by Mignon Mykel
Caleb
Sydney was standing in front of me.
My pixie redhead was a few feet away and I couldn’t manage to move my own feet to close the gap.
But then her smile lit up her face, and the lights from the torches showed how bright her eyes were. I couldn’t wait a moment more to put my arms around her. Nothing else mattered but pulling her into my arms. Not the fact there were people nearing us, not the fact that I lost track of yet another camera, and certainly not the fact that Tony obviously planned this.
She was in my arms before I could figure out who moved first, who moved furthest. With her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms a vise around my neck, the last few days finally felt worth it. All the pissy moments faded away.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her, not willing to pull back to look at her face.
“I should have figured something was going on. Surely Mr. Sorenson could have either met with me before I flew out or he could have come to the Utah office, or…”
“Wait, what?” I pulled back until her arms loosened. “Mr. Sorenson?”
“I was offered a job with Sorenson Media.” Her smile was still so fucking brilliant.
“Seriously?” I couldn’t help but mirror her grin. “Damn, Syd. I’m so excited for you.”
She nodded a few times and I saw her eyes dart over my shoulder before she lowered her voice. “Apparently Tony had good things to say about me.”
I lifted a brow. “Could have fooled me.”
“I know, right?” She untwined her legs from me and I reluctantly let her slide down my body. “For all the nasty words he’s spewed…”
“Speaking of, he came to my suite the other night. He was on a rage about you then he looked at me and said he had an idea. Not another word. You must have been his idea.”
Before she and I could fall into a conversation about it, the Tony devil himself came up to us.
“That was bloody brilliant. Damn, kids, you did great.” Tony put himself between Sydney and I before clasping a hand on both of our shoulders. “So this is how this is going to play out.”
Even I knew that if Sydney were going to be around, we couldn’t just announce that she was part of casting, so it didn’t surprise me that Tony’s plan was well thought out.
“You two had a breakup prior to Caleb joining the show. He’s here with all these fucking beautiful women, and he can’t seem to find the drive to move forward. Bam, we bring back his ex-love, and the feelings are still there. Great drama for the show. Definitely will bring drama among the girls. Fucking brilliant, right? Aren’t I?” His douchey grin was wide and he moved his eyes from me to Syd, then back again.
I shrugged. “I can work with it.” I could damn well give him anything he wanted if I could see Sydney every day.
“But what about my name? Heck, what about my job? I can’t just up and leave for three weeks after I just landed it.”
Wait, what? I turned my attention back to Sydney. Did she just want to hug and go back to her life in Utah? This was an opportunity for us to spend more time together, figure out what was going on between us.
Tony waved a hand in the air. “We’ll just be sure casting is credited in David’s name. You were just the intern, after all. Speaking of, David and Sorenson are well aware of your location for the next three to twenty days and they’re tying up your other commitments.”
I could see Sydney struggling with whether or not she wanted the credit she was due, but finally she just nodded. “Ok.” I couldn’t help but feel it was a subdued answer, though.
“So obviously you are sending the other two girls home. We went ahead and had that set up, knowing that Sydney here was coming. The other girls won’t know until breakfast. Damn, I can’t wait for the confusion. The monologues! Fucking brilliant,” Tony was saying as he walked away.
Sydney kept her eye on his retreating back. “I preferred the limited contact I had with him. Is he always around now?” She looked up at me.
“Unfortunately.”
She just nodded a few times, her gaze still on Tony. Her eyes were squinting in thought.
That couldn’t be good.
Finally, she sighed then put a smile on her face. It wasn’t a full one, but she no longer had the despondent look on her face.
“What is with this shirt they have you in?” She picked at the linen lapels hanging down by my shorts. “I mean, you’re sexy and all, Caleb, but the sex symbol thing just doesn’t go with the personality.” She pulled the fabric away from me and let it flutter back. “Good thing you don’t have tattoos; they’d be on a serious show with how see-through this shirt is.”
I chuckled and leaned down so I could grab her hips, hoisting her up close in a hug again. I needed her close. “Damn, I’ve fucking missed you.”
She hugged me as closely as I did. She was silent for a moment, but finally she said, “I missed you too.” She sighed in my ear. “You don’t play fair, by the way.”
“Wrap it up, Prescott!” was yelled from somewhere in the distance. “We have a ship to catch!”
I let Sydney down again and held her hand, her fingers intertwining with mine. “What do you mean?”
“Calls, texts…” She squeezed my hand.
I led her to my waiting car while she spoke. “It’s been hell. I just wanted to talk to you.” I shrugged it off. Just like I shrugged off the feeling that I was bringing her somewhere she didn’t want to be.
“Oh, I’m sure…” I heard the sarcasm in her voice, but it was laced with the playfulness I associated with her. Maybe I was seeing trepidation in her when it really wasn’t there. I held the car door open for her, allowing her to slip into the back before I did. I saw her bend forward to drop her shoes from her hand. After I sat next to her, I pulled her close.
Damn, I needed my lips on hers.
Except when I leaned in for the kiss, instead of Sydney’s lips I met her hand.
Pulling back, I lifted my brows. “What’s that about?”
