STEPBROTHER ROMANCE: My Stepbrother the Seaman (A Caribbean Cruise Romance) (A Steamy Forbidden Contemporary Holiday Romance Short Story) (2 page)

Sabin’s voice was what woke Colette up. It was late at night when she rolled over and groggily checked the time. Her mother and Sabin had been talking about her. The voices suddenly stopped when she noticed that she felt uncomfortably dirty in the clothes that she had worn the day before and yesterday’s makeup. She undressed herself and opened the bathroom door. Sabin turned and looked at her with wide eyes. Collette screamed and slammed the door behind her. She cringed as he spoke to her.

“I’m out Lette. It’s nice to see you again sis.” Sabin said before closing the bathroom door.

              Colette awkwardly opened the door and checked the bathroom. With Sabin gone she began the shower and stepped into the steam. The water cleaned her makeup and opened up her skin. The hot water helped her forget about Michael’s phone call, and the embarrassing moment with Sabin. She took off a pink plush towel from the wall and began to dry herself. ‘When did I get so thin?” She thought to herself looking at her body. Her legs and her arms were long and toned, and her stomach was tight. “Have I been forgetting to eat?” The thought shocked her. She replaced her dirty clothes with an oversized comfortable and cotton shirt and clean pair of cotton panties. She returned to her old room and made the bed before walking down the long staircase to the bottom floor. Sabin, Mitch and Rachel sat at the table talking and drinking what smelled like Earl Grey tea. Colette joined them and sat next to her mother. Her mother grabbed her hand and looked at her daughter.

"Sweetheart, we were thinking that you could go with Sabin. He's going on a cruise to the Bahamas and we thought it would be good for you." Sabin nodded at what Rachel was saying.

"I'll have to think about it mom. Thank you though." Collette looked down at her lap and let her heavy head fall into her arms.

Rachel and Mitch excused themselves and retreated from the awkward moment and went to their safe haven bedroom. Sabin awkwardly sipped at his tea and didn't look at Colette. An odd tension hung in the air as the two sat silently. Colette picked at her nails and avoided eye contact. She couldn’t help but think about what Mitch was doing. He had sounded so angry about the divorce. It was the most passion she had seen come from the man in years. Sabin’s voice brought Colette back to reality.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked in his husky voice.

"No, I don't want to talk about it. I just left him. There was no big thing that made me do it. I just don't love him anymore." Colette was on the verge of tears, and Sabin laughed. She shot him a look that made his laughter stop.

"I meant about the cruise. That really is too bad though. I'm sorry." His voice sounded sincere and genuinely apologetic.

"No I told you so?" Colette asked looking at her brother with perplexed eyes.

"Not from me." He shrugged. "If you decide that you want to talk about it, I'm here, it should be really relaxing.” 

Colette got the feeling that he wasn't talking about the cruise anymore. Sabin excused himself, got up and went into his bedroom. He had looked so different from the last time she had seen him. His hair was cut short and he no longer wore a beard, and the navy had done his body well.

He had been out of the navy for nearly two years now and from what Rachel had told Colette, he missed it but he was enjoying being a cruise ship captain. He got to travel to his favorite destinations and get paid well for doing it. Colette shook her head as she remembered how long that she had been out of the work force. Nearly as long as her marriage lasted. The thought concerned her. After all, it was unlikely that people were hiring an artist with no formal training or a failed housewife. Colette regretted taking that long of a nap because now sleep alluded her and she desperately looked for a method of distraction. Sabin had obviously had the same idea. He was sitting in the den with his feet up and his well-defined torso exposed. He was watching some movie on the flat screen. Colette tried to sneak away but failed.

“Do you want to join me Lette?" Colette cringed and sat next to him. He restated the movie and tossed a blanket at her. She tucked herself in and tried to avoid his stare, but couldn’t. She wasn’t sure if it were pity in his eyes or something else. Either way, it made her exceptionally uncomfortable.

He attempted but failed to break the awkward silence.

