by Ellie Pond
“But wait.” She rolled onto her side, even as he was hardening again. “Five days on the Dark Wing not claiming your mate isn’t the same as on land. They’re breathing the same air. Their bodies are going to be working overtime towards the bonding and claiming.”
Tad sat up.
“There was a couple in the first year. Fated mates. They didn’t want to mate. They had their reasons.”
He shrugged. Been there, got the T-shirt.
“It was a seven-day cruise. By the end of it they were both in the infirmary. The ship’s had a new filtration system installed, but you need to warn them.”
“Were you going to mention this to me?”
“I . . .”
“You were going to use us as a control group? Research.” Tad stared down at her.
“Maybe. Are you mad?” Her nose scrunched up.
“No, I would have done the same.”
She let out a sigh.
“I still have to punish you, though.” He smirked at her as he swatted her lush ass with a light slap.
“Yes, please.”
Epilogue
Two months later
Five more boxes lay on a cart outside their room. “Do you want me to move them into your room, Dr. Cottage?” Chad held another book box. Elizabeth’s eyes skimmed the room. A tower of her clothes lay on the bed, and three laundry baskets of shoes sat next to the bed.
“That’s okay, Chad. Put that one over wherever you can see the floor and we’ll get the rest later. You can leave them in the hall by the door.”
“Guests embark in an hour. You sure you don’t want me to help?”
“Thanks. It’s fine.”
Chad nodded and left.
The room was substantially bigger than her room on deck three, but there was a lot of stuff. Her mate had almost as many shoes as she did. And clothes, oh so many more clothes than she did. Steam billowed out of the bathroom ahead of her mate. He held a towel around his waist. He dropped it and stalked her across the cabin. She put her hands out in front of her. The reason their room looked this way was because they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
“Stop right there. We have too much to do.”
“I only have one thing to do. One extra-sexy thing to do.” He picked her up and tossed her onto the small corner of the bed that didn’t have a stack of clothing on it.
“Tad, stop. Look at these piles. The closet is already full.”
“We could have taken the family room.”
She pushed up on her elbows and glared at him. “You said we should wait to focus on the research. We agreed.”
“We agree on the wrong things a lot.”
She gave in and smacked him lightly on the shoulder as he caged her in and kissed her neck.
“We can wait,” he said. “But we still could have taken the family room. The captain was willing to give you anything you wanted.”
“It wouldn’t have been right. There are families who need those bigger rooms.”
“Want me to rent a cabin for storage?”
“That’s wasteful.” She kept forgetting that she was mated to a billionaire.
“Alright, and you’re sure you don’t want an apartment at port?”
“A place we never go but still have to dust? No. We need to get rid of more stuff. Downsize our books a little.” The expression on her face let him know that the statement was as painful to her as it was to him. Tad had spent the last week gathering things from his apartment in New York and his condo in Pennsylvania. So many things that their cabin now groaned.
“Or we could get rid of our shoes.”
Elizabeth’s eyes saucered.
“Kidding. I vote we get rid of your clothes.” He kissed her possessively, his hand under her scrub shirt.
She panted and rolled out of his grasp. Dark Wing had docked last night at 3:00 a.m., and Tad was somehow on board by four. He’d brought her to orgasm three times, and if he kissed her like that anymore, she’d be ripping her own clothes off.
“I’d say we need to get rid of your clothes, but you already have. Seriously, we have to get this cabin in order—at least a little—before the next cruise starts.”
Tad lay in an empty spot on the bed. She couldn’t resist but climb back up on him, straddling him.
“And who was here all week alone?”
“It wasn’t too bad until yesterday when I brought up the rest of my things I had put in my office. And then all of your boxes showed up.”
Tad stroked her hair as she ran her fingers around his abs. His eyes drifted shut. “We should stay here all day with you touching me like that.” His hands ran up her forearms.
“You’ve distracted me again.” She jumped off of him. “Come on. Get dressed. I want to show you what they’ve done in the lab. The equipment is being delivered today. But the foreman says that they won’t get it unpacked until later this week.
* * *
She’d thrown clothes at him that she found at the bottom of the pile on the bed. He held her hand as they left their room on the fifth deck. The boxes from the hallway were pushed inside the cabin, inside the doorway. They’d get to them at some point.
Down on the third deck, plastic construction sheets kept dust out of the corridor. Elizabeth lifted the plastic. She watched his expression as they entered the new lab.
“They’ve made a lot of progress in a week.”
They stood in the doorway. The construction crew waltzed around each other. The foreman explained that today would be a busy day as they had extra staff on board while docked. The walls were down from the four crew cabins that made up the new space. Electrical wires and ducts hung exposed.
As she was wondering if he would notice, he pointed to the wall going up at the far end.
