Arizona Skies: The Muse (2 page)

“That’s sweet, Lord knows I certainly try,” I grinned at her. I continued looking around at every man’s face with light brown hair. He was somewhere onboard and I hoped to find him; wondering if I’d have the same reaction to him that I had before.

As we walked the ship started to move. We were walking forward, but the floor was moving backward. It was a weird sensation, but it didn’t bother Shelly in the least. I held on to my stomach as we walked. Now I understood the term “getting your sea legs.” We stood at the railing to watch the ship slowly back away from the port. The land was getting smaller, it was thrilling—our first adventure was about to begin.

I scanned the people standing at the railing, still looking for him. We were determined to make some great memories on this cruise, secretly I had already experienced one, but I didn’t tell Shelly.

My mother used to say, “You never know what life has in store for you, so enjoy every minute of it. Keep an open mind and embrace change!” My mother was very wise, and I always admired her quiet, calm demeanor. I hoped to be just like her.

I noticed people were already swimming in the pool, drinking at an open bar, and setting in deck chairs sunning themselves as the ship turned around and headed out to sea. There were a lot of men
walking around checking us out. Shelly wasn’t wasting any time flirting and smiling at them. I shook my head as I watched her.

“Really, Shelly, we can still see land, for Christ’s sake.”

“Bailey, we’ve only got seven days. I’m not wasting any time,” she said, shrugging her shoulders with a smirk. I had to laugh at her brazen attempts to attract men. She’d never had any problems finding a guy before, so I wasn’t too concerned about her. We leisurely strolled along the ship’s deck, checking out shops and peeking into different restaurants and bars along the way. It didn’t look like we were going to have to worry about stuff to keep us occupied.

All of a sudden I heard all these heavy footsteps stomping fast behind us. Shelly didn’t notice because she was chattering away, swinging her hips, and smiling at everyone. It sounded like a group of passengers were trying to run us down. I didn’t turn around and look because that would have been rude, so I continued to stroll along just taking in the sights and pretending to listen to Shelly. Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I felt hot breath on the back of my neck, and then this raspy voice whispered in my ear, scaring the shit out of me.

“Looking for me, beautiful?”

I jumped and quickly turned around to see intense green eyes smiling at me. It was him!

He had this big grin on his face, and so did the three guys standing next to him. I was shocked; he was staring right at me with this beautiful, dimpled smile. His light-brown hair was blowing around his handsome face. My heart fluttered as sparks immediately started to fly.

“Hi,” I said, checking him out.

“I’m Jesse Greene,” he said holding out his hand. He was tall and well built, with a killer smile, and that dimple melted my heart.

“I’m Bailey Harris,” I said, taking his hand, which had my body immediately on fire. I was just going to shake his hand, but he wouldn’t let go of mine and pulled my hand up to his lips. I thought I was going to faint.

“Bailey, what a beautiful name,” he said kissing my knuckles. He stared into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, until one of the guys slapped him on the shoulder. I pulled my hand free to try to compose myself.
He was really here and was looking for me
, I thought to myself as his three friends smiled at me.

“Hey, man, you gonna introduce us?” the blond guy said. Jesse chuckled and turned to introduce me to his friends.

“Bailey, these are my friends, Scott, John, and Keith.” They all said hi to me in unison with big smiles on their faces. All of them were good-looking and smiling at me like I was the flavor of the month. It was a little un-nerving and I blushed feeling four sets of eyes on me. I looked at Shelly who was giving me the evil eye, waiting for me to introduce her to these hunks.

“Hello, earth to Bailey,” she said, looking at me and Jesse. I pulled myself from the testosterone coma I was in and introduced them to Shelly, who immediately went into flirt mode. The heat from my connection with Jesse was causing me to squirm as he moved closer to me and started to talk looking me straight in the eyes.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he grinned.

“Yeah, we’ve all been looking for you.” His friend Scott interjected.

I blushed. “Me? Why?”

“You’re the girl in the red dress; that’s what Jesse told us to look for. It took us two trips around this ship to find you,” his friend Keith chuckled.

