Page 13 of Faking Ever After

Wide-eyed, I climbed in after him and found myself in a cozy open space with a canopy providing shade in the middle. Secured to the floor was a table with an L-shaped sectional and a cozy high chair for the captain to sit and steer.

“Your plane was bigger,” I pointed out.

Percy snorted. “I hate that tin can.” He put a hand on the steering wheel and lifted his gaze to the horizon. “This is whatI love. Blue seas, blue skies, freedom. I’d sail everywhere if I could.” He cracked a smile when he looked at me again.

That was oddly sweet. I cocked my head and looked him over. A gust of warm wind pulled his shirt wider over his bare chest, and my fingertips tingled in reply. He looked like he was yearning for that horizon more than anything you could offer him.

“I’m the last person who should complain,” Percy said.

I shrugged. “We’re all unhappy about something, I guess.”

“You don’t seem unhappy,” Percy said.

I cocked a smile. “In my experience, the saddest ones laugh the loudest.”

Percy nodded like someone who understood everything but also knew that saying anything to that was pointless. So we moved on without missing a beat.

“Where to, Captain?” I asked, walking to the far end of the upper deck, slightly in front of Percy and the control board.

“Let’s pull this baby out of the harbor and give it a spin,” Percy said. “Give us some music, Finn.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. Of all the joys in my life, music had the top spot, closely followed by a good, sexy romance novel. I connected my phone to Percy’s Davon Portable Sound System and played my favorite 1980s hits while Percy slowly pulled us out of the packed harbor.

As we left the bay behind, the open waters tilted the boat this way and that, but the spray of the sea and the purr of the engine combined to give me the picture-perfect moments of summer vacations. Unable to sit still, I kept walking between the railings around the upper deck, gazing at the diminishing Mykonos and the growing dot of Naxon on the horizon.

Of all the prospects I could have hoped for just a few nights ago when I sought out my friend, vacationing in the Cyclades was not on the list. And when I’d agreed to accompany Kim’sbillionaire boss as his date, I hadn’t expected the sweetest man on Earth to steer his own little yacht between the islands.

Percy asked me to hop down under the deck and grab us a couple of beers from the fridge. There, I discovered an interior that was far cuter than anything I’d imagined. Instead of the cream, brown, gold, and black scheme I had seen outside, the sitting and sleeping areas were white, gray, and blue, matching this endearing idea of Greece that lived in my head.

With a beer in each hand, I returned to the upper deck to find Percy steering, his broad shoulders bare, his torso narrowing to his waist, and his shirt hanging over the back of the chair. He turned around to accept his beer and my gaze lingered on his perfectly sculpted body.

Fuck. My. Life.I held a breath and forced myself to look up. When the hell did he have time to make billions and stay in shape? I barely managed to have my morning coffee and prepare dinner in one day. I took a swig from my bottle and realized how badly I had needed the cold, bitter liquid just now.

“Do you have any siblings, Finn?” Percy asked, tilting the steering wheel a fraction to the left.

“A younger sister,” I said coolly. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about Julie without raging and crying about the injustice done to my family. “She’s in college.” And that was the end of it.

“And you? What is it that you actually do?” Percy asked with an innocent smile, smoothly moving from one question to the next. He had every right to question me like this. After all, you didn’t pick up a stray to sleep in your bed in your parents’ home for two weeks without questions.

“What do you think I do?” I countered with a teasing smile.

Percy chuckled and nodded, accepting the game. “Let me see. I bet you’re a theater kid. I bet you danced your butt off doingThe Cruciblein high school. You have the razzle-dazzle forBroadway, so you might even be auditioning, but singing is a bit of a hindrance.” A spark of mischief came to life in his eyes.

I grabbed my chest. “How dare you? A hindrance?”

“Comedic timing, though, is spot on,” Percy said with a wink. “And because getting that big break in New York is rough no matter your talent, you’re taking acting jobs where you can. You come prepared with all sorts of backstories for your character and you’re such a method actor that you’ll live the role even if it means flying to Greece.”

“Incredible,” I said with awe filling my eyes.

Percy’s eyebrows shot up and a shocked expression melted over his face. “Wait, was all that correct?”

“Not even one of those things was correct,” I said, admiring his ability to get so much of it wrong.

Percy threw his head back and laughed loudly enough to compete with the hum of the sea and his yacht’s engine roar. “Tell me your story, then.”

I leaned against the flat surface just to the left of Percy and his steering wheel. The waves tilted us left and right, so I sat on the edge of the elegant table that extended from Percy’s control board and gripped the safety railings. Wind ruffled my hair and I removed a few annoying curls that fell over my eyes. “I wish I had it all figured out the way you measured me.” I shook my head. If I’d had the ambition to become an actor—or talent for that matter—half my problems would be solved. As it stood now, I still had the other half to deal with, plus the issue of no prospects after seeing justice be done. I was a vigilante, but I couldn’t afford a goddamn cape, so that rendered me to a petty criminal. “I’m sort of drifting,” I admitted. “So much of my life, I spent waiting for something to begin. I used to think I was waiting to grow up or for life to just start happening, but then I realized I missed all my chances.” Percy’s somber expressionand my tired tone were a killer combination. I laughed at us. “What a way to start an adventure, huh?”

Percy shared a small smile. “I know something about those feelings.”

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