Below Deck
Fine, maybe I’m not a huge moron for still wanting to sleep with Declan, but I’m definitely an idiot for worrying about my behavior with him right now instead of sucking it up and going in search of my dad.
As soon as Declan and I got back to the ship and got up to the balcony, he told me he’d see me at dinner, used his finger to make an X over his heart, and promised he was done being an asshole and avoiding me. And in between glances at my father over dinner and trying to get up the nerve to pull him aside, I couldn’t stop looking over at Declan as he stood behind the bar, smiling at me whenever we made eye contact.
Brooke puts the cap back on her perfume bottle, sets it down on the counter and walks over to stand in front of me, grabbing both of my hands in hers.
“Mackenzie, we only have a few days left of vacation. Your dad seems relaxed and happy, and while I’m fully on board with him finally finding out the truth about the bitch he married, I don’t see any problem with you waiting until we get back home,” she tells me softly, giving my hands a reassuring squeeze. “The end result will still be the same whether you do it now, or a week from now. Let him have his few remaining days of peace, and let Mr. Magic Dick give you his piece until then.”
I yank my hands out of hers when she laughs, smacking her lightly on the arm.
“You’re so disgusting.”
“And you love me for it,” she smiles, moving around me and out into the room. “Besides, without me, Declan never would have seen the error of his ways and apologized. You’re welcome.”
Following her over to the bed, I watch as she sifts through every article of clothing she dumped on top, looking for something to wear.
“I’m not thanking you for telling Declan my personal business.”
She holds up a black, strapless dress to the front of her with a questioning look and I shake my head.
“I didn’t tell him everything, just a few important facts so he’d stop judging you,” she tells me, throwing the black dress on the floor and picking up a red one. “He didn’t need to keep thinking you could buy and sell him a hundred times over. He’s the type of man whose ego wouldn’t let him get beyond it, even if you are hot and he’s dying to bend you over the deck railing again.”
I roll my eyes at her and nod at the red dress she holds up, her voice muffling as she slides it over her head.
“I gave him a few tiny details to make him eat his words and make him feel like the douchebag he was. Now everything is back to normal and you can get laid,” she says with a smile, smoothing the dress down over her hips and fluffing out her long, blonde hair. “Now, go get yourself all prettied up and get yourself some magic dick. I’d appreciate it if you avoid doing it in our room tonight, since Ben is sneaking up here as soon as he gets done with his shift.”
She smacks me on the ass as I turn and head back to the bathroom. I give her the finger over my shoulder and shout a warning at her before closing the door.
“Clean that shit off your bed before he gets here. You are NOT having sex with a self-proclaimed man-whore on my sheets.”
A few minutes later, freshly showered and lathered up with my favorite coconut-scented lotion from Nordstrom, the one and only item I have ever splurged on, I exit the bathroom with a cloud of steam behind me. Despite Brooke’s order to “pretty myself up,” I left my face clean of make-up, let my hair dry naturally in thick waves around my shoulders, and threw on another pair of tiny cotton shorts and a tank top. Whatever happens after I leave this room, the one thing it isn’t is a date or a need for me to impress a guy. If all goes well, it’s just sex with a guy who already wants to have sex with me, but just needs a little extra push. Since he loved the matching pair of tiny cotton shorts so much the night he had his hand down them, that’s as much effort as I’m willing to make. I’m not the queen of seduction, and I can count on one hand how many men I’ve slept with, but something about Declan, as infuriating as he can be, gives me a backbone and a pile of confidence I’ve never had.
As Brooke races back and forth between her bed and the closet, tossing things onto the floor in a mad dash, I answer the door for her when there’s a soft knock on it, to find Ben casually leaning against the doorjamb with a smile on his face.
“Good evening, pretty lady,” Ben tells me as I laugh and move back out of the way so he can enter the room. He stops right in the middle of it and looks Brooke over from head to toe, whistling when she holds out her arms and does a little spin for him.
Wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible before they start going at it like rabbits with me standing right here, I quickly walk through the door and start pulling it closed behind me when Ben suddenly turns around and calls my name.
“Declan is down in the crew laundry room. Second door on the left once you get through the galley. The rest of the crew is already asleep for the night, locked in their bunks, so don’t worry about running into anyone,” he tells me with a wink.
I want to be embarrassed that Ben knows exactly where I’m headed, but I’m too happy that now I don’t have to wander aimlessly all over the ship and hope he comes to me like the last couple of times.
With a quick thank you to Ben, I close the door and leave them to it, tiptoeing down the hall past my family’s bedrooms, quietly moving through the darkened main salon and formal dining room. My heart starts thundering in my chest as I stay on my toes and creep down the stairs to the crew area, poking my head slowly into the galley. When I see nothing but an empty kitchen, I keep moving until I exit through the opposite entrance, stopping when I get to the second door on the left.
Quickly glancing down the hall at all of the closed bedroom doors, I take a deep breath, turn the handle and walk right into the laundry room without knocking. The room is larger than what I thought it was, able to fit six sets of stackable washers and dryers along with a long white counter with a bunch of cabinets underneath. Half of the counter is stacked with folded sheets and other linens for the ship, and the other half is covered with piles of crew uniforms.
