by Mignon Mykel
But I was also dangerously close to wanting out of friend-zone.
Shoot, who was I kidding?
If it weren’t for this dang show, I’d totally try to get in his pants. I nearly grinned at the thought. I wasn’t really the outgoing type in that way. I generally let the guy lead that party.
“What are you grinning about?” He asked it much slower than he did his rushed ideas for the day.
I shook my head. “Nothing. I was just thinking.”
I looked him over, every gorgeous inch of his six foot three frame. He wore a thin hooded long-sleeve with grey sweat pants, his feet bare. With the sun starting to come up, the slight rose gold hues bouncing off the dark blue of the sky hit his green eyes in a way that made them seem bottle-clear. His jaw was sporting a shadow around his usual goatee.
He certainly didn’t look tired, hung over, or sick right now.
“All right, Mr. Hot Shot, we’ll play the next few days your way.” Yet again, I turned in my lounge chair so I could watch over the horizon. “But when you go on camera looking like death and none of the girls like you, it’s not my fault.”
“Maybe that’s my plan.”
He was such a smart-ass. I reached out to lightly backhand his arm, but just as my hand connected, he reached with his other and tugged. I scrambled as I nearly fell off my chair and he pulled me snug next to him on his not-so-wide chair.
Really, it was standard width and simply wasn’t meant for two people.
“Caleb!”
He moved over some, but didn’t allow me up. Instead, he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me flush to his side. “Just be quiet and watch the sunrise, Chief.”
This was entirely too comfortable. I could feel the burn of tears in the back of my eyes and furiously blinked them away. God, I was hormonal. “Ok, friend,” I murmured. I glanced up at him quickly to see him tighten his jaw, his eyes fixed on the horizon. I moved my sightline that direction as well but when he spoke, I turned my attention back up to his face.
“Why do you do that?”
It was said so quietly, I had to replay it in my head a few times to be sure I heard him correctly.
“Do what?” I kept my voice soft as I watched his face. Slowly, he moved his gaze from the sky down toward me. Now that the sun had risen more, I could make out the dark green ring around the lighter irises, and the orange specks that were only in his right eye.
“Constantly remind me I’m your friend.”
I shifted a little, uncomfortable. I looked down and kept my eyes on his chest. “It’s more a reminder for me,” I admitted.
“Why?” It was very much stated. Not so much a question for an answer, but a softly spoken demand.
I took a deep breath and decided to go with the truth. “I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this casting job so much, but I found that I did. I really want it to work out and I cannot screw it up. I think I’m going to try and get a position with Sorenson Media.” I willed myself to look up into his eyes again. “I could totally fall for you, Caleb. If we had met under different circumstances, if you had actually said no to the show…” I shrugged.
He was watching me closely, intently, and I found myself nervous for whatever it was he had to say. “You and I still have three days to be Caleb and Sydney,” he finally said. “Just forget the show. Just for the next few days. Have fun, let loose. I’m not asking you to do anything you don’t want to do, I don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want, but damn, Syd, I have had more fun getting to know you and hanging out with you than I’ve had in a while.”
“So what, be your last hoorah before possibly finding the woman you may very well spend forever with?” I wasn’t a prude by any means, but I wasn’t a one-night-stand gal either.
“Something like that.”
My heart was pounding. Could I do it? Could I be a three-day fling? I wasn’t the type to separate and not form feelings. When I went into a relationship, it was with the knowledge it was going to be long-term. I wasn’t really made for the short-term.
I liked Caleb.
I had fun with Caleb.
He was easy to just be me around. I didn’t feel the need to put on a face or dress up or even put loads of calming product in my unreliable hair. From day one on this trip, I was comfortable with him. If it weren’t for the show, I would have put effort into flirting with the man. But there was the show to think about and there was no way anything he and I did could lead to more.
But if this was my only chance, would I kick myself for not taking it?
