Page 4 of Falling Overboard

It probably wasn’t the best way to start out at a new job. If I was going to get my parents to believe in me, I had to impress them. I couldn’t let myself be distracted.

Which meant I probably shouldn’t have been ogling her long, lean legs.

She’d just had a major panic attack. My sister used to have them all the time. My heart twinged a little at thinking about her, like it always did.

“Does this happen pretty frequently?” I asked.

The woman stared at me for a moment before she answered. “I haven’t had one in a long time. Not since my mother died two years ago.”

That twinge in my heart expanded, became a dull throb of pain. I recognized the loss I heard in her voice. She let go of my hands suddenly and folded her arms against her chest.

I’d liked holding her hands but realized this would be a weird thing to admit. “I’m sorry about your mother. I lost my sister a couple of years ago, too.”

There was so much sympathy in her eyes that the pain became sharper. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” I said. Her cheeks were tearstained and it was having a strange effect on me. I reached into my pocket and handed her a handkerchief. “Here.”

She held it between two fingers, like I’d just handed her a rotting carcass. “What’s this for?”

I gestured at her cheeks and she flushed. I had to suppress a smile because I found her expression adorable. She mopped delicately at her face and then put the handkerchief into her own pocket. She stood up, wobbling, and I wanted to reach out and help her. I got the sense that she wouldn’t have welcomed the assistance.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked. She was trying to be professional and it also struck me as cute.

I stood up as well and her eyes followed me, widening, and she took a step back. She was only a few inches shorter than me. I’d always liked taller women. “I’m Hunter Smith.”

I clenched my teeth at the lie and wondered if she’d noticed. That had been part of my dad’s conditions. I couldn’t tell anyone my real last name. I had to be anonymous. Just part of the crew.

She cocked her head to the right, as if trying to recall something while also sizing me up. I wondered if she liked what she saw.

“Captain Carl is expecting me,” I said, trying to keep the amusement out of my voice. She was attracted to me but was trying to keep it under wraps. She seemed the skittish type, though—like if I pointed it out she would jump overboard and swim away.

“Hunter Smith. Right,” she said. “You’re the new deckhand. Welcome. The captain is on the bridge. I’ll take you to him. But you need to take your shoes off. We wear boat shoes or go barefoot on the deck. We don’t want to ruin the teak.”

It must have been obvious how green I was. I slipped my shoes off. “Right. Sorry.”

Her gaze wandered down to my feet and then traveled up the entire length of my body. She let out a little happy sigh and I wondered if she was even aware that she had done it. Then she shook her head, as if trying to refocus. “This way.”

I walked behind her and tried very hard not to notice the sway of her hips. We arrived at the bridge far too soon for my liking. I saw the captain standing in front of a navigational console, muttering to himself.

My father had explained everything to him. I hoped he wasn’t about to blow my cover and ruin everything before it even started. “Hunter! You made it.”

“I did.” We shook hands briefly.

“Welcome aboard,” Captain Carl said. “We have some rules. The first is that you don’t do anything to embarrass me or embarrass the ship. I will not bail you out of prison and will only show up with a one-way plane ticket to send you back home. There is no drinking during charter, and no hookups with guests. And the new owner has instituted a rule that there won’t be any sort of romantic relationship or fraternizing with your fellow crewmembers.”

The last bit surprised me. I was going to have to call my father and ask what he’d been thinking. I turned around and glanced at the woman, regretful that I couldn’t ask her out on a date.

“Understood,” I said. I hadn’t been this attracted to someone in a long time and disliked the idea that I wouldn’t be able to explore the connection I felt.

“Good.” The captain turned toward the girl. “You’ll give him the tour, introduce him to everyone?”

“Yes. I’ll do that right now.” She stepped out of the room and I followed behind her. I told myself to stop looking at her but my eyes weren’t obeying me.

She was off-limits and that had the unfortunate effect of making me want to pursue her even more. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

“Lucia Salerno. But everybody calls me Lucky,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at me.

Lucky? Oh, that was just rife with possibilities for teasing. But before I could say as much, she said, “Please don’t say anything about getting lucky. I’ve heard it all a million times before.”

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