Page 10 of Falling Overboard

He finished up and gave it back to me. “You said I could ask you if I needed anything, and I thought it’d be easier if I could text you instead of traipsing around the ship trying to find you.”

While that logically made sense, the only thing I could think was that I had Hunter’s number and that already-crushing teen girl inside me was giddy.

“I should go find ... Thomas, right?” he asked.

“Yes. Down the hall, up the stairs, and you’ll see the deck from there.”

“I remember how to get there. Directions I’m good with. It’s just names that give me some difficulty, Lucky Salerno.” He winked at me and every bone in my body dissolved. I had to lean against the wall for support.

Georgia and Emilie were wrong.

Hunter Smith was worth a lot more than twenty-five points.

Chapter Four

Lucky

There was always more to do than we had time for on the yacht. It was easy to get caught up in my never-ending to-do list and I tried hard to push thoughts of Hunter away but was unsuccessful. I kept glancing out of windows hoping to catch sight of him.

When there were no guests on board, our workday ended at six o’clock. Everybody headed downstairs to the crew mess, where Andre had prepared us a Thai-inspired meal that smelled divine. My stomach grumbled loudly as I followed the scent.

The crew mess had two side-by-side tables with a long wraparound bench for us to sit on, like a booth at a restaurant. I was one of the last to arrive and almost everyone else was already eating. I grabbed a plate and sat down next to Pieter, who was slurping up noodles while also keeping his puppy dog eyes on Georgia, who was whispering something to Kai.

Poor Pieter.

And maybe this was the reason for the new rule. We didn’t need the drama and distraction that inevitably accompanied romantic entanglements among the crew.

My heart did not get the memo, though, and nearly beat out of my chest when Hunter came into the room with Thomas.

That thumping got worse when Hunter sat down next to me, on the very edge of the bench. There really wasn’t room and I had to scoot over to accommodate him. His broad shoulders very nearly touched mine.

“Hi,” he said with a smile, and my throat closed in on itself, preventing me from responding.

He didn’t seem to notice and started eating. I was busy watching the way his mouth moved as he ate, admiring the lines in his throat when he swallowed, memorizing the appreciative noise he made when he tasted his food.

I forced my eyes forward, well aware of my own patheticness. Then his right knee brushed against mine and my kneecaps started melting like they were made of ice and he was a blowtorch. My nerves jangled and I could feel my leg tingling. I expected him to apologize and move his leg away but he didn’t.

Like he wasn’t even aware that he’d done it.

I was having some kind of physical and existential crisis over here and he was oblivious.

That felt like a very obvious indication that he was not interested in me. That he could touch me and not even be aware of it.

I wanted to groan. It had been way too long since I’d been on a date, given how I was overreacting to something so small and innocuous.

Everyone continued to chat and eat, and by all accounts it was just a typical crew dinner.

I was the only one being weird.

Despite my best efforts not to, I couldn’t help but watch Hunter out of the corner of my eye. It was like everything he did fascinated me. He took a second helping and all of his attention was focused on demolishing his food. I felt a little lightheaded as I imagined what it must be like to have him concentrating all his energy on me.

“Are you not hungry?” Hunter asked, his voice rumbling from deep in his chest, surprising me.

Yes, I was hungry. Just not for food. Which was the problem. “I’m full.”

“Should we go upstairs and have a beer?” Thomas asked the group, and almost everyone enthusiastically agreed. The captain didn’t mind if we had a couple of drinks the night before a charter so long as we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning and ready to work.

As everyone stood up and cleared their plates, I considered my options. I could hide out in my cabin and avoid everyone. That was my first inclination. I’d always been a fan of the run-and-hide method for dealing with my problems.

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