Page 7 of His Curvy Ocean Maiden

“I’m going to bed. Good night, Pierce.” Zariah said as she walked to her door. “Thanks for the fun evening.” She quickly slipped inside, the door locking behind her.

I was left standing alone in an empty hallway, an amazing evening now soured.

Dammit!

My meddling family fucked it all up. Again.

The following morning, everyone got up early and left. I pretended to sleep when Annie asked me if I was joining them for breakfast. I didn’t feel like going through the third degree with them, and besides, I barely slept a wink last night.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Zariah.

Our night together…

How badly I wanted to kiss her…

How embarrassing my family was…

I could already hear the questions—How old is she? Isn’t she too old for you? You have your whole life in front of you. You can’t just up and date someone you met on a cruise. How much do you even know about her?

But the funny part was, if they were the ones who found me a girl to hang with, even one on this very ship, they’d be all in. IfI chose not to, they’d say I was being too picky. But I find a girl on my own, and there’s always chaos. Why couldn’t I decide my own happiness for once?

After tossing and turning for another hour, I finally pulled myself from bed, took a shower, and got dressed.

Zariah made me feel good inside, and I’d be damned if I couldn’t enjoy that. I loved my family, but they needed to let me forge my own path. Enough was enough.

Hopefully, Zariah still wanted to hang out with me.

I knocked on her door and waited for an answer, but only silence followed. Ignoring the tug deep in my stomach, I hoped I’d catch her at some point. In the meantime, I needed some coffee and food to help my hangover. Maybe I’d sneak a nap in later while lounging in the sun.

I headed down to the grand foyer lobby and followed the signs to the main dining room. I’d heard the breakfast buffet was amazing, and from the smell of bacon and eggs in the air, I didn’t have any doubts.

As I expected, there were rows and rows of buffet tables lined up with endless types of food. Along the back wall was a coffee bar, juice bar, and several chef stations. One was for omelets, another for waffles, another for pancakes.

As I walked from table to table, I filled my plate with all of the breakfast goodies and stopped at the coffee bar. I found a quiet table in the corner and dug in.

“How come the guy with the largest family on this cruise is eating breakfast alone?”

Zariah stood before me with her own plate full of food. Gone was the annoyed look from last night, and in its place was her beautiful smile, which I’d grown so fond of. A weight lifted off my chest at the sight, and I couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that spread across my face.

“Good question. Sit down, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Do I want to know?” She placed her food down and pulled out a chair next to me. Today, her hair was piled on top of her head, with a few stray wisps hanging down. My eyes traveled down her bare neck and shoulders, her strapless top revealing a lot more milky skin and supple cleavage. When she sat beside me, her floral perfume tickled my nose and sent shivers up and down my spine. My dick twitched in my pants, and I thought about the hard boner I couldn’t rid myself of last night. Why didn’t I get my own room again? Fucking torture.

I shoved more food in my mouth before I took a bite out of her. After swallowing, I finally answered. “It’s not bad. I wanted to sleep longer, that’s all.”

Zariah grinned as she bit a piece of bacon. “Hungover?”

“Yep. I didn’t sleep well, either. I swore I felt the boat rocking.” I quickly said the first thing I could think of because there was no way I was admitting the real reason I couldn’t sleep—thoughts of her all night.

“Really? I was afraid of that, but thankfully, I didn’t last night. You wore me out. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.”

My mind fell straight into the gutter. “I wish I really did wear you out.”

Zariah’s eyes sparkled, and she did her lip-biting thing again, and my dick hardened more.Damn, this woman. She was too damn sexy.

“Got any plans today?” I blurted out.

“Besides exploring the ship? Not a one.”

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