PROLOGUE

“Credit card offer... Bill… Junk… Sale ad… Oh hello… What do we have here?” Kate says as she sorts through the hundreds of emails in her inbox. She opens an email that seems to have been sent by her old high school. She goes on to read a lengthy message that explains that due to the low number of people in her graduating class, the alumni have decided to combine several reunions with multiple class years planning a week-long cruise on an adults-only ship. “Hmmm… do I really want to be trapped on a ship for an entire week with assholes who tormented my friends all those years? On the other hand, I have wanted to book a cruise for a long while now…” After a thorough inner reflection of her selfish nature vs. her disdain for the idiots she graduated with, she clicks to accept and arrange the booking.

Just as she finishes what she is doing, she hears a light tapping at her apartment door. As she opens the door, she’s greeted by the pathetic visage of her neighbor, Joey. “Hi Mistress, I just finished up my workday, and it’s been a real doozy. Any chance we could have a bit of a session tonight?” he asks while leaning in the doorway with pouting lips.

“Eh, I wasn’t planning to get dirty today, but I guess I can do it, but nothing too major. I do not need to be cleaning up your splooge all over my apartment for the rest of the night!” she says, voice full of frustration. “Go shower and wash off that nasty-ass cologne that reeks of desperation. Make sure to use the scouring sponge in the bathroom to thoroughly get yourself clean. And you’re not clean until I see red, got it?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he meekly says as he squeezes through the door and runs for her bathroom.

After a 2-hour session complete with whipping, flogging, pegging, and some serious degradation, they both lay on her living room couch absolutely exhausted and pleased, each in their own way. As they are cooling off under the full speed ceiling fan, Joey sits up a bit and looks adoringly over at Kate. He starts rambling on about his day and other pointless things and eventually says, “You know, we have an amazing thing going on here. We really fit together well. I love you.”

Kate glares at him like he just pissed in her Cheerios. Raising her eyebrow to show her displeasure, she doesn’t say a word, just stares with utter frustration and disappointment. “I’m sorry, Mistress. I shouldn’t have said that. Let’s just pretend this conversation never happened," Joey says as he gets up, starts getting dressed quickly, and moves toward the door.

Kate had been officially single since she left her dirty, rotten, cheating, abusive husband and took him to the cleaners for everything he had. She had been there, done that, got the ugly ass t-shirt and had no intention of ever going back. “This cruise can’t come soon enough. I need to get the fuck out of here before the rest of my playthings decide they wanna marry me and turn me into the barefoot, baby-carrying queen of their double-wide trailer.”

CHAPTER 1

As Kate steps into the check-in area for her impending cruise, she really starts to regret her decision immediately. She’s being bombarded with noise from machinery and what feels like millions of people yelling and talking as they move along like a herd of cattle. Her head starts pounding and she feels dizzy from the overwhelming surroundings. Immediately, she gets squished between one large older man who smells like his idea of a shower is just pouring the original Old Spice aftershave all over his body and an oversized couple who don’t seem to have ever heard of personal hygiene. She tries to shield herself from the obnoxious odors by covering her nose with her delicately scented wrist, thankful that she at least had the forethought to spray herself with a light spritz of Carolina Herrera Good Girl. “Ugh… I guess it’s too late to back out now; all paid for and non-refundable. They sure as hell don’t show this part of the experience on YouTube.”

Stepping toward the check-in counter, she notices the newly hung sign for New Horizons Cruise Line and the shiny gold-colored counter with a young lady extending a very nervous but huge smile toward her. It’s clearly her first day. Suddenly, she realizes that she’s never even heard of this company before. It must be new too, or maybe she really doesn’t know anything about the industry. “Welcome to New Horizons Cruise Line. Can I get your name and confirmation ticket? Oops, I mean number,” the girl at check-in asks, as she fumbles through what is probably a script. “Kate Long, here’s my confirmation email with the number and the barcode in case you need it.” Kate says while trying to be friendly and hold down her building frustration. “Everyone has to start somewhere, and nobody’s perfect,” she thinks as the poor girl types in the number with trembling hands. “It’s OK, Hun, take your time. I’m in no rush at all.” Kate says to the employee, trying her best to be encouraging to a young lady trying to make it in this big world.

