Page 64 of Why Cruise

“What could you possibly be sorry for?”

“You were on your best behavior and I,” he shrugged, “basically jumped your bones.”

“I started it. So the apology should be mine to give.”

He fought to hide a smile. “You can make it up to me by sucking my dick again.”

“Theo…”

“Could we not be weird about this? Live in denial for a week? And I don’t know, cry about it when we get home?”

“Good news for you. I excel at suppressing my heart’s desires.”

His breath caught. He turned his face away and blew out a short breath.

“Promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“When you leave, don’t make me hate you.”

Great. Now it was my turn to curl into the fetal position and bawl. I didn’t even have a nest to make myself feel better.

I grabbed his face and kissed him fiercely. He met me, matched me, equally. He was the one who stepped away, sliding out of my hold. He only made it five steps before he looked over his shoulder for me, knowing I’d follow.

“How do you steal a car?” Theo said casually. A remarkable feat given, well, everything.

“What?”

“Do you use that long skinny thing you see in the movies? You know, you jam it in the window?”

“Thinking of making a career change?”

“Well, I tried doing an internet search but,” he made air quotes, “‘long skinny thing used to steal cars’ didn’t return any results.”

I turned and walked backward for a few paces just to get a read on his face.

“What?” He threw up his hands. “I’ve been thinking about it for days. I’ve never met a car thief before. My only frame of reference is that Guiness McFearson movie. What was it called? ‘Hot Rods’”

“Fair enough.” I turned back around and let my shoulder graze his. “You can’t steal a car like that these days. They’re basically computers. Manual locks don’t work that way anymore.”

“So, how do you do it?”

“You steal the keys.”

“But people keep their keys in their pockets…”

“It’s not that hard when their clothes are on the floor.” I shrugged.

“You fuck…” Theo stopped himself and looked around, like it only now occurred to him that we were in public. He continued in a whisper. “You fuck people just to get their keys?”

“I have, yes,” I sidestepped a pack in matching t-shirts coming back on board the ship. It was crowded. I tugged at Theo’s sleeve to pull him into a ‘staff only’ doorway and out of foot traffic. He had wanted to come down here to see if he could catch Mackenzie and Justice.

“It’s easier to drop an antihistamine in their drink and let them get sleepy and then lift the keys. Or break into their gym locker.” I shrugged absently.

“Smart,” Theo nodded, scanning the crowd. “You don’t have to worry about being overpowered or barked at.”

That fiery alpha rage twisted my insides. The world was not a safe space for omegas.

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