Derek waited for Mandy in a lounge chair on deck four on their final day of the cruise. The pre-dawn hour was warm off the coast of Southern California and he breathed in the salty breeze. Their last two excursions in Mexico took them to a beautiful beach in Puerto Vallarta and a boat tour of the rock formations in Cabo San Lucas. The past few days zoomed by too quickly.

Today they would disembark by ten for the last time, and he knew he wanted to find a way to keep Mandy in his life. Long distance could work for a while.

She’d casually mentioned she still had cruises booked through the summer. But they could e-mail and text. He was even planning to give her his direct number and he never gave out his private information—his calls were screened through three secretaries before they ever made it to his office. E-mail was the same. But he’d make an exception for her.

With Mandy it was different. The last week of the cruise they’d gotten to know each other better, and though it was too soon for him to tell exactly, Mandy just might be the type of woman he’d settle down with. The kind who would keep him from making work his entire life and identity. The kind of woman that he’d leave the office earlier to come home to. He was getting ahead of himself. But he could see it.

Her familiar footfalls sounded lightly on deck four’s boardwalk. “Good morning, sunshine,” he said. “Join me for our last sunrise on the cruise?”

She stood in front of him, blocking his view and gave him a flirty smile. “I’m all packed so I suppose I have time before I help Alice disembark.” That smile made him want to kiss her. If only they had a little more time on the ship. She watched him intently.

“What?” He tilted his head.

“You know, if I didn’t know you, I’d say you look like you enjoy vacationing. Like you’re no longer pretending for Alice.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I am enjoying myself. Just a little.” If only she knew. He’d never felt so alive, so happy. He was going to miss this carefree side of himself once he touched down at the JFK airport.

He handed her a hot chocolate and she took a seat in the lounge chair next to him.

She stretched her face as she drank, puzzling out something. It was adorable. He was going to miss her. More than he wanted to admit.

“What is it?”

“I wanted to show you my sketches. For your assistant. I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to use them. I get that you want to pick out your own gift. It’s just well…I wanted to help if you needed it.”

Her drawings. He’d had so much fun with picking out her necklace, he had wanted to pick the gift for Adam out himself. He’d wanted to give her the necklace on her birthday. That had been the plan, but since then there hadn’t been the right moment to give it to her. He’d give it to her just as the sun rose this morning when the sunlight could sparkle on it. They still had a little bit of time before sunrise. He could look at her drawings in the pale lights above them.

“I’d love to see them.”

“Really? Thanks.” She handed him her cup and then retrieved her notebook from her purse. Several papers stuck out of her book, and she turned to one of them that bookmarked her place. “These were just off the cuff. I can change them up or combine ideas.”

He looked through the pages showing the art for a nursery. It was stunning. How could he choose? “I love them. All of them.”

She laughed. “I suppose I could do a wall of three of them and mix and match them, so you’ll have to narrow it down a little.”

He pointed to two of them with matching giraffes and different phrases. “These two for sure. And I don’t know, maybe you could pick what goes well with them? I did find out their nursery colors.” He pulled up a picture on his phone, showing her the modern baby room in white, navy, and gray.

“This is perfect,” she said, taking her book back and copying the design on the baby blanket and getting the texture of the rug. She looked toward the door, the sun hadn’t quite appeared yet. “I’m going to run down to my room and grab my pencils to add in some color while I have the inspiration, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He smiled, loving the idea that she’d be right back. Sunrise was almost here, and this necklace was burning a hole in his pocket. “Don’t be too long, you don’t want to miss your last sunrise.” He winked at her playfully.

“What do you know? You even sound like you’re having a good time. I knew I’d have some effect on you sooner or later.”

She had no idea. But she’d find out. He was smitten.

Time moved slowly as he waited for her. He looked at her designs, then moved backward and forward in her book, seeing other things she’d drawn on this cruise. Little sketches, the one of the ruins, a few around the ship, several ones with the sun and palm trees.

