Pleasure Cruise Trilogy (Box Set) Read online

  “You love me and you know it!” Kira returned, ever cheerful. Adjusting her ample breasts beneath her corset top to leave her cleavage positioned to its full advantage, Kira grinned and posed suggestively for her security picture. She winked at the security officer, who looked somewhat embarrassed by the attention.

  “I love you like I love a hole in the—” Clare began.

  “—your—?” Kira tried to interject.

  “Don’t even say it, Kira, or so help me I’ll leave.” Clare turned a warning look to her side, but couldn’t help smirking in amusement.

  Kira just laughed, unconcerned. She shuffled her feet in excitement as they finally made it onto the boat. Photographers for the cruise line had the passengers bottlenecked, blocking their ability to board quickly. They didn’t seem to be taking no for an answer on snapping people’s pictures.

  “More pictures?” Clare asked. “Didn’t we just do this five seconds ago?”

  “Don’t even bother threatening to leave,” Kira said. “You know you aren’t going anywhere. Besides, if you tried to leave, I’d have to hogtie you, one of the twenty photographers would be sure to get the shot, and I would use it for my Christmas cards next year. And trust me when I say I’m an expert when it comes to tying people up. You would die of embarrassment when I pushed you buck naked and tied up around the ship in a lounge chair. You know they have an entire nude section on deck eight aft, right?”

  “Hmm, death from embarrassment or death by ballroom dance lessons and shuffleboard?” Clare chuckled. “Shuffleboard sounds more humane. I’ll take that, please. You were joking about the nude section, weren’t you?”

  “This is going to be so much fun!” Kira exclaimed, ignoring her friend’s inquiry. “Aren’t you excited at all? I can hardly wait. I just know there’s a cabana boy with my name tattooed right on his delicious, tanned, firm-yet-supple ass. Yummy! And, if not, he’ll have it by the end of the trip. I can already feel my engines revving up, ready to go. Can you smell it, Clare? The fresh, salty sea air, the fun waiting to be had, the giant margaritas, the sex, the—”

  “—ass-tattooed cabana boys?” Clare rolled her eyes in response. She didn’t doubt for a moment that Kira could smell sex. She seemed to have a sixth sense for it. It was just like Kira to view every moment as an erotic one and to screen every male, or female for that matter, as a potential partner. Though, to be fair, there was more to Kira than just her sexuality. The woman was intelligent, had a passion for art museums and had read nearly every classical author published before the nineteenth century. Thankfully, Kira didn’t spout quotes and act all pretentious. She even managed to squeeze in being a ball-breaking female executive. That in itself was impressive.

  “Kira, do we belong here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re career women. We aren’t eighteen and on spring break, and we’re not ninety-nine in need of an oxygen tank.”

  Kira arched a dark eyebrow. “Thank God! I’m damn happy we aren’t eighteen anymore. And so what if we’re career women? Do you see a boardroom around here? No. What you see is the opportunity to loosen up and have fun!”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I heard a lady talking about there being a pizza buffet open until midnight on deck eleven.”

  “You guess I’m right? Honey, who in the hell told you that just because you have a brain, a good job and extra cash that you aren’t permitted to let your hair down, take your suit off and be free? I’m not about to spend my week playing executive. Well, not unless it’s some sort of kinky foreplay—though he better be cute, ‘cause been there, done that. We work our backsides off, Clare. We earned this. Anyone who tells you otherwise is jealous that they’re too trapped in the cycle to break free even if for just a bit. I pity them. Really, I do. Life is too short to worry about keeping up your professional appearance. Even you, Ms. Stuffy Pants, have to agree.”

  “Tell me again why you’re my best friend?” Clare asked, managing to keep a straight face. She was taller by an inch and moved to drape a hand on Kira’s shoulder. She turned back to look at the cruise ship.

  “Because I know the pizza buffet is really on deck ten.” Kira laughed and tapped Clare playfully on the arm. “Because without me, you would just be another boring prude with a very boring, ordinary life. Not to mention you’d be one of those women I was just bitching about. The kind who live only to work. I live to live and with me around, you do too. So, as I see it, you’re a boring prude with a very interesting best friend. Wait, I prefer eccentric. It has a nice ring to it.”