“You are not putting man-whore lips on me. You’ve likely kissed, at the very least, half the girls. I’m not swapping spit with a bunch of rand-os.”
“I promise you, I haven’t kissed the other girls.”
“Mm-hmm…” Her lips were pressed together, but the corners were squeezing in an attempt to not smile.
“What do I have to do to kiss you, then?” I settled back and put my arm around her shoulder. She reached to pull the middle seat lap belt around her hips before snuggling into my side.
Yes, she snuggled.
“Hmm. Let me think about it for a bit.”
I shook my head and turned my head in so my lips could rest against her hair. I breathed in the scent of her shampoo, not having realized I missed it so much. Her hand made its way onto my lap and I crossed my free arm over my body so I could wrap my hand around her smaller one.
“Talk to me about the last few days.”
I tightened my arm around her shoulders and lifted my head from hers. “The girls are fucking piranhas.”
Sydney let out a small laugh. “I’m sure…”
“No, seriously, Chief. They’re all on point with what I asked of you, yeah, but most of them are handsy. My God, my ass has been groped more in the last few days than I received ass slaps from the guys during a Stanley Cup run.”
Sydney laughed with her head tossed back.
“It’s not funny!” I couldn’t stop a grin though.
“Oh, don’t act all butt-hurt.”
“I told them to stop…”
Sydney laughed again. “Oh, you’re a hoot, Caleb. I’m sure that went over real well. Gorgeous hockey player doesn’t want women’s hands on him.”
“It didn’t, no. But seriously.” I moved our joined hands directly over my lap. Even though it was by my doing, my dick twitched when her hand rested on top of it. “There’s only one set of hands I want groping me.”
“You’re incorrigible.” But before she pulled her hand away, she
slipped a squeeze in. There was my minx. “Tell me about the dates, though! I want to know what you’ve been doing.”
Even though I hadn’t done anything to hurt a potential relationship with Sydney, I wasn’t exactly comfortable talking with her about the dates. “Let’s just say, I had more fun last week.”
She shook her head but then rested her head on my shoulder. “Whatever, Caleb,” she said on a happy sigh.
We arrived to port sooner than I wanted. I wasn’t sure if I should ask her to come to my suite with me, or just let everything play out with the show.
Fuck that. What Sydney and I had wasn’t worthy of the show.
If I wanted to spend time with her, I was going to find a way.
I slipped out of the car when the door was opened, only releasing Sydney’s hand because the body mechanics wouldn’t really allow me to keep hold of her. I waited for her to fold herself out and took her hand in mine again. I looked down and, after taking in her gorgeous, toned legs in the shorts-dress-thing she had on, saw she put on the little heels she had been carrying.
Sure, I had met her in heels, but after an entire week barefoot or in flip flops, the extra inch from her small heels was noticeable.
I didn’t imagine she brought a plethora of them with her and most of the women wore them, so I was curious if wardrobe was going to give her fuck-me heels for the dressier occasions. I couldn’t wait to find out.
The two of us made our way up to the ship, where a crew member was waiting with a camera man. I glanced behind me and noticed another camera.
Fucking-a, how did I not ever notice them with Sydney around?
The crew member held out a keycard. “Sydney. Pleasure to meet you. Here is your key to your room.” When she took it, I slipped it from her to take a look at the room number and deck.
She was with the other girls, which I was expecting. They were all on the backside of the ship where I was at the front. Add to that a few decks between and a keycode to get into my part of the deck, and I wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to get Sydney to my suite again and again.
I gave her back her keycard. “You’re with the other girls.”
“Joy.” She grinned up at me. She was starting to look more like my Chief again. “We can talk about groping and the proper way to do it. Oh! And the spots that really get you going…”
“You wouldn’t…”
She pretended to think about it before shaking her head. “Nope. I like knowing that this big bad hockey player is ticklish and that it almost gets him off.”
“Lower your voice!” I laughed. “There are cameras, Syd.”
“Oh yeah,” she said around her own laugh. When we reached the elevators I had to take to my suite, I tugged on Sydney’s hand. “Stay with me tonight. The girls don’t know yet so it’s not like they’ll be super upset.”
“And if they were?”
“Who the fuck cares?”
“Good answer.” She paused, as if considering it. “This is already going to be awkward enough, though.”
“Stay with me tonight,” I repeated.
She chewed on her lip in thought. I’m pretty sure I was pleading with her with my eyes, not that her eyes were on mine but on my chest.
Finally, those amber gems looked at me and she nodded. “Tonight.”
I smiled. “Good.” I turned to punch the number in the keypad.
“That’s real fancy…”
“It’s ridiculous, but keeps the privacy intact.”
The doors dinged open quickly and she and I stepped into the elevator car.
“So the women literally cannot hunt you down and bang on your door. Interesting.”
“I’ll text you the code.”
“Caleb.” She really had the scolding mom tone down.
”Sydney.” I tried for the same tone, but don’t think I hit the mark.
She just shook her head. “It’s not fair to the girls.”
“And I don’t care about the other girls.” The elevator stopped and I took Sydney’s hand again, walking her to my door. All I cared about was that Sydney was here. Tony pulled strings yet again where this woman was concerned, and as much as I disliked the guy, he had a few good spots.
