Page 64 of The Second Chance in the Mediterranean
His lips tipped up into a smile and he chuckled before he saw my face. “What, you’re serious?”
“Seb, shut up and hide,” I said through gritted teeth. “Get in the wardrobe, get into the head, I don’t care, but hide.”
Justin knocked again. “Marcella, sorry to bother you.”
“Just a minute!” I called. I quickly threw on my clothes and Seb was not. Moving. Fast. Enough.
I grabbed an arm and dragged him out of the bed. He stumbled and bent to pick up a handful of clothes from the floor. I threw open the wardrobe—it was closer, and honestly, that was all I cared about.
I shoved Seb in and closed the door, smoothed my hair back, and took a deep breath.
“Mr. Boyd, hi. Sorry about the wait.”
“No, it’s my fault entirely. I just assumed you’d be up by now.”
“I was, I was,” I lied. “Completely awake.”
Justin scrutinized my face and, after a moment, seemed to remember why he was there. “Our flight is leaving, and I just wanted to say goodbye in person. You were phenomenal yesterday and really, everyone was so impressed.”
“Thank you, sir.” That was when I noticed the two envelopes in his hand.
“This is for you.” He handed me the envelope with my name on it, a bonus for performing well this weekend.
“Thank you, sir,” I said again. “I really appreciate it, and the team has been great to work with. Dom is a fantastic captain to work for.”
“Yes,” he said a little distractedly. His eyes were looking over my shoulder and I prayed to God that Seb was still in the closet. I said a second prayer, hoping my underwear wasn’t hanging conspicuously somewhere. Who knew where it had gotten tossed last night?
“I was looking for Seb, too. He wasn’t in his cabin when I stopped by.”
I froze and said the first thing that came to mind. “Maybe he went running?”
Justin gave me an odd look. “I think I’ll just leave his envelope with you, okay?” Justin handed me the envelope and leaned toward me. “Seb, thanks for the great job this weekend, yeah?”
My stomach plummeted.
“Thank you, sir,” came Seb’s muffled voice from the wardrobe. Justin nodded at the confirmation.
I closed my eyes, my stomach absolutely sinking to my feet, and pinched the bridge of my nose.
Justin chuckled under his breath. “See you next time, Marcella.”
My eyes popped open in surprise, but Justin was already walking away.See you next time. What did that mean?
I closed the door and leaned back against it, sliding down to the floor. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”
“Marcella?” Seb looked out from the wardrobe and his eyes widened when he saw me. He stepped out, wearing only a T-shirt with a skort from my uniform bunched in his hand. My eyes filled with tears.
“Hey,” he crooned, approaching me as if I were a wild animal. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not! I’ve just done a great job, I worked so hard these six weeks, and now Justin knows that we’re sleeping together, and that’s not good. I like this job; I don’t want to look for a new one.” I was crying now, tears of frustration trailing down my face. Why did I have to fuck this up again?
Seb crouched down beside me. “Marcella, it’s going to be okay.”
I looked at Seb and all of my anger balled up and spit itself out at him. “For God’s sake, Seb, put some pants on.”
His face hardened. “Excuse me, but the woman I just slept with—again—is on the floor crying. I’d be an asshole if I didn’t check on you.”
“So that was ‘checking on me’? Letting our boss know that we’re sleeping together? You might as well have walked out of the closet waving and inviting him to join us.”
