Chapter Four Lucky
Chapter Four
Lucky
There was always more to do than we had time for on the yacht. It was easy to get caught up in my never-ending to-do list and I tried hard to push thoughts of Hunter away but was unsuccessful. I kept glancing out of windows hoping to catch sight of him.
When there were no guests on board, our workday ended at six o’clock. Everybody headed downstairs to the crew mess, where Andre had prepared us a Thai-inspired meal that smelled divine. My stomach grumbled loudly as I followed the scent.
The crew mess had two side-by-side tables with a long wraparound bench for us to sit on, like a booth at a restaurant. I was one of the last to arrive and almost everyone else was already eating. I grabbed a plate and sat down next to Pieter, who was slurping up noodles while also keeping his puppy dog eyes on Georgia, who was whispering something to Kai.
Poor Pieter.
And maybe this was the reason for the new rule. We didn’t need the drama and distraction that inevitably accompanied romantic entanglements among the crew.
My heart did not get the memo, though, and nearly beat out of my chest when Hunter came into the room with Thomas.
That thumping got worse when Hunter sat down next to me, on the very edge of the bench. There really wasn’t room and I had to scoot over to accommodate him. His broad shoulders very nearly touched mine.
“Hi,” he said with a smile, and my throat closed in on itself, preventing me from responding.
He didn’t seem to notice and started eating. I was busy watching the way his mouth moved as he ate, admiring the lines in his throat when he swallowed, memorizing the appreciative noise he made when he tasted his food.
I forced my eyes forward, well aware of my own patheticness. Then his right knee brushed against mine and my kneecaps started melting like they were made of ice and he was a blowtorch. My nerves jangled and I could feel my leg tingling. I expected him to apologize and move his leg away but he didn’t.
Like he wasn’t even aware that he’d done it.
I was having some kind of physical and existential crisis over here and he was oblivious.
That felt like a very obvious indication that he was not interested in me. That he could touch me and not even be aware of it.
I wanted to groan. It had been way too long since I’d been on a date, given how I was overreacting to something so small and innocuous.
Everyone continued to chat and eat, and by all accounts it was just a typical crew dinner.
I was the only one being weird.
Despite my best efforts not to, I couldn’t help but watch Hunter out of the corner of my eye. It was like everything he did fascinated me. He took a second helping and all of his attention was focused on demolishing his food. I felt a little lightheaded as I imagined what it must be like to have him concentrating all his energy on me.
“Are you not hungry?” Hunter asked, his voice rumbling from deep in his chest, surprising me.
Yes, I was hungry. Just not for food. Which was the problem. “I’m full.”
“Should we go upstairs and have a beer?” Thomas asked the group, and almost everyone enthusiastically agreed. The captain didn’t mind if we had a couple of drinks the night before a charter so long as we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning and ready to work.
As everyone stood up and cleared their plates, I considered my options. I could hide out in my cabin and avoid everyone. That was my first inclination. I’d always been a fan of the run-and-hide method for dealing with my problems.
But I knew it would be worse if I didn’t go. I was supposed to be watching over both Hunter and Emilie and I couldn’t do that from inside my cabin.
Plus, I had to figure out a way to keep Georgia and Emilie from trying to score points from their list, and the only way to rain on their parade was with my actual presence.
I had a blue ribbon in being a wet blanket.
“Are you coming?” Hunter asked as he stood up, and I nodded, getting my plate.
We went into the galley and Georgia took our plates so that she could scrub them. Pieter had put himself on drying duty in order to stand next to her.
“Hunter, help me bring this ice chest upstairs!” Thomas called out. Hunter went over to help.
I headed abovedeck and Kai was right behind me. We walked in silence to the sundeck, where Hunter and Thomas were setting up the drinks. I sat down on one of the outdoor couches. Kai grabbed a couple of bottles of beer and came over to where I was sitting. He offered me one but I waved it away. Given the precarious state my hormones were in, I needed to keep all my wits about me. My body did not need the excuse to act out inappropriately.
Kai sank down next to me, opening his bottle and taking a deep swig. He sighed and leaned back.
“I’ve never seen you so flustered by someone before,” he said, nodding his head in Hunter’s direction.
“I’m not flustered,” I denied, far too quickly, judging by the smile on Kai’s face. “It’s just ... he’s new. And I’m unaccustomed to him.”
That sounded weak even to my own ears.
“He’s definitely green,” he said.
“I know. I felt his hands,” I responded and realized too late how that sounded.
“You what?” He was far too entertained. Kai had been on the ship since I’d arrived and it had always amused him that I was the only crewmember not trying to find a one-night stand in every port we partied in.
Something he never had an issue with.
“It’s not what you think.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” he said from over the top of his beer bottle before he took another drink.
