Page 28 of Cruising for Christmas
“Because if you hit it off and got married, you’d be my sister.”
Norah flushed. Imagining a relationship with Ian felt so easy, yet so hard.
“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see me that way.”
Shay rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”
Norah’s eyes flashed to Ian. He wore sunglasses, but somehow she could feel his eyes on her.
“He’s not attracted to me.” The weight of that statement had settled on her for too long. It was nice to finally say it out loud.
Shay gave her a disbelieving look. “Norah, what’s not to be attracted to? You’re a bombshell.”
Norah smiled. “Yes. Yes, I am. But he thinks I’m fat.”
Shay lifted the sunglasses off her face and put them on the top of her head.
“What?” she nearly shouted. “He called you fat?” Then her eyes shot over to where the guys were sitting. “Ian! Get the hell over here.”
Norah’s eyes widened. “No, Shay. It’s fine. Don’t make a big deal out of this.”
“Nobody calls my friend fat.”
“He didn’t say it to my face,” Norah hissed. Ian walked around the edge of the pool and had almost reached them. “I overheard you two talking the day we got on the ship. He made a comment about us not being able to fit on the same bed because I’m huge.”
“He said what?” Shay fumed, looking even more irate.
Ian stopped next to them and squatted down to where they were both still leaning on the edge of the pool. Shay spun around and stared up at her brother, her hand slapping on to the edge of the pool and gripping it until her knuckles turned white.
“You called Norah fat? You jerk!”
Ian rocked back like someone had slapped him. “What? No, I didn’t.” His eyes met Norah’s, and she felt like she was about to die of embarrassment.
She covered her face with her hands.Kill me now.
“You called her huge,” Shay accused.
“When did I say that?”
Norah peeked through her fingers to find Ian looking desperately between her and Shay, and instantly regretted making the comment. She should have known Shay would call him out on it, and while she had wanted to get it off her chest, she didn’t want it to become a spectacle. At least not untilafterthe cruise ended, when they were on opposite sides of the country and she could avoid all embarrassment.
Shay turned to Norah. “When did he say it?”
“Oh my gosh,” Norah whispered. Regret. Nothing but regret. As two pairs of eyes stared at her, she could feel the heat climbing up her neck and knew she was beet red.
“I overheard you two talking the day we boarded. You made a comment about the bed being too small and me being huge.”
Shay stared in confusion at Norah. “If he said you were huge, I would have kneed him in the balls.”
Ian looked at Norah, perplexed, unfazed by Shay’s comment. “The only thing I can remember saying was that even if the room were huge, it still wasn’t okay what Shay did.” His voice softened. “Norah, I would never call you that.”
Norah closed her eyes. This entire time she had thought Ian found her disgusting, but all along she had misheard him. And that kiss. She stepped away from him all because she thought he wasn’t actually interested, and now she ruined it.
Humiliation didn’t even begin to describe what she felt.
“I misunderstood. I’m sorry.”
“Good. If he calls you anything like that, let me know,” Shay said before swimming off to the other side of the pool where Ryan had jumped into the water.
