Alaskan Adventure (Destination: Desire) (6 page)

She knocked on his door and waited. Only a few seconds passed before it swung open. She smiled. “Hey, I was think—”

It wasn’t Gabe. It was some fresh college kid. His eyes lit up like it was Christmas, and his shocked delight soon turned to a leering grin. He propped his forearm against the doorjamb and leaned toward her. “Hey, yourself.”

Anne bit back a chortle. He seemed to have taken lessons on his smolder from a cartoon character. The cartoon did it better.

Okay. She cleared her throat. Nothing to do but bravado this out. She kept her tone cool and disinterested. “Sorry, I’m looking for Gabe. Which room is his?”

The kid’s grin fell away and he straightened. “Oh. Yeah, this is his room. Staff members bunk in twos.”

Fantastic. That wasn’t the least bit awkward. “May I speak to him, please?”

“Sure.” He shoveled his hair off his forehead. “Come on in.”

He walked away, gestured vaguely to something inside the room, and then there was the squeak of springs as he flopped on a bed. Anne leaned in to see if Gabe really was there. She didn’t think the kid was lying, but she also didn’t want to stroll into some strange guy’s room.

Gabe was hunched over a laptop at a miniscule desk, the cord from a pair of earbuds trailing down his chest. She could hear the faint pounding of rock music. Well, that explained why he hadn’t heard her talking to his roommate. He was intently focused on whatever he was doing, which seemed to involve a bunch of numbers and symbols scrolling by rapidly on his screen. He typed a few things, and then more symbols flew by. She stepped up behind him and tugged a short curl at the nape of his hair. If the kid had left, she might have tried a more lascivious way to get Gabe’s attention, but they weren’t alone.

He jolted, yanked the earbuds out, and twisted to look back. “Anne.”

“Gabe.”

He blinked, his eyes bloodshot. From tiredness or staring at the computer screen? He shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

Well, that was a less than enthusiastic greeting. She felt like an ass for having come. Something constricted in her chest, and she felt a dart of pain. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she spun for the door. “I honestly don’t know.”

She got maybe two steps down the hall when his hand closed around her arm and pulled her back around.

“Hey, wait. Where are you going?” His palms lifted to cup her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Not a thing.” She could fight his hold and try to escape, but the drama would just prolong the experience. At this point, she wanted to leave as quickly and
quietly
as possible. She pinned her gaze to his collarbone. “I just thought you’d be happier to see me. I didn’t mean to interrupt…whatever you were doing.”

“Coding.” His thumbs stroked over her cheekbones, and a little spark sizzled through her. Annoying, at the moment. He gave her a lopsided smile. “Sorry, when I immerse myself in it, it’s hard to come back to the real world. You surprised me. I didn’t mean to make you feel unwelcome.”

“Your roomie tried to make me feel very welcome.” Because that little surprise hadn’t made this any more fun. Then again, maybe she should have figured out that staff shared rooms. Most of the passengers did. And she felt like an even bigger ass for not thinking this through.

“What did he say?” His expression darkened.

She shrugged. “Nothing inappropriate, just practiced his leer on me.”

A little growl erupted from him, but then he snorted. “I’d offer to kick his ass, but let’s be honest, if he needed a beat down, you’re more than capable of delivering it.”

Well, at least one of them wasn’t an idiot. She managed a small grin. “True.”

Examining her face for God knew what, he finally asked, “Want to go for a walk on deck?”

Hesitating for a moment, she twisted her lips together. She should just call it a wash and head for bed. Reading a book or uploading some photos for her sisters and friends would have been a lot gentler on her ego.

“Please?” He leaned his forehead against hers, his green gaze beseeching. “Don’t leave.”

Wow, he was good at the pleading. And having his body heat surrounding her made her belly quiver. “Okay. I guess I could do a walk.”

His smile was brilliant. “Great. Give me two seconds to grab a jacket and save what I was working on.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you on deck.” This had already been awkward enough, so she had no desire to stand there and be gawked at or questioned by any staff who walked by. Plus, the leering roomie wasn’t someone she felt the need to revisit. She slipped away and jogged up the stairs.

