More from Amy Andrews #2
She’d always been a sucker for sad eyes. Which was probably why she was here, at a passenger’s cabin, breaking all the rules, delivering the abandoned wallet personally.
He probably wasn’t even in his cabin. It was three thirty in the afternoon on a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and the Med was being its beguiling self. Surely no one in their right mind would be indoors?
In which case, she’d find the room attendant, get the door opened and leave it on his bed. She’d swiped a cocktail umbrella from the bar to use as a calling card for such an eventuality and her lips curved at the thought of him finding the little yellow umbrella atop his wallet.
At the thought of him knowing she’d left it on his bed.
Kelsey stared at his door, hesitating. Maybe she should just give it to the attendant and let them deal with the situation. She looked over her shoulder – the hallway was empty. Screw it. She’d knock, and if he didn’t answer, she’d go to plan B.
With her pulse washing through her ears, Kelsey rapped on the door. A muffled ‘Just a moment’ caused a hitch in her breath as the reality of seeing him again gripped her chest.
It was utterly preposterous – he was just a man, for fuck’s sake. And a passenger at that!
Which did not prepare her – one iota – for the sight that greeted her as the door opened. Not for his wild bed hair or the dark shadow of his whiskers or the pillow mark on his face. Not for him to be dressed in nothing but a towel or the way he appeared to be trying to focus.
Was he… drunk?
Had he continued the whisky party in his cabin? He didn’t smell boozy but hell, it was so dark behind him he could be concealing a drug den for all she could tell.
‘Oh, hey.’ He frowned, his hand going to the knot of the towel sitting snug and low on narrow hips.
The action pulled her gaze downwards. Over the broad span of his shoulders and the smooth bronzed planes of pecs dusted in a light covering of hair, down the furrow bisecting his firm abs, and lower still to the happy trail heading south from his belly button.
‘Sorry,’ he said, his voice gravelly.
A hint of an accent she hadn’t picked up earlier roughed up his smooth English enunciation.
Italian? Greek?
‘I thought you were room service.’
Kelsey dragged her gaze upwards as he shoved a hand through his hair. The action bunched his triceps and revealed a dark thatch of hair under his arm that was masculine as fuck and caused a riot in her underwear.
She blinked. What the hell? Since when had armpits been a turn on? Because she was most definitely turned on by this long, lean hunk of a man. It may have been a while but she knew chemistry when it reached out and tweaked her nipples.
‘No, I came to…’ She held up his wallet. ‘You left this behind.’
He frowned again. ‘Oh right, thanks.’
He reached for it but swayed alarmingly and, before she could check the impulse, Kelsey slid her hand onto his forearm. It was warm and hard, the dark hair springy beneath her palm.
‘Whoa. Are you okay? Are you sick?’ She peered into his face as he shut his eyes and leaned heavily into the door. ‘I could call the ship doctor?’
His eyes blinked open and, between their intense focus and the heat of his skin, Kelsey could barely breathe. A lock of his hair had fallen forward onto his forehead into an honest-to-God curl, and her palm itched to push it back.
‘I’m fine,’ he dismissed. ‘I’m just coming out of a migraine. I’m always a bit lightheaded afterwards.’
‘Oh God, I’m sorry. My mother suffers from them. Is there anything I can do? A cold compress, a drink of water, some tea?’
‘Room service is bringing peppermint tea.’
Kelsey would have sworn Mr Whisky would be a coffee man. That strong, bitter shit that caused a jolt to the heart at the first sip. Tea sounded so… English. But then, so did he.
Mostly.
‘I just need to sit.’
Not trusting his ability to stay upright, Kelsey followed Ari into his cabin, lowering herself down beside him on the bed as the door clicked shut. The cabin plunged into a darkness that was the hallmark of inner cabins on cruise ships.
‘How’s that?’ Kelsey asked into a silence exacerbated by the deep, bottomless black hole pressing in from all directions.
