Mara Fox - Letting Go!

Emma couldn’t admit to Tina she had always wanted a tattoo and hadn’t yet had the guts to get one.

“We bother with dating because men have better anatomical equipment than we can buy on the Internet.”

“That’s pretty crude, girlfriend.” Emma smirked.

“How long has it been since you’ve challenged yourself when it came to men? Really gone for it when it came to romance?”

“Since the word romance isn’t usually part of your vocabulary, let me guess what you really mean. This must be about the singles’ cruise to the Bahamas.”

Tina picked at the sprouts on her plate. “Darcy bugged out on me. I desperately need a roommate. I just put a huge down payment on my new condo, so I could really use the group discount they’re offering.”

“You’ve already talked some of the staff into going. And I don’t know about a singles’ cruise. It sounds kinda desperate.”

“Lighten up. It’ll be fun.”

“You can’t think you need to go on a singles’ cruise.”

“Just think of it as a love boat. I’m going because it’s a chance to relax and enjoy the company of single men. Dating takes too much time away from court.” She stretched out her arms. “I’m looking forward to hot summer nights and sultry summer days.”

Emma smiled. “You mean hot, sultry sex. But I’ve heard their cruises really do rock.”

“Come and find out for yourself.”

“You don’t need me.”

Tina took a sip of water. “Yes I do. There’s no one going that I’d want to share a bathroom with.”

“How can you have a fling, with me in your room? I might cramp your style.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll manage a fling with or without a roommate. I’ll show you how it’s done. Come on. It’ll be fun.”

Emma hesitated. “Having a fling on a cruise sounds so…dangerous.”

“Couldn’t get much worse than Brad.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Are you looking for something long-term? Do you think that’s safer? Have you looked at the divorce statistics? I know a couple of lawyers who specialize in divorce and they make a lot more money than I do.”

Emma pulled the corner of the candy-bar wrapper open. “Considering that my parents got divorced after twenty-five years of marriage, you have a valid point.”

“Go on the cruise with me, score a little romance, practice safe sex while you’re going for the gusto, and learn how to scuba or snorkel or Jet Ski even. It’ll be an adventure. Then, when you come back, everyone will be talking about you instead of your ex.” Tina winked.

Emma could imagine a little romance on a moonlit beach. It felt like a decade since she’d had sex. Could she leave the wussy behind and be a pussy-cat? She smiled at her own audacity. Tina would have been proud if Emma could have said it without blushing.

Why do I have to second-guess everything, anyway?

Even the thought of the cruise had her thinking differently. “Maybe if I were more spontaneous my life would be more interesting,” she said tentatively.

“Honey, when you run into the right man it’ll be more than interesting—it’ll be sizzling.”

“On the cruise I won’t have to look for anything further in a man than a nice tan and a great body—since I’m not taking him home or anything.” Emma pulled more of the wrapper off the candy and then she set it down again. “I wouldn’t even have to consider a future with a man I’m never going to see again. I could concentrate on living in the moment.”

“That’s my girl.”

She nodded decisively. “Let’s use the computer in my office to sign me up for the cruise. I think a moonlit beach and a gorgeous playboy might be just the thing. I could really go for it.”

“Just so long as it is covered with a condom.”

“I’m going to do anything and everything on this cruise.”

Tina laughed. “Down, girl. Be gentle.”

Emma smiled to herself as she got up to choose a rice bowl. She reached into the freezer looking for the chicken in spicy peanut sauce she’d grabbed by mistake in the grocery store. She ripped the wrapper before she could change her mind.

“You know,” she told Tina as she thrust the bowl into the microwave and then headed toward the table to scoop up the chocolate “I think I might have developed an appetite after all.” Emma bit into the delicious white chocolate with a smile of pure ecstasy. “I don’t know what I’ve been waiting for. From now on I’m going to be eating my dessert first.”

TONY ENDERLIN looked around the tiny stateroom with trepidation. “Why did I think this would be okay?” he asked himself aloud, fighting a severe case of claustrophobia. “I shouldn’t be here.”

In all fairness the cabin wasn’t tiny and the ceiling was high enough for his six-foot frame to clear with room to spare, but it was the illusion of smallness that had him breathing hard. The way the doors sealed made him feel as if there wasn’t enough air in the room.

Once, when he’d been six years old, he’d followed his cousin into one of those big, silver drainage pipes and then his cousin had hidden from him. In his hysteria Tony had actually run the wrong way, into a smaller pipe, where he’d tripped over the carcass of a long-dead animal and then slid into a puddle of rank water.

Small debris had fallen down on him every time he’d tried to get to his feet so he’d huddled in the dark with his imagination on Fast Forward while his body was firmly on Pause. That had been the longest twenty minutes of Tony’s life. He’d been unable to move, even when his cousin had finally located him. That panic always crept back to choke him in closed-in areas, despite his best attempts to control his weakness.

That was one of the reasons he’d chosen Denver to call home; he’d never feel claustrophobic on a mountain. He threw himself down on the bed, rolled over on his back, and closed his eyes, pretending he was out on the deck with the endless blue sky above him. Slowly, his breathing smoothed out.

See how easy it is to stay in control? he told himself.

Except this cruise had really thrown him off.

One of the guys from the office had booked the private room on the cruise ship after a big fight with his girlfriend, and then they’d made up and eloped the very next day. As a married man, the guy couldn’t very well go on a singles’ cruise unless he wanted a divorce, so he’d offered Tony the opportunity to go on the cruise.

Aw, tell the truth. You’re here because Emma Daniels is here.

It seemed she’d been persuaded to go on the singles’ cruise to recuperate from her embarrassing boyfriend fiasco, and then the ticket had become available for him to use. Tony’s Mexican grandmother, who’d given him his middle name of Andres, would praise the saints and call it fate, in fluent Spanish.

Tony called it opportunity. And he could have done so in fluent Spanish if he was so inclined.

Could a woman really be worth all of this trouble?

Oh yeah. Emma had a quick mind and a wicked sense of humor. And that body. Who would have known the siren would have a body to match the sultry voice?

Since he’d been on site in Jacksonville, he’d only seen her through the window or from down the hall. Her dark blond hair always seemed to be trying to curl out of the braid thing she wore. It actually looked kinda nice, like a crown or something. Maybe that was why he thought she looked like a princess. But he didn’t want to rescue her. He just wondered how her hair might look spread out and curling on a pillow.

Her height seemed average and her weight was just right, curvy in all the right places. Her eyes were blue. Or so he believed. Tony hadn’t gotten nearly close enough to see her eyes and not for a lack of trying.