All Hands Below (2 page)

Her perky nipples must have poked his chest when he drew her against him, too. But by the time he’d employed his stealth-bomber moves on her, it was too late to run. Curling an arm around her waist, he hooked her chin with one lean finger.

“How about a little souvenir to take with you…” he murmured just before his minty mouth covered hers.

I cannot believe this!
Evangeline’s thoughts raced, but she did nothing to shrug off the wild tingle of his mouth exploring hers. It felt…
amazing
!

Heated fingers swept over the ridge of her spine, rising naked above her gown’s bare-back design. It was meant to invite a touch such as this—a caress so teasing yet so potent, her pussy creamed with the hot thrill of it. Sensation melted her will. His soft, skilled lips dove over hers and melted her down.

Coiling her hair around his fingers, he tilted her head to give him better access to her mouth.

As his fingers massaged her scalp, he cradled her head to keep her mouth still, while he fed her the steady pulse of his tongue.

My word, does he know how to wield that muscle.

Suddenly she wanted that tongue everywhere! She burned to feel it lick her nipples, flick at her clitoris, and slide into her silken heat.

Step away from the engineer, Evangeline
, was her last thought before she curled into him like a dazed little lamb.

She didn’t resist when he grasped one of her hands and glided the tips of her fingers down along the burgeoning ridge of his shaft.

“Hoo,” Evangeline exhaled, impressed.

Trouser bulge rising, his cock was shaping up with impressive girth. And length. Quite the humdinger. Oh, yes, indeed!

Shame on me for taking measurements,
she scolded herself, then spanned his mighty length with her hand.

Good grief! The man wasn’t getting any
shorter.
His brazen words and velvet tongue mimicking the thrusts of a capable cock rubbing inside the grip of her palm let her know he was up for a sexy-hot romp, too.

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured and, licking her lower lip, his hands spooned over her ass as he fit her lower body into his like a long-lost puzzle piece.

She plunged her fingers through his rumple of dark hair and imagined his thickness rooted between her thighs. He tugged on the combs that swept her hair up from the sides of her face and dropped them to the floor.

She knew what he’d see; honey-brown hair spilling below her shoulder blades with strands that cooled to golden blonde highlights.

“Take me on, Evie,” he invited in a husky voice. “Let me give you what you want.”

His breath spiraled in her ear and spilled down her neck. She shivered. “You don’t know what I want.”

“Officer Montero dry-humping you while sucking on your tit gave me some pretty big clues.” The stranger kissed her mouth. Lavished her lips with lusty swirls and tugs of desire meant to chase away any embarrassment she might feel. He lifted his head to assess its rosy response. “Robert’s not here, but I am. And, I don’t have a wife and kid to make me think twice.”

His thumbs brushed her cheeks, and his gaze probed hers with sensual appeal. “Let me be the one to satisfy you. I can even swing the roses.”

Evangeline’s breath locked on the pull of his words. Not the part where he noticed her being dry-humped while Robert sucked her tit, but every temptation he was offering. Yet, one fine chunk of man candy he might be, there were certain criteria that needed to be met.

“Can you swing the forever part as well? Because I came on this cruise for that, not just some holiday
fucking
. Make no mistake…I want that, too.”

His thumbs tensed against her skin. So she didn’t pluck the daintiest terms out of the air, but she had no time to dance around the facts. She was on deadline here.

Her heart thumped nervously in her chest. She’d just thrown some heavy words at him, after all.
Forever
and
fucking
were attention
grabbers for sure, but had either piqued his interest?

“Questions?” She hoped he had some to ask. She’d tell him the truth—that she’d signed up for this singles’ cruise to find a husband. Or at the very least, the start of something beautiful.

Please show me some interest, Mr. Yummy, ‘cause then it would be worth it for me to ask your name.

If she scared him off, she’d simply move on and forget about him. Forget the sultry curve of his mouth, his shameless kisses. His bold touch.

A breath hissed past his lips. Decision made, he shook his head, placed a kiss on her forehead, and let her go. No questions asked. “I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.”