She should take her hand off him, but he felt solid and real as her eyes adjusted to the tomb-like gloom. His aftershave seemed more pronounced too. Sweet. Wrapping her in a cloud of maple syrup and a fuck-ton of pheromones.
He grunted. ‘Better.’
‘Is it okay if I turn on the lamp or do you still need it off?’ Kelsey’s mother needed the dark when she was in the grip of a migraine.
‘On is fine.’
The low rumble of his voice went straight to her nipples and Kelsey was momentarily thankful for the lack of light as she inched her way around the bed, his wallet still in her hand.
Her feet found what she assumed were his clothes discarded on the floor.
She resolutely ignored them – the less she thought about how little he was wearing, the better!
She continued on until her knee bumped the bedside table. Placing the wallet down, she groped for the lamp switch and flicked it on, immediately adjusting the dimmer switch at the base. A low, yellow glow, like a single candle flame, illuminated the cabin.
Kelsey glanced over her shoulder, noting the sheets had been pulled back before her gaze snagged on the golden play of light across the planes and angles of his back and shoulders. His hair was short at the nape, which only seemed to emphasise the riot of dark waves atop his head.
‘That okay?’ she asked quietly.
He nodded. ‘Thank you.’
A knock and a murmured ‘Room service’ startled Kelsey.
He started to rise but she waved him down. ‘I’ll get it,’ she said, hurrying to the door, pleased he didn’t try to pull some bullshit macho act about being okay.
Kelsey hadn’t really thought about who might be on the other side and whether she’d know them but, thankfully, she didn’t. On a ship with a thousand-plus staff and a turnover higher than any ship she’d ever worked on, it wasn’t uncommon.
But Kelsey was still in the red shirt and white knee-length shorts worn by the staff manning the pool deck bar, which could be problematic if the room service attendant was a stickler for rules. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to pay Kelsey any attention and was happy to hand the tray over and depart.
Placing the tray on the nearby desk, beside a closed laptop, Kelsey fussed around making his tea, adding the cocktail umbrella on the spur of the moment.
It looked even more ridiculous in a cup of tea, but she remembered how he’d smiled at the one she’d put in his whisky, and maybe a little comic relief wouldn’t go astray right now?
Sitting beside him again, she offered him the cup and saucer. He gave a barely-there smile. ‘Do you walk around with a supply of them?’
‘Tools of the trade.’
He took the cup off the saucer, placed the umbrella on it and sipped at his tea in silence for a long moment. Heat radiated from his body, and Kelsey was conscious of how close they were as the peppermint from his tea joined the bouquet of aromas playing havoc with her senses.
‘Do you get them very often?’ Her voice was tentative as it broke the silence.
He cradled the cup in his lap. ‘I used to, not so much any more.’
‘Have you had them investigated? Sometimes they’re more than just a headache, you know?’
As soon as the words were out, Kelsey wanted to bite her tongue. Nice one, Kels . Why not imply the man has a brain tumour?
‘I mean… I didn’t mean anything serious like a…’ Bloody hell, don’t say the T word! ‘It could just be you need… glasses or something simple.’
Oh, Jesus . Shut up already!
His black eyes sought and held hers for a moment and then he chuckled, his beautiful mouth parting. Kelsey blinked as the noise poured over her skin like warm oil. Sadly, it didn’t last.
‘I was in an accident three years ago. It’s a residual thing from that.’
‘Oh God, I’m sorry. Were you badly hurt?’
‘Not really.’ He stared into his tea. ‘I was lucky.’
He raised the cup to his lips, obscuring half his face but not the trace of bitterness that had laced the word ‘lucky’. It was stark in the profound silence. Clearly, there was more to that story.
Was that why his eyes were so sad?
She inspected his profile as he drank, looking for answers, but his face was a mask. And it wasn’t any of her business. He was a passenger , for fuck’s sake. She’d returned his wallet and helped him out when he’d been unwell. She’d fulfilled her duties as a member of the Hellenic Spirit ’s crew.
Gold star for her. Now get out!
