“I’m a cyber security consultant.”

  His eyebrows jumped. “Wow. That’s almost a tongue twister.”

  I chuckled. “This early in the morning, yeah, it kind of is.”

  “So, what? Like keeping companies from getting hacked?”

  “More or less. Keeping networks secure, preventing data and identity theft…that kind of thing.”

  Andrew whistled. “In this day and age, you must be busy as hell.”

  “You could say that.” I paused for some coffee. “This is actually my first vacation since we started the firm. I mean, there’ve been a couple of three-day weekends here and there, but it was mostly six-day weeks and fourteen-hour days for a long, long time.”

  “Jesus. Sounds like you were long overdue for some time off.”

  “Yeah. Now that we finally hired some new staff and delegated some of the workload, we can actually do it. And this was supposed to be…” My coffee turned acidic in my stomach. Fuck. I’d let my mind go there without even realizing it, and now my good mood was threatening to vacate. I cleared my throat. “This was supposed to be my honeymoon.”

  Andrew tensed. “Your honeymoon?”

  Staring out at the city, I nodded. “Yeah. I busted him cheating, and we called everything off.” I laughed bitterly. “This part was non-refundable, though, so I figured, why not?”

  “No point in wasting the tickets, right?” He sounded like he was trying to make a joke, but he was uneasy.

  I looked at him again, and my hackles—which I hadn’t even felt go up—went down. I smiled and put a hand over his. “I’m glad I decided not to waste them.”

  He smiled back, if a bit nervously. “Yeah. Me too.”

  With my free hand, I picked up my coffee cup. “The really fucked up thing is it’s weirder to be away from work than it is to be moving on without him. Guess I should take that as a sign. I’m done with him, but it’s weird, being away from the office this long.”

  That seemed to ease relax Andrew a bit. “How long have you been gone?”

  “Almost…” I mentally calculated. “A little over two weeks now. I spent a few days in London and a week in Barcelona. After the cruise, I’ve got another two weeks in Italy. Mainly Rome, but I’m sure I’ll wind up going someplace else while I’m there.”

  “Wow. Rome.” Andrew sighed. “That’s one place I’ve always wanted to go.”

  “Good thing the boat lets off there, right?”’

  “Well, sort of. Isn’t the port like two hours away?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Eh, isn’t like I have time anyway.” He shook his head. “We’re flying out the day the ship pulls in. I might get to see Rome from the air on my way out, but…”

  “That’s a shame. You’ll have to come back and see it for real.”

  “I know, right? But I need to get back to Des Moines and see about, you know, finding a paycheck.” The faintest hint of bitterness laced his voice.

  I frowned. “I’m sorry to hear it. Job hunting is a pain in the ass.”

  “It really is.” He took a deep swallow of coffee, and shrugged as he put the cup down. “But I’ve got another ten days or so before I have to worry about it too much, so I’m just going to do my best to enjoy this time while I’ve got it.”

  Grinning, I leaned a little closer. “I’m pretty sure I can help with some of that.”

  “Oh, I know you can.” He winked as his expression brightened. “I’m counting on it.”

  After breakfast, we went back to my stateroom under the pretense of taking a shower. Didn’t matter that we’d both already showered. It sounded like a good idea to grab another one. Together. Which we did. Eventually.

  It was almost noon when we finally got dressed again and went out exploring the ship. We wandered the decks at a leisurely stroll, which was about all either of us could manage at this point. I couldn’t possibly imagine why he hadn’t wanted to go out and walk through Valencia with a fast-paced tour group; if he was half as sore as I was, he’d have been miserable.

  But our unhurried pace was comfortable and relaxed, especially on the nice flat decks of the ship. I was amazed at how much ground there was to cover, though. The vessel had seemed enormous on the website, but in person it was absurdly huge. The decks were packed with shops and restaurants of every variety imaginable. At one point, Andrew and I spent a good twenty minutes speculating about how rich someone had to be to pay for a cruise and still have enough cash leftover to drop fifty large on a gold Rolex.

