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By the time we finally made it to our room, our feet were sore, and our bellies were grumbling. The cabin was as tiny as I feared, with one queen-sized bed that took up most of the room. There was a small desk in the corner. One chair with an end table and a lamp, and by the door was the bathroom with a tiny single-person shower. So much for shower sex.
“Well, it ain’t the Ritz, but we’ll make it work,” Shawn said, collapsing face-first onto the bed with a groan.
“No time to sleep.” I ripped off my T-shirt and tossed my suitcase onto the bed beside him. I unzipped it and pulled out bag 1A and removed the sundress inside. When I closed the case, Shawn was staring at me...or rather, he was staring at me in only my bikini top.
“You’re right. Sleep is a bad idea,” he said with a low and husky voice.
“No time for that either.” I laughed. Unbuttoning my pants, I shimmied out of my jeans and then let him admire the full bathing suit for a moment before turning to slip on the sundress so he could see the backside of the suit in all its thong glory. I didn’t wear a suit like this for comfort. This suit was purchased purely for the pleasure of the man I was supposed to marry. From the hunger in Shawn’s eyes, he appreciated the suit far more than Dwayne would have.
“Eyes up here,” I said when I turned around. I had to snap my fingers to get his attention back on my face. When his eyes finally met mine, I was blushing from his adoration. “We need to leave. Now. Grab your jacket. It’s in the left-hand side of your case, probably horridly wrinkled, but there is no time to iron it.”
“Leave? We just got here?”
“Unless you want to stand in line another hour, we have to get to dinner now. In about twenty minutes, everyone is going to realize they are hungry and make a mad dash for food.”
“Damn. And I thought we were going to check out the pool.”
Laughing, I grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the door. “Food now. Fun later.” I inadvertently looked down at his crotch.
“Promise?” he asked, adjusting himself. He made no effort to hide it either. It was hot as hell, but there wasn’t time for that. Not if we wanted to avoid another line.
“Promise. Grab the coat. I’m starving.”
He gave me a smirk and then did as I instructed. We were out the door in record time. If only all men listened when I gave them orders.
We took the stairs instead of the elevator as those filled to capacity with passengers still getting into their rooms. They wouldn’t be able to eat for an hour yet. The poor, unknowing fools.
When we made it to the restaurant, there were only a few diners seated. Older couples who probably had this trip schedule down pat. We got in line behind a woman and her daughter that were speaking to the host about getting a highchair.
“I’m starving,” I grumbled.
“Me too.”
I looked up at him, but his eyes weren’t on mine. They were on my boobs. Normally, I’d be annoyed if a guy did that, but there was something about the hunger in Shawn’s eyes that made me believe he was sincere in his lust. I felt the same, honestly.
Once the mother and child were situated at their table, the host came back to us with a practiced smile.
“Just the two of you dining with us tonight?”
“Yes. We’re on our honeymoon, so is it possible to have this first night at a two-top instead of the communal tables?” Because space in the dining area was limited, much of the dining room was a series of long tables that were filled up as people came in. There was no real privacy for them. It worked for economic reasons, but I was going to try to get as many perks out of this honeymoon as I could.
“Congratulations. Yes, I believe I might have something for the lovebirds. Right this way.”
The host walked into the restaurant, and Shawn gestured for me to take the lead.
“Do you want me to go first so you can check out my ass?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. You can watch me on the way out.”
I laughed but agreed. “Deal.”
My instinct to come right to dinner without delay paid off because no sooner did we sit down and given our menus than the swarm of other guests appeared as a trickle at first, then a herd.
“You see?” I said, gesturing to the line. “That could have been us, but instead, we’re munching on warm bread.” I slid him over the butter.
“I must remember to always listen to my wife’s wisdom.”
“My wife,” I said. “Even in pretend, that’s so weird to hear.”
“It’s not weird for me to say. Is that weird?”
“Right now, the word weird is weird.” I laughed as the server came over.
“Champagne for the newlyweds, compliments of the captain,” he said, placing two glasses down for us.
“Oh, wow, thank you.” I grinned. “Being married to you has already got its perks.” I took a large sip as the server nodded, then left us. “Oh, shoot. Sorry, I should have made a toast or something.” I raised the glass again. “To the best honeymoon, my job could afford.”
