Page 13 of Pirate

What Jasmine and Jumper had was just not in the cards for her.

Pirate was continuing to talk to the crew member. Sophia wasn’t even sure how he was able to form a full sentence. Her brain seemed to have short circuited. “If it’s not approved yet, can it be reversed?” he asked.

The man was shaking his head. “I’m sorry, sir. I wouldn’t even know how to do that. This has never happened before. You two are saying you didn’t know this was for a wedding ceremony?” He looked to Sophia. “We talked about it on the phone. I went over the different prices with you.”

Sophia swallowed nervously. Except that hadn’t beenher. She grabbed Pirate’s hand. To the crewman, she said, “Could you excuse us please?”

Then she pulled Pirate towards the very front of the ship. If it was any other circumstances, she would have been tempted to reenact the flying scene from theTitanic.

He rounded on her. “We can’t get married, Sophia!”

Sophia’s spine straightened. “Are you saying I’m not worthy of marrying you?” She had no idea why she was questioning his statement, because she’d been about to argue the same thing. But his insistence, almost like defiance, made her hackles rise.

His eyes narrowed. “Sophia,” he said slowly like he was explaining something to a two year old. “We,” he pointed a finger between the two of them, “aren’tdating.I’m not even sure we like each other.”

Sophia snorted, enjoying watching him squirm. “Relax. I’m not going to hold you to this. We clearly had too much to drink tonight and you weren’t paying attention—” He cleared his throat pointedly. “Fine,Iwas not paying attention when you—” He cleared his throat again. “Fine,” she sighed, exacerbated. “Iwas not paying attention whenIbrought us here.”

“Andpaidfor us to get married,” he added with a glare.

“Only if you want to get technical about it,” she grumbled back at him. She’d honestly forgotten about that bit. She’d just handed over her credit card without asking how much what she’d then believed was a boat tour was.

Pirate’s eyes narrowed.

“Look,” she snapped, “it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t know what the rules are, but I’m sure we can just get it annulled. If that doesn’t work then we get divorced. Shortest wedding in history.”

His shoulders seemed to sag some. “Okay, fine. Good!” he added hastily. “That’s good. I don’t know what the rules are either.” He looked down at the paperwork in his hand that they’d both inadvertently signed without meaning to. “Maybe we can call someone tomorrow and stop it from being filed altogether.”

“There you go,” she agreed. “Now, can we finish enjoying the boat ride?”

Sophia headed back towards the bench where they’d been sitting. She wrapped his coat around her tighter, having the feeling she wouldn’t be able to steal his body heat again even if he did sit back down next to her.

“Still a ship,” he corrected as he passed her.

Sophia snorted and rolled her eyes.

By the time they docked,it was after one in the morning. Their flight didn’t leave until ten, but they still needed somewhere to sleep. Pirate located a hotel just down the block from the pier and they headed in. The night receptionist, though, informed them that the only room they had available was the honeymoon penthouse.

Pirate suggested they go look for another hotel but Sophia was too tired to wander about the city looking for other accommodations.

She slammed her card on the counter and pronounced, “We’ll take it!”

His eyes narrowed. “Must be nice to not have to worry about your credit card statement at the end of each month.”

She smiled up at him. “When I’m this tired and still a bit drunk, yes it is.”

Though neither was happy about their unplanned nuptials, they’d ended up having a good time on the ship. The crew did not push about them not having a ceremony and instead went about their pirate charades as they took their route around the Bay. Since it was a pirate ship, there was plenty of rum. Additionally, the crew packed up the leftover food and gave it to them since Sophia did pay for it.

Whatever the two didn’t eat for breakfast, Sophia was planning on dropping off at a homeless shelter or encampment on their way to the airport in the morning.

The honeymoon penthouse was huge with a breathtaking view of the Bay with the moon overhead. Sophia reached into Pirate’s pocket to take out his phone and grab some pictures. Something she’d been doing this entire trip but he’d only recently taken note of.

Silly man, Sophia chuckled to herself.

The large California king bed faced a massive television and had an electric fireplace on the far wall. Sophia went over to turn it on and take even more pictures. When she turned around, she saw Pirate was sitting on the edge of the bed, bent over and unlacing his boots.

“Do you mind if I turn the fireplace on but open the balcony doors? I love the sound of the waves.”

“Go right ahead.” After removing his shoes, Pirate headed into the bathroom. A second later, he called out, “They have toothbrushes here but they charge for them.”

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