“It’s not just gossip. The consequences are a lot more concrete. This is afamily-friendlyprogram. If word gets out that it’s not so family-friendly after all—if people start associating it with scandal and tabloid rags—then our booking numbers will fall off a cliff. What do you think that’ll mean for the staff?”
She’d been in this business long enough to knowexactlywhat it meant, which was layoffs. I didn’t know how close she was to the rest of the crew, but she had to have made some friends on the voyage. Would she really be able to stomach the idea of potentially being the reason they lost their jobs?
Her expression shifted to fear.
“Hold on. Are youserious?” Nina asked.
“I don’t joke about business,” I replied. “A mistake like this wouldn’t be a huge deal on one of our younger, more party-oriented cruises, but not here. And especially not on the first voyage, when the world is watching and waiting for any sort of slip-up.”
I watched her process what I already knew was irrefutable fact. The shock and disbelief faded until she finally resigned to the truth of the situation.
“Fine,” she finally replied. “How long?”
“It’s not like I’ve done this before,” I began. “But I’m thinking at least a few?—”
“Weeks?” Nina offered with hope in her voice.
“A few months,” I finished. “I’d say six months at least.”
She let her head drop back and heaved a sigh. “This was not on my bingo card.”
“No kidding,” I replied, though some tension left my shoulders when I saw she wasn’t going to argue anymore. For better or for worse, we were in this together. We needed to be on the same side. “Let’s figure out the parameters of everything.”
“Definitely,” she agreed. “For starters, what happens after we leave the boat? I was supposed to have a week to tidy up my life before reporting for duty as Noah’s nanny. But I’m guessing we can’t be seen leaving in different directions.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t work,” I sighed. “But you don’t have to actually move in right away if there’s stuff you need to take care of. Come home with us that first night, and take your time packing things up. Your work won’t start for a week, as we discussed. When we’re home, you’ll just be performing your nanny duties as outlined, but any time we’re out in public we need to appear as though we’re?—”
“A big, happy family?” she suggested.
“That too. But I was going to say we need to appear as though we’re a couple.”
She tilted her head. “Okaaaay. What does that mean, exactly? You want me holding your hand and staring up at you with lovey-dovey eyes?”
I considered it and had a flashback to our night on Nésion. I knewexactlyhow it felt to have her doing those very things to me, and even though my memory was hazy, parts of the evening were crystal clear.
I knew how soft her skin was. How perfectly my palm fit on the curve of her hip. I also knew how it felt to press my lips to hers.
I cleared my throat and forced myself not to let my mind wander any further off course. Our night together was a hazy memory, but the aftershocks popped up every now and then, reminding me that we’d made magic between the sheets, and everywhere else in that suite.
“If you think you can pull it off without cracking up, go for it,” I finally offered.
She threw back her head and laughed. “Okay, I’ll try.” Once she got her giggles out, her expression softened. “We’ll make it work,” she assured me. “There’s no way that I want to let one stupid night sink this ship and all of the employees on it.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Any questions for me about how we’re going to run this?”
We both turned when we heard laughter and chatter heading our way. It was a group of parents from the cocktail party arriving early to pick up their children from the movie.
“And there’s the couple of the hour,” one of the tipsy moms in a sparkly dress shouted at us. “We wereliterallyjust talking about how cute y’all are!”
“I guess we’re on,” Nina whispered to me as they stumbled closer. “Opening night of our big show.”
I gave her a brisk nod and moved closer to slide my arm around her shoulders. She looked up at me and smiled so brightly I nearly believed it was genuine.
“We had no clue,” one of the other women sang out as the group came to a stumbling stop in front of us. “You really kept it under wraps, you sneaky lovebirds.”
Nina giggled. “It sure wasn’t easy. This guy is magnetic.”
She wrapped her arm around my waist and gave me a squeeze.
