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She bounds off the bed, slips into her shoes, and I grab her suitcase just as the overhead crackles to life.
“Miss Hawkins, ensign Phlaprock here. I’m terribly sorry…” We don’t even wait for him to finish his pathetic apology. Just as we open the door to the hallway, he’s interrupted by another announcement.
“Welcome aboard, everyone. This is your Captain, Xurek Bah-rost Trunjustier Al’kareed. If you look out any starboard window, you’ll see we’ve already pulled away from the port and are beginning our grand adventure through the Xevren sector. Join me on the Lido Deck for our sail-away party. Mixtan Quadrup and his Merry Music Makers will be playingmelikanfavorites until we pass the meteor shower around one a.m. Glad to have you on board.”
I try to read Delia’s face, but she’s adept at hiding her emotions when she wants. We’ve spent a lot of time together since my accident and I like to think I can read her pretty well. I imagine she’s forcing back tears.
Sure, it’s a small room with an even tinier bed, but I doubt that’s the biggest disappointment. Just imagine having to look at my face morning, noon, and night for the next three months. It’s a wonder the poor female isn’t in tears.
Chapter4
Delia
“I’m sorry you won’t have your own room,” I say. I’m not sure what to think of this. Sharing a room with Jarrn is pretty much a dream come true–or a nightmare if he comes to resent me sharing it with him.
“It’s going to be tight in here.” His gaze falls on the bed.
Oh. Yeah. You’d think after lusting for him for what feels like forever, I would’ve noted that this cruise was going to be about me, him, and one bed.
“I realize there’s no desk for you to work at,” he says. “I’ll see if they can give us that, at least. Maybe one of those desks that folds against the wall when it’s not in use?”
“Sure. You know I can do my job anywhere. I can write in bed. Half the time, I write on my comm, which I can do while sitting on a lounger. Surely there’s a library on board. Or a coffee shop.” As for publishing and my script writing that pays the majority of my income, that can be done in cramped quarters as easily as in the office I had back in my apartment. “What I meant is I promise I’ll disappear at night if you want.”
He scrunches his forehead. “Why do you need to disappear?”
I cringe. “So you can have females over.”
“Oh, that.” He shakes his head. “Nice of you to suggest a female would want to sleep with me.”
Me. I would.
“Just sayin’. You’re . . .” Hot, gorgeous, infinitely desirable.
“I’m what?” He grabs his case and drops it on the bed, opening it and pulling out clothing.
“Nothing.”
His grunt slips out. “You’ve got that right.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” I open my own case, then see we only have one tiny bureau. “There are three drawers. I’ll take the bottom one, and you can have the top two.”
“We can split the middle drawer.”
“You’re bigger than me, which means your clothing is bigger, too.”
“Delia,” he says, warning ringing in his voice.
I stuff all of my things in the bottom drawer. “See?” I nod toward the bureau. “I didn’t bring much, just comfy pants, a few dresses, and bathing suits.”
He comes around to my side of the bed, but when I try to back away to give him room, we bump into each other. My foot gets caught on something, and I grab onto his shoulders as I topple backward. We land together on the bed in a tangle of limbs with him lying on top of me.
He braces himself up over me.
“Sorry,” we say at the same time.
We both burst into laughter.
“You’re so clumsy, Del,” he says, his gorgeous blue eyes gleaming.
