthole is the size of your fist.”
“Bigger than what we have now. Which is one of the smallest cabins with no effin’ porthole? It makes no sense. You, you make no sense.”
“You’re a cat shifter. You’re supposed to like compact spaces.” Daniel pointed to Zach.
“You explain it to him. Talk some sense into him. If that’s even possible.” Zach grabbed his dryer sheets and gave Daniel the finger on the way out the door. The door bounced and stayed partially open. The doorstop tumbled in and wedged the door open as Zach stormed off.
Naomi swung her legs over the edge. Daniel was grateful that she didn’t bolt when Zach came in. He ran his hand up her arm.
“You don’t want to move to deck one? Why? Really?”
He couldn’t say it was because of her. “It’s super noisy there, on turnover day, with all the luggage going out, then the food coming in, and the luggage coming in.”
“Did you go look at the room? The ones on the end, away from the kitchen, are nice.”
He growled. She meant the ones like Edvard had.
“You should go look at it.”
“Okay. Zach said the same thing. I’ll go tomorrow.”
Naomi leaned in and licked his ear.
He stroked her nipple through her tank top, eager to start where they left off. She moaned, goosebumps visible on her arm. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and she started purring, rubbing her chest against hers.
“You’re so perfect.”
She jerked away, her hands still on his arm. “Wait. I am not perfect, and this is only for fun. Right?”
He pulled them both horizontally onto his bunk. They faced each other, lying on their sides. He brushed the hair out of her face.
“To me you’re perfect. This. I can’t explain it. I’ve never…I don’t want to scare you away.” Shit, why did he say that? That’s what you say when you want to scare someone away.
She sat up, her hand on his chest still. “I like you. I do. I think we could be fantastic together sexually. But I can’t be with you. Not in a relationship. Not a girlfriend, not mates. I am never mating.”
“So like you have with Edvard.” The man’s name came out like a hiss.
“Yes. We can have sex, but that’s it.”
“What about Edvard?”
She shrugged at him. “What about him?”
“You’re still going to have sex with him?”
“Daniel, if this isn’t a relationship, why does it matter who I have sex with? We’re shifters. Sex is normal. Even Edvard gets that.”
“I can’t share you.”
“Then that’s a relationship, and I can’t have that.” She slid off the bunk to the ground before he could stop her.
“Wait, Naomi. Let me think on it.”
The door opened again. “There you are,” Colette sobbed. Black streaks of mascara ran down her face. She launched herself at Naomi. “I…I…I’m sorry, Daniel. Can I take Naomi?” She hiccupped.
Naomi put her arm around Colette. “Bye, Daniel.”
“I’ll talk to you later.” The two girls were out the door before his feet hit the floor. He watched them lumber down the hallway, Colette leaning on Naomi.
He closed the door. “Damn it.”
To get into the room, they had to slide a pallet of butternut squash a bit to get to the lock of their door.
“This is not away from the kitchen.” Daniel scrutinized the room.
“No, it’s not away from the kitchen. But behold a porthole.” Zach pushed a box out of the way and peered out the window smaller than his head.
“Seriously.” Daniel leaned against the giant beam that jutted out into the cabin. The beam took a bite out of the floor space, and as it traversed the room, it made an obstacle in the ceiling. Daniel ducked under the beam to stand next to Zach at the porthole.
“Take a peek.” Zach moved over. Daniel gazed out the reinforced glass. Strong moonlight bounced around on the waves.
“Amazing, right?” Zach said into the back of Daniel’s head. Daniel hated to admit it, the porthole was nice. The cabin reeked of…what was it? Sauerkraut from the main
kitchen next door. He knew he would hit his head on the beam across the room every time he crossed the room. The beds were un-bunked. They had to be with the damn beam across the room. Even so, the room was almost twice as big as their current room.
“Why is it empty? We’re in the middle of a cruise.”
“The mated couple living here are having a cub. Logistics found them a cabin on deck three.”
Deck three. Now if Zach got them a cabin there, it would be a different story. Deck three was like living in a passenger cabin. Plush carpets, real portholes, but it was reserved for high-ranking officers and families. No chance of that. Thoughts of Naomi flooded him. She didn’t want him. He needed to move on.
