by Madyson Grey
The Perfect Storm
A Thrilling Romantic Suspense
Madyson Grey
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Book 4 Sneak Peek
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
About the Author
Also by Madyson Grey
Copyright © 2018 by Dungeon Media Corp.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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Chapter One
Victoria was stunned. Right in front of her eyes was the majestic Queen Mary, jewel of the ocean from 1936 until her retirement in 1967. The Queen Mary was not only the grandest ocean liner of her time, but she also did her duty as a troopship during World War Two.
Visiting the Queen Mary had been on Victoria’s must-do list since she was eleven and had watched a documentary on the ship. Just one look at her face and Rafael knew he had made a good choice.
“Oh, honey, I’ve wanted to see this ship for ages,” she exclaimed, turning shining eyes on Rafael.
“I hoped you would like my choice,” he said.
“I absolutely love it,” she said. “You couldn’t have picked a better place.”
They boarded the ship and were given directions to their stateroom. Even though Victoria was accustomed to living in a fair amount of luxury, the stateroom was just incredible. The richness of the wood paneling, the fine appointments, and the portholes through which a person could look out at the ocean simply took her breath away.
All along throughout the ship as they walked to their room were interesting things to see. Victoria knew what the first thing on Rafael’s mind was, and she was in full agreement, but she also hoped that there would be enough time to see the whole ship. Or at least a good portion of it. According to the literature they were given, there were several tours to be taken, several gift shops to explore, and a variety of eating-places to check out.
Dropping her small overnight bag, Victoria walked around the room examining everything, opening all the doors and drawers, and peering out each porthole. This was just too cool! It didn’t take long, however, for Rafael to catch up with her and let her know what was on his mind.
He took her in his arms, their lips met in a smoldering kiss that ignited the flames of passion that had been held in check for the past week. It didn’t take long for clothes to be shed and their desire for one another to become reality and their marriage to be consummated. When their first passion was spent, they lay together in sweet union, murmuring declarations of love to each other.
But soon, the fire was rekindled. This time they both spent a little longer exploring each other’s bodies and pleasuring one another.
“Was I worth the wait?” Victoria asked softly after they were basking in a second afterglow.
“More than worth it,” Rafael breathed against her hair as he cradled her in one arm close to his side. “More than worth it. This is absolutely amazing. You are amazing.”
“So are you,” she murmured, nestling into the hollow between his neck and shoulder.
She ran her hand over his hard, flat stomach, relishing the feel of his skin. Before long, her hand traveled lower and soon their bodies were once again joined as one flesh.
“I’m hungry,” Rafael said, after his heart had settled back down after a third round of lovemaking.
“Me, too,” Victoria said. “What shall we do about it?”
“Room service or dining room? Your choice,” Rafael said.
“Both sound wonderful, but let’s go to a dining room,” she said. “I want to see as much of this ship as possible. I’d really like to do one or more of the tours. OK?”
“Sounds good to me,” Rafael responded.
They got up, rinsed off in the shower, and got dressed. Victoria had brought the new dress that she was married in on the outside chance that she’d get to wear it again that evening. Wearing it to dinner that evening seemed like the perfect time. After some discussion on the matter, they decided that they could wait until morning to do one of the tours. But after dinner, they would take the Princess Diana and the Haunted Encounters tour this evening and then do The Glory Days tour in the morning.
They chose the Sir Winston dining room for their wedding supper. It more than met their expectations and when they eventually left the dining room, they were satisfied in both body and soul. Victoria wanted to check out the gift shops, so they went down to the Promenade Deck to the gift shop.
Victoria chose a souvenir mug, a set of souvenir coasters, and a t-shirt. Rafael also picked out a souvenir t-shirt, and he got a model of the ship. They chose an apron, some chocolates, and a cute t-shirt for Lena. Victoria debated getting her mother something, but then decided against it. She didn’t know if she would be allowed to take anything in to her mother under the circumstances. Rafael chose a box of chocolates for his mother, and a coffee mug for Mateo.
After depositing their purchases in their stateroom, they went to do the Princess Diana tour. After that was over, they did the Haunted Encounters tour, but didn’t see or hear any “ghosts.” Regardless, it was very interesting and fun. Eventually, they retired to their stateroom and prepared for bed. After more lovemaking, they fell asleep, tired after a very full day.
Come morning, Rafael awoke and realized that Victoria hadn’t cried out in her sleep once all night. For this he was grateful. He propped his head up on one arm and watched Victoria as she gradually awakened.
“Mornin’, Beautiful,” he said in a sultry voice.
“Mornin’ yourself,” she replied sleepily.
He leaned over to kiss her, and as she came more fully awake, they indulged their passion once more. Eventually, they got out of bed, showered, dressed and were ready to meet the day.
