Chapter Thirty-Four Lucky
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lucky
As we settled into our bunk that night, I suggested Calamity Jane for our movie and he agreed.
This was the first time he had held me while we watched something together, and it was so much better than just sitting side by side. Another thing I should have been doing since the beginning.
As I searched for the movie, he was playing with the ends of my hair with his free hand. He said, “Today was a really beautiful day. I wish we could have called in sick and played hooky together.”
His words made my stomach flutter. That he talked about us like a couple and all the ways I imagined we could play hooky. It made me believe that we would work out and ride off into the sunset together.
“Yachts don’t really do sick days,” I told him. “Unless something’s broken or we’re in need of surgery, we have to soldier on. I personally wish there were such things as calling in healthy. ‘Sorry, Captain, I’m not coming in today because I feel great and I don’t want to spend my time scrubbing a toilet with a toothbrush.’”
He smiled and I turned my face up toward his. He reached over and brushed his knuckles against my cheek. “I’m trying very hard to respect your rule but you’re making it extremely difficult.”
“I am?” I asked in surprise. “I didn’t do anything.”
“I’m tempted just by you existing.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. I understood that feeling all too well. Worry and concern intruded their way into my brain and forced me to ask, “What if it’s just sea goggles?”
His hand stilled. “What?”
“It’s what yachties say about being on board a ship. That someone who is like a four on land is a nine on a boat because your options are so limited.”
Hunter’s blue eyes were so sincere that I didn’t doubt his next words. “There are no goggles here. I see you clearly. Land or sea.”
Now I wanted to kiss him. “Let’s start the movie.”
“Need the distraction, do you?”
He understood me far too well.
We began to watch and I did my best to pay attention to the plot. I had always loved this movie, even if I was always outraged on Calamity’s behalf that her supposed best friend stole her crush.
I paused the movie. “Do you know what’s annoying?”
“Not being able to kiss you?”
“No,” I said, although that was very annoying. “If Katie had just told Calamity that she wasn’t Adelaid Adams, Calamity still would have brought her back to Deadwood. She didn’t need to hide who she was.”
He nodded and looked pensive. Like there was something he needed to say. I waited.
“Lucky, there’s something I need to get off my chest.”
Good heavens, please let it be his shirt, I fervently prayed. Which led to thoughts of his torso in general and how magnificent it was, what it had been like to touch him and kiss him, and the next thing I knew, I was leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his throat.
“What was that?” he asked, both confused and delighted.
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that. I was just picturing you without your shirt—” I covered my mouth with my hands. I seriously needed to shut up.
“And then you were overcome by lust for me?”
“Something like that.” Exactly that. “I didn’t mean to do that. It was completely involuntary.”
There were only so many times I could use that as an excuse. Even though it was true. One minute I was thinking about him and the next my mouth was fused to the man’s neck. Like a deranged, starving vampire.
What was wrong with me? I had told him we couldn’t kiss and here I was, less than twenty-four hours later, doing exactly that.
“Do you have any other body parts that like to do involuntary things?” he asked playfully.
“No!” I quickly exclaimed. I had to head this off immediately before the rest of me started getting ideas.
“Does this mean we can kiss again?”
“Kissing was a onetime thing. Well, I guess technically now it’s a one-and-a-half-time thing. But definitely not a two-time thing!”
“One and a half? What was the half?”
I gestured in the direction of his neck. “I kissed you but not on the mouth.”
“How is that half a kiss?”
“If I had kissed you on the lips, then it would be a full one.”
“So ...,” he said, his fingers drifting up my arm, leaving tiny trails of fire everywhere he touched. “If I kiss you someplace that’s not your lips, it would count under that half that you’ve already done.”
That made perfect sense to me. I nodded.
“If I kiss you on your cheek”—his fingers caressed me there—“or on your neck, on your jaw, your eyelids, your earlobes ... that still only counts as half?”
“I mean, that’s only logical.” I sighed as he kissed me softly on the cheek, the stubble from his jaw rubbing against my skin. “You make my brain turn off.”
He pulled back. “I’m ... sorry?” As if he weren’t sure how to respond.
“It’s a good thing,” I told him. “When I’m with you like this, I can just be present and enjoy myself without worrying about the five hundred different ways things could go wrong. You help to quiet that anxiety I feel.”
“I’m glad I make you not think,” he said, pressing a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “Get ready to do a whole bunch of not thinking.”
He kissed his way up, heading toward my ear. He sucked the bottom of the lobe into his warm mouth and I gasped while arching against him, stars exploding behind my eyelids.
“Still not thinking?” he murmured against my skin.
“Totally blank,” I said breathlessly, my heart thudding dangerously hard, my lungs constricting so tightly I was worried they might cut off my oxygen flow.
He moved down to a spot I hadn’t even realized was sensitive, just behind my ear, toward the back of my neck. I gasped again, digging my fingers into his shirt as zings of pleasure shot up and down my spine. It had me shuddering against him.
“Are you sure you didn’t major in anatomy?” I asked as the way he was kissing my throat drove me completely wild. I felt like I was barely hanging on to reality.
“Minored in it,” he teased as he ghosted his lips along my collarbone, staying tantalizingly out of reach. “I aim to please.”
“That’s not what you said before.”
Now he was kissing my collarbone and I felt him grin against my skin. “Depends on the situation. And when it comes to you, I’ll always aim to please.”
And I was so, so glad.
As he continued on his quest to make me not think, I realized that we were brushing right up against that line I had set for us.
Technically we weren’t breaking the rule, although most likely we were breaking it in spirit.
Only, once again, I didn’t care. This was going to be a problem.
I had told myself it was better to be safe than sorry.
