Ihold my card against the reader on the door, which opens with a soft beep and a click. The room is a two-story loft-style suite, one of the nicest on the ship. I wasn’t kidding when I said I went all out on this trip, and from the looks of this stateroom, I think it’s gonna be worth every penny.
The beds are in an open area upstairs, with a living space underneath. The entire outside wall of the cabin is floor-to-ceiling windows, which currently overlook the frenzy of activity on the dock many stories below, but once we leave port, we’ll have a stunning view of the ocean all day, every day. It’s pretty damn spectacular.
Hunter heads immediately for the sliding glass doors, stepping out onto the balcony, which is furnished with two extra-large lounge chairs, a six-person dining table, and a small private plunge pool. “Holy shit, Penn. This place is amazing!” He’s laughing like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing, and something about the innocent joy on his face launches a set of butterflies in my stomach.
“Not bad, right?” I giggle, ignoring the fizzy feeling in my belly. We stand shoulder to shoulder on the balcony, watching the frenzy of activity down below as the ship is loaded with all the stuff needed to keep everyone on board happy and content for the next week.
“Want to come upstairs and check out the sleeping loft?” I ask a few minutes later. “I’m going to unpack a few things since it looks like our bags are here.”
I’m excited to see the sleeping area, so I take the stairs two at a time, Hunter following closely behind. But when I reach the top, I stop short, causing Hunter to crash into me from behind.
Where there should be two separate beds, there’s only one enormous bed. It’s covered with a snow-white duvet and decorated with red rose petals arranged in the shape of a heart. In the middle of the giant heart are two bath towels twisted into the shape of swans with their beaks touching, as if they’re sharing a kiss.
The rest of the room hasn’t been left out of the décor scheme. There are several flower bouquets of different bright red and white flowers scattered around, and on almost every flat surface sits a cluster of votive candle holders containing electric tea lights. At the foot of the huge bed is a silver ice bucket on a stand, holding a chilled bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. It’s possibly the cheesiest display of “honeymoon suite” décor I’ve ever seen.
“Well, butter my biscuit,” I mutter under my breath.
Hunter lets out a loud snort of laughter. “Nice touch, Penn. I had no idea you were such a romantic.”
“Alright, fine,” I laugh, a little embarrassed. “Yes, when I thought this was going to be an anniversary trip with Jeremy, I might have arranged all this stuff. I thought it would be a cute, funny little surprise. But I thought I canceled it when I changedthe ticket into your name.” I pick up a rose petal to see if it’s real. It is. “I also didn’t realize it would be so...”
“Incredibly classy?” he supplies, smirking.
“Okay, fine, fine! It’s terrible.” I throw my hands up in the air. “So, sue me for trying to be sweet,” I grumble slash laugh at the same time. “Don’t worry. I’ll call them and get it cleaned up. They can separate the beds into two singles at the same time.”
Hunter chuckles, his dark brown eyes twinkling with laughter. “No, you’re right. It’s cute, really. I mean, who among us can claim theyaren’tturned on by bath towels shaped like waterfowl?”
“Ha-ha,” I say as we walk toward the bathroom to check it out. “You’d better be careful, or else I’ll get our cabin steward to make your towel into something a lot dirtier than smooching birds.”
Honeymoon decor aside, the bathroom is just as gorgeous and cleverly designed as the rest of the suite. Strategically placed mirrors make the space feel bigger than it is, and the designer made sure to include a million little nooks and crannies to hide all your toiletry items, which I love. Of course, the bathroom hasn’t been left out of the honeymoon theme either. A bunch more electric tea lights are lined up along the edge of a roomy soaker tub, and a basket filled with high-end soaps, bubble baths, and luxurious lotions and potions sits at one end. I hold a bottle of bubble bath to my nose.Damn, that does smell nice.I don’t know what it is, but I’d take a bath in it. Especially with Hunter.
Suddenly, my mind is flooded with images of a soapy, wet Hunter in that bathtub, lying back, his head resting on the lip, as I kneel between his outstretched legs, washing him gently with this delicious-smelling soap. The hot water trickles from my sponge down his lightly furred chest, between his nipples, and down his abs, following his happy trail before disappearing backinto the water. My dick is suddenly hard as a rock, and I turn quickly, hoping Hunter hasn’t noticed my predicament.
Fuck.After our little make-out session last night, I’m on a hair trigger. Replaying the way he tasted, the way it felt when he pulled me roughly against him, and the tortured look on his face when he pulled away was enough to keep me up most of the night.
“Okay, I’m just gonna go call Llanzo,” I say suddenly.
“Okay, but tell him we’re keeping the champagne!” Hunter calls as I head down the stairs.
“Duh, of course we’re keeping the champagne,” I call back, laughing.
Ten minutes later, I make my way back upstairs to find Hunter unpacking. “Um, so we might have a slight issue,” I say, chewing on my bottom lip. My conversation with Llanzo did not go as expected, and I have no idea what we're going to do about it.
“What do you mean, what’s up?” he asks, peering out from behind the closet door, where he’s hanging up some shirts.
“Okay.” I suck in a deep breath and clear my throat. “The first thing is that in these suites, the beds are a different type, and they can’t be split apart into two singles like I thought. So, if we want to stay in this room, we’re stuck with the one bed.” I shift back and forth on my feet apprehensively.
“Okay, well, that’s no big deal. We can change rooms, right?” Hunter asks.
“Well, that brings me to the second issue.” I grimace. “The ship is fully booked, so moving to another suite isn’t an option.” I rub my suddenly sweaty palms down my shorts. “I asked if we could get a rollaway bed in here or something, but he said these suites can’t have extra rollaway beds brought in. Something about fire codes and not enough floor space.” I run my hand through my hair nervously.
“Oh,” he says, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Well, okay, I’m sure we can figure this out. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Llanzo did suggest one option,” I continue. “He offered to try and organize a swap with a party in a cabin with separate beds. He thinks it’ll be easy to find someone willing to switch cabins with us since this is one of the nicest suites on board.”
“Oh. Okay,” he says thoughtfully. He pauses for a moment before turning to look at me. “Well, is it that big of a deal? I mean, do we really need to ask someone to move cabins for us? That seems like a lot of hassle.”
I blink at him. “But that means we’d have to share the bed, Hunter. I don’t think either one of us wants to sleep on the floor for a whole week, and that little love seat is too short for either of us to fit.”
