Chapter 6

6

AUSTIN

“ W hat do you think?”

The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen was standing in front of me asking that question, and I couldn’t seem to form words. Maybe it was because there was no easy way to describe what was going through my mind right now.

“Perfect,” I finally managed to say. “You’ll be the most beautiful woman in the main dining room.”

Her friends were scheduled for dinner at seven, which meant it was already in progress. We had it all planned out. We’d make a grand entrance and see if we could get a table.

My scheduled dinner time was six, and the ship wasn’t all that happy with people changing things around, but I had to give it a try. If all else failed, we’d say hi to her friends, then head on over to the steakhouse, where I’d buy her the most expensive dinner on the menu, if that was what she wanted.

The salesclerk cut the tags off the dress and tossed Lexie’s bridesmaid dress in the trash upon request. I suggested she keep it, but she seemed to get a kick out of throwing it away. Yet another act of rebellion against the women who’d hurt her.

“Gia won’t be there,” Lexie said as we walked toward the dining hall. “The bride and groom are having dinner in the honeymoon suite.”

“Is that bad?” I asked, taking her hand in mine and giving it a little squeeze.

“No, it’s good. She’ll be genuinely excited for me if she sees us together, but the others… Not so much.”

“I have an idea,” I said. “Bear with me.”

I left her at the entrance to the dining hall and headed inside, my attention going straight to the table where she said her friends would be sitting. Sure enough, three women sat there with two empty chairs. They were laughing and having a good time, despite the fact that one of their friends had vanished on them.

What if she’d gone overboard? What if someone had kidnapped her and was keeping her in his cabin? A good friend would have headed to the reception desk by now and reported a passenger missing. These weren’t good friends.

I walked across the dining room, staying in their line of view on the entire path. I was oblivious to all the other women checking me out. My attention was on the three of them, and sure enough, they stopped what they were doing to look my way. I monitored it out of the corner of my eye, not even glancing in their direction.

“May I help you, sir?” one of the servers asked as I breezed past her. She gave me the up-and-down assessment, appreciation in her stare.

“I was wondering if my date and I could get a table for two,” I said. “I’m scheduled for seven o’clock and she was sitting with another group. We want to have dinner together.”

The server looked around. “We’re already halfway through the main course.”

I shrugged. “We’re fine with that. We just met, and I’m trying to impress her. I’d really appreciate it if you could squeeze us in somewhere.”

When I mentioned trying to impress her, the woman’s expression changed. She was a romantic, and there was nothing a romantic liked more than a good love story.

She started to take me toward the back corner, and I stopped her and asked for a seat in the line of sight of Lexie’s friends. And that was where I was standing when Lexie started to cross the room toward me in a form-fitting dress that showed off every curve and made her look like a fucking bombshell.

My gaze immediately went to the three women. They hadn’t spotted her yet. One was still looking at me, though, so I deliberately slid my gaze back to Lexie.

My feelings for her would be written all over my face. Lust. Adoration. Hell, I may already be falling in love. Was that possible?

Lexie didn’t even glance in their direction. She just came around where I had her chair held back for her and gave me a kiss that they couldn’t help but see.

She was seated facing them, but I had second thoughts about that as I took my seat. Did she want to stare at them the whole time? Have them staring at her?

But I didn’t have a chance to ask. I’d barely gotten seated when one of the women appeared at the end of the table. It was the tall, stick-thin one with the permanent sneer on her face. Lexie’s generation called that resting bitch face.

“Where have you been?” the woman asked. “And who is this?”

She turned her steely stare on me, and I fought the urge to glare in response. This was the one who’d turned all the way around in her seat to look at me when I’d walked across the dining room a couple of minutes ago.

“I’ve met someone,” Lexie said. “Violet, this is Austin. Austin, this is Violet. She’s my best friend’s college roommate.”

That snapped Violet’s stare back to Lexie. “We’ve known each other since kindergarten, and you introduce me as Gia’s college roommate?”

That was a weird thing to focus on. I sat on my chair, watching the action like a spectator.

Lexie crossed her arms over her chest. “Friends don’t say a friend’s ass looks like two beach balls.”

Wait, had this woman said that about my girl? My fists clenched beneath the table, but I held my temper in check. This was between the two of them.

“Friends also would have noticed I was missing before now,” Lexie said. “Maybe even alerted someone to it, rather than sitting here eating dinner like nothing was wrong.”

“We just assumed you needed some time to yourself,” Violet said. “You’ve been weird this whole trip. Like you’re jealous that I’m maid of honor. But Gia and I have become really close in the past few years. I’m dating her husband’s best friend. It just made more sense for me to be the maid of honor.”

“I really couldn’t care less about that,” Lexie said. “What I do care about is the stuff you’ve said about me and to me, going all the way back to elementary school. The wedding is over, so there’s no reason we should even associate for the rest of this trip.”

Violet’s gaze slid over to me. “Well, it looks like you have your hands full anyway.”

She was right about that. I was going to keep this woman very busy for the rest of this cruise and beyond.

“If you’ll excuse us, we’re on a date,” I said.

Lexie smiled over at me. The sight warmed my heart. I’d do everything I could to keep that smile on her face.

As Violet walked away, I took Lexie’s hand in mine and gave it a little squeeze. She had the most beautiful curves I’d ever seen. If Violet and her friends didn’t see what I saw, fuck her and everyone else at that table.

I decided then and there to forget those women even existed. It wasn’t too difficult. When the two of us looked at each other, the whole world melted away. I had a feeling that was how it would always be.