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She was staring straight ahead, watching their reflections in the glass gantry. It was the first time he’d really seen them together—seen what the rest of the world must see when they looked at them.
He smiled. He was absolutely doing the right thing. Two weeks on a cruise with this woman? He’d have to be crazy to let her go alone.
She was staring right back. Watching him, with his head at her shoulder and his arm slipping around her waist. She still looked pretty stunned.
‘You know it makes sense,’ he said smoothly. ‘Technically, you’re paying for your own clothes. I’m just refunding you for the half of the cruise that I’ll be taking in Josh’s place.’
It seemed almost reasonable. If she jumbled it around in her head for long enough she could find arguments and counter-arguments everywhere.
The cruise was days away.
She really, really wanted to go.
And she really needed something to wear.
Did she want to spend two weeks on a cruise ship alone?
None of this was normal. None of this was rational. That kiss must have driven her crazy because she couldn’t think a single sensible thought.
She took a huge sip of her cocktail. ‘Okay,’ she said quickly, as she felt his fingers at her waist. She lifted her cocktail glass towards him. ‘Two weeks on the cruise of a lifetime.’
Reuben walked around to her side and picked up his glass. His fingers hadn’t left her waist. He clinked his glass against hers. The look on his face was almost predatory.
He gave her a wicked smile. ‘My first holiday in four years. This could be fun.’
CHAPTER SIX
LARA HADN’T STOPPED chattering for the last thirty minutes. All the way on the transfer from the airport to the cruise-ship terminal.
Reuben pushed his credit card towards the red-lipped hostess who’d just given them the hard sell. ‘Yes to the drinks package and yes to the excursion package.’
The woman beamed at them both and swiped his card in the blink of an eye.
‘Reuben,’ hissed Lara. ‘That’s probably way more expensive that it ought to be. I’d already prepaid a few excursions.’
He shook his head and put his arm behind her back, pressing gently to urge her to move forward. He wasn’t going to argue about this. ‘Why come on a cruise and only go on a few excursions? Let’s just enjoy them all.’ The ship was gleaming next to them.
‘Didn’t you say you wanted to do the excursions to Monaco, Rome and Pisa?’
She nodded.
‘And don’t you think it’s likely we’ll drink a couple of glasses of wine with dinner each day?’
She pressed her lips together and nodded again.
He gave her back a little push again towards the embarkation point. Her footsteps faltered as she tried to push her passport back in her bag. Her hands were trembling.
He blinked. Over in the corner of the room a child was jumping up and down with excitement. Another couple—clearly on their honeymoon—kept stopping on the gangway to take pictures. The whole check-in hall was buzzing.
He hadn’t been on a holiday in so long that he’d forgotten about the build-up and the expectations. Last time he’d gone on holiday a few years ago he’d booked a flight and hotel and had left later that day. Nothing had been planned.
But according to Lara she’d planned this for years. She’d wanted to go on a cruise ship since she was a child and after finally saving up the money had spent weeks choosing between different cruise liners and itineraries. No wonder she was nervous. It was kind of cute.
He stopped her in front of the ship. ‘Wait a minute. Let’s take your picture before you board.’
She gave him a smile as she glanced up at the gleaming hull. For the next two weeks four thousand passengers would live in a different world, leaving one port at night and waking up in another. Would not have to worry about making breakfast, lunch or dinner and be able to choose between relaxing on board or visiting a different city every day.
On paper it actually sounded quite good. The reality of being trapped on a ship with four thousand people he might not actually like for a fortnight gave him a whole host of other thoughts.
Lara pulled her sunglasses down from her head. She was wearing the sunny yellow dress and wedges. It suited her—complimenting her long legs—even though he’d noticed her pulling it down a few times. He lifted up his phone. ‘Smile. We finally got here. You’re about to have the holiday of a lifetime.’
Her smile wavered for a second and he could see her take a deep breath. She’d spent the last two days in a complete flurry. To be frank, he was surprised they’d even got here. He’d never known anyone double-check on twenty occasions that they had their passports, tickets, itineraries and boarding passes. He snapped the picture quickly. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get on board before they leave without us.’
