Page 8 of Why Cruise

He grabbed my hip to steady himself, using me like a handhold to pull himself upright. His touch burned and rooted me in place. He was taller than me by a few inches. Looking up at him gave me that roller-coaster feeling. His eyes were as dark as his scent, darker than his hair, and they didn’t meet mine. Instead, he scanned my face.

He blinked hard several times, then stepped back and looked at where his hand had touched me. I swore I felt a slight caress from his thumb before he pulled away.

“Sorry, I, uh… don’t think I have my sea legs yet,” he said, his voice rasping. He took a deep breath, his eyelids fluttering.

I shook myself, trying to restart my brain. “Oh, here.” I snapped off the bracelet from my wrist, holding it out to him. “It’s acupressure. For seasickness.”

“Acupressure.” He said it flatly, so I wasn’t sure if it was a question.

“May I?” I gestured for his hand.

He held it out to me, palm up. I balanced Mackenzie’s bag on the handrail that lined this section of the hall. His hands were big, but the bracelet would fit. He was warm—almost hot. I tried to snap the bracelet on, but my fingers were shaking. My vision blurred with an image of me licking his palm just to taste him. Aring glinted around his thumb. I shook my head again and finally got the snap to catch. “There.”

I looked up at him. His lips were parted, drawing in a barely audible breath. They’d be hot and soft on my skin.

“I, uh, I have to go. Mackenzie’s waiting.” I shook my head again and stepped around him.

“Mackenzie?” Her name on his lips felt like a caress. I practically bolted down the hall. I was too drunk and too horny for alphas.

“Hey.”

I stopped dead and swayed. It was the drinks. Just the drinks.

“This is Mackenzie’s?” Again, hearing him say her name went straight to my dick.

He strode down the hall with Mackenzie’s bag in his hands, not dangling carelessly from the strap but holding it like it was precious.

I swallowed hard, taking it from him, but no words would come out.

“Your name?”

“Theo.” I barely had enough breath to make the word come out. Careful not to touch him again, I took the bag. Good thing I couldn’t really speak, or I might’ve begged him to put his hand around my throat and hold me like I was precious. I ducked my head to avoid eye contact and did my best not to sprint down the hall.

I turned left at the bank of elevators. The second I was out of sight, I leaned against the wall to steady myself, panting to catch my breath.

“Theo.”

I was so drunk I was imagining it. Imagining him saying my name like that, like he was savoring it. I cupped my dick through my shorts. Giddy laughter echoed from down the hall, makingme look up. A pair of betas rounded the corner, heading back to the party. A blush burned my cheeks as they passed me.

I needed to find some place to jerk off and stop thinking about that alpha’s hands on me.

Mackenzie

I patted the wall, searching for the light switch in the darkness. The hallway’s glow barely penetrated the room, but Theo’s coconut scent was everywhere, in a way that should have been overwhelming. But it wasn’t. It felt… safe? That couldn’t be right. Omegas were only supposed to feel safe with alphas. That’s what Daryl always said. Omegas needed alphas for protection. Yet here I was, drunk and giggly with a stranger who somehow didn’t feel strange at all.

“Here, you have to put your key card in,” Theo said, ending the sentence with an adorable hiccup. The card reader beeped, and warm light flooded the cabin. His coconut scent had grown stronger with the drinks we’d shared.

“This way, you always know where your card is,” he added, demonstrating with exaggerated care as he slipped the card into the slot next to the light switch.

“I can guarantee you I’m going to lose my card a thousand times before this cruise is over,” I said with a giggle, stepping around the luggage that had been left by the door. I stopped atthe foot of the bed and put my hands on my hips. Theo wove his way into the room with only slightly unsteady steps and stood next to me.

The bed looked just as inviting as it had when I first walked in, the navy comforter crisp and perfect, but it was still only one bed. The steward had forgotten to convert it to two.

“We could rearrange it ourselves?” Theo asked, his voice lifting with uncertainty.

“Or just go with it?”

We looked at each other, burst out laughing, and I pushed him onto the bed. I squealed when he grabbed me, pulling me down with him, the mattress bouncing beneath us.

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