He smiled, then lifted his water glass. “Here, here.”
After taking a small sip, I placed my glass down. “Not a big champagne guy? I noticed you didn’t touch it at the wedding reception either.”
“I’m not a big alcohol guy. Well, that’s not true. I’m a huge fan of it. Too big.” He put down his menu. “Jazz, I probably should have told you this earlier, but I’m an alcoholic. I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. I mean if we’d met and started dating normally, I would have mentioned it probably on the second date, but we never got to have a first date. We kind of jumped to the ‘I do’ part.”
“Oh. Right. Of course. I’m sorry. Let me have them take these glasses away then.”
He reached over and took my hand. “It’s fine if you drink it. I can’t partake with you, that’s all. I’m sorry if that changes the vision you had for this week.”
I waved a hand at him. “Dwayne isn’t much of a drinker either. Not to mention booze on the ship isn’t included and costs about three times what you’d pay normally, so it’s totally fine. Besides, I’m a lightweight, anyway. No biggie.” I shoved the glass a bit farther away from me but then realized by doing so, I was moving the glass closer to him. Instead, I grabbed my glass and guzzled the rest down, then swiped his glass and held it in a death grip.
He laughed. “It’s okay. Really. I am in control of it.”
I nodded but didn’t let go of the glass. “How long have you...”
“Been an alcoholic, or been sober?”
“Um, both?”
He smiled and picked his menu back up. “Sober for three years, an addict through all of college. I remember extraordinarily little of my years there.”
“Ah. I wish I could forget college. Alcohol probably played a large part in why it was so miserable, if I’m honest. Too much booze and way too many bad choices in the men department.” I shuddered.
He nodded. “The irony is that I was likely the sort of guy you would have gone out with back then. I was a real dickhead.”
“Yep. You would have absolutely been my type,” I admitted.
“Is that how you ended up with such an old guy? Wanted to switch things up?”
Frowning, I took a sip of his champagne. “Dwayne’s not that old. He’s only forty-two. He went gray early.”
“Forty-two is old.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’d get along well with my mother. She kept asking me why I wanted to marry such an old man. But I don’t know. Maybe it was part of that maturity thing I’d been missing out on. Dwayne seemed to have his shit together, you know? He had a steady job, and didn’t need to go Dutch on dates... It was nice, not to have to worry about money with him.”
“Is money an important thing for you?” he asked as the server came by again to take our order.
“For the gentleman?” he asked.
“I’ll have whatever the lady suggests. She hasn’t steered me wrong yet.” He gave me a wink.
I didn’t need to look at the menu. I had it memorized from their online information. There was only one choice included in the trip fee each night, so obviously, there was no thinking required. “We’ll have the orange-glazed chicken, rice pilaf, and the roasted asparagus, please.”
“Excellent choice, madam.”
He took our menus and left us alone again.
“Where were we?” I asked.
“Money.”
I let out a deep breath. “I’d be lying if I said money didn’t matter. Of course, it does. It’s a necessary evil. Do I need to live in a mansion or have a butler waiting on me hand and foot? No, that would drive me nuts. But would I like to take an occasional cruise and not have to worry about sticking to the meals covered on my plan and never get the medium-rare steak and loaded baked potato I wanted? You bet your sweet ass I would.” I shrugged. “But that’s life, right? You make compromises.”
He looked at me intently for a moment. “Is that what Dwayne was? A compromise?”
I blinked at him.
“Um, wow. I guess he was.” The realization hit me hard. I hadn’t loved Dwayne. Not in the way a woman should love her husband. Was that why his leaving me didn’t hurt? He was my safety net. My backup plan.
“No more compromises this week. It’s time you get what you want. Including your dinner.” He stood up then, to go hunt down the server. I watched him with awe. He was going after what he wanted, which was to make sure I got my fill of beef. And later tonight, I’d go after what I wanted. His beef in my mouth.
I blushed despite myself as I downed the rest of his champagne. This cruise was going to be more epic than I ever could have imagined, and I had a beautiful man who volunteered to come on a cruise with a crazy lady. And come he would.