“Thought so.” She smiled at him like a good sport. “Will you show me the way out?”

She followed him up a flight of stairs and out through yet another door. He then escorted her to a utility elevator that would take her up to the passenger decks.

“I can help you with one, but not the other,” he offered up with an honesty she appreciated, especially given her forward proposal. “But if roses and forever are what you’re after…” The elevator doors swished apart. He waved her inside. “Good luck with that.”

Evangeline strolled into the lift and turned around with a smile full of regret. As the doors drifted shut, he touched his finger to his forehead in a nice-meeting-you salute and ended her tour of the engine room.

She brushed a finger against the prickles that danced along her lips.

So this was how it felt to be tempted, tousled, then shot down in flames by a hunky engineer. Nearly getting screwed by one man, then five minutes later slotting
him
in the other man’s place. What must he think of her?

And he’d watched them the whole time!

She groaned and rubbed her forehead. Outrageous. Thank God the scruffy devil worked below decks. She need never see him during the cruise. The Sea Sapphire was a big ship. The Western Caribbean was even bigger and would offer wide berth between sightings.

She wanted roses and romance on this cruise, and she wasn’t going to apologize to him, or anyone else, for it.

Chapter Two

Evangeline stepped out of the elevator and rifled through her pearled clutch in search of her lipstick.

Head down, she didn’t see the figure in the passageway until they collided.

“Oh! I’m so sorry.” She rushed to help the older woman to her feet. Her lipstick forgotten, she stared into a familiar face whose bright, hazel eyes gazed back at her.

“Well, hello,” Evangeline greeted with a smile of recognition. “We rode the cruise line’s shuttle from our hotel to the Port of Miami this morning. Maisy, right?”

“You remembered my name. And you’re the hot chippie who helped find the owner of that designer bag I found on the bus this afternoon. Evangeline, is it?”

Evangeline nodded.
The owner must be going out of her mind, wondering where she left her bag,
she’d said at the time. After making a few inquiries, they’d reunited the bag with its grateful owner, then walked onto the ship’s gangway together.

The second they’d set foot in the reception foyer, a white-gloved waiter had extended a crystal flute, frothing over with pink champagne. A ship’s officer stepped forward to offer her a hand—and a whole lot more.

“I think he wants to get in your panties,” Maisy had whispered to her at the time. “He can’t take his eyes off you!”

Evangeline now regretted acting on that attraction. Regretted her acceptance of his gift of a special
grand cru
, an entire bottle of which he’d sent to her table later that evening—a table filled with buff, single men.

She thought she’d hit the sexy men jackpot, too. A ship’s officer waiting in the wings and hunks at her dinner table made her hopes spin with possibilities. Until she found out that the men at her table were members of a gay choir on holiday.

With no incentive to linger over dessert, she’d excused herself from the table to thank the officer for the wine.

“May I take you on a private tour of the ship?” he’d asked.

Evangeline had purred out a
“yes”
and allowed Robert to take her hand in his. As one passageway led to the next, so began a journey of kisses and caresses that led them to the noisiest area on board ship—the engine room.

“I think I’m lost,” Maisy said presently. “I’m not sure how to get to my room. Where’s the left of the ship? Where’s the right?”

Evangeline tried to hide her smile. “Right is starboard, left is port side, but you have to be facing forward, toward the bow.”

“You lost me at starboard.”

Evangeline skimmed through the woman’s cruise booklet for information. “Right this way. I think you and I might almost be neighbors. So, why are you traveling alone, Maisy?”

“This cruise was a Christmas present from my son and his wife.”

She frowned. “You’re very brave to come by yourself, but wouldn’t you have wanted to spend the holidays at home?” she asked, puzzled.

“Oh,
please
,” Maisy burst out with an indignant eye roll. “I would have been ten times miserable with them! In any case, I’m sure they’re happy to have me out of their hair for a week. I live with them, you see, in a mother-in-law suite. If only I didn’t have such a bitch for a daughter-in-law, the holidays might be bearable.”

