The Wrong Gentleman

“Of course I did. The choices were fucking phenomenal. You missed out, man.”

I shook my head in feigned disappointment. “I’ll be back when I’m changed.” One thing was for sure, I hadn’t missed out last night. Not for a second.

I headed inside and toward the galley.

“Hey, Anton,” I said as I passed through the galley.

“Landon.”

“Hey,” Skylar said as she closed the fridge door that had hidden her from view.

My pulse tripped in my neck, despite my irritation at her. She hadn’t lost her ability to leave me breathless. She had her hair up and was back in her uniform of navy skirt and light-blue polo. Somehow she managed to wear it better than the rest of us. “Hi,” I replied and tur

ned to head through to the stairs down to the crew quarters.

It wasn’t that I was going to be an arsehole and ignore her, but I really had nothing to say. She’d made her position clear. So had I. I wasn’t about to beg her for more.

As I descended the spiral staircase, I turned at the sound of footsteps behind me. It was Skylar. I shot her a smile, but continued toward my cabin.

“Hey, Landon, can I talk to you?” she asked as I turned the handle to my room.

I turned around and waited for her to say whatever was on her mind.

She got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. All the crew cabin doors were shut, and I couldn’t hear anything, so people were probably either asleep or out.

“Erm, can you come into my room for a second?” she asked.

“I have to get changed. I told Peter I’d be right up.” No doubt she wanted to ask me not to tell anyone about last night, but there was no need. I didn’t offer up information like that to anyone.

“Just for a second. Please?”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to resist her when she begged. “It will have to be quick.”

She smiled at me, relief in her eyes, and I followed her into her empty cabin.

With the door firmly shut, she held my gaze for a few seconds, chewing on the inside of her lip before she spoke. “I’m sorry I ran off this morning.” She wrinkled her nose, as if she was bracing herself for me to be angry. I was irritated, disappointed, but she was obviously expecting a more forceful reaction.

“Yeah, well, I’ll live.”

She let out a breath as if relieved.

“I freaked out,” she said, peering at her toes. “I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“So rather than wake me and talk to me, you decided to run off before I’d given you money for breakfast?”

I was trying to make light of the situation, but it seemed she knew me better than that. She frowned then took a step forward, placing her palm on my chest. “Don’t say that. You know that it wasn’t like that.”

I sighed, trying to ignore the heat of her skin against my tense muscles. “It felt a lot like that. You didn’t need to run off, Skylar. I understand that whatever you want, it isn’t me, but do me a favor? Don’t regret last night. It was too good to be something you wish hadn’t happened.”

She shook her head and pushed her hand up my chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come across like I was regretting what happened. Not at all. It’s just you said you weren’t done and part of me feels the same, and that’s what freaked me out.”

I exhaled. So her problem was that she wanted more. Or at least part of her did. I’d struggled when I figured out that I wanted her again. That she was different to me than other women. This draw I had toward her wasn’t exactly the center of my comfort zone either. “You’re freaking out because you want something you think you shouldn’t?”

She tilted her head up to me. “Exactly.”

I brushed my thumb across her cheekbone. “If it makes you feel any better, when I said that to you, I didn’t have a plan of what I wanted. I’m not saying we should swap promise rings or start picking out china patterns. I just like you. And I want to keep liking you.”

She dropped her shoulders and pushed her face into my hand. “It makes me feel a lot better. So, you’re not expecting—”