“Your hands are magic, young lady,” June Smith says as I open the door for her. “Please book me in for another appointment in two days.”

I smile and step aside for her to pass. “Thank you, I will. Take care for now.”

She gives me a small wave with one of her fragile hands and disappears down the hallway. I’m not that upset to see her go.

June is not one of my favorite clients. Not that she isn’t sweet, because she’s the sweetest of my clients, but I’m always afraid to touch her. Her bones creak when she walks and she wheezes with each breath. She’s so fragile that every time I massage her eighty-nine-year-old body, I’m afraid to break her. It terrifies the hell out of me. But she keeps coming back every two days. Every time we end the session, she books the next, just as she’d already booked her next cruise on the LaClaire.

The little old woman with snow white hair has no family and she’d rather spend the fortune she inherited from her late husband going on luxury cruises, awaiting death. She said she prefers it to being thrown into an elderly home. On the cruise ship, she eats the best food, has her own butler to take care of her needs, and a doctor only a call away should she need one. It makes her happy to spend the rest of her days living in luxury, but it still breaks my heart that she has no one.

Humming a tune under my breath, I head over to the water dispenser in the waiting room and pour myself a glass. Instead of drinking it, I find myself gazing out the window, watching the ocean sparkling in the golden morning sunshine.

“Someone’s happy today.” I turn around to find Lynn standing behind me, a curious expression on her face. Wearing a white dress with a golden belt, and her hair in a thick braid around her head, she looks fresh and beautiful, like a Greek goddess.

“You are?” I hide a smile, taking a sip of my water. “That’s great.”

She nudges my arm with an elbow. “I’m talking about you, silly. What’s making you so happy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I look back out the window to avoid her gaze. I wouldn’t want her reading the truth from my face.

From the corner of my eye I see her fold her arms in front of her chest. “Come on, tell me what’s making you so happy. I’ve never heard you sing before.”

I look at her, frowning. “I wasn’t singing.”

“I know what I heard.” Her brown, slanted eyes search my face. “It’s refreshing to hear. You deserve to be happy.”

“Well, I guess it makes me happy to be on this cruise.”

Lynn and Jillian still don’t know I’m sleeping with Bryant and I intend to keep it that way. There’s nothing I would want more than to tell them, to share my good feelings with someone else, but I can’t. I wouldn’t want to put my job and my reputation on the line. Bryant is still the boss. Whatever amazing things happen in his suite, stay in his suite.

“I take it your ex-husband is a thing of the past then?”

I fill my glass with more water. “Yes, he is, trust me.”

The amount of time I spend thinking about Dustin and the things he did to me, has reduced. When I’m with Bryant, I no longer think of him at all. But he still continues to pester me, calling and leaving messages. I still haven’t returned any of his calls. No way will I allow him to steal my happiness. Whatever he wants to talk about can wait. He no longer has any right to expect anything from me.

Lynn surveys me for a second, her eyes sweeping the length of my body as though she knows what’s going on. Heat spreads up my neck.

I take a gulp of water. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“There’s something about you. Something different but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“You’re imagining things.” I drain my plastic cup and throw it away, then lift the basket filled with towels from the counter.

“No, I don’t think I am. You’re carrying yourself with a confidence you didn’t have when you arrived on this ship.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“That’s an amazing transformation.” She leans against the counter. “Looks like you followed our advice to love yourself more.”

“I sure have and it feels wonderful.” I want to add that I love myself more with a little help from someone special, but I press my lips together so the words don’t come out.

“I’m glad.” She glances at the door as it opens and a man with a slight hunch walks in. “Gotta go, honey.” Lynn squeezes my shoulder. “That’s my next appointment. Let’s chat later, okay?”

“Sure.” I head in the direction of my own room to check when my next appointment is, hoping I still have a few minutes to daydream. No chance. The moment I enter the room and settle into a chair, someone knocks on the door, only once before it opens.

“I hope I’m not disturbing.”

My heart leaps inside my chest as I spin around, to meet the green eyes that have the power to swallow me whole. “What are you doing here? We can’t be seen together, remember?”

“Sorry.” He turns the key in the lock. “You have to forgive me, but I can’t seem to stay away.” He crosses the room, lifts me out of my chair, and pins me to the wall.

“Bryant LaClaire, you make it so hard to resist you.” I rest the back of my head against the wall and moan as he kisses my neck.

“You don’t have to resist, not now. I came here because I want you.” He brings his lips back to my mouth and heat explodes between my legs. I need him inside me more than he can ever imagine, but not now.

I place my hands on his shoulders and push him away gently. “As much as I want this, my next client will be here in a minute.”

