Full Steam Ahead (Sea Swept #1) (3 page)

In the last two years though, that dream faded into the background. It had to, because of what happened before I transferred to Baxter. With my family in such a mess—both emotionally and financially—I couldn’t afford to attend a private school anymore, so I transferred to a college with in-state tuition. And that’s when I met Hunter with his floppy hair and southern gentlemanly charm, like a real Prince Charming.
 

After I introduced Hunter to my parents, my mom pulled me aside and told me that I could never let him go. If I married Hunter, if I married into the wealthy Fairbanks family, then I could save my parents and myself from complete ruin. Like Kate Winslet in Titanic. Except in my case, I also got to marry for love.

It’s funny how much can change in two years, from grad school and Paris to engagement rings and wedding plans. To nothing. My grades were good, but they took a nosedive this semester, and without Hunter’s family’s help there’s no way I’ll swing a prestigious gallery internship.

The bell chimes again for the safety session, and I know I can’t keep putting it off. Despite the heaviness in my eyes, I force myself onto my feet and step over Jace’s splayed-open suitcase. The neat freak inside of me makes me toss his socks and shirts back inside before I reach into my own bag to grab my hairbrush.
 

Our cabin really is a shoebox, without even a window, and I hardly fit in the room with our stuff everywhere. I decide to give Jace the bed by the door, since he’ll probably be coming in at night later than me. On the other bed rests a towel folded into the shape of a pig, which makes me smile. It reminds me of my old stuffed animal, Piggy Porkchops, which I dragged everywhere with me when I was little, so I set it on the dresser to keep it safe.

After I brush the knots out of my hair and throw on a hoodie to fend off the air conditioning, I’m about to head out the door when my phone pings. I dig it out of my bag. One new email. It’s probably from my parents, checking in to make sure I made it to the ship, so I absentmindedly open my inbox, ready to type out a quick reply before we depart and I lose service in international waters. But my blood freezes at what I see. It’s not a message from my mom and dad.
 

It’s a new message from
him
.
 

Feeling numb, I tap to open it.
 

January 15. Don’t be late with the money again. No excuses this time, Ms. Cantwell.
 

The room slants sideways, and a sourness hits the back of my throat. I brace a hand against the wall, my breaths heavy, my head spinning. I want to delete the email and scrub his message from my brain but it doesn’t matter. He’ll keep sending more.
 

My knees go weak, and I curl up into the ball right next to the door. The phone tumbles out of my hand, bouncing onto the carpet.
 

“God, what am I going to do?” I whisper to no one.
 

Even out on the ocean, there’s nowhere to hide.

Chapter 3

Jace

Georgia barely makes it to the start of the safety session; if she were any later, the crew assigned to our “Safety muster group” would have had to go find her. Not super considerate, but then again, Georgia’s focus doesn’t usually extend beyond herself.

The crew goes over safety procedures, and I fervently hope we won’t need to know any of this, because some of my fellow passengers can’t even seem to work a life vest. But eventually the session ends, and as the ship leaves the dock we’re officially invited to have the time of our lives on board the
Radiant Star
.

Someone shouts out a rip-roaring, “So where’s the bar?” and the crowd breaks into laughter. No doubt that’s one of my Psi Alpha Psi brothers—and sure enough, I find them in a circle with some Kappa girls by the windows overlooking the ship’s stern. They’re all greeting each other and chatting about everyone’s flight down to Miami, and I join in as the other passengers head off towards the viewing deck, the pools, the buffet. I overhear one guy tell his wife she could find him at the casino. Who comes on a cruise to the Caribbean to play slot machines?

Out of the corner of my eye I spot Georgia making for the other door, hands in her hoodie pockets and head down as if trying to slip out without any of us seeing her. What is her deal, anyway? Over the last semester she’s been acting strangely, snubbing our parties and hiding in her room as much as possible.
 

Is she doing drugs or something? But I have unfortunate first-hand experience with how someone looks strung out—thanks, Dad—and my gut tells me she’s not using. Plus, I can’t imagine prim Georgia Cantwell snorting a line. The few times I was in the same room as her last semester, she seemed like her mind was elsewhere, and her brow was creased in a way that could have been worry but was probably just annoyance at having to hang out with the likes of me.