  “Being loaded enough to buy a watch like that as a vacation souvenir.” He’d shaken his head and whistled as we’d walked away from the jeweler. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “Hey, when you’ve got that much money to burn, a snow globe just isn’t going to cut it, you know?”

  We’d exchanged glances, snorted, and laughed as we’d continued along the promenade to check out the other absurdly expensive shops.

  One of the gift shops still sold film, which surprised the hell out of both of us. People still used film cameras? Kodak still existed? The mind boggled.

  We wandered, we chatted, we had a leisurely lunch at yet another onboard restaurant, and…and I fucking loved this.

  But it kind of gnawed at me too. Up until a few weeks ago, I’d been engaged to Chris. We’d been together for almost five years. So why couldn’t I remember the last time I’d done this with him? Not being on a cruise, but just wandering aimlessly, talking about nothing, enjoying being together without feeling like we had to be somewhere? It was such a simple thing, and it wasn’t something that required flying halfway around the world and getting on a gigantic, people-packed ship. Chris and I could have done this any time. Downtown Seattle. Somewhere on the Eastside. Maybe take a ferry over to Bainbridge Island or something. All we’d had to do was come home from work, make the effort to go out, and we could’ve done this.

  But we hadn’t. Not in a long, long time.

  I tamped the thoughts away. I was having an amazing time on my vacation, loving the time I was spending with the hot man I’d just met, and I wasn’t about to tarnish that by wallowing in all the reasons my engagement had ended. Chris had cheated. We were over. End of story.

  Is it the end of the story, though? Is it really?

  Yes. For right now, it was. I’d dig in and think about it later. But not now. That could wait until I wasn’t strolling a cruise ship with a man who was somehow both mind-blowingly hot and ridiculously adorable. Maybe on my flight home after this was all over. Maybe one night in Rome after a few too many glasses of wine.

  But not now.

  Around seven, while Andrew and I were outside soaking up the sun and the warm breeze, people started crowding back onto the ship after their day out in Valencia. We were standing on one of the outer decks, leaning on a railing and watching the throngs of passengers migrating toward the boat. It was a hell of a hike down the long pier, too; my hips were grateful as fuck I hadn’t gone out today. Even walking around the ship had left me a little tender in whatever had been left of me after last night and this morning.

  Beside me, Andrew looked at his watch and sighed. “Damn.”

  “What?”

  He looked at me a little sheepishly. “My parents should be back in an hour or so, and I, uh, promised I’d have dinner with them. You…don’t mind, do you?”

  “Do I mind?” I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Andrew. You’re on a cruise with your family. I’m not going to get butthurt if you want to spend time with them.”

  He eyed me uncertainly.

  “I mean it,” I said. “I’ll go to the gym, and we can meet up at one the bars later on.” I smiled as I drew him in a little closer. “It isn’t like I’m going to bail if I don’t see you for a couple of hours.”

  He laughed softly. “No, I didn’t think you would. I guess I still feel kind of weird about…I don’t know. I’m a grown man and I’m partly joined at the hip with my parents. Probably because they’ve been helping me out since I got laid off, and I…”

  “You don’t like being an adult who feels like he’s depending on his folks.”

  Avoiding my gaze, Andrew nodded.

  “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re lucky as hell to have parents who will keep you afloat during setbacks, you know?” I tipped up his chin so our eyes met. “Go. Enjoy dinner with your parents, and we’ll pick up later tonight.”

  He gave another quiet laugh, blushing as he said, “Do you have any idea how hard it’s going to be to focus on conversation with them when I’m counting down the minutes until I’m with you again?”

  “Can’t imagine. But just in case…”

  I drew him in, pressed my lips to his, and made damn sure he’d be thinking about this until he saw me again.

  Chapter 8

  Andrew

  As promised, I joined my parents for dinner after they’d rested a bit from the Valencia excursion.

  And surprise, surprise—I couldn’t get Eric out of my head. Like, at all. In fact, it was kind of ridiculous. I met my folks at their cabin, and as we headed to one of the bistro restaurants for dinner, we passed by the sundeck where I’d seen Eric tanning before I’d gone into Mallorca yesterday. Just like I did then, I nearly stumbled over my own feet. Had that really only been yesterday morning? And since then we’d met up, hooked up, and spent several hours kicking around the ship like we’d known each other forever?

