by Louisa Neil
There was an edge to his voice she hadn’t noticed before. She wasn’t sure how to interpret it, but for now she didn’t care. She was enjoying the sated feeling he brought to her body, mind, and soul.
He rolled to the side and grabbed the phone. “I’m calling room service. What would you like?”
“Bacon cheeseburger with fries and a vanilla shake.”
He glanced at her and laughed. “Finally, a woman who actually eats.”
“Keep fucking me like this for a week, and I’ll waddle off this ship.”
“I can think of worse things.” He made the call and put the phone back on the nightstand. Reaching a hand to her, she let him help her up, coming to stand in front of him. “Go shower. There are robes hanging on the back of the door.”
“Not going to come with me?”
“Not if you expect to eat while the food’s hot. Go clean up, and after we snack, we’ll see what other kind of trouble we can get into.”
From that moment on, Rhia knew Donovan would be a part of her life. She just wasn’t sure in what manner.
* * * *
They sat on the balcony at the small table, sharing the freshly delivered food, both of them wrapped in huge white terry-cloth robes with the ship’s logo embroidered across the left chest. Donovan was slightly out of sorts. This woman was sensual yet grounded. He liked that she was blunt. His cock swelled as he remembered her telling him to fuck her and make her come. Donovan was pleased with his choice of invitation for this cruise. He’d been spot-on with his intuition. He reiterated his initial thoughts. “Rhia, I think you’ve bewitched me.”
“How did you know that’s what my name means? Rhiannon isn’t a common name.”
“I know a lot about you. I know you were named that after an aunt that had the same gift as you.”
“What does Donovan mean?” She reached over and dipped a French fry in a puddle of ketchup.
“Donovan means dark warrior. Mackenzie means fire born.”
“I called you the devil earlier, and now I’m beginning to see I was right. It wasn’t a joke.”
“No joke. Just like you, my little witch who can sense things about people. That’s what made you such a good profiler.”
“Made me?” She sucked on the straw to her shake.
“I said ‘made you’ because I don’t think you’ll go back to that job. You’re not the kind of woman to sit behind a desk nine to five. Nor are you a woman who can accept the rules dictated by the bureau. You’re a woman of movements, not one to wait until you’re told you can do something.”
“Well, I’ll admit you’re right there. I’m not happy sitting at a desk waiting for someone else to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“Then go private. Open your own investigation firm. Take only the cases that nobody else can solve. You can work when you want and vacation with me when we’re in the mood.”
“I thought once this week was over, we were over.”
“So did I, but I’m rethinking my position on longevity.”
“Well, for the next week, I’m all yours. Check back with me when we reach our home port. We may hate each other by then.”
“That wouldn’t happen. We both know it. And while it’s not my normal pattern, in all honesty, it scares me, too. I’m not the boyfriend type, rather the adventurer that accepts a predetermined end. The idea that you’re considering a new time frame scares the hell out of you, too.”
“Ask me again at the end of the week.” She turned in her seat and lifted the glass to her lips, sucking the last of the cold vanilla concoction through the straw, taking sidelong glances at him. He stared at the water, astonished he’d just broken his own private rule about a woman. He knew she was wondering how he could know what she was thinking. She was the profiler and the one with the gift of knowing what people thought. For now, he’d leave her that information and hold back about his own intuition. It didn’t take any special sense to know she understood from that moment on, her life would be different.
* * * *
Donovan couldn’t believe how lucky he’d gotten. While Rhia suggested he was the devil incarnate of sorts, he knew his abilities lay in research. He’d had the good fortune to be coming of age when computers were beginning to make their mark. They were no longer room-size machines with only a few functions. The concept of how they worked had clicked with him, and he’d overshadowed what his professors were teaching early in his schooling. He smiled, remembering having no choice but to contend with boring classes to get his degree.
