Love on the High Seas

Voyage into love

Unlucky at love, Professor Angelina Lewis is resigned that she is more of an intellectual than a romantic. She is in the habit of satisfying the yearnings in her heart with academic pursuits. This all changes when her sister talks her into taking her place on a singles’ cruise. On the high seas, red-hot desire ignites when she meets Jeremy Bell. Frolicking in the Caribbean with the sensual doctor is making Angelina believe in the power of passion. But what happens once they sail into port? Will her shipboard romance get hit with a reality check?

Jeremy doesn’t want the passionate music he and Angelina make to ever stop. From the exotic island of Puerto Rico to the sun-kissed beaches of Miami, he’s pursuing the woman of his dreams. But Jeremy will lose Angelina unless he can prove to her that they share something special—a rare love they’ll never find again on land or sea….

Angelina woke up wrapped in Jeremy’s arms, weak from the pleasures of the previous night. She looked at her watch and closed her eyes again. They only had two more full days together—today and tomorrow. What would happen then?

She tried to move from within his arms without disturbing him, but as she shifted away from him, he shifted closer, holding her tighter. She tried again, and the same thing happened. On the third try, low grumbling laughter came from deep in his chest.

“Are you trying to get away?” he asked.

“Yes, I am. And you’re wide-awake.”

“It’s early, and I like holding you.”

“Well I have a day planned.”

He opened his eyes, “Are you going ashore?”

“We could later, but I have a spa appointment this morning.”

“I see. And you were trying to sneak away.”

He chuckled, grabbing her firmly by the hips and pulling her against the length of his body.

YASMIN SULLIVAN

grew up in upstate New York and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, from which her family hails. She moved to Washington, D.C., to attend college and has earned degrees from Howard University and Yale University. As an academic writer, she has published works on by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou and Ed Bullins, as well as the writing of the Negritude Movement and historical fiction treating emancipation in the Danish West Indies/United States Virgin Islands. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she teaches with a focus on African-American and Caribbean literatures. When she isn’t teaching, she does creative writing and works on mosaics.

Love

On the

High Seas

Yasmin

Sullivan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

A poet once said that there’s nothing better than having someone with whom to dream. Our dreams then seem more possible, more viable, more workable, more real. Sharing a good romance novel does the same thing. It allows us to dream together, making us kindred spirits, so that love becomes more possible, more viable, more real in our own lives.

I hope that this novel connects us across such a dream. It is the story of Angelina Lewis and Jeremy Bell, whose story is about learning to embrace the possibility of love and accepting the thrill of the sensual side that lives in each of us.

I am already at work on my next romance project, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this book. Please write me at yasminhu@aol.com.

Warm wishes,

Yasmin

For my mother, father, brother and grandmother,

who have given me the richness of the human heart;

for Jennie and Tanya, who have been my sister-friends;

for Madeline, Freddie and William, who have shaped my vision of love;

and for Vionette and Lois, who have inspired the romantic in me.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 1

Angelina Lewis fidgeted on the gangway, stuck in line with the horde of other passengers boarding the Palace of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships on the Atlantic. It was an hour before departure, when the throng had arrived, but the line was moving along quickly.

She might even have found a way to enjoy the short wait if she wasn’t sure that at least one more person would measure her against the passport she carried. Instead, the suspense of potential exposure was unnerving her. She couldn’t believe that she’d let her sister talk her into this.

Safire had shown up with a suitcase, a ticket and her usual chipper mood, and before Angelina knew what was what, they were in her room packing.

Safire’s calm, elliptical eyes followed Angelina as she flew back and forth across the room. Her sister still wore her usual blazer and matching miniskirt—her work attire. She tugged down the skirt as she adjusted herself on the bed, letting her long curls fall across the pillow. Safire’s plump cheeks puckered from her smile—one caused by mere amusement or by some thought that was more salacious. Angelina couldn’t tell.

“I can’t do this.” Angelina tore through her closet furiously. “I have work to do. Who’ll look after Philly?”

