Caribbean Cruising (13 page)

Closing my eyes I gave some thought to what I was really looking for in a guy, but before I could develop a clear image, I felt myself drifting into sleep. I didn't have the energy or the desire to rouse myself and return to my cabin. Just a few minutes. Just a few minutes of rest. That was all I really wanted.

I woke up to find a large beach towel draped over me, and the sun easing over the horizon. It was really gorgeous, painting the sky with deep pastels. I knew by their very nature that pastels weren't bright colors but when nature was doing the artistry, there was a brilliance to the hue that was indescribable.

Oh, gosh, it was simply wonderful. I sat up straighter, stretched, and stilled.

Ryan was sitting in the chair beside me.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted.

"I wanted to get in a morning jog before it got crowded. Spotted you. Did you lose your key again?"

I wrinkled my nose at him. "I didn't lose my key before."

"Okay, then, did you give your key to someone else, and forget to reclaim it?"

I covered my mouth as I released a wide yawn. "No. I was just sitting here last night, enjoying the peace and quiet." I shrugged. "Guess I fell asleep."

I sat up a little more, and grimaced as my previously still and cramped muscles revolted. A lounge chair was not a good place to spend the night.

"Stiff?" Ryan asked.

"And more: cramped, sore, and achy," I admitted. "I'm going to have to go get a muscle melt."

"A muscle melt?"

"A massage the spa gives. It melts the muscles."

"Turn around. I'll work on your shoulders."

I couldn't figure out why I felt uncomfortable with his offer. It was innocent enough, and I really was feeling like my body absolutely didn't want to move this morning.

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"You don't have to do that," I said. "They have professionals onboard."

He sat up and dropped his legs over the edge of the lounger. "Yeah, but they're not up this early, and I've got nothing else to do right now. Come on."

Tucking my feet up beneath me, I turned on the lounger so my back was to him. Since I was wearing a tank top, most of my shoulders were exposed, and I could feel the heat of his hands against my skin as he began to work the stiffness out of my neck and shoulders. It was nice. He was nice.

Suddenly his hands stilled on my shoulders. "So, how many things are left on your list?" he asked.

"Several."

His hands started working their magic again. "What got checked off last night?" he asked.

"Drinking margaritas. What did you do?"

"Hit the clubs."

"I didn't see you." I tilted my head to the side. Felt the muscles loosening up. This was a great thing to wake up to.

"Meet anyone interesting?" he asked.

"We met a couple of guys. Three really. How about you?"

"Yeah, I spent some time with a girl."

That comment bothered me a lot more than I wanted it to. So yesterday's kiss had really meant nothing to him. On the other hand I'd kissed him back, and I'd spent time with other guys last night. It was better if it meant nothing. Absolutely. Or at least that's what I told myself.

"Have you seen Mom or Walter lately?"

"Nope, and I haven't been looking for them." He patted my shoulders as though he was finished. "Don't forget we have tickets for a show tonight."

I clambered off the lounger and stretched. Passengers were starting to come on deck. I could see people walking and jogging on the track.

"What time?" I asked.

"I'll knock on your door at eight. We can just walk to it together."

"What about Brooke? Did you get her ticket?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get tickets for her traveling entourage."

"I'll let her know. And thanks for the massage."

"You're welcome." He picked up the beach towel that had been draped over me, and walked away.

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I watched him disappear. My mind obviously hadn't begun to function yet because it took me a minute to remember that he'd spotted me when he was jogging. Had covered me with his beach towel.

How many people carried a beach towel when they went jogging? He was taking this looking-after-me-at-Walter's-request a little too seriously. And I found myself wondering why that notion didn't bother me as much as it once had.

CHAPTER 15

The Enchantment Day Four

B
rooke had said that she liked to bring the party with her, and she absolutely did. I was sitting on the deck of the ship near the off-limits-to-kids-pool when she arrived with her entourage, as Ryan referred to them.

Six guys following after her like puppies hoping for a dog-biscuit treat. It was kinda amusing to watch.

She spotted me and waved enthusiastically. Then she was heading toward me. I'd arrived before it had begun to get crowded, and had been able to claim a couple of loungers, but no way did I know that I needed to claim eight. It seemed inconsiderate for our group to take up so many, especially when I hadn't been certain that Brooke would bring everyone.

I suppose I shouldn't have doubted her, but now I wondered where everyone was going to sit.

Apparently the guys were okay with the ground or the edge of a lounger because as soon as Brooke claimed hers, they were sitting around both of us. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where they sat.

In high school I'd done a lot of group dating. You know, where several guys and girls go out together.

Sometimes you pair up, sometimes you don't. It took a lot of the pressure off to hook up with one person, and prevented that one-on-one awkwardness that sometimes happened before you were really sure if one-on-one would even work for you.

But we'd always had as many guys as we had girls so no one would feel like they were the odd-one out.

With Brooke I sometimes felt as though she'd hooked up with me so she'd have someone to foist the unwanteds off on.

Okay, I'm sure she didn't mean for the results to appear that way. Brooke didn't give each guy an equal amount of attention, and whoever wasn't the flavor of the moment tended to drift over toward me.

I just didn't have Brooke's knack for blowing a guy off while still leading him on. But I suppose that was all part of being a vixen flirt, and she had the style down pat.

The guys didn't seem to mind—if they even noticed what was going on. Sometimes guys are totally clueless.

"You know, I'm really craving a smoothie," Brooke said.

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"I'll get it!" Michael and Shooter said at the same time, both jumping to their feet.

"You want something, Lindsay?" Chad asked.

"Yeah." I reached for my fanny pack.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get it," he said. "What do you want?"