Sydney
If my heart kept the pace it was at, and had been at since earlier this morning, I was going to literally have a heart attack. With a deep breath, I lifted my fist to Caleb’s door and knocked gently.
Earlier I told him I needed to ‘think about it’, that if he napped until we docked, I would give him an answer. While I had no clue if he actually slept, I know that I surprisingly did. I had gone back to my cabin, having left Caleb up at the deck, and tossed myself down on the bed. I didn’t think sleep would come with the questions and adrenaline running course through my body, but it did.
That’s not to say I didn’t dream about Caleb and his smile. His dimple.
His teasing.
With my mind made up, I donned a bikini and put a sundress over top, slipped my feet into flip flops, and grabbed my shoulder bag before heading down the hall to Caleb’s cabin.
I nervously chewed on my bottom lip, waiting for him to come to the door.
Maybe he never came back. Maybe he decided it wasn’t worth it, that I wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t like I gave him an answer or anything. I left him on the note that maybe I’d consider doing the more-than-friends thing for a couple of days and maybe that was snarky, leading-him-on female type behavior. Maybe—
The door opened and there stood Caleb.
Sleep rumbled.
“Sorry.” He scratched at his shirt-covered chest. “I thought I heard a knock, but then I thought I was hearing things. Then I caught the time and realized it must be you.” He said the last around a yawn as he stepped aside, giving me ample room to move into the suite. “Come in while I get ready.”
I nodded and did that. Apparently I had gone mute but Caleb didn’t seem to notice or care. He closed the door behind me and walked around me, leaving a larger space than necessary, to go up the stairs to the loft area.
Not a shoulder squeeze, not a hand on the back ushering me toward the couch, not a wink or a smile.
Maybe he changed his mind.
I moved to the couch and sat, putting my bag down beside me. I crossed my arms but then uncrossed them. I put my hands on my thighs only to then put them down on the couch on either side of me. Finally, I just stood and walked over to the glass wall and looked out, arms crossed again. We were just about to dock, so the view wasn’t as great as it was when we were at sea, but the landscape was still beautiful.
“Sorry, I don’t wake up well.”
I turned and saw him coming back down the stairs, now in board shorts and a light blue Hurley tee. “So you did need the sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah…” He grinned his crooked grin, made even lazier by his sleepiness, and my heart slowed closer to normal. This was going to be ok. “We docked yet?” He moved to stand beside me and I looked up at him. I had tall brothers, so height didn’t typically give me pause, but Caleb was so much taller than me.
“No, not quite yet. I was thinking about the things you mentioned you wanted to do, and thought maybe we could do the cliff-jumping thing first.” I shrugged. “Bring out my adventurous side.”
With a chuckle, he looked down at me. “Have you ever?”
“Cliff jumped? No, can’t say that I have,” I said, shaking my head. “You have, I’m guessing?”
He nodded and slid his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “My family has a cabin, well…it’s bigger than just a cabin, but we have a log house in northern Wisconsin. Do Christmas every y
ear up there, but we also do a big summer shindig with a couple of dad’s old teammates, guys that we call family, you know. And there are some cliffs and bluffs that I’ve been jumping off of since I was probably five.”
“And your mother allowed this?” I grinned skeptically.
“Hell yeah. She’s the first to jump.” There was a chuckle in his voice that had my grin widening.
“Your family sounds great.”
“Maybe you’ll meet ‘em.”
My grin changed to a tight lipped one, and I looked back out the window. I doubted I’d be seeing more than a picture or NHL Center Ice snippet on him after Monday morning.
Speaking of Monday morning, our three remaining days were dwindling. I decided I was going to make the most of them. “Could you do me a favor?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Sure, what do you need?”
I walked over to my bag and pulled out my SPF-50 lotion. Over the past few days, we did many walking and other adventure-type excursions, but never had I stripped down to a swimsuit.
I know… On a cruise ship, under the hot sun, and no swimming. Crazy.
