Page 43 of Revenge Honeymoon

Sylvia frowned. “Wait, where’s the picture of that red-head? The hot one? I don’t see her here.”

Dammit.

Ruby.

He was hoping Sylvia had forgotten about her. He didn’t feel right about using his friend in such a way.

“They didn’t come out very well,” he lied. “I told you I picked the best ones.”

“Where are they?” She scrolled through the photos for a second time as if they would magically appear. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“I deleted them.” He rubbed his hands on the legs of his shorts.

“You deleted them?” She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Max shrugged.

Would she blow her top?

Sylvia sighed loudly. “That’s just great. I guess we’ll have to go with some of these.” She scrolled through the photos one last time. “Put the ones I selected on a thumb drive, would you? Then I’ll need you to have the guests in them fill out waivers. I’ll email the form to you.”

“Wait.” The pitch of his voice rose a notch or two. “You’re expecting me to track all of these people down?”

“Yes. That’s your job.” She pushed his laptop toward him. “You’re the photographer.”

“But...do you know how long that will take?” His stomach hardened. “There’s over three thousand people on this ship.”

“You didn’t expect me to wastemytime with it, did you?” Sylvia’s back grew rigid, and she lifted her chin slightly.

Was she kidding? If he had known he’d be the one tracking down the dozens of people in the photos she’d selected, he would’ve asked for copies of the form to be available there on the pool deck. What a joke. The photography part of the cruise wasn’t supposed to take up all of his time. Where was the relaxation part? At this rate, he’d be lucky to have time at any of the ports.

“Great. Thanks, Max.” She flashed a brilliant smile at him, as if he had agreed to the chore. “Excellent work. I’ll be sure to recommend you to the cruise line for another cruise.”

She dangled the carrot as if she’d done it many times before. “I’ll need that thumb drive tonight after dinner. I have a staff meeting with the captain, and I’d like to be able to present my idea.”

Dammit.

Chapter12

The Devil’s Drink

“Do you think I’m sunburned?” Emily touched her stomach with a forefinger, and a pale white mark appeared then flared up into bright red. A stomach that hadn’t seen the sun for more than fifteen years? Yikes. What had she been thinking when she laughed off sunscreen? But it had been cloudy earlier. Who thinks about sunscreen on a cloudy day?

Ruby, deep into her second mega margarita, burst into laughter. “Oh yeah, that’s bad, Em.”

In a bit of a panic, Emily checked the line of skin beneath the waistband of her bikini bottoms. A bright red line separated the white skin hidden under the green fabric. “Crap. This is our first day. We have a bunch of tropical beaches to visit. I can’t go out on the beach with a sunburn.”

Ruby sobered a bit and checked her own skin. “Oh, man, doesn’t look good.” She, too, had a splotchy red sunburn on her stomach, chest and thighs. “And I didn’t even swim in the pool yet.”

Emily sat up looking down at her arms. “This is going to hurt. Did you bring any aloe?”

Ruby donned her swim cover up and threw a towel across her legs. “What?”

“Aloe. For sunburns.” Emily picked up her T-shirt and put it on. When she pulled it back down over her head, a few women gave her glares.What the hell? Why?Something wrong with a fat sunburned whale taking up space on the pool deck? Red and green. She must look like a Christmas tree.

“I brought some SPF fifteen.”

“Why didn’t we think to bring it to the pool?”

---