After boarding the massive ship, Kate makes her way to her cabin. She had booked a room with a single queen bed but a large bathroom and a window. She didn’t need to pay extra for a balcony or anything fancy like that. If she wanted to feel the ocean, she would just go up on deck. “Ahh finally, a moment to myself,” she says as she lifts her suitcase onto the stand and looks around the room. Just then, she hears yelling coming from the hall. Several of her male classmates were running through the hall screaming like it’s Senior Year Spring Break. Rolling her eyes, she thinks, “I can do this. I will not let my invasive thoughts win. No shoving idiots overboard. That might get me in a tiny bit of trouble.”

She decides to take a walk around the ship to get a good look at all of the amenities. Opening her door, she steps up and sticks her leg out just in time for her old classmate, Austin, to trip over it and fall face first to the floor. “Careful, you keep running everywhere like that, you might just end up overboard at sea,” she says as she casually walks away. Austin and his two friends just look up at her baffled that anyone would have the nerve to stop their fun.

Kate slowly makes her way around the ship, taking in all the beautiful sights. Everything is brand new on this ship, but of course, the beauty is overshadowed by the swarms of people. As she walks outside, she sees a massive pool full of people already. “How the hell have they had time to get changed and make their way to the pool already?” she asks herself. The various hot tubs are even full. Music is blasting, and everyone is dancing around and having a good time. “Ok, this was a mistake. I should have just gone backpacking across Europe.”

She turns around to walk back inside toward one of the restaurants, when she bumps right into the chest of Luke, her old classmate. “Holy shit, it’s you!” he exclaims. “I was hoping to see you here, Katie, and boy am I glad we ran into each other! Man, you are just as gorgeous as the day we graduated.”

She steps back and takes a minute to figure out who she’s looking at. “Oh, it’s you, Luke. It’s been a bit. For a second, I thought you were that shithead, Austin, which wouldn’t make any damn sense, considering I don’t even think he ever knew I existed, but hey, good to see ya!” She moves around him and walks inside. Kate had never been the type to take hints or pick up on social cues.

Feeling absolutely overwhelmed by everything going on around her and now a random social interaction with someone she hadn’t thought about in years, Kate slowly swayed her way over to a nice solid wall to take a minute to breathe. As she leans against the wall, Luke runs up to her with wide-eyed excitement. “Ok I promised myself that if I ran into you, I was not gonna pass up this chance again. I spent every waking moment since meeting you in elementary school thinking about you and trying to work up the nerve to ask you out. I am NOT going to make that mistake again. Kate, will you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight? I know I’m a mess, cause I wasn’t expecting to run into you so damn soon, and I may be a little less than a 10 these days, but it would absolutely make me the happiest guy on this boat if you said yes.”

Looking up at him in utter confusion and still out of breath from her ever so mild panic attack, Kate takes a minute to assess the situation and the tall, muscular, overly tan man standing right in front of her. She starts to open her mouth to respond but realizes that she just can’t make herself speak at that very moment, so she grabs his hand and quickly drags him through the mass of people to a quiet corner in the next room. She picks a few empty chairs and shoves him down in one of the seats before sitting down herself. “Ahh so much better. Ok now we can talk. I couldn’t think clearly in there with all those people. Too many people in there talking all at once.” She takes a deep breath and looks down at her feet for a moment. “Ok, we can give it a shot. I make no guarantees regarding my behavior if the dining room is anything like the room we just left, but I will have dinner with you.”

Clearly unbothered by her panic attack, Luke stands up, pulling her up to her feet and hugs her as tight as humanly possible while saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it!” and dashes off while stripping off his shirt to find his friends, Austin and Jake by the pool.

After having a short breather on her bed to decompress from the day’s stress, Kate takes a long hot shower to wash away the unpleasantness. “Ahh, nothing like a scalding shower to scrub away the bad thoughts of the day.” She eventually gets out, dries her hair, and applies makeup. She then pulls out her black high heel boots and tight black dress. “It’s time people see the real me, not the meek little angel everyone always assumed I was back in the day.”

As she steps outside of her cabin, she sees that Luke is already waiting for her in the hall. “Did you realize your room is just 2 doors down from mine? That’s so cool! Now we can see each other all the time!.” he says in his overly excited tone. Kate tries her best at putting up a smile so as to not show just how creepy that sounded. “One step at a time, Hun, feel free to tone it down anytime,” she says.

