Page 15 of Sailor's Delight

Jenn shook her head, still breathing hard. “Your turn. Get a condom.” She pointed to her suitcase in the closet. “Top front pocket.”

Trey pushed off the bed, replaced his glasses, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. He walked toward the closet, and Jenn scooted herself up further onto the bed.

When he bent to pick up his shirt, she didn’t think anything of it. But when he slipped his arms into it, then turned to face her and backed to the door, Jenn scrunched her face in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s a long cruise. Gotta leave you wanting more, otherwise you’ll get tired of me.” He smiled, pulling the door handle.

Jenn laughed in confusion. He had to be joking. “Are you serious? Get back here!”

He undid the latch and pulled the door handle, releasing the dead bolt, and opened the door.

Jenn scrambled, pulling the comforter up to cover her. “What the hell?” she whispered. “Where are you going?”

“Come over when you’re dressed, and we’ll go grab some dinner!”

“Trey!”

“You’re beautiful!”

As the door clicked shut, Jenn continued to stare at it in equal parts confusion, disappointment, and annoyance.

“What the hell?” she breathed.

Chapter 5

Trey heard the door click closed and swallowed hard. He looked around the hallway. It was empty except for Ricardo, busily doing some sort of housekeeping a few doors down. When he saw Trey leave 12359, a funny look came over his face. His mouth fell open, and his brows furrowed slightly. If Trey didn’t know better, he would have bet it was disbelief stamped on Ricardo’s features.

Suddenly incredibly aware of his erection, Trey stuck his hands in his pockets and backed toward his cabin door, grinning awkwardly.

Fortunately for him, once Ricardo had recognized who and from where he was entering the hall, he’d staunchly turned his back on and pretended adamantly not to notice Trey. In his current state, that suited Trey just fine.

Without a word, Trey fed his card into the reader on his door and scrambled to get it open as quickly as possible.

Finally on the other side of the door, he closed it with a long shaking exhale, leaning his head back against the cold metal. He groaned as he took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes and the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. He’d made a mistake.

At Jenn’s mention of a condom, he’d panicked. If he’d been thinking at all, he just would have gone along with it. What would it have hurt to just have sex with a condom, even if the condom was unnecessary? Absolutely nothing, that’s what.

If he had any sense at all, he’d go right back over there right now and finish making love to her. Operation be damned, he should just go finish making love to the woman who was obviously happy to have him.

He groaned again, running his hand backward through his hair in exasperation. His guilt had gotten the better of him. It always did. He hated feeling like he was keeping secrets. Surprises were one thing. Secrets were another, entirely. Surprises were secrets with expiration dates. Secrets were just lies of omission gone rancid.

Surprises… Trey reached out and slid the closet door to one side, exposing the small valuables safe secured to the shelf inside. Punching in the four digit code he’d chosen (Jenn’s birthday), he pulled back the door at the audible click of the locks disengaging.

Taking a deep breath, he reached inside and removed a black velvet bag. Undoing the closure at the top, he reached in with two fingers and delicately brought out the object inside.

It had cost him just over $1,000, which he thought was a fair price. He’d felt satisfied with his purchase.

Now, looking down at the piece of skillfully crafted metal in his hand, he wasn’t sure even its effects would be enough to fix the damage he’d just caused. He’d really stepped in it with this one.

The rapid, hard knock on the door confirmed his worst fears.

“Just a sec!” he called, racing to get the object back in the bag and returned to the safe.

The safe beeped loudly when he locked it again. He grimaced.What are the chances that Jenn didn’t hear that on the other side of the door?

He turned and pulled the door open, putting what he thought was an easy smile on his face.