“You have to, or it’ll go to waste. I told you. One of my bosses went into labor early, so I can’t take off now. You can bring your work with you.” Safire sprawled over Angelina’s bed observing her distraught search. “Alex and I can take care of Philly and Rose. It’s all paid for. Live a little. Please.”

Safire flipped open the suitcase she had placed on the bed. “Look, you don’t even have to pack. I was all ready to go. It has everything you need, except some shoes, some undies and your toiletries.”

“There’s barely anything in there.”

“You won’t need a lot, especially not if you find a sexy man.”

Safire winked at her, and Angelina gaped.

“I can’t be like you, running around in skimpy nothings.” Angelina knew her sister well and could imagine what she’d packed. “No, no. I can’t do this. It’s a singles cruise. What am I going to do there?”

“Mingle. Get a life. Get you some. Or just lounge, swim in the pool, see the sights. You don’t have to do the singles events. It’s a regular cruise.”

“Okay, let’s say I do this. I have to get to the bank, pack my work, pack the suitcase, situate Philly, call the neighbors—”

“It doesn’t leave until four o’clock tomorrow. All of that is doable,” Safire said. “Here. Take my passport. Put it with the ticket and the cruise information.”

“I can’t take your passport. We’ll just change the passenger information.”

“I checked. It’s too late to do that. Just use my passport. You’re my sister.”

“No,” said Angelina. “I can’t get away with being you.”

“Of course you can. Here. Now no more about it.”

Angelina shook her head. She’d be calling the cruise line herself in the morning. There would be a fee, but she would just pay it. Her sister had gotten everything else, so she could pay for that.

Now she stood on board the ship just inside the boarding ramp. One of the crew members looked toward her, and she began to hand over the passport once more. It had been too late to change the passenger manifest, so she was Safire Lewis for the next nine days.

“No, ma’am, I don’t need your passport. I wanted to give you directions. Do you have your stateroom key?”

“Yes,” Angelina answered, “but I wanted to go on deck first to see the departure. Can I do that?”

“Of course. Just follow the left line to the elevators. Six floors up you’ll find the least crowded deck right now.”

“Thank you.”

Angelina shifted her purse and her laptop carry-on from one shoulder to the other and kept step with the line. She looked ahead of her in the line to see how much farther she had to go and found a pair of simmering brown eyes peering back at her. They belonged to a handsome chestnut-brown face that was wearing an intense expression of interest—so intense that she felt naked under the sly perusal.

Angelina flushed, and her cheeks grew hot. Her hand sprang to the buttons lining the front of her dress, checking in case one had come undone. She wasn’t sure how long she held his gaze; it seemed an hour but couldn’t have been for more than a minute.

A woman behind her bumped against her, and Angelina was startled out of her reverie. She turned briefly to the woman, and by the time she turned back, the man had gone around a corner.

She could have just imagined it. He could have been looking beyond her, or he could have simply seen that she was one of the few other African-Americans there. But perhaps that also made it clear that she was alone. She might need to be a bit more careful, more aware of her surroundings.

“You need to have some fun for a change,” Safire had said.

“A singles mixer isn’t my idea of fun right now. I have a semester starting soon. I have an article I haven’t finished. I have—”

“You have to get a life is what,” Safire said and then laughed. “When was the last time you had nookie?”

“Now, listen here. I might need to talk to you about—”

“Oh, no. Don’t start in on me. I have a life. And I enjoy it just fine. This is about you. Relax a little. Meet some people. See some places.”

Angelina could tell that her younger sister was treading gently to spare her sensibilities, and it was just as well. Her sister had a mouth on her that could make a sailor blush. She envied her sister’s freedom, but for Angelina herself, a bit of reading next to the ocean would be a wonderful break. And with the passport fiasco, laying low seemed like a good idea.

When she stepped off the elevator six stories up, the line was gone. People were relaxing in lounge chairs and looking over the railing at the Port of Miami. She found a spot on the banister for the departure, wondering if she’d feel the ship move or if it was simply too large.

Being on deck made what was happening real. She—Angelina Lewis—was actually on a cruise ship going somewhere.

