Midnight Sun (4 page)

She was quiet for a moment. “I can’t imagine not knowing what you’re going to do next. I always know. But I have to say, I don’t see you as a corporate man.”

He choked out a laugh. “Definitely not.”

“A troubleshooter, maybe, someone who goes on the cruises and sees what can be improved.”

His mouth turned down. “I don’t see that, either. I’m not very social.”

“You’ve done fine here.”

He waved a hand, snorting a laugh. “No tuxes or any of that other garbage required. I’ve pretty much just been myself.”

“You can be yourself in a tux.”

He laughed again. “No. I can’t.”

Brylie jolted when the dining room door swung open. Marcus looked over his shoulder to see one of the women from her staff enter. Brylie gathered up the dishes with a bit more haste than he deemed necessary, almost like she didn’t want anyone to see her relaxing.

“Time to get back to work. I’ll see you later.”

So he’d been dismissed. Fine. He could live with that—for now.

“Marcus!” she called when he’d reached the doorway to the dining room.

He turned.

“I’m sorry about your friend. Really.”

Her words surprised him. In all the hullabaloo after the fight, no one had said anything about Jon. He nodded his appreciation and left.

Brylie jolted when she walked out of the kitchen that night to see Marcus sitting at one of the tables in the darkened dining room. Joe and Peter still bused tables on the far side of the room, and some of her staff remained in the kitchen cleaning up, but her part of the day was done. Marcus rose when she stopped in the doorway.

“Did you sit down at all today?” he asked.

“For a bit. After the lunch rush.” She lifted a bottle of water to her lips.

He moved forward and took the bottle from her. “Then you need something stronger than that.”

Brylie frowned as she met his gaze, and he inclined his head toward the wine storage in the kitchen behind her.

She straightened. “We can’t.”

“I’m the owner, right?” He walked through the door to the storage, ignoring the kitchen staff who watched him warily. He looked over his shoulder at Brylie, waiting.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not why you’re here. It’s like raiding your parents’ liquor cabinet.”

“Aw, come on. You can call my brother for permission if it makes you feel better.”

Brylie hesitated, tempted. She would love the ease a good glass of wine would bring, but last time she had something to drink, well, she’d ended up in Marcus’s bed. And frankly, that outcome was looking way too attractive again. Maybe it was the relentless testosterone rolling off him, the wiseass remarks he was making, or just the fact that he’d spent time with her today and was waiting for her now. Yeah, her defenses were way down.

She crossed to the keypad and edged him out of the way with her shoulder. “I’ll do it.”

“Don’t trust me?” he asked, curving his body around hers as she attempted to hide the keypad from him as she typed in the numbers.

His breath was hot on her neck, his body hard against her back, and she wanted to lean back into his strength, his heat, his steadiness. She wanted to feel his lips on her skin. But her staff was nearby and no doubt curious. Damn Marcus for being so persistent and getting his way.

“Nope,” she said instead, and opened the closet.

He slipped past her to eye the racks of bottles before decisively selecting one and turning to go.

“Aren’t you going to ask if I like it?” she asked.

“You will,” he said, and closed the door.

Of all the arrogant—but she still followed him as he snagged two glasses and a corkscrew and headed back toward the dining room. She trailed after him.

He didn’t stop there, but she did. “I’m not going with you to your room.”

“Nope. The lounge.”

That, she could go along with. No doubt there would be people around enjoying the moonlight on the waves. She’d be saved from her own bad impulses. She followed him up the stairs, weaving a bit when the ship rolled beneath her. He gripped her elbow to steady her, and they entered the lounge, which was empty. Huh. It must be later than she thought.

“How long were you waiting for me?”

“Too long.” He pointed to two chairs amidship, facing the windows.  “There.”

When she sat, he handed her the glasses and uncorked the wine with an elegance that showed his competence. He poured the red evenly into the glasses and handed her one, steadying the bottle between his feet when he sat. He watched her face as she sipped, and she closed her eyes to avoid his gaze as the deep fruity flavor burst on her tongue.

“You like it?”

“Mm. Very smooth.”

