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His hand was at the small of her back again. Although her summer dress covered every part of her, the fabric was thin and she could feel the warmth from his palm. It didn’t matter that the summer sun was scorching down on her shoulders and face, all she could concentrate on was the heat at the base of her spine.
All the crew were impeccably dressed in white and nodded and greeted each of the guests in turn.
The main reception area of the cruise ship had a central open space, right up the middle of the ship, with a grand piano at the bottom with a curved bar. Lara let out a squeal when she saw the stairs. ‘Look, Reuben, they’ve got crystals in them. Aren’t they gorgeous?’
He was obviously amused at her delight. ‘Want your picture taken on the stairs?’
She glanced down at her dress. ‘Should I wait until I’m wearing one of the evening dresses?’
‘Why don’t we take a picture in every outfit?’ The easy smile he gave her sent little ripples up her spine. She could see a few other guests smile at his accent. Sex appeal just dripped from this man.
‘Sure, why not?’
It was odd. At Addison’s house in London she’d been comfortable around Reuben. When the two of them were in the house together there was definite underlying current. But it was pleasant. It made the air around them buzz.
But here—somewhere new—the buzz felt a little different. Sparkier. More sexual. Maybe it was because she could see other people reacting to the man she was with. Maybe it was because she was officially on holiday and was just excited by the cruise. But she had a sneaking suspicion it was more to do with the man, rather than the place.
There was something more restrictive about being under the roof of her employer and Reuben’s friend. Here, there was no one to answer to. No one to catch them doing something they shouldn’t.
Where had that come from?
Reuben had pressed the button for the glass elevator and gestured her over. ‘Let’s check out the cabin then we can go up on deck and grab a drink for the cast off.’
The elevator slid up smoothly to their floor and they walked along to their cabin. Part of the expense of the trip had been her superior cabin selection, larger than average with a balcony she intended to sit on every night.
But the number of this cabin corresponded with a higher floor. She was curious.
He slid the card they’d received at check-in into the door as her stomach flip-flopped over. And it nearly flip-flopped over onto her new wedges.
This wasn’t a cabin—it was a suite.
The place was stunning. A deep red carpet covered the floor of what looked like a sitting room. There was a huge comfortable sofa and a large-screen TV fixed on the wall. One side of the room didn’t have a wall—it was pure full-length glass windows with a balcony running along the length of the cabin giving spectacular views.
She almost couldn’t speak. ‘Great,’ said Reuben, walking easily across the room to the small bar in the corner. Her feet carried her forward. The first door on her right led to the bathroom. Second on the right was the bedroom. Now she nearly did fall over.
One enormous king-sized bed took up most of the room.
‘I phoned them,’ she said quickly. ‘I phoned them to ask for it to be changed to two beds.’ She spun around and held out her hands. ‘And this can’t possibly be ours. I didn’t pay for a suite—just a superior cabin. There must have been some mistake.’
Reuben didn’t blink, just strode over and jumped on the bed, lying back amongst the array of pillows with his arms behind his head. ‘No mistake. I paid to upgrade us. Figured we might as well do this in style.’ He gave her a wink. ‘As for the bed, I don’t mind if you don’t.’
Her feet were frozen to the floor as her stomach tumbled over. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Of course she’d booked a king-size bed when she’d thought she’d been coming on the cruise with rat boyfriend. But as soon as Reuben had suggested he come along instead, she’d amended her booking.
‘Let...let me go and speak to the concierge,’ she stumbled. ‘Maybe they could put two beds in here instead?’
Reuben rolled on his side, head on his hand, facing towards her. ‘Why bother? Look at the view you’ve got from that balcony. What if the only other cabin is down in the bowels of the ship? No view. No balcony. I imagine a cruise like this is pretty much booked out.’
She swallowed. He was probably right. But surely it couldn’t hurt to check?
He propped himself up a little further. ‘Look at the view we have of Venice right now. Imagine coming into port at Barcelona and getting to see the whole city. And what about Monte Carlo? There’d be a view of the race track, the casino and all the mountains.’
