by Katee Robert
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Chapter One
“Everything is fine. Just fine.” Grace Kim stood in the glass elevator giving herself a pep talk, taking in the impressive view of the cruise ship’s interior shopping area, filled with people laughing and partying and engaging in the biggest violation of PDA—public displays of affection—she had ever witnessed in one place. Seriously, she’d brought sanitizer wipes to protect herself from contracting the odd flu virus, but she probably needed it to guard against randomly deposited bodily fluids on this party cruise. “We all simply need to adjust for the unexpected variables, realign our plans, and we can still have the rest and relaxation we each need.”
And maybe oxygen for Kendall.
She’d left her best friend from college up on the pool deck, reeling in shock from having her careful plans go awry, still waiting for the announcement that her room was ready. The rest of their friends had already gotten access to theirs, and Grace was on her way to her own at Kendall’s insistence. Really, there were plenty of opportunities for optimization in the way this cruise line handled such announcements and boarding procedures.
“Nope. No work thoughts. You promised, Grace,” she muttered to herself and looked down at the floor as she deliberately relaxed her shoulders and forced the habitual guilt to the back of her mind. “No work thoughts until next Sunday. You can do this.”
Letting go of anxiety, stress, and worry should be even more doable on this cruise. They’d all thought they were going for a quiet, relaxing week in the Bahamas and with too much quiet, Grace had worried she might be tempted to sneak in some work notes.
Ha. The minute they boarded, they’d found themselves in the middle of a giant party with all the signs of being a twenty-four/seven situation, and once Grace got over seeing people making out on every flat surface or up against every convenient wall, she figured it was even better as far as distractions went. Hard to think about presentations and boardrooms if passengers even needed little plaques set into the floors of the elevators to tell them what day it was. She could unplug, just like her boss had instructed, and come back fresh and ready to give the presentation that could open the door to the rest of her career.
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open silently.
“It’s key to conduct systematic beta testing…”
Oh no. Ding. Seventh floor. Portal to the special hell for people who brought their work on vacation with them.
Grace resisted the urge to cover her ears as she walked quickly across the small lobby, past the tall man glaring at his smartphone. It wasn’t that she was judging him. She was avoiding the temptation of diving into her own email after witnessing his obvious conference call. She just needed to get past him to the hallway and on to her cabin.
She wasn’t listening. She wasn’t.
He really should be wearing a headset.
“I can wing it, Charlie.”
No! She literally stopped in her tracks and glared at the man.
He glanced up from his screen, his eyebrows lifted in surprise. He had the perfect shade of sun-kissed gold skin to complement his deep brown eyes, double lidded, which was unusual in South East Asians. High cheekbones and an angled jaw gave him a very attractive face, with a full mouth currently curved into a half smile. Mischief sparked in his eyes as his gaze met hers and he tipped his head just slightly to one side. He’d been slouched, leaning against the wall next to the elevators. He straightened now, and he was tall, almost a foot taller than her.
She opened her mouth and shut it again. It wasn’t her business and she wasn’t supposed to be doing her own work, much less interjecting herself into someone else’s.
“No winging it.” A voice came from the phone in his hand. “This testing is important to the project. Are you listening?”
Apparently not, because the man pushed away from the wall and looked like he might be taking a step toward her.
She turned and bolted into the hallway.
“Execute with excellence or don’t do it at all.” Damn it, she couldn’t resist tossing that last bit over her shoulder. Her boss was right, almost everything she said sounded like a training slogan. She really had needed to take a break and learn how to speak like a real, engaging, relate-able person again.
She squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment. That very attractive man with the perfectly disheveled K-pop idol hair probably thought she was crazy. Awkward, awkward, awkward. Did she even know how to interact with people in any kind of social scenario anymore? She needed to improve her networking skills. She needed to get better at reading the room.
“Whoa!”
She needed to walk with her eyes open.
“Oh crap, I’m so sorry, Benjamin.” She stepped back, rubbing her forehead ruefully.
Her college friend rubbed the corresponding impact spot on his sternum. Thank goodness it’d been Benjamin and not some absolute stranger. “What’s got a fire lit under your ass, Speedy?”
Grace so didn’t want to mention the absolute stranger doing exactly what she wanted to do but promised she wouldn’t. “I just want to get to my cabin and make sure my checked bag was delivered.
“I don’t think all the bags are delivered yet,” Liv said quickly, waving a cocktail of some kind in no particular direction.
Grace frowned, glancing down the hallway. “Well, yes, the boarding documents said it could take until after dinner but there’s bags all up and down this hallway.”
Benjamin tapped her forehead. “It’s not like you were going to change into actual vacation clothes anyway.”
“Hey!” Just because she mentioned she hadn’t packed any shorts earlier, didn’t mean she didn’t know how to dress for any occasion. “I have perfectly serviceable casual clothing with me.”
“You mean business casual.” Liv shook her head. “We’re here to relax, be comfortable. Get some sun and sea air and a few ocean waves. You told us you packed nothing but full-length pants, no shorts.”