I let out a sigh of annoyance. I did not have to explain myself to Kai. “You know what the rules are.”
“I do. But rules are made to be broken.”
“Rules are made to be kept and followed or else the entire world devolves into anarchy and chaos,” I retorted and Kai laughed.
There was a prickly, heated feeling at the base of my neck and I turned to see Hunter watching me. He had a bottle in his hand and was seated on the couch across from us, with Emilie on one side and Thomas on the other.
“Well, hopefully your man will catch on quickly. He tried today but we don’t really give gold stars for effort here. Captain might get rid of him if he’s not up to the task.”
Why did that make me feel like someone had plunged an ice pick into my chest? It might be a good thing for my weak will if Hunter had to leave. Would Captain Carl really send him packing if he couldn’t meet the ship’s standards?
Thinking of Hunter being fired turned my thoughts back to Georgia and Emilie’s list. I briefly toyed with the idea of telling the captain about it but worried I’d only make myself look bad. Like I couldn’t handle my junior stews.
It seemed better to pretend that I knew nothing about it and keep my head down and just work hard.
Lots and lots of hard work and no thinking about Hunter.
But it didn’t help matters that I was so aware of where he was the entire time. Who he was talking to, the way he smiled, and how his eyes danced when someone said something he liked. The rich, deep sound of his laughter and how I wished that I were the reason for it.
This was so, so bad.
I had to find a way to get a grip. I blamed my anxiety spiral from earlier for putting me into a vulnerable emotional state. I would feel this way about anybody who had tried to assist me. If it had been Francois, I would have ...
Nope. I couldn’t finish the lie. I would have sent Francois away. I would have sent all of them away, including Georgia. I wouldn’t have let any of the crew see me like that.
I didn’t know why I had let Hunter stay.
Emilie leaned her whole body toward Hunter while Thomas told him some story that had the bosun gesturing wildly. My blood pressure rose when Emilie moved in and put her hand on Hunter’s upper thigh.
But without making a spectacle or drawing attention to it, he gently took her arm by the wrist and put her hand back on her own lap in one smooth, fluid motion.
I could see the shock on her face from here. Emilie was also very blond and very pretty and I was fairly certain that this was the first time she had ever been rejected.
She did not seem to be enjoying the experience.
It probably wasn’t a good thing that I was.
Because my job now was to find a way to put Hunter into the “friend” and “coworker” categories in my mind and keep him there.
It was just hard when he looked like he should have been walking the red carpet in Cannes instead of cleaning the yacht sitting in the Old Port.
Francois called Kai over. Kai stood up and then said to me, “He keeps looking at you, in case you were wondering.”
Now I knew my cheeks were red because I could feel my face heating. Kai smiled again and went to see what the first mate wanted.
The idea of Hunter stealing glances at me should not have filled me with so much hope.
Kai’s empty spot was immediately filled by Georgia. She let out a loud sigh. “Hunter is so pretty. Mother, may I?”
“No, you may not.”
“You’re not my mother,” she said and then added, “You don’t understand. I need him biblically. Or as they say, in a way that will be concerning to feminism.”
“I—” How could I respond? I couldn’t reprimand her when I was over here thinking the same kinds of thoughts.
“He seems like the kind of guy who would willingly sacrifice himself for the noble cause of female hedonism, right?”
I hope so.
Francois came over, strumming on a guitar. “Do you have any requests?” he asked, trying to make deep eye contact with Georgia.
“Do you know ‘Not Now’ or ‘Go Away’?” she retorted.
He took her words in stride with a smile and walked over to where Hunter and Emilie sat with Thomas.
She went right back to her soliloquy on Hunter. “It’s fine. He’ll be mine once I break out the heavy artillery. I’m going to hit him with both barrels.”
There was a long pause before she added, “Unless there’s something you want to tell me.”
I couldn’t even protest that I didn’t know what she was talking about. She was giving me an opening. Admit that I had an unsuitable crush on our newest deckhand. It wasn’t a big leap. Even Kai had noticed.
But I wasn’t interested in staking a claim.
“You should get rid of that list and do what Captain Carl asks,” I settled on. At least it would allow me to ease my guilty conscience. I would keep quiet and let her make her own decisions but I didn’t have to be party to it.
“We both know that’s not going to happen,” she said with a grin. “Time for me to get my weapons ready.”
She stood and pushed her shoulders back. Given the predatory looks on both her and Emilie’s faces, it was like a sickly gazelle had accidentally wandered into the lair of a couple of starving lionesses.
“I’m going to bed,” I announced, not sure if anyone even heard me over Francois’s singing and their general merriment and seduction plans.
It was still very early in the evening but I did not need to witness Georgia making her move.
Mostly because I was worried about what I might do to try to stop her.