by Ellen Wilder
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Praise for Ellen Wilder
Ellen's stories always read like life. There's humor in the struggle, and a smile on my face at the end of the read.
Carrie Marie, Carrie’s Bookshelf
Cinderella at Sea
Launching Love #2
Ellen Wilder
Contents
About Cinderella at Sea
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also in the Launching Love series
More from Kindred Ink Press
About Cinderella at Sea
Vitalli Children’s Hospital Director of Development, Amanda “Manda” Reilly, is dreading her upcoming cruise. Her boyfriend just broke up with her, her cousin bailed at the last minute, and her anxiety is through the roof. Now planning to stay under the radar on the cruise, relax, and soak up some sun, Manda boards the ship to find that she’s actually going on a singles cruise.
Country music star Hunter Cross booked a show on a cruise to the Caribbean thinking it would be a fun (and quick) gig for him and the crew. When he runs into an old friend, Hunter realizes that this will be a journey much different than he expected.
Will this chance encounter between Manda and her childhood crush turn into a disaster, or will an old spark reignite and send their ship happily into the sunset?
Cinderella at Sea
Ellen Wilder
First published by Ellen Wilder in 2017
This edition published in 2017 by Kindred Ink Press
Kindred Ink Press
P.O. Box 405, Big Lake, MN 55309
Copyright © Ellen Wilder 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon, or similar organizations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
Cover design by Karan Eleni
Edited by Karan Eleni
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This novella is dedicated to my devoted and patient husband. Without your love and loyalty, I wouldn’t be able to write at all.
Love you, darling.
Chapter One
“What do you mean you can’t go?” Manda Reilly fisted her hands by her side as she shot daggers at her cousin, Alexis. “You mean I have to go on this cruise by myself?” Manda paced the unintentionally minimalist living room of her condo. If she ever took a vacation day or two, she’d take the time to decorate and add to the slate gray couch and lounge chair, end tables, and coffee table that currently held the floor down. At least it was easy to keep clean.
Alexis frowned. “My babysitter canceled at the last minute. I can’t just shove my kid off on anyone for a week and a half.”
Manda rolled her eyes and huffed. “Your parents would love to watch him. You have a myriad of aunts that would take him too. Even Grandma would if you asked.” Of all the excuses her cousin could use, that was the one she picked. “You just can’t get over your fear of water.” How’d she let her cousin talk her into this? A cruise that ended the day after Valentine’s Day. Alone and recently single.
Alexis shook her head. “Just go by yourself. It will be a great opportunity to meet other people and get over ‘Richard the Heartless.’”
Manda rolled her eyes again. “He wasn’t heartless until the end. Or I didn’t notice it until then.” She dropped onto the couch. “You know I have anxiety issues, Alexis. How am I supposed to spend eight days on a cruise ship by myself?”
“Think of it as a business trip.” Alexis shrugged. “You’ve been working on a cruise fundraiser, right? I’m not sure how you’d make money on that, though. Think about all the costs associated with it.”
“I’m not worried about it being profitable. People love to have a good time, and if they can spend their money and get a tax write-off, they’ll take it in a heartbeat. The cruise line builds a donation into the cost of the cruise, also. And we would organize silent auctions to add to the total.”
“You’re still going, right?” Alexis smiled.
Inhaling deeply to release some of her building anxiety, Manda nodded. “Yes, I’m still going.”
“Good. Let’s go shopping for some new clothes so you can knock the lone single man on a Valentine’s Day cruise off his feet.”
Manda shook her head. “Business, Alexis. We just established I’ll be there for business now that you’re not going. I’m not going to hook up with someone.” What had she gotten herself into?
Manda’s phone rang as she walked onto the deck. She turned to move out of another passenger’s way and answered her phone. “Regretting your decision not to come now?”
Alexis laughed, but there was a nervousness to it. “Not really. Are you on the ship yet?”
“Onboard and waiting to leave the port. Why?” Manda glanced around at the other passenger’s mingling on the deck.
“I, um, may have booked you on a singles cruise,” Alexis spit out in reply.
“A singles cruise?” Manda repeated louder than she meant to. She noticed a couple of men look her way. Her heart beat faster, and she turned to look out over the dock. She lowered her voice. “Alexis? Why would you book me on a singles cruise?” That explained the number of men milling about without their Valentines.
“Well, I thought it would be a good way for you to get over Richard. Meet new people.”
“Oh, sure. Send a woman with social anxiety, who is terrified of being alone in public, on a singles cruise. Half these men are probably just looking for a week-long speed-dating game. How, exactly, is that supposed to get me over Richard?”
