Chapter 6
Cienna
Hushed sweeping sounds and seagull calls overhead lulled me awake, and I hummed into the nook I was nestled in. Soft breathing tickled my ear, and I stretched with a dreamy sigh, before reality crashed down on me. I was pressed against hot ginger guy! Reed.
Enter swoony sounds, followed by a horror-movie scream.
I sprang up, noting my surroundings—empty deck chairs, a man in a Princess Cruise Lines uniform sweeping nearby, birds swooping around the perimeter of the ship. Reed stirred as I slapped my hand around the lounge chair in search of my phone. Found it—dead, of course.
“Good morning.” His voice was deep and groggy as he grinned up at me.
“Hi.” I gave an awkward wave and looked around the deck as if I was searching for something. Maybe a place to jump over the edge. Anything to avoid eye contact and find a way out of this humiliation.
Reed brushed my shoulder. “Sorry I fell asleep on you. Jet lag.” He shrugged, and I sighed, relieved I wasn’t the only one responsible for the embarrassing sleepover.
“Did I do anything, um. Did we…?” I fumbled my words and chewed my lower lip, waiting for an answer.
Reed peered up at me, his gaze swirling with amusement. “We danced.”
“I remember that.”
“We drank.”
Ugh, I remember that too.
“We crashed here.” He shrugged again with a finality in his words.
“I see.” I nodded, then stood, straightened my dress, and patted my hair down.
Yeah, like that’s going to help.
“Well, thank you?” I scrunched my face, truly not knowing what to say in this situation, a crisis I found myself in more than once with Reed.
“You’re welcome?” He lifted a brow at me.
“I’m heading back to my room now.” I reached down for my heels that I had tossed off onto the ground at some point. “See you around? Soon? Someday? Yeah…”
Before he could respond, I pivoted and walked away.
“Cienna, wait.” Reed nearly tripped over a lounge chair when he lunged toward me. “What do you and your girls have planned for your first port day?”
I stared back at him, taking in his mussed-up hair, rumpled shirt, and sleepy eyes. Perfection.
He cocked a brow, reminding me he had asked a question.
“Well, my crazy friends are going snorkeling.”
“And you’re not going?”
“Um, yeah… no. Nope.” I shook my head. “There is no way I’m going to voluntarily submerge myself in water with fish and other sea creatures in the middle of the ocean.”
“What are you going to do?”
Looking down at my tote bag, I shrugged, then reconnected with his stare.
He blinked rapidly. “You were going to read all day? On a cruise? Docked at Cabo San Lucas?”
I pinched my lips. “It’s a really good book.”
Leaning in, he plopped his hands on my shoulders. “Go get some rest. Then pack. Swimsuit. Sunscreen. Towel. Water Shoes.” He turned me around and released my shoulders. “Meet me at Excursions at 10:00 a.m.”
Only a few hours later, the door clicked behind me as I stepped out into the hallway.
I was greeted with the overbearing smell of coconut tanning lotion, Kennedy begging me for ibuprofen, and a million questions about my “being out all night.” I evaded the barrage the best I could while we walked together to the lobby.
This crew looked worse for wear after our ambitious first cruise night but still summoned the energy to endure the torture of a tender ride and inevitable sunburn, all to touch some fish.
I shuddered at the thought as they lined up at the excursion desk.
That was my cue to duck out to grab my cup of liquid sanity—an iced coffee—and let the smell of the café settle my nerves.
When I returned to the lobby, it was just in time to see the ladies heading out as they waved and blew kisses at me.
I peeked down the hallways, keeping an eye out for Reed while hoping it didn’t look like I was watching for him.
The toes of my sandals dug into the carpet as I tried to ground myself.
Unfortunately, my vigilance failed me. A hand touched my shoulder, making me jump, and my stomach dropped in the most terrifyingly delicious way.
I nearly lost my balance and fell into Reed, who stood there casually, looking like a vacation dreamboat.
Gray swim trunks showed off his tanned, muscular calves.
His shirt was plain but fitted to perfection, and his sunglasses were perched on his head in a mess of fiery curls.
With a quick up and down, my gaze caught on the leather flip-flops on his feet, showing a sandal tan. Even his freaking feet were sexy.
He playfully swatted at me with the brochure. “Are you ready to really enjoy Cabo San Lucas?”
“Does it include touching, swimming near, or feeding fish?”
