Page 42 of Not that Sea-Rious

Beau

A better man would have followed her. Beau should’ve gone after her, met her at the elevator, and kissed her with the force of a thousand lovers. If this were a sappy movie, that was what would happen. Oh, and it would be raining inside the hotel, somehow.

But he didn’t, and it wasn’t.

The sun had barely begun to set, casting beautiful shades of pink and purple in the sky outside. It was a perfect eighty-degree night with a slight breeze.

Yet his feet were made of lead.

Beau couldn’t move, no matter how much he wanted to. In the end, it was the right thing to do. He had to tell her. Keeping the turmoil of his current situation a secret wouldn’t be the foundation for a solid relationship. Pretending to be what he wasn’t—stable—just wasn’t how he rolled.

He was honest to a fault, and it cost him a relationship with the most wonderful woman on the planet.

Now, he had to sit and stew with that.

Running his fingers along his forehead to stave off the migraine thundering behind his eyeballs, he reached into his back pocket.

He couldn’t sit there and have dinner without Marissa.

Honestly, he shouldn’t be spending money so flippantly.

He didn’t have an endless supply, but that wasn’t their server’s fault.

Without looking for their waitress, he dropped a fifty onto the table and fled the hotel. This building was a hell of a lot smaller than the cruise ship. If he didn’t get out now, he might run into someone in the bridal party, and quite frankly, he wasn’t sure he could handle that.

It didn’t matter how pure his intentions were. His ex and his former business partner had kicked him in the nuts. The rug had been ripped out from beneath him. He couldn’t hide that from Marissa. Once he got his feet on the ground, he could try again.

They had something. If they hadn’t crossed paths on the ship a few days ago, who knew how he’d have handled the latest blow. He might have exploded. It was because of Marissa that Beau had been able to take all that Jordan and Megan had flung at him in stride.

There was a light at the end of his dark-ass tunnel.

He’d get there in time, and if she needed space, he’d give it to her.

For now, he had to focus on fixing his situation.

Then he could concentrate on winning her over and bringing her into it.

Once he had something to offer her, he could chase her.

Right now, he didn’t deserve to be at the table with her.

He was too messy. She’d done nothing to warrant swimming in the depths of this with him.

He had to do this alone.

Marissa had her friends. They’d support her. Hopefully, they’d be on his side and make sure she didn’t lose sight of the fact that he hadn’t meant to hurt her. Besides, there was wedding prep. If everything went the way it was supposed to, she’d be too busy to overthink his words.

He’d done his best to choose them wisely and leave the door open for the possibility of more because he had hope that they had the potential to be great. He had to figure out how to get there.

Marissa

Marissa was able to hold it together for three floors.

Unfortunately, the fourth floor was too much for her.

With a hiccupped sob, tears spilled down her cheeks as the ding sounded and the doors slid open.

Sniffling and frantically wiping at her tears, she exited the elevator and darted for her room.

She almost made it.

With her key card in hand, she stopped and reached for her knob, just as the door across from her opened.

“Marissa?” Tina’s concern triggered another wave of disappointment and more tears.

Hesitantly, she turned to find her friend holding an ice bucket.

“What’s wrong?” Tina asked as she approached with her free arm out.

When she was close enough, she wrapped it around Marissa and tucked her against her side.

Marissa choked through her crying and hugged Tina.

“What happened?”

The dream Marissa had for less than a week just imploded. She couldn’t say that out loud. How absurd was it for her to be this upset about it?

Unable to form a coherent sentence, she looked up into Tina’s eyes and sniffled. Nodding, Tina squeezed. “Okay. Let’s get you out of the hallway so you can collect yourself in private. Then you’re going to tell me what’s going on.”

Tina ushered her into the room, and Marissa’s heart sank seeing Carolyn inside, holding a glue gun in one hand and fake flowers in the other.

“What’s going on?” the bride asked.

“Still sorting that out,” Tina responded as she guided Marissa to sit on the edge of the bed.

Of all the people to be hanging out in Tina’s room, of course it had to be Carolyn. Joyce was too busy with her family coming in, and Tina’s wife was still back home. There were last-minute things that needed to be done—like making cute floral arrangements for table décor.

“Shouldn’t she be at dinner?” Carolyn asked before pointing the fabric hibiscus at Marissa. “Aren’t you supposed to be banging Beau?”

Trying to swallow more sobs, Marissa kept her gaze on the floor as she tugged at the hair ties holding her braids in. She looked ridiculous, crying over a man she barely knew.

Sitting beside Marissa and wrapping her arm around her, Tina rubbed her back slightly. “Okay, so what happened?”

Marissa took a deep breath and blew it out heavily to gather her thoughts. “He doesn’t have time.”

“For what?” Carolyn asked.

What had he said? Oh, right. “He’s homeless and jobless—”

Tina stiffened. “Wait? Did we know that?”

“How did he afford to go on a cruise and stay in such a massive room if he has no money?” Carolyn demanded. “Buying us drinks and taking you out on excursions. How could he pay for all that while unemployed?”

Marissa shook her head. “Apparently, it’s all recent.”

She hated starting the sentence in that manner, but at this point, everything was alleged. She wasn’t sure if Beau had been truthful about anything. The way the night had disintegrated before it even started spoke volumes. What was real, and what was fake? She hadn’t a clue.

Swiping at her cheeks, she glanced upward, wishing them away before she restarted.

“He was engaged before the cruise. It ended right before the ship left, so he went anyway, and supposedly when he got home, his business partner forced him out of the company. So, he has no place to live and no income.”

She flopped back onto the bed and covered her eyes with her arm. How pathetic was she to be this emotional over a guy she had only known for barely five days? So, they slept together a couple of times. Yes, he was good in bed, but that wasn’t enough to fall to pieces over him.

“Damn,” Carolyn muttered.

“I really liked him,” Tina commented.

The bride-to-be must’ve dropped everything she had in her hands because, in no time, she had crawled into bed beside Marissa and cuddled up next to her.

“It will be okay,” she murmured as she combed her fingers through Marissa’s tangle of half-braided hair.

Tina scooted onto the bed on Marissa’s other side. “Listen,” she said on a sigh. “As nice as he seemed and as fun as he was, we all need to remember that he isn’t the love of your life.”

Marissa pulled her arm away and glared at her.

“He’s just a guy,” Tina continued.

“You think I don’t know that?” Marissa snapped. “I can’t believe I’ve fallen to pieces over someone I’ve known for a few days. I can’t help it. My hopes haven’t been this far up about a man in forever. I feel so stupid.”

Tina frowned.

“I know what we have to do,” Carolyn announced.

Both Marissa and Tina turned toward the bride.

“We’ll hit him with the limo at my wedding.”