"You really should come. They're a lot of fun. You could relax and really enjoy yourself." He said smiling.

"If I go, will you all quit bothering me about it?" She asked irritated.

"Yes." He confirmed with a crooked smile.

"Fine." Colette stood and headed to her bedroom.

"Colette, I'm here if you need to talk about it." Sabin was looking over his shoulder at her as he said it.

"Sabin, no offence, but you have no idea what I'm going through right now."

The words were harsh but also absolutely true. Sabin had never even been in a serious relationship, never mind a marriage. He left straight out of high school to join the Navy. There was no time for a serious relationship in his complicated and busy life. The closest thing to a serious relationship that he had ever had was when he was eighteen. Just before he went off to the Navy, he thought about proposing to his girlfriend of only three months. He admitted later that it was his nerves getting to him, like having a fiancée gave him some sort of immunity to death. Lucky, at the age of only 13, Colette had convinced him not to go through with it. He thanked her a million times for not letting him make that mistake. Why he was single now eluded her. He had everything possible going for him after all. He had the wit of a poet, the body of a god and the face of an angel. He also worked a well-paying job that allowed for family time and free cruises. "Maybe he's gay" Colette thought to herself as she fell asleep.

Colette woke up to her mother holding up two skimpy bikinis. She had a giant smile on her face as she told Colette that she liked the green one more but thought the pink on would go better with Colette's skin. Her mother was already trying to marry her off again and it hadn't even been a day since she left her husband. Colette laid back in bed and her mother put the swimwear into her suitcase.

"At least you won't have to pack." Colette couldn't help but laugh at her mother's corny joke.

Colette prepared herself for the cruise. She had never been on a boat before. Equal parts of excitement and anxiety rose in her. The phone began to ring with the annoying and aggravating tune that she had picked out just for Michael.

"Hello?" She said as civilly as possible.

"When can you sign?" He asked angrily.

"In a month. I'm going on a cruise." She said bragging just a touch.

"A cruise? Are you joking?" Colette hung up before he could say more get belligerent about it.

              The voice on the other end of the phone wasn’t the man that she fell in love with. He was greedy, selfish and rude. The man that she had married was the kind of man to call you at three A.M. just to leave you a voicemail message to tell you that he loves. It had always made Colette feel like the only girl in the world. She hadn’t felt that way in so long. She ached for it. That longing had detached her from her husband. He no longer cared about her, and she could no longer trust him. It was like he was stranger.

              The alarm woke Colette from a dream about Mitch and his secretary. She wanted desperately to cry as she thought about her life. Here she was at the age of twenty, and she was living with her parents again. The thought was interrupted by Sabin’s knock at the door. Colette looked at her step brother and laughed as she saw his uniform. He was dressed in all white and wore a sailor hat. His uniform was decorated in metals and he wore a flashy belt buckle.

“They make you wear that?” She said allowing her laughter take over.

“It’s a luxury cruise Lette, rich people like to see their captain dressed like this.” Sabin did a turn and a bow just to see Colette smile again. If it had been another man but her brother, Colette would have been wildly attracted to the man that stood in front of her.

“I’m going to go shower.” Colette said with the smile still on her face. Sabin nodded and left the room, not wanting a duplicate of what happened the night before.

Colette stood in the shower washing her long blonde hair as she couldn’t help but think about Sabin. It had been so long since she had seen him. He was a man now. A man with a handsome face and a wonderful smile. She remembered a time when she was fifteen and he was twenty. He would come home from the Navy in his uniform and all of Colette’s girlfriends would swoon at the sight. They would flirt with him and all that he would do was smile. The only girl he had ever paid any attention to had been Colette. She shook the memory away and got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had been repressing her feelings for Sabin for years, she wasn’t about to submerge herself in them now.

              Colette dried her hair and made her face up, going with a sultrier look than she was used to. She pulled a black cocktail dress over her tight toned body, and looked in the merrier with a sudden realization. She hadn’t looked like she had taken pride in her appearance in such a long time. Her body was one that most girls would kill for, and she let it drown in a sea of baggy clothes. Sabin interrupted her as she turned in the mirror admiring herself.