“My family’s shiraz. My very favorite.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. The dark lounge made this feel too intimate. If she knew what was good for her, she’d get up and leave. “Is there anything your family doesn’t have their fingers in?”

He grinned as if he had a dirty joke on the tip of his tongue, but instead of sharing, he settled in the low-backed chair and sipped. “This is my sister’s baby, the winery. My brother runs the ships.”

“And you snowboard.”

He tipped his wine glass toward her. “Hey, I’ve made some money off that, the endorsements and the equipment companies who sponsored me. If I’d competed another year, I’d have had even more.”

She lifted her glass to her lips, watching him. “But you didn’t want to.”

“Nope.”

“What about working with your sister in the winery?”

“It’s in one place. Not sure I could do that. Stay in one place, I mean.”

“That’s a pretty bold statement, don’t you think?” Especially for a man trying to get into a woman’s good graces.

He shrugged. “I’ve got itchy feet, which is why my brother Harris thought this might be the place for me.”

“So what did you do today while I was slaving away making your kitchen one of the best in the fleet?”

He rolled his eyes. “Watched a lot of waves. Talked to the little girl, Trinity, in the presence of her family. Tried to avoid your father.”

She swirled the wine in her glass, smiling despite herself. “Why?”

“Hard to spend time with a man when all you can think about is making love to his daughter.”

A flash of warmth shot through her at his words, but she shifted her knees away. She took a drink as flashes of memories from the other night filled her mind. She toed off her shoes and pushed them under her chair, determined he would not see her squirm. “Did the passengers have any idea about the pirate alert?”

He sat back, taking her cue. “If they did, they didn’t say anything. They’re all excited because they want to ride the zodiac around the icebergs. Not for a couple of days, though, Josh said.”

“We won’t see icebergs for a few miles,” she confirmed. “But they might get the zodiac out tomorrow if we stay on schedule. Did you see any whales today?”

“I didn’t. They may have.”

“The first few days aren’t too exciting, which is why we have the scientists on board giving lectures and showing videos.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it’s very interesting and all, but I don’t sit still very well. If I hadn’t thought you’d bite my head off, I would’ve come back in to the kitchen.”

“Why would you think I’d bite your head off?”

He gave her a look.

“You’re my boss,” she reminded him.

“Because that’s stopped you from tearing into me before.”

“I haven’t—”

Another look.

She set her glass on the table between them and folded her hands in front of her contritely. “Okay, I haven’t been very nice. I’m sorry.”

“I get it.” He added a bit more wine. “Putting distance. And I haven’t made it easy.”

“It’s okay.” She saluted him with her glass. “You’re not so bad.”

“I appreciate that.” He grinned and settled back. “So your dad’s here, and you’ve told me about your grandmother. What about your mother?”

Brylie curled her toes in her thick socks, focusing on the waves illuminated by the ship’s running lights. “She left when I was young. Had her own thing to do, didn’t want to sit around waiting for my dad.”

“She left you behind?”

She winced at his incredulous tone. The last things she wanted was for him to feel sorry for her. She’d spent plenty of time doing that for herself before she’d shaken herself out of it and moved forward. “Yeah, but I’m over it.” She crept her feet up the cool glass of the window. “What about you? You have a brother and a sister. What about your parents?”

He lifted a nonchalant shoulder. “They’re around, try to be a bit more involved than the three of us would like, I think. Of course, with me, they’re thinking it’s a preventive measure.”

“You don’t think of rich parents as being involved. You think nannies, boarding schools—”

“Oh, we had plenty of both. I think when I got kicked out of the third boarding school, they figured they’d better start paying attention. That was when I got into snowboarding. The therapist thought I needed an outlet for my temper.” He rolled his eyes at the phrasing.

She shifted to look at him, her legs back on the chair, knees against the armrest. “See, that’s what I don’t get. I haven’t seen one sign that you’re short tempered. You were definitely out of your element today, but very patient.”

He leaned toward her as if imparting a secret. She bent her head and felt the wash of his breath on her cheek as he said, “That’s because I’m trying to seduce you.”