“I need help with my back.” I held the lotion out, waiting for him to step closer and take it. My heart started beating frantically again, and I’m pretty sure my face was turning pink. I definitely wasn’t the aggressor in a relationship, but I had to be now. It was silly to be nervous but there you had it, I was.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, stepping closer to me and reaching to take the lotion. He moved behind me as I heard the pop of the top opening. I crossed my arms in front of me to bunch the sundress up, pulling it over my head but keeping it bunched in front of me, my knuckles likely turning white as I held the fabric. I took a deep breath and breathed in the woodsy cologne scent that I now attributed to Caleb. The man smelled fabulous. If I could bottle it up…
I jumped when his hands came down on my shoulders. He chuckled as he started to rub circles over my shoulders and upper back.
“Jumpy?”
“I wasn’t paying attention,” I said, probably a bit more defensively than called for.
“Mmhmm,” was all he said in reply. He moved my hair, so I bent my head down before gathering the mass of red waves and holding it to the top of my head with one hand, the other still holding my dress to my chest.
His fingers rubbed under the tie top to the forest green bikini I wore. When he moved his hands down between my shoulder blades, I let my hair fall over my shoulder, straightening my head as his fingers went to apply the lotion under the bottom band of the top piece. His hands left my skin and I looked over my shoulder at him, seeing him squeeze more lotion onto his hand. I moved my eyes to his face, only to see it set in stone. His eyes met mine and the fire I saw in them, the fullness and richness of color, was something I hadn’t seen in the green depths before. Quickly, I turned my attention back in front of me. I heard him sit on the couch behind me and his hands returned to my back, this time his full hands swept from my spine out, then slid down toward my waist and to the top of my bottoms.
Between his eyes and my racing heart, shoot, I wasn’t going to survive the next three days.
Caleb
This was fucking torture.
There wasn’t a hope in heaven that I was going to survive the next three days.
I had to clench my jaw as I watched my large hands on her tiny back. I wanted to lean forward and nip her bare shoulder, kiss the dimples between her hips, but that wasn’t exactly friendly.
I smirked a bit to myself at the thought. It was plenty friendly.
Just a different kind of friendly.
Earlier, it took all sorts of restraint to not pull her closer than I already had her, have her perch on my lap so she could feel what she did to me. Friends be damned.
Not that sweats ever truly hid the evidence. It took a lot of re-routing of thoughts for said evidence to not come out with flashing signs. The same re-routing I’d done earlier wasn’t working now that I was running my hands over her body. Not with the current direction of my thoughts.
With a last sweep of my hands down her spine and over her hips, I stood and squeezed her hips once as I set her aside. I stepped around her and turned my back to her, moving to the kitchenette area before she could turn and see the major bulge in my shorts.
I grimaced as I kneeled down to open the little fridge. “Want a water?”
Sydney cleared her throat. “Yes, please.”
I looked over my shoulder to catch her pulling her dress back over her head. For the brief moment the material was over her face, I swept my eyes down the front of her, taking in her slight chest, the firm mounds showcasing her thoughts about as well as my shorts did. My gaze quickly moved down her stomach and further down to her toes in a full body sweep that wasn’t doing much to help my current situation.
I grabbed two waters with one hand, using the other to push and readjust myself. A semi I could at least hide in the loose shorts.
I stood and walked back over to her, holding the cold bottle out. She grabbed it all while avoiding my eyes. As she cracked the seal, she took a deep breath and finally looked up at me. “I… Let’s… Yeah.” Another deep breath. “I don’t want to regret not spending the time with you.” Her voice had softened to a whisper, as if the words were hard for her to say.
The meaning behind the softening of her words spoke volumes. “Sydney.” I shook my head gently, slightly disappointed. More with myself, of course, for wanting something that was obviously against her ideals. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I promise—I’m ok with the friends thing.”
