“No.” My eyes narrowed. “I agreed to everything. It was kind of perfect, actually. Especially the aftercare. I like falling asleep in your arms.”
Marcus wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“But I do feel like I derailed your scene again and I didn’t mean to.” I sat back and looked at him, something I wasn’t allowed to do during our scenes. It hadn’t seemed weird, until now. “Are you okay?”
“What?” He looked around, but finally his gaze landed on me. “Listen, last night was fine. It went exactly how it was supposed to go.”
“Why are you so fidgety and nervous?” It was a stark contrast from the demanding Dom behavior he’d exhibited in the scene room. Something was up with him.
“Master Marcus.” A blonde sub who I thought was named Mandy came trouncing over to us. Even while standing over him, she still gave off a submissive air. “I was looking forward to seeing you again today, Sir.”
“Oh, uhm. Mandy.” He turned to me, guilt coming out of his pores. “This is Lucinda. Lucinda, this is Mandy.”
“Hi Lucinda.” She peeked down at me through her blond curls and waved. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” But I couldn’t drag my eyes away from Marcus.
His face had the look of a man caught, which was even more confusing. I was catching feelings for Marcus, but of course he was sceneing with other people. It was a BDSM cruise, for fuck’s sake. I willed the pout to leave my lips, but he didn’t notice. He seemed far more concerned about revealing my existence to Mandy than the other way around.
“Mandy.” He said her name with such reverence. “Please grab yourself some breakfast and meet me inside.” He squeezed her hand and she nodded, waved again and walked away.
“I need to get some air.” I stood up. Never mind we were on an open-air sun deck. Air was all around.
“Lucinda, please sit down and let me explain.”
I didn’t sit. “Explain what?”
“Actually, not here.” He stood. “Later.” With no explanation, he stood, gave me a once-over and then went after Mandy. His sub.
I didn’t want to admit it, but my feelings were hurt.
I turned and found Evan and Jalen staring at me and waving, so I made my way over to their table. They sat next to each other on a bench, Evan’s hand resting on Jalen’s thigh.
“Please join us.” Jalen smiled, but then it faltered as if he’d said something he wasn’t supposed to. Evan gave him a reassuring squeeze.
“You want a drink?” Evan asked.
“Uhm, sure.” I sat, but my brain was stuck on Marcus and Mandy. They looked stunning together.
A waiter approached.
“Sparkling water, please.”
“Very good.” He scurried away.
“Lucinda, are you okay?” Evan touched my arm.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” I snagged a piece of cheese from the fruit plate in the center of the table. “How is your trip so far? Having fun?”
“We are,” Jalen answered. “It’s been really fun and bizarre finding out how much our lives overlap. Seems crazy that our paths haven’t crossed before now.”
“Mysteries of the world.” I giggled.
“Right.” Jalen grinned and then side-eyed Evan.
“What’s up, guys? You’re acting weird.” I took another piece of cheese, but it wasn’t settling my stomach. I picked up a grape instead. Why was I stress-eating?
“Well, Jalen and I would like to speak to you about doing a scene with us,” Evan began.