A chill breeze ruffled her hair and flattened her pullover against her chest as soon as she made it outside. Propping her elbows on the railing, she watched the dark water below swirl around the boat and waited for him.

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, the scent of Gabe infused the air, and his warmth enveloped her. “Sorry about that. Again.”

“No problem.” Because it shouldn’t matter that he hadn’t been excited to see her. They’d had one session of shagging and a little petting and cuddling. That was all. It wasn’t a commitment for more. She had no reason to be upset or hurt. She
wasn’t
upset. Or hurt. At all. Of course not.

He brushed his lips over her nape. “God, you smell good. You feel good. I’m glad you came to my room. I didn’t know when you’d be done with Bridget, if you were still tired since you crashed during the movie, or if you even wanted to see me again today. So I decided to keep myself busy, but I’ve never had a more welcome interruption.”

Well, that was nice. A bit of balm to the pride. Not that she needed it, because she did
not
. If they continued to sleep together during this trip, there were no emotional strings attached. She’d managed affairs like that before. Sometimes you just needed some play without a relationship on top of it. With her mother and sisters as part of her package deal—and several men who’d run screaming from them—she hadn’t always wanted anything other than a little sexual stress relief from a guy. Hooking up on a cruise could only be about sex. That heart-constricting ache in her chest couldn’t happen again. Ever.

She cleared her throat. “What were you coding?”

“Software.” He nuzzled into the side of throat. “I do a bit of programming on the side. It’s what I used to do before.”

“You quit being a programmer to become a guide?” That was a surprise, even though she’d seen him coding with her own eyes.

“Yep.” He nipped at her earlobe, and warmth poured through her, making her toes curl. His voice rumbled in her ear. “Got tired of the workaholic lifestyle.”

“Ah.” So he’d left a stable job to become an outdoor vagabond. It wasn’t because he’d had no other options. He didn’t
want
to have a normal profession. Yeah, there really was no chance for more than sex between them. He was a male version of her mother. She stiffened as that truth slapped her in the face like a wave of frigid seawater, though it did little to cool her ardor.

“You don’t like my choice of profession, do you?” He paused, leaning back a bit, but not letting her go.

She shrugged. “Your life choices have nothing to do with me, Warren. I’m just a passenger along on this cruise, nothing more.”

He was silent for a long moment. “So I shouldn’t ask for your number?”

A laugh straggled out of her. She felt like an idiot for the way her heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t meant anything by it—it was just a joke. She infused a note of teasing into her tone. “You’re into sexting, huh?”

“With you? I think I’d be in to just about everything.” The words were dead serious, and she didn’t quite know what to make of that.

“Everything, really?” She kept her voice light. “Should we talk about that whole
Fifty Shades
thing again?”

“You want to spank me?” His arms tightened around her waist, pulling her ass into his hips. She felt the thick length of his cock, and the warmth within her burned to something hotter and far more dangerous. Her nipples peaked and it had nothing to do with the chill breeze and everything to do with desire. Her hands moved back to grip the outsides of his muscular thighs and she rubbed herself into his erection, making him groan softly.

She grinned at the power that rushed through her. God, but she wanted his hands on her skin. “At this point, I wouldn’t mind some good old-fashioned, full-penetration missionary.”

Another low groan. “Yes, please.”

She glanced back. He offered up the kind of smoldering look his roommate could only dream of. It made her knees weaken and lust sluice through her.

“Tell me you grabbed condoms when you went to get your jacket.”

He offered her that pirate’s smile. “How about I let you strip-search me, and if I
don’t
have any, you can spank me for it.”

Sounded good to her. “You’re on.”

Chapter Five

Since Gabe had to go to some kind of staff meeting, Anne was on her own the next morning, and she decided to indulge in the rare luxury of sleeping in. Mellowness steeped through her, and she felt deliciously boneless, so she rolled over and passed back out after he left. She was only just starting to surface from slumber when her cell phone rang. Groaning, she grabbed it and pushed the answer button. “Yeah?”

The word emerged a low croak, and she had to clear her throat twice.

