“Sounds like an episode of Maury or something,” Easton laughed, lightening the conversation.
“I know, right?”
We both laughed and stood at the back of the ship, looking out into the endless black night until it faded. The water around the boat rippled as it went through. The night air had turned cold, and I shivered in my strapless pleated chiffon dress and strappy heels.
“I’m not trying to put the moves on,” he said, holding out his hands in defense. “But do you want to go back to my room? We can talk where it’s warmer. Our best friends are in your room…or we can go back to the mixer if you want to do that.”
“Um…yeah, sure, we can go back to your room. I’m done drinking for the night, and it’s freezing out here.”
As we walked to his room that was on the opposite side of the ship from my room and one floor higher, I started to get nervous. I had no intentions of doing anything with him besides talking, but part of me wanted to see what it would feel like to kiss him. To see if I got those butterflies in my belly. To see if there was a spark like I read about in my romance novels.
When we arrived at his room and walked in, I awkwardly sat on the uncomfortable loveseat. Easton propped himself up on one of the beds, kicked off his shoes and got comfortable. I decided to take my heels off, seeing as I might be there a while.
We started off talking about where we lived, what he did for work and the reason he and Avery named the bar Halo. We talked about how I met Nicole, how he met Avery, and then we went deeper, like we had no secrets to hide from each other…like we had been best friends our whole lives and hadn’t just met.
“Do you want to tell me about your four year problem with your boyfriend?” he asked.
“He’s a lazy asshole.”
“So why are you with him? Does he make you happy?”
“Sometimes. I think I’m just with him because it’s what I know. We’ve been together for so long, live together, and I just don’t know if the grass is greener.”
“The grass is definitely greener in this case. You should never doubt your relationship. If you do and you search for those answers and you’re still unhappy, then it’s time to move on.”
“I know, you’re right. Is that why you got divorced?”
“Um—no.” He chuckled. “Honestly, I got married because we were stupid. We had Cheyenne early on because we were stupid. And we were getting divorced because I was stupid.” He sighed and then continued. “I used to model when we were married and lived in Long Beach. I would go to New York a lot to do gigs, and the girls would just throw themselves at me. I was young, stupid and didn’t think about my wife or my kid at home waiting for me. Since Dana died, I’ve had to raise Cheyenne on my own, and I like to think I’ve grown up a lot. All the women that I mess around with now know that I’m not looking for a relationship and just want to hook-up.”
“Don’t you think Cheyenne needs a mother figure in her life?”
“She has my mom. She only lives down the street from us.”
“A grandma is not a mom. They play different roles. I know from personal experience that I missed having a mother in the picture full-time. I know Bailee did, too. I just think that if you have the choice to have a family again, you should. My mother chose not to have a family, and that’s what shaped me as a person.”
“You seem like you turned out well, though.”
“I did, but there is a place in my heart that is missing the mother figure—hell, parents in general. But I’m thirty now, and I need to start thinking about starting my family and hoping to pick someone who won’t leave me alone with the kids. I want my kids growing up and not seeing mistakes like my mom made. You need to grow up and shape Cheyenne’s future. She’s going to look up to you someday. All girls with dads do. Don’t let her see you treating women as toys, because she will think that is how she should be treated by the guys in her life.”
“I’m going to call you Oprah and Avery is Dr. Phil. Between the two of you, I will never need to go to a therapist.”
I threw the pillow at him and we laughed. It was good to lighten the mood, but the words that he said were ringing in my ear. I needed to leave Jared and find someone who would treat me like a princess.
“Well, since Avery’s not back, yet, and it’s getting late, you might just be sleeping here,” Easton said, getting up to rummage in his suitcase. He handed me a pair of his boxers and a Halo t-shirt from his bar. I took them, changing in the bathroom and inhaling the scent of Easton that smelled like cedar, citrus and other scents I couldn’t identify. I stared at the logo on the t-shirt, remembering what he had told me about naming the bar Halo. The t-shirt was black with a gold halo above white angel wings with the name “Halo” across them.
