Page 23 of Cruising for Christmas
Although, he reasoned with himself, Shay was the one who set them up to room together. If anything were to happen, it would be on her.
He eyed the glass Norah had set down. “How many of those have you had?”
She shrugged and swayed in her seat. “I don’t know. Like four maybe. But they’re weak, mostly juice.”
He raised an eyebrow. Nothing would happen tonight, that was for sure. He didn’t know how much alcohol was in each of those drinks, but it was enough. Ian flagged down the server walking by and ordered two waters. When she returned with them, he shoved both of them in front of Norah.
“Drink,” he said.
“Yes, Dad.”
His throat rumbled with a groan. The thought of bending her over the bed and having her call him daddy was enough to give him a permanent hard-on. He picked up his drink and drained it, feeling the whiskey course through him.
Once she downed the two glasses of water, Norah excused herself to the restroom. Ian ordered one more whiskey, which was quickly set in front of him. Norah reappeared only a moment later, teetering on her shoes. He picked up his whiskey, quickly draining it, before standing up.
“Should we call it a night?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
They stepped into the elevator, and she teetered on her high heels again. He took hold of her arm and steadied her.
“You all right?”
“Of course.”
“So,” she said, dragging out the word. “That dancing you did…”
He looked at her, amused. “Yes?”
“Where did you learn all that?” Her cheeks were flush from the excessive alcohol, but deepened in color when her eyes scanned his body and realized he had caught her.
Keeping the secret of his days as a stripper didn’t seem so important with her. He wouldn’t outright tell his family about it. He wasn’t ashamed, but didn’t feel the need to indulge that portion of his life to any of them. But with Norah, it felt different. He wanted to tell her.
“I used to strip.”
She choked on air. “You what?”
He shrugged. “It paid the bills.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Damn. I bet you made a lot of money.”
He laughed as she slapped a hand over her mouth. The elevator opened on their floor and he held onto her arm as they walked down the narrow hallway toward their stateroom.
“I did well.”
He pulled out his keycard to unlock the door when Norah tugged his arm and pointed at Shay and Ryan’s door with a devious smile on her face. He barely had the door open before she was pounding on their door with both fists. She turned with pure glee on her face as she attempted to sprint the short distance to their door, but her drunken state had her feet tripping over each other.
She fell forward, slamming into Ian as they tumbled backward into their room, the door swinging shut before they landed in a heap on the floor. Norah’s face was pressed into Ian’s chest as she was partially sprawled out on top of him.
Outside in the hallway, they could hear Shay yelling obscenities about disrespectful teenagers. Ryan’s soothing voice followed before it fell silent.
Norah giggled into Ian’s chest, and his laugh reverberated with hers. She tilted her head up to look at him and fell silent when their eyes met.
A beat passed before she pushed herself off him. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