But I was careening headfirst toward sorry.
We were tangled up in each other the next morning as Hunter gently kissed my forehead.
“The captain trusts me,” I said. “I don’t want to ruin that trust.”
“I understand that.”
“I’m not qualified for this job. He took a big risk on me.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re more than qualified. You’re the best chief stew I’ve ever worked with.” He let out a puff of air as I poked him in the chest.
“I’m the only chief stew you’ve ever worked with!”
“But still the best.” Now he was running his fingers along my hair, tucking it behind my ear.
“I can’t let him down.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Stop being so agreeable!” I protested.
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry, though. “What is it you want me to tell you?”
“I ...” I wanted him to say that everything would be all right. That he and I had a future and would find a way to be together. That he wouldn’t cheat on me and wouldn’t abandon me the first time things got hard.
That he loved me.
Too soon, that voice inside me said.
“I could tell you ... that this is definitely my lucky day,” he said as he kissed my cheek. “Or that every day with you is my lucky day.”
“You’re not funny.”
“I think I have promise.”
My phone beeped and I reached for it. I turned so that I was flat on my back, Hunter’s head right next to mine.
Rose had texted.
We need that money for Chauncy’s vet bill.
I already sent that to you.
That was the down payment. Half up front. We need the other half.
“Is their dog getting plastic surgery or something? Why is it so much?” I glanced at him and he added, “I’m sorry for reading over your shoulder.”
I nodded. “It’s okay.” I didn’t mind that he had.
What kind of surgery was it?
I saw the three dots blinking at me but Rose didn’t respond.
Instead Lily stepped in.
Hey Lucky! Rose was mistaken. We don’t need the money for surgery. We actually need it for rent.
Which I already sent you this month.
I know, and we’re so grateful and we’re totally going to pay you back. But we need it for next month because we’re so behind on our credit card bills and they are threatening to send us to collections.
This wasn’t sustainable. Hunter didn’t say anything but he didn’t have to. And even though he kept his opinions about my sisters and their money asks to himself, I could imagine what he might say if I asked him for his input.
He probably would have told me that I wasn’t responsible for my sisters. That they needed to grow up and learn to take care of themselves. That I wasn’t doing them any favors by continuing to enable them to make poor financial decisions.
With shaking hands I pushed the button to call Lily and put it on speakerphone.
“Hello? Lucky?”
“Hi. Is Rose there with you?”
“She is. I’ll put you on speaker. Okay, we’re both here. What’s going on? Will you be able to send us the money?”
My body started to tremble and I felt his arms around me, strengthening me. “No.”
There was a long pause. Then Lily said, “We must have a bad connection. Did you say no?”
“I’m not going to send you any more money. The two of you have to figure out how to take care of yourselves. You’re adult women with full-time jobs. I can’t afford to keep financing your lifestyles. You need to make better decisions. Learn to budget. Spend less than you earn.”
He kissed the side of my head.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Rose piped in. “You don’t have any expenses.”
“I know that. But when I did, nobody bailed me out. I had to do it on my own, and both of you can do the same thing.”
Then Lily went straight for the jugular. In a weepy voice she said, “You’re our sister. We don’t have anyone else to turn to.”
The trembling got worse and his arms went tighter. “I am your sister and I always will be. But you can’t keep asking me to give up on my future for your present. I have dreams and things I want to accomplish and I work really, really hard for it. You should want that for me. I want that for both of you. Because I love you.”
There was no response and then my screen changed to indicate that my sisters had hung up on me.
By this point I was sweating and shaking. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
“But you did it. I hope you feel proud of yourself.”
“I do, but sad at the same time.”
“Which is totally valid,” he said. I was grateful that he had let me work this out on my own.
“I also feel a little sick.”
“Sometimes that’s how it feels when you do the right thing.”
I turned my face and buried it against his throat. “I’m just worried that they’re going to go out and try to find some sugar daddy or something.”
“Hopefully they won’t. But now they know you won’t be their sugar sister any longer.”
I let out a little laugh and stayed there nestled against him for a few minutes longer while he soothingly stroked my hair.
“We better get to work,” I said.
“Yep. Back to the grind until we can come back here and be alone together again.”
I kissed his neck and we both got out of bed. I got ready first and headed out to the galley in search of coffee before I spent my day making sure the ship was completely perfect.
And hours later, I had done the best job that I could. Georgia had helped tremendously, while Emilie hid in the laundry room, doing very little.
Then it was time for the guests to join us. Everyone changed into their whites and went to the aft deck to wait for their arrival.
Hunter was the last one to come up and he grinned at me. “What’s all this comm-ocean a-boat?”
“You just sound Canadian,” I told him, and he laughed. I felt Emilie’s gaze on me, and if she’d had any superpowers at all, she would have bored two holes into my head with her heat vision.
“Who do we have this week?” he asked. “Crypto jerks? Russian mafia? Head of the UN?”
“The new owners. The Cartwrights.”
His face fell just as we heard voices coming up the passerelle. The Cartwrights had arrived.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“I will explain everything later,” he said.
Something strange was going on, but I couldn’t ask him about it here.
The Cartwrights were a middle-aged couple, but in that rich way where they didn’t actually look like they were in their fifties. They had their two teen girls with them, Hadley and Harlow, both of whom were on their phones.
The captain was shaking Mr. Cartwright’s hand. “Pleasure to have you aboard, Mr. Cartwright, Dr. Cartwright.”
“Thank you, Captain. And please call me Hank. This is my wife, Susan, and our daughters.”
They all greeted the captain and then moved down the line and introduced themselves to each crewmember. When they got to Hunter, Hank reached out his hand. “Good to see you, son.”
Hunter shook his hand. “Dad.”