She’s got MINE written all over her.
2
“Come with me, Watts,” Valens says. “I’ll show you to your quarters. I’m afraid you’ll be bunking alone as the rest of us are married couples.” Does that mean the captain is married? Of course he is. I’m too young for a man like him, but I can’t help allowing myself a moment to daydream about all the delicious possibilities that could come from being loved by him. Other than a few kisses over the years, I need to be taught what a man needs and he seems like the best teacher a girl could ask for.
“Oh, that’s interesting,” I reply as I follow her downstairs, trying so fucking hard to get the hot as sin captain off of my mind. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hotter man. I can still feel those icy blue eyes staring at me. My skin heats all over again just thinking about it.
“It cuts down on the drama. It’s not entirely gone, but it significantly reduces it,” she says, her voice animated.
“Awesome,” I say, because what else can I say? I guess it's good to know now that I’ll be a loner here, too, right off the bat. The cruise ship shit show I just left was like high school, only worse… I didn’t have activities to fall back on there. It was awful as fuck.
“Our charter starts tomorrow, so we’ve already done everything that needs to be done, and the Captain has already given us the night off. You’re welcome to join us. We’re having dinner and drinks at La Cabana right off the dock.”
“That’s very kind of you, but no, thank you. I think I’d like to get settled in and rest.”
“No worries. There’s plenty of time to get to know each other. This is the galley. Our chef, Danny, makes all the meals except tonight, but I am sure no one will miss anything you find to eat. If you tack a list to the corkboard on my door, I’ll ensure we get whatever you need before we leave tomorrow afternoon. Here is the crew kitchen, as we call it,” she says, leading me down the hallway. I have to shimmy past several cases of water as we do. “We’ll get those moved into the walk-in fridge before we go out tonight. We must stay hydrated.” She laughs as we continue down the hallway. “This is my quarters. My husband, Johnny, is the bosun. You met everyone earlier but I know that was just a brief introduction. This is Danny and Rachelle’s bunk. Rachelle is a deckhand. This is Nigel and Stella’s. They are both deckhands. The Captain’s quarters are the last door on the left. You’re the last door on the right. We also have a co-captain, Hollis, but he only stays on board when he’s needed. He has a room, but no one goes in there. He prefers to clean it himself. The deckhands help serve dinner, but breakfast and lunch, it’s just us. I put the client packet on your bed as well as several uniforms. The navy blue and khaki are for most of the day, and the black and gold uniform is for the dinner service. Please go over the packet at some point before tomorrow afternoon. We have some allergies this trip as well as a picky three year old, and we are the last stop before food gets to them.
“No problem. Aren’t the Captain’s quarter’s usually upstairs?”
“Yes, but he decided to come down here about a year ago. He felt like he was too close to the guests. Captain Bronson isn’t what you’d call a people person. His old quarters are an extra stateroom now.”
“Gotcha. I just have one more question,” I say as we reach the only open door in the hallway.
“Go ahead. This is you,” she says, showing me the largest crew quarters I’ve ever seen. My room on the cruise ship was less than half this size, and I had three other roommates. This has a queen-size bed, a nightstand, dresser, closet, and a decent-sized desk. Holy shit. Even back home all four of my younger sisters and I shared a room. All my brothers shared another room. My parents turned the den into their bedroom, eventually adding a door to it. I am definitely not used to so much space.
“Is there a third steward?” I ask, finally tearing my gaze away from the space.
“No. It’s just us. I’ve left a proposed schedule on your bed as well. We will trade off being up by six-thirty every day of the charter. We’ll share laundry duties for the guests as well as the crew. My advice on doing the crew’s laundry is to stick to the baskets. Don’t mix the loads. The last girl put all of the guy's clothes in simultaneously, and not a single one got the right size boxers back.”