“Are you ready?” He asked with his lady-killer smile.

              Colette held up her suitcase and Sabin took it from her. He walked with it to the front door and took it outside. Colette followed him and was surprised to see him tossing her bag into the back of a limo. Colette smiled at Sabin as he opened the door for her and motioned her into the car.  She took his offered hand and slid herself into the backseat of the luxurious car. The car was utterly decadent. Wine from Italy sat at an arm’s reach, accompanied by crystal glasses that were hand etched. Caviar sat next to crackers and a smell of pine hung in the air. Collette couldn’t help but smile at the effort that had been put into the car. She looked Sabin who seemed to be enjoying her reaction. 

“Do you like it?” He asked sweetly.

“I love it.” She said smiling back at him.

“I hoped you would.” Colette thought to herself that maybe Sabin had planned the ride. She had a sneaking suspension that Sabin hadn’t always traveled this way.

              The drive to the ship port seemed so short while riding in the lap of luxury. They pulled up to the dock and people ran up to Sabin asking him questions and reporting different things. Colette was overwhelmed with the sensation that her brother was a very important and powerful man. People only spoke to him with the uttermost respect and politeness. A beautiful woman came up to him dressed in a beautiful short day dress and wearing a large brimmed hat to protect her fare skin. Red hair cascaded down her bare back and freckles painted her face. Sabin titled his hat to the woman.

“Good morning Mrs. Gudaunt.” Sabin said with a certain voice of boredom.

“Oh, please Sabin. For the hundredth time, please call me Vienna.” Sabin smiled.

“Will do ma’am.” The woman pressed her body to Sabin’s while his tensed. She whispered something into his ear and then left with a flirtatious smile.

“Who is she?” Colette asked with a taunting smile.

“She’s a guest. She has a wealthy and very busy husband. She uses her free time to follow me on each and every one of my cruises.” Sabin said with a smile.

              Collette shook her head and laughed at the preposterous notion of a woman spending all of her money and her free time just to chase a love interest. For the first time, Collette noticed the beautiful sky. She breathed in the sea air and took notice of all of the beautiful people that surrounded her. There was something about rich people. It’s like their presence enhanced life in some form or fashion. Sabin grabbed her shoulder when she began to wonder away.

“There you are Lette. This is Charlie, he’ll be the man who you can go to with all your questions. He’ll show you to your room also. I have to get ready, but I’ll meet you for dinner. Is that okay?” Colette nodded as the man with the clipboard and a stained tie smiled at her. He was balding and had an exceptionally long nose that held bulky glasses to his funny looking face. He led Colette onto the ship wordlessly. As Colette and Charlie approached the ship, Colette saw how large the vessel really was. It was so huge, she had no idea how the ocean could keep something like that a float. Fear and panic began to set in as she got closer and closer to boarding the ship. Nausea and a speeding heart almost brought Colette to the ground. As her world rocked around her, she got a horrible feeling that she was about to make a terrible decision.

Charlie handed Colette a small foil packet of chewable pills from out of his pocket. He smiled at her and pushed the glasses back up his nose. Colette put the motion sickness pills into her mouth and took the glass of water that Charlie offered her. He hadn't gotten her more than a few feet into the boarding hall when the ship began to take on the sea. Charlie patiently waited for the pills to take effect before he took her to her room. He smiled at her as he unlocked the door that led to the suite. It took her breath away as she looked in. The room was like a small house. The grand staircase was the first thing that she saw. It was white with a brass rail. A black runner went up the ivory stairs and looked like a work of art. She looked past it and saw a massive flat screen television that was surrounded by an oversized couch that looked more comfortable than Collette's bed. She stepped inside to look at the kitchen and saw a huge glass door that looked out to the ocean and let out onto a large balcony. The kitchen was stainless steel, deep mahogany and marble.  She glided up the stairs and saw the most massive bed that she had ever seen. It was made up with a beautiful red duvet that Colette wanted to embrace herself in. Charlie's nasally voice broke her trance with the beautiful room.

