Dorie nudged Brandy, who took in Cadence’s expression and shrugged.
“You take him, honey.”
“Oh,” Cadence said, looking shocked. “No, I couldn’t. I’m not here for that. No more men. I’m on a penis embargo.”
“One more won’t hurt you.”
Cadence bit her lip, then shook her head. “No. My grandma just died, and I’ve been feeling a little… lost, I guess. I wanted a vacation, to clear my head, to try to relax.”
“No better way to relax than some good sex.”
Cadence choked on her drink.
“If I hadn’t won this cruise in a contest, my vacation would have been babysitting my sister’s kids,” Dorie said, patting Cadence on the back. “This saved my life. So count me in on the relaxing. With or without good sex.”
“We need to toast to that.” Brandy lifted her drink. “To making the most of this trip.”
Cadence and Dorie lifted their drinks. Brandy tossed hers back, then set her glass down on the bar and grinned. “But we have to do more than toast. We have to actually do it. Make this trip amazing. Who’s first?”
Dorie and Cadence looked at each other, then shook their heads.
Brandy laughed. “All right, me then. Watch and learn, girls.” She tugged on the hem of her halter so that it revealed a bit more cleavage. Not enough, apparently, because she tugged again.
Once more, Dorie thought, and there won’t be anything left to conceal. “Um, you’re getting sort of close to a situation there.”
Brandy patted her breasts like beloved old friends. “Let me give you a little tip on making the most of something.” She leaned in and whispered, “Know your audience.”
“I thought you already had your audience,” Dorie said, and when Brandy looked confused, she clarified. “I saw you with Christian.”
“Oh, that.” Brandy smiled. “He gives good Band-Aids, but he’s not interested.” Standing, she tossed back her hair and sauntered toward Bobby and Andy, who were talking to the chef.
“Not shy, is she?” Cadence murmured.
Dorie was having a hard time getting past “he’s not interested.” “When you look like that, I guess there’s no need.”
They watched Brandy cozy up to Bobby. The poor guy looked as if he’d won the lottery.
“Well, she’s right about one thing,” Cadence noted. “There is some serious eye candy on this boat.” She was looking at the captain, who stood hands on hips, his long legs planted firmly apart, his loose clothing nicely show-casing a lean, hard body as the sun sank below the horizon behind him. His face was deeply tanned and rugged, his long hair still held back by a strap of leather. “I mean look at him. There’s just something about that billowy pirate shirt and that long hair…” She laughed at herself. “Oh well.”
“Not oh well,” Dorie said. “Go for it. We just toasted to going for it.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no. I wasn’t kidding when I said I always go for the wrong guy. I have absolutely no radar when it comes to the losers. No men for me this week, thank you very much. I was serious about the penis embargo.”
“I’m perpetually under a penis embargo,” Dorie said.
“Then you must break routine. Which one would you do?”
“Do?”
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t meant to sound like the stripper-er, excuse me, dancer.”
Dorie laughed. “She might really be a dancer, you know.”
“Uh-huh. And I’m the Tooth Fairy.” Cadence’s dark eyes were shiny with laughter. “Look at her. Lapping him up. And then there’s the Cowboy. He’s something, too, isn’t he?”
“Andy?” Dorie looked at him, so big and strong and beautiful. “Actually, I think he asked me out.”
Cadence’s eyes widened. “You think?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s cute, and my tongue swells near cute guys.”
“Sounds problematic.”
“You could say so.”
“Go for it anyway,” Cadence suggested.
“I’ll suffocate.”
“I know CPR.”
She should go for it. She’d planned to.
Except her gaze strayed to Christian, who stood at the far end of the salon, in front of the bar, eyeing the drinks.
He didn’t take one.
“Talk about dark and smoldering,” Cadence said, seeing where Dorie’s gaze wandered. “Nice choice.”
“What? Oh, no. No, not him. No. He’s too…” Everything. “He’s not my type at all. No. Not him.”
Cadence was smiling. “Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.”
Dorie nibbled on her lower lip, and Cadence laughed. “See, you want to bite him. I think you should.”
“Cadence.”
“Sorry. It’s the free alcohol.” She downed the rest of her drink. “Goes straight to my head. He’s curious about you, if that helps.”
“Based on…?”
“Based on the fact that he keeps looking at you.”
Dorie peeked again. He stood there, enigmatic and brooding. And indeed looking at her.
He was out of her league. Waaaay out of her league. “Problem.”
“Is your tongue swelling?”
“No.” Which was extremely curious in its own right. “He’s…”
“Fabulous?”
“Grumpy. Sort of offsets the whole fabulous thing.”
His gaze captured hers, held it prisoner.
And the oddest thing happened. Time sort of stuttered to a halt. Her body flashed hot, her heart kicked hard, and she began to sweat, but one thing did not happen-no tongue swelling.
What did that mean?
“He’s still looking at you,” Cadence whispered. “And oh my, but he’s hot. How’s the tongue?”
“Still behaving,” she said, shocked.
“Maybe it’s a sign.”
No, it couldn’t be. Clearly she was still suffering the effects from traveling halfway around the world, and then having champagne and a rum punch, because she couldn’t have a crush on him, she just couldn’t. Even without her social awkwardness, it was a supremely bad idea all the way around. Unfortunately, she seemed to make it her mission to follow bad ideas.
SIX
Cadence came back from the food table. “The buffet is going to be tricky.”
Dorie eyed Cadence’s full plate with envy. She’d given Andy her plate, damn it. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to be big as a house if you let me eat all this by myself. Dig in,” she ordered, setting the plate between them.
Worked for Dorie. Behind them the moon began its nightly rise, glittering over the water. The breeze cooled her as the sailboat gently rose and fell on the easy swells.
“He’s looking again,” Cadence whispered.
Dorie turned her head and met Christian’s hot gaze.
“Boy, oh boy, he’s something.”
“Yes.” The doctor sure was something. She just wasn’t sure what.
“It’s going to take a really together woman to keep him entertained.”
“In light of that alone, I should stick with Baseball Cutie.” Her chances were better, seeing as Andy had actually expressed interest, something Christian had not. Besides, she wanted Andy. She did.
Or she wanted to want Andy…
“Honestly? You really can’t go wrong either way. Look at Brandy.”
Brandy had positioned herself in front of the wall of windows so that the moonlight fell over her like a spotlight, where she held court with the captain, Ethan, and Andy.
“She’s a man magnet,” Dorie said with envy. “So confident.”
“I’ve heard that if you fake it, it sort of sticks.”
“Yes, but I’ve never really gotten the hang of faking it.”
Cadence’s eyes sparkled with good humor. “As women, we were born with the ability to fake it.”
Dorie laughed.
“Maybe she could teach us,” Cadence said, watching Brandy toss back her head and let out a low, throaty laugh at something the captain said.