Page 28 of Ship Wrecked

He chuckled and waved her toward her room, after reconfirming that she didn’t want help with her bags. Of course, she did actually want help. But not from Conor, and not because she truly needed assistance.

She simply needed an excuse to see Peter immediately.

After several trips down the hall, she had all her luggage stacked outside her suite. Ten more swift steps brought her to his door, and she knocked firmly.

It took him a minute to answer, long enough that she started bouncing on her toes in impatience. But once his door swung open, she feigned calm like the talented thespian she was and offered him a brisk wave.

“Peter!” Her greedy gaze devoured him, from wavy dark hairto broad, bare feet. “Could you possibly help me put my suitcase on the luggage rack?”

Normally, Maria was not a fool for men. Not anymore.

But they’d been on separate continents for far too long. After Cassia and Cyprian’s late-summer feast, the show didn’t pick up their story again until winter’s merciless chill had turned their island desolate and bare of food, so filming had stopped for three endless months.

And she’d missed him each day of their time apart.Allof him. Those wary brown eyes. That wall of a chest. His rusty laugh. The endless strength powering his every stride, and the quick wit sharpening his talented tongue. And now, now...

There he was. Her sexy monolith of a Viking.

Only not hers, of course. Even though she’d turned down a dozen potential hookups in their months apart, unable to erase his image from the backs of her eyelids anytime she closed her eyes to kiss someone. So, in the end, she hadn’t kissed anyone. She hadn’t hooked up. She’d spent her time among friends and family and taken care of her own sexual needs with the very competent help of her various LELO toys.

Given more time, she might get over this uncharacteristic burst of sentimentality concerning him. Just... not yet.

“Well, hello to you too, Maria.” He leaned against the doorway with a lazy smile, feet and arms both crossed. “I’m doing great. Thanks for asking.”

She raised her brows. “So you’re a fan of small talk now? Good to know.”

“In your absence, I’ve become a paragon of politeness and good manners.” His brows beetled in feigned confusion. “For some reason, it’s much easier to be nice to people when you’re not around.”

In deliberate provocation, she snapped her fingers. “Less chitchat, more lifting of my luggage,skitstövel.”

“Brat.” He pushed off from the doorframe, shaking his head. “Let me rephrase: For some reason, it’s much easier to be nice to people who don’t call you a shit-boot.”

But his shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter as he brushed past her, so close she could sense the heat of his skin, and he gripped the handles of her two largest bags.

She unlocked her door with a grin, the exhaustion from a day of travel suddenly gone. “I missed you too, Peter.”

After testing the weight of the heaviest suitcase, he sighed. “More disgusting snacks?”

“You know it,” she told him cheerfully.

With a sort of grunting noise, he heaved the suitcases over the threshold. After she rolled her carry-ons inside, he brought in the final bag and placed all the suitcases on the couch and the luggage rack, so everything would be within easy reach as she unpacked.

He held out his hand, palm up, and she stared at it in confusion.

“Do you...” She tilted her head. “Do you want a handshake? Or a low-five?”

His fingers wiggled in mute demand. “I’m waiting for my tip.”

She snorted. “Here’s my tip, then: Always ask for the money up front. Otherwise, unscrupulous foreigners will take advantage of your unparalleled politeness and good manners.”

That did it.

His laughter filled her suite. She watched his face crease in mirth and wondered—as she had repeatedly during their filming break—whether he might be able to offer her a real future together someday. If not now, then next month or even next year.

From what she could tell, he’d devoted his life almost entirelyto his profession before now. That could change, though. He could change, and so could his priorities.

A career was all well and good. But it couldn’t make him laugh like she did.

And if he let her, she intended to show him that. Starting now.

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