While most of his classmates were studying, he was already inventing his own programs. Simply put, for the first time in his educational years, he was top in his class without effort. He’d understood the future was going to revolve around them, and he wanted to be in on the ground floor. His initial programs didn’t bring in much money, but he’d invested that money wisely in several of the larger corporations that were making huge strides in the field.
Degree in hand, he’d gone to work for one of those companies and earned a good living for the first five years. By then he’d gotten antsy in the corporate workplace. He spent all his downtime and vacations drafting his own programs to his liking, not to what a memo told him to develop. He never returned after his last vacation, having sold one of his private programs with a huge reward. He’d learned then to stay out of the spotlight and design what he thought the world would need. He also made them simple for public consumption, and he stunned corporate drones with the complexities of his business programs. He smiled down at Rhiannon as she shifted beside him in her sleep.
The date-matching program he developed in those early years was purchased by a company that went on to become one of the world’s leading dating sites. Simple questions answered by the dater, put together with his equations, filtered out the incompatible and left the most desirable choices. After that, whatever wild idea he’d had, he worked on. Many of his programs were in use today, and he smiled, knowing nobody would ever know who designed the software they were currently using.
With money to burn, he invested in companies and ideas that appealed to him. Donovan had gotten lucky, and money was no longer an issue. When he designed the software that ran this ship’s navigation system, he’d taken the money and a stake in the company. That had been one of his best investments. Locked in his laboratory most days and nights, he rarely met women who interested him beyond a quick lay. Which was when he used his own dating program, or a newer version of it, to arrange dates for himself. Of course, his criteria were much more in-depth to his personal likings and fetishes.
With much research beforehand, he’d taken to choosing three potential matches and given them a free cruise. With Captain Nigel Talon as his confidant, they’d quickly forged a friendship he enjoyed to this day. Nigel was more than willing to go along with Donovan’s unusual requests, mainly because he was a part owner, and his aim was to please. With further research on Nigel, Donovan had learned his deepest secrets. While a ladies’ man for all intent purposes, he had a streak running though him similar to Donovan’s. Nigel liked to dominate men and women. With Donovan’s help, he’d come to realize his penchant for being the submissive to certain men. Their relationship blossomed, and Donovan taught Nigel the finesse he was lacking. With Nigel’s newfound confidence and Donovan’s pre-determined dates, they both enjoyed the cruises to a new level.
Donovan’s first criterion for his chosen dates when they met was to question their lucky streak at winning the cruise. The ones who didn’t question their newfound fortunes were quickly eliminated from his routine. While they enjoyed their free trips, he didn’t interact with them. Some cruises he chose the best of the lot and enjoyed a week of sex. Most cruises, he spent his time with a predetermined woman with similar preferences in their sexual escapades to his. He was always up front, reinforcing his one-week rule. Until he’d seen Rhiannon on the television and delved deeper into her background.
While she wasn’t normally his type, he�
��d been overcome with a need to possess her. Following her progress and the case she’d solved, he knew deep within her was a woman who repressed her sexual side in favor of a career. After the shooting, he understood she’d never go back to that job. It was easy to make her plans, although she did question the arrangements several times before the cruise began. Eventually, one of the cruise officials let it slip to her it was their way of thanking and rewarding her for ridding the world of the scum. They were offering her a simple week’s cruise to recuperate from her injuries.
Now on their first night out of port, she was lying beside him, her breathing in a relaxed pattern. Seeing her in person the first time, he’d had to hold back coming in his pants. She was beyond beautiful. She was spectacular. She’d let her black hair grow out from its pixie cut to its current shoulder-length bob. She had dark-blue eyes, the color piercing as she looked at him. Instantly he knew what made her such a good investigator. Her expressive eyes told anyone she spoke with she wouldn’t accept lies, that telling the truth was their only option. She reminded him of a young Demi Moore.
Donovan understood after her brush with death, Rhia had accepted him as a sex partner so quickly, wanting to feel alive, and sex was a quick way to achieve that feeling. He was smiling down at her as she began to fidget in her sleep. Obviously, whatever she was dreaming was disturbing. He tightened his grip around her and tugged her tighter to his chest.
