Cindy

I call over my shoulder to Millie, who is hanging up her clothes. "Wow! Check out this view!"

She takes a break and walks out to the balcony with me. "I can already see us drinking a bottle of wine while watching the sunset."

I smile. "I like how you think. How much longer are you going to be? I'm dying to check out the rest of this ship."

She returns to the closet. "I just have a few more outfits to hang up, and then I'll be ready."

Our Club Balcony Suite has two single beds, a large closet, a nice-sized bathroom, and a small bar. The best part of the room is the large balcony with that amazing view that I insisted Millie come to check out.

A moment later, we walk out of our cabin to look around the ship. We don't get far before the horn blows, announcing our departure. We quickly go to the outside deck to wave goodbye to everyone watching our ship set sail.

***

After walking around the ship and getting disoriented a few times, we find our way back to the 8th deck, where our room is, and several restaurants, bars, and a club. We decide to have dinner at La Cucina Italian Restaurant. After a fantastic pasta feast, we head to the wine bar for a few drinks before going to The Cavern Club, which doesn't open until 9:00 p.m.

As we share a bottle of Pinot Noir, two attractive men sit beside us at the bar. I can't help but think that the one man looks very familiar. I keep glancing his way. I must have looked one too many times because the next glance I take, he speaks to me.

"Hello." He smirks.

I blush. "Hello." I decided just to lay my thoughts out there. "You look familiar."

His friend bumps his shoulder and laughs like I made a hilarious joke. I find him annoying right away.

Mr. Familiar gives his friend a dirty look; I like him already. "Ignore him. He's a juvenile."

I smile. "Have you ever been to San Diego?"

Mr. Annoying speaks up, "Hell yeah, we live there. Let me introduce myself. I'm Police Officer Peter Lauver, and this is my good friend, Detective Sam Kidwell."

My eyes go wide. "Detective Sam Kidwell?"

His eyes twinkle. "At your service."

"I work for Benson Easton!" I exclaim a little too loudly, thanks to the wine flowing through my veins.

"Seriously?" He looks surprised himself. He stands and walks to my stool with his hand extended. "Nice to meet you. What do you do for Mr. Easton?"

I shake his hand and feel my face heat up. Is it his touch or the wine? "I'm Benson's assistant. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for finding Grace."

He smiles. "How's she doing?"

"Good. Grace married Jeremy Miller a few months ago." I inform him.

He raises his eyebrows. "No shit?"

I laugh. "I shit you not!"

We continue talking. I never even realized that Sam and Millie changed seats. She was talking to Peter, and Sam was sitting beside me talking.

"My dad was Detective Jerry Powell," I announced.

"Jerry Powell is your father?" Sam asks. "He's a fucking legend at the precinct."

I grin proudly. "He wanted me to be a detective, too. He always told me that I had a talent for investigating."

"Is that so?"

"Yep!" I quip as I lean into him. I'm feeling the wine. "I do a ton of investigating for Benson."

He smirks. "Really? Do tell."

My mouth runs with the help of the glass of wine that Sam just poured for me. "Benson likes to know who's working with him. I use the skills that my father instilled in me to check those people out."

"Have you ever considered becoming a detective?" he asks with interest.

I had to blink several times to get out of the trance that I was in from looking into his gorgeous eyes, and damn, he had the sexiest smile.

"Cindy?"

Damn girl! Get a hold of yourself, "Um, no, not really." I recover, and I'm sure that I'm blushing hard. "It's funny that my favorite part of my job is my detective work. I love working for Benson. He gifted me this cruise for my ten years of service to Easton Real Estate. There's nowhere that I would rather be. Well, except for here enjoying my vacation and your company."

I take another sip of my wine in the hopes that I can hide my embarrassment at being so forward.

He relieves my embarrassment by placing his hand on top of mine and squeezing. "Wow, Mr. Easton is quite generous. I'll have to call and thank him because there's no place that I'd rather be than right here talking to you."

I glance at him over my glass; his grin is adorable. Our eyes lock together, neither one of us wanting to look away.

That is until Millie calls my name, "Cindy, come on, I want to go to the club."

I see her dragging Peter by the hand towards the club entrance.

I turn back to Sam. "Are you coming?"

He nods. "Of course, especially if I get to dance with you."

I shiver at the thought of being in Sam's arms, swaying seductively to the rhythm of the music.

I smile shyly at him. "Yes, please." My voice unintentionally comes out raspy.

He swallows hard before taking my hand, and he practically drags me into the club with Millie and Peter.

As soon as the door opens, the loud bass-driven music thumps into my ears, and I find myself dancing my way with Sam onto the dance floor. I'm the perfect amount of tipsy drunk, where I know what I'm doing, but my inhibitions are out of the window.

Sam wraps his arms around my waist and rests his hands respectfully on my lower back. I place my arms around his neck, and we start to move to the rhythm of the music. Our eyes never leave each other. To me, we're the only two in this room.

We spend the rest of our evening on the dance floor. We only break enough to get adult beverages. The more we drink, the closer we get. We are grinding and rubbing each other as I allow Sam's hands to get lower and lower till he is holding my ass firmly while pulling my core closer to his.

He leans in and whispers, "If I am going too far, just let me know."

I melt at his sweet words and respond to him by rhythmically grinding harder on him to the beat of the music.

"Damn!" He mutters under his breath.

To say that I was on fire for this man was a fucking understatement. It's going to be the best vacation ever! Or so I thought.

*****