Declan looks up from the dryer, where he’s currently pulling a load of towels out, when I close the door behind me and lean my back against it to calm my racing heart.
He must have changed out of the white polo and khaki shorts after his bartending duties during dinner ended a few hours ago, and now he’s wearing that same pair of worn jeans that drove me crazy the other night. Any second thoughts I’d been having on my way down here are quickly put to rest when I see he didn’t throw on another tight, faded t-shirt to go with the jeans this time. Oh, no. Standing across the room with his arm full of fluffy white towels, Declan has decided to forego a shirt altogether.
Sweet mother of God. Is there a stealthy way to wipe drool from your chin?
I knew this guy had some muscles, it was hard to miss them when he kissed me and I had been pressed up against his chest, when I clutched onto his arm as he was giving me an orgasm, and especially with that blue swim shirt he had on all day today. But nothing could have prepared me for Declan with his shirt off.
“J’ai tellement envie de toi…” I trail off as I stare at his hard body, telling him I want him, knowing he likes it when I speak French and hoping it moves him into action.
With his eyes glued to mine, he tosses the towels over to the counter and my eyes immediately take in his chiseled chest, the muscles of his abs as he twists his torso, and the V-shaped indents outlining his midsection that I’ve only read about in books or seen in movies.
“You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?” he asks in a low, serious voice when he turns back to face me.
“Nope,” I reply, my hands still pressed against the door down by my sides to keep me standing upright, so I don’t do something stupid like collapse at his feet in a puddle and start praying to the God of hot guys, thanking him for his excellent work.
His eyes remain glued to mine as he takes a few steps towards me and then suddenly stops.
“And you’re not going to
go back on your word and do something stupid like fall in love with me?” he asks with a straight face.
The tension immediately leaves my body as I laugh.
“Nope, as long as you can do the same.”
He finally smiles at me and takes a few more steps until he’s right in front of me and I have to tip my head back against the door to look up at him.
“So, we’re in agreement? This is just sex. I still have a job to do and neither one of us is going to screw that up?” he questions, raising one eyebrow as he looks down at me.
Hooking my fingers through his belt loops, I tug him forward with a jerk until his body bumps against me, his bare chest pressing against mine as he lifts his arms and presses his hands against the door on either side of my head.
“Correct,” I answer with a small nod, remembering why I came down here in the first place and pulling up a little of that confidence he seems to bring out of me. “As long as you taking me back to your room and fucking my brains out doesn’t screw anything up.”
His eyes darken as they stare down at me and a muscle ticks in his jaw. When he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, I start to wonder if he’s changed his mind and will go back to insisting I’m too much of a distraction he can’t afford, even though he’s exactly the kind of distraction I need right now.
Before I can open my mouth and ask him, he slides one of his hands down the wood of the door and the click of the lock engaging by my hip sounds like a gunshot over the hum of the washers and dryers in the small room.
He presses his hand against the couple of inches of bare skin at my side where my tank top has risen up, then slowly slides his palm around my body. Resting it against my lower back and adding a little pressure, he brings my hips forward until I can feel how hard he is for me. My eyelids flutter closed when he dips his head down and presses his lips against my year.
“How about we compromise, and I fuck your brains out right here in the laundry room instead?”
CHAPTER 15
Declan
Any doubts I’d had about whether or not I was making a smart choice by giving in to temptation and not staying away from Mackenzie were immediately forgotten as soon as I heard the laundry room door open and saw her standing there in front of me.
I don’t know how I’d ever found another woman even remotely attractive with all the make-up they’d piled on, or the shit they’d put in their hair, or the extra attention they put into picking out the right outfit. Mackenzie leaning against the door fresh from the shower with her face void of make-up, wearing another pair of those miniscule cotton shorts and a tight tank top that she probably just threw on without giving it a second thought was the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
The way she stared at me with my shirt off came in a close second, and hearing her tell me to take her back to my bunk and fuck her brains out made me want to go back on my word of not falling in love with her and beg her to never leave me.
Instead of doing something stupid like professing my undying love to a woman I just met, I quickly grab her hips and lift her body up against mine. She wraps her legs around my waist and drapes her arms over my shoulders as I turn and walk her over to the counter.
Taking my eyes off of her long enough to see what I’m doing, I heft her up higher against me with one arm, and use the other to swipe everything off of the counter and onto the floor. Ashley will have a shit fit tomorrow morning that she’ll have to wash everything again, but I can’t be bothered with that right now.
Gently setting Mackenzie down on the counter in front of me, I push myself between her thighs. Sliding one hand around the back of her neck and through her long tangle of hair, I grip it in my fist and pull her head back, dipping my head down to the side of her neck. Her hands move from my shoulders to grab the back of my head, and she presses me harder against her neck as I nip and lick and suck the skin there, kissing my way down over her collarbone until I get to the swell of her breasts.