I ordered a strawberry-banana smoothie. All the guys traipsed off as though they couldn't handle getting the drinks alone. Or maybe they didn't trust leaving anyone behind, and had an unwritten code that no one could stay with us if even one of them had to leave.

"Aren't they great?" Brooke asked.

"But which one do you like?"

"Oh, I like them all. You're welcome to share."

"Share?" I asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Sure. We're on vacation. It's not like we're going to get serious about any of them."

I'd never shared guys before, and I wasn't certain that I wanted to now. I mean, I didn't mind us all hanging around together, but I didn't want a guy thinking he could hook up with Brooke and then come over and be with me. Or that after being with me, he was free to move on to Brooke.

It gave me an icky feeling to even think about it.

"You know, Brooke, I'm not really into sharing."

She rolled her eyes. "That's so boring, Lindsay."

"I don't think so."

She did a little impatient shoulder-roll. "All right. So who do you want? Once I know, I'll stay away from him."

Gosh, that put me on the spot.

"I'm not really sure," I admitted.

"All right then, we'll play the field until you are. And meet other guys along the way."

"More guys?"

"Sure, why not?"

I guess there was really no reason not to meet more guys. And maybe I would meet one who instantly sent my heart racing. Speaking of guys who sent my heart racing…

"Oh, listen, we have tickets to the cabaret show tonight. You can meet us outside the theater at eight."

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Brooke arched a brow. "And who exactly is
us
?"

"Me and Ryan."

"You know, for someone you're not interested in, you sure hang around with him a lot."

"It's like I told you: He's my new stepfather's godson. I can't ignore him completely."

"Are you sure that's all there is to it?"

No, I wasn't sure. Ryan was nice, and I liked him, but he seriously interfered with my plans for this cruise. I'd even begun to consider changing them. Spending more time with Ryan, because here I was, fourth day into the trip, and I hadn't met any guy who I was even contemplating as a possible fling prospect.

I was going to give myself one more day, and if I didn't meet someone who intrigued me just a little…I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. I was determined to complete all the items on my list. But I wanted the last to be special.

The guys returned in force, with smoothies for everyone. We sipped our drinks, and ate the nachos that a couple of the guys had brought over. We got into a heated discussion on whether or not we should scuba dive or snorkel when we got to the Grand Cayman.

It seemed the guys that Brooke had latched on to had plans to hang around for the long haul. They were nice enough, so I wasn't bothered by it, but since none had really set my heart to pounding, I was a little worried that they might limit my abilities to find the right guy.

"Who's up for some rock climbing?" Michael asked.

I had to admit that I'd been eyeing the climbing wall. I'd seen them at various sporting-goods stores, but had never ventured onto one.

"I am," I told him.

"But it'll be hot and sweaty," Brooke whined.

"It'll be fun," I assured her.

Besides, we were on vacation in the Caribbean. Hot and sweaty was part of the vacation. Even with tropical breezes, the weather was warm.

Brooke let the guys taunt and tease her. I was beginning to think that her lack of enthusiasm was more for show than anything. A way to get attention.

Eventually they convinced her to give it a try. We gathered up our pool stuff, and headed to the wall.

There wasn't much of a line, which surprised me.

Only one guy was climbing, and I'd recognize him anywhere.

Ryan.

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He was near the top, probably close to twenty feet above the ground, testing hand-and footholds before he went any higher. I'd watched enough rock climbing at various stores that I knew it was a lot harder than it looked.

"Wow," Brooke said in a respectful, hushed tone. "He is, like, totally in shape."

He was wearing shorts and a tank top similar to the one he'd worn in the gym. The muscles in his legs and arms looked almost as hard as the wall he was scaling.

"Why is he just hanging there?" Brooke asked.

"He's trying to find the right hold so he can move up," Shooter said. "The higher you go, the harder it gets. Man, I've only been able to get about two-thirds of the way up a wall before totally losing it."

"And what happens then?" Brooke asked. "I mean, when you lose it?"

"You're on a pulley," Shooter said, "so you dangle in the air for a while, and then they bring you down."

I heard their conversation, but my eyes were glued on Ryan. He finally made his move, reaching and stretching up. I was totally impressed. He wasn't rushing it, wasn't trying to grandstand or impress anyone other than himself. He simply took his moves slowly and steadily.

The guys who were with us started chanting, "Go! Go! Go!" while they slowly clapped.

Ryan glanced down, and it was like his gaze found me. I was afraid to move, to speak, to do anything that might distract him. I knew he was perfectly safe up there, tethered to the pulley. One of the ship's crew was holding the other end of the rope, and keeping an eye on Ryan.

Still, watching Ryan made me hold my breath.

Then he cut off eye contact, and was back to trying to figure out how best to reach the top of the wall.

He moved slowly toward the top. His foot slipped, my breath caught, and Brooke released a tiny shriek.

Then Ryan regained his footing, eased up, touched the top, and shoved himself away from the wall.

The guys clapped and high-fived one another like they were the ones who'd made it to the top. Ryan rappelled down and hit the ground. After an assistant helped him out of the harness, he strutted over to where we were standing.

"So, are you going to give it a go?" he asked, looking directly at me, giving the impression that everyone else was inconsequential.

"I thought I would," I responded.

"Have you ever climbed before?" he asked.

"No," I admitted.

"Don't try to go too fast, and don't reach too far," he suggested. "And if you get tired, just rappel back down."

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"You make it sound so easy," I said with a grin.

"It's not easy, but it's not as difficult as real mountain climbing."

"Dude, you've climbed real mountains?" Cameron asked.