“You’ll be fine, Manda. Maybe a little fun and frolic in the sun is exactly what you need. Take some time for yourself. Be around new people.”
“I don’t want to be around new people. This is not what grounds me. This frightens me. What part of that don’t you understand?” Manda’s breathing was on the verge of erratic. She started her breathing exercises, trying to get a handle on the looming panic attack.
“You’ll have fun. I promise you.” Alexis chuckled. “Now, hang up and get to mingling.” She didn’t give Manda a chance to hang up and ended the call herself.
Manda stared down at her phone and considered throwing it into the ocean as the ship pulled away from the dock. A singles cruise? She wanted to punch her cousin. Twice.
Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Manda repeated the process hoping to control both her anxiety and the desire to beat her cousin. She turned and scanned the crowds churning around her. Originally, all she had to worry about was talking to the captain and maybe finding a calm, older couple she could tag along with on o
ccasion. Instead, she’d be stuck on a singles cruise with a bunch of people looking for dates. What was her cousin thinking? Inhale. Hold. Exhale. She closed her eyes and continued to steady her breathing, counting the time on her fingers.
“Are you okay? Here. Have some water,” a woman’s voice sounded behind her. “Drink it slowly. It’ll help.”
Manda jumped. Good God, was she nervous. Would she be able to calm down at all? She swallowed hard. “Th-thank you.” She let out another deep breath.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” The woman watched patiently and waited for Manda to speak up, concern evident on her face.
Tears pooled in Manda’s eyes. “There’s nothing anyone can do.” She opened her purse and dug around for a pack of tissues. She snagged one and dabbed at her eyes. “We just boarded, and this trip already sucks. My boyfriend and I just split, and my cousin, who was supposed to be here with me, bailed at the last minute.” She stumbled through the last half of her sentence, gasped for air, and hiccoughed. Anxiety sucked. She wanted to go hide in her cabin, yet here she was, telling a complete stranger her recent life story.
The woman was gorgeous. Long, straight, blonde hair. Nothing like the red curly mess Manda was forced to tame each morning.
“You too?” The woman stood as if she had no cares in the world. Her pants were perfectly pressed, not one hair out of place. Natural and confident—everything Manda wished she was. “My best friend just called and canceled. We had all sorts of plans, but now I’m a solo act.”
Manda blew her nose and threw the tissue away. “It’s bad enough to be alone on a cruise, but then to find out it’s a singles cruise.”
The woman shrieked. “A what? Noooo. Viv wouldn’t do that to me.” She frantically rummaged through her purse, presumably for her phone.
Manda reached for her own but stopped. Even if she sent Alexis a message, she wouldn’t get a response.
The stranger’s phone pinged, and Manda looked up. The woman’s eyes widened as she scowled. She pounded on the phone, turned it off, and threw it in her purse.
“Everything okay?” Manda stifled a laugh. Clearly, her new acquaintance didn’t know it was a singles cruise either. At least she wasn’t the only one.
“No, but it will be. I’ve got an idea. My trip is for work—all expenses paid. How about you and I make this a cruise to remember?” She extended her hand. “I’m Diana Clay.”
She accepted the outstretched hand. “Amanda Reilly, but my friends call me ‘Manda.’”
“Well, Manda? Let’s go find our cabins and get ourselves dolled up. We might as well rock this place, no?” Diana flashed a killer smile. “Dress to kill. We’re having dinner at the captain’s table tonight.”
Diana’s smile put Manda at ease, and she grinned back. A meeting at the captain’s table would be perfect. She could try to sneak in a chat about her fundraiser. Diana’s job must be something important if she was meeting with the captain. Not that “Development Director of the Vitalli Children’s Hospital” was anything to sneer at, but it generally didn’t warrant a VIP table outside of her circle. Maybe this trip wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
Manda slid her black Christian Louboutin slingback pumps onto her feet and stared into the mirror. Alexis had picked them out. She had to admit, they went really well with the fitted, knee-length black dress she brought.
A glance at her watch told Manda it was almost time to go. As long as she could keep her wits about her, things should go well. Her talking points were prepped, and she was ready to share her ideas about the fundraiser with the captain if given the opportunity. Who could say no to a children’s hospital?
A final look in the mirror calmed her nerves, and Manda forced a smile. Her mother always told her ‘Even if you’re not completely confident, you can always fake it.’ Manda had lived by that motto since she performed her first dance solo at the age of sixteen.
Manda took hold of the door handle and out of the cabin she went.
