“You’re impossible, you know that,” I laughed with a roll of my eyes.
“Spill,” she looked around as if at any second someone was going to pop out from the shadows and hear.
“Fine,” I huffed. “I sort of kissed Remy last night.”
“What? When?” she whisper-yelled.
Leaning in close, I looked around to make sure no one would hear. “After he walked me to our room, I leaned up and kissed him.”
Pen squealed with a big smile on her face. “Was it good?”
Okay, maybe I’d over-embellished a little bit since there weren’t any details to give.
“It wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was our lips touched.” I could feel my face heat up at making what happened sound like more than it was. Maybe it was because I was wishing it was more.
With furrowed brows, she asked quietly. “He didn’t, like, push you away or anything, did he?”
“No, nothing like that. I said goodnight...I should have tried for more even though I’m pretty sure it’s frowned upon to hook up with the crew.”
“I don’t know. They said to ask for whatever we wanted. I say you ask for the hottie and see if they serve him up on a silver platter. Hmm,” she hummed to herself and tapped her chin with her manicured fingernail. “I think we need to find more opportunities for you to spend time with him. Just the two of you.”
“That’s probably not a good idea. I don’t want to get him fired. I would never forgive myself if I was the cause of him losing his job.”
Pen’s hands flew in the air as she stood. “Don’t worry about that. Let me see what I can come up with while you eat your breakfast. In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can convince all the guys to take off their shirts while they help us with the water toys.”
“Good idea,” I laughed. Pen never had a problem getting guys to do what she wanted, and I, for one, wouldn’t mind some eye candy for the day.
Stepping down onto the inflated platform, the ground underneath me rippled, causing my arms to shoot out for balance. That was unexpected. How the hell did everyone else make it look so easy?
Luckily, everyone already did the slide and was tired of it by the time I ate my breakfast and changed into my bathing suit, so I didn’t have to worry about it.
One of the other crew members stepped out from a cove in the back of the boat and over to me; I thought his name was Owen. “What would you like to do? All the personal watercraft are being used, but you could paddleboard or just lay out if you want. Whatever you want.”
I’d never tried to paddleboard. It looked like it could be fun. With the other girls out doing their thing, I could get some exercise in and enjoy exploring the cove we were in.
“I think I’ll try the paddle board. Owen, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s Owen.”
“Sorry, I’m not a hundred percent yet after yesterday.” I hated not knowing his name. I was sure it was a common occurrence for them, but I wasn’t some elite snob who thought she was better than everyone else. I was far from it.
“That’s alright. Believe it or not, it happens quite frequently here. Especially when Ophelia is making the drinks.” He said the last quietly and then winked.
Got it. Watch out for drinks from Ophelia.
“I got it from here, Owen. You can take your break,” Remy said as he went over to the few paddleboards that were leaning against the side of the boat and then bent down to grab a paddle. I watched as his tight shorts showcased his ass. He still had his shirt on, so I guess Pen didn’t get her wish, but damn, was he fine. “Have you done this before?”
“Nope, I live in the desert and haven’t seen the ocean in…” I shrugged because I couldn’t remember, “I don’t know how long, but it’s definitely been too long. Is it hard?”
“Do you have good balance?” He promptly covered his mouth with his hand. He must have been remembering my grand entrance to the yachting world and his subsequent need to save me.
“Normally, it’s not too bad. I do yoga regularly.” But I obviously didn’t have my sea legs because I had problems since boarding.
“Then you should be fine. We do require you to wear a lifejacket in case you do fall in. I told the others they were to slow down when they were close to the boat, but if I were you, I’d head inward just in case they forget. You don’t want a rogue wave taking you down.”
“So a wave could make me fall in?” I asked, unsure if this was the right activity for me. I didn’t love getting my hair wet.
“It could, but I wouldn’t worry about it.” He smiled, trying to reassure me, and a dimple popped out—a freaking dimple. I was done for. He probably had women throwing themselves at his feet just because of his looks.
“Maybe I should wait until one of the jet skis is available. There’s probably less of a chance for me to fall in the water that way.” Plus, it wouldn’t be so bad if I could hang out here with Remy alone for a while.
“Have you ever driven one?”
“No,” I drew out the word in frustration, annoyed at all the things I’d missed out on because I was too busy working to support my husband over the years.
He looked out toward where the girls were zipping along the water. “You might want to either ride with one of the girls, or one of the crew can show you how.”
That sounded promising. “Can you show me?”
“If you want me to...or one of the other guys can show you,” he added a few seconds later.
Now would be my chance to have my body plastered against his. I could wrap my arms around his trim waist, and...hell yeah, I wanted Remy to show me how to drive one of those things.
“I’d love it if you could show me.” Now all I needed was the girls to be done so I could have my turn.
“While we wait, I need to inform my senior deckhand that I’ll be going out with you and that he’ll be in charge.” Remy turned and started up the steps. Once he was halfway up, he looked over his shoulder. “Don’t fall in while I’m gone.” He winked and then continued to walk away.
Ugh! I was never going to live down falling overboard. With him saying that, I almost wanted to try my hand at driving the jet ski without him, but I also didn’t want to die just because I was embarrassed.
One watercraft was headed back toward the boat when Scout, who was short with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and a megawatt smile, came down the steps. He looked like a mix of young and now Zac Efron.
“I hear you’re going to give it a go,” Scout said with an Australian accent that nearly took me to my knees. I was a sucker for an accent, add on good looks, and hot damn, he was a winner.
Sitting on the edge of the platform, I let my legs drift in the water. Looking over my shoulder, I found Scout staring down at me. “I’m going to give it my best. It’s not too hard, is it?”
“I have faith in you.”
“Even after I had to be rescued yesterday?”
“Even if,” he smiled. “Don’t let Remy give you a hard time. I think it scared him that someone could have drowned on his first season of being the bosun.”