When the horn sounded the departure call, Angelina was exhilarated. She didn’t feel the push off, but she could see the landscape begin to shift as they pulled out of the harbor. She held on to the rail and leaned over, gauging their movement from the receding pier and leaving behind the workaday world as a dark blue expanse opened before her.

For a moment, she forgot about her lists and her obligations. For a moment, she let it all sink in and felt herself enjoy the rush.

She stepped down from the rail and lifted her laptop bag to her shoulder again. She was already smiling when she turned around and found herself again locked in the distant gaze of sensuous brown eyes.

He was across the deck with a small group of other Black men, and he was staring at her, trapping her against the rail. Under his gaze, Angelina felt goose bumps run up her back. Her nipples tightened against her bra, and butterflies began to churn in her stomach. His eyes were trained on her, sensual ebony ovals above angular cheekbones and a rugged jawline. He smiled in her direction with thick, lush lips.

Angelina’s hand fluttered to her chest, and she took a deep breath. Was he looking at her? She glanced to each side. On one there was a family of five still looking toward the shoreline; on the other was a group of teenagers making a lively ruckus. She turned back. It must be her. She felt a tingle in the pit of her stomach and had to stop herself from turning away and fleeing.

He was leaning on the railing with his foot cocked up on one of the lounge chairs in self-assured ease. His elbows rested at his sides atop the rail, and like everything about his pose, his cool confidence suggested that he was out of her league.

He had on a short-sleeved white Oxford shirt that was tucked into pleated blue slacks. The breeze fluttered his shirt along his firm arms up to his broad shoulders, and his top buttons opened to a peek at his hard chest. He was talking with his friends, but all the while he was looking her way.

The brashness of his scrutiny sent shivers through Angelina’s body, and her insides buzzed with nervous energy. As self-conscious as she was under his open gaze, something in those eyes made her pulse skip. She had never had such a visceral reaction to anyone before and hoped that it couldn’t be read in her features. She pressed her palm against her midriff to calm herself but had to look away.

Angelina had been called her sister’s name all afternoon. Now, on an impulse, she decided to be a little like her baby sis. She took a breath and turned back to the simmering brown eyes and met their gaze, deliberately staring back with an audacious smile on her lips.

She was startled that she was being so brazen.

He seemed to hold her gaze, just as he did before, but nothing else changed. Then, when one of his friends said something, he turned toward the speaker and laughed, breaking his link with her. She certainly couldn’t pull it off the way Safire could. So much for the attempt.

Angelina shifted the load on her shoulder and stepped from the railing. Unfortunately, her laptop bag had gotten wedged between the rungs of the railing and toppled her back. She unhooked the bag and launched herself from the banister. No, she certainly couldn’t pull off what Safire could.

Had he seen her fumble? Embarrassed, she looked toward the warm brown eyes, but the face that held them was directed elsewhere. Well, she was no Safire. She didn’t know what had gotten into her in the first place.

She walked to the elevator, pulled out her key and went to find her cabin.

Angelina’s stateroom had everything she would have expected and more, including a balcony on the water. And luckily, she wasn’t sharing; she had an oasis all to herself. The first thing on her list was unpacking before dinner, and her suitcase had been delivered so she had only to plop it on the footrest to begin.

The pieces she’d added were on top, so she pulled out a couple of capris, a couple of skirts, a few blouses, a dress and some light tops to go over whatever nonsense Safire had packed for herself. And thank goodness. Safire’s clothes were much as she expected.

There were several cocktail dresses, all low-cut and thigh-high. Angelina couldn’t imagine herself strutting around in them. The shorts were okay, but Safire had packed skimpy tank tops and racerback T-shirts to go with them. The skirts were all mini and the tops were off-the-shoulder blouses or camisoles. Even the nightclothes she’d packed were sheer, midthigh numbers.

No wonder the case was only half-full when Safire brought it. Everything in it was tiny—just as she’d expected. The last piece of clothing she pulled out was Safire’s swimsuit. Such a pity she hadn’t remembered her own. She could ball up Safire’s bikini and make it disappear inside her fist.

