“Stella,” I called her name quietly. Her gaze flicked up to mine before she looked back at what she was doing. “I’m sorry about last night. After I got done with my work, I tried to make it to find you, but at every turn, I was stopped. I couldn’t very well send you a note saying I couldn’t meet up for our rendezvous.”
“I fell asleep waiting for you. Do you know what it feels like to be stood up on a boat?” Tears filled her eyes that she tried to quickly blink away, making me feel like an even bigger asshole.
I wanted nothing more than to be able to take her hands in mine or to be able to hold her in my arms, but that wasn’t a possibility with everyone around. “I can’t imagine it felt good. I’m sorry. I truly am. If I could have gotten away without being caught, I would have. Please don’t doubt that.”
“Alright, you hogged him enough. Now it’s our turn,” Reagan said, breaking our moment.
Closing the cap on the oil, Stella’s sad brown eyes met mine. “Is it crazy that I hate the thought of them touching you?”
“Not at all. Believe me when I say I don’t want them touching me either. I wish I could hold you right now and kiss you until you knew how sorry I am for standing you up last night,” I admitted, hoping Stella could read the sincerity in my words.
“Me too, but you need to go before Kylie becomes suspicious.” Handing me back the oil, Stella’s fingers brushed against mine and held for only a moment before they were gone.
What the hell was this woman doing to me? I barely knew her, and yet the pull to her was too strong to deny.
“Who’s next,” I asked as I turned away from her.
Reagan’s hand shot up quicker than lightning, “That would be me.”
I wanted so badly to turn and look at Stella, but I knew I couldn’t.
“I’ll join you. Two is always better than one,” Zelda added.
Handing over the oil, I said. “You can each do an arm.”
“Only an arm?” Reagan pouted, and it wasn’t cute like when Stella had done it.
I shrugged, not knowing how to answer her. Personally, I didn’t want her hands on me at all. I knew Zelda was doing it all in good fun, but I had a feeling Reagan only wanted to touch me to piss off Stella.
“We want to go into Mallorca to shop and have lunch, and the Captain said you and Scout would escort us.”
“We’d be happy to escort you. When would you like to go?” I tried to keep my mind on the conversation and not on how Reagan’s hand kept ‘accidentally’ slipping from my arm and touching my chest, and then how her fingers would linger around the waistband of my pants until I picked her hand up and removed it.
“Hmm,” Zelda hummed. “I’m thinking in an hour or so.”
“We can make that work. Is there anything special you’re looking for? I can have one of the girls come along who knows the shops.”
“We won’t need them. Just you and Scout will be fine. But no, we just want to explore the city and do a little shopping. I know Stella is looking for some new bathing suits.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.
That caught my attention. I was all for seeing Stella in more barely-there bikinis that showed off her tanned skin and lush curves.
A throat cleared from behind me. “If we’re going to be leaving the boat in an hour, I’m going to get ready. That way, Pen can get ready after me.”
“I guess we all should start getting ready. It will take me at least an hour to get presentable.” In all actuality, Zelda looked better the way she was than without makeup, but I wasn’t going to say anything if it would get her to take her hands off me.
“I’m sad you didn’t get a chance to feed me my fruit.” Snapping her fingers, Zelda ordered. “Kylie, please bring the fruit tray that was prepared to my room.”
My stomach fell to the floor. What if she wanted me to come into her room to feed her while she got ready? There was no way in hell that was happening.
“Yes, ma’am.” Kylie picked it up off the bar and promptly left.
I took a step back away from the women. “I should let Scout know we’ll be leaving soon and make sure the Captain doesn’t need anything either.”
“Aww, but Pen didn’t get to put oil on you,” Zelda frowned.
“That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll get another chance to have my hands on a hot guy.” Pen stood and walked quickly from the room.
“What’s up with her? Normally she’d be all over a hot guy.”
Looking off in the direction Penelope fled, Reagan said, “She’s so up Stella’s ass, I bet it has something to do with her.”
With friends like Reagan, who needed enemies?
Before anyone could change their minds, I left the room as quickly as possible without it looking like I wanted to escape. As I was rounding the corner to go down the stairs, I ran into Stella in the hallway. My hands went around her waist to keep her from falling.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I was...escaping from your friends and wasn’t watching where I was going. I shouldn’t have been so distracted while walking the halls.”
“Shh.” She placed her index finger over my mouth and looked up at me with a soft expression on her face. “Don’t apologize when you have your hands on me.”
“I like that rule.” I kissed the finger she still had pressed to my lips. “I’m sorry about you having to watch as your friends touched me.” I laughed at my words. “I never thought I’d say that to a girl before.”
“I never thought I’d hear them, and if it was under different circumstances, it would be totally unacceptable, but I can’t make waves when Zelda is paying for all of this.”
With Stella’s words, I wanted to know more about her and hoped I’d get a chance today and tonight. It would only be another day before I’d have to watch her walk away and likely never see her again.
“We should separate before we’re caught, but first, can I kiss you?” My hands tightened their hold on her.
Lifting up on her toes, Stella cupped my face with both hands and licked along the seam of my mouth. It was hot as fuck and made me groan deep in my chest.
Opening to her, I sucked on her tongue until I felt her leg wrap around my hip and knew we needed to stop before we got caught. If O saw me, she’d have no problem telling Captain Dan about my indiscretion.
Pulling away from her was one of the hardest things I had to do. I hoped once I fucked her, Stella would be out of my system. It shouldn’t have already been so difficult to part with her, especially knowing I’d be seeing her in an hour.
Moving my hands to her shoulders, I kissed her on the nose. “Go get ready, and I’ll see you soon.”
Stella had a dreamy look in her eyes when I left her standing in the hallway.
7
Remy
“Let’s split up. Scout can take Zelda and me, and Remy can go with you two,” Reagan pointed at Pen and Stella.
“Sounds good to me,” Stella said and started to walk in the opposite direction from the other two. “I swear they are trying to make a sport out of shopping. There’s only so much you can do in a town this size.”