Page 52 of Not that Sea-Rious
“Clearwater.”
Well, that would be a punch to his wallet, but he’d make it work.Marissa was worth it.“Same.”
Her brows lifted.“Wait.You’re from Clearwater?”
He chuckled.“No, but I can be.”
She furrowed her brows.
It made him laugh again.“Remember that whole walked in on my fiancée thing?”
“Oh.”Her expression softened into one of pity.
That was definitely not what he wanted.So he took hold of her hand again and squeezed.“It’s better I found out now and not after a big ceremony.But the point is, I’m essentially a nomad.I can be wherever I want to be.”
“What about your job?”
He shrugged.“It’s mostly remote.I visit a few locations in person, but they are all within driving distance of Clearwater.I think one is on the beach.Anyway.As a managing consultant, I’m not employed by one particular organization.I’m independent.It all comes down to contacts.The parent corporation will contact my company, and I work with them on their franchise locations to make sure they are profitable and following the parent business’s rules.”
He could see that her eyes had glazed over.Somewhere in his explanation, he’d lost her.
“Basically, what I’m saying is I can be anywhere there are franchises, which is everywhere.”
“Huh.”She sat back, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.“Interesting.”
Leaning forward, resting his forearms over her knees, he studied her.Which really didn’t give him any insight as to what went on in her mind.From what he could tell, she continued to process his words.He had to offer her the opportunity to do that.
“So you’re going to move to Clearwater?”she asked.
He shrugged.“I have nothing keeping me in Tampa.My family is in Minnesota.I’m a rolling stone.”
She hummed and stared ahead of her.
More silence.
He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.It could go either way.Though, the fact that she continued to sit with him had to be positive.
Doing his best to allow her opportunity to consider and weigh her options, Beau’s knee bounced.He wanted to keep going, but this seemed to catch her.Though, if he were on the receiving end of what he’d said, it would sound odd.He just told her he would basically go where she was.Nothing creepy about that at all.Best to proceed with caution.
When he couldn’t take it anymore, he reached for her and rested his hand on her knee.“Are you okay?”
Smiling, she faced him.“Yeah.I’m…” She pointed to her temple and made a circular motion with her fingers.
“All I’m asking is if you would like to see me again after the ship docks.It could be once or twice, or seven times.I don’t care.I just want to know if you’re open to it.”
Licking her bottom lip, she took a deep, audible inhale.“Yeah.”She nodded.“I think I am.”
33
Marissa
Daiquiris,martinis,andshots.Marissa lost track of what they drank.It was their last night on the ship.Starting tomorrow, they would be in full-on wedding mode.With every stress that came with it facing them, they owed it to themselves to cut loose and be completely irresponsible.
Together, separate, and in pairs, Carolyn, Marissa, Tina, Joyce, and even Beau went up on stage, sang all sorts of songs off-key, and danced with absolutely no rhythm.Anyone who took karaoke seriously definitely hated Carolyn’s bridal party, but that was their problem.Marissa’s crew was living it up.
Through all the silliness, Marissa had Beau beside her.This was a night like none she’d ever had.Sure, she’d gotten drunk and laughed before but not like this.She’d cherish this memory for the rest of her life, no matter what happened once they got off the boat.
Together, the five of them stumbled down the hall, leaning on one another, arm in arm, making their way to their rooms for the evening.They did their best to avoid the luggage others had left out for the porters to remove for disembarkation the following morning.Though, to be honest, on a few occasions, Beau or Carolyn, who were on the ends, definitely collided with a suitcase or seven.
