Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads

by Nicole Morgan

  His grin answered hers, warm and bright. Then he sobered. “Do you think your parents are in danger of deportation?”

  “Probably not. They never registered with the government.” She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but it was hard. “I thought DACA was the best thing that ever happened to me, but it turned out to be the worst. After the election, it became a big directory of names and addresses for Immigration to use to find us.”

  He extended a foot to brush hers, sending the fish darting away. She shivered at the touch. It was comforting, the way he intended it, but it also sent electric tingles shooting through her body. Just the way his kiss had. If only it could have lasted a second or two longer…

  She’d never kissed a man she’d only known for a few hours before. Heck, she’d never kissed anyone she wasn’t deeply in love with before. And only three of them. Jacob, back in high school, and Davis her junior year of college, and Javier after she’d moved out on her own. They’d all been good relationships, though they hadn’t lasted.

  But none of them had affected her as immediately or as strongly as Ryan. Even that first light peck had taken her breath away. The second had made her want to forget the parrots and the spectators and the woman with their cameras and melt into his arms.

  His toes trailed along the arch of her foot. She brought her other foot up and stroked the top of his, trapping it between hers. She pressed her feet together, holding him there until the fish found them again and dove to their feast. “Gotcha.”

  He smiled. “Hope I’m not poisoning them.” His voice turned serious. “Our time is almost up. Ready to head to the ship?”

  She pressed his foot tighter and raised her head to stare at the line that vanished around the corner to where her own personal nightmare was waiting. “It’s not going to get any easier if we wait, is it?”

  “I doubt it.”

  She shivered again, this one much less pleasant than those he’d provoked. “You’ll be right there next to me?”

  “I promise.”

  “If anything happens…” She couldn’t force herself to go on.

  “I’ll make a fuss and keep their attention focused on me. You slip away into the crowd. After you’re sure no one is following you, go back to Carmen at the hotel. The two of you can figure something out.”

  He was so calm and assured. She didn’t want him to get in trouble for her sake. But having an alternate plan helped. It let her think about something other than standing frozen and helpless while they handcuffed her and dragged her away.

  “That’s very unlikely to happen, though. There’s a 99.999 percent chance they’ll glance at our driver’s licenses and wave us through. You believe that, right?” He caught her eyes and held them.

  She did. She had to. “Yes,” she whispered.

  He didn’t say anything, just kept looking at her, pressing his feet against hers. She looked back, letting his confidence and courage flow through their locked gazes into her heart.

  The attendant came over and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but your time is up. Would you like to pay for more?”

  “No, thank you,” Juanita said before Ryan could speak. “I’m ready.” She took the towel the attendant handed her and reluctantly disengaged her feet from Ryan’s.

  Ryan swung his legs out of the tank and worked to dry them. “So are your feet nice and soft now?”

  “Maybe a little.” She rubbed her heel. “Not much, though.”

  “We can stay longer if you want.”

  “No.” Now that she’d made up her mind, she wanted to get it over with before her resolve faltered again.

  Once their shoes were back on and Ryan had paid, they gathered their bags and set out. Ryan reached for her, and she clutched his hand. The line was shorter than it had been, but it still stretched around the corner. They took their places at the end.

  Ryan kept up a stream of light, shallow chatter. Juanita mumbled an occasional response, but otherwise concentrated on breathing slowly and deeply. That was supposed to help, wasn’t it? It didn’t seem to accomplish much, but she kept it up because she had nothing better to try.

  The line shuffled forward, and they rounded the corner. Ryan gripped her hand tighter. Juanita sucked in her breath and gazed resolutely at the customs officials.

  The first few times one of them accepted a driver’s license or passport from a hand and frowned at it, her heart pounded so hard she thought she would pass out. But each time, they passed it back and the person strode off down the pier toward the ship. Around the fifth or sixth time, she realized the officials’ expressions weren’t hostile, but bored. After the tenth or eleventh, her pulse began to slow. By the twentieth or so, she could watch the whole interaction with only a slight tremor. By the thirtieth, the tedium was starting to get to her. How much longer did they have to wait?

