Chapter Twelve
Jade woke at ten minutes to five and rushed to put on workout clothes, deodorant, and brush her teeth. She hadn’t slept well most of the night thinking about Joshua’s skin under her lips, and wondering about more. There was a light tap on her door. She ran to open it, grinning up at Joshua.
“Heya, handsome,” she said.
He grinned back. Was it acceptable to kiss that dimple again? Her stomach heated just thinking of it. Priest had counseled her to kiss him. Teal had cussed her up one side and down the other when they finally connected last night. Her sister told her, in no explicit terms, that yes Joshua was a jerk to not instinctively know Jade couldn’t steal a candy bar, but he was obviously trying to figure it all out, he seemed like a “stud,” and she should give him a chance. It was obvious, to Teal at least, that Jesse had been fun and intriguing, but Joshua might be the one. Yet Jade had felt something incredible around Jesse. How could she just write him off completely?
“Heya, beautiful,” Joshua answered back. “You ready to work out?”
“My own private gym, eh? I’m excited.”
They walked up the three flights of stairs and then across the pool areas to the gym. The ship was mostly deserted at this time of day, just a few workers cleaning or doing maintenance.
The personal trainer met them at the gym entrance, shaking Joshua’s hand and asking if they wanted any help. Joshua inclined his head to Jade.
“No thank you,” Jade said. She might not have minded some pointers from a trainer but she wanted to be alone with Joshua. Could this be their last day together? If she chose Jesse it would be. She pushed that away as they both set into their workouts. They didn’t exercise together but it was fun to tease as they walked past to the cable machine or to grab free weights. Joshua kept catching her eye and giving her appealing looks, winks, grins, or even pulling funny faces. At times it was impossible to concentrate on even a simple lateral raise when she’d look over at Joshua and he’d be doing a bicep curl or triceps extension. Her mouth would go dry at the incredible display of muscle, and she’d completely forget what rep she was on.
She liked him. Far too much.
At six, a few people started filtering in. Joshua approached her with a chilled towel wrapped around his neck. He was sweaty, but he looked so tough in a nicely fitted T-shirt and shorts that she didn’t mind the sweat. “You ready to go?”
“Sure.”
He walked her back to her room but stopped outside the door. “So I get you all day?”
She nodded, biting at her lip. “Not sure what that means to you, but yes, I’m at your beck and call.”
A slow grin crept over his face. “Well, I’m hoping at the end of the day you’re going to be begging me to kiss something other than my dimple.”
She touched his dimple with her index finger. “I love that dimple, though.”
“Do you now?” He pumped his eyebrows.
She pushed at his beautiful chest. It was sweaty. He’d earned that sweat and she liked that he did sweat. “Go shower,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. See you in a few.”
“A few? Give me half an hour. I’ve got to get pretty.”
“You …” he swallowed and said in a reverent tone, “are always beautiful.”
She smiled but her lips trembled. That was sweet. He’d seen her coming out of the ocean with no makeup and now all sweaty after the gym and he said a line like that. “See you soon,” she managed so she didn’t simply kiss him right now.
“No, half an hour. I need to get pretty,” he teased her back.
“Yeah.” She laughed. “Get that makeup done to perfection.” She shook her head and hurried into her room.
They took their time with breakfast, eating in the dining room instead of the buffet. It was a lot slower but Jade didn’t care. She loved chatting with Joshua and she wanted to slow time down. After breakfast they decided to try to do as many of the ship’s attractions as they could. They started with mini golf. Jade was horrible. She basically hit the ball as hard as she could and succeeded in launching one off the ship into the ocean. Which made Joshua laugh really hard.
There was a pickup basketball game going on so they got caught up in that next. Joshua was a natural and Jade was certain he’d played in college or something. The boys they played with were all so impressed. Jade was horrific. She fouled everybody, mostly Joshua, and the only thing she could do was run fast.
As the game was ending, Joshua handed her the ball, plucked her off her feet, and lifted her high above his head. Jade screamed out, wobbling and clinging to the ball. She was so high off the ground.
“Dunk it,” he encouraged.
Jade didn’t dare stretch high enough to dunk it, but she tossed it the foot to the hoop and made it.
The boys all cheered as Joshua lowered her. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Finally!” she yelled. “Finally, I made one!”