He shook his head and held the brochure face down against his chest. “My assistant scheduled me for an excursion I was directed to photograph and report on.” Slowly, he turned the brochure around.
“But she accidentally booked the couples package instead.” The cover depicted a couple, barely covering their bits with swimwear, cuddling on a beach towel and clinking wine glasses. “Be my plus one?”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Oh. Okay?”
I grabbed for the brochure, needing some sort of heads-up as to what my day would entail, but he pulled it from my grasp. “Ah, ah, ah,” he scolded with a shake of his head. “Today will be full of surprises.” Then he looked down at my bulging tote bag. “And no reading.”
The tender ride was an unexpected adventure in itself, and the world captured in the book in my bag was well forgotten before the excursion even began. I’d never been on a cruise before and had no idea what to expect from our ride from the ship to the port.
It was essentially a crowded floating bus, but it was easy to ignore the proximity of others while I watched us get closer and closer to the dock.
The hills and coastal-facing section of Cabo San Lucas were captivating.
Docks, boats, yachts, colorful buildings, beaches.
And behind us, our towering cruise ship shrank smaller and smaller the farther we went.
When we docked and were helped off the boat, I took in the bustle surrounding us. Reed took me by surprise and grabbed my hand as we strolled behind the crowd of people walking down the dock, everyone separating and turning toward different touristy stalls outlining the pier.
Our surroundings overwhelmed me as I tried to take everything in at once, my curiosity squealing and my anxiety clutching at my stomach.
We turned the corner onto the sidewalk, and my shoulder collided with something.
I turned to apologize but screamed instead, coming face-to-face with a gigantic green reptile, whose tongue lashed my way.
The creature perched on the shoulder of a smiling man, who spoke to me excitedly in Spanish.
I turned to Reed, half terrified, half intrigued.
He smirked down at me, squeezing my hand and pulling me into him. “He’s asking if you want to hold the iguana.”
I turned back to the man, who nodded and asked, “?Quieres abrazarlo?”
Shaking my head, I promptly responded, “Thank you, but no thanks.”
Reed leaned forward, dropping something in the man’s hand. “No gracias. Que tenga un lindo día.”
“Did you tip him?” I asked once we continued down the pier.
“Yeah. There are all kinds of street vendors and random attractions, photo opportunities.” He flashed his coy smile at me. “I mostly tipped him for making you yelp like that.”
I shot him a glare, but my glowering didn’t last long as we turned toward a deck, a water taxi parked at the end, with a man holding a sign for Medano Beach’s Couples Adventures.
Okay, a beach. That, I could get behind. I sighed with relief, taking in the small group of people stepping onto the boat. Then another sign caught my eye, hanging from the vendor’s booth, and I stopped short. Reed looked at me over his shoulder, brows pinched.
Snorkeling.
Shark Swimming.
Parasailing.
Flyboarding.
“That whole sign is one big nope.” I tried to laugh it off, but embarrassment and terror flooded through me at a rapid rate. All of them required a hell of a lot more guts and a pinch of insanity that I certainly didn’t pack.
“What’s so nope-ish about that sign?” There was no judgment in his voice, just soft eyes.
My mouth was suddenly dry. With a big gulp, I prayed my nerves wouldn’t manifest as tears as I said, “Um, all of it.”
He looked back at the sign, then back at me. “Okay. Are boat rides in beautiful places a nope?”
I shook my head and sucked in a breath.
“How about golden beaches and clear blue water?”
I shook my head again, swallowing hard. Next, he would ask about the scarier things, and I braced myself for the regret I’d see on his face when he realized what a scaredy cat, party-freakin’-pooper I really was.
Rather than add to his list of inquiries, he brought me into him and wrapped his arms around me. His whisper hit my ear, and the slight touch that shivered through my body almost zapped away the tumultuous emotions I was drowning in. “You packed a swimsuit?”
I nodded into his shoulder.
“Do I even want to know if it’s a one- or two-piece?”
“You just told me a swimsuit. You didn’t specify.”
“Any suit is fine. Even a freaking full-body wetsuit is fine. I just wanted to brace myself.” He peered up and down my body so quickly, I would have missed it if I had blinked.
The simple tankini I packed was a two-piece—certainly nothing overtly revealing.
I shrugged bashfully, trying to pull off one of those flirty, coy faces.
Perhaps the sun was already pinkening his cheeks, but I could have sworn he blushed before grabbing my hand again, moving us toward the boat.