Page 12 of Falling Overboard

I didn’t know why I had let Hunter stay.

Emilie leaned her whole body toward Hunter while Thomas told him some story that had the bosun gesturing wildly. My blood pressure rose when Emilie moved in and put her hand on Hunter’s upper thigh.

But without making a spectacle or drawing attention to it, he gently took her arm by the wrist and put her hand back on her own lap in one smooth, fluid motion.

I could see the shock on her face from here. Emilie was also very blond and very pretty and I was fairly certain that this was the first time she had ever been rejected.

She did not seem to be enjoying the experience.

It probably wasn’t a good thing that I was.

Because my job now was to find a way to put Hunter into the “friend” and “coworker” categories in my mind and keep him there.

It was just hard when he looked like he should have been walking the red carpet in Cannes instead of cleaning the yacht sitting in the Old Port.

François called Kai over. Kai stood up and then said to me, “He keeps looking at you, in case you were wondering.”

Now I knew my cheeks were red because I could feel my face heating. Kai smiled again and went to see what the first mate wanted.

The idea of Hunter stealing glances at me should not have filled me with so much hope.

Kai’s empty spot was immediately filled by Georgia. She let out a loud sigh. “Hunter is so pretty. Mother, may I?”

“No, you may not.”

“You’re not my mother,” she said and then added, “You don’t understand. I need him biblically. Or as they say, in a way that will be concerning to feminism.”

“I—” How could I respond? I couldn’t reprimand her when I was over here thinking the same kinds of thoughts.

“He seems like the kind of guy who would willingly sacrifice himself for the noble cause of female hedonism, right?”

I hope so.

François came over, strumming on a guitar. “Do you have any requests?” he asked, trying to make deep eye contact with Georgia.

“Do you know ‘Not Now’ or ‘Go Away’?” she retorted.

He took her words in stride with a smile and walked over to where Hunter and Emilie sat with Thomas.

She went right back to her soliloquy on Hunter. “It’s fine. He’ll be mine once I break out the heavy artillery. I’m going to hit him with both barrels.”

There was a long pause before she added, “Unless there’s something you want to tell me.”

I couldn’t even protest that I didn’t know what she was talking about. She was giving me an opening. Admit that I had an unsuitablecrush on our newest deckhand. It wasn’t a big leap. Even Kai had noticed.

But I wasn’t interested in staking a claim.

“You should get rid of that list and do what Captain Carl asks,” I settled on. At least it would allow me to ease my guilty conscience. I would keep quiet and let her make her own decisions but I didn’t have to be party to it.

“We both know that’s not going to happen,” she said with a grin. “Time for me to get my weapons ready.”

She stood and pushed her shoulders back. Given the predatory looks on both her and Emilie’s faces, it was like a sickly gazelle had accidentally wandered into the lair of a couple of starving lionesses.

“I’m going to bed,” I announced, not sure if anyone even heard me over François’s singing and their general merriment and seduction plans.

It was still very early in the evening but I did not need to witness Georgia making her move.

Mostly because I was worried about what I might do to try to stop her.

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