"Sabin said he'll sleep on the couch." Charlie said as he looked over his clipboard.

"Sabin's sleeping in here?" Colette asked perturbed.

“Well yes ma'am, this is the captain's suite. If you don't need anything else, you can use the phone to call me I'm on speed dial." Charlie smiled and left Collette alone in the vast room.

Colette opened the doors that led to the balcony and undressed herself. The open ocean was her only spectator as she got completely nude and submerged herself in the warm bubbling water of the hot tub. She laid her head back onto the side of the hot tub and looked at the sky that was slowly becoming grey and stormy. The air was salty but it was beautiful. Rain began to pelt the ocean as the clouds started to release the storm. Colette enjoyed the rain until her the cold began to chill her to the bone. She grabbed her wet clothes and walked into the suite nude. She hurried to the closet where Charlie had tossed her bag. After seeing the people who boarded the ship, Colette knew that nothing she owned have been nice enough for the formal dinner. She unzipped her bag and saw a note on top of her clothes. The note directed her to call a number and give the room number. She did what the card had directed her to do. She waited for ten minutes before there was a light knock on the door. As she opened it to three men who came in with three clothes racks, each one of them holding about twenty garments of clothing. The first man pulled a red dress from the cart and displayed it to Colette. Her breath was taken away by the stunning scarlet red backless dress. Another man held up a blue short strapless dress and the third a tight black bandage one. Colette took the red dress and the three men held up three different pairs of shoes. Colette laughed as she chose a black pump. The man handed her a diamond tennis bracelet and the three men disappeared, leaving the dresses for her.

Not too long after the men left two women came into the room and began doing Colette's hair nails and makeup. The woman doing her makeup tried desperately to hide the scar on Colette’s chin, but failed. The deep scar was impossible to make vanish. The woman finished and handed Colette a mirror. They had given her a timeless look that was both sexy and beautiful. They packed up their things and left. While Colette looked at the new her, another knock came at the door and Colette smiled. She opened it only to find a dozen red roses and a note.

"Because he never spoiled you." Her heart melted as she looked at Sabin’s writing.

Collette made her way to the dining hall before anyone else had. She had looked so stunning and breathtaking that the wait staff that was sitting up for the night’s dinner did everything they could to look at her. She knew when Sabin had made his entrance by the amount of people who circled him. He motioned them away when he saw Colette. She went to him and he wanted to run to her and swoop her up but he resisted. Instead when they touched she kissed his cheek lightly and they sat down at a table for two so not to be bothered. Priceless China sat in front of her along with crystal wine glasses and a beautiful cloth napkin. A waiter came to their table and lit two candles that rested in glasses. Sabin stroked his sister's hand.

"Why did you do all of this for me?" She asked holding his hand back.

"Michael didn't deserve you. He never even thought to do these things for you. You deserve to be treated like a princess, Lette." He squeezed her hand and smiled at her as the waiter asked their order.

              Sabin ordered them both Lobster Thermidor and a small medium well steak. The dinner was the most decadent and delicious thing that Colette had ever put to her lips. Soft classical music was played by amazing musicians in the background as they enjoyed their dinner. They talked about the Navy and about Michael but mostly they talked about each other. Collette was surprised to learn that Sabin had been saving money the entire time that he’s been working for the Luxury Cruise Line, simply because he had no reason to spend it. They paid for his room, they paid for his food and they paid for his transportation.

“They don’t want the man in charge of all these people to be disgruntled.” Colette said laughing as Sabin agreed with her. They could barely take their eyes off each other.

They were filled with a forbidden and taboo lust for each other. The dining hall had emptied when the candles between them finally went out. Only the light above their table was on and neither of them had noticed that they had been alone for some time now. Colette was mindlessly caressing Sabin’s arm when he mentioned that they should be getting back to their room. Colette obliged and walked back with him, both of them a touch drunk.