He groans and takes a step back, desire still blazing in his eyes. “You have no idea the things I want to do to you right now.” He moves toward the door. “I guess they’ll have to wait.”

“Yes, they do. Some of us have to work, you know.” I smooth down my pale yellow summer dress. “Unfortunately we’re not born with a silver spoon in our mouths.” I freeze, expecting him to be insulted. What if he’s insecure about his wealth? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Don’t look so horrified.” He chuckles. “People say that to me all the time. And besides, you’re too cute to offend me.”

I sigh with relief, grateful for his honesty and sense of humor. “Thanks. I promise to make it up to you later.”

“You better.” He pushes the door open. After a quick glance in the hallway, he disappears, leaving me feeling undone.

I sink against the wall, catching my breath before my client arrives. Seeing Bryant before an appointment was such a bad idea. How will I be able to focus now?

You have to pull yourself together. He’s the boss with nothing to lose. You’re only an employee.

Maybe we’ve gone too far, maybe I should put a stop to this before I get hurt.

Also, working on this cruise ship is an opportunity that doesn’t come along often. If things end badly with me and Bryant, it could affect my future employment. After all, I would need a good recommendation to look for another job. Not one written by him of course, but from Vance Tucker, my immediate boss. Should I put my job first and stop this madness? But where will I find the strength and willpower to do that?

When I hear the sound of voices outside, I take a quick glance in the mirror, smoothing my hair back into place and making sure I don’t look like someone who has just been kissed. When my client walks in, I’m nothing but professional.

* * *

My excitement at spending the day with Bryant fades the moment I enter my cabin to find my phone overflowing with messages and missed calls. I sink down onto my bed and get started deleting them, listening to a few. As I’d suspected, they’re all from Dustin and my mom.

If only they would leave me alone. At the start of this cruise, whenever I avoided their calls or deleted their messages, I felt guilty, but now I feel nothing. It’s my life and I can choose whether to return their calls or not. I choose not to.

My newfound confidence is giving me the strength to fight anyone who brings negativity into my life. I wouldn’t mind talking to mom, to update her on how I’m doing, but every time we have a conversation, she brings up Dustin’s name, she tries to force me to return to a marriage that was never meant to be. I’m sure of that now more than ever. I admit I’m partly to blame. I didn’t love Dustin and yet I agreed to marry him. That was my mistake and I corrected it.

I switch off the phone and push off the bed. Yanking open my lingerie drawer, I pull out a pair of black and white silk panties and a matching bra.

Five minutes later, I’m wearing them under a slinky taupe cocktail dress that makes me feel like a million bucks.

I throw a glance at my suitcase pushed against the wall, stuffed with many of the clothes I brought with me on the cruise, packed away with the insecurities of the woman I used to be. From now on, I’ll only wear the clothes Bryant bought, until I get the chance to go shopping for a new wardrobe. No more boring, baggy clothes. If no one accepts me for who I am now, that’s their problem. The new me is here to stay.

Deciding nothing will ruffle me tonight, and Bryant will only get the best of me, I slam the door shut and run up to his suite. He receives me with a deep, hungry kiss that leaves me breathless.

“Damn, you look stunning,” he murmurs against my lips. He closes the door with his foot. “I’m glad you’re here. It took you long enough.”

He pulls away from me for a bit and pours me a drink. In addition to hard liquor, Bryant has now stocked his fridge with all kinds of exotic juices.

I lean against a bar stool, watching him. “Don’t you do anything all day? Besides going to the gym, of course.”

“I spend all day thinking about the things I want to do to you.” He hands me the cold glass and I raise it to my lips.

“That’s not news to me.” I giggle as I take a sip of my mango juice. “Seriously though, what do you do to keep busy?”

“Boring stuff. Most of my time is spent in teleconferences. But I do like the fact that I can conduct business from anywhere in the world.”

“Technology is amazing, isn’t it?”

He takes the glass from my hands and puts it on the bar counter, before pushing me up against it. “I can’t imagine how people lived without it for so long.” He moves a hand to my ass. “And I can’t imagine how I lived without your body next to mine for so long.”

I raise my lips to his. “Poor baby. No wonder you’re in such a state. We have to do something about that.”

If only Dustin could see me now, see the person I’ve become, see what he lost by being such an idiot.

I wrap my arms around Bryant’s neck and nibble his stubbly chin, while pushing my body hard against his. “Show me. Show me what you’ve been thinking of doing to me in between teleconferences.”

“I’d be happy to, yoga girl. I’d be happy to.” He gathers me into his arms and carries me to the bedroom, where he fucks all my troubles out of me.