11. The Consequences of Too Many Rum Runners #2
Exactly. I’m just going to use his bathtub. Nadia didn’t know why she was telling herself that. That was only something you had to do when you needed to convince yourself. And Nadia did not need to convince herself to not sleep with Dante Caruso. It would be really, really bad if she did …
Right?
She saw the backs of the two boys still playing pool; it was now or never.
Yes, it would be completely irresponsible , she told herself while she and Dante made a run for the steps, hand in hand.
Right?
Holding on to the rail, Nadia followed Dante up the stairwell, feeling the consequences of too many rum runners finally start to catch up with her.
At the top of the stairs, she toed her shoes off, afraid to walk on the white carpet.
Who the hell would put white carpet on a boat?
Gaping at the private lounge, she snapped her mouth closed when Dante turned to see what was keeping her when she didn’t follow him through two open doors.
Making her feet move at the same time as she gazed around the lounge, Nadia nearly walked into a huge round chair piled high with black fuzzy pillows.
Dante frowned at her. “How many of those rum runners did you drink?”
Righting herself, she returned his frown. “How many drinks have you had today?”
“A few,” he admitted.
Nadia gave him a superior smile, like the ones Haley would give her when she had overspent on a budget.
He went back to her. “Give me a number.”
One, two …
“I can’t. I lost count.”
“Same here.”
Curiously, she stared at him, knowing that look. “You want to bop me, don’t you?”
Dante regarded her, as if she had taken a swan dive off the balcony. “Excuse me?”
She drunkenly lowered her face to point to the back of her head. “You want to smack me the way you do Amo.”
“Oh … no.” Dante’s icy gaze sparked a small fire. “I don’t want to smack you the way I do Amo.”
Her rum runners kept her from recognizing his true meaning as it went right over her drunken head.
“Good. I have to admit, I don’t know what I would have done if you had taken me up on my offer.
” Moving around him, Nadia wished she had her phone so she could take a picture.
The bed was a showstopper. The sleek black bed took up most of the room, which was twice the size of hers.
Five people could sleep on it and still have space to roll over. “You must be a restless sleeper.”
“Why?” Dante asked, giving her another strange expression at the personal question.
“The bed is the freaking size of Texas.”
For the first time, he took his gaze off her to look at the bed. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Not by much. Where’s the tub? In Oklahoma?” She laughed at her own joke, as if it was the funniest fucking thing ever told. She only stopped laughing when Dante hadn’t even started.
Walking past the bed, he slid another door open.
Her eyes immediately lit up, eyeing the clawfoot tub glistening in the moonlight coming through the window it was sitting in front of.
Hell to the no. “I can’t take a bath in that.”
“Why not? I told you it was a clawfoot t—”
“Well, you failed to mention the giant window in front of it!”
Dante went to the tub and started the water. “Who can see? There isn’t a deck below this room, and there aren’t any ships close to us.”
Moving to the window, she pressed her nose to the glass to see for herself. “Oh … Then you can leave. I can take it from here.” She started untying the knot she had made to close the bottom of his shirt.
Instead of leaving, Dante opened a cabinet. “This is where the towels are. There are some soaps and bath salts you can use, if you want,” he offered, watching her unbutton the shirt.
Practically salivating, Nadia had to check out the tempting items that could practically furnish a small bath store. Her attention wasn’t diverted when he went to turn the water off.
“Rosemary lemon.” Nadia winkled her nose, preferring not to smell like a Thanksgiving turkey, then moved on to Lavender Dream. “Got anything other than flowery scents?”
“You don’t like flowery scents?”
“Nope. Makes me feel like I’m in a funeral home.” Going on her tippy toes, she found a yellow bottle that interested her enough to grab it. “Got you.”
“Which one did you pick?”
Did he stub his toe when she wasn’t looking, because why was his voice sounding so hoarse?
She held the now open bottle to her nose; it smelled like the perfect day in the sun, which was appropriate, considering where she was, but this somehow smelled better.
It smelled of vanilla beaches and sea salt breezes, but the most intoxicating part of the scent was the sun-dried oranges. “Sunshine Kisses.”
“Good choice.”
“I thought so.” She showed him the bottle. “It foams, too, so it’s a win-win. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a tub of warm water calling my name.”
Dante reached past her to take two towels out then put them in something that resembled a clothes hamper.
