Free Sea Daze: First Mate (Lesbian Erotic Romance Series) by Soichiro Irons Page A

“I’m sorry, that was really inappropriate of me. I shouldn’t
have said that.”
    “Why?” she asked
again, with a small twitch of her mouth. “I’m the one who asked. Besides, we’re
both adults here, aren’t we? What, are you afraid I’m going to go report you?
This isn’t fifth grade, Amanda. Don’t worry about it.”
    “It’s not that, I
just…usually have more discretion than that.”
    “I hope not. I like
you, Amanda; your open nature is really kind of refreshing. Where do you
normally work on this ship?”
    I tilted my head to
look at her. She thought I was open? Why couldn’t Phil be eavesdropping
when she said that ? Her face was expressionless, save the curious
glimmer in her eyes. There was no harm in answering the question she’d asked, I
supposed. “I work with the entertainment crew – I’m a dancer. You’ll probably
end up seeing me at tonight’s show.”
    She flashed a smile
at me. Her teeth were perfect – two straight rows of pearly whites. “Well, I was going to skip that – but I guess I’ll be there early. Gotta make sure I get a good spot!”
    I wasn’t sure how
to respond to that, so I just smiled at her as we walked on. We passed by the
Red Lounge, where an awful live musician was ‘serenading’ passersby with his
rendition of Copa Cobana . No one stopped to
watch, and I couldn’t really blame them. From the hand that I felt tightening
around my arm and the grimace on her face, I supposed that Eve felt the same.
    We finally arrived
at Toucan Isles, which – in my opinion - was the loudest and most irritating
restaurant on the ship. Gaudy fake birds and palm trees lined the walls from
one end of the deck to the other, and a couple of Bahamian men were banging out
rhythms on steel drums in the corner. I think they were trying for Red, Red
Wine , but I honestly couldn’t make out a damned word they were saying.
    “I hope that your show
is better than the rest of the entertainment I’ve seen on this ship so far,”
Eve remarked dryly, making another face towards the drummers. “Otherwise, I’m
taking back my offer of showing up at all.”
    “Trust me – we’re
way better,” I said, feeling embarrassed that my fellow crew were being lumped
in with these chuckleheads. “I have no idea where we got these guys, but they
keep on playing week after week. They must be cheap, I guess.”
    She smiled at me at
that. I started to feel a little awkward again – she hadn’t yet released my arm
even though we’d arrived at the restaurant. She seemed content to just stand
there and watch me, and I met her gaze without as much as a flinch. It was part
of the whole guest service guidelines thing that Phil had been pushing…I
wouldn’t be the first to break eye contact.
    What I hadn’t
expected, though, was what I saw in her eyes as I stared back at her. They were
green, like shimmering emeralds – but beyond the color, there was a deepness
that seemed to envelop me. As I watched, I felt like I was getting lost in her
eyes. Eve’s lips twitched and I could feel my heart starting to race. What in
the hell was going on? Everything had seemed so normal a few seconds ago, and
now I couldn’t notice that anyone else was in the room besides her.
    “Thank you for
walking with me,” she said, in a voice so low it barely registered as a
whisper. Her eyes remained unwaveringly locked on mine.
    “My, uh, pleasure,”
I stammered out. My mouth felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton balls,
and I couldn’t slow down my breathing.
    “No,” she replied,
her face slowly moving closer to my own, “I’m pretty sure it was all mine.”
    I was frozen in
place, and wasn’t able to react when Eve’s mouth pressed against mine. Her lips
were velvety and soft, and I could feel her tongue slide gently against my own;
tentative and calm, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. She
raised her hands up to the back of my neck, carefully pulling me closer to her.
    My first