They casually walk toward the dining room, where he’s reserved a table for them. They take a seat, and a waiter pours two glasses of wine. “I’ll have the T-bone steak cooked well done with fries. She’ll have a salad,” he says in a rude tone.

“Actually, SHE will have the ribeye steak cooked medium rare with loaded mashed potatoes for the side,” Kate says with a sardonic smile. “Do I look like a rabbit to you? Also, I am very capable of ordering for myself, thank you very much.” She was used to making her own decisions and had been doing so her entire life. No man was ever going to make her down a salad just for the sake of proving his masculinity.

“Well, sorry, I just assumed a hot chick like you, with a body like that, must be on some crazy strict diet to keep up that figure. Besides, my ex-wife used to love it when I ordered for her. Chicks get all hot and bothered when men take over.” Luke says just before he downs the entire glass of wine in front of him.

“Not this chick, and no, I am not going to starve myself just to appeal to some man. The way I look is for me, no one else.” Kate says as she raises her eyebrow at her date, who is clearly already buzzed. She quickly realizes that he must have done some pre-drinking before their dinner.

“Well, someone must be on her period,” Austin says as he and Jake walk up to their table and pull up two extra chairs.

“Katie, you remember my buds, Austin and Jake, right? We were all in the same class.” Luke says as he snaps his fingers for the waiter to bring more wine.

“Hmm, they don’t seem familiar. Must have not been very memorable.” Kate says in response, knowing it’s one sure fire way to piss an egomaniac like Austin off. “So, Ashton, surely you have somewhere else to be, like anywhere but here?” she says, purposely trying to piss him off enough to leave.

“It’s Austin, and are you sure you don’t wanna join us for a party in my room with Jenny and Kali? They’re onboard and ready to live it up. What happens on the ship, stays on the ship, if you know what I mean,” Austin says directly to Luke in an attempt to get him away from that feminist bitch.

“Hey girls, why don’t you come over here a second, we found Luke!” Jake yells toward Jenny and Kali across the room. Of course, Kate remembers every one of them very well from high school. Austin was the most popular kid in school and every girl was drooling over him, except Kate. She never liked guys who spent more time on their looks than she did. Luke was his bestie and was a close second when it came to popularity. He just happened to be a lot friendlier than the other two. Jake was always sort of the third wheel of the three musketeers, but he hung onto every word Austin ever said. He idolized him but had no real personality of his own.

Jenny and Kali rush over to the table throwing their arms around Luke, kissing his cheek. “We missed you! Come and play with us.” Kate just rolls her eyes as Luke pulls the girls off him. Jenny and Kali had taken turns dating all 3 of the boys at one point or another throughout high school and the 2 of them had been ridden harder and more often than a village bicycle. “You know, I’ve had enough of this. Luke, have a good night and make sure you use protection. I doubt even the CDC has officially named all the creepy crawlies and diseases these two have.” Kate says as she stands up from her seat and walks out of the restaurant. Luke is clearly too drunk already to care about anything, and she saw no point in having a conversation with a drunk man even if his friends left them alone.

Kate walks outside on deck to a dark sky lit up by the brightly adorned ship. She can hear the water rushing around the ship as she looks up toward the stars, wondering why the hell she thought any of this was a good idea. “I should have booked an Alaskan cruise or maybe even a nice hotel somewhere in Europe with a world-class spa,” she says to herself. Just as she starts to notice the loud music blasting from the party in the pool area, she feels someone’s hand grab her shoulder. She quickly turns around ready to cause some serious damage, only to find an old familiar face. It’s her old high school flame, Mike, with a concerned look. He’s built up a bit of muscle and his hair is definitely thinning with age, but he still has the bright blue eyes she remembers from high school.

He takes his hand off her, and asks, “Are you ok? I spotted you across the way and you looked upset. I know I’m probably not the person you want anywhere near you right now, or ever for that matter, but I thought you might need someone to talk to.”

She looks up at him, then smiles and starts laughing. “I genuinely did not expect to see you on this trip, but you are certainly a welcome friendly face.” she says with absolute confusion as to how in the hell she managed to run into the one person she regrets hurting all those years ago on the first night of the trip. Although their high school relationship started ok, he was very hesitant to open up to her in the beginning. As they continued to date, he had become obsessed with her and tried to completely control every aspect of her life. He became extremely jealous of everyone she interacted with, even other girls. She couldn’t abide such behavior, so she had to end it, breaking his poor little heart.

