Asher laughed and swooped me up. “Of course I am. I’m just better at faking being calm than you. ”
And then he kissed me, one of those sweet kisses you see on diamond jewelry commercials on TV, except it was me. The girl who just got everything she ever wanted, mostly. When we came up for air I was beaming.
“Someone should pinch me,” I said. With an evil grin, Asher did. “Hey!”
“Just following orders, ma’am,” he said, innocently.
I laughed. His hand rested where he’d pinched, then moved up underneath my shirt. I extricated myself, still laughing, and stretched out on the bed, and he moved to lie beside me. I snuggled him.
“Will your mom get mad?” Asher asked, a possessive arm around my waist.
“No. It’ll be easier this way. Assuming we can swing it. ”
Asher shrugged. “We’ll swing it. ”
Of course we would. If it wasn’t allowed, or there wasn’t time, he’d just bribe whoever he had to until rules were broken in our favor. Asher was the type of man who made things happen—betrothals or pushing people overboard. For better, or for worse.
But getting married on the ship would be easier on everyone. There’d be fewer hoops to jump through, and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting all my family in one place at the same time, fight-free. And this way my mom wouldn’t get the chance to ask questions about where Asher’s absent family was.
“Are there any shapeshifter traditions I should be aware of?” I imagined myself throwing a grenade instead of a bouquet.
There was a long pause. “Live fast, die free?”
“All this time we’ve been dating, and you never told me you were secretly in a motorcycle gang. ”
He snorted. “We don’t do this that often. You’re supposed to find someone like yourself to settle down with. Have a few kids, fast. Raise them up to fend for themselves in time. ”
“How old were you when…” My voice drifted, unsure what I was asking him.
“When all the adults in my life abandoned me?” he filled in. “Fourteen. ”
“You’ve been on your own since then?”
“Yeah. Of course. ”
“Wasn’t it hard?”
“Not really. It wasn’t fun … but it wasn’t hard, either. ” I twisted back to see him better, caught him staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. “It was mostly lonely. ”
I found his hand wrapped around my waist, with my own, and his fingers twined with mine. “Not anymore. ”
Asher looked down at me. “You’re really going to be with me, a misfit shapeshifter, for the rest of your life?”
I smiled up at him. “Yeah. I think you’re pretty much stuck with me now. ”
“Good. ” He nodded, and kissed my temple, and then held me as the ship rocked back and forth on the waves. We were quiet together, and I wondered what he was thinking. I managed not to ask him, though. I closed my eyes and just let the moment spin. When I opened them again, he had a questioning look on his face.
“Sleeping? Food? Or other things?”
This really was a vacation. I really didn’t have anything I had to do for fourteen whole days. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had that long off. Maybe the summer break before I got a job, back in high
school.
I stretched beside him. I was hungry; my stomach was still on the other coast. “Food. And then we’ll see about sex, fiancé. ”
Asher grinned. “I like the sound of that. ”
* * *
It was in between breakfast and lunch, but there were certain restaurants on board that never closed. We made our way to one of these on the third floor, the Dolphin, through an indoor bar and promenade, with leather chairs facing huge portal windows showing a deck and, past it, the choppy seas outside. If I looked just right, I could see the orange belly of a lifeboat hanging down. Good to know. I wasn’t sure which was making me more green, the motion of the ship or my pregnancy, but I was fixated on getting pancakes. If only I’d had a day or two longer to get sea legs under me before everything else.
“Are you sure you want to risk it?” Asher asked solicitously.
“Yes. ” I might learn better right afterward, but I was set on learning the hard way. “They’re spongy. They might help. ” I wished I’d listened to all my pregnant coworkers back in the day. I’d always tuned out their pregnant-lady talks before. My current ignorance served me right. “At least the syrup might be fast calories? Maybe I can absorb some without throwing them up. ”
Asher didn’t look like he thought it was a good idea, but he shrugged, willing to let me learn for myself.
This time of morning, the restaurant was mostly empty, except for the dolphins painted on the walls chasing one another. The maître d’ seated us near a window. Asher began to tell him to move us, but I quickly shook my head. “It’s nice to see outside. ” Maybe if I could see the waves, I’d begin to get a feel for their motion, and separate them from my stomach. The window was bubbled out, giving a view in all directions, dark waters below, sun ahead, and behind us fast clouds pushing in.