by Anthology
“So why the long face?”
“Ricky, how is this going to work?” He started to shake his head, and I added, “Hear me out. I spent the morning trying to figure out how I could be with her. It’s no use. As long as I’m her boss, I can’t have an open relationship with her. If management gets wind of things, they would remove her from my staff. The problem is, there aren’t any comparable jobs on this ship to transfer her to.”
Ricky’s arrogant attitude vanished before my eyes. He knew I was right. He knew this was not an easy situation for us. “Non riesco a farle del male o lasciare terminare la sua carriera a causa di me.” I voiced my thoughts. He waited patiently for me to translate. “I can't hurt her or let her career end because of me.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One day at a time.”
Chapter Eleven – Rebecca
WHEN YOU WORKED seventy- to eighty-hour weeks, finding spare time wasn’t easy. What little time you had was spent on sleeping and, in my case, Marco. Time was both flying by and slinking by, if that made sense. When we were together, in a blink of an eye, our time was over. When apart, it felt like days before we’d see each other again. But, in spite of that, it was always worth it. We got along beautifully. His passion for life, his compassion for people, and his ability to reduce me to a pile of mush had me falling for him.
Our relationship hasn’t seen the light of day. For weeks, every encounter has taken place in his cabin or mine. While out and about, you’d never know we were a couple. We were so convincing, even Ricky asked if everything was still okay between us.
“You guys deserve an Academy Award,” he said after one of our staff meetings. “You even have me fooled, and I know how often you two screw.”
“Shh.” I smacked him to shut him up. “You’re so annoying.”
“Oh, you adore me,” he quipped.
He was wrong. I didn’t merely adore him. I loved him…and not only because Ricky had been instrumental in organizing our time together, but mostly because he had a heart of pure gold. I loved having him on our side acting as the master juggler. He’d rearrange schedules daily to find snippets of time for us. I nicknamed him Mr. Omnipotent. Today, we hit the jackpot. He spent weeks planning this day. We were at port in St. Maarten again. He moved schedules around like pawns on a chessboard. Marco and I were spending the day together at a secluded beach at Orient Bay. I was beyond excited.
Ricky hinted that a gift, preferably in the shape of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses that he’d been eyeing, would be a lovely token of our appreciation.
He deserved more.
Separate departure times and separate cabs had us on a quiet, deserted beach, ready to enjoy our time together. Marco arrived first to stake out the perfect location. I followed the directions he left with Ricky. As I approached, I saw him in the distance looking all kinds of sexy. He saw me walking toward him, and his returning smile almost had my knees buckling beneath me.
Eager to reach me, he sprinted over and caught me around my waist. “Ciao, bella,” he said as he lifted me in a crushing hug.
“Hi,” I said, grinning wide from his enthusiasm.
He looked so hot on the beach with windblown hair, dark chocolate eyes, and tanned skin. He stirred me in ways that were hard to control. When I stared at his gorgeous face, he could make me forget to breathe. When he smiled, all words failed me. The sound of his voice traveled through my veins like a slowly administered drug. This man whom I barely knew was affecting me in every way. Every moment that I spent with Marco overwhelmed me to the point that I couldn’t think straight. I’d probably do anything he asked…actually, I know I would.
He put me down and immediately began kissing my neck.
“Mmm,” I moaned when his lips traveled over my shoulder. He smiled against my skin and resumed peppering me with kiss after kiss, landing a deep, passionate one against my lips.
He pulled away, linking his hands behind my back.
“That was quite a welcome,” I said with a smile.
“I missed you. Come, let’s have lunch.” He led me to the blanket he had spread out with sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. We sat side by side under the shade of a palm tree, facing the ocean.
“I’m impressed. You thought of everything.”
He frowned and admitted, “Actually, it was Ricky’s idea.”
I laughed at the look on his face. “He really does deserve the D&G sunglasses he wants.”
