Page 18 of Love on Deck

Well, I hadn’t lied to her before this weekend. If I did this, that would be fully breaking my promise to myself. But it would also mean reducing her stress during her wedding and getting the promotion I’d worked so hard for. Without this conference, Jerry had the promotion in the bag. I needed my own event, and it needed to be on a large scale.

“You’ll set up the contract before we start this whole façade, right?” I asked.

Jack rubbed a hand over his chin, more serious than I knew he was capable of being. “I can’t. If you don’t hold up your side of things, I’m not going to the effort of moving our conference. So you have to do yours first.”

That was fair. “How do I know you have that kind of power?”

“I pretty much run the conference board. I don’t have that kind of power on my own, but I can win them over.” He flashed me a smile.

Yeah, I had zero doubts about his ability to win anyone over. It was a steady mental stream of him making out with the waitress on our date and that awful voicemail that kept me from falling victim to his charm. His flirting wasn’t real. It was a means to an end. Like everything else in life, it wouldn’t last anyway.

I played with the zipper of my laptop bag. “Do we have a deal?”

He lowered his voice, his eyes flicking back and forth between mine. “I have stipulations for the relationship.”

I swallowed. He was standing so close it was almost time to stop breathing again. “What are they?”

“You have to sit by me.”

“Well, yeah.” Wasn’t that a given?

“You have to spend time with me.”

I nodded. I was essentially his Sydney-repellent, so this came with the territory.

“And you can’t work on the ship.”

There it was. The record scratching. “What? Why?”

“I will help you with whatever’s going on at your job that’s making you willing to date me for a week, but you have to put the computer away when we reach that ship and devote your attention to your sister.”

It was an oddly selfless parameter from him, and it made my defenses rise. “I already planned on not working.” Or at least, not working too much.

“Then it won’t be hard to agree. It’s part of the deal, Lauren. You work on that cruise and the bet is off.”

Could I sever myself from the office for an entire week? I mean, they expected it, of course, but I had still planned on staying mildly in touch so I wasn’t too out of the loop when I returned, or so buried in emails it would take days to dig myself out. It would be a sacrifice, but it was worth bringing the MediCorp conference to the Hunnam Group. It would be worth earning my promotion.

“Fine.”

“We have a deal?” Jack stuck out his hand.

I slid mine into it. “We have a deal.”

He tightened his grip and pulled me in, sliding his hands around my waist and anchoring me close. My body went into fright mode, completely still, clocking the motion and the location of his large hands on my back as he pulled me in for a hug.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“If we’re going to date, you have to get used to being touched, Lauren.”

“Eww.”

“It’s just a hug,” he said in exasperation, like he was tired of explaining the globe to a group of flat-earthers.

He was right, though. I agreed to do this, so touching was part of the territory. I relaxed a little, trying not to breathe in his delicious scent.

“Usually, during a hug,” he whispered into my ear, “both people put their arms around the other person.”

I rolled my eyes but gave in. It wouldn’t hurt to get the first real hug over with. I mean, not real, but also not forced upon me in a fit of panic in front of Sydney or my sister like they were last night. I put my arms lightly around Jack’s waist and he readjusted so he was still holding me just as tightly. He pressed into my back, and I turned my head away from his neck, resting it against the hollow from his collarbone. I stopped trying to hold my breath and relaxed.

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