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Covering her front bits with her hands, she prayed to the one-night stand gods that Dante was still asleep when she poked her head around the corner. Nadia didn’t care what kind of sense it made to cover her body, considering she was pretty fucking sure the man had seen more of her body than she had ever seen of herself in her lifetime, but she just expelled every bit of her liquid courage, and any bravery she had had just been flushed down the toilet. Literally.

Phew. She breathed out a heavy sigh of relief at seeing he was nowhere to be found. That made her lucky but also unlucky, considering how high the sun was up in the sky. She had no clue what time it was, and when she went down those steps for her walk of shame, in the same clothes she was now quickly dressing herself in from yesterday … that meant that everyone on the ship might just be up to witness it.

Fuck. Nadia cursed herself for the millionth time when she left Dante’s luxurious cabin. Her shaky legs didn’t even want to start descending the stairs as she carefully listened for any signs of life that might be waiting at the bottom. Not hearing anything, she slowly took a step at a time until she was able to see that no one was in the indoor living area.

“Thank God. Maybe it is early—Shit!” Nadia bolted like her life depended on it, yet again seeing the backs of Leo’s and Amo’s heads on the other side of the sliding glass door. She was sure she might’ve seen Dante’s face as he talked to them, but she didn’t care if he had seen her or not. He had been a fucking accomplice. Of course, he knew she would have to take the walk of shame.

When she heard the sliding glass door open, she jumped down the last bit of steps to the lower floor that held the cabins. There were no words for the relief she felt once she closed the door behind her and was safely in her cabin, like she had been there all night. Nadia threw herself down on her made-up bed with a thud, and all the adrenaline that coursed through her veins to get her here unseen seemed to have evaporated. Hangover signs seemed to rush her all at once—the pounding headache, grogginess—

Oh no.

She wasn’t sure how, but Nadia had to sprint to her own bathroom this time to relieve even more contents.

“Yep”—Nadia spat into the full toilet before flushing—“that should do it.”

Lying back on the floor, she let the cool tiles try to soothe her.

I don’t want to ever hear rum fucking anything ever again.

* * *

It was a long time before Nadia not only was able to physically pull herself together enough to leave her cabin but to also get the courage to look at Dante again with each unveiled memory that came back of last night.

“You might be big, but you aren’t that big.”

Yikes, that certainly was going to be awkward.

Remembering the feel of him inside of her, she was certain he actually had been big, but drunk Nadia wasn’t about to stroke Dante’s enormous ego. With her body practically melting at the memory, she got back to the point.

Usually, when you had a one-night stand with someone, you weren’t going to be fucking stranded with them in the middle of the ocean the next day. She definitely didn’t regret the hot and steamy session she’d had with Dante last night; she just wished she had thought it through enough to wait until after they came back from their weekend trip. That way, she could run back to her apartment and wait for him to text her, like every other respectable woman. Then again, rum runners didn’t wait for you to return back to Kansas City to work their magic.

Messing up the bed for good measure, so it looked like she had slept in it last night, she pushed up the big-ass designer sunglasses she had found, hoping they would cover her sins from last night, and left her room.

She wondered what it was going to be like to face Dante. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have to wonder for too much longer as she was now facing him.

“You’re alive,” Amo noted with a smirk.

“I’m surprised I’m alive, too,” she said, taking a seat at the table. She could see they must’ve just finished lunch. “Trust me.”

Oh God. Focusing on the smirks now on Amo and especially Leo’s, face, she knew that they knew.

Amo laughed, clearly taking in her appearance. “I’d stick to your little glass of wine at dinner from now on.”

Phew. She breathed. They only know about your massive hangover, so chill!

Calmed, she was able to chuckle a bit. “I learned a hard lesson … rum and I don’t mix.”