I didn’t have to be in the workforce to know that practically any company worth working for used Envizion technologies for their database management, and that there was more money in that company than I could even wrap my head around.
“You’ll be pulling your weight around here,” Theo said after a while, and I frowned at him in confusion. “I’ll have days where I’ll want you onboard taking photographs for some guests I’ll be entertaining. And I’ve already seen you taking pictures of the crew and the boat and the shoreline.”
He’s been watching me?
I sighed. “I suppose.”
“And you’ll be doing work of your own, the same you’d have done if you were on the original trip you planned.” He tilted his head. “What is your goal with the photographs you capture in your time over here?”
I kicked my feet in the water, tucking my hands under my thighs. “I want to build a travel photography portfolio to use in my job applications when I return to the States.”
Theo nodded. “And in your dream scenario, who would call you and offer you a job at the end of it all?”
“Dream scenario?”
He nodded.
“TIME Magazine,” I said on a laugh, because I knew it was ridiculous to even consider. “But really, I’d be happy with any photojournalist position that gave me free rein to travel and capture what I felt was worth capturing.”
“Street photography?”
I smiled in surprise. “Ideally, yes.”
Theo took his sunglasses off, leaning forward again and watching me from across the pool. The way the blue water of the sea lay out behind him and the turquoise water of the pool reflected, his eyes almost glowed, the gray replaced by a translucent blue.
“I look forward to the day your photos and name are in that magazine.”
I pulled my hair over one shoulder, twirling the ends of it. “You say that like it will happen.”
“It will,” he said confidently. “And I’ll frame it when it does.”
I scoffed. “On the off chance it did actually happen, it would be years from now. You wouldn’t even remember me.”
Something sparked in his eyes, and his lips curled just a millimeter before they leveled out again. Then, he scrubbed a hand over his jaw, sliding his sunglasses back on and standing so quickly I fumbled to do the same.
“I need to make a call,” he said, grabbing his laptop. “Please, help yourself to anything you’d like,” he added, gesturing to the plate of fruit and the bar at the far end of the deck. Then, he paused, laptop tucked to his side, a line of sweat dripping from between his chest down the valley where his abs rippled together. “And Miss Dawn?”
“Yes?”
“You are consequential,” he said, voice low and rasped. “You’d do well to realize that and use it to your advantage.”
He left me with those words, and I spent the rest of the morning dissecting them in his absence.
“I was kind of thinking we could hang out just the two of us,” I said to Joel later that night as he changed out of his khakis and polo and into basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. His dark hair was a little fluffed after he pulled the shirt over his head, and I ran my fingers through the tendrils. “I’m sure you’re beat after such a long day.”
It was almost ten o’clock, and Joel did look worn out — his eyes tired, face long, shoulders slumped a little. Still, he smiled a lazy smile and pulled me into him, kissing me long and slow. “I’m a little tired, but it’s important I get to know the crew outside of just working alongside them all day. I especially need to get to know my new boss, the bosun, Eric. I haven’t worked with him before.”
My shoulders deflated. “Oh.”
“We’ll have plenty of time for just the two of us, I promise,” Joel said, kissing my nose. “But tonight?” He pulled me toward the cabin door, and as soon as he opened it, the faint sounds of laughter and music drifted up from the crew mess in the lower deck. “We party.”
I rolled my eyes as he tugged me under his shoulder and kissed my cheek, then he grabbed my hand and led me down to where the some of the crew had gathered. The Captain was already asleep in the stateroom next to ours, First Officer Wayland was on watch up top, and I didn’t see the engineers anywhere. But the chefs, stewardesses, and deck hands were all together in the crew mess, talking and laughing, each with a drink in their hand.
“You’re allowed to drink on the boat?” I asked Joel on a whisper.
“Not really,” he confessed. “It’s actually a liability, legally, but Captain Chuck is pretty cool. As long as we don’t miss our night watch when it’s our turn and we wake up in time for work in the morning?” Joel shrugged. “He’s cool with it.”
I frowned, opening my mouth to ask more questions, but I didn’t get the chance.
“Ah, looks like Prince Woods decided to grace us with his presence,” Ivy joked as Joel and I made the final descent from the stairs. “How is it up in the palace?”
Joel narrowed his eyes at her before pulling her under his arm and rubbing her scalp with one of his knuckles like she was his little sister. She laughed and shoved him off, and at the same time, one of the other deck hands tossed him a beer.
“You want one?” he asked me next. It was hard to keep all the names straight from dinner the night before, but I
