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“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” How does he know me so well already? “Good luck with that. I think my room is just down this hall, here on the third floor. Where is yours?”
“I have a suite on floor twelve.”
Hayes flicked his eyebrows. “Ooh, fancy.” Sarah had spared no expense (on my dime, of course), and I appreciated the thought. “I just have an interior cabin. It doesn’t have a view or anything, but I figured I wouldn’t be spending that much time in my room anyway. My big splurge was first class on the flight. I knew I’d be nervous, so I wanted to at least be comfortable.”
“That’s smart.” What wasn’t smart was my dumb ass nearly offering to switch Hayes rooms. Luckily, I was able to bite my tongue and realize that the gesture was too much, too soon.
But before we parted ways, I needed to make some kind of gesture; if I didn’t ask him to meet up with me again, I may not find him on a ship filled with thousands of people. Plus, if I asked and he turned me down, well, I could probably hide amongst the ship filled with thousands of people.
My heart beat faster as I planned out my words. I couldn’t remember the last time I asked a man on a date, let alone when I actually went on one. But there was something about Hayes that drew me to him, and I didn’t want to fight the draw.
I finally cleared my throat and asked before all my bravery fluttered away, “Would you like to eat dinner together later?” Okay, it wasn’t the best way to ask, but it wasn’t terrible considering how rusty I was.
“I’d love to,” he replied with a smile, and I let out a relieved sigh. “Do you want to meet at the main dining room at six this evening?”
“That sounds great.”
“Perfect. See you later, Jesse.”
A dreamy smile spread across my face at the sound of my name on his lips, and it stayed as I watched him walk down the hallway before disappearing into his room. Once he was out of sight, I managed to tear my eyes away from the last spot I saw him, and headed to the elevators.
I beamed when I walked into my cabin; it was beautiful. Everything was stark white, with a few hunter green accents, giving the room a clean, sleek look. A modern light fixture hung from the ceiling, and there was a piece of abstract art on the wall. It basically looked like a fancy hotel room, except outside of the floor to ceiling windows was a killer view of the water.
There was also a desk in the corner, which was exactly what I needed at the moment. I placed my suitcase on the bed before dropping my briefcase on the desk and opening it to find…nothing. What happened to my paperwork? But it only took a moment for me to figure out, Sarah. She must have slipped it out as part of her personal mission to make me relax.
But the fact remained that I needed to take care of business. While I still had reception, I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Sarah’s office number. Instead of offering a typical greeting, she answered with, “Why are you calling me right now?”
Having known her personality for years, I wasn’t a bit shocked. “I’m calling because I’ve just opened my briefcase and-”
“Woah, you waited this long to look inside it? I’m impressed. I thought you’d crack it open on the plane.”
Honestly, that was my original plan, but I had a gorgeous distraction. “Well, you can imagine my surprise when I did open it to find that none of my paperwork was inside.”
“What?” She asked in an obviously fake tone of concern. “That’s crazy!”
“I’m glad you agree, because I need you to email me the copies of the Manchester files while I still have a signal and can receive them. Then I can look over them this week.”
“I…can’t…hear…you…you’re…breaking…up…” She followed the lie with a crackling throat noise.
I rolled my eyes even though Sarah couldn’t see me. “Yeah, that’s not how that works.” If we truly had a bad connection, I’d only get pieces of her words.
“Well, you know what else isn’t going to work? You, buddy boy. You’re on vacation for a reason. I’m not going to email you anything, you’re not going to look over files, and I’m not answering calls from your number until I know the cruise is done.” Her fiery spirit made her a great employee and friend, even if it got on my nerves from time to time. “So you’re just going to have to learn how to enjoy yourself. Have fun! Talk to you in a few days.”
With that, the call ended, leaving only a dial tone behind. I immediately called her number again, but didn’t receive an answer. Knowing that she was going to ignore me for the entirety of my vacation, I blew out a breath and stuck my phone back into my pocket.
