Page 14 of Honeymoon for Seven

“I’m fond of bourbon, on the rocks.” He smiled. “Just so you know.”

The blonde announced the first number of the new game and Nick almost laughed at the intensity in Ginnie’s deep brown eyes.

Another few minutes and this time a skinny woman who looked old enough to be everyone in the room’s grandmother proudly shouted out, “Spicy!”

“Darn it,” Ginnie muttered. “This is why I never play the lottery.”

“One more?” He looked at her, watching his choice of words more carefully.

Ginnie nodded, and the blonde announced this next round was for the first one hundred dollar prize.

“S 21.”

“Ooh, good start,” Ginnie squealed and Nick resisted the urge to kiss the grin off her face.

More calls were made, and Nick marked up more numbers than in the previous two games combined.

“Oh, look. You only need one more.” Her gaze fell on his card.

Even though he’d been marking away, he hadn’t realized how close he was to Bingo, or Spicy.

Another wrong number and then another. This is why Nick preferred competitions of skill rather than chance.

One more number and marking her card quickly, Ginnie’s eyes popped and mouth dropped before she sprang up shouting, “Spicy!” at the top of her lungs.

“Looks like we only have one winner.” The blonde waved to another staffer to check the numbers. In about ten seconds, the young man nodded at the blonde. “Congratulations, you’re our first hundred dollar winner!”

Ginnie spun around with the finesse of a ballerina and threw her arms around him with the force of an Olympic athlete. Squeezing tightly, and staying in the fold of his arms, she leaned back and squealed even louder, “We won!”

She’d won the Bingo game, but as far as he was concerned, he was most definitely the winner for the day.

Chapter Seven

Pulling back from hugging Nick, she did her best to react as if embracing this near stranger was perfectly normal. Inching back, she smiled up at him and squealed, “I can’t believe we won.”

“You mean you won.” Nick smiled. “And if you don’t hurry up and collect, they may give it to someone else.”

“They wouldn’t dare.” She chuckled and taking another step to the side, glanced down the lounge to the front and ignoring the new numbers they were calling, waved for Nick to follow her. For some reason she’d been expecting a gift card or shipboard credit, receiving an envelope with cash left her dumbfounded.

Nick appeared beside her smiling. “Looks like you’re buying drinks even though you won.”

“If I were home, I’d play the lottery.” Tucking the envelope into her neck pouch, she moved her phone into her hip pocket and reminded herself that as soon as they had a signal she needed to call her family and let them know all was going well.

He shrugged sheepishly. “Maybe we should hit the casino?”

“Maybe.” She wasn’t going to mention she knew next to nothing about gambling. “For now, should we check in on the Kids Club?”

He shook his head. “I’d rather get back and check on Mom and Phoebe.”

“Of course.” Hesitating, she looked over his shoulder at the double exit doors and then leveled her gaze with his. “Would you like some help?”

“If you’re offering…”

“I am.”

“You sure?”

She nodded. Spending time with Nick and his family held much more appeal than snuggling up with a paperback novel.

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