Page 2 of Undercover Billionaire

‘How long have you worked on cruise ships?’

‘Seven years.’

‘You like it?’

She smiled and tipped her chin at the view. ‘I’m in the Mediterranean. What’s not to like?’

Which was a good response, but didn’t really answer the question, and if the need to medicate himself wasn’t becoming increasingly urgent, he might have stuck around to probe some more. He pulled out his wallet. ‘How much do I owe?’

‘Oh, no, sir.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll just swipe the card you were given on check-in.’

‘Oh yes, right.’ Ari removed the card and deliberately placed his wallet on the bar top. ‘Sorry. I forgot.’

‘No worries.’ She gave a teasing laugh. ‘Your first time?’

It wasn’t. Ari had been seven the day his grandfather had smashed a bottle of champagne against the bow of this very ship, launching it on its maiden voyage. He’d lost count of the number of cruise ships he’d travelled on since.

Smile. Flirt. Be friendly.

‘Yep. Cruise virgin I’m afraid.’

The lie slipped smoothly from his tongue. He had a job to do and zero problem with pretending to be someone else to get it done. But her eyes lit playfully and Ari’s heart skipped a beat.

‘In that case,’ she said, handing back his card, ‘we’ll be gentle with you, sir.’

She laughed at her joke and it was infectious, a smile spreading across Ari’s face before he even registered what was happening. He wondered if his cheek muscles were as confused as he was about the situation. But it was hardnotto smile, not to respond to her easy laughter and her light, flirty chatter.

The kind of flirty chatter he suspected she used witheveryoneregardless of age or sex. It obviously came as naturally as breathing and he envied her that lightness of spirit.

Ari suddenly felt ancient at the grand age of thirty-two.

Smile. Flirt. Be friendly.

But he couldn’t. His temples throbbed, the pain in his ribs was back, his breath was short. His smile faded and he stood to go, and instead of saying something likeDon’t be gentle on my account, which was something the old Ari might have said, he bade her goodbye.

Then he left, dodgingall the fucking peopleand not stopping until he reached the dark, private cocoon of his inside cabin.

* * *

‘Well, hello there. This is my lucky day.’

Kelsey glanced up from the drink she was pouring to find Andy, her fellow bartender, brandishing a wallet. She recognised it immediately as belonging to Whisky Dude.

She handed the drink over to her customer as Andy strode around the corner, out of sight. Hurriedly, she scanned the passenger’s card and was grateful that people were still absorbed with getting underway. In a few minutes they’d be slammed by passengers wanting booze to celebrate their departure, but for now, she could go and check on her partner.

Kelsey had mixed feelings about Andy. She’d worked with him on and off the last two years and had even fooled around with him once at a party in the staff quarters on their first cruise together. He was English, four years younger than her twenty-seven years and a good kisser. But his moral code was a bit on the lax side. A fact confirmed when she found him rifling through the wallet.

‘Two condoms and two hundred and twenty euros.’ He waved the notes in the air. ‘A tip for meandyou,’ he said with a wink. Kelsey was sure he was joking but she wasn’t laughing.

‘Very funny.’ She snatched the wallet and held out her other hand. ‘Give it back.’

‘Oh, come on, Kels, he won’t miss a couple of twenties. He probably won’t even know.’

Silently, she stared Andy down. A couple of hundred euros was hardly a fortune – butshe’dknow if some of it was missing.

She’d bet Whisky Dude would, too.

Those dark eyes of his had been steady and intense, appraising her face with an attention to detail that had caused a little flutter in her chest. She doubted he missed a single goddamn thing. Not to mention, as the senior staff member, it’d be her ass if the passenger made a complaint.

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