The Second Chance in the Mediterranean

Two

Two

Seb closed the door behind him and put his arms out for a hug. My mind panicked, and instead of hugging Seb—which was so tempting, knowing how delicious he smelled, even when working hard—I stuck out my hand for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you.” My smile was too big, too fake. Seb’s arms fell to his sides and his brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Um, I think you know each other from before? Seb used to work on Odyssey with you?” Dom sounded confused, his voice a little bit higher.

“Right.” I blushed, shaking Seb’s hand. “I meant, good to see you. Seb. Obviously, I remember you.” I laughed nervously and snatched my hand back.

Seb ran a hand through his hair and I watched too closely while his fingers slid through his dark mane and tugged at the ends. It was so shockingly familiar to see him do that.

“Right,” I said, taking a tiny step away from Seb. The other deckhands had disappeared, and my bags were neatly stacked just inside the door of my cabin. “I’m going to unpack. See you later, Dom?”

Dom passed a look back at Seb but stepped away. “See you at four.”

Taking deep breaths, I stood in the center of my room and tried to calm myself down. Seeing Seb here was shocking, and I couldn’t imagine working with him every day. I flushed, thinking about my first day on the job at Odyssey, and how I’d accidentally walked in on him stepping out of the shower. My first few months of knowing him had been awkward, simply because I had the image of him naked burned into my mind. Everywhere I went on the yacht, Seb had been there with his infectious smile, scrubbing the decks, always seeming to be wet and shirtless. It wasn’t until months later that I’d admitted my attraction—and we’d fallen into bed together.

But this was so much worse. Now I would see Seb and I would be thinking about the Time We Had s*x.

Also known as the Night Before I Got Fired.

I should have expected it, but a few minutes after Dom left, while I stood in the room trying to talk myself out of a panic, there was a heavy, insistent knock on my door. It flew open, and Seb stormed into my room.

“What the hell was that, Marce? ‘Nice to meet you’?”

I rounded on him and poked him in the chest with my finger. “‘What the hell was that?’? What the hell are you doing here?”

Seb stared at me. “What do you mean, what am I doing here? I sent you the information about the job; you wouldn’t have applied if I hadn’t connected you with Dom!” His nostrils flared. “I recommended you for the job and this is how you treat me?”

“I didn’t know you would be working here!” I roared.

“I told you, we were looking for a chef on my boat.”

“No.” I wagged my finger at him. “No.” I grabbed my phone off the desk and quickly pulled up the last email that Seb had sent to me. “You said, and I quote: ‘Marce, I hear you are looking for a job. Themis is hiring a chef. You might remember Captain Dom, who came to Odyssey for a night.’” I held my phone up to his face. “Nothing about you working here.”

Seb’s eyes started to show a hint of doubt. “I thought you knew I worked here.”

“How would I know that? I’ve been floating around on a little sailboat in the middle of the South Pacific for a few months. I didn’t have Wi-Fi most of the time!”

“Okay, okay, but seriously, it didn’t come up in the interview? Dom didn’t check to make sure it was okay with you?”

“Noooo!” I wailed. “I wouldn’t have taken the job if I’d known you worked here. I thought it was weird enough that you’d recommended me.”

His eyebrows came together in hurt. “You wouldn’t have taken the job?”

I blew out a breath, frustrated. “Well, this isn’t very smart, is it? We’re already fighting and we have to work together. This is my dream job. Porca puttana,” I cursed. “I knew it was too good to be true.”

Massaging my temples, I tried to figure out some options, but something tickled my mind. “Wait, did Dom ask you if it was okay?”

Seb shifted his eyes away from me. “Well, yeah. I figured I’d leave it up to you if you wanted to take the job or not.”

“What . . . why . . .” I didn’t even know where to start.

Hurt and then anger flashed in Seb’s gaze. “Look, you up and left Odyssey the morning after we slept together and just sailed off.” He gestured out to a hypothetical horizon. “I thought you’d moved on with your buddy.”

I closed my eyes and tried to articulate my argument. “First of all, I hadn’t ‘moved on—’”

Seb cut me off, leaning into my space and frowning. “Oh really? I saw you sailing away with those guys. You looked awfully cozy to me.”

“Excuse me! There was no ‘cozy.’”

“He had his arm around you!”

“Okay, I don’t know which one you’re talking about”—he scoffed in disbelief—“but I wasn’t with either of them. Jonas and Eivind are like younger brothers to me. I was upset to be leaving!”

“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you left.” And with that parting shot, Seb stomped out of my cabin.

I sunk onto the edge of my bed. Sure, I had been forced to leave Odyssey and hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye to him. But Seb had kept his job, and how dare he treat me like it was my fault.