  Christ, was it time for us to meet up at the bar yet?

  Get a grip, Andrew. Plenty of time later. Spend some time with Mom and Dad, for God’s sake.

  And besides, Eric’s on the rebound. From someone he almost married.

  That thought made me both uneasy and calm. Uneasy because rebounds could be messy. Calm because this meant whatever we were doing was probably just a vacation fling. The end of the cruise would be the end of this, and in the meantime, I was more than happy to help him get over his ex.

  After I’d spent some time with my parents.

  As my folks and I sat down in the bistro, I said, “So, how was Valencia?”

  “Oh, it was lovely.” Mom beamed. She had a little extra pink in her cheeks, and that absolutely did not remind me of Eric’s now-faded sunburn. Oblivious to my mind wandering—again—Mom went on. “The monastery was amazing. You would have loved it, honey.”

  I smiled. “Maybe someday I’ll get back.”

  She frowned. “You’re not going to stay on the ship for all the excursions, are you?”

  “No, no. Of course not. Just needed a day to…” See how many times I could come—I almost choked on nothing. “Just needed to finish shaking off the jetlag, I guess.”

  Mom huffed. “Well, you’ll come out to Cartagena, right? The day after tomorrow?”

  “Sure. Yeah. And I’m definitely doing the Gibraltar tour.”

  “Good.” Dad paused to glance at something on the wine list. “We decided not to do the Alhambra excursion, but we haven’t canceled our tickets in case you still want to go.”

  I thumbed the corner of my menu. “Isn’t that the one where we have to be off the boat by like five in the morning?”

  “I’ve heard the Alhambra is worth it,” Dad said with a shrug.

  I’d heard that too. And I really did want to see the Alhambra. But the thought of being ready to roll at five o’clock, a long bus ride, a walking tour in the heat, and then a long bus ride back? Meh. “I’ll think about it.” For about three nanoseconds. “Why aren’t you guys going?”

  Mom sighed. “I’d love to, but my knee is giving me grief from the last couple of walking tours. Another lady told us the Alhambra tour means a lot of walking, and up and down a lot of stairs and hills.” Grimacing, she shook her head. “I’m worried I’ll be miserable the rest of the trip if I push it.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. “Sorry you’re going to miss that one, though.”

  “Oh, I’ll be all right.” She managed a smile. “We’ll do the tour of the Rock in Gibraltar instead. I hear that one’s fun and not as strenuous.”

  “Long as a monkey doesn’t steal your camera,” Dad said, chuckling.

  Mom actually laughed and didn’t seem all that worried. Damn, this vacation must have been doing her some good. She and I were a lot alike—we both tended to overthink things and worry about the most ridiculous details. That was why we’d clashed so much in the early part of our trip. Like when we were at O’Hare and I’d been worried sick about making it to our gate on time while Mom insisted everyone stop at the restroom. With what had seemed like miles to go until we reached our gate before our flight began boarding in half an hour, I’d balked at the idea of stopping even for a couple of minutes, and the head-butting had begun.

  But now she was going with the flow. Walking tour was potentially too much for the knee she’d had replaced last year? Skip it. Monkeys on Gibraltar might abscond with her camera? Eh, whatever.

  Yeah, she’d needed this trip. And so had I, now that I thought about it. I’d been painfully wound up for the last few weeks—before and after I’d lost my job—and now I was…chill. There was a steady stream of worry through the back of my mind, and I still felt guilty for taking this trip at all, but at the same time, I was more relaxed than I’d been in I had no idea how long. A cruise to beautiful places apparently had that effect.

  Right. Because it’s just the cruise that’s making me feel this good.

  I shivered, squirming in my chair.

  “What’s wrong, honey?” Mom asked. “Are you cold? Should we move away from this vent and—”

  “No, no.” I put up a hand and shook my head. “I’m fine.” I picked up my menu. “We should probably order something.”

