Page 7 of Deadly Waves

3

Three

“Holy crap!”

Mandy’s mouth dropped open when she saw the size of the ocean liner. The King Theodore (all of the ships in the fleet were named after men, which was essentially breaking with tradition) was truly breathtaking. She gripped James’ hand tighter as she slung their garment bag over her shoulder and James rolled the suitcase behind him.

They flew out of Detroit the previous evening, landing in Miami and enjoying a night at the hotel bar before retiring early. The ship was due to set sail by ten and James wanted everyone settled so he could converse with the owner before starting his duties. He also had another surprise for his wife, and it was one he’d kept from everyone because he didn’t want it ruined before she got a chance to see it for herself.

“Impressive, huh?” James grinned as he led her up the walkway. He could hear the excited utterances behind him as his family followed, but all he cared about in the present moment was Mandy. “I thought you would like it.”

“You see them on television and everything, but the commercials don’t do them justice,” Mandy said. “It’s … beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful, wife,” James said, swooping his head down so he could kiss her cheek before glancing over his shoulder. Emma’s eyes were even wider than Mandy’s as Finn whispered something in her ear, and even the stalwart Sophie looked round-eyed and excited. “I think everyone is going to have a good time.”

As if reading his mood, Mandy graced him with a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to worry about us,” she said. “I know you have work to do. We’ll be fine.”

“I have work to do, but I plan on spending as much time with you as possible,” James said. “Don’t worry about that.”

“I’m not worried.”

James wasn’t convinced, but he decided against pressing the issue. “I’m going to romance your socks off this trip. I promise you that.”

“I’m not wearing socks. I only packed sandals.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mandy’s smile was teasing. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“Well, for starters, our room has a private balcony,” James answered. “We’re going to spend some quality time on that. I thought we could take moonlit strolls every night … and I got you some motion sickness medication to make sure you sleep well.”

Mandy stilled, surprised. “You got me motion sickness medication?”

James realized his mistake too late, but he refused to backtrack. “I did,” he confirmed. “Before you have some sort of fake fit and pick a minor fight so we can make up later, we both know why I did it. You have a stomach like an infant and this place is going to be packed with seafood, something you can’t stay away from even though it has historically made you sick a time or two.”

“Don’t mention infants,” Finn warned from behind them. “Emma can only take so much.” His grin was mischievous as Emma rolled her eyes and James shot him a dirty look.

“I’m fine,” Emma said. “The baby talked to me over the computer last night.”

“He talked?” James was impressed. “What words is he saying? I didn’t realize he was already speaking.”

“He doesn’t talk yet,” Finn said. “He babbles. He mimics talking. In fact, he kind of bobs his head like Mandy does when she gets really excited. To him he’s talking. To us he’s just making noise.”

“That shows what you know,” Emma sniffed. “I understand what he’s saying perfectly.”

“Oh, yeah? What did he say last night?” James asked.

“He said he loves me and will miss his mommy.”

James’ eyes softened. “You didn’t need him to say that to you, did you? I think that’s pretty obvious if you ever spend time around the kid. He loves you.”

“Of course he does,” Finn said, shifting his eyes to the huge ship. “This thing is even bigger than I realized. When you showed us the photos, it looked huge, but this is like a floating city.”

“It is,” James agreed, nodding his head. “It has six different restaurants aside from the main dining room. It has a club for dancing. It has quite a few stores in case anyone forgot anything. I think there are three pools and a bunch of games and deck bars, too.”

“And are we staying in regular rooms?” Sophie asked. “I read that cruise ship rooms are tiny.”

“We are not staying in regular rooms,” James replied. “This ship is brand new and has special suites. Our rooms will be bigger – especially my room.”