I crawled into Avery’s untouched bed, and Easton turned off the light and crawled into his bed. We talked for a long time, and he told me about how he had to tell a five-year-old that her mother died and how she took it. I cried in the dark as he told me how Cheyenne always visits her mother’s grave and talks to her whenever she’s in California. We also talked about me raising Bailee some more and how my mother almost forgot my birthday.
Before long our conversation started to fade, and I closed my eyes and drifted off, not waking again until I heard Avery walk into the room, his hair all a mess with a huge grin on his face like he just had sex all night long.
CHAPTER TEN
Easton
“So, you and Brooke, too?” Avery asked as soon as Brooke shut the door behind her.
I groaned, rolling over to try to go back to sleep. “No.”
“Easton Crawford couldn’t seal the deal, and I was able to?” The fucking bastard chuckled.
“I wasn’t trying to seal any deal. She has a boyfriend, remember?”
“You’re still acting like that has ever stopped you before,” he said, rummaging through his luggage.
“It’s too early to get the third degree from you. Why aren’t you still shacked up with Nicole instead of bothering me?”
“It’s not that early, and if we want to go to breakfast, we have to get ready now.”
I had never been on a cruise before and didn’t realize that they dictated when you could and could not eat. I thought that you could eat twenty-four/seven. I guess that was true, but if you chose to eat during their off hours, you wouldn’t get the sit-down meal that they served on a set schedule. Plus, no matter what, I knew that I would have breakfast, dinner and hopefully lunch with Brooke since we were at the same table.
After Avery washed the smell of pussy from his entire body, I took my turn in the shower, and we headed to meet the girls for breakfast. The ship was on its way to Puerto Vallarta, and we were at sea for the next two days. Originally, Avery had wanted to go to the pool and scope out all the broads in bikinis, but now that he was already getting laid, I wasn’t sure what the plan would be.
When we arrived at the Aqua room, the girls weren’t there, yet. The hostess didn’t direct us to our table, but told us that we were to always sit at the same table for each meal. We looked at the menu that was already on the table while we waited for the girls.
I was about to ask Avery what he was planning on getting for breakfast when two women sat at the table, but they weren’t the ones we wanted to see.
“We saw you both last night at the mixer, and we were going to approach you, but then two other chicks did and then two more, and before we knew it, we lost our chance,” girl number one said. She had brown hair with a strip of purple in it, was wearing way too much perfume, and it made my sinuses hurt.
“So we saw you sitting here and wanted to come over and ask if you two would like to join us for a swim after breakfast?” girl number two chimed in. She had blond hair with a pink strip—like they planned their hair to be twins of some sort.
“I’m sorry, but we are waiting on two women that we have plans with all day,” I said.
Girl number one reached over and slid her hand up my arm. “Yo
u know we have seven days right? I’m sure you can work us in—together.” She bit her lip and looked at her friend.
If I hadn’t already met Brooke, I would have taken this chick up on her offer. But I didn’t want her. I wanted Brooke all to myself—not sharing her with Avery in a foursome.
“Sorry ladies, but we aren’t interested,” I said bluntly.
“You two don’t need to be such assholes. You’re on a singles cruise where all the people do is hook-up. No one takes this thing seriously—especially guys!” girl number two snapped.
“Well, I do and I’m already taken,” Avery snapped back.
Girl number one turned and looked at me.
“Yeah, I’m taken, too,” I said, holding up my hands.
“Whatever,” girl number one huffed, and they both stood up and walked away.
“Dude, these girls are relentless,” Avery said to me.
“I know, and we’re probably the only ones taking it seriously,” I said.
Bitches be crazy!
“You are?”
“I’m trying. I really like Brooke.”
“See, I told you that there’s always a princess for every asshole.”
“Yeah—maybe,” I said with a smile. He was on to something alright.
