AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why would you do that?” he asked. She was going to walk away from the charter with a lot of money in her pocket. All she had to do was have dinner with him for the next twelve days and he’d live up to his end of the deal.
“Because it would feel weird to have my friends serving me and then take part of the cut,” she said.
“So, you’re working for free for this trip?” Bowie asked.
“No, I’m working for my regular salary, and that’s fine with me. I won’t be bought, and I won’t pretend to sit here and be on a date with you,” she insisted.
“Am I really that bad?” he asked. “I mean, you hate having dinner with me that much?”
“I don’t hate having dinner with you, Bowie. I hate that you went to my father and basically demanded my presence here for dinner. I hate that you put me in this position.” Bowie hated that he made her feel bad in any way. He needed to make this right.
“I will still give your staff the fifty percent tip. In fact, I’m going to go to my cabin after dinner and get the money from the safe. I’ll have it up to your father before I go to bed tonight. I release you from your promise to have dinner with me.” Her gasp filled the dining room and Eden sat forward.
“Why would you do that?” she asked. “You’re paying for something that you’re not getting.”
“I wasn’t trying to get you, Eden. I was hoping to enjoy your company, but I won’t force you to do something that you don’t want to do. I release you from our agreement and I’ll still keep up my end of the deal,” he offered.
“I don’t have to sit here and have dinner with you tonight?” she asked.
“Or any night hereafter,” he quickly added. “Thank you for your time,” he said, effectively dismissing her.
“Have a good night, Mr. Wrath,” she said, standing from her seat. His heart sank as she disappeared out of the dining room and shut the doors. He was hoping that she’d want to spend time with him if he wasn’t demanding it from her, but he was wrong. He guessed that it was good that he knew where he stood with her, but it still felt like a giant slap to the face when she left.
Bowie was going to finish his dinner, take the cash that he promised the crew to the captain, and then, he was going to sulk in his room for the rest of the night with a bottle of scotch.
Eden
Eden looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in the ladies’ room. She was wearing a dress that she hadn’t worn in a long time. Heck, she hadn’t worn much more than her uniform in weeks and being out of it felt strange to her.
She had spent the night cleaning the galley, pissed off that Bowie had forced her hand the way that he did. Going to her father was a low that she thought even he wasn’t capable of, but she was wrong. Her father found the whole indecent proposal amusing and the crew was pretty damn happy with the tip that they were going to receive once the charter was over. Having guaranteed cash waiting for them was a nice change. Usually, they were tipped for their service, and sometimes, they didn’t receive as much as they hoped for. Knowing that they were going to receive fifty percent, no matter what, was a nice change of pace.
It still didn’t make her feel any better about having to have dinner with Bowie. It wasn’t until he dismissed her from dinner that she realized that he wasn’t as bad a guy as she believed. In fact, he seemed kind of defeated when he asked her for a bottle of scotch and a glass before heading to his cabin. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t worth the hangover he was going to have tomorrow if he drank the whole bottle, but she didn’t. If he wanted to drink the night away, that was his choice.
The next morning, she noted that he was a bit worse for wear at breakfast and offered to make him something greasy to help him get over his hangover. He thanked her but made no move toward small talk. He really didn’t even make eye contact with her, and she hated that the once flirty, sexy Bowie Wrath had been reduced to a recluse just because of her refusal to have dinner with him.
That pattern continued for the next three days—Eden trying to make friends with Bowie and him refusing to acknowledge her. She had turned him down and now, he was treating her as if she had let him down instead. Even the other crew members were begging her to have dinner with the poor guy because he was bringing them all down. The only person who hadn’t weighed in on the whole situation was her father, and for that, she was thankful.
When Eden woke up this morning, she found Bowie in the kitchen, helping himself to coffee. She chided him for not calling one of the crew to bring it to him, and he told her that he was quite capable of making coffee. He proved that point to her by making her a mug, even asking if she wanted cream or sugar, just as she had asked him every morning. They sat at the small kitchen table in the galley, talking and by lunch time, it felt as though she was hanging out with an old friend.
So, why did deciding to join him for dinner tonight have her feeling so out of sorts? Maybe it was the fact that he could easily dismiss her again if she just showed up to the dining room and asked to join him. She had protested the idea of a date with Bowie so vocally that now, she was afraid that he wouldn’t want to go on one with her. And why would he? Men like Bowie Wrath didn’t usually want to go on dates with her. They usually didn’t even give her a second look.
“Now or never,” she breathed to her reflection. Eden nervously nodded at herself and started making her way to the dining room. The other crew members stopped what they were doing, looking her over and whistling and making outrageous cat calls. She giggled, loving that her friends could help steady her nerves just by making her laugh.
“Thanks, guys,” she said. “Wish me luck.”
“When you look like that, you don’t need luck,” Jen insisted. “Go get him.” Eden winked at her friend and opened the door to the dining room, feeling the flutter of butterflies in her tummy as Bowie looked her over.
“Wow,” he breathed. “Um, I like the new uniform.”
“This isn’t my uniform,” she said. “I was hoping that you’d allow me to join you for dinner.”
“You want to have dinner with me?” he asked.
“I’d love to,” she said. He stood from his seat and held out her chair for her, just as he had the first night that he had asked her to dinner.
“Will this be considered an official date or dinner between friends?” he asked. She already thought of him as a friend, after the morning that they had spent together. Eden wanted this to be a date and that kind of shocked her. She never thought that she’d be on a date with a charter guest, but Bowie Wrath had her wanting to break a few rules.
“A date,” she breathed, crossing the room to sit in the chair. He helped her into the seat and then took his own.