She softens her smile and says, “I’m glad to see you here, Mike. It’s been a long time, and I’m sorry for the way things ended between us. Can you forgive me for the way I handled things?”

His face lights up and he says, “I’ve thought about you every single day since you walked away from me. I’ve had a good life, so far, found a wife, who of course left me for another man, but she gave me a daughter, who I love more than anything in this world. It all worked out for the best, but I’d like to give it a shot at being friends, if you’ll consider it.”

With that, she realizes that they might just be able to build a nice friendship. They walk along the ship together catching up. She tells him about the husband she married and divorced and her new life on her own, making soaps and candles to sell online for extra money and to express what little creativity she has inside. He tells her about his career as an architect in the bowels of Hell, also known as Atlanta.

Mike walks Kate back to her room after a long night of chatting and laughing. They pass by Austin and Jake’s room hearing laughing and moaning. Kate just rolls her eyes knowing that they’ve all passed various STDs back and forth constantly since high school and she wants none of that. Then she gets an even worse thought. She has a split second of imagining being tied to one of them for the rest of her life by getting knocked up. She shivers at the horrid thought. She’s brought back to reality by the gentle pull at her hand from Mike. She smiles and leads him to her room.

“You know, since we’re both single, we could have some fun together, if you’re interested of course, as friends, of course,” he says.

She looks into his eyes and looks down to his mildly muscular chest and thinks, “Well, I do remember the sex being pretty good, at least. Oh hell, why not?” She grabs him around the neck, kissing him, and opens the door to her room, dragging him in.

As the door closes, he grabs her and pins her to the wall of the room, kissing her lips and neck. He uses one hand to hold her by the neck as his other travels down her body, slowly. She pulls his shirt off, revealing a thin, but muscular chest with a singular black broken heart tattoo. He turns her around, and slowly unzips her black dress and lets it drop to the floor. He steps back to enjoy the view of her massive chest that he remembers very vividly from back in the day. She steps forward, unclasps his belt, unzips his pants, and carefully slides his pants and boxers over his massive erection and to the floor. She shoves him onto the bed and climbs on top. He sits up and kisses her while reaching around to unhook her black lace bra. Mike takes her breasts in his hands, squeezing them together, licking and sucking. He flips her on her back and kneels between her legs, pulling her little black thong off. He kisses down her stomach all the way to her little kitten and gives it a good lick.

“Oh, get inside of me already!” she says with impatience. He gives a devious grin and thrusts his large, pulsating erection inside with one rough push. She gasps at the feeling of sudden fullness from his nine-inch rod. He grabs at her throat and holds it tight as he thrusts in and out of her. She moans and screams in utter ecstasy. They take turns, swapping positions for hours before he finally gives one extra strong pump and explodes inside her. They lie in her bed absolutely exhausted and satisfied, then fall asleep together.

CHAPTER 2

Kate wakes up naked and alone in her bed. “Finally, a man who knows when to leave without being told.” she thinks to herself. She gets up and starts getting ready for the day with a long, hot shower. She dresses in tennis shoes, cargo shorts, and a tank top, brushing her hair up into a high and tight ponytail. Kate quietly leaves her room, so as not to disturb the other passengers and makes her way on deck to enjoy the pool area before the crowds come out.

Taking in the refreshing sea breeze, she slowly strolls around, and eventually takes a seat on one of the loungers by the pool. “Now if only cruises could be like this the entire time,” she says to herself, taking in a deep breath, realizing that this will probably be her last chance at peace and quiet for the duration of the trip.

An hour later, people begin making their way toward the area, which she takes as her sign that it’s time to head over toward the dining hall for breakfast. She moves through the buffet line getting as much as she can, because she really doesn’t want to brave that crowd again if at all possible, and finds an empty table by a window to sit at and gaze out the window at the sea. Just as she begins to dive in, Mike sits down across from her. “Hope you don’t mind, I thought we could hang out together today. Sorry I had to bolt like that last night. I assumed it was a casual thing and you wouldn’t wanna see my ugly mug first thing in the morning,” he says with a smile.