  * * *

  Kira grinned. What she hadn’t told Clare was that this was a singles sex cruise and they were on their way to meet men—lots of hot, sexy, single, preferably very horny men. Let Clare think they were here for pizza buffets and shuffleboard tournaments. It’d been a long time since Clare hooked up with anyone, and it was Kira’s self-made mission to make sure her friend had a good time. She really hoped that nature would run its course and do the matchmaking for her.

  “Believe me,” continued Kira, “I’m good for your image. I’m good for everyone’s image. You need me. You’re destined for a convent without me.”

  Clare chuckled. Kira sighed and grabbed her friend’s hand before she could change her mind about the trip and proceeded to pull her along the deck of the cruise ship, following the signs and the flow of the crowd.

  “Great, I can feel the hula lessons already,” Clare drawled sarcastically. “Some guy in a gold sequin outfit is going to come out here and demand we get jiggy with him, isn’t he?”

  “Oh, I hope so,” Kira put forth. “Maybe they’ll be nice enough to provide a sequin thong for me.”

  “Did I tell you that I had a nightmare about cruise ship entertainers last night? It was horrible. They made me wear a headdress piled high with fruit.” Clare gave a pointed look. “Just direct me to the nearest bar.”

  “Trust me, Clare.” Kira turned to walk backward up to the deck. She bumped into the rail and giggled. “This vacation is just what you need. It’s what we both need. You’re going to have the time of your life. I just know it!”

  They reached a sign that read “Stop. Wait here.”

  Clare laughed. “Yeah, now if we can only finish getting onto the darn boat.”

  * * *

  “This way,” a lanky porter said as he took their bags. He didn’t even have to stoop down. His arms were long enough to just reach their luggage from his standing position.

  Kira shot her friend a wide-eyed look and tried not to laugh as Clare gave in to the giggles. Kira smiled, though she kept a careful eye on the porter. He looked as if he could be supernatural and she did not trust the supernaturals. But she wasn’t about to let something like a ghoulish porter stop her from having a great time. It felt good to be free and to be sharing the experience with her best friend.

  Kira knocked her hip into Clare’s and laughed. They swayed slightly as she hummed Cindy Lauper’s anthem to young women everywhere. In no time flat Clare was humming along with her. It was impossible not to be excited. Kira made a mental note to buy Clare the CD upon their return as a token to remember their trip by.

  It went against every fiber of Clare’s being to have a blast and Kira knew that she had her work cut out for her. The fact she’d managed to get Clare to dance, even if it was hip-to-hip and a bit forced, was a huge step forward. Too bad she’d packed the camera away. People at the office would never believe Clare did this much.

  Baby steps, Clare, baby steps. You can do it, girlfriend.

  She hid her laugh, as she thought of what she'd had to do to get Clare to come on the trip. Kira had been sure she’d end up having to eat the cost of Clare’s ticket right up until the last minute. She’d been shocked when she opened her door a week ago to find Clare standing there holding two bathing suits.

  “Which one?” Clare had asked with a slight roll of her eyes.

  Kira had pulled her into her apartment and laughed at her. “Nei
ther, they both suck. My grandma has better taste than you do. Come to think of it, my grandma probably picks up more men than you do. But don’t you worry, honey. Kira is here to help. Everything is going to be just fine. I know a great little shop down the street where we can find you the perfect ‘please, handsome man, give me sex because I haven’t been laid since the last millennium’ sexy bikini.”

  Kira laughed out loud, remembering how she’d thought she’d changed Clare’s mind about the trip when she’d convinced her to join her for a day of maintenance care before they had to leave. There was no way in hell that Kira would be caught dead without the proper “spring cleaning” and, as reserved as Clare was, she figured the girl might need an army of spa girls to get through the overgrown thicket. As it was, Clare had done a good job prepping her bikini zone for the trip. However, the waxers did better.

  Kira had spent the entire time on the waxing table watching her waxer’s every move so as to keep from getting a full Brazilian wax. She liked to keep a very narrow strip of hair guarding her privates. Ingrown hairs were the last thing she needed in that particular place.

