He moved her close to the balcony but left the sliding door closed. “This is why I wanted to bring you here, where you’ll never tire of the view.”
“Not as long as you’re in it.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “So now you’re a flirtatious teabag?”
?
?A flirtatious Goth teabag,” she corrected. “Hurry back.”
“You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
Alejandro moved his SUV and spent several minutes debating whether or not to stop by his father’s office. He hadn’t forgiven him for telling him to dump Ana, but he’d relied on the man’s generosity for a cruise on the Mediterranean Siren. They had nothing in common other than the family name he refused to use, but he felt he ought to take the time to see him. He found his father pacing his office with a drink in his hand.
“My God, Alejandro, you’ve come by so often lately you’ll soon be mistaken for one of my staff.” He raised his glass. “May I offer you a drink?”
“No, thank you. I just came by to tell you Ana was able to leave the hospital and we’ve boarded the Siren a couple of days early.”
Orlando leaned back against his desk. “Fine. I hope you noticed I didn’t call when the tabloids reported you’d married her. You insist they print nothing but lies, and it struck me as a particularly preposterous one. At least I hope it is.”
Alejandro hadn’t planned to stay long enough to sit down. He remained standing and told the truth. “We aren’t married, at least not yet.”
Orlando took a step toward him. “Keep it that way.”
From long experience, Alejandro recognized the threat in his father’s voice, but now grown, it no longer fazed him. “I’ll see you when we get back.”
“Does your mother know you’ll be visiting Greece?”
He paused at the door. “I’ll call her.”
“Do, and send her my best.”
From what Alejandro remembered of his parents as a couple, his mother had had incredible forbearance where his father was concerned, and she certainly hadn’t seen his best, if he even had one. “I will. Good-bye.”
He offered Ana an apology as he came through their cabin door. “I’m sorry to be gone so long. I stopped by my father’s office, and while our conversations are never long, I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”
She raised her hand to his cheek as he leaned down to kiss her. “I don’t require such doting care, Alejandro. I don’t mind sitting alone with my thoughts. We’re not sailing until Friday, and weren’t you going on some job interviews?”
He sat on the end of the bed to be beside her. “I postponed them because I couldn’t pretend I cared about getting a job now. You can argue I should care, but I don’t. So let’s not fight about it.”
“I didn’t expect something like this to come up so soon, but I’ll make you a deal. I won’t offer career advice, if you’ll refrain from giving me any.”
“How about casual suggestions?”
“What if we differ on what constitutes ‘casual’?”
He laughed and shrugged off his jacket. “Should we draw up rules on how to disagree, since neither of us wants to fight?”
“Perhaps agree to only discuss disagreements on Tuesdays?”
“Why Tuesdays?”
“Nothing much happens on Tuesdays, and it would give us something to look forward to.”
His voice held a low teasing growl. “I don’t need anything but you to brighten the week.” He got up to answer a knock at the door and found the ship’s captain.
The officer’s spotless white uniform made his bright blue eyes all the more vivid. Sun-bleached streaks lightened his brown hair, and his tan had clearly come from time spent on deck rather than lying prone in a tanning bed. He appeared to be in his early forties. He extended his hand.
“I’m Gabriel Reyes, and I want to welcome you on board, Mr. Vasquez.”