NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

“Um…” He scratched the back of his head like he was thinking about it before rolling his eyes and glaring at me. “How about no?”

I couldn’t hold back my tongue. “That’s not what you were saying last night.”

Cal laughed, a clear sweet sound that filled my bedroom with a light it hadn’t seen before. “That was when I thought he owned the biggest… ship… in town. Now I know he doesn’t. Now I know his ship is tiny. Teeny tiny. Like a dinghy.”

If he made me laugh any more, my sister was going to come to see what was the matter. “In exchange for your service, I will give you a fair shot at the chief mate position when Freya leaves next week. If you’re qualified.”

I could see the offer stopped him in his tracks.

“Fuck,” he said. “That’s a low blow. And of course I’m qualified. I’m qualified to captain this thing, but I’ll accept chief mate if it’ll keep me on the water.”

His words stopped me in my tracks. If he had captain’s credentials, maybe he wasn’t as young as he looked. “How old are you?”

Cal lifted an eyebrow at me. “Are we sharing personal information now, Mr. Worthington?”

“Only yours.”

“I’m twenty-three,” he said defiantly, as if he knew full well I was going to judge him for it.

I squeezed my eyes closed and tried not to picture this baby boy naked. “Jesus,” I said under my breath.

“I’ve been on the water since I was in diapers.”

I sighed and shot him a look. “So, at least ten years, then, right?”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Unlike your little captain’s license that probably came free inside of a box of Cap’n Crunch cereal? I mean, what? Did you do a liveaboard course one week on vacation from your big corporate job?”

I bit back a laugh. “I’ll have you know I earned an Inland Master in St. Thomas and am working on my Near Coastal.”

Cal huffed, but there seemed to be at least a spark of approval in his eyes. “I hope you don’t claim the hours spent lying in the sun sipping a daiquiri in your logbook.”

I gave him an exaggerated frown. “Oh, those don’t count?”

He opened up his mouth to argue with me when I held up a hand to stop him. “I’m sure you’re working on a certificate upgrade of some kind and need logged days underway as well. I can give you that, and I’ll pay you for your time.”

Cal’s eyes shot daggers at me. “Absolutely not. You’re not paying me to fuck some asshole. This isn’t Pretty Woman.”

“You’re not fucking anyone,” I hissed. “Certainly not Prescott goddamned Resnick.”

His full bottom lip quirked, and I had a sudden flash of what it would look like trailing kisses along my stomach down to my groin. I quickly filled my brain with other images. Business meetings, dirty urinals in public restrooms, skin cancer biopsies. I did not want to have sex with Prescott’s boy toy.

“Then how do you expect me to seduce him away from Lucas?”

“We just need him to reveal his true colors. So… flirt with him, tease him, try to get him to make his attraction to you obvious. All we need is something to convince Lucas he’s betting on the wrong horse.”

He thought about it for a minute. “Fine. Then if you’re not expecting actual sex, I’ll take your money.” Cal looked embarrassed for mentioning it. “I mean… just… whatever you were going to—”

“Yes, fine,” I said quickly. “It’s the least I can do to make up for the egregious kidnapping.”

He lifted his chin. “Exactly. And don’t for a minute think I’ll let you forget it. I was trapped in that hellhole for days.”

“You were in there four hours.”

He grinned at me, and I realized with a jolt that this task was going to be the easiest thing in the world. One smile from this beautiful boy and Prescott Resnick wouldn’t be able to hide his hard-on.

“Lead me to my stateroom, master,” Cal said, standing up from the chair and stretching to his full height of well under six feet. I hadn’t realized how small he was until I saw my pajama pants puddle on the floor at his feet. He was fucking adorable, but he also kind of looked like a child in his father’s clothing.

I thought about where to put him. My sister and her husband, Jin, were in the other large stateroom at the bow, Pres and Lucas were in the smaller room down the hall from mine, and the final guest room had already been made up for my sister’s friends who were joining us tomorrow. That left the crew quarters. Currently, the captain had a room to himself per his contract, and Freya and our chef, Julo, shared the other one.