  Clare had screamed bloody murder when they’d gone for her upper lip. Kira had expected to see a red, beat-up, blonde girl emerge from the other room. Much to her surprise, she’d found a woman who could have easily been a supermodel. It was a wonder what a little waxing and makeup could do. Clare had never been one to view herself as gorgeous, and Kira doubted the woman even thought about how she looked. Anyone who wore as many T-shirts as Clare owned couldn’t be into self-image. The second the woman got home from work, it was out of the suit and into the T. Kira sighed. But, despite this, her friend was gorgeous. Kira hoped that this trip would help Clare to see that.

  Kira glanced at Clare and pulled her closer. Her friend was way too uptight and desperately needed this vacation to let loose and have some fun. She hoped that Clare would relax, find a man and get herself laid—in many, many strange ways. That’s why she’d gone out of her way to book this trip to begin with. It had been too long since Mr. Jackass had broken Clare’s heart, and Clare had spent enough time avoiding the opposite sex. Clare needed to move forward or risk being forever alone, forever longing for that something else, forever celibate. Kira shivered. To go without sex was like going without chocolate on your period. It was just plain cruel and punishable by death in some countries.

  Kira hummed louder. So what if she got a little hot sex out of it too? Sure, she liked sex, but none of the men ever held her attention, and some of them had been real disappointments in the bedroom department. She still didn’t understand how a six-foot giant could have a two-inch little friend. That was just a cruel joke of nature. That poor man probably insulted the gods in his past life or something.

  Kira could honestly say that she’d never had her heart broken because she’d never actually gotten close enough to anyone to let them in. Her parents had been killed when she was young and from that early age, she’d erected a wall to keep people from getting too close. She never wanted to feel that pain again. Somehow, Clare had managed to squeak through her defenses.

  Clare often joked about Kira’s uncanny ability to separate love from sex. She claimed that it creeped her out, but Kira often thought she picked up a hint of jealousy in Clare’s voice. That was absurd, especially since it had been Kira who was jealous of Clare’s gift to love with all her heart ever since she’d met her. It was a gift to be able to love unconditionally, without restraint and despite faults. Clare viewed it as a curse and used sarcasm to keep men at bay to protect herself. Kira wished for an ounce of that ability, but knew that it would never come to be.

  “Have a good day,” the lanky porter said as he stopped just outside cabin 2150. He had the pastiest complexion Kira had ever seen and his voice was a dead monotone. She resisted the urge to mimic his flat tone. Clare made a serious face, her pale skin turning red with the effort it took not to laugh.

  Kira glanced at her boarding pass. “That’s your room, babes.”

  The man moved one door down, never stopping to look at the girls. He set Kira’s bag down. “Have a good day.”

  Kira’s eyes widened and she turned to her friend. “Kind of creepy, don’t you think?”

  “Where did they find him?” Clare asked, now that they were alone.

  Kira put her hands directly out in front of her and walked back and forth mimicking a zombie. In a monotone voice, she droned, “Have a good day. Have a good day. Have a…”

  “Let’s just hope he doesn’t set the tone for the entire trip.” Clare pushed her cabin door open and headed in. “I’ll meet you in an hour for orien-ta-tion—oh my gawd, Kira! Did you book us into the honeymoon staterooms? Look at this place! Are you sure this ship isn’t the USS Hell?”

  “Why? What’s wrong with the room?” Kira peered over her friend’s shoulder and had to blow a strand of Clare’s blonde hair out of the way to see. Her eyes widened as she saw the black walls and large red circular bed. It was the honeymoon suite, or at the very least a throwback to a seventies porno film, that much was for sure. She laughed hard and laid her head on Clare’s shoulder.

  “Don’t tell me? You picked the decoration out of a brochure.” Clare glanced at her.

  Kira nodded enthusiastically. “Don’t you like it? It makes me think boom, chicka, chickaaaa! Do you think the complimentary cocks come with sideburns and gold chains?”

  “You’re a barrel of laughs.”

