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CHAPTER SEVEN
Jake, my date for theevening, ran a hand through his sandy blond beach waves. “And then, I was like, just fighting my buddy, Cal, in Halo, and thenbam!The Xbox actually started smoking! Freaking thing caught on fire I was playing so hot! Oh man, it was wild. You know?”
All three widows and I stared at him in silence as he finished the story he’d spent the better part of ten minutes telling—a story I was certain none of us understood by the dumbfounded looks on our faces.
At least I didn’t. Every word out of his mouth sounded like gibberish. The generational gap may as well have been the Grand Canyon based on all the youthful lingo he’d just spewed that I’d never even heard before.
“Uh, wow,” Sylvie finally said. “That was ... quite a story.”
“I feel like I lost ten points off my IQ,” Marge whispered out the side of her mouth.
“I think my grandson has one of those Ybox thingies,” Doris said, and the sweet expression on her face told me she was trying to make this horrible evening with him less awkward.
“Xbox,” he said back, biting the straw from his cocktail and holding it between his teeth.
“Oh, yes. Right the Xbox.” Doris pinched her lips and twisted her cloth napkin in her lap. “That’s what I meant. Well, it was indeed an interesting story. Thank you for sharing.”
“Right on.” Jake grinned that pretty white smile he’d flashed at me every time I’d seen him since we came aboard. A smile that would have had me crooking a finger to invite him to bed at any other time in my life. With his sexy, wavy hair, chiseled jaw, and abs I imagined were chiseled too, he was exactly what I would have gone for if it hadn’t been for the one big thing that had changed in my life.
Alejandro.
Now it was all I could do to endure another minute with the man who wasn’t the one every molecule in my body screamed out for me to run to. As one of the most handsome cubs on the cruise, I’d thought inviting Jake to dinner would make me miss Alejandro less, but instead, it just made me miss him more.
It’s just one dinner,I reminded myself.One dinner to show them I’m not hung up on Alejandro. I can go find him later tonight.
With those encouraging words, I stiffened up and forced my ass to stay in the seat next to him instead of catapulting me up to run off and find Alejandro that very second like it wanted to. My desire to launch out of here was so strong it felt like I was sitting on springs.
And then, I saw him, and that desire to bolt grew to mythical proportions.
Alejandro stepped into the elegant dining area, and his presence was so profound that nearly everyone in the room paused to look at him. Men. Women. Everyone. He was a lion among cubs and cougars, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one who knew it.
His smile flashed at the people greeting him as he strolled in, his neatly pressed uniform looking so good on his body that my mouth practically watered. Those golden eyes traveled around the room, and suddenly, they landed on me. He grinned widely and started toward me.
“You need a drink, babe?” Jake asked, reaching over and stroking a hand along the exposed skin on my shoulder. “Your martini is almost empty. I can flag the waitress if you’re ready for another.”
I ignored his question. My attention was squarely on the man who looked at me with shock, stopping in his tracks instead of coming to me like I wanted deep down.
“Oh, shit,” Sylvie leaned over and whispered. “He looks pissed you’re here with another guy. What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. It’s none of his business who I’m with,” I answered, though the way he looked at me made me feel about as tall as the olive in my empty martini glass. I tried to remind myself that we weren’t in any exclusive relationship, so itwasn’tany of his business, but if roles were reversed and I saw him at dinner with another woman, I’d have been wild with possessive rage. No, we weren’t anything officially, but with how strong our connection had become since that first night we met, it felt like cheating to be here with another man.
Guilt started to sink deep into my gut that I’d blown him off tonight without so much as a word. I’d ignored the message he’d left on my cabin phone to meet up, and I’d hoped I would make it through this dinner without seeing him. But it seemed lady luck had failed me because here he was, and Sylvie was right. He didn’t look pleased at all to see me with another man.
“Babe? A drink?” Jake asked again.
I glanced at his hand on my shoulder, gently shrugging it off. “Uh, yeah. That would be great. But if you wouldn’t mind, I would love a martini from the top deck pool bar. They make them better there.”
He furrowed his brow. “You want me to go all the way up to the pool on the top deck?”
“Yes, please,” I answered quickly. “And tell them very dry, two olives.”
He sat for a moment, then finally let out a sigh. “Right on, babe. Uh, no problem, I guess. I’ll just be back in a bit.”
He stood up, and I let out a lengthy exhale when he walked away from the table. Alejandro’s golden gaze followed his movement, then slid back to me.