A rumble vibrated the wall on the side away from the kitchen.
“What the hell is that?”
“Service elevator. For large freight. It’s only used during the day. So it won’t be a problem when we sleep.”
“What about when we have night duty?”
“That’s what noise-cancelling headphones are for.”
Daniel scrutinized the room. It would be a change. If he wanted to avoid Naomi, it would be easier. “Guess we’re moving.”
“For real?” Zach slapped his back. “You won’t regret it. This room will be amazing.”
4
Naomi
“Get up. You’ll be late. You were late yesterday and almost late the day before. Seriously, Colette, I have to go to the PR office today, like right now. Rex will take away your privileges if you’re late without a doctor’s note.”
Colette rolled over towards Naomi and pulled her green and white striped duvet down for a flash. “Then I’ll get a doctor’s note.”
“You cannot get a doctor’s note for…” She didn’t want to say “being embarrassed” or “having a broken heart.” But after three days she didn’t have a better understanding of what happened.
“I can’t.”
This, this right here was why she didn’t do relationships. Why she didn’t hang out with the guys she had sex with.
Naomi sighed and pushed against Colette’s leg to make her move over. She sat next to her. Colette had guys chasing her all the time. They lined up at the door. That’s why she had thought that Daniel was after Colette and not her. Daniel. Her stomach dropped. He took the room on deck one, and since then she hadn’t seen him. Zach, yes. Daniel no. Not at the bar or the crew cafeteria. And not while she sat at the breakroom table doing her work.
Naomi rubbed Colette’s leg through the duvet and then pulled the cover off. “That’s it. I am calling Billy in here to help me get you up.”
Colette sat up. “I’m up, I’m up. I don’t want him in here, he’ll just start singing again.”
Again? That was two days ago. But he did sing. The entire new show, plus half of the Beauty and the Beast musical from the last year’s cruises. At the top of his lungs. Colette didn’t move. She had it bad. “Why are you beating yourself up like this? He’s not worth it.” The “he” being one Phin Carter. Yes, the shifter was sex on a stick. If you liked that type. Alpha all the way. Pompous with a chiseled jaw, wavy hair and glistening amber eyes. Not that she noticed. Okay, everyone noticed. And after the rescue he did last week with Zach and Daniel, that was a Tuesday night for him. If Naomi believed in celebrity couples, Colette and Phin would be it. Her Viking princess features and southern belle personality, his… Phinness…finesse was named after him. But Colette wouldn’t tell her what happened. She only cried again when asked. And it was pissing Naomi off. Colette was her best friend on the ship and if she didn’t trust her enough to share her heartache, what sort of friends did that make them? She’d be there for Colette when she needed her. Until then, she backed off. Most of the way. She would not let her get fired.
Colette threw her feet to the ground and grunted when she caught her reflection in the mirror. Naomi’s attractive roommate was a mess. Her hair was tangled in a ponytail holder and three-day-old makeup was smeared across her face. “You need to shower and make it quick.”
Colette nodded and stumbled to the bathroom. “You going to be okay? I need to get out of here.” Naomi scrutinized her room-mate.
“Go. I’m fine.” The shower water turned on.
“You’re not going to crawl back in bed after I leave?”
“No, Mom, I am not going back to bed. Rex will kill me.” Colette opened the bathroom door and threw her clothes on the cabin floor.
“You should go to the infirmary later and make an appointment.”
“For what?” She sat naked on the toilet as the shower ran.
“To talk to the counsellor.”
“You first.” Colette closed the door on her.
“Love you.” Naomi dashed down the corridor to the stairs. Did she need to talk to the counsellor too? No, she was fine and dandy.
Hope leaned on the front desk, the picture of glum. “Hey, Hope.” Naomi scurried behind her to swipe her badge.
“Hi.” Hope said. Naomi bit her lip and faced Hope.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. You know when you have a thorn in your hand and you take it out and for a while afterwards you glance at your hand looking for the thorn. I miss the stupid guy.” She stuck her lower lip out. Hope came on board right before Christmas. She’d worked on two other ships that catered to humans.