They were all laughing as I smiled and looked at Jesse, who gave me a sly grin. I couldn’t help but chuckle along with them as they all stared at me.
This is weird
, I thought feeling uncomfortable as I blushed and lowered my head. All of them looking at me made me self-conscious; I’m not used to all this attention. Shelly smiled at the guys. I wondered if I had changed my clothes, would they have found me.

“I just had to find you,” Jesse said, lifting my chin so our eyes were connected. My attraction to him was immediate, I wondered if he felt it too.

“Can I walk with you?” he asked.

I nodded, looking at Shelly, who said “Sure” immediately.

Jesse squeezed in next to me, separating me from Shelly. He asked where I was from and what I did for a living. I’d never had a guy so interested in me before. I answered his questions, looking up at him from my lowered eyes. He seemed to be interested in getting to know me. I’m sure I must have looked terrified as we talked. I could hear Shelly laughing as she joked with the other guys. She was much better at this than I was.

I asked him questions too. He told me he was twenty-six and a graphic artist and lived in Arizona where he worked for an advertising company. He had this quiet confidence about him, calmly walking along and talking to me like we’d known each other for a long time. Every time he smiled, that dimple had my heart racing. I glanced up at him as he continued to talk to me, taking in a very handsome man that seemed to be solely interested in me. He was looking at me very closely as we walked; it’s a good thing because I wasn’t watching where I was walking and almost tripped on a very large cable that was coiled up near the railing of the ship.

“Be careful there, beautiful,” he said, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me to safety. My face was next to his neck, and I inhaled this spicy, manly scent mixed with the sea air. It was intoxicating as his muscular arms held me close to his body. I knew right then that I was in serious trouble with this guy as he held me suspended in his arms.

“Thank you,” I said after he lowered me back to my feet. Blushing I adjusted my dress; positive I’d probably exposed my underwear to have the passengers on the deck. Taking a deep breath I tried to calm my beating heart. Jesse had saved me from what could have been a very embarrassing fall. I looked over at Shelly, who had stopped walking and was watching us with a smirk. I knew she probably had a smart remark, but she just winked at me as we continued to walk around the ship.

Two of the guys seemed to be happy to follow her as she strutted her stuff for them, enjoying every minute of it. John the big dark haired guy was quiet, smiling at us as he followed behind his friends. Shelly was cute and perky, and all the guys always went for her. I normally just quietly stood back and watched the show. But Jesse never looked her way once—I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t paying any attention to her at all.

We stopped walking and watched our ship sail toward the open seas. The view from the railing was magnificent. Seagulls were flying all around the ship as the waves hit the side of the bow. Jesse grabbed my hand again, pulling my mind back to him. I tried to pull my hand away, totally un-nerved by his touching me. He let go of my hand with a smile. I’d just met him and even though we had talked we were still complete strangers, but what he said to me next had thrown me off kilter.

“When you looked at me earlier from the dock, I felt this immediate connection with you,” he said. I sucked in a deep breath. He’d just confessed the same feelings that I was feeling when I saw him.

“You may think this is silly but, I think you may be the girl I’ve been looking for all these years.”

“Not really, I felt the same way about you,” I confessed before I realized the words had flown out of my mouth. Way to stay mysterious there, Bailey!

“You know, somehow, I felt that. It was so strong that I made the guys search all over this ship for you,” he admitted with a sly grin.

“Yeah, we practically knocked people over to get close enough to see if you were the girl he described to us,” Scott laughed. I looked at Jesse, who smiled sheepishly at me. I still couldn’t believe that he’d searched for me. I didn’t mention that I was secretly searching for him too. He took my shaking hands in his and looked into my eyes with a big, apologetic smile.

“I’m scaring you right now, aren’t I?” he asked.

“A little,” I nodded, feeling embarrassed but excited at the same time. I pulled my hand away again experiencing intense heat between us that had my body humming with all these new emotions. How is this possible we just met?

“I’m sorry; I know we just met. I didn’t know my friends were going to rat me out like that,” he said, giving his friends an annoyed look.

I had to chuckle at their discomfort as they squirmed at his comment. His friend John just smiled at the two of us. “Whatever man,” Scott said with a shrug and turned his attention back on Shelly.

