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“This will be my voyage of discovery,” she said.
Fortunately, another round of drinks arrived to cool him off and he took a large swallow. “What are you hoping to discover?” he asked flippantly, expecting a flirtatious answer.
But she looked pensive for a moment, chewed on her lower lip and then answered very sincerely. “How to be myself and a little more. I just want to crank up the volume. Do you ever feel as if there’s something missing from your life and that you might find that something if you were just willing to seize an opportunity?”
Hell yes. Sometimes, at the end of a ten- or twelve-hour session in front of a screen, where he’d only interacted with other human beings via e-mail, he would sit and wonder whether this was the kind of solitary life he wanted. “Yeah, I do.”
She sighed. “I’m not sure what I’m missing. But whatever it is, being here with you makes me feel good.”
He watched as Emma pulled the large frosty glass toward her and took a healthy swig of the concoction. She took out the umbrella and sucked on the pineapple slice. He ignored his drink, looking at her so intently he wondered if she could feel him wanting to explore her lips first with his avid gaze and then his mouth.
He knew he should be honest and tell her that he wasn’t a local.
Would it kill the romantic mood? Or would it be better to play along and see what she had in mind?
She looked up, heat in her gaze.
He definitely wanted to let this ride.
Emma felt as if this handsome local was gazing into her very soul. It was as if they’d already been intimate and he hadn’t even touched her or kissed her. And it didn’t make any sense. She tried to talk, stumbled, but finally managed, “Um, does this have cocoa in it? I have to admit I’m addicted to chocolate.”
“Yes, it’s a sort of an island milkshake,” he told her.
“It’s good. Delectable in fact.”
He stroked her hand, his touch gentle yet his skin a little rough, and his warmth sent a shiver through her.
“So how are you going to start this project? Pumping up the volume?” His voice curled around her, seeming to pull her in closer.
She took another deep drink and leaned towards him, then sighed. It felt good to be this close to an incredible guy who obviously found her intriguing.
“You do have a plan,” he prompted.
She sat up. She’d been leaning so far over she was practically on top of the table. “Of course I have a plan.” A long sip of the milkshake soothed the niggle of embarrassment. He even understands about the plan. A girl’s got to have a plan if she’s going to get anywhere.
“What’s the first thing on your list?” It seemed as though he was teasing her now.
“I’m going to explore some aspects of myself that have been…inhibited.” She told herself that she was only drunk on his attention.
He looked so intense. Those dark eyes were especially intriguing because a golden band circled his pupils like a little halo of light in the dark.
“That sounds incredibly intriguing.”
She reached out to stroke his bare fingers. “I’m not feeling inhibited right now,” she told him truthfully.
He reached up to rub a piece of her hair between his fingers, brushing her sensitive ear as he did so.
Her heart paused mid-beat, and she couldn’t seem to breathe. Why couldn’t he have been a passenger on the cruise?
“What were we talking about?” she muttered.
This pickup thing had been so natural, but what did she do now? She wanted so badly for him to kiss her. How did she signal him? And where would he touch her?
And then what?
This stuff was harder than a job interview, even if what she wanted to do had nothing to do with talking.
“We were discussing how a person shouldn’t become complacent, that they should, well, rock their world.”
“That’s a nice thing to say but I’m not very good at that.” Emma’s brows furrowed as she concentrated. “Just ask my friend Tina. I’m too low-key for that.”
“You seem like a woman capable of doing anything she wants, Emma.”
To hide the way her lips trembled at his compliment she took another sip of the milkshake. The rum slid down so easily, warming her from the inside, while his words warmed her from the outside. She was getting so hot. Had she ever wanted a man to touch her this badly? Her nipples were so sensitized that she could feel every brush of the material of her blouse.
“I wish you were on the cruise, too…I mean it’s going to be great.” She desperately needed him to kiss her. Surely she’d come to her senses once he kissed her.
“I’ve never wanted anything so much.” He stroked her hand and smiled. A smile she just wanted to dive into. What if I love it when he touches me? What if I don’t want him to stop?
“Are you okay?” he asked solicitously.
Sometimes he sounded so American. Were those alarm bells going off in the distance? “Where are you from?”
“I didn’t tell you where I was from, querida.”
Now that sounded exotic. Did she honestly care where he was from?
She sighed. Touched his hand.
He smiled at her as if she were dear to him, as if she could confide in him. “Why the sigh, querida?”
“Lost opportunities.” She tilted her head. “Did you ever want to be someone else?” The question hung between them. More honesty. If she didn’t quit the sappy stuff, he’d probably walk away. She bit her lower lip nervously.
His gaze clung. “Tonight I want most of all to be able to tell you that I’m a passenger on the cruise.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.” She sighed again. “Don’t even tease me about that.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment and then he grinned. “I know, I’ll be a pirate, kidnap you and sail away. I’d tie you up in silken bonds and make you very, very happy.”
Now that was an image. She leaned towards him again. He did resemble a pirate; she’d thought so from the beginning. “Role-playing never occurred to me.” Except in my fantasies. “Do you do much role-playing?”
“All the time. I find it enjoyable to add an element of fantasy to life and…love.”