Marco handed me a wrapped sandwich and nodded. “Sì, I already bought them in Grand Cayman the other day.”
“He’ll be very happy.”
Marco and I ate our lunch in comfortable silence. We had a few hours to just enjoy each other’s company. A few people were on the beach, but, for the most part, we had complete privacy. I felt his gaze on me, and I turned to face him with a smile. “What?” I asked when his expression turned serious.
“I can’t stop looking at you. Don’t move.” He stretched behind us to grab his backpack. From an internal pocket, he retrieved his cell phone to take a picture of me. “Turn with your back to the ocean,” he said as he snapped picture after picture. The warm ocean breeze blew my hair away from my face, prompting him to say, “So beautiful. Give me a smile, bella.”
With my arms wrapped around my knees, I gave him a shy smile as he continued to take more pictures. “Now I can look at you whenever I want.”
“I didn’t miss my cell phone, until now,” I admitted. I’d left it behind, not bothering to renew my contract. Marco shifted to sit beside me and held his phone up to take one of us together. He tossed his phone in his bag and pulled me in for a hard kiss. The kiss progressed instantly, and within seconds we were stretched out side by side on the blanket. He broke the kiss to ask, “Swim with me?”
“Okay.”
We watched each other disrobe down to our bathing suits and strolled to the ocean hand in hand. Without warning, he lifted me in his arms and threw me in. I came up spluttering and laughing. He swam right for me as I splashed him in retaliation. “You suck.”
“I do, huh?” he asked, smiling deviously. In a flash, he dove toward me. I tried to swim away, but he reached me before I could escape. Effortlessly, he lifted me and threw me a few feet away. “Do I still suck?” he asked when I surfaced.
“Yes!” I swam as fast as I could in the opposite direction.
“Non mi può sfuggire,” he called out as I distanced myself from where he floated. When I looked back at him, I saw him lunge, causing me to swim even faster. My giggling slowed me down, and a strong arm wrapped possessively around my waist. I attempted to struggle as he pulled me backward until I was flush against his body. The warm water combined with his warm body caused a rush of heat to flare up within me, and just like that, I ended my struggle.
He turned me and linked my hands behind his neck. I could feel his grip tighten on my ass as he coaxed me to straddle my legs around his waist.
“What did you say?”
“I said that you can’t escape me.” Staring into my eyes, he added, “Your eyes are the same color as the ocean. Bellissima.”
I skimmed my hand over his face, drying the droplets of water that clung to his tan skin. Closing the distance, I kissed his full lips and immediately parted mine in hopes he would accept my invite. Without hesitation, Marco’s tongue slipped in, jump-starting my desire. I pressed harder against him, wanting and needing friction against my breasts. He shifted one hand to the center of my ass, holding me up while his other hand dipped into my bikini bottom.
The instant he touched me, I pulled away to drag in a deep breath. His finger stroked me intimately as his eyes watched my facial expressions. The more he stroked, the harder it was for me to channel my reactions. I couldn’t look away from his deep brown eyes. My openmouthed pants came faster and faster. My fingers desperately gripped the back of his neck. He pulled my bottom lip in between his when he slid two fingers inside. When I came hard against his hand, he deepened the kiss and swallowed my loud
moans.
Despite the ocean that surrounded us, I felt hot and parched. I licked my lips, tasting the saltiness that coated them. “Are you good?” he asked with a half smirk on his face.
“I’m good. That was…unexpected.”
“That was a vision to watch. I love watching you come, bella. You do it so well.”
My cheeks tinged red from his comment. He was always watching me in the throes of passion. Where I chose to close my eyes to hide, he often watched me lose my shit unashamedly.
“I feel like I owe you an orgasm,” I admitted when he put me down to stand on my own feet.
“You do.” He smiled wider and said, “But not here. I’m not sure I’d be as discreet as you were. Come.” He held his hand out and led me back to our blanket. The air was warm enough to dry our bodies within minutes.