She gives a small laugh and says, “That’s quite alright. I appreciate the gesture, and yes, I’d be happy for you to tag along when it’s time for our excursion. I’ve got a lovely jungle tour planned, and I thought I might enjoy some local cuisine beforehand.” Kate takes out her phone and contacts the tour group to add another person to the list. They then proceed to spend the rest of the morning talking and laughing with one another until nearly lunchtime.

Around noon, the ship docks at their first port for an excursion. Everyone is lined up and full of excitement to visit a new country, try new and exotic foods, and in some cases, get into all manner of trouble. Kate joins the queue with Mike close by her side. Luke immediately spots her from way behind and tries to yell for her attention, but she ignores him, pretending not to hear over all the commotion.

Once they make it on land, Kate and Mike quickly mingle within the crowd to avoid getting spotted by Luke and his buddies. They manage to sneak into a local restaurant where the pair enjoys a leisurely meal of heavily spiced fried pork with fried plantain chips. After they finish their delightful food, they walk out and revel in the sounds of the local street performers playing music as they go in search of the tour guide they are scheduled to meet.

Mike and Kate make it to the office of the local guide just in time, only to be greeted with a very unwelcome sight. “Ugh… shit shit shit. Could they not have booked an hour at the local brothel or something instead?” Kate asks as they walk up toward a large group, which includes her new least favorite crew, Luke and all his closest friends.

Mike grabs at her hand, squeezing it. “Relax, I got your back. If they try anything, let me handle it.”

Luke runs up with a huge, dopey smile on his face and pulls Kate into a hug so tight, she struggles to breathe. She shoves him off and says, “Dude, boundaries! Nobody touches me without permission.”

He tilts his head, looking as confused as a dog being told to do a cartwheel, but quickly recovers. “I’m just so happy we get to spend more time together today. I know our date didn’t exactly end the way I had hoped, so it’s great that we get a do-over now,” he says.

Mike steps forward and wraps an arm around Kate, kissing her on the cheek then neck. “Sorry, man, not happening. I saw the shit you got up to last night, and I decided to take over where you left off. Turns out our girl here really needs to let off some steam. You riled her up good and proper. She was going ALL night long,” Mike says with a devious grin on his face.

Luke gets a shocked look on his face then turns beet red from anger before walking back to his friends with his head hung low. “Thanks for that, I do love it when shitheads get what they deserve.” Kate says to Mike.

Everyone files onto the bus, and they’re driven to a large conservation area. “Ladies and gentlemen, please be careful not to touch or pick up anything. There are animals in this zone that can and will kill you with one bite. Stay on the path and do not stray from the group. We have had people get lost, and it did not end well for them.” The tour guide yells, as the group walks off the bus into the steaming, hot jungle. Monkeys are all over the place, staring at their newest marks, and the local flora appears to have nearly taken over the path, as they walk through.

Twenty minutes into their walk, Jenny starts acting up and telling everyone, “I have to pee. How long ‘til we get to a bathroom?” The tour guide only replies that there are no bathrooms, and that she will just have to hold it. Jenny takes a moment to think, looks around, and decides to sneak behind some trees in the jungle to take care of business.

Kate sees all of this and decides to hang back in case amusement ensues. She watches as Jenny squats down and pulls down her pants, “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. That’s a venomous snake right by your head,” Kate yells at Jenny. Jenny stands up and starts screaming as loud as she can while trying to run with her pants halfway down her legs and urine streaming down as she goes. The entire group stops and stares at the mad woman running around trying to slap off any unknown critters from her body until she trips and flops onto the ground.

Jake runs over and grabs her by the arms saying, “Dude, there’s nothing on you, chill.” She instantly freezes, realizing that every single person there just saw everything she just did. She looks back at the tree she had squatted beside, to confirm if there ever really was a snake, and she spots a green viper sticking it’s head out to investigate the bat-shit-crazy lady making all the fuss.

“Why didn’t you just let the bitch get what she deserves?” Mike quietly asks Kate as they continue on the tour.

“I didn’t wanna have to put a stop to the tour just to drag her ass back to town for a hospital visit.” she says. That tramp may have inconvenienced her by coming on the trip, but she damn sure was not going to let her ruin a perfectly good nature tour. “Let her die on her own damn time.” Kate says with a smirk.

