Page 43 of Love Overboard
Jon took a step closer until he was standing near enough she had to raise her chin, and he ran a finger across the silky roll. The gesture set her inner radar on high alert.
Warning! Warning!
If she wanted to keep him at a distance both physically and emotionally, she needed to move. That’s what her head told her. But her body wasn’t cooperating. She’d swear she was leaning forward.
She swayed, tilted back, and cleared her throat. “Thanks for your help.”
Jon held something up to her face, and she looked cross-eyed at the bandage in front of her nose.
“Put this on your knee when you get to your room.”
She took it, and he moved away.
“Thanks again,” Lacey said.
“No problem. See you at early-morning staff meeting.” He walked away, unaware of the fire he’d stoked inside of her, and Lacey raised a fist at his back.
Why couldn’t sweet, gorgeous, ex-almost-boyfriends keep their bandages to themselves?
CHAPTER 19
ASLIVER OF SIDEWAYS MOONsmiled at Jon like it was mocking him. He stood on an outside deck and watched the parade of weary passengers trudging to the MSBuckingham. The once-bustling shops along the pier stood in eerie silence, deserted by the tourists. There could have been tumbleweeds blowing across the sidewalk.
A man in hot pink shorts approached. He threw his arm around the woman with him. “I feel like I’m in the last half of a marathon.”
“When did you ever run a marathon?” She placed her palm on his back and propelled him up the slanted gangplank.
A mother with a crying child at her side and a sleeping toddler in her arms followed. “I gotta regroup myself here.” She shifted her baby onto one hip and held the collar of the weeper. “What a day, what a day.”
Jon observed the vacation drama unfolding before him with fondness. This was cruising. Not the handful of criminals trying to make a fast buck. The treasured memories these people made on a brief voyage would long outlive their aching feet.
His call with corporate hadn’t produced the results he wanted. The general manager insisted Collins might seem a little dense but had cracked numerous high-profile drug cases. For the life of him, Jon couldn’t understand how. He whispered a prayer in his mind.
Lord, I feel like I’m rowing against the current. Please don’t let these criminals ruin a good thing.
A picture of Lacey shuffling behind Ricardo flashed through his brain. His fist clenched, and he banged it against the metal bar in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
“Pardon me.”
Someone tapped him from behind. Jon pasted on his cruise-director smile and turned to a young couple in matching heart-covered T-shirts. Honeymooners. It didn’t require coordinated outfits to identify them. Their goofy grins said it all.
The husband’s arm wrapped around his new wife’s waist. “Is there any way we can take a picture in the very front of the boat? You know. The movie pose.” He stretched his arms out like a pair of wings and warbled a line from the film’s famous soundtrack. His bride cooed her approval.
“I know where you mean.” Jon nodded. “That part of the ship contains the helipad and is only open at certain times, but there are special photo ops every day at eleven o’clock. You can sign up at the front desk.”
They thanked him and canoodled away, wrapped against each other too tightly for it to be called walking. Jon dropped his professional demeanor. Once he’d imagined that would be Lacey and him. A long time ago.
“Aren’t they precious?”
Jon jerked to the side. A decidedly unmanly yelp escaped his lips. Emily Windsor stood at his elbow. She wore a floral-print windbreaker over her T-shirt and jeans.
“Emily”—he clutched at his chest—“how can you move without making a single noise? Have you got any ninjas in your family tree?”
She cocked her head with a chuckle. “My late husband was fun to scare. He always gave such huge reactions. I perfected my talent for sneaking up on him.”
“What a cruel woman.”
Emily’s grin faded, and she stepped back. “Not really. I may be pushy, but it’s because I care.”
