Red Hot Summer Reading - Falling for the Captain

 

A Mediterranean cruise. A broken-hearted passenger. The hottest captain to ever wear a uniform.

"The captain lifted himself free from the water like some sort of sea god."

Smarting from a break up, Josh Addison has no choice but to go alone on the Mediterranean cruise he’d planned to take with his ex. Expecting to lick his wounds in the sun, he’s struck by a thunderbolt when he meets the captain of the ship.

Kane Kessler tries his hardest not to fraternize with passengers. He’s led a long, lonely existence in his job, but he’s only human and it’s lust at first sight when he sets eyes on his shy, broken-hearted passenger.

He wants to stay away, for the sake of his job and for Josh’s sake. When he isn’t captaining cruise liners, he lives at the other end of the United States from Josh—there can never be a future for them. It’s not easy to keep away though; the chemistry between them is too explosive to ignore.

They have two weeks to get this thing out of their system and go back to their lives without each other.

They can both treat this as the casual fling it is—right?

 Possible Spoilers:

Themes: angst, forced proximity

Genre: Contemporary romance, hot beach read, holiday romance

Warnings: Violence and strong language. Sexual scenes. Hot men in uniform.

Out now at my store, Smashwords, Apple books, Kobo and Eden books plus more.

Out 1 July at Amazon.

Buy here

Read the first chapter below

CHAPTER ONE

Moonlight and the bright lights of Rhodes Town shone on the ink-black water. Waves lapped gently against the side of the ship. Distant music swelled and ebbed from the dining room.

Joshua Addison had never felt more alone.

When he’d paid for this two-week cruise around the Mediterranean six months ago, he’d had someone to take it with. Then Drew left him for another man. Now Josh was here alone, thousands of miles from home. He’d flown to meet the cruise liner on the island of Rhodes, boarded, walked around his first-class cabin, then come out onto the private balcony. He’d been aboard approximately ten minutes and already felt like hurling himself into the ocean. What was he doing here? He was surrounded on all sides by loving couples and it made him want to vomit.

A sudden cry split his self-pitying reverie.

“Shit, what are you doing, Freddie? Why are you using your teeth? Christ!”

Josh jerked his gaze sideways. He glanced across the wall separating his balcony from his neighbors’, squinting at two shapes in the dark. A man on his knees was being held by the hair by a man on his feet.

“Sorry, I’ve got cramp in my leg. Fuck.” The man on his knees shook one leg out behind him violently.

“Jesus Christ, you nearly bit my dick off.”

“Sorry, love.”

Josh’s face heated with blood and he tried to sink back into the shadows in case his neighbors thought he was a peeping Tom.

It was too late.

“Shit.” The man on his feet fumbled at his pants while his partner lurched up. The man giving the public sexual favor stepped toward the wall with a cheeky grin. Of small stature and thin, with dark hair, he was dressed smartly for dinner, even if his shirt was luminous pink. “Hi, you must be our neighbor. We were just,”—he coughed—“christening the place.” He held out his hand.

Josh regarded it dubiously before shaking. “Josh Addison.”

“I’m Freddie Booth, this is Erik Dalby.”

Freddie’s partner approached the wall. Taller, with red hair and a nice smile, he put his arm around Freddie’s waist. “Sorry we disturbed you.”

Josh was more embarrassed than his exhibitionist neighbors. He mumbled some pleasantry. He felt anything but pleasant.

“Who’re you here with?” Erik asked.

“No one.” Josh glanced back to the safety of his cabin, desperate to closet himself inside.

“Why not?” Freddie asked.

Josh glared at him. “Because my boyfriend ran off with another man.” He stalked back to his cabin and slammed the door.

 

Music woke Josh, together with laughing and shouting. Bright sunshine streamed through the curtains. The ship had yet to get underway, still docked at Rhodes Town. He stretched and turned over in bed, listening with irritation to the racket outside for a few seconds before he got up and walked into the lounge area of the cabin to pull back the curtain at the window.

It was his exhibitionist neighbors, of course, and they seemed to be dancing a particularly erotic tango wearing nothing but a pair of Speedos each.

