CHAPTER 40 Miller Banks
We Almost Got Caught
Our third day on this ship is a day at sea, and it’s strange how one person’s slip of the tongue could result in me feeling completely and totally free today.
I’m no longer harboring some secret from the one person who means the most to me, and at the same time, the one person who I don’t want to find out.
But she knows, and the feelings I associate with that are elation and freedom and so, so much love.
Cassie, however, cannot keep a secret, and it would probably do me some good to remember that since my new sister-in-law and my future wife are apparently best friends who share pinky promises now.
Every other day on this trip is a day at sea, and what’s great about those is the fact that we can spend the entire day naked in our stateroom.
We leave for meals, and we hang out in the pool with Grayson and Ava a while.
Tanner and Cassie are probably busy bumping uglies, and I have no idea where anybody else is, but it seems like everyone is having a great time.
All in all, this cruise was a great plan despite the secrets that have been revealed so far.
We’re getting ready for dinner when Sophie asks, “Is tonight the night Tanner and Cassie are having their own romantic dinner for two?”
“Yeah,” I say. I’m lying on the bed in my boxers. It’ll take me twelve-point-two seconds to get ready since all I have to do is throw on some clothes and run a hand through my hair, but my girl said she needed at least an hour.
She’s currently doing something with her hair as she makes conversation.
“Good, then maybe no new secrets will be revealed tonight,” she says with a giggle.
I laugh. “I never knew Cassie couldn’t keep a secret.”
“Get a little liquor in her, and she can’t keep things to herself.” She lifts a shoulder, and there’s a twinkle in her eye. “But can I ask you a question?”
I nod. “Anything.”
“If you’ve had feelings for me since high school, why didn’t you ever say anything?”
I duck my head. “I guess we just got comfortable as friends, and I wasn’t willing to risk that.”
“I know you’re quiet with your feelings, and that’s okay. I’m glad I know now. And Miller?”
“Yeah?” I ask, raising my brows. My chest tightens as I wait for her words, but I should know by now that I don’t have to worry when it comes to Sophie.
“This whole engagement has felt pretty damn real to me since pretty much the start.”
Relief washes over me at her words, and I drop a kiss to the top of her head since she’s sitting on a stool doing her makeup. “Same,” I murmur.
As it turns out, there aren’t any secrets revealed at dinner .
But Sophie and I do happen to catch onto a secret after dinner.
We head to our cabana, and I close our little privacy shade. We’re kissing, and I’m about to slide my hand under her dress when we hear some voices outside the cabana.
“There’s no one up here,” a female voice says. It sounds familiar, and since seemingly half the guests on board this ship is related to me in one way or another, it very well could be someone I know. “Since we almost got caught last night, I don’t think we should go back to my room.”
Sophie pulls back from our kiss as we both freeze, neither of us wanting anyone to catch us out here when we’re about to get naked and fuck in a cabana.
“Well, we can’t go to mine,” a male voice says. “We could just… talk in one of these cabanas here.”
We hear a little rustling and some footsteps, and I think whoever is out there might be kissing, but it’s hard to tell kissing noises from anything else in a closed cabana over the sound of the wind and general sailing noises.
I move as slowly and quietly as I can, and I peek out through a little gap on the side of the shade, where I spot a man and a woman in a passionate embrace.
The man’s back is toward me, and he’s blocking the woman as he pulls back. “We shouldn’t do this out here,” he says.
“I know,” she says.
He turns to look around as if he hears someone approaching, and as he turns in my direction, I see who it is.
It’s Grace’s dad, Steve.
I force myself not to react despite the surprise weaving its way through me.
But when he moves out of the way to gesture toward the cabana he can sit in with his lady and I see who that lady is, I can’t help the breath of surprise that heaves from my chest .
Holy shit.
I lean back in the cabana, my eyes wide, and Sophie tilts her head.
“What’s wrong?”
“It was Steve Newman,” I begin in a whisper as low as I can manage.
“Grace’s dad?” she asks, her whisper as soft as mine.
I nod.
Sophie’s eyes get wide with excitement that she’s in on the family gossip. “With who?” she asks. “Someone we know?”
