Page 17 of Love Overboard
Sure. I knew it was a risk. But I’m not the only one who picked the crew, am I?
Captain Gary gives producer a pointed look.
CAPTAIN GARY
I was handed a stack of CVs for potential crew members. I just culled from there. Other than my recommendation for Ember, I was sort of along for the ride. And had I known her history with Finn…
PRODUCER
Are you saying you wouldn’t have hired Ember as chief stew, had you known she and Finn had a past?
CAPTAIN GARY
I’m saying this whole couple on board thing wasn’t just as simple as a chef and a deck stew dating. That I think we would have survived. But a chef and a chief stew, who used to be in love, back together for the first time in two years… and now she’s rooming with his new girlfriend?
Captain Gary arches a brow, takes a sip of water, shrugs.
CAPTAIN GARY
Come now, mate. What the hell did we expect?
It was just past seven that evening when Captain Gary called a preference sheet meeting.
We already knew the guests coming aboard in the morning, along with all their preferences. Wehadto know in order to provision the boat correctly. But this meeting was for the cameras. I knew from watching the show that this was how the viewers were introduced to the guests, how the showrunners foreshadowed any potential issues.
I was already exhausted as I made my way to the crew mess, the day having sped by in a flurry of vacuuming and polishing and organizing the boat. I mumbled curse words to myself on the way down the stairs, fumbling with the mic attached to me and trying to figure out how to place it where the clip and cord would be comfortably out of my way.
Knowing Finn would be at this meeting didn’t help, and when I popped off the bottom stair and found he was the only one in the mess, I internally rolled my eyes as I slid into the booth on the opposite side of the table from him.
There were cameras everywhere.
An awkward pause stretched between us, me tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear with a tight smile as Finn watched me with a thousand questions in his eyes. His expression still dripped with pity, and that made me narrow my gaze, my pathetic attempt at a civil smile dropping. I hoped my glare told him tostop fucking looking at me like thatbecause I couldn’t say it again with all these lenses pointed right at us.
I pulled out my phone, pretending to type something in my notes app when really I just wanted to avoid looking at him. It wasn’t fair, how utterly attractive he was even after a day of sweating in the galley. In fact, I was pretty sure the sweat added to the allure.
He cracked his neck after a moment, which made me look up at him again, and the way he was looking at me tied my stomach into tight knots.
“Ember, I—”
“Hey, hey!” Palmer announced himself as he skipped down the last few steps, and then he slid into the booth next to Finn, making Finn move more toward the center of the table. Palmer rapped his knuckles on the table in a quick little beat, his grin wide. “First preference sheet meeting. You guys excited?”
He was playing it up for the cameras — which was what I should have been doing, too. This was what we were paid to do. But I was too busy watching Finn and wondering what he was about to say before Palmer interrupted.
Before I could think too much on it, Captain Gary descended into the crew mess. I slipped my phone back into my pocket as he greeted all of us before plopping down next to me and giving me no choice but to scoot in on the bench.
Toward Finn.
I let out a frustrated exhale that I hoped I covered well with a smile as Captain Gary slid the packets to each of us. I crossed my legs as I picked up the stack of papers, and then promptly froze.
My ankle touched Finn’s calf under the table.
It was innocent, that small touch, but electricity zapped through me as if we’d started dry humping right there for everyone to watch. My stomach hurdled to the ground at breakneck speed, a flash of memory from two years ago striking like another lightning bolt had a movie playing in my head.
His knees spreading my thighs. His hands in my hair. His breath hot on my neck as he bites it and curses my name.
“Fuck, Ember. You’re so good. You’re everything. I need this. I need you.”
I ripped away from the touch like his skin had burned me, my cheeks heating furiously as I cleared my throat and focused on the guest photos staring back at me from the pages in my hand.