Once everyone is back on the ship, Kate takes the opportunity to sneak off to her room and get cleaned up. A day of hiking through a humid jungle did not bring out the best in her troublesome hair. After a hot shower, she gets dressed in a more casual and comfortable dress and makes her way to the dining room. She grabs her meal and takes a seat alone. Across the room, she can hear the obnoxious laughing of some very annoying and offensive people that she knows. Kate just rolls her eyes and finishes her dinner as quickly as possible.

After dinner, Kate walks outside and leans against the railing as she listens to the waves and watches the sky. She can see nothing down below, but she knows it's a long way down, so she had better be careful so as to not fall overboard. As she begins to reminisce on the day’s adventures, she feels a large presence beside her, “If you’re gonna jump, it's best not to do it when there are crew members all over the place to rescue you.” She looks up to see a tall, muscular, blonde man with a huge smirk on his face. He’s clearly in uniform.

“Captain Chris Terry at your service, Ma’am,” he says in a smooth Australian accent. She just looks up at him, staring, trying to figure out what exactly he’s trying to get at. “I’ve been watching you here and there. You don’t seem to really fit in much, do you? Your fellow cruisers are all having the time of their lives, getting drunk and partying, and you’re out here all alone, by choice,” he says.

“Ok, what exactly are you getting at here? Are you hinting that you plan to murder me and throw me overboard? Are you some kinda hot stalker?” she asks, having no intention of letting him off easy.

“Look, I can tell you don’t have many friends here, and neither do I, really. You clearly came here to have fun, and I could use some company. Corporate frowns upon us fraternizing with subordinates, and everybody needs some kind of social outlet. What do you say, some good conversation and maybe a roll in the hay, not necessarily in that order?” he replies. “You’re stunning, and I’m an eleven if I do say so myself. It would be a shame not to bring such beauty together...”

Kate looks at him with full scrutiny, trying to decide if he’s secretly a serial killer. “Oh, what the hell, worst-case scenario, I go out with a bang, and a girl could do worse than a giant Aussie beefcake.”

She leads him to her cabin, and he starts kissing on her neck and nibbling on her ear as she unlocks the door. Once inside, he pulls her tight to his chest, kissing her deeply then slowly begins to remove his uniform. He turns her around, and unzips her dress, letting it fall to the floor. He pins her to the wall and kisses down her body until he lands on his absolute favorite spot. Chris grabs her legs and pulls her up on his shoulders so he can give her hot zone some very much needed attention. She moans in pleasure as he puts his tongue to good use and eventually stands up and carries her to the bed. His thick rod prods at her as he moves her into position on her back while kissing her. He pushes her into the bed, holding her hands down and starts going at her large breasts with his mouth.

Eventually, she wraps her legs around his waist, and he comes up for more of her luscious lips. He guides his massive erection inside, slowly, pumping in and out until he’s able to fully fit in. He sits up and starts ramming in and out causing Kate to go wild. She squirms and moans as he pounds into her while rubbing her clit. She grabs onto him and flips him onto his back and starts riding him like no tomorrow. They tussle in bed together for the next two hours until they both explode simultaneously for the last time and fall asleep together.

Kate and Captain Chris wake up in each other’s arms. This is the first time in many years that she didn’t absolutely hate the feeling of having someone in her bed in the morning, and even more so, that of a man’s arms wrapped around her after a night of activity. “A girl could get used to this,” she thinks to herself as she takes a moment to appreciate the huge, muscled arms and his face buried into her.

Once the good Captain awakens, he finds her getting out of the shower. They exchange a few words and agree that the night was definitely one they’d both like to repeat at some point. Chris then gets dressed and leaves so that Kate can prepare for a day of relaxation.

She walks down to the pool area in a skimpy, hot pink bikini and lies down on an empty lounge chair in front of the water. She pulls out her phone and headphones and proceeds to turn on an audiobook about debauchery and murder to listen to while working on a light tan. People are splashing and having fun all around her, but she manages to ignore the world by closing her eyes and imagining the story in her head.

Just as she is about to fall asleep, she feels a thin hand on her arm. She startles awake and looks up to find a beautiful, dark-skinned woman trying to get her attention. “Play along!” the woman whispers. The new woman starts stroking at her leg and lightly kisses her lips, just in time for a man to walk up behind her. “Evan, as I was saying, this is my girlfriend,” the woman says.