The girls arrived not five minutes later, and I watched them walk to us. Nicole was smiling brightly at Avery, and Brooke smirked at me as my gaze moved from her eyes to her smooth legs that extended from her jean shorts.
Brooke squeezed my shoulder, her warm hand brushing along my upper back in an affectionate gesture as she passed to sit next to me while Nicole and Avery kissed like they hadn’t seen each other in days. I was fucking jealous. I wanted to grab Brooke and taste her lips as our tongues rolled around together until we had to come up for air. I hadn’t wanted to kiss someone so much in all my life.
To be honest, I usually never had to resist. I was used to women throwing themselves at me. Even in high school, I would steal kisses from girls between periods if I wanted. Dana and I sometimes made out for the whole lunch period. I wasn’t used to this bullshit of not being able kiss someone that I desperately yearned for.
But there was something different about Brooke. While I wanted to fuck her—and let’s be honest, because I did of course want to fuck her—I didn’t want to chance messing anything up with her. I didn’t want her to turn me down, I would do my normal act to get her to say yes, and then she’d regret it and never speak to me again.
The way Avery was and how he was looking for the one, I knew that he and Nicole were going to see each other after the cruise, especially since Boston wasn’t far from New York. I needed to play it cool—let Brooke know that I was a good guy, wait for her to dump that loser boyfriend when she returned home from the cruise, and then swoop in and make her mine.
Since I hadn’t had a serious relationship since Dana, I didn’t know what to do. The feeling I got when I was around Brooke was all new to me. I felt like I could talk to her about anything, and she would accept me for me and not just my good looks and physique.
Except patience wasn’t my strong suit, and I feared I would fuck everything up.
The waiter came to take our order, and after he left, I almost leaned over to Brooke to whisper in her ear that I loved having her touch me like she did whenever she sat down. I didn’t, though, because I didn’t want her to know that I wanted it. If I didn’t say anything, I hoped that she would continue doing it out of habit, and I would get the touch from her that I needed.
I cleared my throat, giving Avery the evil eye as he looked up at me. “Do you two mind?”
“Sorry,” Nicole said, blushing out of embarrassment.
Avery kicked me under the table, but I held firm on making them stop. If they didn’t, I was going to storm off before I could ruin my own plan.
“Did you two have a nice night?” Nicole asked me. Not Brooke, but me.
“I did. Did you?”
“I did, too,” she replied, smiling at Avery.
“You two in love now or what?” I asked, eyeing Avery. Avery always believed in love at first sight. I didn’t think men believed in that shit—I didn’t, but I wouldn’t put it past him. He was acting like Nicole was the best thing since sliced bread. He couldn’t keep his hands off of her which was leading me to believe that she must be good in bed or something.
Yeah, Nicole was hot, but she was blond and I preferred brunettes. Avery was always the victim of the pussy. He let that control him. I didn’t have a problem having it control me since I loved pussy, but I hadn’t found one in a long time that I couldn’t let go of.
“You might be better off moving your stuff to my room,” I said to Brooke.
“Seriously.” She took a sip of her coffee, giving Nicole the evil eye over the rim. Even though we spent the night together talking and getting to know each other, the two lovebirds kissing were making everything uncomfortable. I hoped that Brooke was uncomfortable because she wanted to kiss me too.
The next six days were going to be torture unless Brooke gave into temptation because I was planning on tempting her with my charm. She deserved better than that douche of a boyfriend that never gave her compliments, or helped her stand from sitting. She was breathtaking, charming, sweet, genuine and—perfect.
“Okay, okay, we should stop,” Nicole said against Avery’s mouth.
It was about fucking time.
“Yeah, what’s the plan today? You two want to mini-golf, maybe go for a swim or catch a corny show?” Avery asked Nicole—still ignoring Brooke and me.
“Whatever you want to do, Babe.” Nicole replied, kissing him again.
Fucking hell.