Angelina stood in front of the closet taking inventory. She didn’t have enough of her own stuff, so she would have to make do with Safire’s pieces. She might have to get another swimsuit on the ship and perhaps a couple of oversize T-shirts to sleep in.

She hadn’t budgeted for extra clothes—at least not at what they would cost in floating boutiques. The light cover-ups she’d brought would supplement the dresses and tank tops, and she didn’t plan to go to many events, so she should be okay. After all, it was a cruise. She could be a little like her sister for a little while. She probably wouldn’t see anyone here again in life.

This made her think again of those warm brown eyes. What had she been thinking trying to send a signal from across the deck? He probably thought she was a loon. No, he probably wasn’t giving her a second thought at all. He could have been looking at the horizon the whole time. In any case, there were several thousand people on the ship. Chances of running into him again didn’t seem great, a fact that made her feel both disappointed and relieved.

Angelina turned to the rest of the suitcase and her carry-on—her work. She set up her laptop on the table and piled around it the books and papers she’d brought. She also pulled out all the cruise information: the docking schedule, the brochure for singles, coupons for the tours and a spa day, a separate booklet describing the ship’s amenities, pamphlets for events and movies.

The next thing to do was to find a place for dinner; she didn’t want to change, so nothing fancy. She found a café-style restaurant and had a sandwich. Then she went back to her room and called to check in at home. Safire was there, and all was well. She started to tell her sister a thing or two about packing such outrageous clothing, but she gave it a second thought. Safire wasn’t actually packing for her when she’d made those selections, so it didn’t make sense to accuse her of anything willful.

The rest of the evening she was going to lounge on the balcony and read. That, however, didn’t last long. She started Ellory Patterman’s history of the involvement of Black women in the World War I effort, and enjoying the book as she was, she drifted into sleep. Angelina woke up a couple of hours later to find her book on the floor and her neck stretched precariously to one side.

She got up and went into her room to change for bed but had only Safire’s short, silky nightgowns. There was nothing to be done about it right then, so she put one on and crawled into bed. For a few minutes, she watched the cruise ship’s information station on television, but before long, she clicked the television off. It was a little early, but she was tired; she’d been tired for some time, and the luxury of the space let her give in to what she needed most—rest.

If nothing else, she would get to relax a bit over the next nine days. She might even be able to take her sister’s advice and let loose a little. There could be a little Safire in her yet.

She curled up in bed, letting herself sink into the cool, crisp sheets. Perhaps it was the enchantment of being aboard a ship on the way to the Caribbean, or perhaps it was the sumptuous feel of the gown she had on, but she drifted off thinking of a warm pair of brown eyes.

Chapter 2

Jeremy Bell had noticed her before she’d even stepped onto the gangway. She was behind his group in the line to board the ship, and she was gorgeous. He could hardly keep from staring at her and hoped that she was one of the members of the singles cruise. She seemed to be. She didn’t seem to be with any of the people around her.

She had on a casual yellow sundress and strappy sandals with low wooden heels. The dress was simple enough, but it didn’t fully hide the voluptuous curves of her body. When the ocean breeze caught it, he could see the succulent shape of her buttock and the heavy sway of her ripe breasts.

There was something hesitant about her stance, an ongoing inquiry in her expression. She had probably never been on a cruise before. The uncertainty gave her a vulnerable quality that drew his gaze to her even more.

He lost her around a bend, but he was delighted to find that they’d been guided to the same deck for the departure. While he chatted with his friends across the deck, he got a look at her as she hung over the railing, delight and excitement written over her expression.

That, and the way her garment fluttered around her, made his own body react. And he hadn’t even met her yet. He was getting ahead of himself, so he settled against the railing to cool down and enjoy the departure with his friends.

They might tease him for trying to talk to a woman on the first day, but he still intended to go over and introduce himself once they were underway. If he didn’t, he might lose her in the multitude of people aboard the Palace of the Seas.

When he found her looking back at him, he was pleased, but not surprised. He was in his early thirties, and he still had it going on. For a while she looked away, and he was a little concerned. That wasn’t usually the reaction he got from women. He actually sighed in relief when she turned back to him, smiling at him from the banister. That was more like it.