Meg’s voice came through the line, concern coloring her tone. “Are you okay? You sound sick.”

“Gee, thanks,” Anne replied drily. “I was just grabbing an extra hour or two of sleep. I’m not ill.”

That didn’t alleviate Meg’s concern. If anything, she sounded more worried. “You
never
sleep in.”

True, but Anne had gotten less sleep the night before than normal. Because Gabe had brought several condoms with him and, of course, they just had to use them. She didn’t really feel the need to advertise that to anyone though. Not even one of her best friends. “I’m on vacation. I can sleep in if I want to.”

“Uh-huh.” Meg’s tone made it clear she was unconvinced, but she changed the subject anyway. “I was calling to ask how things are going. Are you getting your adrenaline on whenever you’re out of bed?”

Heh. Anne had been getting her adrenaline on when she was
in
bed, actually. Sitting up, she leaned back against the headboard. “It’s going well, aside from the spectacular fall of a lady who was hiking through a cave with me yesterday. She broke one leg and bruised the shit out of the other one.”

“Ouch.” Meg tsked sympathetically. “That’s the kind of adventure you don’t want.”

“Exactly. How’s the wedding prep?”

“Everything fine, actually. Finn’s here with me making wedding favors.” His tortured moan came through the line. A wry note entered Meg’s voice. “I haven’t gone bridezilla even once. Though Karen’s going to need her maid of honor gown let out a bit. I swear the kid likes to do handstands against her bellybutton.”

“The belly alien is rebelling against his confinement.” Anne made a creepy cooing sound, and her friend laughed, as expected.

“That one is going to hit the ground running.”

She cracked her knuckles. “Ah, babysitting duties are gonna be so much fun.”

“Right? I’m going to be an awesome auntie, though.” Meg was an only child, so she’d done a lot of babysitting and auntie duties for Anne’s sisters over the years. She really did have amazing friends. Without them, she might never have managed to finish college, or survived into her thirties with her sanity
mostly
intact.

“I know you will, Aunt Meg. No kid could ask for better.” Anne tossed back the covers and hopped out of bed. No time like the present to get ready for the day. If she hurried, she might actually make the last few minutes of breakfast service in the dining room. She could shower after she came back.

Meg hummed. “You’ve already had plenty of experience with the ones who hit the ground running, what with your little sisters.”

“They aren’t so little anymore, thank God.” She stepped into the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush. “I’m going to get ready in your ear, just so you know.”

“No problem. It’s not like I haven’t seen you brush your teeth and hair before. Or seen you shower in a million high school gym classes. Not that I looked too closely, but still.” Meg paused for a moment. “Do you think you’ll ever want kids like Karen? Or did raising your sisters burn you out?”

A flash of a little girl with Gabe’s green eyes and her red hair flashed through Anne’s mind, and she choked on the toothpaste.
Whoa
. That was weird. And needed to never, ever happen again. There would be no breeding with Gabe unless they had a birth control malfunction. Period. End of story. She rinsed her mouth to give herself time to come up with a normal response. “No, I’m not burned out. So…maybe I’d have some of my own. If I find the right guy. I know Karen was willing to do the sperm bank thing before she reconciled with Tate, but I’ve already done single-parenting. That part, I don’t want to do again if I don’t have to.”

“Fair enough.” Then Meg muttered, “Since your mom was like having a fourth child to raise.”

“Truer words, my friend, have never been spoken.” Anne ran a brush through her sex-mussed hair. It didn’t lay quite right, but oh well. It was just for breakfast. “I got to be the responsible sister-parent for years, so it’s going to be fun to play auntie. Noisy toys and candy, here we come.”

“You’re evil.”

Anne bounced into the bedroom and yanked on some clean clothes. “Yes, thank you. It’s so nice to have my efforts recognized.”

“I’m glad I can be there for you.” There was a short pause. “So…other than rescuing fall victims, what’s going on there? How did they wear you out to the point that you needed to sleep in? Did you hook up with a hot guy and have wild all-night-long sex or something?”