She laughed despite herself. Amazing that he would open up to her like this, even if he was only trying to lure her back to his bed. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had been honest with her to do so.

He eased back, giving her a measuring look. “So what’s on the agenda tomorrow?”

“We may reach the Auckland Islands tomorrow, and they’ll take the zodiacs out. There’s a big sea lion community there. You’d like going on the zodiac, I’d imagine.”

“Do you go?”

“I’m working.”

“You have a crew. Can’t you leave them alone for a couple of hours? Or are you using the kitchen to avoid me?”

Again she had to resist the urge to fidget. “I’m not.”

“Then come on the zodiac with me tomorrow.” He stroked a knuckle down her cheek.

The sensation vibrated from his touch down to her nipples and she used every ounce of will not to let her eyelids flutter shut, to let the moan escape her lips. “I’ve never been on the zodiac.”

“Never?”

She shook her head and took a sip of wine, breaking contact with his touch.

“Then I insist.”

And just as she envisioned boarding the low-sided rubber boat and skimming across the waves, watching him grin, hear him laugh, he leaned in and kissed her, a long, deep kiss flavored with wine. Her first instinct was to pull away, but instead she curved her hand around the back of his head and she kissed him back.

“You want to get out of here?” he asked finally.

She unfolded her legs, under no illusion about what he meant, wondering at her own willingness to go along. At just what point had she known how this day was going to end? When he’d joined her in the kitchen? Or when she’d walked out to see him waiting for her? “Sure.”

He poured the last of the bottle into each of their glasses, then took her elbow to guide her toward the hallway. “Your cabin’s closer, I think.”

She understood that he wanted to be able to slip free afterwards, was almost relieved by the knowledge that he would leave, and she could regain her sanity for the rest of the cruise. So she led the way to her room, opening it with her keycard though her hand was shaking with the decision she’d made. He stood close, his hand on the small of her back, his head bent so that his breath rushed over her throat. She wouldn’t blame alcohol or loneliness this time. She’d made the choice because she wanted him. She opened the door and brought him inside.

He tucked the wine glasses in the cup holders on her private table, then turned to her, curving his hands over her hips. He crowded her against the wall as he brought his mouth down on hers, his lips firm and dry, his breath flavored with the shiraz. She quivered, waiting for the kiss to deepen. Instead, he brushed his mouth back and forth over her parted lips, then dipped his tongue between them. A needy sound tore from her throat as she slipped her hands up his arms to his shoulders—so hard—before curling around the back of his neck, her fingers playing over the short hair there. She angled her head to deepen the kiss as she pulled him closer. He chuckled against her mouth and drew her hips forward, so she could feel his arousal. Memories of the other night, of how he felt against her, inside her, flooded her with desire. She slid her hands down his back, ducked her hands under his arms to slip under his sweatshirt, over his firm, warm skin.

Shuffling a step forward, he pinned her to the wall with his hips, his thigh between hers, then leaned back enough to strip the sweatshirt and his T-shirt off. He tossed it over a nearby chair and reached for the hem of her top. Wanting to feel his chest hair against her skin, she wriggled out of the garment and leaned forward. He smoothed his hands down her back to her hips and dipped his head to kiss her again, his lips more demanding now. She pressed her breasts against his chest, her nipples hard through the lace of her bra.

He muttered something about her being a surprising librarian and slipped his hands between them to unfasten her jeans before reaching inside.

She cried out and dropped her head back at his intimate touch, then clutched at his shoulders to put some space between them. “Not yet. Not yet, Marcus.”

He lifted his head, breathing heavily. “I don’t have much control just now, Brylie.”

“Fine.” She shed her jeans and stood before him in her lace underwear and bra. “But I hope you have a condom.”

His gaze swept over her, hot and hungry, and he made a strangled sound. She slipped past him to the bed, not quite queen-sized. She laid back, one leg bent, and he dropped himself over her, bracing his weight on his arms. He kissed her again, this one almost sloppy with need. His forehead rubbed against hers as she slid her bare legs along his jean-clad ones.

“You don’t pack in case of emergency?” he asked.