As fate would have it, the captain did not show up leaving Manda and Diana with three loud, obnoxious, rude men, and a lovely couple who were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Manda smiled as her parents crossed her mind. They would be celebrating their thirty-sixth anniversary this year. Her grandparents were approaching their fifty-sixth. Would she ever find a love like that? At twenty-seven, was it too much to hope that she’d find someone she could spend the next fifty years with?
Diana leaned over to Manda and whispered, “Why don’t we go to the bar and let these knuckleheads hash it out for themselves?”
Manda shrugged and pushed a few stray curls out of her face. “That sounds better than sitting here feeling like I want to hide.”
They stood, and Diana looped her arm through Manda’s. “Come on. Maybe we can meet some well-behaved men at the bar.”
Manda shuddered, remembering the panic attack her last bar experience caused. “I’ve never known well-behaved men to hang out in bars.”
Diana laughed. “True, very true.” They decided to hit one of the poolside bars, The Porthole Pub, and ventured off in that direction.
Diana approached the bartender and fluttered her eyelashes. “Hi, Chris. How about a Martini—dry—with extra olives?”
Chris the Bartender nodded and turned to Manda. “And for you, miss?”
“Just an iced tea, please.”
“Ice tea? Come on, live a little.” Diana threw back her drink and ordered another.
She paused as she realized her medication was long overdue. As long as she kept calm, maybe she wouldn’t need it tonight. She held up her hand. “Okay, make it a glass of red wine.”
The bartender smiled and went about making the drinks. Manda took in her surroundings. They stood in front of a highly-polished Cherrywood bar with a gorgeous antique beveled mirror behind it. Chris placed their drinks within reach, smiled again, and was off to wait on the next cruise-goer.
Diana turned to Manda. “How did we both unknowingly end up on a singles cruise?”
Manda looked out over the crowd and into the ocean beyond. “I have no clue. I didn’t know until my cousin called me right before you appeared with the water. I was clueless. I thought it was just a Valentine’s week cruise. I expected a lot of happy old couples to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over and be jealous of.”
“My friend was supposed to come with me, she booked the cruise and then met Nick, and well, all bets were off.” Diana stirred her drink and popped the olive in her mouth.
Manda nodded, took a sip of her drink, and put the glass back on the bar. Why did she order wine? “When she canceled, she convinced me to go alone. Said it would be a good opportunity to research more about a fundraising activity I want to do for the children’s hospital I work for. And to take my mind off my ex. It’s only been three weeks since we broke up, and my brain just won’t quit.”
Diana glanced around. “You know what would really take your mind off him?”
Manda wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer to that question, but she asked anyway. “What?”
Diana moved closer. “When Vivian and I were in college, we had this game called “Boyfriend for a Night.” One of our sorority sisters would set you up with a friend of theirs, and you’d have to go on one date with him. Some great stories came out of that game.”
“I don’t know if I’d trust my friends to pick the people I went on dates with.” Manda paused. “But then again, it couldn’t be worse than the ones I’ve been picking lately.”
“Couldn’t be that bad.” Diana shook her head.
“Wanna bet?” Manda snorted.
“Come on. Give it a try. What have you got to lose? What’s your idea of the perfect man, and why?” Diana shot off questions like she was interrogating a prisoner.
Manda took a deep breath. She didn’t hear half of what Diana was saying, she was going so fast. “Slow down.”
“Sorry, I forgot how intense I can get.” Diana c
ocked her head. “Who’s your favorite singer?”
“Hunter Cross. His lyrics are enchanting. I just love his music.” Manda blushed a tad. She opened her mouth to say something else but changed her mind.
“Ah—interesting.” Diana nodded. “What else?”
Manda smiled and decided to change the subject. “What about you? Who is your perfect man, and what are your preferences?”
“Anything will be an improvement over the last few guys. I’ve never picked better losers. That’s what I get for trying to find men I think my father would approve of.” Diana rolled her eyes as she reached for her glass.
“What does your father have to do with it?”
“Daddy has a very specific idea of the kind of man he expects me to marry. He wants to turn the company over to them when he retires. The thing is, I want to take over the company. But in his world, women don’t run empires.”
Manda shook her head. Diana’s father didn’t know her family, but after hearing that, she knew he wouldn’t be a fan of theirs. Her grandmother was the speaker of their family, not her grandfather. He tended to be the quiet one of the pair.
“What do you want? I mean really want in a man?” Manda quietly waited while Diana gave her answer some thought.
“Don’t forget, now. This is just a game, not forever.”
“I know. But I don’t know you well enough to just choose any guy. Give me something.” Manda pursed her lips. Her heart started to race, and her breathing began to come in gasps.