Three
Emerson
My heart slammed against my chest wall, and I could barely breathe as I stared at Fraser Cassel, the man who’d consumed my thoughts, over and over, for the past three months.
“Our room,” he corrected.
My head tilted, and I probably looked like a confused puppy. “What?”
“ Our room.”
“I don’t think so. I won this…” I trailed off when he grinned, and things started clicking into place. Just like spotting an error hidden deep in a line of code, I realized the situation wasn’t what I’d been led to believed. “What do you have to do with this?”
He shrugged. “I wanted more time with you, so…I arranged more time with you.”
I glanced at the king-sized bed then looked pointedly at him, a brow lifted. My hand flung out toward the offending item of furniture that had looked so comfy just moments ago. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
Even if I really, really wanted to. I wanted to kiss him and have him follow through on that all too-brief-caress of my cheek. I needed to feel his lips against mine, his weight on me, all those hard muscles—
And I needed to get a grip; that’s what I needed. And not a grip on Fraser, though I craved the opportunity to touch him. He stepped closer to me, and I nearly got weak-kneed from his spicy scent, undiluted by all the other bodies as it had been in the club. Dear God, how had I forgotten how good he smelled? He smelled like…Christmas and fantasies. Not overpowering but just right.
He glanced toward the sleeping area and frowned. “Yeah, that’s a mistake.”
“I’d say,” I retorted, bristling. “That was quite an assumption to make—”
“I meant it’s a mistake there’s only one bed. There are supposed to be two. The ship only has single bedroom suites, but this one was supposed to have two beds in it. Let me call the porter.”
For some reason, the information disappointed a part of me. Sometimes, my inner self made no sense. I wanted Fraser, and sleeping with him so soon would be wrong. Propriety and all that.
I crossed my arms over my chest, creating a barrier between us when I really wanted to step closer. “What? He’s just going to wheel this one out and wheel in two different beds? I don’t see that happening.” I shook my head. “We’re adults. We can figure this out, I guess.”
“As tempting as that offer is, I don’t want to push you into anything.”
I looked around then raised my brow at him again. “Um, I’d say you’re a little late on that count. You manipulated me into taking a cruise with you. I mean… serious manipulation that involved other people.”
“I was being romantic,” he defended.
I fought a swoon . No one had ever done anything like that for me.
Still, I shoved aside any soft feelings. “Or a stalker.”
He sighed. “That’s what my brother said.”
“Smart man.”
All amusement left his face. “You’re not frightened are you? Grand gestures aside, I just wanted us to have time to get to know each other. I promise you’re completely safe with me. I just used my connections to find out things about you.”
I coughed into my hand, saying, “Stalker.”
Fraser shook his head and lifted the phone next to the beautiful flowers he’d sent me.
“Hello, I’m calling from the Blake-Cassel suite. We have a small problem that needs to be corrected. I specified two beds, and there’s only one.” He listened for a moment then glanced at his watch. “Yes, thank you. That will be fine. We have second seating, so we’ll be out of your way.”
After he hung up, he turned to me. “Do you want to get ready for dinner? We have second seating today, which means we need to be down there in about an hour. Marco will correct the bed situation while we’re out, so we should keep our things out of the way in there.”
“Marco’s going to…”
Fraser took my hand and guided me into the bedroom. I should have been nervous, having this strange man lead me toward a mattress, but I wasn’t. Maybe, I wasn’t as smart as purported.
To my surprise, he lifted the edge of the bedding and showed me the base of the bed and the latches holding everything secure. “The rooms come with one or two bed options, and all the beds convert.”
“Well, I apologize for calling you a perv. I guess.”
“You didn’t.”
“I thought it.” I shrugged and headed back to the other room for my suitcase. “Thank you for the awesome cruise and all the excursion options. I’ll decide tonight what I want to do. I intend to make the most of all the money you must have spent on this. Wouldn’t want to waste your grand gesture when you could have just showed up and taken me to coffee.”
“Coffee.” Looking down, he shook his head and huffed a sigh as if that idea hadn’t ever occurred to him. He appeared chagrined when he met my gaze again. “We can choose some activities together.”
“Well, sure, I guess. I mean, of course.” If a hot guy, who managed to lower my IQ by fifty points, wanted to spend time with me, who was I to say no? Seriously, I could barely function while he was in the room. And I should have figured out the bed thing without making accusations. I was a little embarrassed by that, but who knew separating frames was a thing on cruise ships—besides Fraser and the ship’s crew, that is?
“Wonderful.”
I dragged my suitcase over to the side of the sitting room and opened it to retrieve my toiletries. Then after grabbing my garment case, I headed toward the bathroom. On the way, I paused and turned to face Fraser.
“So…in the spirit of getting to know each other, and since we’ll be planning joint excursions, you should know I’m terrified of big bodies of water. Full disclosure, I’m not fond of small bodies of water, too.”
Horror dawned over his handsome features. “Wait…”
“You want the bathroom first?”
He shook his head slowly, but I already knew that’s not what he meant.
His hand scrubbed over his forehead, his other hand planted on his hip, as he processed. “So…I gave an expensive cruise to a woman who hates water?”
“Yep. That sums it up.”
“Shit,” he muttered.
I closed the distance between us then went on tiptoe and brushed my lips over his cheek. Dropping to flat feet, I patted the spot I’d kissed. “Gotta bone up on those stalker skills, Fray.”
“Yeah,” he growled, and the self-annoyed sound raked across my senses. To my shock, I felt myself get decidedly warm and damp at my center. That had never happened.
Well, except for in New York when he’d gotten me totally turned on, just by standing there being all sexy and intense.
“Anything else I need to know?” he asked. “Any other fears?”
“No, not really. I mean, after my parents died in a boating accident, I was raised by my aunt, who passed away last year. But you probably know that about me.”
“Boating accident. I’m firing my PI,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m sorry, Emerson.”
“I was pretty young when it happened.” I kinda felt bad for the guy, but he had crossed all kinds of lines to get me here, so it wasn’t too sorry. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”
And I really wanted to. To figure out things between us. He’d gone to an awful lot of effort to get me here. And there was just something about this man. He drew me.
Hell, he’d been drawing me for months, though I’d known I would never see him again. How many times had I looked at his pic on my phone? Too many. I couldn’t say with confidence, if I had his connections and money, I wouldn’t have snooped into him, as well. Though… Knowing me, I would have gone with the just showing up for coffee option.