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He was just about to ask whether the bathrooms would be occupied when Eddie pushed through the door, and their eyes met. Will was kidding himself thinking he’d been over exaggerating the man’s beauty. Lust sparked like an inferno inside him.
The dancer was even sexier than Will had let himself remember.
Eddie pulled off the preppy uniform for the entertainment staff like no other person Will had ever seen, especially when he paired it with his dark-lined eyes and glossy, kissable lips. Salmon shorts, a pale blue button-down shirt, and boat shoes had never looked so good. And damn, Will had to hold himself back from peeling Eddie out of his uniform right there.
“Hey, ah…” Will hesitated, blushing furiously. “Busy in there?” He motioned to the bathrooms Eddie had just come from. When he shook his head, Will’s grin stretched across his face. “Great.”
Eddie’s smile matched his own, and it set the butterflies in Will’s stomach fluttering. “Everyone will start to arrive in the next twenty or so to get make-up started for the show, so unless you want to be sharing the change room with them, you’d better be quick.”
“Thanks for the tip.” Will hitched his gym bag onto his shoulder, suddenly nervous. He didn’t want their conversation to end, but if he had any hope of continuing his self-imposed on-board abstinence, he had to walk away.
Going to the show was a bad idea. Seeing Eddie again in his element would have Will’s libido working overdrive, but instead of “goodbye” or “see you ’round,” he blurted, “I’ll be watching the show tonight. Looking forward to seeing you on stage.”
Eddie’s chest puffed out a little at Will’s comment, and Will could see how pleased he was from his sensuous strut. Sauntering towards Will, Eddie ran his fingertip down his chest all the way from collarbone to navel, and Will sucked in a breath, his skin quivering from the other man’s touch. “I’ll make sure to shake my arse just that little bit harder for you then, handsome.”
Eddie smirked and stepped away, swaying his hips to music only he heard as he stepped out of the studio. When Will looked around, he was alone with the costumes. The studio had been an old storage room, but the sets for the shows were now too elaborate, too large to fit in there. By the looks of it, though, it was still used daily, and not just by sexy pole dancers who Will desperately wanted to feel against him.
*****
Will had always understood why the reviews the ship got were high. The on-board entertainment was nothing short of spectacular, but the show unfolding before him was on a whole other level. Sitting in the second row, Will watched enraptured as the lead singer belted out a P!nk song, and the dancers turned aerialists swung from sheaths of material hanging from the scaffolding mounted to the roof. Eddie was right at the top of one of those swaths, and he had it wrapped around and around his body. Will knew what was coming, but he held his breath nevertheless.
Eddie let go and spun down, reaching so close to the floor that Will let out a squeak of panic before Eddie effortlessly halted. It was only when Eddie’s feet were firmly planted on the floor that Will relaxed the white-knuckled grip on the armrest. Will’s breaths were heavy as he watched Eddie dash off the stage and appear a moment later, confidently sashaying down the aisle.
“Step right up, step right up,” the singer announced from the stage, and Eddie’s hand closed around his. Confused, Will looked up at Eddie as the lithe dancer tugged him up.
“Come on, handsome. I need a volunteer.”
“Oh, hell no.” Will tried to pull away, shaking his head. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
“I’ll make it worth your while.” Eddie gave him a smile that held so much promise. But it wasn’t his cockiness that had Will nodding. It wasn’t the bravado or the charisma that Eddie exuded, but rather the genuine hope in his gaze. Will knew without a shadow of a doubt that Eddie genuinely wanted him to do this.
Will let Eddie lead him up to the stage, and he stood with the three other volunteers—two men and one woman—who’d been persuaded to go up there. Four chairs sat in a line facing the audience, spotlights on them. “What’s your name, honey?” Katya, the lead singer, asked the woman.
“Aimee,” she replied with a confident smile. Katya repeated the questions until she reached Will and her eyes widened before he gave a slight shake of his head. She recognized him—they’d known each other for years—but he didn’t want her announcing to the entire theatre that it was him up on the stage. There were some things guests didn’t need to know, even if he was up there during his downtime.
“And what’s your name?” She paused, holding the microphone out.
“William,” he offered up, smiling politely at her.
“Okay, folks. Let’s give a round of applause for our volunteers Aimee, Sharman, Tom, and William.” The audience clapped, and Will took his cue from the others, who gave a small wave to them.
Eddie was back by his side, now dressed in shiny black skin-hugging tights with sparkly stripes down the outside. Chunky, loosely laced black boots and a bowtie were the only other things he had on. The other male dancer was wearing exactly the same thing, and the two women looked like Playboy bunnies. Even though they were dressed similarly, Will took no notice of them. He couldn’t take his eyes off Eddie.
He was riveted.
Every single muscle in Eddie’s limber body was defined, and his damp skin looked downright lickable. His stage make-up gave him a come-hither vibe that made Will want to not only break his self-imposed rule but shatter it into a million pieces.
Eddie grasped Will’s hand, directing him to the chair at the end of the row. The other dancers did the same for their volunteers, and the lead singer started singing Christina’s “Dirty.”
Just like with the last song he and Eddie had been chest to chest to, the lyrics washed over Will and wrapped him in a haze of longing.
Eddie pushed him down into the chair with a flourish, and in time with the beat, spread Will’s legs wide, stepping between them. With a finger under his chin, Eddie lifted Will’s face to his and leaned in close while he shook his ass. It took Will every ounce of strength in his body not to reach out and touch Eddie, to pull him close and kiss the ever-loving fuck out of him. But from the gleam in Eddie’s eyes, Will knew he wasn’t allowed to touch.
Yet.
“Hope you’re ready for a wild ride, handsome,” Eddie whispered seductively in his ear. When the rumbly groan bubbled up from deep within Will, Eddie hummed. “Oh, I like that. I wanna hear that again.” He snapped his hips from side to side and trailed his fingertips across Will’s collarbone, stepping around his knee.
“And again.”
