LOVE on The Horizon (Breaking The Rules #1) (6 page)

It was Sunday, sea day, and my favorite day. The ship bustled with activity. The decks filled with sunbathers; the pools teemed with children. Wherever you went, there were happy, smiling people. The itinerary was jammed with tons of fun activities for the passengers to choose from. We always saved our best events for sea days.

On today’s agenda, the belly flop contest. I often found it hard to contain my laughter. Watching those men in all of their glory proudly propel their bodies off the side of the pool to land with a gigantic smack on the surface of the water was just hilarious. My favorite part, Marco was the emcee for this activity, and I assisted.

The first few times that we orchestrated the contest, things were awkward between us. Since we made our pact to be friends, we were a bit more relaxed around each other. He still avoided me, but when he did see me, at least he was pleasant. I often caught him staring. I’d tried to analyze if he stared at others as intently, or if it was just me who received his smoldering gaze.

To be fair, I often stared at him too. I watched as he moved around the pool with authority, yet with a sexiness that came naturally. The grip on my clipboard tightened every time I heard his laugh or saw his smile. I was pretty sure the moisture that dampened my skin had nothing to do with the air temperature.

He assembled a panel of judges for the contest, all under the age of ten. He adorably conferred with them after each flop, giving them full rein in deciding who the winner would be. After each contestant performed their perfect flop, Marco would huddle with his judges, listening to their comments. It was endearing to watch how even the children responded to his charms.

The females were a bit more obvious with their admiration of our cruise director. Women both old and young sat gawking as he obliviously went about his business. The way he spoke, the timbre of his voice, the way he conducted himself simply mesmerized them—and me. I was torn with which Marco I thought was hotter: the casual polo shirt and khakis Marco, or the tuxedoed, exceptionally debonair Marco. I’d tried to imagine what the naked Marco would look like. I’d seen him shirtless. I’d seen the smattering of hair he had on his chest and the hot as fuck trail that led into his swimsuit. I think I would pay money to see the rest of him. I could have Ricky set up a hidden camera in Marco’s stateroom and…

“Rebecca, can you tally up the points?” Marco asked into his microphone, interrupting my daydream.

“Um. Sure.” I glanced down at my clipboard and quickly added up the scores. “It looks like our winner is Harry from Michigan.”

The kids all hooted and clapped. Of course, Harry was the biggest contestant who made the biggest splash. Marco held the belly flop trophy as Harry proudly sauntered over to the stage, high-fiving the panel of judges on his way. Once he was crowned victor, he promptly belly flopped into the pool, soaking the very judges who had just declared him the winner.

Marco thanked the crowd for their participation, gifted each judge with a prize pack for their hard work, and reminded everyone that bingo would be held in the Riptide Theater at three p.m.

“That was fun,” I said to Marco once we retreated to the small staging room that doubled as a storage closet.

“It was. I love this day.” He smiled widely, voicing my own sentiments. “It’s my favorite of the week.”

“I agree.”

We quietly worked side by side, stowing our microphone equipment and the props used for the contest. The familiar tension started to fill the air, making the small, cool room feel stifling. Being in that room alone with him both thrilled and terrified me. I’d never felt such deep-rooted desire for another human in my life. My vivid imagination conjured up a scene right out of a romance novel.

Marco pushed me up against the two-way glass mirror, affording me a perfect view of the pool deck. I stared out at the passengers, knowing they couldn’t see my boss pressing up behind me. He shamelessly pushed his hardness into my lower back. His scent permeated the air. His grip on my wrists commanded my body to submit. The imagery in my mind was so real that I could practically feel his lips travel from my earlobe to my neck. Dizziness hit me full force, forcing me to reach out and palm the window with a shaky hand to stop from falling over.

“Rebecca,” he said behind me. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. It must be the heat.”

He placed his large hands on my upper arms and turned me to face him. “You have the chills.” He skimmed the goose bump-riddled skin on my bare arms with the pads of his thumbs. The more he did, the more goose bumps would appear. “Yet you’re flushed. Are you coming down with something?”

“Um…no. I don’t think so.” My cheeks further reddened from embarrassment. I was mortified. I needed to learn how to control my response to his presence. 

We were inches apart. He watched my face with utmost concern, while I looked up at his, trying desperately to fight the urge to kiss his full lips. Short pants replaced my normal breathing, making me feel like I could pass out from lack of oxygen. What the fuck was happening to me?

Time suspended as we stared into each other’s eyes. Slowly, I watched as he furrowed his brow in confusion before it turned into something else. Fire then smoldered in his deep brown eyes as he stared intently into mine.

The way he bent his head had me lifting my chin. He paused for a heartbeat, and then closed the distance, fusing his lips to mine.

“Marco, you’re late,” Ricky announced, barging in and stopping in his tracks.

We pulled apart so quickly that I stumbled backward and landed right against Ricky.

“
Figlio di puttana!
” Marco mumbled while running a hand through his hair.

Ricky closed the door with a wide grin. “I’ve told you many times, I don’t appreciate you calling my mother a whore.” He then turned his focus to me. “Ms. Stanton, I am so sorry I interrupted. Please, promise me you’ll continue.” With that, he turned to leave us alone once again in the small storage room, adding, “I’ll cover for you, Marco.”