“Did you have any bad dreams last night?” Rafael asked as they were repacking their belongings.
“I didn’t,” Victoria replied. “First night all week, I think, that I haven’t had any nightmares. Must be because I felt safe sleeping in your arms.”
“I had hoped so,” Rafael said, pulling her to him. “I have hoped that they would go away soon.”
“Rafael,” Victoria said, looking up into his eyes, “in my nightmares you were always there to rescue me. Except sometimes when I think back on them, I’m not sure if you were just in my dreams or if you were really there.”
“I was really there,” he admitted. “Your screams woke me up, so I went into your room to wake you up out of the nightmares. You even talked to me a time or two, but then the next morning you didn’t seem to remember at all, so I just didn’t say anything.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry that I disturbed you,” Victoria said. “I didn’t realize that I was screaming out loud. I’m sure glad that I didn’t last night here on the ship.”
“Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn’t,” Rafael said with a wry smile. “Well, are you all packed up?”
“I think so.”
“Let’s go find some breakfast then,” he suggested.
“Works for me.”
They chose a different dining venue for br
eakfast and enjoyed it just as much as they had enjoyed their meal the evening before. After breakfast they did The Glory Days tour. It was really cool, telling about the ship’s history and being taken behind the scenes. After the tour, they hit up another gift shop where Victoria bought postcards to add to her collection.
All too soon, it was time to collect their bags and leave the ship. They had a long week ahead of them, moving Victoria’s things down from Seattle. They carried everything to the car and reluctantly left the beautiful Queen Mary behind.
“That was a fabulous experience,” Victoria said with a contented sigh. “I loved every single minute of it. You know what would be cool? To come back on our first anniversary and stay overnight again. Or even just spend the day aboard ship, seeing and doing everything. What do you think?”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Rafael said. “Let’s keep that in mind. I really enjoyed it, too. I’ve dreamed of seeing that ship for years, too. Another place I seriously debated on taking you yesterday was Catalina Island. I’ve been wanting to go there for ages, too.”
“That would have been fun, too,” Victoria agreed. “I was there once when I was a little kid, but would love to go again. When the dust settles a little bit, we’ll go over there some weekend. OK?”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Rafael said.
“When do we fly out of here?” Victoria asked. “I know you told me once, but I can’t remember.”
“This evening at six something,” he replied. “I’ll have to look at the itinerary again myself. Then we get into SeaTac around nine-ish. I’ll check it when we get home.”
“Do you have the tickets?”
“I’ll have to go online and print them out when we get home,” he said.
“I guess all we’ll be doing is unpacking and repacking then, huh?” Victoria said.
“That’s about it,” he replied.
“I won’t have to take much, because most of my clothes are up there,” Victoria said. “Probably one suitcase will do us, don’t you think?”
“Most likely. Especially if it’s a big one,” he said.
When they got home, they took all their stuff in the house. Lena was on hand to welcome them home.
“How was the trip?” she asked.
“It was fabulous!” Victoria exclaimed. “We went to the Queen Mary and spent the night in a gorgeous stateroom.”
“I knew you’d like it,” Lena said, beaming.
“You knew where we were going?” Victoria asked.
“Yeah, Rafael asked me if I thought you would like that,” she admitted.
“You two! Scheming behind my back!” Victoria scolded them laughingly.
“Worked, didn’t it?” Rafael said with a teasing grin.
“Yep! So I guess you can do it any time you want to,” Victoria said.
They gave Lena the little gifts they had gotten her on the ship. She was totally delighted with them and expressed her joy and thanks over and over. She loved the t-shirt that declared, “Being a Princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
After a quick lunch, they went upstairs to pack another suitcase and get ready to fly out later that day. Rafael printed out the plane tickets and Victoria put them in her purse so they wouldn’t go off without them. They had to leave at three o’clock in order to get to the airport two hours before their flight took off.
Because they would be driving a rental truck back, they took a cab to the airport. Lena would have been glad to drive them, but they didn’t want her out in the traffic that is generated around LAX so soon after getting out of the hospital. Eventually, they were settled on the plane and it was taking off.
Victoria was lucky enough to have gotten a window seat, so she enjoyed watching the varying landscapes so far beneath the plane. The Tehachapis gave way to the flatness of the San Joaquin Valley. The central valley was a mixed bag of towns, field crops, and citrus groves.
They passed Sacramento, and the flatness gave way to rolling hills. Those eventually became green with the evergreen-covered Siskiyou Mountains where they left California for Oregon, but not before Mount Shasta’s majestic snow-capped peak and Mount Lassen to the east was seen from her window.
