Page 40 of Midnight Serenade
My beef stroganoff was delish, and my dessert was to die for. I’d always loved chocolate mousse, and this chocolate mousse was rich and dark and creamy, just how I liked it.
After dinner, we all meandered to a lounge a deck above us for a nightcap. Mama and I didn’t drink, and Micaela was still on duty, so that left Sebastian, who picked something without alcohol just to make us feel less left out. I didn’t feel left out at all because the bartender made a virgin sunset drink that wasalmost mesmerizing with all the beautiful colors that streaked across the frosty glass. And it was cold with a slushy-like texture so I was in icee heaven.
When we all turned in for the evening, it was almost comical. Thankfully, Sebastian got ready for bed in his own suite before coming back to ours, because as it was, we had three adult women who had to share the bathroom to get ready for bed. Micaela was in and out now because she was worried about not being in the same room with me, but Mama liked to take her time.
I knocked on the door. “Mama, you about done? I need to brush my teeth.”
“I’ll be done when I’m done. You know I like to take my time.”
I turned to Micaela and said, sotto voice, “That translates to slower than molasses.”
“I heard that, Grace Evelyn.”
Micaela cracked up laughing. She thought it was hilarious when my mama busted out the middle name. I was fondly exasperated with both of them.
Kazi had already climbed into bed with me when Sebastian knocked on the suite door. Mama, reading in bed with her reading light on, called out, “Come in, Sebastian!”
He came in quietly, gave a quick scratch to Kazi, kissed my forehead, and then went to his bed behind the curtain. I knew for certain the curtain was to give us women a sense of privacy, but I also imagined he was secretly glad to have a barrier between himself and the overwhelming femininity of the suite.
Chapter 15
Grace
By the next morning, we’d pulled into Suva, Fiji. I put on comfortable walking shoes because I was going to do an audio self-guided tour of the town, ending at the museum and the botanical gardens. Mama was staying on the ship because she wasn’t up to walking that far, but Micaela was not letting me out of her sight. Neither were Sebastian and Kazi. Sebastian was no problem, but the lion… was a problem.
I knelt in front of him. “You can’t come with me today. They don’t have lions here. You can’t just roam around, you’ll scare people.”
Kazi gave me a look.
“You’ll scare little kids,” I warned him. Kids were Kazi’s favorite kind of people.
He didn’t look happy about that, but seemed determined, nonetheless, to scare a few kids in favor of keeping me alive. “It’s illegal to bring you into Fiji. Do you want Sebastian to get into trouble?” I said, trying a different tack with him.
Kazi gazed at Sebastian, who was waiting patiently while I tried to convince the huge kitty cat that he couldn’t come. Sebastian was not being at all helpful as he leaned against my door.
“We’ll only be a couple hours and Sebastian and Micaela will be with me the whole time,” I tried, as a last resort.
Now Kazi gazed thoughtfully at Sebastian, as if weighing whether he could protect me adequately.
Sebastian chuckled. “Don’t push it, Kaz. I’ll keep her safe. She nearly died last time because Rafe is an idiot. And obviously you orI would have detected someone out on her balcony. That’s Micaela’s fault.”
I could hear Micaela’s outraged“hey!”from the bathroom, and I laughed.
Kazi finally relented, but as we left the ship, I saw him head up to the top deck so he could keep an eye out for me. It made me feel ten feet tall to have a lion love me so much.
Fiji was gorgeous. The waters were super-clear and a beautiful turquoise. Palm trees and sand were everywhere I looked. I worried about Sebastian in the unrelenting sun, but he carried an umbrella with him, which he used to cover both of us, helping me to avoid the worst of the sun as well. I didn’t burn easily, being olive skinned, but I still burned if I was going to be in direct sun for hours on end. Thankfully, I’d put some sunblock on before we’d gotten on the transfer boat.
Micaela was hanging back quite a bit, close enough to see me, but far enough away to give us some space and the illusion of privacy.
The tour was really interesting. It was a historical history tour, so I got to see a lot of the historical sights. There were also delightful open-air marketplaces that were filled with all kinds of treasures. I picked up a few shell necklaces and a gorgeous hand-carved sea turtle that made me think of the turtle that had saved me. Sebastian picked up a hand-carved dolphin from the same booth, and we carried our carvings with us as we walked to the museum.
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said, making sure I held both handles of my bag securely in the grip of my fist. I didn’t want to drop my carving and break it. “You must have done this tour a million times.”
“I have not. I’m normally too busy during cruises, and I get little downtime.”
He held out a hand and gently grabbed mine. I was still super-sore from the abuse my body had endured lately. Nothing was broken, fortunately, but I moved stiffly, and I was still taking ibuprofen around the clock for bruising and inflammation, so Sebastian continued to be very gentle with me.
I pondered the unusual start we’d had to dating each other. On the first date we’d kissed, then I’d pulled back, then Sebastian had wanted to give me thetaking it slowlythat I’d foolishly requested. In the interim, we’d become good friends, completely comfortable with one another, and preferring to spend the bulk of our free time with each other.