Of course, that was when he lost her. He’d turned to Alistair, who was joking about being the odd man out, and when he turned back she was gone.

He went to three singles functions that night to see if she’d come out to any of them. He took time out to have dinner with his boys—Alistair, Myron and Rudy—at the singles reception in the Senator’s Quarters. Then he ditched them to check out a couple of the smaller singles mixers—the one in the Luau Bar and the one in the Messenger Lounge. He didn’t see her and had no way of knowing if he’d missed her.

If she wasn’t there on the singles cruise, he had no real way to find her again. There were thousands of people on the ship. That’s when he remembered the brochure. He pulled it out and rummaged through the pages. Each of them had had to submit a bio and picture for it, and it had come a couple of days before they were set to depart.

Unfortunately, there were dozens of pages of singles listings, and not everyone had sent in a picture. But there weren’t that many African-American women in the lineup, either. He found one that seemed to be her. The picture was small, so he couldn’t be sure. She was wearing a bikini and waving toward shore from the back of a motorboat. Her name was Safire Lewis, and she was twenty-three, hailing from North Miami. The woman he saw seemed to be older than twenty-three, but then women never told the truth on these things anyway. Right?

Safire Lewis was extroverted and outgoing. She liked swimming and jazz clubs, and she was looking for a man who thought he could tame her urges with tender loving care. She described her style as sophisticated but a bit risqué, and she defined herself as a sensual woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to get it—a little rambunctious but genial, sometimes saucy but always sweet.

She was looking forward to the singles cruise so that she could relax, kick back and meet some great guys. Her turn-ons were broad shoulders, confidence and someone who knew how to have a good time. Jeremy thought he fit that description. To describe herself in five words or less, she wrote “naughty and nice.”

It didn’t say much more than that, but that was more than enough.

Jeremy looked back at the picture. Her description of herself turned him on as much as seeing her had done. It made him more determined than ever to find her again the next day, when they would be at sea.

Easier said than done, however. The ship had fourteen decks, twenty restaurants, five spas, four movie theaters, gardens, pools, a casino, a carnival, a shopping district, a sports zone and numerous bars, lounges and cafés.

“You’re looking for whom?” Alistair asked.

“A woman I saw in line yesterday.”

“And you expect to find her how?”

“I think she’s listed in the singles brochure. I’m going to scout out the singles events.”

“I’ll go with you to the singles stuff,” Myron said.

“Me too,” Rudy said.

“I, on the other hand, will be at the pool.” Alistair wasn’t there for the singles mixers; he had a partner back home. He’d come to relax and enjoy. “I’ll meet you guys for lunch. Where?”

They were in Myron’s stateroom, and he picked up the booklet for the ship. “Okay. We have about thirty pages of options here.”

The other men laughed.

“Is there a singles luncheon venue today?” Rudy asked.

“Oh, joy,” Alistair said with a note of sarcasm.

Myron picked up the singles brochure. “In fact, there are three.”

“Pick one,” Jeremy said.

Myron shrugged. “The Onyx sounds good.”

“The Onyx it is. One o’clock.”

Jeremy, Myron and Rudy did a round of the singles events listed for that morning. Myron had started talking to a woman at the Pool and Cabana mixer, so they left him behind and headed to the Café mixer. She wasn’t there, and they didn’t want to go to the Date for the Day event, so Rudy left him to join Alistair, and Jeremy continued on alone.

Before heading to the Onyx, he stopped at the concierge to see if he could get Safire Lewis’s cabin number or telephone, which turned out to be the same thing. He tried calling the number they gave him but got no answer. At least he knew that if it was her—if the woman he saw was Safire Lewis—he could hope to reach her by phone. That much discovered, he joined his boys for lunch, still keeping an eye out for her.

He called her again before dinner—no luck. He called again after dinner—eureka.

“Hello.”

He had no idea what her voice sounded like.

“Hi, I’m trying to reach Safire Lewis.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Yes, this is she.”

“My name is Jeremy Bell, and I think I saw you when I was boarding the ship. I was wondering if you might want to get together for coffee or dancing or—”

“Who is this?” she asked.