Something about her face right now, though … she’s so pale, like she’s seen the ghost of Flipper or something. My eyes narrow, but then I turn away. She has made it perfectly clear that even though we’re roommates, she wants nothing to do with me. I should focus on having fun. Half the girls are already in bikinis and various filmy cover-ups, which makes me smile. With all the eye candy around, how could I help but have fun on this trip?

Pete, one of my Alpha brothers, looks a little nervous. Leaning over, I grin at him.

“When are you going to do it?” I ask, quietly enough that no one else hears. He shushes me anyway, then shrugs uncertainly.

“Don’t know. Gotta find the right moment, you know?”

I punch his shoulder in support. “Good luck, man.”

“Look who I found!” I hear, and turn to see Parker, one of the Kappa girls. Her red curls bounce as she grins and loops her arm around Georgia’s shoulders. Guess my roomie didn’t manage to escape after all.
 

Georgia aims a frozen smile at all of us, focusing on no one in particular. Everyone makes room for the two of them as we all make plans to stake out part of the deck surrounding the Sunshine pool, which has a swim-up bar.

“You’re not in your bathing suit yet,” Parker says to Georgia. “Want me to come with you while you change?”

“Actually, I thought I might take a nap,” Georgia says. Her voice is smooth like light honey, not sharp the way it was earlier with me. She seems composed, restrained as usual, except … I frown. Are her hands trembling?
 

“No naps!” Parker threads her arm through Georgia’s. “You’re going to get changed and then hang out with Yas and me. End of discussion.”
 

They head off towards the elevators with the other members of our group who haven’t changed yet. The rest of us troop out onto the Lido deck around the Sunshine pool. I claim a lounge chair by taking my shirt off and dropping it on the white slats, along with my towel and room key and such.

The water looks amazing, and so far it’s relatively empty. I rectify that by jumping in. Pete follows, cannonballing into the pool and making his girlfriend Chloe and two other Kappa girls squeal in surprise at getting splashed.
 

“Hey there,” I hear behind me, and turn in the water to see Samantha, a Kappa junior with legs a mile long. I can’t see those legs under the water, but I do see her sultry smile as she floats over. She’s already found a paddleboard.

“Hey yourself,” I say easily, then start to turn away.

“I’m so glad you came on this trip, Jace. I kept wanting to hang out more all semester, but it never seemed to happen.”

It never happened because I’ve been avoiding her, hoping she’ll get the hint. Samantha is stunning, but she wants a boyfriend, and I don’t want to get involved. Hooking up would only make things more awkward at Greek functions, so I’ve been ducking her.

“I’m glad I came on the trip too. You know what? I need a drink.” With that, I dive to swim to the other side of the pool and climb the ladder, bypassing the swim-up bar for the one across the deck so that Samantha can’t corner me. By the time Georgia returns—and I hate to realize that I’m watching for her—I have a beer cup in hand and have met two attractive bikini-clad girls from Florida State University. They and their friends seem thrilled to meet me and the rest of the Alpha guys, and I start to relax under their appreciative glances and casual flirtations.

Georgia looks good in a black two-piece, though seeing her in it makes me realize how much weight she’s lost. A year ago, she had the kind of curves that made a man unable to finish a sentence. I hate it when girls starve or vomit themselves thin—and in retrospect, that’s totally what she was doing earlier today—to fit some stupid ideal, and I wish she hadn’t. But girls like Georgia always care more about appearances than being real.

Realizing I’m spending way too much time thinking about my snooty roommate, I remind myself that she’s no longer my type. Unfortunately, my body isn’t getting the memo.

With her reddish-brown hair sleek again instead of fetchingly frazzled like it was earlier, Georgia appears as she usually does: prim, gorgeous, untouchable. There’s no hint of the miserable-looking girl puking in the plastic trash can in our stateroom an hour ago. Instead she’s all sun goddess, and I can’t help thinking about how we’re going to be sleeping in the same cabin for six nights. What does she sleep in? Please, let it be something slinky.

Then again, this is Georgia I’m talking about. She probably has silk pajamas, so modest I’ll never see more than an ankle. I know I’ll still be imagining what’s under them.
 

