Page 1 of Baby for the Bratva

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Stella

Guess who impulse bought a month-long adult-only Caribbean cruise the day she broke up with her toxic boyfriend?

Yes, that’s right…

Me.

The woman dragging a clumsily packed rainbow polka dot suitcase behind her as she fumbles in her purse for her boarding pass.

Maybe I forgot it. That would give me the perfect excuse to go running back to my ex instead of committing to an entire month of no-contact.

There’s no cell signal in the middle of the ocean, and I declined the Wi-Fi package.

Insane, I know, but I need the break. It’ll prevent me from hopping back on my phone and trying to find matches that look suspiciously similar to my ex. Dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a smile that simultaneously says fuck me and beware.

Rebounds are fun and all, but I need a break after the past ten months of pointless arguments and gaslighting. I know that nobody is going to fuck me as well as my ex did, so I took the most drastic measures I could to ensure that I didn’t accidentally run into him at our local bar and end up hate-fucking all my progress away.

I need a fresh start, and if it means draining my emergency fund to afford this lavish cruise, then slather me in suntan oil and call me broke.

After all, I’m the queen of bad decisions. First, it was getting with Tyler, the toxic ex. Then, it was staying with him just because the sex was good. And my latest mishap is booking a month-long cruise with only two days to prepare for it.

I’m already getting cold feet as I step toward the counter where they’re checking passports and tickets. It’s like being in an airport. There’s security everywhere, and I still can’t find my boarding pass.

The scent of warm spices and coconut waft toward me, providing a brief distraction from my frantic search. I look up and almost gasp when I locate the source of the magnificent smell.

Standing a few places down in line from me is a man who should be banned from cruise lines for being too sexy. It’s almost obscene how attractive he is, with a broad chest and shoulders, tattoos crawling up his neck, and eyes as blue as the ocean.

Bluer than Tyler’s, in fact.

As if that wasn’t enough, his muscular body is draped in a silk Cuban shirt and shorts that show off his extraordinary quads.

My knees turn to jelly when he looks at me, catching me staring at him like I’ve never seen a real man before.

But I haven’t seen a real man before, at least not one as attractive as he is. It doesn’t seem fair, and I immediately feel a shimmer of resentment toward him. Not because he’s literally perfect in every way, but because I know a man that stunning would never choose me.

I’m sure he has a dozen women following him around at all times, but in this instance, he’s alone…

Impossible. I’m sure his girlfriend or wife is in the bathroom, rolling some expensive perfume over her collarbones before checking her lipstick in the mirror.

I sneak a glance over my shoulder again, pretending to have noticed something tickling the back of my foot.

He catches me looking again, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement as a smile tugs at one corner of his mouth.

But I got what I was looking for. There wasn’t a ring to be found on his large hands, which means he isn’t married.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with that information, but at least I know I’m not going to get slapped into the ocean by an angry supermodel for staring too long at her husband. I can sneak another look after I find my boarding pass.

And then I’m going to be on the same boat as him.

Thank goodness it’s such a large cruise ship. There are at least seven levels, and each one is crammed full of things to do. I’ll never be bored, and I desperately need the distractions after what happened between Tyler and me.

It was so sudden.

So jarring.

My brain has been buzzing with doubts for the past forty-eight hours, but I did the right thing. I can’t let him get away with something so disrespectful and obvious. I’m not the kind of woman who lets a man walk all over her, even if he’s a god in the bedroom.

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