Page 21 of Love on Deck

Jack and I stood in silence for a few more minutes before she looked up again. “If you can wait until we set sail, see me here and I’ll re-key your cards. I can’t do it until we’ve left the port. That way we’re guaranteed the other guests aren’t joining us.”

“Understood,” Jack said, pulling me flush against his rock-hard side.

Wait, re-key our cards? I hadn’t actually agreed to anything yet.

“The change in room fees will be charged to your account when this goes through. As of right now, everything is ready to go, but you’ll have to sign the form before anything can be processed.”

Again, we didn’t agree to anything. I looked for my sister. She had put her phone away and was looking out the windows on the opposite side of the room still, out of earshot. “I don’t—”

“Thank you, Cheryl,” Jack said. “You have made one man very happy.”

She beamed at Jack. I wanted to punch him in the stomach. His fingers were playing my waist like a piano now. When we reached our room—whenever that was—I was going to lay down some ground rules. All this touching was further clouding my brain, and we couldn’t have that. Not when I was supposed to be executing a wedding this week.

“It’s the least I can do,” Cheryl said. “You look like my son, so I couldn’t resist pulling a string.”

Jack beamed. “I’ve never been so glad to resemble someone else. Thank you, ma’am. You have a blessed day.”

He led me away from the desk.

“What the heck?” I whisper-yelled. “Not only do we have to share a room, but now we have to pay for it? We never actually agreed to pay for an upgrade anyway.”

“We’d do that if we were together,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry about the extra expense. I’ll cover it.”

I was an extremist when it came to being cheap, and I was the first to admit so. But when you grew up as poor as I had, it was hard parting with money unnecessarily. Especially for something like this. The way he’d thrown that offer out there, so blasé, made me want to be contradictory just for the sake of it.

“No. I’m benefitting from this arrangement too. We’re partners, and we’ll split the cost.” Besides, if he started paying for things, that would only feel even more like we were a real couple. I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

“Suit yourself.”

“Good idea!” Kevin yelled, startling us both. He had come out of nowhere, Amelia right behind him, flashing his perfect teeth. “Grab your suits and meet us at the pool? The girls want to tan.”

Which was my perfect segue out of that activity. “I can’t. I’ll just burn.”

“Sunscreen?” Kevin offered, as if I’d never heard of the invention before.

“I’ll still burn.”

“It’s true,” Amelia said, corroborating my claim. “She has the palest skin.”

Thanks, sis. “But you should all go! I’ll just get my book and find a quiet place to read.”

Kevin looked at me like I was a monkey behind a glass wall. I would bet half my life savings he hadn’t read a book since middle school.

Half, because it would be reckless to bet the whole thing, no matter how sure the outcome.

Amelia looked torn. “I can come hang out with you—”

“No, don’t worry about it. I haven’t had time to read a book in ages. I won’t feel left out.” I tried to smile, but she still looked worried. The last thing I wanted was to make her feel like the wedding party was divided, but sunbathing just wasn’t something I could do. “Thank your genes you don’t have to sit out with me.”

She gave me a nose-wrinkling smile, but I knew she was relieved. Her olive skin tanned as quickly as mine burned.

“Don’t stress about it,” Jack said, slipping his hand around mine. His fingers interlocked with mine perfectly, and he gave me a gentle squeeze. “Lauren won’t be alone. I’d rather be with her anyway.”

Relief washed over Amelia’s face. “Great. So we’ll meet up afterward?”

“For sure,” I said through somewhat clenched teeth.

“What did they say about the rooms?” she asked, looking between us.

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