Page 14 of Cocky Cruiser

The look on her face and the sounds she was making made my dick hard. Images of her making the same faces and noises while she was naked beneath me flashed in my mind. “You know I make a delicious crème brûlée if I do say so myself.”

When she opened her eyes, they locked on mine as she licked her lips. Her cheeks flushed pink as she gave me a seductive smile. “Oh, do you?” Her voice was dripping with lust. “I’d love to try it sometime.”

Clearing my throat, I averted my gaze and tried to focus on my dessert even though I’d much rather be savoring Adele’s sweetness at that moment. Just thinking about it made my dick hard.

Once we finished, I led Adele to the excursion desk to pick up the brochures for the upcoming ports before going back to our suite.

I laid out all the catalogs on the table, and we sat down. “So the first three days are at sea. Day four is Bay of Islands, New Zealand, then Auckland for day five. After that, we have four sea days before getting to Moorea, French Polynesia, for day ten,” I explained. Adele was watching me with rapt attention as I continued, “We end day ten in Papeete and spend day eleven there. Next is Bora Bora for day twelve, then we spend another five days at sea before arriving in Hawaii.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of sea days,” Adele remarked. “Hopefully, we won’t get bored.”

I smirked. “Oh, I think we can find ways to occupy our time.”

She flushed red, which I loved making her do. I vowed to make it my mission to make her blush and laugh as much as possible. “In Hawaii, we spend day eighteen in Hilo, day nineteen in Lahaina, and end the cruise in Honolulu.”

Adele shook her head, laughing. “Are you sure I’m not dreaming? This is … I don’t even have words right now. You have no idea how much this means to me. I just … thank you so much.”

I smiled. Adele’s gratitude was so genuine, and it warmed my heart. I hadn’t met anyone as real as her, and I had a feeling I would never be the same after her. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing since I’d already been irrevocably changed after losing one woman in my life.

We stared at each other for a few moments before I cleared my throat and pointed out the brochure of the Bay of Islands. “So, this is our first port. Let’s see what our options are.”

We both scanned over the various activities. “This sounds interesting,” Adele said, pointing at one of the excursions. “Glowworm caves.”

“That’s a good choice. Paddleboarding with the ecotour sound cool, too,” I suggested. “There’s a picnic lunch and a waterfall with that one.”

“Ooh, that does sound fun,” she agreed.

After looking over all the options, we finally decided on paddleboarding and ecotour since it had so much in one excursion.

“Why did you pick this particular cruise?” Adele asked. “I’m sure this is one of the more unique and higher-end ones.”

My stomach dropped. I wasn’t the one who picked the cruise; Cara did. A lump formed in my throat, and my chest tightened. I should’ve known I wasn’t going to be able to avoid talking about Cara when everything about the cruise centered around her.

I stood abruptly. “Can you excuse me for a minute? I need some air.”

I didn’t wait for Adele to answer before I walked out on the balcony. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and fought the emotion threatening to overwhelm me.

The ocean breeze helped calm the storm raging within me. Sometimes, I felt like I would explode from the pain and sorrow inside me, but I didn’t know how to cope with the loss of someone so important to me.

Taking out the folded-up piece of paper she’d given me, I opened it and stared at Cara’s familiar handwriting.

Maybe Colin was right. Maybe telling Adele about Cara would help. I’d invited the beautiful stranger on the cruise with me for a reason; maybe it was fate.

Tilting my head back, I gazed up at the night sky. “Give me a sign, Cara. I feel so lost without you.”

Then the balcony door opened, and Adele popped her head out. “I just want to say I’m sorry for whatever I said to upset you. You’ve been nothing but amazing to me, and the last thing I want to do is upset you.”

I smiled at the stars. Point taken, Care Bear.

Chapter Five

As Cohen turned around, I held my breath. Since I didn’t know what I’d done to upset him, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

He leaned back against the railing, and I couldn’t gauge what kind of expression was on his face. Indifference? Annoyance? “You did nothing wrong. But there is something that I need to tell you.”

My heart started to pound. He couldn’t kick me off the trip since the ship had already departed, but he could force me out of the suite. But I didn’t think he would do something like that. “Okay, what is it?”

“Let’s go back inside and sit down,” Cohen said, pushing off the balcony and heading toward me.

---