“You can hang out with him and the guys at night.”
“Right. He’s been hanging in his room. Working on some secret project, Zach says. Plus, hanging out with Billy is fun, but then Chad is always around.”
“You don’t like Chad?” Naomi put her sketchpad down on the front counter.
“He’s fine. Just Eva’s taken him from the shifter lounge check-in. He’s been working with me a couple of days this week. He’s still learning the front desk. Heck, I’m learning still. Plus, he’s Chad. You know?”
She understood that all too well. “Last year Chad decided he wanted to conquer Colette. Even made it his catchphrase. Let’s just say that didn’t go over too well with my roomie.”
Hope snorted. “I can’t imagine her even glancing at him twice.”
“Right?”
Hope’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, I was eating at the quick service last night. Do you remember the hot shifter who did the hand-paw shake thing?”
“The mated shifter, yes go on.” Naomi smirked.
“He’s got a brother and holy hotness. The younger brother, I can’t even. He’s so handsome I couldn’t even glance at him. It’s like staring into the sun.”
“Did someone say ‘incredibly handsome’?” Chad strutted out of the backroom to the counter.
Hope’s eyes rolled. “Lord help me.”
“I’ll help you if you help me.”
“Just stop. You need to do the room audits. Use that computer down there.” Hope pointed.
Chad’s face dropped. “Can you show me how to do them again?”
Hope moaned.
Naomi picked up her sketchbook and headed into the backroom.
She glanced at her watch. Marilyn would be in the main kitchen by now double-checking the inventory. Who needs a counsellor when you have Marilyn? Naomi made her way down the stairs, running down until she felt dizzy. The service stairwell continued down to the bilge decks, but she exited out onto the wide hallway they called the highway. Here she passed crewmen pushing large gray bins full of food, laundry and garbage. Pallets of stored food goods were half empty. On a fourteen-day cruise they stored extra supplies everywhere. They brought in fresh food in ports along the way, but they didn’t count on it. Feeding a ship full of shifters took a lot of food. She peered past the entryway door to the main kitchen. Zach told her to come visit sometime, that his and Daniel’s new room was right beyond the kitchen. She put her hands in her pants pockets and wandered beyond the door, walking beyond the kitchen. A typed sign labeled the room as “Zach McGill and Daniel Patton, quarters, crew security, ensign.” The door was closed. Of course it was closed, crew members on
the highway didn’t leave their doors open. It was too loud, and they didn’t need to with the size of their rooms. She almost knocked but pivoted right into Zach.
“Hey, Naomi. Did you come to see our new digs? Come in. Wait until you see it. It was kind of sparse, but I picked some decorations up in port yesterday.”
“Well, I’m on my way to see Marilyn.” Zach opened the door to the empty room. Daniel wasn’t there, unless he was hiding behind the large metal beam that bisected the room.
“Come on, please.” He ushered her in.
A stack of boxes sat near the door. “Don’t mind those. The couple who moved to family housing had their cub earlier than expected and they asked us to keep them until cross over.” A large metal beam separated two double beds with one third of the cabin on the side with the beam and the rest by the door.
“Take a glance at this beauty.” Zach opened the door to the bathroom.
“You have a tub. A full-size tub, not one of the little ones like the rooms at the bow of the ship. That’s…wow.”
“Impressive, right?” He jumped into the tub and lay down. “And it’s not a micro tub either. I am a grown-ass shifter man and I can lie down in it.”
“I didn’t know these existed on the ship. Well, I was in Ming’s cabin the other day. It’s super nice, but it’s a guest officer suite.”
Zach jumped up and ran past her into the larger part of the room. It was sparse, but they didn’t have much room for things in the last room.
“Would you like to see our window?” He hustled to the far wall. Naomi smiled at him, still standing by the bathroom. Somehow coming into their room without Daniel inviting her made her uncomfortable. “No, seriously, come look out my window!”
“Okay,” she laughed.
The sun was almost set, and the Caribbean sunset colors rippled in the water. She sighed. Being able to see out was a luxury. She swiveled back to the middle of the room and smacked her head on the beam and stumbled into the bed beside it.
