Aurora never expected her avoidance of love to lead her to a luxury cruise ship with a handsome cop by her side-especially not with a serial killer on the loose! As the tension rises and passions flare, Aurora and Tobias must navigate their budding...
"No" He snuggled into my neck and kissed it sleepily. A shiver ran down my spine.
"I need to go-"
"Why?"
Shit. I didn't think this through.. What am I going to say?
"Uhh to the cruise kitchen. I'm hungry.." I said nervously. He cracked his one eye open as he neared closer to my face.
"Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not." I squirmed my way out of his arms, but his grip tightened.
"Yes, you are. Tell the truth or I will not let you go." He kissed the bridge of my nose.
"I am! I'm starving."
His fingers traced circles on my exposed waist, sending shivers up and down my spine.
"Your heart is pounding." He whispered as he kissed the spot where my heart should be. I let out a sigh. Why was I being so obvious?
It is literally pointless to lie to him.
"I'm going to question the guy who handed me the chocolates." As I twirled his hair in my finger, I answered.
"No."
"Why are you being so protective? All I want to do is ask him some questions." I yelled at him and poked him.
"Do you think I want to be like this? It's not my fault that you get into problems every few minutes." He clenched his teeth.
"You should stop behaving like my bodyguard." I threatened.
His lips twisted into a smirk.
"Then I'll look out for you like I'm your personal bodyguard, and if I get sick from worrying, I'll just use you to heal me. Do you remember when I said this?" he asked, mockingly. I averted my gaze from him.
"So, what's your point?"
"My point is that I'm tired of worrying, and I need you to cure me!"
He flattened himself on the bed. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"No"
"Wow! Mrs. Nightingale, you're breaking your word now." He yelled.
I straddled him, closing his mouth with my palm.
"Stop yelling like that! It's 5 a.m. right now- ARE YOU TRYING TO DISTRACT ME?" I exclaimed. His eyes twinkled with mischievousness.
I jumped off of him, only to be dragged back into his arms.
"All right, I'll let you go if I can accompany you." He spoke in hushed tones.
I paused for a moment. Should I allow him to accompany me?
"Not to mention the fact that I'm the cop here." He grinned. That smug little grin...
"OK, but only on one condition."
"What?"
"Please let me threaten him."
"You are a true sadist."
"You are married to a sadist, yes. Deal with it."
He chuckled, ruffling his hair, and I groaned.
"Oh, no, don't mess up your hair like that!" I said this as I ran my hands through his smooth, nearly wavy hair.
"I swear to God, if you don't let go, you'll make me purr like a cat."
"Then purr, kitty," I smirked as I moved away to use the restroom.
~After a while~
"I'll get right to the point. Why did the staff give the passengers drugs?" I mused as I pressed the knife against his throat. Underneath me, the man with the prosthetic eye trembled. Tobias sighed and removed the knife from my grasp.
I was going to argue when he stopped me.
"We really need to know, sir." Tobias gave a gentle smile.
This was the main reason why I didn't want him to come. He was going to treat them so well. That is not what I want!
"We have no idea, sir! We were tasked with distributing chocolates to everyone on the ship, we doubt anyone would have added anything to it!" The terrified man exclaimed.
"How come none of you noticed? It would have been evident to me that someone had tampered with the chocolate boxes." Tobias questioned, spinning the knife in his hands.
"We were all exhausted and just wanted to get the job done as soon as possible. We didn't give it much thought. We sincerely apologize!"He apologized and bowed.
"Do you have any spare chocolate boxes that you haven't distributed?"Tobias asked. The man nodded.
"We still do. Please wait right here." The man dashed to the kitchen and returned with a cardboard chocolate box.
"Here."
Tobias and I both looked cautiously at the box. How in the world did the person slide the drugs in when there were no cuts or scratches?
Unless it was already in the chocolate when it was placed in the box.
Did someone...change the chocolate boxes?
I looked about the kitchen, randomly opening drawers and cabinets.
"What are you doing, Mrs. Nightingale?" The man was confused.
I didn't respond and instead rummaged among the items.
Tobias began going through the fridge as well. Maybe he picked up on what I was doing as well. It took some time, but we eventually uncovered a locked cabinet. It was a perfectly hidden cupboard beside the fridge that would have gone unnoticed if no one looked for it.
"Open it." I glared at the guy while pointing at the cabinet.
"I can't! I had no idea that it was there! As a result, I don't have the key." The man was taken aback. I shrugged as I stared at Tobias.
"OK, then hand over the knife!" "The large wide ones." Tobias demanded the guy.
"Yes, sir." He rushed through the drawer and picked out a butcher's knife, which he handed to Tobias. Tobias pushed the knife into the cabinet's cracks before delivering several forceful blows that broke the door's latch and a small portion of the door.
"Voila!" Tobias exhaled.
I excitedly jarred the cupboard open, only to confirm my suspicions. Someone did, in fact, swap out the chocolate boxes. There were hundreds of boxes concealed within.
But why is this so? Why would someone do something like this? What was their goal?
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