“No.” She took a small sip of her water then recapped it, a stall tactic if I had to guess. “I want to. It scares me a little, yes, but I hate regrets and try to live life to the fullest. Gotta live a little, right?” My heart started to pound a little stronger. I wasn’t kidding about being friends, but if this was her green light…
I stepped closer to her, forcing her to crane her neck and look up at me. “Ok.” I leaned my head down and watched as her eyes closed slowly. God, I wanted to taste her lips, but instead I pressed my lips to her forehead then stepped back. A slight sigh escaped Sydney’s lips and I felt a sense of satisfaction at the thought she was disappointed.
“Stop for breakfast before heading off ship?” We really needed to get out of this room before I took her up on her true offer.
She nodded. “Sure.” There was a slightly confused note to her voice, one that I both liked and wished I could fix. I wasn’t about rushing her, though. She said she was good with it all, and while I was well aware of the time constraint we had, I had just enough of a gentleman bone in my body to give her time to warm up to the idea.
I grabbed my passport and the keycard I tossed on the entertainment console earlier in the morning as she took the lotion bottle from the couch and stuffed it in her bag. As I was pocketing my items, she held out a hand. “Do you want me to hold on to them?”
It made sense, so I handed them over.
As she put her bag over her neck to cross over her body, I took a big gulp of my water. I put the open bottle on the table and moved to put on my own flip flops. Sydney tightened the cap on her water and dropped it into the bag now resting against her hip. I held out a hand to her, squeezing hers gently when she placed her smaller one in it.
Holding hands was an easy first step, right?
I kind of felt like I was in damn middle school, but I wanted to do this right. I’d figure out the show stuff as it came up, but I had to lay the groundwork with Sydney now.
“Continental or a restaurant?” I asked as pulled open the door, her hand still in mine.
“Continental is easiest. Then we can get started on the day.” She paused in the hall as I pulled the door shut behind us. When we were walking toward the stairs, she surprised me by tugging on my hand. “Let’s do the elevator today.”
I lifted a brow and cocked a grin at her. “Seriously?” She shrugged and
we continued walking in the direction of the elevators she nor I used the entire trip. Even the few times I walked the ship without her, I had been using the stairs out of habit.
Shortly after calling for an elevator, the doors slid open. The small space already had a handful of people in it, so I pulled her along to the back corner, where I tucked her close to my front. I let go of her hand only to wrap both arms loosely around her shoulders, crossing my forearms in front of her.
I was a little surprised when she leaned back against me but covered it by lowering my head to press my lips to the crown of her head, breathing in the vanilla scent of her shampoo.
Of the passengers, there was a kid who looked to be about Porter’s age. He kept glancing over at Syd and I. I lifted my face from Sydney’s hair and kept my gaze ahead, but felt the kid’s eyes on us.
I was used to glances, but staring wasn’t something I’d ever get used to.
Finally, the elevator stopped at our destination and everyone piled out, Sydney and I last. As I took Sydney’s hand in mine again, a young Canadian voice stopped us.
“Are you the hockey player, Caleb Prescott?”
I looked over to the voice dropping O’s and found the kid who had been staring at me. At least he hadn’t been staring at Sydney.
“I am.”
Sydney tugged on my hand, trying to let go, but I grasped it more firmly.
“That’s freaking awesome!” The kid grinned wide. “Can you sign something for me?”
“Yeah, sure, what do you have?”
The kid patted his pockets and his smile slowly faltered. “Shoot.”
“I have something,” Sydney said beside me. Again, she tugged on my hand and I let her go reluctantly. She dug in her bag and pulled out the itinerary the ship slid under the doors that morning. “It’s just the itinerary but it will commemorate the day, yeah?” She smiled at the kid.
Some women I had spent time with groaned about the recognition. Others were only with me for the recognition. I knew Sydney wasn’t going to be the one to flock to the lights, but I didn’t really expect her to be as accepting of it as she was currently.