He turned a few more pages, and stopped. She’d written a few things in the margins next to a picture of a ship in the middle of a storm.

Drawing is not getting out my emotions. I’m going to sink. This is the worst experience I’ve had. I can’t stand being with Derek. He drives me crazy. But if I don’t win him over, his negative outlook could affect Alice’s review of my business. There’s only one thing to do. Pretend that he isn’t who he is. He is charming and sweet. I hope I can do it. Thankfully I only have to be nice to him for two weeks.

It took several seconds before Derek could take a full breath. The words over the angry picture stung. His mind wanted to find a way to unsee what he’d read, but he couldn’t. He had done his investigative work on her, but not well enough and emotions bubbled.

There had been a switch on the cruise. Almost as if one day they couldn’t get along and the next they could. It’d all been a sham. She only had to be nice for two weeks. She’d acted a part, and he’d played the fool.

He laid her notebook on the chair next to him. She’d gotten him to care for her. So deeply that he thought they’d have a future together. He closed his eyes, shutting out the sun that bobbed up on the horizon in front of him. She wouldn’t get the best of him. He couldn’t fall for her act. They disembarked today, and he’d leave this entire experience buried in the ocean.

“I’m so stupid,” he said, shaking his head back and forth.

“What’s wrong?” Mandy’s voice startled him, and he opened his eyes.

He wouldn’t let her on that he knew about her secret. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d hurt him so deep. “I-I can’t believe I didn’t remember that Adam’s wife, Kira, is an interior designer. I’m going to need her approval before I have you spend so much time on this project.”

The pencils rolled around in Mandy’s hand, but he ignored the deflated look in her face. “Oh. Yeah. I guess that’s like giving an artist a painting you’ve done. You should know that they’ll want it first. Maybe I can just color a few of them. You could take a picture with your phone and once it’s approved I can get to work on it. These are only mockups.”

Derek nodded, knowing he wasn’t going to ever ask Adam and Kira about it. “Sure. Sounds good.” He shaded his face from the blinding sun. He’d wanted this sunlight to give her the anchor necklace, but he was grateful he hadn’t mentioned having a surprise for her now.

He patted his pocket, making sure it was still there. Why had he thought picking out a personal gift for someone was a good idea? Stupid gift. That was what assistants were good for. Making sure you didn’t get too attached.

He’d give Adam a big bonus, and he could go buy something personal. Easy and done. No more investing time into something that was going to crumble before him. If Adam didn’t like the money, he could put it in the Caden’s college tuition. Personal was overrated.

* * *

Mandy made quick work of adding in color to the pictures. Her fingers trembled but she stayed focused on keeping her stokes fluid, knowing Derek was watching her every move. She wanted to prove herself to Derek, and efficiency was his mode of operation. She added just enough color to get the idea of it. “Here, take a picture with your phone and you can show them to Adam. Should we show him all the mockups?”

Derek snapped the photos. “This will give him an idea. Let’s start with these.”

She opened up the small flap envelope at the back of her notebook, and pulled out her graphic design business card. “Here’s my number if he has any questions. I figure a card would look more professional.”

Derek turned it over before pocketing it. “I’m sure that will be helpful.”

“And I can give you one too, or you can just copy down the number and save it in your phone.” How desperate can you sound? “Do you have a card?” Ugh. It just got worse. So awkward. Why not just hand him the phone and let him punch it in? She found herself twirling her hair.

He smiled, but it was of the guarded variety. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different.

“I’ve got your number. That will work. Trying to get a hold of me is tough sometimes. Even my cell gets routed through three different assistants before it comes to me.”

They had talked about keeping in touch, she just didn’t realize how difficult that might be after all. “I’ll wait to hear from you then. After I drop you and Alice off at the airport, I’m headed back here for another two-week cruise. But my e-mail is on the card, so you could use that.”

He nodded, keeping his gaze on the horizon. “Another cruise?”

