Faking It(11)

Tyler, though, stayed sat all night at the bar that I was working behind. Ada kept coming and sitting with him, whispering in his ear, then stalking off to go talk with one of the others, but Tyler remained stoically across from me, occasionally letting me refill his glass with 18-year-old Glenmorangie, and largely ignoring his girlfriend.

“Really, Tyler?” I heard Ada breathe softly into his ear. “Isn’t it time we went to bed? After your heroics today, don’t you think you deserve some sort of reward? Or at least a little pampering??”

Ada’s eyes flicked quickly over me but I pretended to be not paying attention. I wanted Tyler to stay at my bar, though. I wanted us to connect. And I felt sure we would, if only I could get him away from that Asian goddess.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Tyler said to Ada, “I’m a little… I don’t know… something about this afternoon. I think I need to have another drink.” He tried to take her aside, “I’m sorry, baby, it just doesn’t feel right. Can we make it up tomorrow night?”

For a second, Ada looked livid, ready to curse him out. She cast such a hateful glance at me that I almost dropped the glass I was drying. How did I end up in the firing line? Then, just as quickly, she returned to calm.

“I can’t promise anything,” she said, loudly enough for everyone to hear, and walked off downstairs. D Cash, Ruby, and Britney slid away shortly after, only minutes before a loud argument broke out between Bella and Henry. As far as I could tell, Bella was berating Henry in Spanish, Henry was apologizing in English, while Paul, who knew both languages, was trying to sort it all out. Mercifully, they decided to go below, so Tanya escorted them. She fired me a saucy wink as she left me and Tyler alone on deck. Like she was giving me the go-ahead now there was no one else around.

Aside from a few interruptions, Tyler and I had been having a light, fun and engaging conversation through the night. So much so that, once or twice, I’d almost forgotten my mission for revenge and nearly divulged a couple of things about my past and my family that might have upset the applecart.

This is weird, I thought as we talked, he’s not arrogant or greedy. His friends seem to really like him. I thought he would be an asshole, bragging and talking my ear off about how amazing he is, but he just isn’t.

“Why are you being so secretive?” he asked, after the third time I dodged a question. “I’ve droned on about my life and my past all night, but I still know so little about you.”

“It’s the dynamic,” I answered with a smile. “The psychiatrist doesn’t divulge anything about herself to the nut-job on her couch, does she?”

Tyler thought for a second, then burst out laughing. I half expected him to attack me for implying he was anything less than perfect, but it was such a joyous, infectious laugh, I couldn’t help but start to laugh with him.

“I do know one thing about you, though,” he said, as his breathing returned to normal. I froze, my heart suddenly thumping in my chest and a horrible cold feeling running through me. Shit! Has he been playing me all along? Is that why he’s being so nice? I felt very scared, and couldn’t have been more surprised if Tyler whipped out a Luger pistol and shot me in the stomach. “I’ve seen you move about this boat all day, and I don’t think there’s any way you could have accidentally fallen overboard this afternoon. You’re too much of a pro.”

I smiled and looked him deep in the eye. This was going to be a gamble. “You’ve got me,” I put my hands up, “The truth is you were ignoring me and I didn’t like it. I wanted your attention. I wanted to see if you’d save me, that’s all.”

“And what if I hadn’t?”

“I grew up around boats, I can swim like a fish.”

“And now that I have?”

I looked quickly around the deck. We were alone. Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned in and kissed him, full on the lips. I held it for as long as I dared, then stood back up straight again. Tyler sat there, still and stunned.

“Okay, closing time,” I sang, not able to look him in the eye. “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Please, leave everything, I’ll clean up in the morning.” And, with that, I trotted hastily away. I didn’t look up until I got to my cabin.



Did I really do that? Did we really do that? These were the only thoughts running through my mind as I lay in my bunk. Even the quiet rocking of the ocean, usually all but guaranteed to send me off to sleep, seemed like it was mocking me. A creak and the boat rolled to port, did I really do that? A gentle push to starboard, did we really do that? It was like the sea itself was questioning my decision-making skills.

I had kissed Tyler Harcourt, a man I’d chased halfway across the world to confront and exact revenge on. A man whose family was responsible for the ruin of my life and the death of my father. And I had kissed him.

True, I’d had been doing my best to get him to fall for me since he came aboard. Catching his eye with shy smiles; listening to his troubles over drinks late at night; pretending to fall overboard so he would save me. Okay, so that last one was a bit extreme, but the way he didn’t hesitate to dive in after me, it felt good to have someone risk their life for me.

He was supposed to be a carefree billionaire playboy, a corporate monster that made needlessly huge amounts of money acquiring ailing companies and breaking them up, with no regard for the people who rely on those jobs, as his father had done to my father. Yet he leaped straight into the ocean to drag me out. This didn’t add up with the way I’d imagined he’d be.