Page 46 of Falling Overboard

“No,” I said with a laugh. “I personally think you should give the man a chance, but if you’re not into it, let him know.”

A bunch of women entered the bathroom at once, crowding us. It made me want to get out of this place.

“Maybe I should go back to the boat,” I said, also worried about what might happen if I prolonged my exposure to Hunter in a more laid-back environment without the distraction of work.

“If you do, make Hunter take you back. We’re in a country full of Françoises.” She pulled the bathroom door open and I followed her back to the table.

And it seemed like Hunter’s whole face lit up when he saw me. That was a dangerous sight.

Georgia and I retook our seats and he returned his arm to the back of my chair. If it had been anybody else, it would have seemed like a possessive move. As if he were telling the other men in the pub to back off.

I was not going to read into things.

Startingnow.

Pieter leaned across the table to talk to Georgia. It sounded like he was asking her to go on an official date. I felt bad for him that he liked her so much and she wasn’t going to give him a chance. He was cute and nice. She wasn’t holding herself to the captain’s rules, so that wasn’t the reason.

But from the stories she had shared with me, it seemed that she preferred men who treated her badly and I wasn’t sure why. She was an amazing, fun, witty, warm person and deserved to be with a man who recognized that and appreciated her.

“I don’t think you and I are a good idea,” Georgia said in the nicest way possible.

“Are you sure I don’t meet your koala-fications?” Pieter asked playfully, but to his dismay, she leaned across the table and ruffled his hair like he was her pet.

“You’re sweet,” she said.

Hunter let out a small groan. “That’s the death knell.”

“Was that your influence?” I asked. “The koala thing?”

“While you two were in the bathroom, he asked me the best way to flirt with women.”

“And your advice was puns? That was bad advice.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “It works.”

I wanted to argue with him, but truth be told, it was working on me. I thought it was adorable.

Our food arrived and I dug in, suddenly starving. But to my disappointment it was only okay. I’d had much better.

“You look bummed,” he observed.

Like he was always paying close attention to me. “I can’t wait until we have a charter that gives us a night off in Italy. I’m in a committed relationship with pasta.”

“You’re saying my rival is spaghetti?”

“Better hope not, because you’d lose.”

He was about to reply when a girl at the bar lost her balance and tumbled to the ground from her stool. He immediately got up and went over to help her.

I shouldn’t have been impressed by this—it was just a decent, human thing to do—but none of the rest of the crew had even noticed.

After he made sure that she was okay, he came back over and sat down.

“You are so nice,” I said, unable to help myself. “That’s so unfair. Nobody should be nice and hot and have two ways to get free stuff.”

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes dancing. “You think I’m hot?”

Realizing what I’d just admitted to, I immediately tried to downplay my admission. “Relax. You, of all people, do not need to go fishing for compliments.”

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