Anne froze. For perhaps the first time in her life, she didn’t want to tell her best friends everything. She didn’t even know why, but something in her chest felt odd and quivery and far too vulnerable to discuss yet. Which was just weird, since this was an affair with even fewer strings attached than normal. Gabe was an onboard fuck-buddy, nothing more. She should be singing his sexy praises to the sky, regaling her friends with tales of their exploits.

She didn’t want to.

Licking her suddenly dry lips, she grabbed her room key card and said quickly, “You know, I should go. I’m going to miss the last of the breakfast service.”

Meg sputtered. “Don’t you dare hang up on me! You’re on a cell phone. Carry me with you.”

Shit, she had Anne there. “I can’t take you with me and tell you what you want to know. There are children on this cruise. Probably in the dining room too.”

“So, a quick recap,” Meg put in briskly. “You
did
hook up with an all-nighter hottie sexfest, but you don’t want to tell me about it. Am I correctly reading between those lines?”

“Um…well…yeah.” Wow, that was eloquent. Anne cringed at her own banality, heat rushing up her cheeks.

“Oh my God. I can practically hear you blushing. Anne Elizabeth Kirby is
blushing
.”

She heard Finn speak in the background. “You can hear a blush? Women and their psychic powers are weird. And so are wedding favors.”

“Oh, hush, and keep tying ribbons around the bubble containers. I don’t want people throwing bird seed at me and you can’t do rice anymore because it kills birds.” The phone rustled. “Okay, I’m back, Anne. Who is he? What does he do for a living? Why
don’t
you want to talk about it? Was it bad?”

Finn made an exclamation of dismay that echoed through the connection. “Gah! I’m going for a run. I’m very sure I don’t want this information.”

Anne heard Finn pop a loud kiss on Meg’s cheek.

“Bye, honey.” Meg’s voice went all soft and loving, and Anne felt a kick of jealousy. She pushed it away, as usual. The wedding with all three of her besties cooing and dancing with their men was going to make moments like this stretch into a day-long spiral of envy. It was enough to make her reconsider her no-dates-at-weddings policy. Then again, there were no men back in Half Moon Bay she’d want to take with her. Gabe’s face flashed before her eyes and she pushed that away too. No. Even if she was insane enough to want to take their affair home with her, he was working on the ship all summer. He’d be off on another cruise the day after she left.

“Anne!” Meg yanked her back to the present. “I need details, woman. Quit holding out on me.”

“Uh…Gabe Warren. Outdoor guide for the cruise line. No, it wasn’t bad.” It was the best sex of her life, but confessing that felt like a really stupid idea. There was no way to take back those words when she put the idea out there. Keep it to herself and it might go away.

Yeah, that sounded pathetic and illogical even in her own head, but she went with it anyway.

“Wait.” Meg turned dubious. “It was good but you don’t want to talk about it.
You.”

Jesus, it wasn’t like she told her friends every move she made in bed. She wasn’t closemouthed about it, but she didn’t blab all the dirty details. Protesting would just make Meg more suspicious, so Anne went on the offensive instead. “Who are you and what have you done with shy Meg?”

Her friend fired back, “Shy Meg got a sex life, mostly because you strong-armed me into that trip to Vegas where I hooked up with Finn. You created a monster and now you have to live with the consequences.”

And Meg scored another point in this match. Anne shifted from foot to foot, hunching her shoulders. “It was nice. Really, really mind-blowingly awesome.”

“Ooooooh.”

Enough already. “Stop that.”

Jogging out of her cabin and down the hall meant Anne could make her way to the dining room as quickly as possible. But the extra speed didn’t save her from her friend’s maniacal giggling.

“It was good enough to make
you
blush, Anne. You! That must be a whole new level of orgasmic.”

It had been, but she wasn’t ready to tell anyone that just yet. Not even her best friends. Maybe especially not her best friends—and that was so out of character, she felt like she was having an out of body experience. No wonder Meg was confused. Anne managed a light tone. “I’m almost to breakfast, hon. I really should go.”

“Uh huh. I see what you just did there. This topic is not finished. Gabe Warren must be something else, whether you want to admit it or not. As
all
of your friends can tell you, it’s just fine to bring your vacation romance home with you if it’s worth keeping.”

