Chapter Five #2
“What? It’s a bed. I’m using it.” He stretched his arms behind his head, completely unfazed.
“We have to sleep in that bed!”
“And now, it’ll smell like vacation when we do.” He bolted upright with a grin and did a somersault backward off the bed. “Time for another shot!”
Brielle looked like she wanted to jump off the bow. I smiled through the tension, already making a mental note to have Bernard swap the linens before she lost her mind.
I left the guests to settle in, unclipping my radio from my hip. “Interior, interior — go ahead and change into your reds,” I said, jogging up the stairs two at a time to make my way into the galley.
“Copy,” Leah said back.
I swung inside the galley just in time for a roar of laughter from Eli and Cameron. Finn was with them, too, but didn’t seem to be in on the joke. He was focused on the white fish he was seasoning, not so much as a smirk on his lips.
“Oh boy, what did I miss?” I asked.
The laughter died instantly, Eli and Cameron exchanging wide-eyed looks before a laugh sputtered out of Cameron.
“Ach, better get on deck,” he said, saluting me with a grin as he squeezed past me.
“Yeah, Palmer will have our arses if we bollocks up this first departure.” But instead of sliding past me the way Cameron did, Eli put his arm around my shoulders, instead — beaming down at me with that toothy grin of his. “You look stunning today, by the way, Em.”
I cocked a brow. “What do you want?”
“Just calling it like I see it.” He bent and smacked my cheek with a loud kiss before I could register his intention. “Shot, liefie!”
Then, he bounded out of the galley with me slow-blinking and shaking my head.
“Okay…” I slid up on the other side of the counter where Finn was working. “What was that about?”
“Wouldn’t know,” Finn clipped, not so much as glancing up at me. “Some of us are working instead of feckin’ around.”
I frowned at the bitterness in his tone, but Bernard slung halfway into the galley with a little knock of his knuckles on the door panel.
“They were going on about who’s the fittest on the boat and who they’d fancy a round of naked Twister with by the end of the season,” he said with a salacious grin.
“You’re a top prospect, ya cheeky little minx. ”
I chuffed a laugh. “Flattered, I’m sure.”
Bernard did a little twirl before waving his fingers at us and saying he was off to change and then get the guests drunk.
He and I would be on dinner service this first charter, with Leah handling cabins, laundry, and breakfast. I wasn’t sure which of them I wanted to make my second and third stew yet.
I also had Gisella at my disposal; though, I tried to pretend I didn’t.
I already had to room with her, which was painful enough.
My plan was to stay as far away from her as I possibly could during the day.
Other than asking her to help with dishes and clearing plates at dinner service, I didn’t want to need anything from her.
Finn aggressively chopping an onion startled me, and I eyed him cautiously, wondering what he was so tense about. I knew Theodora’s preferences were annoying to work with, but I’d seen him deal with far worse on the boat we worked on in Greece. He was a pro. He could handle this.
So why was he strong-handing his knife like it owed him money and had the audacity to show its face in his galley?
“You okay there?”
“Ah, just grand.”
“Yeah, you really seem it.” I smiled, leaning my elbows on the counter. “Come on, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Convincing.”
“Jaysus, will you ever bugger off?”
He snipped the words at me before sliding his hand across the cutting board, ushering the diced onions into a bowl in such a haphazard manner that a quarter of them flung to the ground.
“Feck’s sake. I’m just trying to figure out what the hell to cook these people and don’t appreciate the galley being used as the goddamn water cooler for gossip.”
He slammed the metal bowl down, making me flinch, before angrily washing his hands with water so hot I could see it steaming from here.
I tongued my cheek, standing up straight. “Okay, Gordon Ramsay, dial it down a notch. You don’t get to take whatever has your briefs in a knot out on me. I was just coming to see you about meal plans.”
“And to be a pain in my arse, it seems.”
“Well, now that I know speaking to you is an offense punishable by my hand being bitten off, trust me — won’t happen again.
” I rolled my eyes, turning to write on the little white board we used for crew notes.
I may have yanked the cap off the marker with more force than necessary.
I was getting whiplash from this man not even forty-eight hours into the season.
One second he’s all cheeky and joking around, and the next, he’s snapping at me like my mere existence offends him?
Well, I wouldn’t be the one to turn the other cheek.
If he wanted a rematch from the last time we were in the ring together, I was more than happy to strap on my gloves and fight.
“They want lunch at three and dinner at nine. Work for you?”
“Yep,” Finn clipped, still slinging dishes around like a cowboy with a lasso.
“Great. I’ll stop by when you’re finished with your impression of Mount Vesuvius and we can talk about what dishes you want used for each course.”
Then I gave him a big thumbs up before leaving him to his fight with the vegetables.