“I can do all that wearing pants,” Grace growled. “We’re all here together, so the sooner I get to my room and settle my stuff, the sooner we can get back to Kendall and Aubrey and start quality catching-up time.”
They exchanged a look and fell in at either side of her as she resumed walking down the corridor. “Oh hey, is that Aubrey? Are we all on the same floor?”
She thought Aubrey had been wearing that color shirt when they’d boarded, unless she’d changed. She could have. The person down the hall looked like their friend, for sure, though the woman was with someone else. A man.
“Why are you walking so slow, Liv?” Grace half turned toward her friend. “Are you sure you feel okay?”
Maybe Liv should lay off the drinks until dinner. Plus, these hallways were long and it was a damnbig ship. It was possible Liv was already feeling a touch of motion sickness.
Grace had sent them all an email list of things to remember to pack, including sea sickness remedies. She even had a few extra packs of concentrated ginger in her suitcase because she preferred to try it first before going for a pharmaceutical-grade anti-emetic. But Liv didn’t answer her, and Aubrey, Liv, and Benjamin had all already had a chance to get down to their rooms. Why wasn’t Aubrey with them?
“Why am I the only one worried about Aubrey taking off?” she asked, suspicion rising up her spine to sit like a really heavy chip on her shoulder. “What are you guys up to?”
“Nothing,” Liv said, not giving up any kind of hint that there was anything amiss.
“You know Aubrey, she’s always up to something,” Benjamin said, which was the truth. He seemed pointedly unconcerned, though. “She’s probably already spotted her man of the cruise and is putting him under her spell.”
“Wait, is that her?” Grace hadn’t been sure before, especially since the woman she’d thought was Aubrey was with someone else. But now that they were closer, Grace thought she recognized Aubrey’s hair. It took skill to manage stylish disarray, and Aubrey wore it well. “Aubrey!”
Sure enough, Aubrey really had found herself a man. He was good-looking in a too-good-to-be-true kind of way, with neatly trimmed blond hair and striking blue eyes. Funny, though, Aubrey normally went for the fitter, more athletically stylish guys, and this man was wearing an appalling Hawaiian shirt tucked into his shorts all weird.
Aubrey made short work of introductions and literally dragged her man away, leaving Grace wondering if they really would see her on deck for the safety briefing or if Aubrey would find a way to skip it.
“We’ll see her later, right?” A pang of worry pinched her just below her ribs.
Benjamin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Sure. She’ll be done with him by then. At least round one.”
“Wait.” Grace looked up at Benjamin. “Muster is in less than half an hour. They…that fast?”
“Grace.” Liv cupped Grace’s face in her free hand gently. “All a guy needs is ten minutes, maybe five if he’s worked up enough.”
“Less.” Benjamin released her and patted her shoulder.
“Look, I know what a quickie is. I’m not as naive as I was way back in college. My question was more to communicate incredulity. I just don’t get the appeal.” Grace sighed and squelched a tiny pang of envy. Obviously, she hadn’t experienced a good quickie. “Before either of you asks, yes, I’ve had sex since college. My partners have just taken longer to work up to certain things.”
In some of those cases, going that quick might’ve been an improvement.
She ignored Benjamin and Liv’s dual groans of sympathy. Any of the partners she’d had—and there’d been more than a couple, thank you very much—had been satisfying. Those encounters had gone through a logical progression to the desired outcome. But, well, they hadn’t blown her mind. That’s all. “Good for Aubrey, or any of us, okay? Before either of you makes a comment on my sex life, let me get my bags in my room and we can go catch up to Aubrey or whatever. I’ll just be a minute.”
Benjamin and Liv were just listening, really. She was the one voluntarily talking about her sex life, plus preempting anything they might have to say. It’d been years and she still did this. She spent way too much time inside her own head.
Liv tipped forward suddenly and what was left of her very pink and frosty cocktail spilled down Grace’s front.
Grace had a moment of shock, and then the cold started seeping through the fabric of her blouse and her slacks.
“Oops! I’m so sorry!” Liv batted at the spill but was only succeeding in spreading the slush across more of Grace’s pants.
Grace held out her hands to fend Liv off. “It’s fine. Totally fine. My bag is here. I’ll just rinse these out to try to stop the stain from setting and change. I’ll be a few minutes, though.”
“You do that.” There was laughter in Benjamin’s voice, but still kind. “We’ll meet you later. No rush. Remember, we’re here to have a good time.”
Relax. She was here to relax. Good times might be more than she could have expectations for. Best to be realistic.
Benjamin did help her wrestle her bag into her room, then he and Liv left as Grace went into the bathroom. She immediately stepped back out to take off her clothes, though. The bathroom was neat and had everything she’d need for the week, but it was also super compact, with nowhere near enough room for her to change in there unless she banged both elbows plus her knees and her head too. Standing in her room, she peeled off her blouse and slacks. She grabbed the cardigan she’d had with her from the plane to put on for a minute, and set about rinsing her clothes in the shower since the sink was way too tiny.