When I opened the door and let Sydney walk ahead of me, I should have been prepared for her to stop mid-stride.
“Dang, Caleb, this suite is ginormous.”
I pushed her forward gently so I could close the door. “It’s too big,” I grumbled.
“I love the window wall, of course,” she spanned her hand in front of her, sweeping it around in a Vanna White fashion. “I’d love to see it when the sun is up.”
“You will,” I assured her.
Because she would. Tomorrow, maybe even. “You’ve got to be tired from flying and the time change. How about we head up to bed?”
“I wouldn’t let you kiss me, I’m not letting you in my pants,” she teased.
“If I didn’t kiss the girls, I sure as fuck haven’t slept with them.”
“Just brush your teeth, Prescott. And your tongue. Your entire mouth. And maybe I’ll let you kiss me goodnight.” She headed toward the baby grand. “I’ll just take a look around while you’re doing that.”
Like the shmuck I was around her, I did as she asked. Hell, if it got my mouth on hers, I’d do anything she asked of me.
Sydney
I was starting to think that Tony didn’t make big bucks on his shows because of all the money he put into them.
This room was way too large for one person.
Add to that, the clothes Caleb was wearing, while he looked great in them… I don’t think they came on the ship with him. Oh! And the fact that I didn’t have a surplus of clothes for this little…
Excursion… the company was taking me on.
While Caleb was getting ready for bed and I looked around this absurd suite, it hit me just how fantastical this entire farce was.
Twelve hours ago, I was at home contemplating career decisions.
Contemplating when it was considered too early to do the whole internet dating thing, because there was no way on this green earth that Caleb was going to come for me after a month with these women.
Twelve hours later, I have a great paying job and I’m on vacation.
Again.
With the man who nearly professed his love for me.
He was too good to be true. This day was too good to be true.
Shoot, both Caleb and I knew Tony was an undermining ass. Who was to say there wasn’t something bigger going on than the drama my being on the show would bring?
Was I naïve in allowing the excitement over being here, back with Caleb? Was it all going to blow up in my face in a matter of days? Was I stupid in not fighting for the credit I was due with this show?
I was about to leave, call this entire day quits and find Tony to find a way back home, when Caleb emerged from the bathroom. He lost that ridiculous, although hot in its own way, linen shirt and was just in his khaki shorts. His body was absolutely delicious.
Tanned skin with a few new tan lines from the past few days. His abs, those damn groin cuts. His happy trail…
“Why don’t you have tattoos?” I questioned out loud.
“Tattoos?” He lifted a brow but continued walking toward me.
I nodded. “Yeah. I feel like so many guys do, and I saw something about teams doing tattoo team bonding. But you’re free and clear of ink.”
“You have a thing for tattoos, Sydney? It’s not the first time you’ve mentioned them.” He was grinning, that damn dimple of his popping.
“I didn’t say that. Just…forget it. I was just curious. It wasn’t something we’ve talked about yet and—”
“You needed something to fill the silence,” he finished for me. It was amazing how well he knew me, considering the small amount of time we had together. I just shrugged.
“My siblings and I are actually planning on all going together when Porter turns sixteen. Wisconsin doesn�
�t allow underage tattooing, but our place up north borders Michigan, so we’ll end up there.”
I tried to recall how old Porter was. “That’s like…three years away though, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “I haven’t had a reason to permanently mark my skin.”
I stuffed my hands in my pockets. Dresses and rompers with pockets were the bomb. Best invention ever. “Oh.”
“What’s really going on in that head of yours, Syd?”
He came up to me and wrapped me in his arms. My head on his chest, his big, muscled arms around my neck, was one of my favorite places to be, and that scared me.
This entire thing was scaring me.
It was too fast.
“It’s just… This is all just so wrong.” I kept my hands in my pockets even though I was itching to put them around him. We stood there in the quiet before I spoke again. “I shouldn’t be here, Caleb. We met, we had fun, we had an awesome week… That was the end of my road. Feelings aren’t supposed to happen in a week. I went from a recent college grad with a great internship and questions for her future, to a college grad with a job that the company was putting on hold because another company wanted to exploit the fact that she fell for their star before the show could start.”
“Hey, hey, now…” He dropped his arms to rub his hands up and down my arms twice before pulling me back. “If they’re exploiting anyone’s feelings, they’re mine because I refused to put on a show and act like I was into the women here.”
“But why, Caleb! Why me?” I swept my arm out to the side, my other hand fisting in my pocket. “Why not those other girls?”
“What do you want me to say, Sydney?” His voice was rising but rather than anger and annoyance, I could hear passion in his voice. So much passion. “You won’t let me tell you I love you. You won’t let me tell you I don’t want to spend time with the other girls. What will you let me say to show you that it’s you I want to be with?”
“It’s too fast, Caleb!” Both arms slammed down to my sides and I’m not proud to say I stomped my foot a little, too. My heels may have been small, but my feet ached and the stomp sent a shrill of pain through my arch.
Nothing like having a temper tantrum only to be in physical pain because of it.