Josh stared. Erik had Freddie around the waist with one arm, one thigh thrust between his as he marched him backward, dropped him and caught him, before he leaned over to press a kiss to his lips as Freddie shrieked in delight.

Josh let the curtain fall back. Jesus Christ, was this what he could look forward to for the next two weeks—Erik and Freddie rubbing his face in his loneliness at every opportunity? He hated them both.

A shower didn’t help his sour mood, nor did a glance at his watch that told him he’d missed breakfast. Cursing, he pulled on linen shorts and a T-shirt, then left the cabin to seek out the dining room in the hope of getting a snack.

He was soon lost on the vast ship. He hadn’t put on suntan lotion and the mid-morning sun was hot enough to burn. Perspiring, he cursed his way around the cruise liner, his bad temper growing and his stomach growling.

I want to go home. I want to go back to Alaska where it’s cold and I can hide away. What the hell was I thinking of coming here?

He finally made it to the enormous dining room only to be confronted by a closed sign on the glass door with the time for lunch, which was two hours away.

Great. Just fucking great. Josh caught sight of a woman in uniform within and pushed open the door. “Hi there, I missed breakfast and wondered if I could get—”

“We’re closed, sir.” The woman didn’t pause in polishing the cutlery.

“I know that, but—”

“We open at twelve for lunch.”

“Yes, I know, but if I could just—”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Come on.” Josh’s frustration boiled and his stomach complained. The woman turned away, disappearing into the kitchen. “Goddamn it.” Josh swung around and almost bumped into a man standing behind him.

He was late thirties or early forties, tall—at least six-foot-two, maybe six inches taller than Josh—and solid, his chest and shoulders broad. He had short, jet black hair and a lightly tanned complexion. His eyes were an unusual shade of gray with hints of amethyst, and his full mouth was sarcastic and sensual. He carried a haughty expression, and he wore a white uniform with gold buttons and epaulets, holding a hat under one arm.

Josh presumed him to be a crew member and disliked him on sight despite his obvious physical attributes.

“What sort of show are you running here anyway?”

The man arched a sardonic brow. “Excuse me?” He was a fellow American.

“I can’t get anything to eat. I’ve had nothing since the plane last night.”

“Is that so?” The man seemed coolly amused. His sarcastic mouth twitched.

“Yes, I missed breakfast.”

“Perhaps you should get up earlier?”

“Excuse me?”

“I said—”

“I heard what you said. Are you always so rude to the passengers?”

“Only the spoilt demanding ones.”

Josh stared. He was almost incandescent with anger. “I’m going to speak to your captain right now and maybe he’ll feed me.”

An arrogant smirk curled the sensual mouth. “I’ll feed you.”

“Fine. Cabin twenty-five. Eggs, toast, coffee, juice. No meat.”

“You don’t eat meat? That’s a shame.” The man held steady eye contact.

In the silence, Josh felt the blood rise to his face. Had he heard right? That would be something else to complain to the captain about. That his rude first mate or whatever the hell he was, went around making lewd and suggestive comments to passengers. He stalked past the man and left the dining room.

 

After only fifteen minutes, a knock came at his cabin door. Josh was only slightly calmer, but his blood surged once more as he swung open the door to be confronted with the same arrogant crew member.

The man had a silver trolley with him. He smiled, the sunlight catching violet sparks in his gray eyes.

“Sir,” he said, his tone mocking.

Biting his tongue, Josh stepped aside so the man could enter. He pushed the trolley into the center of the room, then looked back at Josh expectantly.

“What?”

“Don’t I get a tip?”

If the man hadn’t been several inches taller than him and full of muscle, Josh probably would have punched him at that point.

“Tell me where I can find the captain,” he said through his teeth.

There was the arrogant smirk again. “Top deck, follow the signs for the bridge.”

“And your name?”

“Kessler.” The gray eyes were like ice now.

“Fine. Expect a complaint, Mr. Kessler.”

“Can’t wait.” He turned and closed the door behind him.