Evangeline laughed. She could see a DIL not finding this waspy-mouthed MIL so adorable, but she liked her.

“I needed a break from her nit-picking and controlling,” Maisy admitted. “Merry Christmas to me! Who knows how much fun I could have for a change. You’re here alone, too, I see.”

Evangeline smiled. “Yes, I am.”

“Things go
no bueno
with Mr. Candy-Man in uniform?”

She shook her head. “No. He was definitely unsuitable,” she said, without detailing Robert’s marital status. “Oh well. The night’s still young. Here we are.” She slipped Maisy’s pass into its slot and unlocked her door.

The older woman paused. “So, no boyfriend. No husband and no kids?”

“That’s why I’m cruising alone.”

“How old are you?”

Evangeline paused, startled by how the older woman’s eyes shaded from hazel to gold and glowed like a holiday ornament. “Twenty-nine.”

The woman’s eyes got all twinkly. “You’ll find yourself another man soon, don’t worry. A lovely woman traveling alone over the Christmas holidays looks quite obvious.”

“Secret, secret,” Evangeline whispered. “I’m hoping that by the end of my cruise, I can cross one thing off my holiday wish list.”

“And what’s that?”

“To meet hunky husband material who happens to be great in bed.”

Maisy’s eyes glittered like diamonds in the snow. “What does he look like?”

Evangeline closed her eyes. “Tall, beefcake build, executive-style handsome. No pretty boy for me. Thirties. Early forties…”

“Sexy eyes?”

She sighed. “Yes. Rich greens with golden champagne undertones.” She stopped, dismayed. She’d just described the man in the engine room.

Maisy’s eyes widened. “With an eight-inch willy? And great in the sack?”

“Wha-at?”

“Honey, I was a young woman once. I had many lovers back in the day, I’ll have you know.”

“Well, okay,” Evangeline said with a laugh. “Wish me a tiny bit of your luck. I just hope finding
one
man who’s a great lover—”

“With a big cock.”

“—with a big cock isn’t asking for a Christmas miracle. I will settle for a good man if I can’t have exciting and drop-dead sexy. But…I’m looking for an all-inclusive deal, you know? Roses and forever.”

Maisy’s eyes darkened with eerie mischief. “I get it. You want to make a man fall in love with you.”

“Something like that,” Evangeline said, then wondered why
making
a man fall in love with her sounded like…entrapment. She shook her head. She wasn’t out to trap anyone.

Booking this cruise put her on course to making another dream come true. If she found a good man, maybe the third item on her list after “Meet Hunky Husband Material” and “Make Him Love Me” would eventually follow—a baby.

“But don’t settle for crap,” piped the older woman. “Then again, the way they’re making them these days, Santa might have to dig deep in his sack.”

Evangeline smiled. Now, if her Christmas wishes listed
no-strings, booty-banging
sex with ship’s engine guy
… Well, she knew just where to look.

Scruffy man’s mint-laced kisses lingered on her tongue. She could still smell him. Desire puddled in her panties at the memory of his breath feathering her skin, the tip of his tongue teasing her lips.

Exciting?
Yes.

Mr. Right?
Wrong
.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get you hooked up with Mr. Hot Pants in no time.”

Evangeline laughed at the mischief that quirked up the other woman’s lips. “We? Do you have a mouse in your pocket, Maisy?

“No. I just have…connections,” she airily replied.

“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“I’d love it if you could you join me tomorrow for the lunch buffet at the International Bistro. That is, if you don’t have anything else planned.”

Evangeline nibbled on her lower lip. She wanted to dance till the clubs closed. To find an unattached male onboard ship who wanted similar things—romance, hot sex, and more.

Taking a lonely woman under your wing wasn’t in the cruise plan, Evie. This cruise was about you. Roses and romance—remember?

The hopeful gleam in the older woman’s eyes wrenched at Evangeline’s heartstrings. Keeping a cute little lady company for a couple of hours wouldn’t get in the way of that, would it?

“No,” she said with a smile. “No, I don’t have anything planned. I’ll be there by noon.”