Nothing could dampen her mood now. Not even alternately uptight and passionate bosses who made her stomach do flip-flops and who made her legs weak and her system shut down.
Chapter Seventeen
The weekend’s drama was over, such as it was. Shirley had taken charge, and Savannah had a uniform and was getting rather good at making hospital corners on the bedsheets and disinfecting the showers and the toilets. Talk about fun! At least she got to put chocolates in bowls and make animals out of towels.
Best of all, Ashton was nowhere to be found.
And yet, after two or three days of this fun out of the sun, Savvy wanted to kick herself. She kept looking around every time she heard male laughter or deep-voiced conversations. Had she suffered sunstroke during her time working on deck or on the docks before now? Who cared whether Ashton was there or not? Actually, it was better that he wasn’t. It was so much more peaceful.
She didn’t miss him, didn’t want to be around him. Hadn’t thought about him for a second after that kiss. It was absurd to think for even one moment that she’d like to have anything to do with him. All the evidence was telling her was that he was back with his stupid, ill-mannered, self-centered fiancée. His shoddy fiancée. It was where he should be.
He’d had no business fooling around. And Savannah couldn’t feel shame that she’d allowed him to kiss her, or even touch her. She’d said no, after all. Maybe it had come out breathlessly and maybe she could have put a little more oomph into it, but she had resisted the man.#p#分页标题#e#
And very soon she was going to be on the ocean, away from land, away from worries. She was pretty sure Ashton wasn’t going to be on the voyage with them. That meant freedom; that meant a much-needed break. Though she’d had a break from him for at least half a week, she still was thinking about him constantly — but that would stop! If only she were thinking about Darren. He’d been a great date, but she hadn’t yet returned his phone calls. Dang it. She told herself it was because she was busy and she’d be gone for a while. But she at least needed to let the man know that.
However, when Thursday rolled around and she looked up to find Ashton walking down the docks as she stepped out for a breath of fresh air, away from all the cleaning fluids, she couldn’t help the way her heart leapt and fluttered inside her chest. A smile even flitted across her lips, though she tried to subdue it.
He was back. And he looked damn good. She could tell herself all day long — and all night long — that she had no right to look at an engaged man, but that didn’t keep her from sneaking glances his way. He spoke to a few of his employees, and then he was walking toward her.
Her smile of greeting quickly evaporated, though, because as he approached her, he didn’t look pleased at all. What in the world had she done now?
“Did you learn all your duties?” he asked tightly.
She was so shocked by his tone that it took a moment for her to find her voice. And she was still at a loss.
“Yes. Shirley says I’m ready to go on the cruise.”
“Good.” He waved her off and headed in the opposite direction.
For some reason, Savannah called out to him. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Ashton. I really appreciate it.”
It was difficult to force the words past her throat, but she managed to choke them out. After all, she was getting to take a voyage into the ocean for a ten-day cruise.
Admittedly, she’d be working and not a guest on this luxury ship. But at least she would be at sea. She didn’t care that she was cleaning rooms. Cleaning soothed her, except for the chemicals involved, and she could always rock out with her music while she did it. Plus, most of her evenings were completely free. A summer job didn’t get much better than this.
“I needed an extra person; that’s all. It’s not a reward. An employee quit. You’re the replacement.”
Damn. She hadn’t seen him this grumpy in a while, not since the first day she’d met him. She really hoped he wasn’t coming along on the cruise, because she would be more than happy to sail off into the sunset and get the heck away from him while he was playing the evil Mr. Hyde.
“I hope I don’t disappoint anyone,” she said, a nervous laugh escaping.
He looked her up and down, and it definitely wasn’t the saucy once-over that he’d subjected her to in the past. She felt she was coming up short, and that wasn’t an enjoyable feeling for someone as driven as she was.
“We’ll see how it goes.”
Her nerves were shot, but Savvy’s spine stiffened. She wasn’t about to just stand there and let him treat her like garbage. Nobody deserved that — not even her. She hadn’t been the one behaving inappropriately.