He sat behind me, forcing me to sit between his legs and lean against his chest. I was so relaxed and it felt so right to be together. We chatted about places I wanted to visit someday. He shared all the places he’d already been. The difference in the number of stamps on our passports was staggering. He was a world traveler, and I was a clueless girl from New Jersey who had never left the country before this cruise.
“What’s your favorite place?” I asked curiously.
“Ah, that one is easy. It’s the place where all wishes come true.”
I turned my face toward his, waiting for him to elaborate. “When I was a small boy, my parents took me to Fontana di Trevi, in Roma. It’s so majestic. I felt so small when I stood before it. They explained the powers of the fountain and the magic in those waters. It’s believed that when you make a wish at Trevi, your wish will absolutely come true. So, as a boy, I wished for a mountain of delicious gelato. After we left the fountain, we stumbled on a gelateria a few blocks away. Inside the glass display cases sat mountains and mountains of every kind of gelato ever created. Every time I returned to that fountain, even many years later as an adult, the wishes I made came true. My last wish was to receive the cruise director job on The Horizon.”
“That’s so sweet. I love that. Maybe someday I’ll get to make my own wish there.”
“And what would you wish for, bella?”
I leaned closer until our lips were practically touching. “If I tell you before I make it, it won’t come true.”
“You’re right. Don’t tell me.” He kissed me passionately, causing my insides to erupt with desire. I found it necessary to break the kiss or face putting myself in a compromising situation that would be hard to explain to the locals.
“We need to stop,” I admitted with heavy-lidded eyes. He laughed when I fanned myself with a limp wrist.
“Okay, to be continued.” He repositioned me against his chest and played with my wet curls.
“Marco?” I couldn’t help but ask him a question that had been on my mind for weeks.
“Sì, bella?”
“Where do you see this going?”
His hand halted before he said, “I know where I want it to go.”
“Where?”
“I care about you, bella. You must know that?”
“I hoped that you did.” I avoided his eyes, choosing to stare at the turquoise ocean before us. “You’re a gorgeous man who has shied away from relationships. I worried that I was…”
“A fling?” My silence spoke volumes. “Rebecca, this isn’t just a fling for me.”
“We never really spoke about it. I was hoping it was more.”
He turned my head until I met his gaze. “Much more. I’m just trying to figure things out for us. Bella, I worry. I can’t pretend I’m not concerned how this will affect you.”
“Or you.”
“I can take care of myself. It’s you I worry about.”
He looked at me intently for the longest time before I turned back to stare at the ocean. He remained still behind me, his hands now resting on his thighs. I regretted bringing it up. My big mouth was ruining a perfect afternoon. I took one of his hands and held it between mine. He kissed the top of my head sweetly. Silence fell as we both became lost in our own thoughts.
How could I be so naïve as to think everything would work out and we’d sail into the sunset together? The more this went on, the more I fell for him. Actually, I knew without a doubt that I loved Marco Puglia. The only doubts that I had were where our relationship would go and if he felt the same about me.
***
THE SHIP WAS BUSTLING with activity as it always did on departure day. When I thought about all that had to be orchestrated in an eight-hour span of time, it amazed me how seamless it all was. The port was jammed with passengers disembarking. Food, liquor, and merchandise were delivered through the hull on a constant chain of moving pallets. As part of the entertainment staff, we used the time to regroup and discuss what worked the previous week or what didn’t.
I also used the time to get personally organized. Every few weeks I’d call my family to give them status reports on my progress. Since they’d finally accepted my new career choice and stopped berating me to come home, the phone calls became more frequent and more pleasant. Thankfully, we’d spend the time catching up on what’d been happening since I left. Over these past weeks, I learned that my oldest sister and brother-in-law were expecting their first baby. My dad decided to finally retire so he and my mom could travel…something they’d wanted to do for years. Each week a new family tidbit had me melancholy and missing them. The news that my mom shared on my last call blew me away and sent me spiraling in doubt.
