In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes: Chapter 14

“CAN you hold it in until the washroom?” Holden’s voice turned gentle as his hand settled on my lower back.

I made a weird moaning noise with an expression that said I don’t know.

He moved faster. He guided me down the narrow stairs to the washroom.

“First door on your left,” he said as I made my way down, stomach heaving and hand pressed over my mouth.

I yanked the door open and emptied my lunch into the toilet, holding myself upright with a hand on the wall. The door bumped closed behind me and my eyes watered. My whole body tensed and gave as I puked, and I decided going on a boat was a very bad idea.

The boat stopped swerving and I wiped the tears off my face from my watering eyes, gasping for air. Behind me, the door swung open and Holden stepped into the tiny bathroom with me, holding a pack of Gravol.

“No,” I croaked, trying to push him out but he ignored me. “I just barfed, dude. You can’t be in here.” My stomach lurched again and my chest heaved. “Oh my god.”

Holden scooped my hair off my face as I leaned over and threw up again.

“Get out,” I gurgled at him. “This is gross.” I leaned over and barfed again.

At one point, someone knocked on the door and Holden barked something at them to make them go away while I gagged over the toilet. I could hear the music pumping through the ceiling from outside.

Someone pounded on the door. “Someone found love!” A guy hollered from outside, laughing.

Ugh. Men were so gross. Like I would ever have sex in a boat bathroom. The tiny closet reeked of my barf. It was also so small. Holden had to stoop so he wouldn’t bang his head on the ceiling.

His fingers brushed the nape of my neck as he regathered up my hair and a shiver ran down my spine.

I was not thinking about having sex with Holden in a boat bathroom I had barfed in.

“Done?” he asked.

I drew in another shaky breath and nodded. He let my hair go, wet a paper towel, and handed it to me.

“You should go out there and find a wife,” I warbled, clearing my throat and wiping my watery eyes. My makeup was a mess.

“This is preferable.” He snorted hit the flush button to whoosh my barf into the ocean. He wet another napkin under the sink and handed it to me, watching as I dabbed my mouth like a lady. “Do you want a Gravol?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.” I wiped my smeared mascara away. “We’re never speaking of this again. Ever.”

“But they have another singles cruise next week.” His tone was flat.

I shot him a glare and the side of his mouth twitched.

“Hilarious,” I told him, opening the door. “I’m cracking a rib laughing at your jokes.” My mouth pulled into a grin as we ascended back to the main deck.

A minute later, Holden handed me a soda water and leaned on the rail beside me. The boat had docked in a harbor and music continued to pump from the speaker system while Captain Rina twerked.

“How’d it go with Liya?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Fine.”

“Did you get her number?”

His gaze shot to mine before back to the ocean. “Yep.”

“Fantastic. Take her out for dinner.”

He stared at me for a second. “Do you think this is going to work?”

I tilted my head at him. “What do you mean?”

He folded his arms over his chest and rolled his shoulders, a flash of insecurity in his eyes.

Oh.

A funny sensation burst in my chest. Did Holden not realize what a babe he was?

“Hey.” I tugged on his sleeve and he sent me a side-long frown. “You’re a catch.”

He stared at me. “I’m a dick. You said so yourself.”

My mouth twisted to the side as I remembered that summer. “You are.” I shrugged. “But you’re super hot. You’ll find someone in no time.”

“You think I’m super hot?” he repeated, a smug expression growing on his features.

I rolled my eyes. “You know you’re hot. The rolled-up shirtsleeves thing?” I pointed at his forearms. “I know you know.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and I grinned.

The funny thing was, Holden used to be a dick, but now? He wasn’t. He held my hair back while I barfed. I couldn’t imagine him doing that fifteen years ago. The other night, when I dragged him out for tacos and margaritas, we had fun.

Holden Rhodes and I, having fun. It was mind-boggling.

“Why were you such a dick that summer?” I asked quietly, studying my drink.

He gripped the railing, not saying anything.

“Why did you spray my magazines with the hose?” I turned to him, frowning. “I know you did it on purpose. Why? What did I ever do to you?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and his gaze locked on mine, hesitant and concerned.

“I, uh.” He cleared his throat and winced out at the coastline. “Those magazines you read were garbage. I saw the covers. They were designed to make you feel bad, like you weren’t enough.” He glanced at me before his gaze returned to the coast. “I didn’t want you to think you weren’t beautiful.”

Oh.

Well.

I.

Wow.

I stared at Holden, and Holden stared at some rocks two hundred feet away. A flush of warm pleasure moved through my body and my face heated.

Holden thought I was beautiful. I didn’t expect that.

Something fizzed in my chest.

He cleared his throat. “So, Aiden.” He said the name like it offended him.

“What about him?”

“He was all over you.” His jaw ticked.

I snorted. “No, he wasn’t. That’s his personality.”

He gave me a hard look. “He was flirting with you.”

Probably a bad time to mention Aiden asking me out. “It doesn’t matter whether he was flirting or he has natural charm and charisma. I’m not dating right now.”

Holden’s gaze shot to mine and he frowned deeper. “Why?”

I took a long sip of my soda water. “I’m just not. Not everyone is a rush to get locked down, you know?”

His gaze stayed on my face and my stomach blipped with nerves.

“What?” I said, defensive.

The other night, when he asked me about the whole marriage thing, I should have kept my mouth shut, but I freaked out, got defensive, and ran to the bathroom to catch my breath and calm down.

His eyes were steady on me, like he could see into my brain. My gaze flicked around the party. A group of women surrounded Aiden, all laughing and flipping their hair, and I snorted. Good for him. Maybe I could feign more seasickness and dash into the bathroom to get out of this conversation.

No, Holden would probably follow me inside and hold my hair back again.

Holden was still staring down at me with careful curiosity. My stomach tightened. He was looking at me like he could hear my thoughts. I cleared my throat. “I’m going on Monday to buy bathroom tiles.”

He gave me a side-long look, like he knew what I was doing, before he took a sip of his drink and nodded. “You want help? They can be heavy, especially for six bathrooms.”

“Some help would be nice,” I admitted, “if you can get away. Or we can go in the evening. I’m not working at the bar that night.”

He shook his head. “The store in Port Alberni closes at six. Let’s go after lunch. And then I’m there in case there’s a problem with the card.”

After we had struck up our agreement, Holden had suggested he front the money for the renovations and we’d account for it when adjusting the shares. He handed me a credit card linked to a separate account reserved for the renovations. That way, it would be easier to keep track of costs.

“Thanks again for fronting the renovation money,” I said with a quick smile. We were tip-toeing near the Sadie is broke discussion I did not want to have.

He jerked a nod. “You’re working for free. Only fair.”

Captain Rina announced the boat was leaving the harbor and would return to the marina and we watched the shore over the railing as we drifted further away. I remembered the reason we were here and tilted my head at the party around us. “Go talk to more women.”

He took a sip of his drink. “I’m fine here.”

“Holden.”

“You might barf again.”

I snorted. “I said never to talk about that again.”

That mouth twitch of his was back and I grinned at him.

Beautiful. Huh.

There was more to Holden Rhodes than I realized.