“Please.” Anne snorted as derisively as she could. “He’s a bum—though a very man candy-ish one—who couldn’t keep the honest-to-God employment he had before he turned into a professional vagabond. Does this sound familiar in a drama llama way?”

That shut Meg up. At least for a moment. “I don’t think you’d hook up with someone as irresponsible and flaky as your mother, not even for a fling. There’s more to this than you’re saying, because it’s simply not like you to be so reticent.” She probed with all the shrewdness of a friend who knew Anne too well. “What’s the real problem here? Is it that he has the kind of outdoorsman lifestyle you’d kill for if it didn’t make you irresponsible and flaky like the drama llama?”

Yes
. It felt as if she’d been sucker-punched. All the air rushed out of Anne’s lungs and she had to lean against the nearest wall to stay upright. “I do
not
want to be a flake like my mother. That was out of line, Meg. I can’t even believe you’d say that to me. I just…I need to go now. Breakfast.”

“Wait
, Anne, I—”

And then, for the first time in her life, she hung up on her best friend.

The cell started ringing immediately, but she turned it off and walked into the dining room. Though the staff was already cleaning up, she managed to snag a paper cup of coffee and a remaining bagel that she quickly slathered with some cream cheese. Then she slipped out onto the deck, plopped on a lounger, and picked at her food, trying not to run the last part of her conversation with Meg through her head on an endless loop. She failed pretty miserably.

So she was pathetically grateful when Bridget hobbled up and plopped onto the empty lounger beside her.

The other woman sighed as she propped her bulky cast on the cushions and laid her crutches on the floor beside her. “I hear you stopped by to visit me yesterday. I don’t remember any of it.”

“You were pretty looped on painkillers.” And not incredibly coherent, so Anne wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“Still am, just a slightly lower dose.” Bridget grinned cheekily, but her expression slid into sly in a split-second. “I also hear my boys threw a monkey wrench in your date night with Camper Guru.”

Anne slurped her coffee, exuding as much innocence as she could. “Who said anything about dating?”

“I’m trying to be PC.” The mother of three folded her hands behind her head and managed a far more credible leer than Gabe’s roommate.

“PC was never my best skill.” Anne shrugged and changed the subject. Who knew she’d ever be so eager not to talk about something taboo? “How’s the leg?”

“What leg? I mentioned the awesome painkillers, right? I’m feeling very nice and floaty today.”

“Nice.” Anne chomped on her bagel. She still wasn’t particularly hungry, but if her mouth was full, she couldn’t be expected to talk.

Not to be deterred, Bridget took advantage of Anne eating to go right back to her favorite topic. “So, you’re shagging Gabe.”

Deciding it was better not beat around the bush—also not her best skill—she met the other woman’s gaze squarely. “Yeah, why?”

“Look, I’m a happily married lady.” She blushed. “But allow me a moment to live vicariously. Mark is the best of the best, and I adore him, but he will never reach Gabe’s hotness level.”

“Yes, he is every bit as good as he looks. Better, actually,” Anne replied,
sotto voce
. “Any other questions?”

Bridget looked disgruntled. “Millions, none of which I’ll ask out loud.”

“Good girl. Now let me finish my coffee.” Anne didn’t want to answer questions, because then she might have to admit aloud how truly mind-blowing the experience had been.

She might also have to admit that Meg was right. Anne would love to stay on this outdoorsy, adrenaline-laden sexfest of a cruise forever.

Even having left corporate America behind, Gabe couldn’t escape meetings. A sad but simple truth. He’d been with the cruise line long enough that he was the senior guide, so he had to relay information to the other guides—most of whom were leading various activities this morning. The captain did a debrief of the accident with Bridget, reviewed their itinerary for the day, made a few announcements. Mostly housekeeping updates, nothing too big.

Which was a very good thing, since Gabe’s mind wasn’t as on task as it probably should have been.

First, because he was bone-tired. Yesterday had been long and fraught with stress, then he hadn’t slept more than an hour total the night before. Not that he had any complaints about that part, but his eyes felt gritty and he was smothering a yawn every thirty seconds.