Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“I love this look you get,” he says, the corner of his mouth crooked, eyes sleepy as he runs his knuckles over my cheek.
“What look?”
“This dreamy-eyed one you wear when you talk about yachting. Travel. Seeing the world.”
“It’s the same one you get when you talk about food.”
“Food makes sense. But getting your kicks from serving people? That one I’ll never understand.”
I smirk, climbing on top of him. We both laugh when I hit my head on the ceiling, his top bunk making the maneuver anything but graceful. We’re both exhausted after a long day with a charter of particularly difficult guests, knowing we need sleep but not willing to sacrifice this time together to get it.
“I like serving you,” I tease, biting my lip before I lower my mouth to his.
Finn groans with the kiss, his hands bruising my hips as he rocks into me. “And I like feeding you.”
“Careful,” I warn with a nip of his bottom lip. “You once told me food is how you show your love.”
He pauses at that, sweeping my hair behind one ear, his eyes searching mine.
“I meant it.”
I blinked, tearing my gaze from his and focusing on Captain Gary as my neck burned with a furious heat.
Captain started with a rundown of the yacht, detailing every feature of it from the length to the number of bedrooms. We all knew this was mostly for the show rather than for us, but we nodded and followed along.
After that, he launched into his speech — one I’d heard a half-dozen times before when I’d worked with him on other boats. I knew the way he ran his ship.
For Captain Gary, he wanted professionalism and top-notch service when we were working. If there were guests on this boat, we’d better be going above and beyond every second of every day to make their experience the best possible.
But when it came to our down time, he loosened that iron fist. He encouraged us to have fun, to enjoy our time in Italy as long as we were smart about it.
“When a charter ends, it’s on you and your teams to get the boat sorted for the next one. After that, what you do with your time’s your business. Go out, blow off steam, have a laugh — but don’t let it mess with your work. First time one of you can’t get out of bed because you’re hungover, you’ll be answering to me. I don’t care if you party — just know your limits, and don’t leave your crew mates hanging because you couldn’t handle your booze.”
We all nodded in understanding as he leveled a gaze at each of us, making sure we heard his threat loud and clear.
“Alcohol can also lead to a heap of drama, which I won’t tolerate either. Past that, safety is my number one priority — the safety of our guests and of our crew, too.”
Captain went on to explain what he meant by that, to review the importance of letting him know if there were any incidents on the boat, even if they seemed small. He reviewed our protocols for man overboard, fire, sinking ship, and other emergencies I hoped we’d never have to actually face, and then he was back to grinning.
“I want to give a couple of shout outs before we break here. First of all, let’s give it up for Ember, our Chief Stew.”
My cheeks flamed as the crew clapped. I wasn’t expecting this little bout of being the center of attention, and right now, the last thing I wanted was eyes on me when I was still reeling from the fact that my ex was sitting on the couch opposite me.
Nope — not reeling.
I didn’t care.
I didn’t care.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Ember for years now, and there’s no one who does a better table setting or a more superior dinner service. She runs an elevated interior from laundry to entertainment, and that’s why I wanted her as my chief stew this season. I know she’ll crush it. Let’s make sure to support her in every way we can in this new role.”
“Thanks, Cap,” I said with a genuine smile.
He winked at me. “I’d also like to recognize Palmer here. There’s no one I’d trust more to help me dock this behemoth in such a tiny marina. He runs his deck team like a well-oiled machine, and I think you’ll all find that everything on a yacht runs smoother when the deck team is in order. Let’s just hope our green deckie here can hang,” he added with a smirk at Eli.
“I won’t let you down, Cap!” Eli saluted before leaning back and stretching both of his giant arms along the back of the couch.
Captain continued, giving little tidbits about each member of the crew that he was excited about. I blacked out a little when he was going on about Finn’s culinary accomplishments; although, I didn’t miss that he mentioned a restaurant in Dublin. I wondered when he opened it, how it had done, and was it still open now?