  After the fortieth, it was their turn. Ryan wrapped one arm around her and gave her a swift, hard hug, then let go. He set the tote bag and their bundles of purchases on the table, and one official began to poke through the contents. The other turned brusquely to her.

  Pulse hammering in her ears, Juanita pulled her wallet from the leather purse Ryan had bought her. Her fingers shook, but she managed to extract Carmen’s driver’s license, along with the plastic card printed with the cruise line’s logo and Carmen’s name that identified her as a passenger. She couldn’t force herself to lift her gaze as she handed them over.

  The instant stretched impossibly long. Juanita felt as if she was about to throw up. She couldn’t breathe. Dying would be infinitely easier than this. She waited in despair for the inevitable disastrous discovery.

  The man handed her cards back. Juanita stumbled forward. Then Ryan’s arm was around her again and they were walking together down the pier. She felt dizzy. Her breaths hissed loud and ragged in her ears.

  “See? Nothing to it,” he murmured into her ear. “Keep your cruise card out. They’ll check it again when we board. They want to make sure they don’t leave anyone behind.”

  She nodded. Her voice had deserted her, but he didn’t seem to mind. She pushed Carmen’s license back into its slot and closed her wallet. When she kept clutching it, Ryan pried it gently from her fingers and tucked it into her purse.

  The pier was a long concrete strip about fifty feet wide. All around them people strolled toward the docked ships, some relaxed and happy, some tired and grumpy, but all with the assurance that they belonged there. Now Juanita did, too. No one had any reason to suspect she was an imposter.

  They neared the ship. It rose beside the pier, tall as a city building. A narrow gangway bridged the gap between the concrete and a door in the ship’s side. Canvas banners emblazoned with the Festival logo stretched below the handrails. About a dozen people lined it, waiting for a cruise line employee to scan their cards and grant them permission to enter.

  Juanita’s heart accelerated again as Ryan guided her into line, but not as badly as before. The woman wielding the handheld scanner was wearing a uniform, but it was casually nautical instead of intimidatingly martial, white and sky blue with cheerful red trim instead of forbidding black. She welcomed each returning passenger with a smile and a friendly word. And there was no picture on the card clutched in Juanita’s sweaty fingers, only Carmen’s name, so the woman would have no way to realize the wrong sister was offering it to her.

  The woman pointed her scanner at Ryan’s card. “Did you enjoy your day in Cozumel?”

  “Very much,” he told her with a charming grin. Juanita pasted a smile on her lips as the woman ran the scanner over her card, but she was so busy grinning back at Ryan she didn’t even glance at Juanita. Juanita was grateful, but at the same time she felt a twinge of annoyance. Ryan didn’t have to distract the woman by flirting with her. She wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong, even if she’d looked carefully at Juanita or they’d exchanged empty pleasantries. Juanita wasn’t so frightened she couldn’t play her part.

  “Here we
are,” Ryan murmured as they waited for an elevator in a small, plain vestibule. One of the six sets of doors slid open, and they crowded in, along with a dozen others. Ryan pushed the button marked “10,” then more numbers as people called requests.

  Juanita stayed quiet while the elevator rose and the other passengers shared accounts of their adventures. A family with wet hair and sunburned faces chattered about swimming with dolphins. A couple who’d obviously had a lot to drink enthused about salsa dancing lessons. An older couple commented critically on the quality of the scuba equipment they’d rented. Ryan contributed to the conversation with appreciative or commiserating comments, but didn’t volunteer anything about their day.

  Floor by floor the other passengers departed, until only Ryan and Juanita remained. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “You did great.”

  “I guess you and Carmen were right. It was easy.” Now that they were past the danger, Juanita was embarrassed about how she’d acted. Her fear really had been way out of proportion to the risk.