Jeremy laughed out loud.

“I’m sorry. That’s a fair question. I’m on the singles cruise, and I think I saw you when we boarded. You had on a yellow dress. I wanted to meet you.”

“And you were wearing?”

“What was I wearing? I had on a white shirt and blue pants, I think. Let me check my closet. Yes, that was it. I thought you might have noticed me, too.”

“I remember you. But how did you get my name, my number?”

“After looking for you all day, I checked the singles listing. Luckily, there aren’t that many Black women on this cruise, so I took a chance that you were the one I saw.”

“Oh.” There was a pause.

“Look, you probably already have plans for tonight because it’s New Year’s Eve, but if you don’t, maybe we can meet at one of the mixers.”

“I hadn’t actually planned on going out tonight. I brought some work with me and was in for the night. But maybe...”

He could hear her hesitation, but at least she was thinking about it.

“I had planned on going to the Peacock Lounge for their New Year’s Eve party. Maybe we could meet there.”

He didn’t get a response right away.

“I’m not sure. Let me see how much I get done, and I’ll consider.”

“Well, no pressure. I’ll be there, and if you don’t recognize me, I’m sure I’ll recognize you. I hope you can come.”

“I’ll see,” she said.

It was clear that she didn’t want to commit, so he decided not to push it.

“It would be great to meet you, so I’ll keep a lookout.”

“Okay, then.”

“Goodbye.”

Clearly, he hadn’t made the impression he thought he’d made. When she looked back at him and smiled, he thought that they’d connected. Now she seemed unsure if she wanted to meet him.

To be fair, she didn’t know him from Adam; he could be a serial murderer. She seemed more cautious than her bio had led him to believe. That, or she was swamped with something for work. Or she simply wasn’t that interested in him from what she saw. He had no way of knowing.

At least she remembered him. And she might come tonight. He wasn’t sure what he would be doing until he spoke to her. In fact, he probably would have rung in the New Year at one of the sports bars with his boys if he hadn’t spoken to her. Now, he had time to change and catch up with the guys to let them know his new plans.

He met up with Alistair and Rudy at a sports bar around ten o’clock. Myron had a date with the woman that he’d met at the Pool and Cabana mixer, and Jeremy would be meeting them in the Peacock Lounge at eleven.

“I’ll be back before twelve-thirty if she doesn’t show.”

“She’ll show,” said Alistair. “Hottie that you are.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

When he got to the Peacock Lounge, he was given a mask made of peacock feathers. He didn’t know that everyone would have them on, and he hoped he could still tell who she was. At least there wouldn’t be that many choices.

The champagne was already flowing from towers of crystal glasses arranged on silver platters. An elaborate ball was rigged to drop, and the countdown was already ticking down on a monitor. Whistles and party favors were piled up on tables skirting the room.

He found Myron and his date on the dance floor and nodded to his friend. Myron had a thick frame and wore a loose yellow panama shirt with a pair of brown slacks. He had tracked Jeremy’s entrance with one lazy eye and nodded at Jeremy over his date’s shoulder.

After a couple of songs, they came over, and Myron introduced him to Verniece. She had a pleasant smile and seemed completely unassuming. Her tall, full figure matched Myron’s thickness, and even her yellow skirt set with French dots blended with Myron’s attire. The two seemed evenly paired.

The three chatted for a while, and then he left the couple to enjoy their evening together, wandering over to the array of cheeses and breads. Nearing midnight he began to get a little disappointed, but he still held out. Safire had been noncommittal, but she at least seemed to consider his invitation. He would give her until half past midnight, maybe even longer, because she seemed well worth the wait.

He recognized her the moment she hit the doorway, and what he saw made his body pulse. She had on a strapless red cocktail dress that hit her midthigh and hugged every delicious curve of her body. Over that she wore a sheer red wrap with a floral burnout pattern. It was almost as long as the dress, but so translucent that it hid nothing of her shapely curves.

When she stepped down into the lounge, he saw that she had on black pumps that showed off her taut calves and supple rear. As she rounded the banister, he walked toward her.