Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Angry at myself for allowing thoughts of Eli into my head, I slurped a huge drink of my cocktail through the straw, nearly draining the second glass in one swallow. The alcohol immediately went to my head and the most wonderful buzz started oozing through my blood, calming my nerves and increasing my bravery. Liquid courage—I’d heard alcohol referred to it before but hadn’t really understood what it meant. As I finished off the second cocktail, I slowly, and sluggishly, began to understand.
I liked it.
Like magic, Javier was standing next to me within seconds, offering me my third drink and an incredibly lustful grin. “I believe someone is planning on having a good time tonight, yes?”
“Definitely,” I answered as I signed my fake name on the receipt, leaving a heftier tip that time, and then took the drink right off Javier’s tray before he could hand it to me. “Keep em coming, Javier. Keep em coming!”
“Of course, sir,” he answered with another one of his sexy winks. Weird; he was starting to look more my type with each passing wink.
I checked my watch for the twentieth time, knowing I wouldn’t feel completely safe from my father’s overprotectiveness and Eli’s bout for revenge until we had sailed away from the port. Right about now, Eli would be calling my dad, roaring angrily about me not being at the airport. I didn’t want to worry anybody but, damn, they needed to realize I wasn’t a child any longer. My twentieth birthday was tomorrow. They were going to have to back their shit down.
Out of the kindness of my heart, I had left a note telling them that I’d taken a different cruise, so they wouldn’t spend the next week worried about my safety. They could get as pissed as they wanted but worrying was a totally different story. I hated the feeling—had spent my entire life suffering through the weight of worrying over everything. I blamed it on the fact that I’d never really fit in anywhere, but if I was honest with myself, I probably just carried the worry gene in my body’s chemistry.
I’d push through. Worrying never killed anybody. I was pretty sure being a virgin at the age of twenty probably had taken a few lives, though. That’s where my focus needed to be—getting laid. How fucking hard could it be? Gay men did it all the time. What was my issue with crawling into bed with someone?
Looking around, it was hard to tell if the men were coupled off together or if they were just already pairing off for a friendly fuck. I’d heard that was common. The thoughts of fucking somebody and then walking away like it was nothing left a bad taste in my mouth, but I’d get through it. Everybody else did. I so fucking wanted to be like everybody else—not the kid that people either tried to baby or turn into their cute mascot.
As I watched the men and their interactions, I emptied my third glass. Emptied my fourth. Sometime during my fifth cocktail, a man ventured over toward me. A very wicked, incredibly naughty, and, in my drunken state, super sexy smile curled his thin lips as he looked me up and down. He was built nicely, stacked with muscles that were built in the gym, not through any type of physical labor. His skin was sun-kissed like Eli’s, but I was fairly certain it came from a spray tan instead of natural like Eli’s. There were tattoos…lots of them. They looked okay, I guessed. Not as good as Eli’s.
“Hey there, cutie,” he said as he plopped down onto the empty chair next to me. “You here all alone?”
His leg, hairless but with stubble which told me he shaved instead of waxed, brushed up against mine. Yuck. Why not spend the extra money for a wax? Better yet, why not have hair on his legs…like Eli did. My body didn’t have much hair, so I waxed to hide that fact. Once I’d started, I decided it was a better look for me. I remember thinking I would be a sexy contrast to Eli.
“Uh…yep, I’m all alone,” I finally stammered, sounding like a total idiot even to myself. Muscle man didn’t seem to mind, though. His smile grew even wider. He’s really not bad looking, I kept chanting inside my head. Inside my head, I could see me giving myself a negative head shake, not at all agreeing with my assessment of the first man to show me any interest on the cruise. Well, except for Javier, but he was getting paid to give me his attention. “How about you?” Fuck, that sounded even dumber.
“Sure am,” he answered. “Hey, they just announced that we’re allowed to go check out our rooms. How about we visit mine or yours before they make us do that stupid emergency drill?” He checked his watch and then added, “We’d have plenty of time to get to know each other better.”