“Hell no. About hooking up.”
“Um-hmm. You definitely need a rebound lay. How about that redhead leaning against the railing? She looks like she might be up for an Alaskan manly man.”
I snorted and flicked a quick glance at the chick, but my gaze bounced right back to Noel. She looked like a golden goddess tonight. Some dude was going to get extremely lucky. I clenched my teeth. He’d better treat her right. If he tried to get rough, I’d hunt him down and beat his sorry ass.
I lifted my chest. “Let’s split up and assess the situation.”
Noel nodded once. “I’ll head down—see what sort of nefarious activity is taking place in the bowels of the ship. Meet back here in about an hour?”
“Yup. Let’s flush out some vampires.”
Noel grinned on her way down the staircase, swaying her hips as she took each step down. My eyes trailed her ass to the floor below. For a petite woman, Noel had a skill for working with everything she had.
Good for her.
Several dudes craned their heads to check her out as she passed. There was a sea of women around me, but I kept staring at Noel until she disappeared from my sight. Good thing she didn’t look back. I didn’t need her catching me ogling her like some kind of creeper. Damn dry spell was going to my head.
My ex was always complaining at the end of our relationship. It had almost been a relief when she left. But all the rage she’d unleashed had worn me out, stalling my instincts to go on a rebound.
This was a great night to change the sad state of my celibacy. I needed to bury the memory of Ashley between another pair of legs. I missed the companionship as much as the sex. It was nice to have someone to go out to dinner with. I enjoyed our outdoor adventures and cozy movie nights on the couch.
A heavy weight filled my chest like concrete.
Damn it, man! Time to move on. Plenty of fish in the sea or, in this case, already on the boat.
I checked out a curvy cutie in a tight cocktail dress. When she caught me looking, I winked. Her lips parted in surprise and, perhaps, interest. Hmm. That might be one to follow up with depending on how this night played out. Duty first. Fun later.
I glanced down the staircase. I really felt like checking things out the next level down. Shrugging to myself, I did a speedy descent of the stairs, taking swift steps through a doorway. A haunting melody filled the very large, very packed room charged with sexual energy. I could see why. Gorgeous women, showing more skin than cloth, undulated to the seductive rhythm. Movement above had me checking out two more beautiful ladies swinging from the ceiling. One had dusty purple hair and the other, blue. They wore cage bras in ivory fringe with light gold-and-ivory bustle skirts that draped over the swing from their derrieres. I stopped to admire their shapely bare legs dangling down like bait I was tempted to grab hold of.
The sexy swing ornaments were accompanied by more special effects. This room had a ghost band floating over the heads of the crowd below. Neat trick. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time we’d run across rich, showy vampires who used finesse to lure new victims. They’d invited the wrong hunters. Blood for blood.
I made my way through the crowd carefully, scanning necks for bite marks and mouths for any signs of sharpened molars or smudges of blood. A momentary distraction, in the form of a couple groping and making out like they meant to make a baby on the dance floor, had me stopped in my tracks to watch the show.
A model-tall woman in a long pink gown looked over at the couple and shook her head. “Maybe you two should get a room,” she suggested, arching an immaculate brow.
“I don’t mind,” I said with a mixture of approval and longing.
The woman in pink turned her disapproving frown on me before huffing and storming off in the direction of the doorway.
“I think you scared her off,” I said to the couple, not expecting them to hear me over the music.
The woman pulled her lips off her date, met my eye with a saucy gleam, and snorted. “Sure it wasn’t you?”
I rubbed my chin a moment and watched Pretty in Pink exit the room before answering, “Nah.”
I continued through the crowd, not minding that partygoers bumped up against me. Being in the thick of things made my blood pump and my body charge with a feeling of aliveness. I craved that feeling the way I craved sex.
Speaking of carnal activities, the energy in this room made my fingers itch to pull the first willing woman I could find against me to rub pelvises and call it “dancing.” My dick was beyond ready to tango with a sexy cha-cha.
A light hand on the back of my shoulder had me pausing in place. That was fast. Think and you shall receive. Best cruise ever—even if it was a trap. I was all about mixing business with pleasure.
The hand circled me as the woman moved against my shoulder to face me and—
Noel stepped in front of me, leaning in to be heard over the music.
“What happened to us splitting up?”
I put my hand on her waist and pulled her closer. “I changed my mind. We’re in uncharted waters. The smart play is to double up.”
“Since when are you into doing things the smart way?” Noel gave a throaty chuckle that caused my groin to stir.
“Got a funny feeling about tonight.”
“Yeah, something is off about this party,” she agreed.
Noel pulled away from me and looked toward the back of the room. I followed her gaze to a bar flanked by open coffins filled with shelves of liquor and bottles of blood. I could detect its metallic odor from where we stood.
Real smooth.
“Not even trying to hide it,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “Well, we know exactly where to find our fanged foes. Why don’t the vamps put up a neon OPEN sign while they’re at it?”
I surged forward to get a closer look. At a bar between the coffins, a bombshell in a black bodysuit mixed drinks, managing to keep her lacy elbow sleeves out of her concoctions. Her bone-white hair, blood-red eyes, and bat tattoo on her left shoulder were dead giveaways—like the open coffin shelves.
“Harper,” I said as Noel sidled up beside me. “Vampire at twelve o’clock.”
Noel blew out a low whistle. “Damn. She’s hot.”
“Thinking about switching teams?” I asked smugly.
“At this exact moment, I kinda am.”
Her response was enough to tear my gaze away from the magnetic pull of the white-haired woman’s skin-tight lace-up leggings. Noel looked the woman over from tits to toes with open admiration. My sight went hazy as I entertained a fantasy of gold on black, the two women making out as they clawed at their sleeveless tops until breasts were freed and nipples teased beneath tongues while I stood watching.
“Something to drink, friend?” a male voice inquired beside me.
“Hmm,” I hummed between my lips. A beer would be the scoop of vanilla on top of the cherry pie while I watched Noel get it on with a smoking hot dominatrix. “What do you have on tap?” I turned to the bartender, a blond guy in a muscle tank and leather harness. He had tats down one arm and an open smile beneath emerald eyes.
“Whatever you want,” he said.
My attention turned briefly to Noel then back to the bartender. The dude was most definitely not a hostile. He looked like his blood ran hot and he had an open, honest, trustworthy look about him. The jury was still out on his offer of anything though.