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h shit.” She planted her hand on his chest and shoved herself up into a sitting position, guilt hitting her like an ice-packed snowball to the face. “Liv’s note said we were supposed to meet everyone for dinner.”
Seriously, hanging out with her best friends since college had been her entire reason for going on this cruise. And instead of doing that, she’d stolen all of Grace’s pants, ditched her friends to hang out with a hot guy—one she was lying to by omission—and she’d missed dinner again.
She crumpled back into bed, plopped the pillow over her head, and let out a groan of pure I’m-the-asshole misery. “I’m the worst friend ever.”
Carter plucked the pillow out of her grasp before she could smother herself and grinned down at her. Damn her mutinous heart, it did a flippity flop thing before settling into a steady rhythm again. What was it about him that made it seem as if it was going to be okay?
He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I can score tickets to dinner at the captain’s table before the cruise is over for everyone to make up for it.”
“Wouldn’t a special ask like that blow your cover?” Yeah, the one he really needed because of her.
“Not if I do it right—or more correctly, not if I have my brother Byron do it right.” Staying propped up on his forearms, he dipped his head down and gave her a quick kiss. “He can name drop you as an up and coming bakery owner about to hit it big with a Netflix reality TV special.”
“That’s both devious and brilliant.” And way too nice. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking, I’m offering.” He dropped a trio of kisses along her jawline. “After all, you saving me is the reason why you’re not hanging out with your friends.”
Her gut twisted as she looked up at him. “That’s not the whole story.”
“Then I’m insisting,” he said. “I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
God, she was the worst. “Carter, we need to talk.”
“Tonight, after dinner. Now we need to get moving so we don’t miss out on Nassau completely. I wanna go do the most touristy things possible with you.”
“Definitely tonight.” Girl, you are weak. It was true. She couldn’t even deny it. When it came to Carter, she lost the ability to think clearly. “I just hope dinner with the captain helps make up for me being such a flake so far. No offense, hot guy, but we’re going to be spending a lot of time as we go back up to New York with Benjamin and the girls.”
“We, huh?” He got up, rubbing his hands over his hard abs, and stood at the end of the bed still totally naked from the night before.
Oh, honey. That view could make a girl dumb.
It took her a second, but she finally remembered how to form words as she got up and made her way to the door connecting their rooms. “Yep, you’re stuck with me for the rest of the cruise.”
“And after?” There was something in the rough timbre of his voice that gave it a raw edge.
She didn’t turn around to look at him. She couldn’t. His question had suddenly began to matter too much to her. “What if I’m not exactly who you think I am? That would change things.”
“So you’re really a space alien?”
“Damn.” She laughed, the tension seeping out of her and she finally pivoted to look at him. “You figured out my secret.”
“Hustle up,” he said, grabbing his towel and heading toward his bathroom. “Nassau awaits. We’ll drop off notes for everyone about dinner on our way down to the dock.”
Before jumping into the shower, Aubrey wrote four notes apologizing for missing dinner and promising to show up tonight with some surprise news. Fingers crossed Carter would be able to get them invites to the captain’s table. If not, she’d be hoping whatever souvenirs she found in Nassau would help make up for her disappearing act. Maybe she’d invite everyone down to Salvation for the annual Sweet Salvation Brewery open house and celebration this fall.
By the time they were both ready and had slid the notes under everyone’s doors before walking off the ship, a smattering of people were already making their way back from Nassau. The crew members warned them to watch their time as she and Carter checked out of the ship and walked out into the bright sunshine of Nassau.
“So what do you want to do?” Carter asked as they walked down the dock, already holding hands.
“You want to start with the Queen’s Staircase?” The Smitty-six step historical site was a literal staircase carved directly into the limestone.” Then there are some local art galleries within walking distance we could explore.”
“Sounds good.” They passed through the area filled with cruise ship crew members who had been helping to direct the tourists but were now packing up their pamphlets. “Let’s grab lunch, do the staircase and galleries. Then, maybe, we can fit in the pirate museum too.”
“Aye aye, matey,” she said in her best pirate accent.
Tonight after dinner, she’d duct tape him to a lounge chair if she had to, but she was going to tell him everything about the thirst account and the post she’d made and deleted. Until then, she’d go forward as if there wasn’t a countdown clock starting to echo in her heart.
One Jerk chicken and two cold beers later, Carter still couldn’t motivate himself to get up from the table. Content wasn’t a word that was usually part of his vocabulary but right now, sitting in this restaurant in Nassau with Aubrey sitting across from him telling him a story about the absolute legend of an old woman who ran the local diner in Salvation and kept everyone in line with slices of unbelievably good pecan pie, he was. Sure, it could be because of the island breeze and that away-from-it-all bubble of being on a cruise but it wasn’t. It was all Aubrey.