  “We should, but are you sure you’re—”

  “I’m good, Mom. I promise.”

  Surprisingly, she let the subject go, and the three of us spent the next few minutes checking out the menus. After we’d ordered, Dad turned to me and casually asked, “So what did you do today?”

  “Um.” I tried not to choke. “Slept a bit.” Mostly with— “And explored the ship.” And had some of the most amazing sex with—“Did you know they sell Rolexes on board? I can’t believe how much money people are willing to spend on watches.”

  Mom laughed dryly. “I don’t imagine there’s much you can’t buy on a cruise ship. I think I even saw them selling other cruises.”

  “Really?” I said. “I mean, I guess nothing really surprises me anymore.”

  “Mmhmm. And speaking of, you know they had a shop in Valencia selling all kinds of things made out of cork?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah?”

  She nodded. “I guess they bring it up from the south. Andalusia or Malaga or something. But they make everything out of it.” She jabbed a finger at Dad. “Your father bought a wallet made out of the stuff, and I found a hat for your nephew.”

  “A hat? Made out of cork?”

  “Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Dad said. “Lady said the best stuff is in Portugal, though. Almost makes me want to take a trip out there just to see what kind of things they’re making out of it.”

  “Huh.” I picked up my water glass. “How about the paella? Did you guys find any?”

  “We did!” Mom’s face lit up. “One of the shopkeepers sent us to this little hole-in-the-wall place. It was amazing.” She shot me a playful scowl. “You really missed out, Andrew.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

  Can’t say I regret it, though.

  I tried not to rush through dinner or through goodnights with my parents. I really did want to spend time with them, and I was grateful as hell they’d brought me along on this cruise.

  But goddamn it was hard to be patient when there was a hot man meeting me in T-minus soon at the Starlight Bar.

  Especially since being away from him gave my mind time to overthink things, and overthinking things just made me anxious. Less than twenty-four hours into this, and my brain was already working itself into a lather. What were we doing? What did Eric expect out of this? What did I expect out of it? It was just a…one-cruise stand, right? We’d fuck as often as possible until the cruise was over, and then we’d go our separate ways. Right?

  And damn it, why did I feel so guilty for doing even that much? I wasn’t supposed to having constant, acrobatic sex on a cruise ship on the Med. I was supposed to be looking for a job.

  On the other hand, I was already here. I was already on the cruise. Already spending my parents’ money every time I had so much as a soda. Already completely ignoring the countless websites I’d bookmarked with job openings. How much worse was it if I was also banging the hottest man onboard? Especially if it meant helping him get over his as-of-recently ex?

  But what if I went back to Des Moines and couldn’t focus on job hunting because I’d let myself get too hung up on Eric? Because knowing me, I would. Didn’t matter that this was obviously a short-term thing.

  Sighing, I took a deep swallow from my ice water. Why the fuck couldn’t I just relax, enjoy the cruise, and enjoy the man who was going to meet me at Starlight Bar in half an hour? Why couldn’t I just throw myself into being hooked on Eric while I had him and worry about the future when it got here?

  Easy—because that wasn’t me. Never had been.

  Except it would be this time. God knew when I’d have a sex life again, and I highly doubted the Here’s a Really Hot Dude for You fairy would bless me twice. Somehow, I was going to turn off that over-anxious voice in my head and enjoy turning on that Really Hot Dude while I had him.

  And not a moment too soon, I had my opportunity to do just that. My parents and I finished dinner and said goodnight, and I damn near sprinted to the Starlight Bar. I was about twenty minutes later than I’d intended to be, and by the time I stepped through the door, I’d convinced myself Eric had gotten tired of waiting for me and gotten the hell out of—

  No, he hadn’t.

  Because there he was.

  My gaze landed on him from across the crowded room, and it was just like when I’d found him last night at the mixer. Everything just…stopped. All the other faces blurred into a single featureless mass while he seemed to sharpen. Every detail of his face and the unbuttoned coat he wore over his T-shirt and the drink in his hand was suddenly high-res and vivid compared to the muddy blur of people around him.