Right when I start to slide my tongue over all that soft, full skin, Mackenzie suddenly moves her hands to my shoulders and pushes me away. Before I have time to question what she’s doing, as I stare at her with my tongue practically hanging out, panting like a dog, she grabs the hem of her tank top with both hands and quickly yanks it up and over her head, tossing it to the floor. I’ve been dreaming about these tits since I first saw her. Sneaking glances of them while she was in a bathing suit, jerking off to them after seeing her in said bathing suit, and getting hard every time I thought about the night I made her come out on the balcony and had one of them in my hand.
Nothing prepared me for the sight of Mackenzie sitting on the counter in front of me with her shirt off, her thick hair hanging in tangled waves over her shoulders and the tops of her breasts, the ends curling right above her nipples. Seeing her bare tits, so heavy and round and full, with her rosy pink nipples hardened and waiting for my touch, makes my mouth water.
“Your tits are fucking amazing,” I tell her in awe.
“Thanks. I grew them myself,” she replies, arching her back and sticking her chest out a little more.
Fucking adorable.
Smiling like an idiot, I slide my hands around her waist and up her spine as I drop my head to one pert nipple.
I’m rewarded with a low moan from Mackenzie as soon as my mouth wraps around the hardened bud, and I suck it deeply into my mouth. Keeping my lips around her nipple, I swirl my tongue around and around it, loving the way she squirms and pushes herself harder against my mouth.
Kissing my way over to her other breast, I give it the same attention, alternating between sucking hard and flicking the tip of my tongue over her nipple. Her cries of pleasure shoot right to my dick, making it strain painfully against the zipper of my jeans as I take one hand from around her back to palm her other breast in my hand.
“Are you wet for me, Mackenzie?” I ask softly, finally pulling my mouth away from her breasts.
“I don’t know,” she whispers. “Maybe you should find out.”
Reaching behind me, I remove one of her legs from around my hips. She lets it drop to the counter and fall open, and I set my hand on her bare thigh, slowly sliding it upwards until my fingers ease under the hem of her shorts.
Our eyes are locked together and I watch her lids start to flutter closed as I run my fingertips back and forth over the edge of the lace underwear she has on underneath.
“Last chance to change your mind,” I whisper, her eyes immediately flashing open.
She answers me by wrapping her hands around the back of my head, and bringing my mouth to hers. Her lips part with a moan when I stop teasing her with the tips of my fingers and push them the rest of the way under her shorts until they’re met with the smooth, wet skin of her pussy, which is drenched for me. I touch my tongue to hers as I slide one finger easily inside of her tight heat, slowly pumping it in and out of her body as I make the same lazy motions with my tongue in her mouth.
Her hips start rocking against my hand when I drag my finger out of her and move it up to her clit, gently circling it with the pad of my middle finger. She yanks her mouth away, cutting off the kiss to press her forehead against mine as I take my time, drawing out her pleasure and enjoying the little panting sounds she makes as I swirl my finger around her.
I’m so busy enjoying what I’m doing that I don’t realize Mackenzie has removed her hands from the back of my head and has slid them between us, until she’s already got the button of my jeans undone and my zipper down. Before I can brace myself, her small, warm hand is down my pants and wrapped around my cock in record time.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter under my breath when she squeezes me in her hand and starts pumping it up and down my length in the same slow, torturous way that I’m touching her pussy.
I think I hear her mumble something about “magic dick,” but I’m probably hearing things considering the washers and dryers are all running and humming around us, and I’m close to forgetti
ng my own name with way she jerks me off better than I’ve ever done myself.
“Why couldn’t you have been an ugly woman with zero personality?” I complain in between groans as she moves her hand down to the base of my cock and then palms my balls.
“I’m going to forget you said that and pretend I’m not offended for women everywhere by that comment, because I’m too distracted by what you’re doing with your fingers right now,” she tells me with her own moan of pleasure when I thrust two of those fingers inside her.
I pump them hard, in and out, the heel of my palm rubbing against her clit each time I push them back in. I look down between us at my fingers as they disappear in and out of her body, before I quickly pull them all the way back out, and she lets out a protesting whimper.
Grabbing the sides of her shorts with both hands, she lifts her hips for me as I yank them and her lacy underwear off her body and toss them across the room.
“Good, because I plan on erasing everything from your mind right about now,” I inform her as she watches me reach into my back pocket and pull out a condom. “I really wanted to drag this out a little longer, but I need to be inside you.”
Without another word, she leans forward and pushes my jeans down my hips while I make quick work of tearing open the condom wrapper and sliding it down over my cock. I take a second to appreciate the scene in front of me: Mackenzie sitting on the counter, leaning back on her hands with flushed cheeks and her tits dotted with a few red marks from my sucking, her bare thighs spread open, and her pussy dripping for me.
Wrapping one arm around her, I pull her body closer to the edge of the counter, palm my dick in my free hand and line it up with her entrance. She locks her arms around my shoulders and her legs around my waist, and I hold myself still, pressing my forehead against hers and giving her time to change her mind, even if it might kill me.