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 rode him slowly and passionately. We limped to the shower under the guise of getting clean only to give in to even more filth once the steam was rising around us. Finn helped me crawl into the sheets only to crawl in behind me, pull me flush against him, and rock himself inside me once more.
Night had bled into morning by the time exhaustion became too heavy for either of us to fight.
“I should go back to my cabin,” I tried, but Finn hooked his arm around me and pulled me closer.
“Stay.”
“Finn…”
“I’ll set an alarm,” he promised. “We can sneak back to our cabins in a few hours. We can figure out what we do next tomorrow. But tonight, just…” He sighed, his lips feathering a kiss to my spine. “Stay.”
My heart surged out of my chest at the desperation in his voice. I nodded, letting him roll away from me only long enough to set the alarm on his phone like he promised before I was clinging to him again. I burrowed into his embrace — his leg between mine, my thigh hitched over his hip, our arms wrapping one another up like someone was trying to tear us apart and we refused to let them.
I fell asleep with my head on my ex-boyfriend’s chest.
And woke to complete fucking chaos.
POST-PRODUCTION CONFESSIONAL
CLOSE QUARTERS
SEASON 4
BERNARD EVANS: SECOND STEWARD
PRODUCER
Let’s go back to the drama that unfolded between charters seven and eight.
Bernard rubs hands together, smiles.
BERNARD
Well, if you insist.
PRODUCER
Were you shocked by what the crew found out the morning that charter eight started?
BERNARD
Yes and no. Was I surprised to find our chief stew and head chef tangled up together in the sack? Not really. But I was surprised by how it all kicked off after. Thought they might try to play it cool — instead, it was fireworks.
PRODUCER
And what about how the rest of the crew responded?
Bernard laughs.
BERNARD
Ah. Shit show, that was, wasn’t it? But you’ve got to understand — emotions were running high. We were all on fumes by that point, and seems like half the boat had been biting their tongues for weeks. That morning? That was the snap.
PRODUCER
Were you hurt by anything that was said?
Bernard shrugs, leans back in chair, grin unfading.
BERNARD
Nah, mate. Then again, I wasn’t the one who found my boyfriend in bed with my superior, was I?
The alarm didn’t go off.
I knew it the second I creaked one eye open and saw sunlight playing through the slats in the blinds.
Panic hit me before the grogginess could, my breath catching as I bolted upright — or tried to. Finn’s arm was draped across my waist, heavy with sleep, his bare chest rising and falling against my back.
Fuck.
“Finn,” I whispered, trying to shake him awake. “Finn, we overslept. We—”
SLAM.
The door burst open.
And my heart jumped into my throat when I locked eyes with Gisella.
I barely had time to yank the sheet to my chest before she was in the room, eyes wild, face flushed, jaw clenched like she was already coming for a fight before she even knew there needed to be one.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Her voice was sharp and high, gaze slicing from me to where Finn was hastily snapping into action beside me. I expected him to curse and jump out of bed and run to her, begging for her to give him a chance to explain.
Instead, he put his body in front of mine like a shield, his hand squeezing my knee under the covers in a silent reassurance that we’d be okay.
I wasn’t so sure.
Gisella cataloged the movement with her tongue in her cheek. She shook her head and barked out a laugh. “How chivalrous, Finn. You’re a lying, cheating sack of shit — but hey, at least you’re a gentleman to your whore.”
The cameras and production crew had already squeezed their way into the cabin, too, and I buried my face in Finn’s back as I imagined what they were capturing.
Oh, God.
What have we done?
Everything felt so right in the moment. When Finn held me and kissed me and touched me, when he told me how he felt, how he’d felt for weeks — years. Last night, we were just two people in love against all odds, floating in our own little bubble.
Well, that bubble had officially been popped.
And the reality of our carelessness was crashing over me like a tidal wave.
Gisella looked between us — the tangled sheets, our clothes scattered around the room, Finn’s calm but protective demeanor.
“This explains a lot,” she said, her voice rough. “Guess I know now why you got so pissed at me kissing Cam. Hard to stomach the thought of me cheating on you when you were already doing it to me?”
“That’s not—” I balked, shaking my head with wide, pleading eyes. “We didn’t, Gisella. I swear. Last night was the first—”