I nod again.
“Who?” she repeats.
“Missy Nash.”
She gasps. “Oh my God!” she nearly squeals.
I widen my eyes and nod toward the cabana beside ours, angling my head in that direction. “They’re in there.”
“Having sex?” she whispers.
I make a face. “I’m not sure I want to know. We should go and let them have their privacy.”
“What if they’re doing it in there?”
“Well, at least it isn’t either of our parents in there.”
She giggles softly. “Thank God for that. But it is Grace’s dad with Spencer’s mom, right? Like mother-in-law with father-in-law?”
I nod.
And that’s when we hear it.
Distinctively and decidedly a feminine moan.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” I whisper, and we quietly but quickly bolt the fuck out of there before Missy and Steve know that we’re onto them.
We rush away from the cabanas and only slow to a walk once we’re on the other side of the pool, where we both promptly burst out laughing .
And as we round a corner, both of us still laughing and really not paying attention, Sophie bumps right into someone who’s rounding the corner from the other side.
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” she exclaims as she backs up and recognizes the person she just literally walked into.
It’s Spencer.
Spencer Nash.
With his arm around his wife, Grace. You know…the woman whose dad is currently making her mother-in-law moan right this very moment in a cabana about a hundred yards away from where we stand.
“Uh…Spencer. Hi. Sorry. And oh, uh, hey, hi there, Grace,” Sophie says, and I think it’s some attempt at being casual after we just discovered what we just discovered, but it’s a complete and total fail.
Spencer narrows his eyes at us. “What are you two up to?”
“We were, uh, just…” Sophie looks wildly at me as she clearly needs some saving, and let’s be honest. Saving Sophie is what I do best.
“Taking a walk. What are you two up to?”
“We were going to take a walk, too,” Grace says, looking at us as if the two of us have lost our minds.
“Nice night for it. Want to walk with us? We were just heading this way,” Sophie says, nodding away from the cabanas, and honestly, taking a walk with these two right after we caught their parents about to do it in a cabana seems like the worst possible idea at the moment, but she offered, and if they take us up on it, at least we can direct them away from the cabanas.
“You’re welcome to join us,” Spencer says. “We were going to sit in the lounge chairs by the pool and look up at the stars.”
The lounge chairs by the pool are mere feet away from the cabanas, but if we go with them, at least we could direct them away from the cabanas .
Except if we’re over there, they could see his mom and her dad emerging from a cabana together.
They said something about almost getting caught tonight. Well, they did get caught…and they don’t even know it. But we’ll do what we can to keep their secret safe until they’re ready to share it.
We follow them as we walk right in front of the cabanas at one point, and I start talking loudly to clue in whoever might be in there that there are people nearby.
“So, Spencer, are you ready for training camp?” I practically yell to him even though he’s just a few yards in front of me.
Sophie snickers beside me, and I shoot her a look.
“I’m ready. You?” he asks. These two are clueless about what’s going on in the cabana to their right.
“Nope. Never am, but even worse this year now that it’s Sophie I’ll be leaving behind.” My chest tightens as I really think about that. Sure, she’ll be waiting at home for me, but things are about to change, and I’m not sure yet how this new phase of our relationship will react to that.
“Cassie and I will be close by to help her manage it,” Grace says with a smile, and we’re past the cabanas and on the backside now, so hopefully my loud voice was enough to clue Missy and Steve in on the fact that they were very nearly caught again tonight.
“It’s always a weird transition, but you have your own thing, and that’ll really help those days and nights when he’s away.
It’ll be new for Cassie, too, since Tanner missed all of last season. ”
“True,” Sophie says, and she and Grace walk a little ahead of us as Spencer and I talk about our plans for the week between when we return from the cruise and when training camp is set to begin.
He’s already got plans to work out with the other wide receivers, and I assume our team trainer will put together a plan for the running backs, too.
I just haven’t taken much time to look into any of it since I’ve been wrapped up in Sophie.
But it’s almost time to return to reality.
I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for it, but it’s coming whether I’m ready or not.
I guess the same can be said about a lot of things in life, but at least training camp is expected to come for me whether I’m ready or not.