“Seriously, if you two don’t knock this shit off, I’m tying you to the bed in our cabin and avoiding your Prince Charming so he can’t rescue you,” Brooke said.
That’s my girl!
Avery and Nicole finally stopping sucking face and we ate breakfast discussing what we wanted to do on the ship since we were at sea until the morning. After breakfast, Avery and Nicole took off back to the girl’s room and left Brooke and me by ourselves. I wasn’t complaining at all.
We went to the excursion desk, picked a trip to an excluded island that offered lunch, complimentary alcoholic beverages, snorkeling, swimming with a sea lion named Cassandra and monkey petting. We didn’t care if Avery and Nicole didn’t want to go; we were going. As we stood there, booking the adventure, I silently prayed that Brooke was a bikini chick and not a one-piece chick.
“Do you need to reserve anything for Mazatlán or Cabo?” the Excursion Booker asked.
“Oh, I didn’t even think of the other stops,” Brooke said. “We need to do something in Mazatlán, too. For Cabo, I’m meeting up with my sister.”
“That’s right,” I said. The night before when Brooke and I were in my room talking, she mentioned that her sister, Bailee, was in Cabo for Spring Break. Usually with me knowing that there were going to be a bunch of hot drunk chicks in bikinis running around, I would be excited. It’s like a car dealership for me, but I didn’t want to test drive any of those chicks. I wanted the one standing next to me and not only for one night. “What do you have for Mazatlán?”
The Excursion Booker handed us a binder for Mazatlán and we flipped through it, looking at shopping trips, going to a resort to swim in the ocean (mind you, no matter how hot it is on the West Coast, the Pacific ocean is constantly freezing.), taking a bus tour and other random stuff. There was only one that I saw that would appeal to all of us—I thought.
“How about the zip-lining?” I asked Brooke.
Her big green eyes went wide. “I’m scared of heights.”
“You’ll be strapped in and those cables are sturdy,” I assured her.
“I… don’t know…”
“I would never let anything happen to you.”
I meant that. It was only a matter of time before I’d proved it to her.
“You might need to get me liquored up first
,” she laughed.
God I loved her laugh and smile!
“We could do that,” I winked at her.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
After we booked all of the excursions, I went with Brooke to the Internet Café on the ninth deck so she could email her sister and figure out what the plan for Cabo was.
“You and Avery should come with Nicole and me to have lunch with my sister,” Brooke said mid-email.
“I would like that. I’m sure Avery will too since he can’t keep his hands off Nicole for more than thirty seconds.”
Already meeting the fam. My plan was working.
“I don’t know if I should be grossed out or jealous. I mean, I didn’t expect her to leave me the whole trip.”
“I’m jealous.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized whom I was talking to.
“You know that I’ll be fine if you want to go find chicks to fuck, right? I could just go to the gy…”
“I don’t want to do that,” I said, cutting her off. She was not getting rid of me because I knew she didn’t want to be left alone and I didn’t want to leave her. “We can go to the gym together if you want.”
“I would like to do that, but getting my workout clothes—might be a challenge.”
“Challenge accepted,” I said, smirking while raising my eyebrows and nodding. Avery was going to kick my ass, but that fucker deserved it.
After Brooke finished her email and we waited a few minutes for her sister to respond—she didn’t—we made our way to Brooke’s room.
“This is going to be so embarrassing,” she laughed.
“Not as embarrassed as they’re gonna be,” I laughed back.
We passed girls and guys that were drunk off their asses and it was barely noon. Most of the women were in bikinis and trying too hard to flirt with the men. The guys were eating it up, enjoying the half-naked girls, making out with them and about to judge a wet t-shirt contest. Spring break plus a singles cruise where you didn’t need to drive anywhere, equaled paradise.
We maneuvered through all the people, finally making it down the stairs to Brooke’s room. As we walked past doors, we heard several people getting laid. We eyed each other, knowing that as we got to Brooke’s door, we would hear the same thing—but we didn’t.
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