“Listen, Bailey, I swear I’m a nice guy,” he said, crossing his heart. “I just believe in going after what I want.” He smiled at me.
Oh my god he just said he wanted me!
Now I really was nervous and I turned bright red and looked over at Shelly. She was watching us and heard what he said, giving me a look with her hands on her hips. I knew exactly what she was thinking:
Don’t fuck this up, Bailey
. Jesse followed my eyes to look at her too. I pulled my hands from his and raised them in a “what?” gesture as she blurted out, “Remember our list.”

I nodded my understanding. I knew she wanted me to pursue whatever Jesse and I might have together, but I’d already decided I would do just that after he saved me from falling on that cable. Maybe he was the knight in shining armor I’d always dreamed about. Jesse looked confused with one eyebrow raised.

“List, what kind of list?” He smirked.

“Oh, just ignore her,” I said, waving my hand to dismiss the issue.

“Dare I ask what’s on that list? Or maybe I don’t want to know.”

“Long story,” I said, desperately trying to change the subject and kill my best friend and her big mouth.

“I’ve got time,” he said, looking intrigued.

“Not today,” I said. I turned to see Shelly giggling and flirting with Jesse’s blond friend. She was slapping his arm as he pulled her into him by her waist.
She’s already got two of the guys drooling over her, and she’s not a bit uncomfortable
. I wished I had that kind of confidence
with men. I was a work in progress, but Jesse made me feel desirable. I was enjoying myself, and my shyness was slowly beginning to disappear.

“Look,” Jesse said, grabbing my hand to turn me toward the shoreline. “The coastline looks so small now.”

“It’s beautiful,” I said, leaning against the railing to look at the little bit of green still visible. And then there was nothing but blue water all around us.

I noticed Shelly step up to the railing with her two new friends surrounding her. She was still giggling, but the view that she was watching wasn’t the same view I was watching. John leaned on the railing looking out to sea by himself apparently not affected by Shelly’s charms. Jesse slid his arm around my waist to pull me closer to his side. I looked up at him, feeling uncomfortable and took a step away to loosen his grip. My heart was beating so fast.
Too much, too soon
, I thought to myself.

“Just in case you trip again,” he explained when I stepped away. He smiled and I smiled back as I tried to relax. I turned back to look at the ocean.

“Thank you for saving me.” I finally said.

“You know I was dreading this cruise,” he whispered.

“Really!” I said, surprised.

“But now I’m really glad that John twisted my arm and made me come.” His green eyes were sparkling in the sunlight. He stepped a little closer to me until I could feel his warm breath on my neck.

“The view is beautiful,” I said with a sigh, still processing the fact that I was actually on this ship with this handsome guy next to me.

“You’re the view I’m enjoying, Bailey!” he said, turning me around to face him. His mouth hovered just above my lips. I held my breath wondering if he was about to try to kiss me. He smiled down at me for what seemed like an eternity then he slowly pulled his face away from mine and turned back toward the ocean. I quietly let my breath out as I turned to clutch the railing tight. I was so out
of my comfort zone right then. I felt his hand slide around my waist again as he pulled me closer to him. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering, I was barely breathing as I felt the warmth of his arm around my waist.

I swept my hair out of my face and let the ocean breeze blow over my heated body to cool me down. My heart was racing so fast as I stood there with this silly grin on my face. I sneaked a peek at Jesse, who was smiling at me. He whispered in my ear.

“You know, you’re my fantasy girl!”

If he hadn’t been holding me, I would have fallen overboard with that remark. I was in shock—never in a million years did I dream I’d be this sexy man’s fantasy girl. I was in heaven!

I wanted to look in the mirror and make sure I hadn’t morphed into someone else’s body. This couldn’t be happening to me.

“I don’t want to walk away from you for fear this was all a dream,” he confessed turning to look at me. I didn’t know what to say as I turned around to face him. I was feeling the same way, but I didn’t tell him. He was looking directly into my eyes, looking so sincere that a shiver ran down my spine.
I think he really means what he just said
.