“What’s that? I don’t remember that in the plans.”
“It wasn’t,” she giggled.
“And?”
“When they took down the last wall, the storage closet didn’t fit. Captain gave the orders to take another cabin out.”
Tad made a face. She could see the business man in him doing calculations.
“I know. I told him that we could make do. Wallis the foreman okayed the plans with the architect and they fit in a . . .”
“A what?”
“A high school classroom. Well, actually a conference room, but it’s going to be used mostly for the older kids. Isn’t that great?”
He pulled her into a hug. “It is. That’s going to make them feel more like they have a place.”
The ship’s daycare and elementary spaces were state of the art, but the older kids had been left out.
They stepped out of the way of a carpenter carrying a sheet of plywood into the room. The bear shifter nodded at them. “Good afternoon, Doctor.” He skirted around them. “Wallis, where do you want me to make the pile?”
A voice from what had been Mike’s cabin hollered, “Jack, put it near the porthole.”
“Got it,” the bear shifter said and put the plywood down. He skirted them again on his way out.
“We should get out of the way,” Elizabeth said as she hooked arms with her mate. Tad held the plastic open for her. The carpenter was at the other end of the hallway already.
“Do you know him?” Tad asked.
“Never seen him before. Why?”
“He seems familiar.”
“Maybe he’s worked with your family’s crew?”
“There are few bear shifters in construction near us. It’s more like déjà vu.” He shrugged his shoulders. “How about some breakfast?” He grasped her hand in his again. What was it about holding his hand that made her want to melt?
She led him to the officer’s dining room, where he scanned his own badge. He smirked at her and put the badge back in his pocket.
“After you.” He held the door for her.
They sat in the same seats they had months ago, when they decided they wouldn’t mate. They pulled out their phones together.
“Is that even a thing?”
“It should be; I love cherry-lime pie. I’m having meatloaf and cherry-lime pie.” He put his phone down. “Come here, I’ve been craving you for days.” He trailed his finger down the side of her neck and breathed her in. “I’m glad I’m home. I love you.”
He kissed her, and she was glad they had their home together.
***
Want to know what happens between Spencer and Lauren? Get Bewildered Heart Book Three, in the Dark Wing: Pennsylvania Wolves Trilogy. Bewildered Heart
You can read more about the Dark Wing crew in Crew Mates. Crew Mates is a Free episodic story that you’ll get for subscribing to Koi Pond, Ellie’s newsletter.
Click here.
Afterword
Dear Reader:
Dear reader, thank you so much for reading Elizabeth and Tad’s story. I love this ship and I hope you enjoyed sailing around with them.
Next up is Lauren and Spencer’s story. No worries, they’re done moping and are out for some mystery solving. Bewildered Heart is up for pre-order now.
I can’t thank you enough for coming along on this journey with me. If you would take the time to join my mailing list, the Koi Pond, I would be so grateful, and I’ll send you an extra epilogue of what’s going on with Elizabeth and Tad. But the best thing about the Koi Pond is that I’m writing an episodic book and you’ll get one episode every month that features the crew. In the first episode, lynx shifter Naomi’s hobby gets her into deep water with the captain. And wait, wait, there’s more LOL—monthly you’ll get an interview with a crew member by our lovely cruise director Rebecca Vane. She’s still working out how the whole reporter thing works, so be patient with her if she drops the mic or asks a too personal question of her fellow crew members and guests. If you would like to get signed up for the Koi Pond and the first episode of Crew Mates, click here. https://dl.bookfunnel.com/3g3ujcxgtv
As with any new series, it is so helpful if you would take the time to give Brilliant Heart a review. Thanks, and I can’t wait to talk to you in the Koi Pond!
Bewildered Heart is available for preorder! Click here to have Spencer and Lauren’s story waiting for you on September 18th.
Acknowledgments
I’m thankful for all of the assistance I’ve had making this book a reality. I would like to thank: SB Edits for the Developmental edits, Aquila Editing for the copy edits. Moonstruck Cover Designs for a fantastic cover. Mary DeSantis for her insightful comments in beta reading my manuscript. Charlotte Kane for her precise and fast beta reading. And Erin Grey for her proofreading and overall cheerfulness.
If you would like to be part of my ARC team for a future Dark Wing series book, give me a shout at [email protected].
About the Author
Ellie Pond is an emerging author of Paranormal Romance This is Ellie’s second book. Ellie’s had many professions, costume designer, contract archeologist, organic farmer, fabric store owner and airline gate agent. She’s happy to be a full time writer now. She lives in New England with her three teenage sons, husband, and father. It’s a lot of testosterone. To combat all the axe body spray in the house, Ellie likes to travel. You can follow her at on social media for her travel adventures.