Page 63 of Falling Overboard

I’d just put my headphones on when the cabin door opened. “There you are!”

Hunter.

My heart literally leapt up at the sight of him. He was here. Here with me.

Not out there with Georgia and Emilie. He had chosen me.

He had a bag of microwave popcorn in his hand and kicked the door shut with his foot. “What are we watching?” he asked.

Then he climbed into my bunk, and for a moment, I was too stunned to respond. “I ... I haven’t chosen anything yet.”

He opened the bag and the air was briefly filled with the scent of artificially buttered popcorn. “I voteSingin’ in the Rain. That was Harper’s favorite.”

“Okay.” I was not going to read into this situation and think it was significant that he was sharing his sister’s favorite movie with me. I did a quick search and found the movie, starting it up. My stomach grumbled because I hadn’t eaten. I reached for the bag of popcorn but he pulled it away.

“You love pasta, I love popcorn,” he said as an explanation while grinning at me.

“There’s no way you love popcorn the way I love pasta.”

“Debatable. Generally, as a rule, I don’t share food.” Then, in defiance of his own proclamation, he offered me the bag.

As I took out a handful, I told myself, again, to not mistake his gesture for something it wasn’t.

It was advice I should have taken to heart.

Because one minute we were watching the movie together and the next I woke up to sunlight streaming in through the porthole.

I didn’t remember turning the movie off. Gene Kelly had been dancing and singing in various types of weather and then suddenly it was morning. It took me a second to get my bearings, to come fully awake.

Then I realized that Hunter was asleep next to me.

There was a momentary sense of utter panic but it quickly subsided. Despite all of my protests that we were only friends, I was glad he was here. That we had felt comfortable enough with each other to fall asleep together.

He wasn’t touching me—he had fallen asleep on top of my blankets, while I was underneath them. He was softly breathing in and out, his face relaxed and vulnerable. I turned onto my side so that I could study him.

It really was unfair how unbelievably handsome he was.

Then it occurred to me how weird this might appear. What would he do if he woke up to see me staring at him?

I reached over and pressed against his shoulder. “Hunter.”

He didn’t respond—his breathing stayed even.

It probably didn’t help that I didn’t want to wake him up. I wanted to stay here with him, in this little warm bubble where nobody else existed. Where there weren’t any rules to worry about, no guests, no Georgia and Emilie trying to snag him, no terrible past weighing me down.

Just us.

I shoved a little more forcefully this time. I couldn’t even get out of bed unless he was awake—he was closest to the door. We only had a few hours before the charter guests arrived.

He finally awoke with a start, his eyes unfocused, his hair flopping over onto his forehead. He pushed it out of the way.

“Lucky?” He sounded so disoriented.

“I think we fell asleep watching the movie.” My laptop was wedged between the wall of the ship and my bunk. I hoped I hadn’t broken it by sleeping on it.

“Oh.” He breathed the word out and I felt it against my face, washing over me. “I’m sorry about that.”

He absolutely did not have to be sorry. I was happy. So I echoed the words he’d once said to me. “Don’t be.”

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