Page 54 of The Second Chance in the Mediterranean
“I wondered why you flew straight from Tahiti to here. It would have been a good chance to stop in at home if you’d wanted to.”
“No, thanks.” I shuddered. “What about you?”
“My family?”
I nodded.
Seb put the frame down on the bed and sighed. “My parents live in Miami, if you remember?”
“Yes, they’re from Cuba.”
“Yeah. It wasnot easy for them to immigrate, and we had a pretty tough life for a while. I was born in the States, though, so I was too young to remember most of it.”
“Are you close to them now?”
“Not really.” Seb pulled me tighter into his chest. “They hate my career path and wanted me to keep doing minimum-wage restaurant work like they did. They were always pushing me to work hard, like it was only hard work you needed, not education or luck or passion.”
“How did you end up working on yachts, then?”
“Have you been to Miami?”
I shook my head.
“It’s justchock-full of superyachts. Like Nice and Monaco. And I always saw the crews on board, guys like me, young Latinos, and thought it was amazing that they could live on a boat like that as their jobs. And everyone knew who owned the boats—old white dudes. To me, it just seemed like this is how I could move up in life.”
“Wow. That’s exactly how I feel. Like, my great-grandparents were off on these big cruise ship adventures, hugely ahead of their time. And this is the best way that I felt I could do it.”
Seb rubbed my back and yawned.
“We’ve had a long, fun day.”
“Yeah, we have,” Seb replied, sleep tinting his voice. “I liked spending the day with you, Marce.”
“I liked it too.”
He squeezed my shoulders. “I likeyou.”
Twenty-Six
After nearly a week of projects,Dom declared us fit to leave, and with favorable weather, we departed for Malta. It would take us eighteen hours to make the passage from Corfu, but instead of doing the passage during the day, we would do it at night.
Roy and I had prepared food for the crew to reheat and snacks to grab quickly throughout the passage. The less time we spent in the galley while underway, the less potential for accidents and seasickness.
Seb slipped into my room that night. My bunk rocked gently withThemis’s movements, and our quiet kisses in the dark turned frantic quickly.
“Damn it,” Seb said, pulling back. “I forgot the condoms in my cabin. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, Seb.” I grabbed at his arm before he could step away from the bed. “I am on birth control.”
Seb froze.
“And I’ve been tested and I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”
“I’d rather just use a condom, if you don’t mind.” Seb looked wary, so I smiled and shooed him away.
“Get one, then, and come back to bed.”
His face relaxing, Seb threw on shorts and disappeared out the door, returning a few minutes later with the condom. He ripped open the wrapper and rolled it on before climbing up in bed behind me. “On your stomach.” He patted my hip.