“Wake up, Rhia. It’s only a bad dream.” He shook her lightly. “Wake up.” She’d frozen in his arms, her body tense and ready to strike out was she woke. Slowly, as she became aware of her surroundings, she relaxed back against him.
“Sorry. I guess I woke you,” she said, her eyes still filled with sleep.
“Bad dream?” he asked, and she nodded against his chest. “How often?”
“Too often.” Rhia pulled from his arms and padded to the bathroom. When she returned, he saw instantly she was wide awake and embarrassed at her earlier actions. “I guess I should head back to my room.” She began searching the area for her clothing.
“Rhia, come back to bed.” He reached a hand toward her. “Please don’t leave now. Come back to bed and get some sleep.” He read reluctance on her features and tried again. “Please, Rhia, come back to bed. Don’t leave me alone tonight.”
Finally, after several moments of deep thought, she crawled on the bed beside him and snuggled down beside him. “Sleep, Rhia. Tomorrow will be a big day.”
“I’m sorry about the nightmare.”
“Maybe we can take your mind off them this week.” He smiled down at her and enveloped her with his arms. “If nothing else, I can make you so tired you won’t dream.”
Rhiannon looked up at him and gave him a half laugh. “Anything to stop the dreams.”
“So you’ll take anything I can think of to forget your dreams. Lady, you are about to be very surprised.”
“Good, surprise me,” she uttered, hiding a yawn.
“I’ll surprise you, Rhia. Just give me this week, and life as you know it will never be the same.” She was already asleep beside him. “I love you, Rhiannon Carr. You don’t know it yet, but I’m going to be the love of your life.” He settled beside her and slept until the morning light woke him.
Waking that morning with Rhia beside him, he knew his words of loving her were accurate. For the first time in his life, he was infatuated and madly in love. Rhia would be his, full-time, in all ways. Eventually, he’d share his darker side with her, but for now, she was beside him, and he had a week to convince her to stay with him.
Chapter Three
Three years later
Rhiannon Carr stood at the bow of the boat, overlooking the port below. There was a light breeze ruffling around her, but it wasn’t annoying, just fresh. She’d made this cruise before and knew to pull her hair back until they were under way. Now she was just antsy and waiting for them to get going. Wasted time annoyed her, even though this was supposed to be her vacation. She smiled down at the port, knowing she’d enjoy this week to the fullest. She’d earned her time off and was looking forward to spending this vacation on the water. The cruise would sail from Charleston, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida along the coast over the next seven nights. Nights she was looking forward to with anticipation.
The chill she felt through her body wasn’t from the air temperature. It was internal as she began to fantasize about what lay ahead. Her nipples had hardened, and her pussy had gone creamy just thinking about how Donovan would make her come. They had a routine, and she knew he’d not acknowledge her outside their cabin for the next twenty-four hours. She also knew he’d not touch her until after the evening meal when everyone retired for the night. Then he always went out of his way to make their first night aboard an adventure. She never knew what mood he’d choose, but in the three years they’d taken this same route, he’d always amazed her with his imagination and prowess.
Their agreement to abstain from sex for forty-eight hours before the trip always made her extremely horny. It made Donovan crazy. From past experience, she knew by the time they got to their cabin tonight, there would be no restraint as they fucked and sucked until they were exhausted.
Her sexual needs would have to wait hours longer. She surveyed the guests as they arrived and boarded, giving certain guests more attention than others. Rhia knew Donovan was at the stern of the vessel, doing the same thing she was. Watching and deciding. In a passing thought, she wondered what he’d do if she caught him flirting with another woman. It didn’t matter. He’d never disrespected her in that way. If he had other partners or affairs, she never knew about them, never heard gossip about him with another woman or man. Rhia hadn’t been outside their relationship since it started. She was very content with Donny and tried to enjoy each day just for its intrinsic value.