“Summer is my busy time.” She hadn’t given him her exact plans over the last week that they’d spent time talking every morning together. Maybe it had been a mistake not to bring it up earlier, but he knew she traveled. A long-distance relationship was going to be an adjustment after spending so much time together every day on a cruise.

“Are you picking up your next companion at the airport?” He broke his gaze with the ocean to look at her.

Mandy shook her head. “I always meet companions on the top deck. It’s the easiest place to locate each other. Ground transportation has been arranged for Jean.”

“There’s no reason for you to see us off then. It’s a waste of time. You might as well just stay and reboard the ship.”

His life revolved around saving those precious minutes and not wasting time. But it wasn’t a waste of her time. She liked Derek. A lot. Spending another hour with him was worth it. “With back to back cruises they don’t make me disembark with my luggage, but I want to make sure Alice gets to the airport safely. Part of my job.” She gave him a flirty smile.

“I’ll make sure Grams gets safely to the airport for you. I’m going that way anyway.”

She bit her lip, wondering if Derek intentionally ignored her meaning. But if it was just about the job of getting Alice to the airport safely, it made sense to delegate that task to Derek since he was already going that way. “Okay. If that’s not a bother. I don’t want to get a bad review for not taking her to the airport.” She laughed playfully.

Derek’s brows creased. “I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with Grams’ review.”

“If The Edge doesn’t put me on their Tropical Line, I was thinking of sending some of my sketches to another graphic design company in New York.” Would he take the hint that she’d like to come and see him without her spelling it out?

He frowned. “New York is a competitive place.” He didn’t think she could hack it.

“Or maybe I’ll just come to visit my old roommate. She just moved there with her husband.”

He stared out at the ocean. “I’m sure you’d have fun. You’re into the touristy stuff, and New York has no shortage of it. But I guess it’s true what they say: you don’t know your hometown as well as you know all the other places you travel.”

It didn’t sound like an invitation to sightsee with him. He’d be busy in New York and probably didn’t want to get her hopes up that they’d be spending a lot of time together. She understood that. It wouldn’t be the same as the cruise.

They could smooth it out over phone calls or e-mails before she came out to see him. And of course she’d introduce him to Liz and Tyler while she was there. Maybe they could go on a double date out to a show or to dinner overlooking the skyline of New York. The romantic idea sent happy tingles down her arms.

Derek stood up abruptly. “I’d better finish up packing before breakfast. I’ll see you and Grams at our table.”

“Okay,” Mandy said, only waiting another minute before she left the deck too. It seemed too empty without Derek next to her. She went to guest services and talked to Spencer about keeping her luggage on the ship, even if she had to disembark. He settled it quickly. She could stay on the ship and disembark and then recheck in for the next cruise before any other guests were permitted on board. She was back on track to doing what she always did without dropping Alice off.

She dropped off her luggage at Spencer’s desk, keeping only a purse with her. She had nothing to do until it was time to meet Alice for breakfast. She wandered through the shops then found herself at the photo kiosk. A few days ago, Derek had mentioned wanting to get copies of some of the pictures.

She usually provided her companion with a USB full of all the cruise pictures, in addition to the ones she’d taken on her camera. She’d already uploaded all of her pictures to a remote shared folder Alice could access after the trip. Mandy fingered a display picture with a frame.

Should she print off a picture for her to take with her and frame it? And should she include a picture of the three of them together? And what about Derek? Would he end up getting copies from Alice, or should she buy him his own set?

“Can I help you?” the man behind the counter asked.

“Three USB drives with the pictures linked to all of these staterooms.” She wrote the numbers on a paper and handed it to him.

He had them uploaded and in her hand in a few minutes. When she continued to stand there, he asked, “Anything else I can help you with? Any prints?”

“That’s all. Thank you so much.” If Derek wanted a specific picture, she wouldn’t know which one to choose. And she wasn’t sure if Alice would want a picture of all three of them together. The USB drives would be enough. She pushed them into her purse and headed toward Alice’s stateroom.