Page 52 of His Secret Gift

“Okay.” Again, the crew is more of his deal than mine, and that’s for good reason. I don’t want to be bothered with any of it—except for Kayla, of course.

Ugh. It’s like her name is haunting me.I can’t get it, or her pretty face, out of my head.

In fact, after breakfast, I lay out in the sun on the main deck for a little bit, and the lulling sounds and feeling of the waves soon puts me to sleep.

The very first thing my brain comes up with is her.

We’re in Morocco and watching women belly dancing.

“Can you believe how they’re able to move?” she leans over and asks me.

“No, it’s very impressive.”

She bites down on her lip, gets this fiery look in her eyes, and then licks my ear lobe.

Goosebumps cover my skin.

She stands and reaches out for my hand. “Come on.”

I take it and get up to my feet before following her into a dark back room of the restaurant.

“What—”

Her finger pushes against my lips. “Shhh.”

Then, she pushes me against a wall of products, and some of them fall around us.

After laughing for a second, she starts kissing and nibbling at my neck.

“Kayla,” I utter breathlessly before cupping her face in my hands and attacking her mouth with mine.

The loud squawk of a bird wakes me up, and when I look down, the excitement I experienced in the dream is more than apparent.

Thankfully, as I sit up, I realize that I’m alone and able to re-adjust myself before anyone can see it.

Chapter 17

The Cave of the Golden Rose – Kayla

“Ugh, this fucking sucks,” Callie whispers while we’re actually cleaning the bathroom floor with toothbrushes.

“Yeah, what gives?” I ask. Captain Bryant has gone almost militant with us as of late, and every single day, he comes up with some other new task that we have to complete.

She shrugs. “I have no idea.”

“He’s never been like this before?” Obviously, I don’t have much experience working with the man.

She sits up on her legs and swirls the toothbrush in the bucket of soap and water between us. “Well, he got a little weird around the time rumors about his divorce started circulating, but he just got more reclusive than brutal like this.”

“So, what do you think is wrong now?”

“I wish I knew.”

The door is open, so when Denver walks by, I stop him.

“What’s going on with Bryant?”

“What do you mean?” I can tell he’s playing dumb.

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