Second Chance Honeymoon by Ally Blake

Author:Ally Blake [Blake, Ally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781940296531
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group
Published: 2014-06-21T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Two and a half of the most exhausting, fabulous hours of JJ’s life later, the all-round bingo winner brought the house down. The grand prize—with her final number a tickety-boo (sixty-two)—went to one of the Merry Widows; a group of four women who’d lost their husband in the months between booking and the cruise, who’d all been given free holidays by the cruise line and introductions to one another.

They’d taken to the stage and nearly carried JJ off in their excitement. At the very least they’d made her an honorary member of their clan. Especially since—beyond an outwardly chaste cheek kiss in the AV room that had apparently not been missed by the betting pool—she’d made no further headway with their favorite hottie ex-athlete, who at that point was nowhere to be seen.

As such she had no choice but to accompany them to the Starry Night Ballroom, an open air space at the rear of the top deck where the party had just begun.

“Alone it’s hard,” said one, patting JJ on the hand with her paper-soft palm. “But together we are indestructible.”

“We’ll protect you from the ass-grabbers, too,” said another.

“Married or not they are out there,” warned a third.

Amen sisters.

A big band already played Burt Bacharach and Dean Martin for those who’d not entered the tournament. The theme of the evening was Rat Pack so the men looked debonair, the ladies sparkled and the night reeked of Brylcreem. Martinis were the order of the evening and under the canopy of stars, a hundred happy couples danced and danced and danced.

JJ figured Kane was looking after the stragglers, helping those less-sportsmanlike souls back to their rooms. One guy had even been taken to the brig—the ship had a brig!—after taking a swing at a tablemate who’d accused him of cheating. Oddly sure he’d come find her when he could, she happily sat back and watched.

Which was fun for a while. But sitting on the sidelines nursing her dirty martini, she began to feel the return of her old companion, the clawing scrape of loneliness. Nice as these people were, once again she was an outsider looking in. She’d felt that way her entire childhood, itching to be somewhere more exciting, anywhere but where she was. Not fitting in, or at the very least not happy. Moving to Sydney hadn’t really changed that feeling at all—she was a small town girl on the wrong side of the window to where the real fun was. And in the late of the night, surrounded by the blur of white noise, she wondered if she was destined to feel that way the rest of her life.

“You look like you could do with a foxtrot,” a croaky voice said as a hand snuck in front of her face.

She looked up to see Samuel smiling down at her, looking like a new man.

“No, no, no. I’m literally the most ungraceful person on the planet.”

“Rubbish.”

“I’m all knees and elbows. More likely to stand on your foot than not.

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