Yasmin Y. Sullivan - Love on the High Seas

“You’re looking for whom?” Alistair asked.

“A woman I saw in line yesterday.”

“And you expect to find her how?”

“I think she’s listed in the singles brochure. I’m going to scout out the singles events.”

“I’ll go with you to the singles stuff,” Myron said.

“Me too,” Rudy said.

“I, on the other hand, will be at the pool.” Alistair wasn’t there for the singles mixers; he had a partner back home. He’d come to relax and enjoy. “I’ll meet you guys for lunch. Where?”

They were in Myron’s stateroom, and he picked up the booklet for the ship. “Okay. We have about thirty pages of options here.”

The other men laughed.

“Is there a singles luncheon venue today?” Rudy asked.

“Oh, joy,” Alistair said with a note of sarcasm.

Myron picked up the singles brochure. “In fact, there are three.”

“Pick one,” Jeremy said.

Myron shrugged. “The Onyx sounds good.”

“The Onyx it is. One o’clock.”

Jeremy, Myron and Rudy did a round of the singles events listed for that morning. Myron had started talking to a woman at the Pool and Cabana mixer, so they left him behind and headed to the Café mixer. She wasn’t there, and they didn’t want to go to the Date for the Day event, so Rudy left him to join Alistair, and Jeremy continued on alone.

Before heading to the Onyx, he stopped at the concierge to see if he could get Safire Lewis’s cabin number or telephone, which turned out to be the same thing. He tried calling the number they gave him but got no answer. At least he knew that if it was her—if the woman he saw was Safire Lewis—he could hope to reach her by phone. That much discovered, he joined his boys for lunch, still keeping an eye out for her.

He called her again before dinner—no luck. He called again after dinner—eureka.

“Hello.”

He had no idea what her voice sounded like.

“Hi, I’m trying to reach Safire Lewis.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Yes, this is she.”

“My name is Jeremy Bell, and I think I saw you when I was boarding the ship. I was wondering if you might want to get together for coffee or dancing or—”

“Who is this?” she asked.

Jeremy laughed out loud.

“I’m sorry. That’s a fair question. I’m on the singles cruise, and I think I saw you when we boarded. You had on a yellow dress. I wanted to meet you.”

“And you were wearing?”

“What was I wearing? I had on a white shirt and blue pants, I think. Let me check my closet. Yes, that was it. I thought you might have noticed me, too.”

“I remember you. But how did you get my name, my number?”

“After looking for you all day, I checked the singles listing. Luckily, there aren’t that many Black women on this cruise, so I took a chance that you were the one I saw.”

“Oh.” There was a pause.

“Look, you probably already have plans for tonight because it’s New Year’s Eve, but if you don’t, maybe we can meet at one of the mixers.”

“I hadn’t actually planned on going out tonight. I brought some work with me and was in for the night. But maybe...”

He could hear her hesitation, but at least she was thinking about it.

“I had planned on going to the Peacock Lounge for their New Year’s Eve party. Maybe we could meet there.”

He didn’t get a response right away.

“I’m not sure. Let me see how much I get done, and I’ll consider.”

“Well, no pressure. I’ll be there, and if you don’t recognize me, I’m sure I’ll recognize you. I hope you can come.”

“I’ll see,” she said.

It was clear that she didn’t want to commit, so he decided not to push it.

“It would be great to meet you, so I’ll keep a lookout.”

“Okay, then.”

“Goodbye.”

Clearly, he hadn’t made the impression he thought he’d made. When she looked back at him and smiled, he thought that they’d connected. Now she seemed unsure if she wanted to meet him.

To be fair, she didn’t know him from Adam; he could be a serial murderer. She seemed more cautious than her bio had led him to believe. That, or she was swamped with something for work. Or she simply wasn’t that interested in him from what she saw. He had no way of knowing.

At least she remembered him. And she might come tonight. He wasn’t sure what he would be doing until he spoke to her. In fact, he probably would have rung in the New Year at one of the sports bars with his boys if he hadn’t spoken to her. Now, he had time to change and catch up with the guys to let them know his new plans.

He met up with Alistair and Rudy at a sports bar around ten o’clock. Myron had a date with the woman that he’d met at the Pool and Cabana mixer, and Jeremy would be meeting them in the Peacock Lounge at eleven.

“I’ll be back before twelve-thirty if she doesn’t show.”

“She’ll show,” said Alistair. “Hottie that you are.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

When he got to the Peacock Lounge, he was given a mask made of peacock feathers. He didn’t know that everyone would have them on, and he hoped he could still tell who she was. At least there wouldn’t be that many choices.

The champagne was already flowing from towers of crystal glasses arranged on silver platters. An elaborate ball was rigged to drop, and the countdown was already ticking down on a monitor. Whistles and party favors were piled up on tables skirting the room.

He found Myron and his date on the dance floor and nodded to his friend. Myron had a thick frame and wore a loose yellow panama shirt with a pair of brown slacks. He had tracked Jeremy’s entrance with one lazy eye and nodded at Jeremy over his date’s shoulder.

After a couple of songs, they came over, and Myron introduced him to Verniece. She had a pleasant smile and seemed completely unassuming. Her tall, full figure matched Myron’s thickness, and even her yellow skirt set with French dots blended with Myron’s attire. The two seemed evenly paired.

The three chatted for a while, and then he left the couple to enjoy their evening together, wandering over to the array of cheeses and breads. Nearing midnight he began to get a little disappointed, but he still held out. Safire had been noncommittal, but she at least seemed to consider his invitation. He would give her until half past midnight, maybe even longer, because she seemed well worth the wait.

He recognized her the moment she hit the doorway, and what he saw made his body pulse. She had on a strapless red cocktail dress that hit her midthigh and hugged every delicious curve of her body. Over that she wore a sheer red wrap with a floral burnout pattern. It was almost as long as the dress, but so translucent that it hid nothing of her shapely curves.

When she stepped down into the lounge, he saw that she had on black pumps that showed off her taut calves and supple rear. As she rounded the banister, he walked toward her.

Her face was partially hidden by the peacock mask, but the pretense of anonymity only made her look sexier than ever. Her lips were red and smiling, and she’d piled her hair on top of her head in cascading black curls.

She seemed a little hesitant in a way that made her seem vulnerable, but then she hadn’t seen him as yet, and she didn’t know him.

“Safire?”

“Jeremy?”

He lifted his mask so that she could see his face. “Yes, it’s me. I’m glad that you could make it. When it got close to midnight, I began to worry.”

“I’m glad I made it, too, and with two minutes to spare.” She was looking at the countdown on the monitor.

He took her hand and led her toward the dance floor. He couldn’t help smiling. When they got near the center of the floor, he didn’t let her hand go. Knowing that she wasn’t afraid to get what she wanted, he held her hand within his, playing his fingers over hers. It was sensual and erotic touching the fingers of a masked stranger.