Chapter Nineteen
CHARTER CONFESSIONAL
CLOSE QUARTERS
CAMERON DUNN: DECKHAND
PRODUCER
Six charters behind you, just three more to go. How are you feeling?
CAMERON
Been better, if I’m honest.
PRODUCER
Oh? Was this charter a particularly rough one?
CAMERON
The charter was sound. Those ladies were a laugh — easy to please, at least on deck. Can’t speak for interior. But they were mad for the water toys, loved the snorkel trip. Especially loved when Eli or I peeled our shirts off.
PRODUCER
So what’s the issue?
Cameron sighs, runs hand through hair.
CAMERON
Aye, fucked it, didn’t I? Snogging Gisella.
PRODUCER
Ah. Having regrets?
CAMERON
I was steaming. Wasn’t thinking. And now Leah won’t even glance my way, let alone speak to me.
PRODUCER
Think it’s over, then? Your boatmance?
CAMERON
I hope not. I need to pull off something epic to win her back. Good thing we’ve got a crew day off coming. Owner’s footing the bill for a full-on catered beach bash. Feels like my shot.
PRODUCER
A crew day off should be fun. I’m sure everyone is excited.
CAMERON
Oh, the vibes are flying already. This is what we live for, innit? We work our arses off for weeks, and then we get one day to go full send — drink like guests, dance like we’re on holiday, pretend we’re not walking HR violations.
Cameron grins.
CAMERON
Problem is, beach days? They always bring trouble. Too much sun, too much rum, not enough clothing… things get messy.
Cameron leans back in chair, shrugs, scratches jaw.
CAMERON
I’ll be focused on Leah. But everyone else… well, let’s just say it should be interesting. Beach days have a way of making bad ideas feel like good ones. You mix sunshine with free booze, and suddenly, everyone forgets the cameras are rolling.
“Oh, yes. Yes,” Bernard said, dragging out that last affirmation as he sank back into his lounge chair. He stretched his legs long, taking a sip of his frozen cocktail before he sat it on the table between our chairs and folded his arms behind his head. “This is exactly what Daddy needed.”
Leah giggled from where she was stretched out on her stomach on the chair next to me. “I love the way you say that. Your accent is the best. Say it again.”
“What, daddy?”
Leah fell into another fit of giggles, proof that the frozen daiquiris were treating her well. “I love it so much. I have to marry a British man just so I can hear that all the time.”
“Not a Scot, then?” Bernard asked with a quirk of his brow.
Leah deflated a bit. “Jury’s still out on that one.”
From the other side of Bernard, Gisella sat up in her lounge chair, her beautiful brown skin shining with oil. “I really am sorry about that, Leah.”
Leah waved her off. “It’s okay. You’ve already apologized, and all is forgiven.”
I bit my tongue at that. I already knew Leah was a better woman than I was, and her easy forgiveness of Gisella proved that. But I also wasn’t sure it was a warranted forgiveness, and I felt protective over Leah like she was my little sister.
She might have been over it all, but I still had my guard up.
“I’m just not sure I want to pursue things with someone who isn’t taking it seriously, you know?” Leah shrugged. “I don’t want a boatmance. I want a relationship. And it’s fine if that’s not what Cameron wants, but I need to set boundaries.”
I smirked, though my heart ached for my stewardess as I reached over to squeeze her ankle. I knew all too well how it felt to be the person who wanted more in a relationship.
“I’m proud of you,” I told her.
“Thanks,” she said, but then she giggled as she drained the last of her frozen drink and held up the empty glass to signal our waiter for another. “But don’t judge me for what I do after this next daiquiri.”
We all chuckled at that, placing an order for another round of drinks when the waiter stopped by.
We couldn’t have been set up with a lusher beach experience.
We had our own private stretch of the sand, multiple cabanas with shade, plush lounge chairs to soak in the sun, and all the booze we could drink delivered by someone serving us for once.
It was the perfect crew beach day off, courtesy of the owner of the Sinking Sun, and we were greedily eating it up.
I’d watched a full season of Close Quarters, and while it did show a lot of truth when it came to working on a yacht, there was plenty the show didn’t cover.
One thing I felt like it couldn’t fully encompass was just how long and how hard we all worked, day in and day out.
We were lucky to get six hours of sleep, and we didn’t just work an eight-hour shift like a normal person might — no, we were on the clock from the time we opened our eyes until our head hit the pillow again.
Our breaks were few and far between, quick and filled with one purpose usually: feed ourselves or sneak in a quick nap.
