Page 126 of Falling Overboard

When we finally exited the bakery, Lucky surprised me by pulling me into a long, deep kiss that made both of us breathless. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

I didn’t need her thanks. Just her love.

When we got back to the ship, everything felt different. I told my mom to leave Lucky alone. She didn’t ask for an explanation and I didn’t offer one. When things were settled in a few months, I would proudly bring her home and let my mom ask her every question she had.

Not yet.

There was work to be done on the ship, so Lucky and I had to settle for stealing glances and exchanging secret smiles.

I loved watching her with my parents. She soaked up the stories they told her about me and my sisters. Hadley and Harlow teased her and each other and they all laughed. Lucky fit in so well.

She needed more family.

And I realized as I watched her that someday my family would be hers. They would love her just as much as I did. I was glad that I would be able to give that to her.

I couldn’t hang out with them, though. They would be relentless and they would figure out how head over heels I was for Lucky, andI wasn’t going to be the reason that either one of us got fired. I asked Pieter to switch shifts with me so that I would be put back on anchor watch, awake when my family was sleeping.

Lucky’s disappointment nearly made me reconsider. I told her, “My family will expect me to hang out with them and I have a job to do.”

It made it so that I went to bed as she was getting up for the day. I missed her terribly and settled for kissing her good night / good morning.

I was ready for this charter to be over so that I could have her all to myself again.

And a few days later, it was finally drop-off day and we were leaving my family in Monte Carlo.

They hugged me and kissed me and said they couldn’t wait to see me again. I told them I loved them, too. My dad had to pull my mom away so that she would stop hugging me. I glanced over at Lucky. I knew I was fortunate to have this.

I was glad that my parents had set such a good example for me of what a relationship looked like. So that I would know when I’d found the right person.

And I had.

When we got back to our cabin, Lucky seemed more upset that they’d left than I did. “Are you sad about your family leaving?”

“I’ll miss them, but I’ll be seeing them soon enough. Plus, I have you and you make it hard to think about anybody else,” I told her, pulling her in for a kiss that very quickly got heated.

Thomas radioing me finally broke us apart. I’d been down in our cabin for too long.

“I better go,” I said regretfully. “Are we going out with the crew tonight?”

“We probably should.”

And despite wanting to talk her out of it, I knew it would be better for us to go out. Hours and hours of unchaperoned time could be tricky.

My parents had specifically requested that we be given the night off, despite the fact that we had a charter the next day. They had also offered to cover the cost of our drinks and dinner at a nearby upscale casino.

My dad had been hoping to get a new sports car and I was pretty sure the crew was about to drink him out of it.

So instead I said, “Until tonight, then. You’ll be getting my A game. I hope you’ll be able to keep your clothes on.”

I kissed her one last time and then went to see what Thomas needed.

And despite telling her that I wouldn’t lie to her anymore, I just had.

Because I very much hoped Lucky wouldn’t be able to keep her clothes on.

Chapter Forty-One

Lucky

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