Read Dying Commitment (Lucky Thirteen) for Free Online

paused, and it almost looked like she wasn’t going to agree to it, but then she nodded, just once. “Agreed.”
    Somehow, I didn’t think anything we did was going to be as simple as we had just pretended it was going to be.
    ~*~*~
    The Port of Tampa was huge. We stood outside Cruise Terminal 2, looking up at the giant ship looming over us. I sipped the coffee I’d just bought and stared up at the thing. A cruise liner? She wanted to take a cruise liner? Visions of the Titanic flashed before my eyes. I could deal with jumping out of helicopters and storming buildings. I could even swim for miles underwater. But being on an actual cruise-liner? That was a little terrifying. Navy ships were different, because there was real security there, but civilian ships? How many movies were out there about cruise ships getting hijacked and shit? I hated being bottled in.
    “You look like you’re about to pass out,” Cadence said, beside me. “You could always go back to San Diego.”
    “No, I’m good,” I lied. Really, my stomach was doing flips. “How long is this trip?”
    “We stop in Key West in the morning, and then it’s eight days to cross the Atlantic to land in Portugal.”
    I resisted the shudder that threatened to slide through my body. Eight days on a death trap with a pool, a karaoke bar, and no sex. “Not bad. That’s going to take up a lot of your two weeks, though.”
    “Well, you’re with me. I doubt Collins will send the calvary after me if you tell him it’s okay.” I looked at her, and she grinned. She knew exactly how I felt about this trip. I couldn’t shake the feeling she’d done it on purpose to put me off my game.
    “You’re probably right,” I told her. “Let’s go, then.”
    Inside I was screaming, but I let her take the lead. It was kind of crazy to watch the way people boarded the ship, some taking pictures, some just on a mission to find their cabin. Me, I already wanted to puke over the side. I’d never been on one before, except the ones that took you around San Diego bay, but they were small, and mostly party boats. And they also made me sick as a dog. It was the anxiety of being stuck on this thing for days with nothing but ocean around us.
    We reached the suite Cadence had booked in just under five minutes. It had two twin beds, separated by a nightstand in the center. I glanced around the room in surprise. “You’re serious about this no sex thing, aren’t you?”
    “I wasn’t actually expecting to share the room.” She shot a glare my way. “But yes, sex complicates things and kills the focus. We can’t afford that.” Evil woman. She set her bag down on the arm chair, and walked over to the balcony doors. Even wearing her leather jacket and the worn black jeans gave off this sexy quality. I liked that she was a bad-ass, and that she didn’t need anyone else to watch after her. I’d known since the first time I’d seen her and she’d called me out for looking at her boobs instead of her face that I’d have her in my arms one day.
    I set my backpack down beside hers and stepped toward her. She didn’t look at me, but I could tell she was very aware of how close I was to her. She brushed the curtain open and glanced out at the city beyond us. “My dad always used to take me out on his boat.” A soft smile curled upwards, her eyes wistful. It only lasted a moment before she realized she was over sharing. She cleared her throat and stepped away from the window. “It wasn’t big like this one though.”
    “What did he do?”
    She swallowed hard and walked over to her backpack. “He was a fisherman.” She didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t hard to figure out Dad wasn’t around anymore. I ached to hold her, but she’d set boundaries for this trip and I didn’t want to disrespect them. I wanted to earn the right to ask for more from her. The way we were going… well, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet. “You feel like dinner? It’ll probably be