Was he blushing? It was hard to tell in the flickering light. She eyed him over her glass. “I’d really like you to kidnap me but I’ve got to get back to the ship.”
“Ah, the cruise ship, an excellent place to find adventure.”
“It’s the captain’s cocktail party tonight,” she said, then added before she could take it back, “but I’ll be thinking about you.”
His eyes gleamed and he put her at ease by saying, “I hope so, because I won’t be able to stop thinking about you.”
“It’s very flattering of you to say so.”
“I’m not flattering you. I find you fascinating. You have a cool blond beauty, but I see flickers of fire in those mysterious eyes. I find the contradiction exciting.”
Her eyes were mysterious? Probably because they were crossing from too much alcohol. How many shots were in these drinks anyway? Obviously enough to liberate the licentious lady inside. Or was it the way Andres looked at her?
He picked up her hand and held it.
Her stomach flip-flopped and then an ache settled a little lower than her stomach. She rubbed her legs together. She wanted him fiercely.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
But he knew. His look was equally ravenous.
Emma leaned in. It didn’t matter that they were in public. She just wanted a taste—
“Hey, Em?”
Tina approached the table with her long-legged stride and her beautiful confident smile, and Emma’s heart sank.
3
“EM, WE SHOULD get going. We have to get ready for the captain’s reception.” She held out an elegant hand, “Hi, I’m Emma’s friend, Tina.”
“I know we have to be back and I’ve been watching the time.” Emma looked at her watch. Then she introduced them. “This is Andres.”
Andres gave Tina a very casual look that allowed Emma to breathe again. Tina usually got the attention. Not that she could help it. But tonight it mattered to Emma.
Tina gave Andres a quizzical look.
“Don’t I know you?”
“Where would you know me from? Do you come here often?”
“I don’t know. You just look familiar. And I’m good at faces.”
He grinned. “Maybe I just have one of those faces.”
“Maybe.”
“What happened to the guy you were with?” Emma asked.
Tina shook her head. “We’re going to meet up after the reception. So I won’t be in the room tonight. But I thought we would go back to the ship together and get ready. Are you sure you’re okay to come alone?”
The old Emma would have hesitated; in fact she probably would have been back at the boat an hour ago, feeling deflated that Tina would be gone their first night on the ship.
But tonight she was definitely different. “I just want to stay a little longer. I won’t be late.”
“I’ll take good care of her.” Andres tipped his head at Tina in a very old-style way that must have caught her interest because she hesitated and started to pull out one of the chairs as if she intended to join them.
Abruptly Andres rose to his feet, pulling Emma up with him. “There’s a way to go along the beach. I’d like to take Emma that way to show her some of the beauty of our island before she sails away.”
“Okay.” Did Tina actually look stunned? She just stood there as they left the bar. Emma tried to turn around and say goodbye, but Andres grabbed both of her hands and pulled her along.
“If you give her any encouragement, she’ll offer to walk along with us and that’s not what I had in mind.”
“What do you have in mind?” Alarm bells were going off. She knew she shouldn’t go anywhere with a total stranger.
“There’s a full moon tonight and I wanted to be with you on the beach.”
She just nodded. The thought of walking on the beach sounded too enticing to resist. Like the exotic bar and those drinks. And now the pale sand stretched endlessly before them. Restless, dark water rumbled on the horizon, while lacy froth teased the sand at their feet.
Andres’s shoulder felt warm beneath her hands as she let him steady her while she took off her high-heeled sandals. He offered to carry them for her. His sandals appeared to be waterproof.
Emma’s mind filled with exhilarating images of tasting the cocoa concoction on his perfectly shaped lips. She floated along at his side with the warm water sucking gently at her toes.
“It’s nice of you to escort me to the docks.”
He pulled her around to face him. They’d already left the bar behind. They were totally alone. Shadows lent urgency to his features. “It’s not nice at all. It’s a matter of need.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “I’ve been dying to touch you. Your hair’s like moonlight. And your eyes are like the midnight sky.”
His words caressed her. How could such a masculine man say such tender things? “I love the way you talk to me.”
“Come on.” He pulled her along to the edge of the plunging surf, his eyes more on her than the beautiful view.
“What are you looking at?”
He looked down at her. “You’re like some mystical creature from the sea sent to ensnare the poor fisherman. How can I resist you?”
Was that a little grimace of embarrassment on his face? Was it hard for a man to speak in such tender terms? “How romantic you are in the moonlight.”
“I’m glad you think so, chula.”
The foreign word reverberated through her, “And if I were to ensnare you, then what would happen next?”
“I’d follow you wherever you went.”
He sounded so sure of himself. It made her nervous and she shivered with anticipation at the same time. “Oh, but you can’t follow me onto the ship.”
“What if I were to surprise you? Would you be angry or glad? Would you forgive me for wanting to be with you no matter what the cost?”
“I don’t know. I think I’d be glad to see you again under any circumstances.”
Had he really meant what he’d said about the role-playing fantasy? The image of him taking her as his captive had her tightening her hold on his arm.
“We could explore our fantasies,” she said tentatively.
“I would like very much to do so.”