Kate quickly says, “Hi, I’m Kate, and I’m sorry, Honey. I tried to wait for you, but I didn’t want all the chairs to get scooped up,” clearly getting the picture that this woman was being pursued by a man she had zero interest in. The man finally realizes that he won’t be getting any from this girl anytime soon and walks off.

“Thank you so much! That guy was just not taking ‘No’ for an answer. I’m Lucy by the way, Lucy Green.” Says the stunning woman, as she takes her hand away and leans back into the lounge chair beside Kate.

“I’m Kate Long, nice to meet you, although, I would have preferred a less dramatic intro,” Kate says with a smirk on her face. “But overall, not a bad kiss.”

Lucy giggles a bit and says, “I’ll have to keep that in mind….” She then proceeds to talk nearly non-stop about herself to Kate. “So, I just got out of a terrible relationship. I was engaged, but the asshole decided he couldn’t handle only one flavor of ice cream and double dipped, until I found out and dumped his ass. So, I’m REALLY not looking to hook up with just anybody. He’s gotta be absolutely perfect if I’m going to dip my cute little toes in that water,” Lucy explains. “I decided to book this cruise cause I wanted a fresh start after that horrible ending, and I’ve been saving up all my PTO for years, so I figured, what the hell, why not?”

Just as Lucy was telling Kate about her corporate call center job in Atlanta, Luke climbs out of the pool and stands in front of Kate. “Hey Katie Kat, lookin’ good. Wanna go for a swim with me?” he asks.

“Oh, look at the time. I actually have a massage scheduled in about twenty minutes. I need to rush back to my room and get ready then head over. Their spa is insanely expensive, and I am not about to lose out on a rubdown by a hunky massage therapist. Gotta run!” she quickly says as she stands up and darts toward her cabin.

Luke and Lucy watch in confusion as Kate makes a mad dash for her room. “I really hope you caught on there. Baby Girl is just not that into you.” Lucy says to Luke with a smile and walks off.

A few hours later, after a long massage and a brief period in the sauna, Kate finds herself strolling through a section of the ship she hadn’t visited yet, the retail section. She walks through various shops selling overpriced clothing and souvenirs.

She spots a beautiful pink dress that flows toward the floor and can’t help but imagine what she’d look like in it. Definitely not her normal style of black on black, but she always loved all things pink. Just as she starts to walk away, she spots Captain Chris watching her from across the way.

Kate takes her time and saunters over to him. “So, you are a stalker,” she says with amusement. “Well, if you must watch my every step, you best keep up. Come on.” She drags him along the ship, and they begin to get to know one another. She explains how she used to be married, but has enjoyed every second of the single life since her divorce. He tells her about how he moved to the states from Australia and found this new gig with a newly started cruise line.

“Don’t tell anyone, but this is our maiden voyage. We’re still working out the kinks, and believe me, there are a lot more kinks than the ones you experienced last night. Basically, some rich guy with more money than brains decided he could do better than all the big names that have been floating the seas all these years. So, while everything sparkles and glitters, we’re running around figuring shit out on the fly.” he whispers to her in a quiet corner.

“While I’m very glad to hear that I’m the first person to enjoy that big ass bed, I will admit, it’s a little concerning to hear that my safety depends on some trust fund baby’s ability and willingness to listen to reason from what I hope are actual advisors.” she says with a frown on her face. “Oh well, it was cheap, and at least I’m having fun and making new friends, something I don’t often get to do.”

Around dinner time, Chris guides her to a private table in one of the dining rooms. When offered a glass of wine, she says, “No thank you. I actually don’t drink.”

“Well, that’s a new one. Everyone who comes on these things wants to spend the entire time a few bottles deep. It’s refreshing, actually.” Chris says with a warm smile. “So, you’re not a vegetarian, are you? Cause I don’t think I could handle that,” he asks, only half joking.

“Never been one. I like my animals deep fried and tasty,” she says with a laugh. They both proceed to order the Filet Mignon with fries and enjoy a leisurely dinner together. Afterward, they walk back to her cabin, where they spend a passionate night together tangled in the sheets.

Late that night, Chris is startled awake by his radio. He quickly gets up and hears the panicked calls of his crew. They urgently need him back on the bridge. He gets dressed and rushes out the door without so much as a goodbye.