The green mountains subsided into the evergreen, oak, and madrone-covered hills that stretch from Ashland north nearly to Eugene. Then the terrain flattened out somewhat from there to near Salem, when the hills raised their tree-clad heads once more. Portland with all her children stretched out beneath the plane for several moments until they crossed the mighty Columbia River and the ground beneath her became Washington State. Before long, now, they’d be landing at SeaTac, formally known as the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
As Rafael and Victoria exited the airport terminal, they began looking for a taxi. Fortunately, they were able to hail one right away. Victoria gave them her address and off they went. Her apartment was in the Queen Anne district that was north of downtown Seattle, and about a fifteen-mile drive from the airport. Fortunately, as late as it was, the traffic wasn’t too horrible.
When they finally arrived, Rafael got out their luggage, paid the taxi driver, and they went inside. To Victoria, it felt like she’d been gone for months instead of less than two weeks. It was a strange feeling of coming home, and yet not home. After a mere thirteen days back in LA, Seattle no longer felt like the home she had worked so hard to make it. They were tired, so they simply went to bed that night to get rested up for the job of packing all of Victoria’s belongings over the next couple of days.
The next morning, they got up starving for breakfast, but there was nothing available there. The milk that Victoria had left in the fridge two weeks earlier was spoiled. So they dressed and went in search of breakfast. Victoria knew of a little café not far away where they could get a good meal.
“Say, isn’t that the Space Needle just over there?” Rafael asked just before they got to the café.
“Yeah, that’s it. You wanna go see it while we’re here?” Victoria asked.
“Sure, I’d like that,” he answered. “Maybe after we eat?”
“It’s as good a time as any,” she said.
They parked Victoria’s car and went inside the café. The waitress recognized Victoria as soon as she walked in.
“Hey, Vicky,” she called out. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Where’ve you been keeping yourself?”
She led them to a booth and they sat down.
“Hi, Jan,” Victoria replied. “I’ve been in LA the past couple of weeks. My dad died and I had to go down.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” Jan said. “Looks like you had a good trip though, in spite of everything.”
Jan gave Rafael a significant look.
“Well, some good as certainly come out of it,” Victoria conceded. “Jan, this is my husband, Rafael Rivera.”
“Husband! Girl, you move fast!” Jan exclaimed. “You say you were gone two weeks? Or did you have him on the string all along?”
“Yes, two weeks. No, no string. It’s a very, very long story. Just suffice it to say that he was my dad’s protégé and has been a real lifesaver these past weeks. I don’t think I could have survived with my sanity intact if I hadn’t met him,” Victoria told her.
“Well, congratulations, girl. I’m glad for you,” Jan said. “Are you going to live here or go back to LA?”
“I’m going back to LA. We’re just up here to move my stuff,” Victoria explained.
“I’ll miss seeing you in here, but I wish you well,” Jan said. “Now, what do you want to eat this morning?”
The couple gave Jan their order and she went to give it to the cook. In record time, their breakfast was set before them.
“As long as we’re out, let’s just go on over to the art museum so I can turn in my resignation,” Victoria said over a plate of hash browns and eggs.
“Sure, that’s fine,” Rafael said. “In fact, let’s do that first, and then go to the Space Needle.”
“That wo
rks,” she agreed.
When they were through eating, Rafael paid for their breakfast and left Jan a nice tip. The girls hugged each other goodbye, and then they left, heading for the art museum.
“Want me to go in with you, or stay out in the car?” Rafael wanted to know when he parked the car at the museum.
“I’ll go in alone, if you don’t mind,” she told him. “I think it would be best that way.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Victoria was warmly greeted when she walked into her former workplace. The two other employees who she ran in to wanted to know all about her trip. She kept the telling short and left out all the sordid details, saying only that the funeral was hard, but that she’d met someone, had gotten married, and was only back in Seattle to move her things back to LA. The other two expressed their dismay that she was leaving them, but congratulated her on her marriage. Then she excused herself and went to the manager’s office.
She knocked on the door, then opened it and went in when invited.
“Hi, Vicky,” Mrs. Danforth said in a surprised voice. “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon. How was your trip? I’m so sorry about your father.”
“Hi, Mrs. Danforth,” Victoria replied. “Thank you. My trip was all right, I guess. As good as any funeral trip can be. The good part was that I met someone special and married him the day before yesterday.”
“Married! Wow! You move fast,” Mrs. Danforth exclaimed. “He must be special to move that fast.”
“Well, I have my dad to thank for a lot of it,” she said. “He was so sure that we would be right for each other that he set us up together before he died. He just hadn’t bothered to let me know about the deal. It’s all good, though. I’m now grateful to my dad and am very happy with Rafael. He is very special.”