Page 40 of The Companion Love Trap

“I’m the stalker; don’t be taking my role,” Cruz interjected.

“That really what you want to be fighting over?” I quipped. Cruz leveled me with a smirk, his eyes promising wicked things. I licked my lips before I remembered Jace had been explaining himself.

“Sorry. Continue.” He chuckled, the sound giving me flutters.

“I can’t really explain it other than I just knew. Before I even knew your name, I wanted you to fill the ad. I’m sorry if that sounds creepy and if I went about it incorrectly by not being completely open. But it wasn’t done out of pity. If anything, I was desperate for you to take it. You took pity on me.”

“And you couldn’t just say any of that to me?” I asked, still reeling from his proclamation. How he saw me as beautiful.

“Would you have taken it if I said there was a job I thought you were perfect for?” Cruz asked. I frowned, not liking what he was implying, but I knew he was right. I could be stubborn at times.

Companion Rule #8—know when you’re wrong and take accountability.

“Fine. Probably not. It doesn’t mean I like the deception.”

“Noted, Firecracker.” Jace smiled, this one reaching his eyes again. “I promise not to lie to you again.” His words felt too heavy, so I turned to the other psychotic one.

“And you just decided to come along?” I asked Cruz, frustrated he knew me so well. But mostly that it had worked. I wanted to be unpredictable, but apparently, that was not the case.

“Damn straight, Meu Tudo. Every time I try to talk to you about deeper things than how far I can shove my dick into you, you bolt physically and emotionally. What better way to make you stop running than on a cruise ship? We’re stuck together until we return to Miami, and I plan to use my time well.”

Well, fuck.

I sucked in a breath. Cruz’s gaze was intense. My heart pounded in my chest, and I bounced my leg. My stubbornness recognized my desire to run away right then, but I did not want to prove him right. So I stayed exactly where I was, though internally, I was freaking out.

Retreat. Retreat. Retreat. Back away from the emotions. Activate the sass.

“I’ve been girlfriend trapped,” I muttered as I fumbled for something to say, but my brain had gone off line at his romantic aspirations.

“It’s more like Pretty Woman meets the Parent Trap and takes a cruise,” Jace supplied. I narrowed my eyes, wondering just how long he’d been planning this. He grinned and lifted his hands in a sign of defeat. “But, yeah, girlfriend trapped works too.”

“For the record, I had no idea about any of this, and when I discovered their plan last night, I told them it would blow up in their faces,” Kieran said, his voice deep and smooth like molasses. It slid over me and stuck to my insides. I never wanted it to go away.

“I knew I liked you, Meerk.” I beamed up at him, enjoying how his eyes sparkled down at me.

“Meerk?” His cheeks turned rosy, and I wanted to count the freckles on his nose this close.

“Yeah. I decided Timon wasn’t original enough, like you. So I shortened meerkat. Meerk.”

“Okay.” He grinned, and we stared at one another, his blue eyes swirling like the ocean, his soft blond hair curling slightly against his forehead. My fingers itched to move it and trace all the freckles. Did he have freckles everywhere?

“What about mine?” Jace whined.

“Still trash panda,” I said, not even breaking eye contact. Cruz snorted, and I could practically picture Jace pouting, his arms crossed and his bottom lip out.

“So, we’re stuck in one room. I should make Cruz sleep in here and get my own bed,” I groused, dropping Kieran’s eyes and staring at my hands.

“Or you can choose which bed you stay in each night. Like a slumber party, or a grown-up version of Goldilocks and the chairs are beds and the porridge our dicks,” Cruz argued, the right side of his luscious lips lifted in a perfect smirk.

Do not laugh. Do not laugh. He is not funny!

“I’m not sure if either you or Jace get to visit Everly Manor anytime soon,” I threatened, hoping to keep myself from trying out his statement right this second.

“Don’t be cruel, Meu Tudo. You love this job and are on the open seas. There’s no room to be mad here. Seas the day.”

I groaned, his smile growing wider by the second. I did not need Cruz making funny puns. Apparently, it was hot guy catnip for me.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Kieran offered, making my heart melt. The other two could learn something from him. I spun, patting his thigh.

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