Free Ship of Dreams (Dreams Come True Series Book 2) by Rebecca Heflin Page A

one. I don’t do sleepover.”
    “Fine. Rule Number Six: No sleepovers.” She could accept that, even though she had no issues with waking up to a warm naked man with a morning hard-on.
    She raised her glass of wine. “To a no strings, Ship of Dreams fling.”
    He smiled at her across the table and lifted his glass to hers. “I can get onboard with that.”

 
    Chapter 7

    “How’s the cruise?” Darcy asked.
    “Fine.” Laura shifted the phone so she could open an email on her laptop. She’d barely glanced at her smartphone all day. Unusual for her, but she’d been preoccupied with Nathan. Having fun and all that. Thinking about dinner with him tonight. Followed by her version of dessert.
    She’d called Darcy while she was still in port and had a signal, but she also needed to reply to emails. Good thing multi-tasking came naturally.
    “Have you hooked up with an Italian? I don’t think you’ve ever, er, dated an Italian.”
    “There was that guy from Sicily, oh, what was his name? You know, the Formula 1 racecar driver.”
    “If you can’t keep all your conquests straight, how do you expect me to? Maybe you should keep a spreadsheet. And you didn’t answer my question. Any accented hotties on the ship?”
    Laura bit her lip. For some reason, she didn’t feel like discussing Nathan. “It’s like an AARP convention. Everyone here is old enough to be my father. And a few, my grandfather.”
    “Oh, that sucks. What a drag for you.”
    “Well, it isn’t a vacation after all.”
    “I know, but all work and no play makes Laura a very bitchy girl.”
    “Ha, ha. So, what’s new with you and Josh? You settling in to connubial bliss?”
    “Happy as clams.”
    “Really? And just what makes clams happy?”
    “We’re redecorating some of the rooms on the upper floors, and I’m secretly working on an office for Josh. You know, the junk room on the third floor? I’ve been stripping wall paper and painting while Josh is at work.”
    “Sounds dreadful.” Laura couldn’t imagine performing backbreaking labor for herself, much less someone else. “Why don’t you just hire someone?”
    “Then it wouldn’t be as special. Doing it with my own two little hands makes it mean more. It’ll be great when it’s finished.”
    “Shouldn’t you be working on your next book instead?” Laura frowned over an email from Celeste, the head of the creative team, regarding the drink company’s campaign.
    “Oh, I am. And it’s going like gangbusters. Who knew how productive wedded bliss would make me. It’s like a six-pack of Red Bull for my creativity.”
    “You leave next week for California, right?”
    “Yes, and as much as I hate leaving Josh, I’m so excited about the trip. Did I tell you how awesome you two are?”
    “Well, I am anyway.”
    “Oh, Fudgesicle, there’s the bell. I’ve got the upholsterer coming over with some fabric swatches.”
    Laura laughed at Darcy’s go-to F-bomb substitute. “Okay. Go look at your swatches. Tell the ambulance-chaser hello.”
    “Laura.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Don’t work too hard. Enjoy yourself a little.”
    She thought again about the afternoon she’d just spent with Nathan, and the evening to come. “I’ll try.”
    Hitting ‘end,’ she checked her watch. She still had time to jot down some of her thoughts on her Imperial experience so far. Then she’d take extra care with her appearance, because unless her signals had gotten crossed, her drought would meet its end tonight.
    Scrolling through emails, Nathan caught up on those that couldn’t wait. A question about the creative brief for the new tech company campaign. An issue with the media buying for a local Mercedes dealership. Just the typical day-to-day fires that had to be put out. Thankfully all were little hot spots, and not conflagrations.
    A text from Amanda asked how his first day in France was. After giving it some thought, he replied, “Well, it didn’t suck.”
    Disasters averted and business