Page 16 of Her Wedding Night

I need to adjust our course and get us back to shore without anyone noticing.

I set Lucy down and pick up the vial she’s dropped. Pressing it into her hands, I make eye contact with her. “Be a good girl and use this if you can, okay? I’ll get us out of here as soon as I can.”

CHAPTER 11

LUCY

Gabriel kisses my forehead just before Ethan calls for me again. “Lucy?”

“I’m in here,” I say, my voice shaking. I shove the vial into my bikini top. Gabriel’s gaze tracks what I’m doing, and having his eyes locked onto my little tits as I shift the fabric around makes me all hot and achy.

But too quickly, he gives me a firm nod, then disappears into the captain’s cabin, the door clicking shut quietly behind him and the body at his feet.

Ethan steps into view, blocking the light from outside. “What are you doing in here?”

I put as much dumb girl confusion into my voice as I possibly can. “The captain isn’t here…I was waiting for him to come back because it didn’t seem safe.”

Water turns on in the cabin behind us.

Ethan jerks his thumb in that direction. “He’s in his room. I’m sure it’s fine. Come back to the party.”

He holds out his hand.

I wipe my palm on my translucent white gown, then take his extended fingers in mine.

“Don’t be nervous,” he whispers as he leads me back downstairs. “I won’t let anyone else bid on you when it’s your turn.”

“I don’t want?—”

“Ethan! Get your ass down here! Alyssa’s on the auction block!” one of his buddies hollers.

He tugs me along faster. We stumble at the top of the stairs and his grip tightens.

I cross my free arm over my chest, terrified the vial will fall out.

He doesn’t let go of me until after Alyssa’s been “deflowered” by one of the frat boys. Which means I have a front-row seat for the whole—quick—event, which only makes me want to stay a virgin forever.

But when they start the next round of poker, and Alyssa joins Hannah in the “taken” puddle, I manage to slide free and go to the bar. I open a can of Coke for myself, and only pretend to add booze this time.

“Sexy little Lucy,” one of the frat boys says, waving at me. “Make me a drink!”

Here goes nothing. When his attention turns back to the table, I put a tiny drop of the clear liquid into his cup.

Heart pounding, I carry it back to the table, set it front of him, then brightly ask the group if anyone else wants something.

To my chagrin, they all say no.

Ethan tugs me back into his side. As soon as his arm slides around my waist, the boat veers sharply to the left. The naked girls scream and the drunk guys laugh.

“The captain might be drunk,” someone says with a chortle as water slaps against the hull below us.

Heat rises to my cheeks. The captain is unconscious, and the helm has been commandeered by a man I kissed—who clearlydoesn’t like someone else touching me. Especially because he thinks that someone else is his son.

You kissed someone who is clearly deranged, Lucy Martin. You’re hardly one to judge.

The guy I handed the drink to leans forward on the table, starting to look a little disoriented.

I hold my breath, wondering if anyone else will notice.

---