Page 136 of Falling Overboard

“Maybe we should just come clean with the captain,” he said and my adrenaline spiked. That was a terrible idea. “I could call my dad and tell him the situation. Tell him that I’m the one who stained the blanket. That we’re in love. Explain it so that he understands. We can change how things are.”

“You are trying to prove something to your parents, and if you call them, you put everything in jeopardy. You’ll be living down to their expectations. I don’t want that to happen, for either one of our sakes.”

He nodded and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Okay.”

And even though things appeared to be fine, I got the sense that I had overstepped in some way. That there was something else going on, some underlying thing that I didn’t know about, and it worried me.

That uneasy feeling only increased as the day went on. The guests decided that they were going out to Portofino for the evening and had demanded the exterior crew join them. They were currently getting ready for their night out.

Georgia told me that they had asked for her to come as well, but François, of all people, had told them that wouldn’t be possible. Maybe he was seeing his own bad behavior in these guests and was becoming a better person.

She and I were sitting in the crew mess having something to eat, taking advantage of this break in our schedule. The fishing expedition had turned out to be a bust. Hunter had texted me about it.

In a twist of bait the only thing they managed to catch was waves. There goes their reely good day.

Apparently in an attempt to compensate for failing so miserably at fishing, they had brought more “paid friends” on board. There was a lot of disgusting stuff we would now have to clean up once they’d left for the night.

Georgia asked, “How is Princess Tiny Terror doing?”

“She made me keep bringing her new ice water because the ice was melting and watering down her drink,” I said.

“What about Brock?” she asked. “Still the world’s biggest wanker?”

“He plays to his strengths.” I twirled the noodles around my fork and took a bite. I was too tired to heat anything up besides ramen.

“I heard what he did to you last night. The way he would have been able to taste pepper spray for the rest of his days if I had been there,” she said with a shake of her head. “This group is personally responsible for turning me off of men entirely.”

“Don’t let a couple of rotten apples spoil the bunch.”

“We’re talking whole orchards here.”

“Only a few more days,” I told her. “We’re nearly to the finish line.”

“Yes, and then we’ll probably pick up another terrible group of people.” She let out a short sigh and said, “Let’s talk about something happy. What’s going on with you and your ... I don’t know the right word to use. Fling? Although you don’t seem like a fling kind of girl.”

I couldn’t stop the satisfied grin that settled onto my face. “Oh, I’ve been flung.”

“Really?” she said, sounding very interested.

We were getting into some dangerous territory, and I didn’t want to share all the glorious details with her. It was something just for Hunter and me. “We have ... an understanding.”

“Hmm. I think it is very unkind of you to not share what it’s like to be with that sexy man. Maybe I should have done your game and then things might have gone differently.”

She was joking. She was with Pieter and happy, as far as I knew. But her words struck an insecure nerve. “What do you mean?”

“The whole hard-to-get thing. That’s never been my vibe. Although my mother always told me that she’d never met a man who wasn’t attracted to the idea of winning over an indifferent woman. Thrill of the hunt and all that.”

Was that really what she thought? That Hunter only liked me because I had initially kept him at arm’s length instead of drooling over him? I had drooled over him like Georgia and Emilie—I’d just kept that information to myself.

I hadn’t been trying to play a game. I’d been desperately trying to keep Captain Carl’s rule and protect myself. Not trick Hunter into being interested in me.

“And the whole secrecy thing must just add another level,” she continued, unaware of the way I was questioning things. “I know it works for me and Pieter.”

“Hunter thinks that maybe we should tell the captain. Be up front about it.”

Her eyes went wide with horror. “Don’t do that! He’ll fire you both. When you rock the boat, you fall out. Leave things alone.”

Our radios crackled and then the voices of the exterior crew filled the space around us as they made their plans to accompany the guests to Portofino.

---