  “But stressful.” His tone was warm, without a trace of judgement. “Now we’ve got plenty of time to relax and recover before we have to do it again.”

  The elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Ryan pulled his arm away. “Our floor. The room number is on your cruise card if you forget it.”

  He led her into a hallway that might have been part of any hotel, except longer and narrower. Doors were spaced at regular intervals on both sides. The carpet and paint were pleasant shades of coral and turquoise, and large photos of tropical scenes decorated the walls.

  Ryan stopped at a door indistinguishable from the others except for the number beside it. He slid his cruise card into a slot in the handle. “They double as room keys. You can also use it to charge purchases to our account.”

  Juanita had no intention of incurring expenses that Ryan or Carmen would have to pay for, but she nodded. Ryan held the door open and moved to one side. “Welcome to your home for the next five days.”

  She squeezed past him. A narrow space with a door on the left and cabinets on the right opened into a small but pleasant room. The coral and turquoise color scheme continued on the walls and floor and the cushions of the built-in couch. A king-sized bed was made up with a fluffy white comforter and piles of pillows. An elephant constructed of rolled and folded towels perched at its foot, terrycloth trunk raised, black felt eyes peering at Juanita. She laughed, tension flowing out of her shoulders and back and abdomen. “Looks like we have a roommate.”

  “Several.” Ryan pointed at a counter between the cabinets on the right. A swan rested among a clutter of papers and a monkey hung from a cabinet knob. “We get a new one each day, and I can’t bear to take them apart.”

  “They make a nice collection.” Juanita deposited the tote bag on the couch.

  Ryan opened a tall, narrow closet. “Carmen left your suitcase in here. You probably want to look through what she packed. She hung up a lot of it.” He waved at dresses on hangers. Juanita recognized several of them.

  He shut the closet and turned around, opening the door on the other side. “Bathroom’s here. Your toiletries are on the shelves. Carmen said she brought anything she thought you might need or want.”

  Juanita nodded. Knowing her sister, there would be far more products than Juanita had any use for.

  Ryan stashed their purchases in a cabinet, then crossed the room, past the foot of the bed. A curtain shrouded the far wall; he drew it open. “Come see the best part.” He pushed open a narrow glass door and beckoned to Juanita.

  She stepped through into warm sunlight and a cool breeze. The balcony was small, but it gave a dramatic view of the water far below and the coast of Cozumel stretching toward the horizon. Seagulls rode the wind, level with her eyes. Another cruise ship glided out to sea. Sailboats and other small vessels dotted the vivid aqua waves.

  Juanita sighed and leaned on the railing, craning to see in every direction. “It’s gorgeous.”

  “Yes,” Ryan agreed. Juanita turned to find him looking, not out at the ocean, but at her.

  The intensity of his gaze both thrilled her and made her uncomfortable. She laughed nervously. “It was cloudy yesterday when the ferry arrived, so I didn’t get to enjoy the full effect.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Ryan didn’t look away.

  Juanita’s heart pounded for an entirely different reason than her earlier fear. How would he react if she leaned close and tilted her face up? There was no one watching they needed to fool into believing they were a couple. Would Ryan want to kiss her if it was only for the two of them?

  Juanita wanted to kiss him. She wanted to enjoy more of the delightful sensations that had swept her the last time their lips met. She wanted to see if his tongue felt as good as his lips. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and press her hands into his back. She wanted his arms to encircle her and draw her tight against his body. She wanted…

  Abruptly Ryan turned away and braced his elbows on the railing. Juanita thought he was breathing a little more heavily than usual, but she couldn’t tell for sure. “I’ll wait out here while you get settled in. Whenever you’re ready for that tour, just let me know.”

  Juanita concealed her disappointment. Guess that answered her question. Ryan wasn’t interested in her that way. He was willing to pretend in public, but in private everything would stay strictly friendly.

