"That's right." He tapped her on the tip of her button nose as she all but growled at him. "She just talks so fast it's kind of hard for my country boy ears to keep up."
Benjamin chuckled. "That's interesting considering she's from a blink-and-you-miss-it small town in Virginia."
"Really? I'm surprised." He turned to face Aubrey, giving himself a second to take her in. She was cute, but in a main-character's-sweet-best-friend-who-fell-for-everything kind of way with her girl next door sensibility betrayed only by her eyes. Those big brown eyes sparkled with trouble. It wasn't overt but it was just enough of a combo of sugar and spice to make him want to know more. Plus, he'd caught her stealing pants; there was definitely something more to Aubrey Dean than her aw-shucks face promised. "You have fast talker written all over you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, not missing the dig at her underhanded antics earlier. Then, as if she'd flipped a switch, she turned the sugar back on and focused on her friends.
"I'll meet you guys back up on deck for the mandatory safety briefing thing." She side stepped closer to him, the strawberry scent of her shampoo teasing him. "I'm just gonna make sure Carter doesn't get lost again."
They turned—meaning she pivoted and he followed along because he couldn't seem to help it with her—and started back down the hall.
The got a few doors down from her friends before she broke the silence. "So where is your room?"
"Eight doors down on the right." Normally he'd be several decks up in one of the full suites, but he'd gotten his assistant to dial back to a more affordable regular room with a balcony.
"Are you kidding me?"
He shook his head. "No."
"We're next door neighbors." She didn't sound very thrilled about it.
What was that all about? It wasn't like he was the one who'd asked to be part of the pants crime of the century. "Seems only right since you've involved me in your life of crime."
She let out a full-tilt snort of oh-yeah-buddy-suuuuuuure. "I wish I lived anything close to that exciting of a life. I own a bakery. Well, it's my name on the business license, but really it's my gran's bakery."
Carbs. He was going to eat so much sugar while he was on the cruise it would make his trainer for The Admiral movies cry. Totally worth it. "So what's your baking specialty?"
"Mine?" She laughed, it was light and soft and too utterly practiced to be sincere. "Nothing. I am whatever a gardening black thumb is to baking. The shop, however, is famous for its bear claws. So will you be using your newfound skills of skulduggery when you return home to Iowa?"
It was a deft turn to get the conversation away from herself and back on him. Damn, he could take lessons from this woman. Diversionary tactics were the best way to maintain a cover according to one of the British secret agents he'd shadowed for an action flick a few years ago. He'd never seen it used in a real life situation though and had it be as smooth as what she'd just done.
"Doubtful they'll be a call for any flim flam," he said, echoing her old timey turn of phrase. "There's just not much call for subterfuge when you fabricate teeth."
"Like dentures?"
Thank God his cousin, who actually did live in Iowa and actually was a dental technician, had given him the low down on the job. "That and the crowns and bridges, orthodontic appliances too." He brought them to a stop. "And this is my room."
"Thank you for your help," she said, this time her smile genuine. "I owe you a drink."
He should beg off and keep his distance if he wanted to keep his cover, show Hollywood he could be more than j
ust The Admiral, and finally get the respect he craved from a world that thought he'd only gotten where he was because of his parents. That's what he should do, but he didn't.
"Yes, you do," he said, unlocking his door with his free hand. "You know where to find me."
She looked down at her arm still in his, seemingly surprised to find it there, and gently pulled back. "See you around."
And then she disappeared inside her room and Carter was left in the hall still trying to understand what in the hell had just happened and what he was going to do with a stranger’s pants stuffed under his shirt.
Two
Aubrey shut her cabin door behind her and let out the breath she'd been holding. Holy crap that had been close. If she'd been by herself there would have been no way she would have gotten away with it, giving the Boy Scout a gut had been a stroke of—
"Oh fuck." She let her head fall back against her door with a thunk. "You forgot to get Grace's pants back, you dumbass."
Now she was going to wait for Grace, Liv, Kendall, and Benjamin to vacate the hallway and then she'd have to go out there and knock on Carter's door. She cracked open her door; her friends were still out in the hall chatting away. Closing the door quick before they could spot her and interrogate her until the truth spilled out, she let out a frustrated groan.
Shit. Shit. Shitty McShittersons.