Love At First Taste (Love Comes First 3)

She has thick curly blonde hair that looks as untamable as her. It’s tied up in the back, but the breeze coming in through the large windows is causing curled strands to swirl all around her. This is what it must feel like to stare at Medusa. You can’t look away as your heart stops and your body slowly turns to stone, frozen forever with a look of awe on your face.

“Are you trying to get back to the party?” she asks when I don’t say anything. “Are you lost? Hello?”

She waves her hand in front of my face and it snaps me out of my startled state. “Right. What was the question?”

Her striking blue eyes narrow on me. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Nothing. One beer. Half a beer.”

“Right…,” she says, looking at me skeptically. “I can tell that you guys like to party hard, but just remember, we’re on a large water vessel and if you stumble over the railing and fall into the water while we’re traveling at 50 knots an hour, it’s probably going to mean your death.”

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. This girl has got me rattled.

She has the kind of eyes that see straight through bullshit. Lie-detector blue it should be called. Whatever the shade of pale blue it is, they’re brilliant. Bold. Sharp. Ravishing.

“I’m not with those guys.”

She looks down at the pink beaded necklace around my neck and raises an eyebrow.

“Not mine,” I say as I rip it off. Beads scatter everywhere on the floor. “Oops! Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she says in a cold voice. “Go back to your strippers. The anchor is coming up in thirty minutes, so you’re going to have to say goodbye to Candy, Chastity, and Chandelier pretty soon. Better go get one last look at their tits before we have to leave them on the dock.”

“I wasn’t… I don’t…”

What is with me around this girl? I can’t keep it together. I’m glad Eli isn’t here to watch me floundering pathetically. He’d be teasing me about this for the rest of my life.

“Just make sure your friends are sober enough to hear the Captain’s instructions before we leave.”

She spins on her white deck shoes and charges up the staircase, leaving me in pieces. I watch her swaying ass in that killer white skirt as she disappears up the stairs.

I never knew girls like her existed. I didn’t know this emotion was even a thing. To be so… lovestruck.

I’m gripping my heart as I stumble down the stairs on the way back to the party. Every thought I have is of her as I grip the railing on the side of the boat and stare out at the water.

“Hey,” I say, stopping one of the tall Norwegian brothers as he passes. It’s Eivind. “Who’s that woman? The fierce one with the curly blonde hair?”

“That’s Miss Aubrey Riddle,” he answers. My heart goes into overdrive when I hear her name. “She’s the First Officer. Second in command to the Captain. Would you like me to get her for you, sir?”

I think about it for a second, but I don’t want to get yelled at again. I need these strippers gone before I can try and get another shot at making a good impression on her.

“It’s okay. Thanks, Eivind.”

He nods and then disappears down the hallway. I grip the railing until my knuckles burn. This is going to be an interesting trip after all.

It’s not long before the music stops and I see the strippers being herded down the ramp onto the dock.

I head back into the pool area just in time for the Captain’s instructions.

He’s standing in front of the guys who already look plastered as they stretch out on the huge horseshoe couch. Gabriel’s eyes keep closing.

The Captain runs his fingers over his big bushy gray mustache as he introduces himself. My eyes are locked on his adorable First Mate standing proudly beside him. Aubrey looks incredible and I get a rush of anger knowing that the eyes of these perverted guys are on her. I don’t like anyone looking at her except for me.

I’m already obsessed with her. I’m feeling as possessive as a kid with a new toy. I want her all to myself even though she wants nothing to do with me.

“I’m Captain Ted Vos,” he says in a deep voice. “And this is my First Mate, Aubrey Riddle. While we’re on this boat, my word is law.”

Gabriel is snoring.

The Captain goes over the rules as I lean on the railing as far from the guys as I can get while I stare at the girl who will one day be mine. I know she will be because I’m not going to give up until she is. It can take fifty years if it has to, but I’ll be that eighty-year-old man in the nursing home who is still begging her to be mine.