“I didn’t touch them. They aren’t dirty.”
“This is a towel warmer,” Dante explained.
Nadia started to bend down to examine the contraption, but as she did, she felt a wave of dizziness attack her.
“Whoa …” Grabbing the side of the tub to make the room stop spinning, she felt Dante grab her arm to steady her.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Nothing a few splashes of water won’t fix. If you ever leave …” she hinted.
“I’m going to watch a game in the lounge. If you need something, yell out, and no more rum runners for the rest of the night.”
“Yes, Dad,” she mocked then began to giggle when Dante’s face looked like it had been chiseled from stone. “You have problems with people joking around you?”
“Not when they are funny …”
She laughed through blurry eyes. “Have any of your kids told you that you’re a downer?”
“No.” His face had finally moved, but only to frown even more.
Nadia, however, didn’t hold back. “Take it from someone who has a best friend who is also one. You are.”
“Then why are you friends with her?” he asked honestly.
“Haley asks me that all the time.”
His honesty turned into curiosity. “So, what do you tell her?”
“That I don’t pick and choose what I love about her. I love all of her.” She spoke the words that came so simply to her. “Despite her lack of sense of humor.”
“Are you and Haley a couple?”
“No.” Nadia specifically blamed the last rum runner she’d had for the saucy wink she gave him. “I like men the way I liked my bath water—hot.” Smashing a hand over her mouth, she almost tumbled backward into the bathwater. Luckily for her, Dante ran forward and held her upright.
“I don’t think it’s safe to leave you alone with a tub full of water.”
Nadia gave him a pfft . “I would be fine if you quit distracting me.”
“How am I distracting you?”
Unconsciously, Nadia splayed her hands over his chest while she noticed him trying to assess how drunk she was. “I’m s-o-b-e-r,” she spelled the words out to him rather slowly.
“From where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem that way to me.”
The alcohol made her brave enough to keep saying the things she had been wanting to tell him. “You’re just being overcritical of me, which you’ve been since you met me.”
“I haven’t been critical of you,” he said, taking no offense.
“Ah … Then it’s your persona.”
Okay … now he was offended.
“What persona?”
“Condescending. You come across as being very condescending.” Nadia shrugged, supposing it came with the job.
And now he was past offended.
“I do not.”
She couldn’t help but feel as if the tables had turned from when they were in her cabin and he was calling her dramatic. Rightfully so.
“You do. You’re doing it now.”
“Right now, I’m annoyed,” he clarified the difference in a warning tone.
“Yeah, I get that from you, too. I was just being nice not to say so.” She crossed her arms, the action causing her breasts to lift higher. “And if I’m annoying you so much, why don’t you leave so I can take my bath?”
Dante took a cooling breath. “I’m not annoyed at you. I’m annoyed at myself, so it doesn’t matter if I’m here or in the lounge.”
She slowly dropped her arms back to her sides, taking in his sudden change. “Why are you annoyed at yourself?”
“Because, right now”—his next cooling breath came out rather shakily—“the only thing I can think about is you finishing unbuttoning my shirt.”
“Um …” Nadia licked her suddenly dry lips. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
Meeting her eyes, he gave a long pause for her to say something else. When she didn’t, he turned to leave.
“Don’t go.” Nadia couldn’t understand where her plea had come from, or why she reached out to grab his arm. “I must have hit my head when you pushed me into your car.”
Turning back, he swept his gaze down at her again. “Why?”
“Because I don’t know why I said that,” she lied, knowing it was, but she couldn’t keep her mind up with what her body was telling her.
“Want me to give you a clue?”
A thrill rushed up her spine when his fingers went to the top button of the shirt she was wearing. At the movement, his knuckles grazed her nipple behind the swim top underneath. Sucking in a deep breath, she waited breathlessly for him to give her another clue.
Cool air from the vent above raised goose bumps on her skin, or was it Dante’s touch?
With her heart racing, Nadia curled her fingers under the opening of his shirt.
The firmness of his flesh sparked an arousal, which would normally mortify her that she was being so handsy with a man she had just met the day before.
Of course, Nadia was no virgin. At thirty years old, she had even experienced a one-night stand or two when the need had hit, but this felt like anything but.
This felt like the start of a beautiful beginning or a disastrous ending.
Which one it was, she wouldn’t be sure until she was on the other side of it.