  “Well, I do try. Besides, how can you not love this room? I’m so tired of those boring executive hotel suites.” Kira frowned and touched her shoulder lightly. “Well, think of it this way, if the bed does take quarters and vibrates, it will be the most action you’ve seen lately. Ride ‘em, girlfriend. Ride ‘em hard! Wait, do I have to explain how to ride something to you or did they skim over that in ‘How to be a Prude 101’?”

  With that, Kira ran into her cabin and shut the door tight behind her, giggling all the way.

  There was a soft clicking noise behind Kira and she turned to see Clare standing in her room grinning from ear to ear. “Hey, Einstein, next time you decide to take pot shots at my lack of sex, make sure that our rooms aren’t adjoining.”

  “Ha, ha. Aren’t these doors supposed to be locked? Huh, strange.” Kira’s voice was soft as she pushed Clare back through the door and locked it. She yelled mischievously, “Be sure to let me know how you enjoyed the ride. Va-rrrroom, Va-room! Do you need me to oil any of your creaky parts or do you think you can manage?”

  Clare banged on the wall and Kira smiled.

  * * *

  Dominik Zakharov smiled as he drew in the scent of the woman who was going to be his mate. How the powers that be had made such a choice for him was still unknown. He’d never thought of himself as the marrying type but, when he’d received notification that his mate had been found, he could not resist stealing a glimpse of her.

  He’d taken matters into his own hands, not wanting to wait to see her until it was too late, and he was already on the cruise. He had gone to where she lived and watched her from afar. She was far more beautiful than he could have hoped for but seemed a bit too reserved for his tastes. Maybe she was like the librarian fantasy—prim and proper until you got into the bedroom. As he made his way quietly into the bathroom, he could smell her arousal and it made his cock jerk with excitement.

  No part of him wanted to scare her, so he stayed as quiet as possible. The need to be near her was too great to keep his distance until the preset time. Her very scent drove him mad and he had to stop a moment to relax. Concentrating hard, Dominik centered his supernatural energy, using it to ooze serenity and calmness. At one point in his long existence, he’d believed his gifts to be a curse. His ability to affect another’s emotions, as well as his own, was a sign he was a born alpha male. Now, if his pack got out of line, he simply lifted his hands and allowed his power to flow freely. It didn’t matter what mood needed to be generated, Dominik could do it. It was a rare talent amo
ng his kind. One that was normally found only in vampires and one that he desperately needed while around his destined mate.

  When his erection only eased a tiny bit, Dominik realized that, as powerful as he was, nothing would work to calm him. His mate was so perfect, so glorious and so close. Seeing her slim silhouette through the shower door left him fighting down the beast within him. He would not share this intimate moment with the wolf that resided inside him. No, this would be between his mate and himself.

  She deserves her privacy. I shouldn’t be in here uninvited. I’ll wait until she’s out.

  As Dominik turned to leave her, she yelped. He frowned.

  “This is what I get for buying cheap razors,” she huffed, her voice soft, beautiful.

  Sniffing, he knew his mate was bleeding. The beast within should have attempted to break free at the smell. It didn’t. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Making a move to go to her, Dominik stopped. Having a man open the shower door to check on a shaving slip would most likely raise some suspicions, or in the very least a blood-curdling scream. Neither of which he wanted to occur.

  She’s fine. Leave now. You’re overreacting.

  He still didn’t move. Waiting a few moments to assure himself that she would not lose consciousness and drown from a scratch, he finally turned, deciding it really was time to go. He would introduce himself soon enough.

  As Dominik took a step, his mate moaned. The noise didn’t sound like she was troubled by an injury. She did it again. No. He knew that sound. It was the sound a female made when sexually excited. Taking a deep breath, he took in her scent. His legs almost gave out from underneath him.

  Oh, gods, she’s aroused. Leave! Go now!

  He tried to take another step. It didn’t work.

  Foot, move. I command you.

  His foot didn’t listen. Not that he expected it to. For one thing, he wasn’t able to override his natural instincts. For another, he didn’t really want to leave her presence. Okay, maybe it wasn’t wrong to just take one, small peek—just to be sure she was not really hurt. Technically, by lycan law, she was promised to him and it was his responsibility to look after her.