14. Grace

Chapter 14

Grace

M icaela was furious that she'd missed someone on my balcony, and Mama had declared in all seriousness that she was having a sudden onset of insomnia from now until the end of her life as she squeezed the life from me. Kazi wouldn't let me out of his sight, and protested loudly if I so much as went to the bathroom without him.

Sebastian was a whole other matter. He'd stubbornly moved in with me. Granted, my suite was quite spacious, with several bedrooms, but no one was occupying the bedrooms. They all just piled into the front room with me, as though we were all having one big slumber party. Sebastian's employees came by with yet another bed for my front room, setting it up in the corner near the balcony and blocking it off with privacy curtains.

After that, things went downhill quickly.

Everywhere I went on the ship I felt eyes burning the back of my skull—lion eyes, mama eyes, vampire and shifter eyes, Micaela eyes, and bodyguards by the dozens eyes. Not to mention the eyes that were sometimes on me just because I was a siren. I started feeling like I was a specimen in a bottle.

After day two of our three days at sea ended with me hiding in the bathroom because it was the only time I got some peace and distance from the constant presence of bodyguards, I knew something had to change.

I barged into Sebastian's office. "If you assign one more person to be my bodyguard, I'm getting off at the next port and going home," I growled, leaning over his desk with my hands planted firmly on the surface.

Sebastian looked up from a fancy ledger where he was manually entering numbers with a fine-tipped pen. "You know we have these new-fangled things called computers. They calculate things for you."

His eyebrows went up at my abrupt change of topic. "Yes, but there's something satisfying about entering the numbers and tallying the columns by hand that appeals to me."

"This is the first instance where I've really felt the gap in our ages."

He looked amused. "You know people your age find things like this satisfying as well."

"I don't believe you." I sat down in the leather chair next to me and pulled my knees up to my chest while Kazi settled under the desk, closer to me than Sebastian. He made sure he had me in his line of sights everywhere I went. It was sweet, in a way, and I was sorry that he'd been so scared when I'd disappeared, but because I was five, I made a face at him anyway. Kazi yowled in a chuffing way at me. He was mocking me; I was sure of it.

"I haven't hired more security for you; they've just sort of taken you on as their pet project."

"That's not funny, Sebastian. I've used the restroom today twenty-eight times, and no, I'm not having bladder issues. It's because it's the only place I can find any peace!" I flung up my hands. "And even then, Kazi pads at the door, wanting to be let in. I'm giving your cat heart attacks. This is not sustainable."

Sebastian set his pen down and gave me his full attention. "It's only temporary until the culprit is caught."

I sighed and slumped deeper into the chair. "I need Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. They'd have already unmasked the bad guy."

"Life is not a television show or a book."

"You take that back."

He laughed and came around the desk to kneel in front of me, then drew me into his arms. I felt so safe and so seen with him. And not seen in a leering way. Seen in a gentle, tender-hearted, kind, and cared for way. I sighed. Crisis averted. I hadn't really wanted to fly home anyway. I still wanted to see Fiji.

"When are you coming back to my jail cell?" I asked, straightening his tie and avoiding looking at his eyes.

"You mean the place where Micaela talks in her sleep all night about taking down perps, and your mom and Kazi snore in unison?"

I laughed. "Well, at least I don't have any nocturnal bad habits or challenges for you to deal with."

"You sleep like an angel."

I snorted. "I do not. I sleep like I'm trying to swim the English Channel from the comfort of my own bed."

He grinned. "It's kind of adorable."

I shook my head at him. "It's less adorable when you sleep in the same bed with me. My mom has landed on the floor one too many times when we've shared a hotel room over the years. Do you know how bad I feel about unknowingly booting my seventy-three-year-old mom onto the floor? She's woken up bruised!"

"I can take it. I'm tough. And if worse comes to worst, I'll just sleep as a bat. It's very hard to shake off a determined bat."

I laughed and leaned in for another hug, then sighed as I got up. "Come on, Kazi. Let's get ready to go to our dinner rotation tonight."

Sebastian opened the door for me. "What restaurant is in your rotation tonight?"

