Page 19 of Falling Overboard

That tension was back, the one that made me feel like the air around us was electrified and I was waiting for the moment I would get zapped. “I should have locked it.”

He continued to look at my leg and then shook his head, as if remembering himself. “Right. Sorry.”

Then he closed the door.

I stood there with my razor pointed up in the air. Had that just happened? There was no mistaking where his eyes had lingered. But had that just been from his surprise at finding me that way? He saw my legs all the time. Our skorts were very short.

Why would this be any different?

There didn’t seem to be any other alternative but to chalk it up to my heated imagination. I couldn’t let myself get caught up in such flights of fancy, like that Hunter had been overcome by his lust at the mere sight of my half-shaved leg and was doing all he could to restrain himself.

Ridiculous.

When I finished up and came out into the cabin, he was gone. I noted that his bed had been made, while my covers were still wadded up at the foot of my bunk, like always. I quickly changed my uniform top and grabbed a scrunchie for my hair.

I had taken a bit longer to get ready than I’d anticipated and had to hurry out to the deck to welcome our guests. I ran past Emilie, who was at the bar in the main salon getting the champagne flutes ready. I was pleased that she was doing what I’d asked her to do.

When I got onto the deck, I went to stand in the line that had already formed. Hunter had been between Pieter and Kai but he came over to stand right next to me.

My heart beat rapidly in response. There was nothing preventing him from being next to me other than the exterior crew usually stoodtogether, as did the interior. There wasn’t a rule I could specifically point to and tell him to go back to his fellow deckhands.

Plus, I liked having him next to me.

“You have more stripes than I do,” he said, looking at my shoulders.

“I outrank you,” I told him.

“I’m not sure how my fragile masculine ego feels about that.”

He was teasing and again I found a smile popping up. “I have a feeling that it will survive.”

“I don’t know. I may not recover.”

I would happily play nurse,my overeager hormones said, and I was so glad I didn’t say the words out loud. “I think you’d find a way.”

“That’s true. I do like a bossy woman.”

Flirting? Statement of fact? There was no way to be sure. I took the scrunchie off my wrist and gathered it around my hair. I couldn’t see my reflection but I knew how bad it looked, especially in comparison to Georgia. She looked stylish and cute with her low ponytail while I resembled ...

“It must be nice to put your hair in a ponytail and not look like a founding father,” I grumbled.

Hunter raised his eyebrows at me. “You do not look like a founding father.”

“I know that I do.”

He leaned his head in slightly. “I’d pledge allegiance to you.”

Okay, that was definitely flirting, right? It had been so very long I could no longer tell. I probably shouldn’t automatically assume that nice compliments had flirtatious overtones.

“I’m not a flag,” I responded, trying to quash my own hopes. “Or a country.”

He shrugged. “I think Lucksylvania sounds like a wonderful place to visit.”

I tugged on my hair in response, grimacing. I was not going to answer about my fervent desire to spend my next vacation in Hunternesia.

“Why do you do your hair that way if you don’t like it?” he asked.

“Protocol for the stews.”

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