Josh sat down to his belated breakfast. He removed the cover from his scrambled eggs and stared at the red rose lying on the side of his plate. What the fuck?

 

The bridge was at the other end of the ship. Josh approached it with his anger slightly abated but still simmering. He stepped inside the bustling room and approached the first man in uniform he saw.

“I’m looking for the captain.”

“What’s it about?” the man asked. “He’s kind of busy right now. Perhaps I can—”

“I’d like to make a complaint.”

The man’s already ramrod-straight back stiffened. “He’s over there.” He gestured to the far side of the room.

A tall, broad-shouldered man in white stood by the window. Josh stepped forward. He had almost negotiated the distance between them when another man shouted across the room.

“Captain Kessler, phone call for you.”

Josh froze in his tracks. The man at the window turned around. “One moment.” Then he saw Josh. His sarcastic mouth widened into a dazzling grin, his teeth perfect and pearly. His eyes remained cold. “Well, hello there, Mr. Addison, I hope you enjoyed your breakfast. Are you here to make your complaint?”

Josh hovered, all composure gone. He hadn’t told this man his name. The guy had obviously looked him up on the passenger manifesto. “You lied to me.”

“Did I?”

“You didn’t tell me you were the captain.”

“You didn’t ask.”

Josh clenched one fist. “Who’s your superior?”

“I don’t have a superior at sea,” the captain said mildly. “I’m in charge.”

“And on shore?”

Captain Kessler’s eyes were cold steel. “I’ll have the contact details of my employer sent to you. There’s Wi-Fi in your cabin. If you don’t have a laptop, you’re welcome to use mine to email them.” He stared Josh down.

Josh thought of the sardonic, demonically handsome captain bringing around his own personal laptop for him to make a complaint, and the idea of being alone with the man in his cabin again was almost more than he could bear. His shorts tightened uncontrollably.

“That won’t be necessary,” he muttered and turned his back, fleeing. The captain had won and Josh had made a dick of himself.

 

Erik and Freddie were having more fun on their private balcony. Erik had Freddie bent over the railing, seemingly with actual penetration taking place. Josh couldn’t believe his eyes. Didn’t these guys ever stop? Unfortunately, the grunts and moans combined with Josh’s existing reluctant arousal conspired to heat his blood to boiling point.

Freddie glanced over his shoulder at that moment. “Hi, Josh, be right with you,” he called.

Josh fidgeted, unsure what to do.

Erik bit Freddie on the neck, thrust him harder into the railings and came to a stop. Josh saw something spurt into the air and fall free over the ocean. Christ.

Freddie turned around, grinning, kissing his partner. Erik moved back and both men rearranged their clothes.

“How’s it going, Josh? Sleep well?” Freddie asked.

Josh sighed. “I’ve had a terrible morning.”

“Get your ass over here,” Erik said. “We’re having margaritas.”

 

Once Josh was settled in a deckchair with a tall glass in his hand, the full sorry tale of that morning came out. Erik and Freddie almost fell over laughing.

“Christ, the captain. We saw him last night,” Freddie said. “I’m going to have wet dreams about that guy until Christmas. And I’d swallow his meat any day, vegetarian or not.”

Josh sank lower in his chair, thinking about his sexual reaction to the captain. “I hope I never have to see him again.”

“Why?” Freddie asked. “We’re just hoping if we sit at the pool every day he’s going to come down in the smallest pair of Speedos known to man. I’d pay for that shit. In fact, I was thinking of asking him into a three-way.”

Josh stared, slack-jawed. “Is he gay?”

“Don’t care if he isn’t. I’d suck his cock until he fucking passed out with pleasure.”

Erik squeezed his partner’s knee. “Slut.”

“I should go.” Josh stood unsteadily. The sun was scorching, only adding to his light-headedness despite the fact the three of them sat under an umbrella.

“You going to sit with us tonight at dinner?” Erik asked.

“Sure, thanks.” Josh was grateful. He had imagined two weeks dining alone with people whispering about him. He said his goodbyes and retreated to his cabin, where he lay down on the bed.

The captain’s handsome, sardonic face swam into his mind. Damn him to hell.