"Crème de la Crème."

"I'll meet you there at eight?"

I nodded. I'd picked the second dining option. It was generally less busy than the first. "I'll see you then."

I wore an elegant white jumpsuit to dinner. The long, silky fabric of the sleeves felt cool on my overheated skin. I'd been getting too much sun lately, and my skin was paying for it.

Kazi, Mama, Micaela and I had been seated in a spot close to the live music, which was more background music for the guests to enjoy as they ate their three-course meal. This was only the second table service dinner I'd had on the cruise. I'd mostly been enjoying the excellent buffets or quick-grab meals since coming onboard, but I was in the mood for something a little more fancy tonight.

Sebastian found us right away and pulled my chair out before taking the spot next to me for himself. It was just us four; Rafe was still busy trying to play catch up from all the time he'd been taking off lately. I never knew this before my trip, but cruise ship crews were constantly busy . They worked really hard and were very underappreciated. They were definitely under-tipped.

When it came time to order, I ordered a soupe á l'oignon gratinée for a starter course, followed by a salade capri for my salad course, and boeuf stroganoff for my entrée. My after-dinner dessert sounded completely yummy: mousse au chocolat. Everyone ordered something different, and we all shared a bit of our plates with others so we could taste the rich variety of the restaurant. Besides, getting to try four different desserts was wonderful. I recommended it for everyone, hands down.

Talk around the table was on pleasant things. No one brought up the near misses I'd had lately, or the hours I'd spent lost in the middle of the night in the South Pacific Ocean. I was hesitant to bring it up, because my people reacted badly to the reminder in various ways. Mama would get a panicky look on her face, while Sebastian and Micaela both looked like they wanted to rip someone's arms off. Preferably the bad guy's. And while the bulk of the memory held tinges of awe because of the sea life that had come to my rescue, the rest of it kept giving me nightmares that I awoke from in a cold sweat.

In fact, so much had happened to me since I'd come aboard that there were moments when I wished I'd never come on a cruise ship. And then I looked at how happy Mama was, the new friendships I'd made with both Micaela and Rafe, and the emotion in Sebastian's eyes when he thought I wasn't looking, and I counted my blessings.

Great things didn't come without difficulty, right? At least, this was my mantra at the moment. I recited it when guys hassled me on the boat because I was a siren. I recited it when Kazi tried to break into the bathroom for the thirtieth time. I even recited it when I left my room in the morning to find an entire platoon of guards outside my door, including the one permanently outside on my verandah.

My beef stroganoff was delish, and my dessert was to die for. I'd always loved chocolate mousse, and this chocolate mousse was rich and dark and creamy, just how I liked it.

After dinner, we all meandered to a lounge a deck above us for a nightcap. Mama and I didn't drink, and Micaela was still on duty, so that left Sebastian, who picked something without alcohol just to make us feel less left out. I didn't feel left out at all because the bartender made a virgin sunset drink that was almost mesmerizing with all the beautiful colors that streaked across the frosty glass. And it was cold with a slushy-like texture so I was in icee heaven.

When we all turned in for the evening, it was almost comical. Thankfully, Sebastian got ready for bed in his own suite before coming back to ours, because as it was, we had three adult women who had to share the bathroom to get ready for bed. Micaela was in and out now because she was worried about not being in the same room with me, but Mama liked to take her time.

I knocked on the door. "Mama, you about done? I need to brush my teeth."

"I'll be done when I'm done. You know I like to take my time."

I turned to Micaela and said, sotto voice, "That translates to slower than molasses."

"I heard that, Grace Evelyn."

Micaela cracked up laughing. She thought it was hilarious when my mama busted out the middle name. I was fondly exasperated with both of them.

Kazi had already climbed into bed with me when Sebastian knocked on the suite door. Mama, reading in bed with her reading light on, called out, "Come in, Sebastian!"

He came in quietly, gave a quick scratch to Kazi, kissed my forehead, and then went to his bed behind the curtain. I knew for certain the curtain was to give us women a sense of privacy, but I also imagined he was secretly glad to have a barrier between himself and the overwhelming femininity of the suite.