‘Well…’ She placed the umbrella on the tea tray and handed him the empty saucer. ‘I best be off, if you’re sure you’re okay.’
The teacup rattled against the saucer. Those dark eyes slid once again to hers and locked tight. ‘Yes, thank you.’ His gaze slipped to her mouth with a laser-like focus.
Kelsey suddenly realised how close they were, their arms and thighs only inches apart. Her breath hitched and her hand shook a little as she concentrated on inhaling. She’d been with guys who could excite her with a look but never with one who could interfere with her ability to breathe.
Who made her feel like there wasn’t enough air.
‘It wasn’t any trouble.’
Her voice sounded weird. High and strange, like she’d been sucking on helium.
Not the usual husky quality. And still, he stared at her mouth, and every pulse point in Kelsey’s body started to throb.
Her nipples hardened. Her belly tightened.
Heat radiated from his thigh to hers, sliding up her leg. All the way up.
She really, really should leave.
‘Maybe,’ he murmured. ‘Still…’
Kelsey waited for him to continue, to finish what he’d been about to say, but he didn’t. He just kept staring at her mouth, the sound of his breathing growing rougher and rougher, thicker and thicker, until it rubbed against her exposed flesh like a velvet glove.
He kissed her then, his mouth swift as it breached the distance between them, his lips pressed hot against hers. Not moving, just pressing. Not hard but not light either.
Firm.
Pressing and pressing. Not opening or shifting to take the kiss deeper. Not attempting to touch her. Just pressing. And breathing – hard and fast. Sucking air in and out of his nostrils in swift, harsh respirations, like he was struggling to keep himself in check.
Or struggling against some kind of internal demons.
Kelsey’s pulse hammered at her temples and beat a wild tango between her legs as she tried to compute myriad sensations coursing through her body.
How perfectly his mouth fitted against hers, how her erogenous zones had lit up like a pinball machine, how his loud, crazy breathing was a bigger turn on than everything else put together.
How she was kissing a virtual stranger. A near-naked virtual stranger. In his cabin. At her work.
A passenger.
Her sex tingled and her body pulsed at a primal level. The kind that made a lot of women stupid.
But Kelsey had used up her quota of stupid.
Tearing her mouth away, she jumped to her feet, stumbling back two steps, dragging in oxygen. ‘I… can’t,’ she muttered.
‘ Christe! ’ He shoved a hand in his hair as he stood, placing the cup and saucer on the tray before holding up his hands in a placatory manner. ‘I’m sorry.’
Kelsey shook her head, a wild unchecked thrill zinging through her body at the sight of his big, almost-naked body. ‘It’s against the rules to…’
Fuck the passengers was what she wanted to say, because God knew she wanted to push Ari George onto his bed and ride him like a pogo stick.
‘We’re not supposed to fraternise.’
‘Of course. Theé. Of course.’
Christe… Theé… Kelsey realised absently the passenger she’d just gotten waaay too close to was Greek.
‘Please, forgive me,’ he continued. ‘I… don’t know what came over me. It was unforgiveable .’
He shoved his hands on his hips, drawing her gaze downwards again. To what lay under the towel. The light might have been low but there was no mistaking the state of his arousal or the fact the man was packing some serious dick.
‘I don’t do this,’ she said, dragging her gaze back to his face. Kelsey wasn’t a rule breaker. And she needed this job. She had financial responsibilities. ‘Some staff do cross that line, but not me. I’ve never done this.’
She had no idea why she felt the need to convince him. Given he’d kissed her , she didn’t think he’d report the incident. Maybe she was just trying to convince herself? Convince her body it didn’t need what he had under that towel.
‘I believe you,’ he said as he sunk down on the bed behind him. ‘It wasn’t your fault. It was mine.’ He propped his elbows on his knees, leaned forward at the hips and cradled his face into his palms. ‘You should go.’
If Kelsey had been in her right mind, his dismissal might have rankled. Right now, she was glad for the out as she turned on her heel and fled the cabin.