“I’m so sorry,” Marco whispered quietly.

“For what?” I wondered what it was that had him apologizing. I wanted to know if it was the same thoughts that plagued me, or was it just regret? He stood confused, avoiding eye contact and not knowing what to say. “What are you sorry for?” I repeated. When he still didn’t respond, I added, “Because I’m not.” His eyes instantly met mine at my admission. I couldn’t believe I actually said that out loud, but I wanted more. I wanted to know what the inside of his mouth felt like, or what it would feel like to have his tongue in my mouth. I wanted his tongue everywhere, and this was just from having his lips touching mine for literally two seconds.

“Rebecca, this is hard enough.”

“What is hard enough?” I prompted.

“We’re two adults who obviously are attracted to each other.” He surprised me with his own admission. “But this can’t happen.”

“Is that why you avoid me?”

“
Sì
. I should refrain. It’s not fair to you.” He gripped the back of his neck. I watched the muscles of his forearm flex from the pressure he applied. I watched as he closed his eyes and pulled in one measured breath after another. When he opened them, he looked right at me. “I don’t want to jeopardize your career. It’s ridiculous to have to worry about such things, but it’s an unfortunate reality in our society.”

He was right, but I didn’t like hearing the truth. It wasn’t fair. Life was too short to ignore the universe when it was offering a gift.

“So, now what?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he responded with a shrug. He wasn’t saying no. Hope swirled in my chest, along with the desire that still consumed me, mixed with a dash of panic.

Part of me felt he needed to know where I stood on the subject, the other part thought that was the stupidest idea I’d ever come up with.

He pulled in a deep breath and shook his head. “No, this won’t happen again. I’m so sorry, and I’d understand if you needed to speak to personnel regarding my behavior.”

I closed the distance between us and placed a hand in the center of his chest. I could feel his heart pounding beneath my touch. “Then I’d have to speak to them regarding my own behavior.” I smiled warmly and turned to leave him alone with his thoughts.

The entertainment staff had the evening off. Each week, a different band or singer would perform on
The Horizon
. Tonight, one of my favorite bands, Cliffhangers, supplied the evening entertainment. I had a huge crush on each member, but my favorite was the bass player, Evan Miller. The only thing that kept my mind off the “incident” in the storage room was that I’d finally be meeting them face-to-face.

They were gracious and funny. The drummer, Joe, was hilarious. I embarrassingly asked them each to pose for a photo, and then collectively. That was an experience I would never forget. Once the show was over, my coworkers decided to head to the disco lounge.

As part of the entertainment staff, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted on days or nights off. Usually, I went with the flow and hung out with my team. That was always a fun time, especially watching Warren and Hirrod break out into the latest hip-hop moves. I enjoyed spending time with my staff and, except for Dina, I think they enjoyed spending time with me. That chick simply didn’t like me. Ricky would always join us and always have me laughing hysterically with comments he’d make during the night. Occasionally, Marco would make an appearance at the lounge, but tonight I wasn’t waiting around to find out.

Clarity hit after I was no longer trapped in a small room with his enormous presence. When I no longer could still feel the lingering tingle on my lips from having his on mine, I began to feel like an idiot. Only after I was able to think clearly, I decided even though the rules sucked that I wasn’t going to risk his job or mine. My newfound revelation gave me a false sense of security, because an hour later when we crossed paths on the Promenade deck, my lips automatically puckered and my nipples hardened just from seeing him again.

After Cliffhangers performed, I excused myself, claiming I felt ill and headed back to my stateroom wanting to be alone.

It wasn’t too far from the truth.

Time off was a privilege, and having the option to do whatever we wanted was even more so. Members of the crew weren’t allowed to interact with the public on their time off. Most would congregate in the staff lounge, the Internet room, or the crew gym. Ricky reminded me of how lucky we were when he came to my stateroom to reprimand me.

“I’m just not in the mood to hang out tonight.”

“He’s there.” He tried to sweeten the deal. Did he realize that only meant torture for me?

“Oh, great.” He smiled, assuming victory. His smile faded when I then said, “All the more reason to stay here.”

“You two are killing me! I’ve never met two people as stubborn as you!” I had no smartass retaliation, which gave him the green light to continue his tantrum. “I saw the sparks flying between you today in that storage room. Actually, that is too tame of an analogy. It was more like fucking explosions going off from land mines!”

True
, I thought.

“I’ve never seen him act like this. Ever! Trust me when I say you got under his skin.”

And he got under mine
, I thought.

“There is absolutely no reason that condones this stupidity.”

Except for destroying our careers
, I thought.

Reading my thoughts, he then said, “There is no way Sunset cares if you two are fucking, as long as you two are okay with fucking!”

Great, now I had a visual of Marco fucking me
.

“They would only care if you were forced or harassed into it.”

Once I started, the only thing Marco would have to force me to do was to stop fucking him.

“Are you going to say something or sit there and ignore me like you ignore what he does to you?”

Yep, ignoring sounds like the perfect solution at the moment
.

He raised his hands as if he wanted to strangle me and cried out, “
Ugh
!” Without another word, he stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind him.

“Well, that didn’t go well,” I finally spoke, but the only one to hear me was my reflection.