Leaving her clothes hanging on the line in the shower stall, she stepped back out to the room and got her suitcase upto on the small sofa. There was a full-length mirror on the wall, and a wide mirror at the vanity opposite the sofa. It was really a nice setup, admirable use of a tight space and the cabin felt roomy even though it was small.
She studied her reflection and sighed. Maybe she’d carve out some time each day on this cruise to get some exercise out on deck. She was pale everywhere and she could definitely use some muscle tone. She got aches in her lower back and hips from sitting for too long in uncomfortable conference room chairs. There were her tension headaches to consider too, caused by the way she carried stress in her neck and shoulders. All of that could be eased by getting her blood flowing and her muscles moving. Maybe there were a few nice yoga classes or something onboard. She had at least one pair of slacks stretchy enough to wear to yoga. She’d gotten them to wear on long flights just in case she didn’t have time to change before going into a business meeting.
Unzipping her suitcase, she flipped the top open and stared.
No.
Her carefully rolled clothes were in distinct disarray and nothing was tightly packed anymore. Someone had definitely been in her bag. Something was missing…
“Aubrey!”
Grace bolted out of her room and charged down the hallway. She rounded a corner just in time to see Aubrey’s grin before her old college buddy slammed the door to her cabin in Grace’s face.
“Damn it, Aubrey.” Grace lifted a fist and banged on the door. “Give me back my pants!”
###
“Bryan, dude, you can’t wander around the ship doing this by yourself.”
Bryan Sirimongkol stared down the hallway and wondered about the woman who’d practically run away after tossing out a piece of her mind. Dress slacks and blouse with sensible flats were not the usual choice for a singles’ party cruise. She’d have fit in better at any one of the corporations his family owned.
To be honest, she wore it well, managing a light and airy elegance instead of appearing too bound up and frumpy. She’d been a breath of fresh air coming out of the elevator and drifting past him with her black hair all twisted up into a bun and wisps of baby hairs escaping at the nape of her slender neck. Her skin had been pale and perfect as porcelain in contrast to golden brown eyes he wanted to look into more deeply, and her mouth. Damn. So many expressions had crossed her face in just those few seconds, and her mouth had made several shapes that’d given him bad, bad ideas.
Korean, maybe? He’d put his money on Korean American, since this cruise left out of NYC and he’d heard her East Coast accent. But she could’ve been traveling internationally. He lived in Singapore, and he was on this cruise too, after all. It’d be fun to find out.
What was more interesting, she’d sounded so serious when she’d put in her two cents. He hadn’t heard that much conviction from any number of long-winded speeches over the years, much less packed into a single sentence. “I’m here on my own, Charlie. I didn’t want any of this to get back to my family. No friends. No personal aide or anyone on my family’s payroll. The whole point was for this app’s development to be an independent project.”
Charlie grumbled. “You wanted to do this right, didn’t you?”
Execute with excellence, or don’t do it at all.
“Fine. I’ll find someone.” He definitely wanted to find that woman. He could catch up to her or find her later. It was a big boat but he liked a challenge.
“Someone to test this app with, right?” Charlie had crossed over from grumpy to exasperated. “We need to test the images and videos coming through the app. I don’t just want x-rated hottie pics. We need stuff we can use for promo
tion too. Shareable, fun, and, dare I say, wholesome?”
“I’ve no idea how the word got into your vocabulary, Charlie, but banish it.” Bryan started into the hallway just off the elevator lobby. He’d take some test video in the less crowded corridor and follow it all the way to the other end of the ship where he could check out the view of the interior public spaces. “The people on this cruise are our target clientele. We want to encourage them to have fun and be a little risky. We’re getting them to use an app to play a combination of truth or dare and the ultimate scavenger hunt. We’re helping people outside of their comfort zones and giving them the nudge they need to have more adventure than they’d do on their own. Wholesome doesn’t fit that branding.”
“Fine.” Charlie laughed. “I should’ve recorded what you just said as a sound byte. I took notes though. Find a partner, test the app, and hopefully she’s smart enough to give some useful feedback on the user interface. Walk around now, take some pics, and also some video so I can check the resolution and sync time before you leave port. Go, go. We need real, constructive feedback on this proof of concept.”
“Video. ASAP. Starting.” He left the call going and opened the app, grabbing one of the challenges to video someone knocking on another person’s door to borrow something. A cup of sugar? A sock? A condom? Get creative, the challenge instructed. Sure. He was in a hallway and he could always knock on a random door if he had to. He hit the button in the app to start recording.
“How’s it doing with a call open?” Charlie was tapping away at a keyboard loud enough for Bryan to hear.
“Looks okay.” Bryan held the camera out a little and walked down the hall. “I guess I’ll replay it after to see how the recording quality is after.”
“Cool. I’ll leave you to it then.” Charlie sounded happier. “Remember to get someone to do this with you. I don’t want you coming back from this with nothing but selfies of your narcissistic mug.”
