“Can I talk to you in the laundry room?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light and breezy, as if I wanted to catch up about towels and mops rather than discuss the real possibility of me losing my job.
Without looking at me, Skylar closed her magazine and shuffled off the bench.
“Where’s August?” I asked.
“Napping. She’s on break.”
I nodded. I’d been lucky that Skylar had caught us and not August, who I’d chastised several times at the beginning of the charter for even talking about hooking up with a hot guest or mentioning how handsome Hayden was.
I was such a hypocrite.
Skylar shut the door to the laundry room behind us. Despite there being only one guest on the yacht, the washers and dryers were constantly in use and provided the soundproofing we were going to need for this conversation.
“What are you doing?” Skylar asked, her eyes wide as she stepped toward me.
I pressed my fingers against my temples, as if I were trying to stop my brain from exploding. “Did you tell anyone about what you saw?”
She jumped up to sit on one of the washers. “Of course I didn’t but, Avery, what the fuck?”
My body sagged and I leaned back against the dryer. Maybe this was still containable. “I’m sorry, I just—”
“Don’t be sorry. Tell me what’s going on. Is he . . . pressuring you?”
My eyes darted up to meet hers. “No, of course not. I mean, he would never . . .”
“When did it start?” she asked.
Did it sound stupid to say as soon as I laid eyes on him? At least that’s where the kernel of desire had been born—for me. “Last night was the first time . . .” The first time I’d let myself acknowledge all the things I was feeling, the first time I’d forgotten to fight the attraction I had to him.
“Got physical? This hasn’t been going on the whole charter?”
I reached behind and leveraged myself up to sit on the opposite dryer. “We’ve never . . . not on the boat.”
She drew back. “But you have slept with him?”
There was no point in denying it. “Last night.”
She let out an exhale. “That’s where you were last night. Eric said he’d seen you with some ginger guy.”
“It wasn’t planned. We ran into each other . . .”
Skylar rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. I went to the Greek theater to do the whole tourist thing. I had no idea he’d be there. But, I can’t say I wasn’t attracted to him before that.”
Silence sat heavily between us. She had no reason to trust what I was saying. I’d broken the golden rule and crossed the line with a guest, putting my job and everyone’s tip at risk. “You didn’t tell anyone?”
“No, I wanted to speak to you first. But I’m not going to have to tell anyone if he touches you like that again in public—”
“I know. I think he was trying to be nice or something.” At least I hoped that was all it had been. I wasn’t sure if he’d just been thoughtless or selfish when he’d touched me when I’d just asked him not to. Both, maybe. As much as he might be a moral millionaire, he was still used to getting everything he wanted. He still snapped his fingers and expected people to jump.
“Is it worth risking your career over a one-night stand?”
That was the question. Last night I had felt as though whatever was between us was worth risking everything for, but today? Although we hadn’t discussed it, whatever was between us hadn’t felt fleeting. “It didn’t feel like it was a one-night thing.” But what else could it be? We lived in different countries, had different priorities. I couldn’t maintain a relationship with a yachtie who had the same lifestyle as me. What hope did I have that things would work out with Hayden Wolf? “I just really like him.”
“Well of course. He’s gorgeous and rich—”
I scrunched up my nose. “It’s not about that.”
Skylar sighed and tipped her head back, skeptical. “Seriously. This could get you fired. It’s reckless. It’s just not you.”
“I know.” It was out of character. My family’s security was everything to me. “It’s just he’s a really good guy and we’ve ended up spending time together and—” Physical desire would have been easier to resist but Hayden’s kindness, his passion for what he did, the way he talked about his brother. Every time I learned something new about him, I liked him more.
“So what? Are you going to have an affair with this guy?”
I looked away, so the anxiety that churned in my stomach didn’t show on my face. An affair seemed so crass. What had happened between us shouldn’t have a label that applied to anyone else. It should have its own box, its own atmosphere, it was so different, so special.