Page 18 of Total Ship Show

Free rein to kiss the hot doctor.

There could certainly be worse ways to spend this trip.

“Right. I guess that’s true.”

“Look, I promise to be a gentleman. I won’t try to pull a fast one on you or talk you into doing anything you don’t want to do. We’re just two adults pretending to be in love at sea for a week. Maybe we can just have fun with it? Make two not-so-comfortable situations better for both of us?”

He is literally an answer to my prayers right now.

I would be an idiot to pass up this opportunity.

“One week,” I repeat. “We can do this.”

He offers me a high five and I smack his hand. “We can totally do this, but we need to work out our story so we can keep everything straight.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Aris stands and grabs our trash to throw away.

What does he mean by that?

He comes back to our table and offers me his hand.

“What do you mean? I need to know the answers to certain questions in order to say the right things in front of your family.”

“Nah. I don’t want to have to study. Let’s just wing it and have a little fun.”

We walk out of The Pizza Place hand in hand, though I’m looking at this man like he’s a crazy ass weirdo who just offered me a million bucks. He looks at me with a simple shrug, a megawatt smile, and a squeeze of my hand and says, “Let’s go find my family.”

A chuckle builds from deep within me. “Oh, Dr. McElfry I do hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Meh. I think no matter what happens, we’re both in for a hell of a fun week.”

I nod with a laugh. “On that, I think we can agree.”

For the first time in a long time, I feel a certain kind of happy spark in my chest. Like a weight has been lifted and I no longer give a damn what people think because I have

Dr. Hottie McFuckme - yep, upgraded again - standing by my side. He seems carefree enough to be game for just about anything.

Well…game on.

Let’s play.

* * *

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Tayla,” Mrs. McElfry says to me over Champagne sipping. From Corona to champagne, I’ve definitely consumed enough alcohol to give me a wonderful buzz.

I lay my hand on Mrs. McElfry’s arm. “Oh, the pleasure is all mine. Your son talks about you all, all the time. But as we had yet to meet, I was beginning to think he was making up a story about having a family on the east coast. It’s wonderful to finally put faces with names.”

“Trust me,” Aris’s brother Aiden cuts in. “We were all thinking the same thing about you.”

I laugh and give Aris a playful bump with my hip. “Well, I’m as real as real can be.”

“And what is it you do, Tayla?”

Aris meets my eyes. It looks like he’s about to answer for me when I announce, “I’m a wildlife biologist.”

He swallows and I simply smile back at him.

Hmm. Did I just make him nervous?

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