And though the people watching the show saw us running from one end of the boat to the other, they didn’t fully understand how that wore on us.
We were barefoot most of the time, running plates up and down stairs, lifting heavy equipment or provisions, loading and unloading suitcases packed to the brim.
All that to say — we needed a break, and we were making the most of the one given to us on that beach.
“Well, I’d wish you luck with Cam, but frankly, my dear, I don’t condone boatmances of any kind,” Bernard said when the waiter was gone.
His sunglasses slipped down his nose and he pushed them back up on a shrug.
“They’re always messy. No way to avoid that.
And I don’t think any boatmance can last.”
“Well, so far, I have no evidence to prove you wrong,” Leah said with a longing sigh.
“Hey, it can happen,” Gisella chimed in from the other side of Bernard. “I’ve seen relationships born on boats that lead to marriages. And look at me and Finn.”
“Yeah, but you two didn’t meet on a boat,” Bernard pointed out.
“So? We’re working together on one.”
“And it’s going so well, isn’t it?” Bernard pursed his lips with a little dance of jest.
“It is,” Gisella said defensively. “Yes, I know I kissed Cameron, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. We’re both over it.”
Hearing her talk about Finn always made my stomach sour. I wanted to be happy for them, but the truth was I just couldn’t be, especially after what she’d pulled.
And if she thought Finn was fine with it, she didn’t know him at all.
“It was just a kiss, a stupid dare, everyone was drunk.” Gisella huffed and leaned back in her chair. “Besides… it’s not fair of him to hold it over me when he’s been such a prude all season.”
“Prude?” Leah asked.
Gisella chewed her lip, looking around like she was afraid someone might overhear us. But it was just the four of us stretched out on the lounge chairs. Eli, Cameron, Palmer, and Finn were playing a game of beach volleyball down near the water.
“We haven’t slept together once since we came aboard,” she whispered.
The bottom fell out of my chest.
He… hasn’t slept with her?
I froze, careful not to let my expression shift. But inside, something detonated.
It lit up inside me like a flare, so bright and blinding that it took everything in me not to squint against the glow. I didn’t want to feel it — I shouldn’t feel it. But God, I did.
I was giddy.
Because I remembered how he used to be with me. How he could barely keep his hands to himself. How just a glance could unravel both of us.
The idea that he hadn’t touched her that way, not even once in all these weeks…
It rattled me.
I should have been ashamed at that internal reaction.
But some bitter part of me — sharp and shameless — was thrilled.
Bernard slid his sunglasses down so we could all see his wide eyes. “You’re kidding. Gi… it’s been like six weeks!”
“You think I don’t know that?!” Gisella peeked over at where the guys were playing before turning back to us.
“Me está volviendo loca, okay? I mean, I can get him in my bunk for a cuddle but that’s it.
He won’t make a move, and he won’t respond when I do.
He just keeps saying it’s unprofessional and rude.
I even tried to get him to take me to one of the guest cabins, but he refused. ”
“Ouch,” Leah said. “That’s brutal. Even Cameron and I have shacked up.”
“Wait, what?!” Bernard and I said at the same time, and then we were laughing and smacking her ass and demanding details.
When the chaos quieted, Gisella cracked her neck and sank back in her chair with a sigh.
“I mean, look, we’ve never rushed anything.
Took him forever to want to do anything physical with me.
He was kind of broken when we got together…
” She frowned. “But I don’t know. I feel like I’m missing something, like I’ve got the whole puzzle put together but there are two pieces I can’t find to finish it. ”
Her gaze swung my way then as she reached up to grab more tanning oil, the movement slow, deliberate. She uncapped the bottle and poured some into her palm without looking away from me.
“What do you think, Ember?”
I stiffened, ice sliding through me at the unexpected spotlight — at the sudden shift in the air. Her tone was light, borderline casual. But something in it didn’t sit right. It was just a little too breezy. A little too… staged.
And then there was the eyebrow — the slightest lift, just enough to feel like a dare.
Everyone’s eyes were on me now. And I had no idea what to say. Because while the reason could have been anything, I couldn’t help but wonder if Finn was abstaining because of me.
Was it because he didn’t want to hurt me, didn’t want me to overhear it or walk in on anything?
Was it guilt? Courtesy? Some deeply buried instinct not to hurt me?
Or was it something else… something that pulsed between us every time our eyes locked. Something unfinished. Something neither of us could name out loud, but both still felt in our bones.
That it wasn’t over between us.