I was already squirming again, even though I’d literally just come, and I told her in a dazed voice, “I like this new rule of yours.”
“Good,” she said, her eyes on my cunt as she stripped off her white shirt. I could see all the flat, lean muscles moving under her skin as she walked toward the bed. “Because I have another one.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. You can’t go to sleep until you come at least one more time.”
I gave her my most innocent look—at least as innocent as I could look with my legs spread and my bikini bottoms pulled to the side. “That’s one rule I can promise I won’t break.”
Unlike the others.
Chapter Twelve
Since meeting Krysta for the first time several days ago, she’d always walked just behind or just ahead of me. Always clearing a path or watching my back. But as we exited the SUV that had taken us from the resort and back to port, Krysta stood by my side, our arms brushing, sending currents of awareness rippling up my spine.
This morning, I’d woken up with my mouth watering at the thought of what we’d done a few hours prior. We slept so heavily, limbs tangled. When I’d opened my eyes, I found Krysta wearing a robe and sipping coffee as she watched the early-morning sun shimmering along the water. Never mind the beach—that was a view I could wake up to on a regular basis. The thought of spending a single morning without her made every part of me feel hollow.
“I need to go back to our suite to get ready. I smell like orgasms and sea salt,” I told her as we crossed the ship deck and walked down the hallway.
Krysta’s gaze remained forward, but she smirked as she said, “I fail to see the issue with that, Ms. Hayes.”
“You know,” I cooed, “I might have a ten-minute gap in my schedule. You should see how much I can get done in the length of a productivity sprint...”
Krysta stopped short in front of our room. The door was cracked, and her posture stiffened as she went into mommy-bodyguard mode. “Stay here,” she ordered.
“It’s nothing,” I told her. “I bet the cleaning crew just forgot to close the door all the way.”
“I hope so,” she muttered as she disappeared inside.
I stood there with our two overnight bags, glancing over my shoulder and then peering through the open door. There was the small table near the window with my planner and my zip-bag of pens and highlighters; there was the horrible tulip-and-carnation bouquet that I kept putting on the balcony, hoping that the Pacific wind would take care of it for me, the aesthetically offensive reminder of Cassie and her demands.
My stomach twisted into knots as the shine of this morning wore off and the abruptness of reality hit me. Last night it was all too easy to forget the looming disaster waiting for me on this ship.
I needed to come clean to Krysta. It couldn’t wait a second longer.
“I’m coming in,” I announced, but to my surprise, Krysta wasn’t searching every last corner like a human German shepherd.
Instead, she stood over the table near the kitchenette with a small note in her hand. A note written on my own branded stationery.
“Addison,” she said slowly. “What does this mean?”
I dropped my bag at my side and strode over to her. “Let me see that.” As I took the note, I immediately recognized the handwriting. “Cassie,” I whispered.
“Who?”
But I was already taking the paper from her and reading the words over and over again.
You had your chance. Time is up. Not only is your reputation going down the toilet, but so is your grand finale.
Iwas paralyzed with dread, unable to even inhale. The show? The cast. Oh my God. The cast. If Cassie was willing to destroy me to get her way, I could only imagine what she might do to stop the cast members from getting onstage. And how old was this note? How long had it been here?
“What does this mean?” Krysta demanded again.
“I have to go,” I blurted. “I... This isn’t just about me anymore.”
I spun around and headed for the door, but Krysta took my hand and pulled me back to her. “What do you mean it’s not only about you? What aren’t you telling me?” Her brow was etched with worry and hurt danced in her eyes.
She was realizing I’d broken her rules, but it was more than that now. So much more.