My youngest brother Sam got engaged.
At only a year younger than me, the news that he was getting married freaked me out. Being the two youngest of five, we’d always clung to each other while growing up. We were considered Irish twins and our connection was just as strong. He was my best friend, until I picked up and took off with little warning. He didn’t mince his words the day I left, letting me know exactly how angry he was. I tried to explain I needed to follow my heart and take that chance. I sent him a bunch of postcards from the different ports of call we’d visited. I’d always asked about him when I called home. On one rare occasion, I actually spoke to him over the phone. He never once mentioned he planned to propose to Ginny. That’s the part that hurt the most.
When my mom shared his announcement over the phone, I had to stifle a sigh. That would make me the last in my family to get married. At first, I was confused why that upset me so much. Sure, I hoped marriage was in my future someday, but I wasn’t ready for it yet. As the conversation progressed, I realized there were several reasons I was so upset by the call.
The fact that my younger brother was making such a responsible move in his life made me feel immature and flighty. When my mom asked if there was anyone special in my life, I felt sick. That one question made me feel like an errant child who knew she was behaving badly but didn’t care. I lied to my mother, claiming there wasn’t time for relationships on a cruise ship. Mentioning Marco or our relationship would start a whole new round of interrogations…and I was not in the mood to defend myself. Of all people, my mom would absolutely be the one to call me out on my recklessness. It wouldn’t matter that I fell in love with my boss; the only thing she would focus on was that I was fucking my boss.
My phone call home left me feeling unsettled and cranky for the first time since stepping foot on The Horizon. Ricky picked up on my sour mood when we met for lunch. The crew’s dining hall was always busiest on departure days. We walked around with our lunch trays in hand, looking for an empty table. “Maybe I’ll just take this back to my room,” I suggested after a few minutes of searching.
“What’s wrong?” He stopped walking and stared me down. “And don’t say nothing again.” His eyebrows shot up as if he had a brilliant idea. “Follow me.”
Moodily, I followed him out of the dining hall and into the crew lounge. “Sit.” He pointed to a couch while he took the upholstered bucket chair it faced. “So spill it. Why are you in a bad mood?”
I looked at my fruit salad, wondering where to begin. “My youngest brother is engaged.” He opened his mouth to speak, and I pointed a finger in his face. “No, it’s not because I want to get married. That’s the furthest thing from my mind. It just surprised me.”
Ricky watched as I picked at my food, waiting for me to continue. “We’re eleven months apart. Sam and I have always been close…always. The fact he went ahead and proposed, without telling me first, bothers me greatly. The fact that I’m sailing around the Caribbean without a care in the world makes me feel like a…” I stopped, afraid to voice it out loud.
“What?” he prompted as he impatiently rolled his eyes.
“A promiscuous scatterbrain.”
“Gee, thanks,” he said sarcastically. “We’re just a bunch of scatterbrained zombies on a floating vessel of sin.”
“That’s not what I meant. You don’t know my family.”
“Are they still giving you a hard time for being here? I thought that stopped.”
“It did.” A few crewmembers came into the lounge and sat in the opposite corner. I lowered my voice and continued. “They’ve been fairly supportive these last few weeks. It wasn’t until my mom asked if I had anyone special in my life that I felt wayward. I couldn’t even tell her that I did, because I really don’t know if I do, or if he thinks he is…” I looked up and asked, “You following me?”
“Strangely so, I am. Continue.”
“Anyway, I told my mom that there wasn’t time for a relationship, and I hung up feeling like a lying floozy.”
“So, basically you’re upset that your younger brother is getting married, and you feel like a dumb floozy for screwing your boss.” Ricky always simplified life to the point it made me feel like a drama queen. That was the furthest from my truth. Of all things, drama was not in my makeup.
“Yeah, that sums it up. It’s stupid and reckless. I’ve always been the one who went left when everyone else went right. I never cared about the rules. Ironic, right?”
