NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

“No! God, you’re infuriating. Do you think I’m that desperate that I need any of you fuckers?”

Worth tilted his chin down and shot me a look that was meant to remind me of my shitty dalliance with Pres.

“Shut up,” I muttered. “I was desperate for a job, not a piece of ass.”

“Well, if your way of trying to get hired is by sleeping with the boss, you might want to reconsider.”

He was so fucking annoying. I’d had enough of his hoity-toity attitude. I needed a drink whether it was time to leave port or not. And maybe if I could go ahead and unmask Pres as a giant cheater quickly, he’d leave and I could get to the portion of this deal that might actually lead me to gainful employment.

“Don’t worry,” I said, moving off the bed to rifle through the shopping bags. “I’ve definitely learned my lesson.” I found the tiniest swimsuit I’d purchased and flounced toward the bathroom to change. “I’ll get out of your hair so you can work.”

Worth’s back was still facing me when I finished changing, but it didn’t matter. The tiny Speedo was meant to tease Prescott, not Worth. Besides, he was right. Sleeping with someone wasn’t the way to get hired, and I needed the job way more than an orgasm.

As I took one last look at Worth before closing the stateroom door, I also realized he was probably one of those guys who came all the way to the Caribbean to get away from it all, but never actually left the work behind. I had no interest in a man who couldn’t relax from time to time, especially someone who chose to spend time with his computer instead of his siblings. My father was the same kind of workaholic, and I’d learned early on not to expect something from a man who valued his career over family.

It was one thing if there was a work emergency, but quite another if you were simply addicted to your devices. In addition to watching my own father’s ambition pull him away from his family, I’d seen many people on my charter trips lose their minds when confronted with uninterrupted family time. The number of times I’d been asked for the Wi-Fi information on a small charter catamaran was laughable.

But since we were on a luxury yacht with plenty of satellite Wi-Fi support, Worth could work as much as he wanted. And, honestly, it was none of my business. I wasn’t his boyfriend, and I wasn’t actually even his friend.

I grabbed my sunscreen, sunglasses, a few other odds and ends, and a beach towel I’d found in a cupboard in the bathroom and headed upstairs to find a seat in the sun.

Thankfully, Julo already had the island music turned up, and I could hear the blender going somewhere above us. He was busy prepping lunch in the galley, so I didn’t disrupt him. Natalia’s laughter rang out on the top deck, so I followed the sounds until I found the party. The roof was open, and the sun streamed down to a group of women sitting around a table with drinks and snacks. Lucas and Prescott were in the hot tub with another man I hadn’t met yet.

“Cal!” Nat said, standing up and waving me over to the table. “I want you to meet my friends.” She introduced me to an adorable woman named Mia with short, pixie-cut hair dyed purple and twin dimples in one cheek when she smiled. The other woman was sleeker-looking—like a panther—with silky black hair tied back in a twist and elegant features. Her name was Jade which was easy to remember because her eyes were a striking green that glittered with mischief. Something about these three women together reminded me of my sisters, and I knew they were going to be tons of fun on the ship this week.

Jade looked me up and down in a way that made me grateful I’d thrown on one of Worth’s button-down shirts as a kind of cover-up. “You’re delectable, aren’t you?” I assumed it was a rhetorical question.

Nat ignored her friend and said, “Oh, and that’s my husband, Jin.” She pointed to a man with similar long silky dark hair, but his was pulled up in a messy bun to keep it out of the water of the hot tub.

The man looked up and smiled, lifting his cup of punch in a toast gesture. He was gorgeous and reminded me of an actor from a fantasy movie I’d seen recently. As I looked around, I realized every person on the ship was beautiful. It was like being on the set of a fashion shoot, and it made me feel uneasy. I didn’t belong here. I was a farm boy from a tiny town in Texas. Sure, I talked a big game, and I’d met lots of people from all over the world thanks to my job, but when it came down to it, I didn’t know how to even have a conversation with these people. They’d all presumably gone to fancy schools and lived in big, exciting cities and had active social lives with their other wealthy friends. The closest I’d come to knowing what big-city life was like was when I spent time at my sister Hallie’s place in Dallas.