  It was probably just as well. Sharing a room was going to be awkward enough without inconvenient attraction complicating things. Juanita would just have to ignore the way her body responded to Ryan’s presence. He hadn’t signed up for any sort of actual relationship when he’d agreed to help her. He expected his involvement in her troubles to end as soon they reached Galveston. The last thing he needed was to get physically or emotionally entangled with an illegal alien, someone whose very presence in his country was a crime.

  She swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t trust her voice to remain steady if she said any more.

  Ryan edged along the rail until there was enough space for her to reach the door without brushing against him. Her steps heavy, Juanita went to put away her handful of possessions and see what Carmen had packed for her.

  CHAPTER 5

  Ryan gripped the balcony rail and stared blindly at the water. All he could see was Juanita’s lovely face gazing in delight at the sweeping view, lifting to savor the breeze on her cheeks, eyes shining and lips slightly parted. All evidence of the stress and fear she’d suffered had fallen away, replaced by pure sensual enjoyment. He’d longed to enfold her in his embrace and bend to taste more of the sweetness he’d so briefly sampled, this time unrestrained by watching eyes. Free of the urgency to go anywhere or do anything but take as much time as he wanted enjoying the touch of her lips and tongue.

  But of course he couldn’t do that. Juanita deserved to feel safe. Sharing a room made it vital for him to respect her boundaries even more conscientiously than he normally would. She wouldn’t be able to get away from him if she found his advances unwelcome. She must feel terribly vulnerable, knowing he’d be only a few feet away while she slept. He couldn’t let himself do anything that would make the situation even worse for her.

  She didn’t owe him anything in return for his help. If she thought she did, he must take pains to disabuse her of the notion. He couldn’t give her the message, even subtly, that he wanted a physical relationship. With them trapped together this way, she wasn’t really free to refuse.

  Only after she was safely through customs and they were both back in their own separate homes would it be acceptable for him to pursue anything other than friendship. But at that point she’d be far too occupied getting resettled and taking care of her mother to have energy for anything else.

  And even if eventually, after she’d dealt with more important things, she expressed returned interest, did he really want to get involved with someone with such profound legal troubles? Assuming they got her back into the US without
getting caught, the smartest thing for both of them would be to distance themselves from each other. She should move to a different city or state and start a new life with as few links to her past as possible. He should break all ties and stay far away, so Immigration could never use him to find her.

  He was an adult. He’d dealt with romantic disappointments before. It was unfortunate he’d encountered Juanita under these circumstances, but that’s the way things had played out. He was mature enough to control his feelings and handle the situation gracefully.

  So when Juanita finally finished poking through all the cabinets, rummaging in the big suitcase Carmen had packed, and exploring the vast array of bottles and tubes her sister had stashed in the bathroom, Ryan turned to greet the opening door with a cheerful, relaxed smile. “Ready to go?”

  She smiled hesitantly back. “I guess. What are you going to show me first?”

  “Nice as the view is here, we’re on the wrong side of the ship to watch them unmoor us. I know where we can get a better look.” He didn’t want to squeeze past her. The quarters were too tight to avoid touching her as he passed. Instead he held the door and gestured for Juanita to precede him across the cabin.

  Out in the hall he took the lead again, turning toward the bow. “Our cabin is on the starboard side of the ship. That’s the right side when you’re facing forward. The left side is port. When you turn around and face aft, starboard is on your left and port is on your right.”

  Comprehension dawned in Juanita’s eyes. “Oh. Like stage right and stage left. It doesn’t matter which way you’re facing, the sides stay the same.”

  “Exactly. Or like the driver’s side and passenger side of a car.” Ryan shot her a sidelong glance. “You do theater?”

  She shrugged, but a smile played over her lips. “I did in high school and college. Musicals, mostly. I was usually in the chorus, but once I played Liat in South Pacific, and once I was Chava in Fiddler on the Roof.”