My skin feels warm, and though partly it’s from fantasizing about Georgia, I also realize I never put on any sunscreen. I grab a bottle from Dan, one of my frat brothers, and sit down on my lounge chair, which is a row behind and a couple over from Georgia’s. She doesn’t see me as she chats with Yasmin, who’s already stretched out on her lounger to make the most of the warm Florida sun.

“I’m so glad I sprang for the balcony,” Yasmin says. “How’s your room?”

“Tiny. Filled with Jace’s stuff.” Georgia’s voice is flat, and I glance up from slathering sunscreen to see her make a face. Yasmin cocks her head.

“Everything okay with you and Jace?”
 

Georgia shrugs. “It’s fine.”

“What’s wrong? Did he try something with you earlier?”

“No, he …” She pauses, and I see a hint of a smile curl her mouth. “He was in a towel most of the time. Just a towel. Sort of … distracting.”

I feel my muscles tighten. Georgia, Her Highness, found me distracting?

“Nice,” Yasmin says, but right as I’m feeling flattered, she gives Georgia a sober glance. “Be careful with him, sweetie. You know how he is—he’s probably going to try real hard to get you to hook up with him.”

Georgia shrugs her slim pale shoulders, left bare by her swimsuit.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m
so
not interested.”

Ouch. I mean, not that
I’m
interested, but can’t we go back to how distracting I was in a towel? Damnit, now I’m feeling stung. I slap sunscreen onto my legs faster.

“What are you wearing to the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow?” Yasmin says, setting her magazine down on her chair. “You brought that shimmery gold dress from Nordstrom, right?”
 

Georgia winces, and for a moment I swear she looks like she might cry. Before she can answer, though, Parker arrives with a pitcher of margaritas in one hand and three cups in the other. I escape before Georgia notices me, and play pool volleyball for a while. The girls from FSU are playing too, and one of them, a cute curvy blonde who’s exactly my type, is definitely interested.
 

“Let’s go give the girls a refill,” Dan says when I take a break for a beer. I follow his glance to the lounge chairs and groan.

“Please don’t make me play wingman on this trip. Parker is never going to give you the time of day.” But when he orders a pitcher of margaritas I follow him dutifully, because that is what a brother does, even if it means being around miss
I’m
so
not interested
again.
 

Georgia is reading on a fancy tablet, something I’d love to be able to afford. Dan pours Parker and Yasmin fresh drinks, but Georgia declines, putting her hand over her still-full cup. I notice all the ice has melted, so it’s not a new drink.
 

I nod at her tablet screen. “Whatcha reading there?”
 

She glances up, and for some reason her cheeks turn pink.
 

“Nothing,” she murmurs, turning off the screen.
 

“Were you writing down our ground rules?” I say. Yasmin and Parker share a puzzled glance, so I explain, “Lady Cantwell here has set up a bunch of ‘roommate’ rules I have to follow.”

“You didn’t, Georgia!” Yasmin says, slapping Georgia’s arm.
 

“He’s exaggerating,” she says. I ignore her annoyed expression.

“I’m totally not.”

“Wait, wait, you have to tell us what these rules are,” Dan says. “Let me guess: no walking around naked?”
 

“No nicknames. Pick up after yourself,’” I mimic Georgia. “And under no circumstances am I allowed to hit on her.” I grin, because Georgia is glaring at me now, and it’s fun to get under her skin. At least when she’s angry, she’s not wearing her prim, blank expression. “I think she’s afraid that my natural charm will melt her wall of ice and turn her to butter in my arms.”

Dan laughs. Georgia scowls, shoving her sunglasses on her face.

“Are you still moving to New York after graduation, Dan?” Parker asks, and they chat about future plans. Dan is starting law school early at NYU. Yasmin and Parker are heading off to grad school. Georgia doesn’t participate in the discussion, instead applying a new layer of sunscreen. I try not to watch her smooth it over her skin, but it’s pretty damn hard.
 

Finally I stop trying to ignore her the way she seems to want me to, and plop myself on the foot of her chair. She yanks her feet away, tucking her knees against her chest.