In the past, she would have been angst-ridden every day, wondering what would come next. What was expected of her personally and professionally? With those heavy days behind her, she’d adapted easily to Donovan’s schedule when she was in the mood. She still took on cases occasionally, but only ones that interested her. She wasn’t a crime whore who showed up at every scene trying to solve it instantly. In reality, she knew there were only a few cases solved immediately. Most took hours of old-fashioned man-hours, computers included, to find the critical information to piece together the crime and who was responsible.
These last years, she’d only agreed to consult when the case had hit a troubling standstill. Usually she knew in advance how they would work out. It was just a matter of putting the pieces in the right order. Sometimes that took longer than she preferred, but she always figured it out. Then she’d come back to Donovan and leave the rest of the world outside their door. He’d become a valuable partner, doing a lot of the research, which freed her time to review cases. Together, her investigative firm was turning away cases, leaving her to choose the ones she felt she might solve.
She had one rule that was never to be broken. Nobody she worked with in any city or on any case was to let anyone, especially the press, know she was involved. Behind the cloak of anonymity, she managed to solve many crimes. Those were her proudest moments, the ones she savored in quiet with Donovan. She had him to thank for her new life. He’d been the one to make her see how much good she could do outside but realm of office politics.
She almost cheered when she saw the gangway being disconnected from the shore. They were getting under way. She’d stay on deck for another hour or so, people watching. These first hours were always difficult, as she was taking in the new people around her, learning their secrets, and trying to forget them. In self-preservation, she always took her migraine medicine as they boarded, hoping to ward off the blinding pain that came with crowds, their thoughts, and their scents. Any heavy odor could cripple her. Around one hundred people were all she could deal with at any given time. These smaller ships suited her needs and her moods much better than the larger ship would have, their thousands of gue
sts and employees sending her into sensory overload.
She was reluctant to hug anyone unless she knew they weren’t wearing heavy perfume or aftershave. She could scent them out like a bloodhound and always tried to keep her distance from the reekers, as she liked to call them, the ones who doused themselves in scents. Nigel Talon, the ship’s captain, would make sure none of the perfumed passengers were ever seated near her during any meals. She smiled, thinking about his small kindness. He was a man who knew his place and his future. He liked being the captain, and completely in charge, most of the time. Other times, in private with her and Donovan, Nigel let down his guard. He’d become useful in many ways to Donovan and, in turn, to her.
Lines were being untied from shore, and she finally felt the rush of adrenaline that came with each cruise. They were leaving port, and adventure was ahead. As she surveyed the new passengers, she spotted the three men chosen for possible partners. They were always chosen well in advance and researched thoroughly, and unless chosen as a companion, they never knew anything about the possibility they’d missed. The Internet was a wonderful thing, and Donovan Mackenzie was an expert at navigating his way around it.
Where she had the immediate sense of a person, Donovan had the same intuition with the Internet and computer programs. She wasn’t completely technophobic. She could open her mail and do searches. She just didn’t like the waiting involved, whereas Donny got a thrill from it. To each their own, she’d decided long ago. His strengths and her weaknesses compensated for what the other lacked. Where she was intuitive about people and had been trained as a profiler, Donovan handled the details of their daily life. It was an arrangement that worked between them.
Rhia accepted a glass of champagne from a passing waiter as everyone gathered on deck to cheer the beginning of their trip. There’d be a short hour on deck, and then the introduction cocktail party would start at six. She’d have plenty of time to go to her cabin, rest, shower, and dress before then. Rhiannon introduced herself as just “Rhia,” with no last name to those passengers who approached her. Usually they were excited about the trip and not necessarily seeking her out. When pushed for a last name, she would tell people, “Does it really matter? In a week we’ll never see each other again. Let’s just enjoy the cruise.” This usually left people a bit stunned, and she’d remove herself from their presence.