Sailing with My Sister’s Best Friend (Cruisin With Curves)

Chapter 1

Seeley

I loved my little sister. I swear I did. If we hadn’t had each other and Aunt Kelly I know I wouldn’t have handled our parents death well at all. She gave me a purpose and Aunt Kelly gave me the structure I needed to grieve. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for either of them, but I swear Darby had the absolute worst timing. It was complete shit. Because only she would ask me to go on a cruise right smack dab in the middle of my top clients being sued. And yeah, I could have said no, but it’s her. Add in that she convinced Aunt Kelly to come along too, and there was no way that I wouldn’t be there.

“Relax. We’ve got this.” Josh, my business partner, shook his head. I hadn’t noticed him walk into my office. Normally, it was just the two of us here this early anyway.

“There was no need for you to stop by the office on your way to the airport.” He stepped in and grabbed a seat.

“I never left.” I flipped through the folder sitting on my desk.

“What do you mean you never left?” He looked me over.

“I spent the night here trying to get as much done as I could.” I closed the file I had just finished and opened the last one. “I had my assistant grab my luggage from home on their way in.” I absentmindedly motioned to the lone suitcase sitting by the door of my office.

My eyes flicked up and noticed Josh looking around my office. He was taking in the blanket folded neatly on the leather love seat in the corner of the room. My pillow sat on top and my coffee mug on the low table in front.

One of the things I loved about owning my own legal practice was that I had been able to design my own space. It was perfect for when I needed to pull all-nighters. I had a bathroom off to the side and a small closet where I kept three emergency suits that my assistant knew to have sent to the cleaners once a week so they were always fresh.

I had spent many nights curled up on the couch trying to catch a couple of hours of rest before a client meeting or networking event. Last night I thought I felt a spring hit the lower part of my back. That meant when I got back I was going to have to call my designer and have them order a new one. This time I would make sure it was actually long enough to fit my six-two frame.

“Lee, you do know you are allowed to have a life outside this office, right?” Josh leaned forward. His hand rested on the other side of my mahogany desk.

“Of course.” I finished the last file and closed it with a long breath.

“Are you sure?” He pushed off the desk and motioned to the papers still spread over it. “I know you put your heart and soul into this place. We all did, but why is it that you are the only one that still acts like you’re a junior associate trying to make partner instead of the seven -figure corporate lawyer that you are?”

I ran my hand through my hair and leaned back into my chair. Josh was one of my closest friends. We met during undergrad and he was the only reason I had any fun in college. He got me to join a fraternity, introduced me to my first girlfriend, and threw the biggest party I’ve ever been to at his parents’ estate for graduation.

I never expected him to follow through on law school. I figured he would get his degree and go to work for his father. He, along with his older brothers, were the heir apparent to a multi-million dollar business. That didn’t stop him from turning it all down and trudged through three more years of school with me. When I mentioned wanting to start a firm of my own two years after passing the bar he was gung-ho. He is a great lawyer, business partner, and friend, but he will never get my drive. There was no way he could.

Darby and I didn’t come from his kind of money. Even when our parents had been alive we were middle class at best and I could be wrong about that. Kids don’t really understand adult struggles. By the time we moved in with Aunt Kelly, I did understand that she had to work extra hard to put food on the table. The minute I could help out I got the first job I could and pitched in. Dad had always told me when he wasn’t there I was the man of the house. It was on me to protect my sister and my mom. Well, Mom was gone along with him, but I figured the same rules applied to Darby and Aunt Kelly. I never wanted to let them down, but more so, I never wanted to let down my father.

“I sorted through the files and put all the paperwork together.” I went back to talking about business. It was my safety net when things got too personal. “All you and Ben have to do is present the settlement to the other lawyer and you should be good.”

Josh shook his head. “Alright.” He took the folders from my hand.

“Call me if there is a problem.”

He let out a laugh. “What are you going to do? Swim back from the middle of the ocean?”

“I’m taking my laptop, and a copy of the files,” I assured him. “I paid for the top wi-fi plan. There is no reason I shouldn’t be able to step in with a conference call or meeting.”

He rolled his eyes. “How about you trust your partners, who graduated top of their class along with you, to handle this and you just concentrate on having a great time with your family.”

“Says the guy that schedules in holiday dinners with his for less than two hours.” I quipped.

“That is because any longer than that my brothers and I will start fighting over which one of us is my father’s favorite.” He laughed. “Like we all don’t know it’s my two sisters.”

He wasn’t wrong. I had gone to one family dinner with him back in law school. Josh and his brothers fought like cats and dogs while his older sister and younger sister sat there with serene smiles and finished eating. Needless to say, it was an experience like no other.

“Look, my family aside, you actually like yours,” he said with a smile. “You even like your sister’s new guy. So just have some fun.”

I did like Wade. He treated her well and she was happy. That was all that mattered. Especially considering the parade of slime balls that came before him. In the almost year they had been together Wade had been the perfect compliment to Darby. If there was anyone I trusted to take care of my baby sister it was him.

“Just keep me in the loop about the case.” I stood looking at my watch. I was going to have to take off if I wanted to make my flight.

“We’ll see.” Josh slapped me on the back as I passed him. “In the meantime, please try to enjoy yourself. And for the love of all that is holy, pretty please try to get laid.”

“Excuse me?” I almost tripped over my feet and right into my suitcase.

“What? If anyone could use seven days of nonstop sex, it’s you, my friend.” Josh nodded with a smile. “Like I said, there is more to life than work.”

“I don’t have time for a relationship.” I reminded him.

Josh’s laughter echoed around the room. “I didn’t say anything about a relationship. I’m talking good, old-fashioned fucking. Like no strings, ripping each other’s clothes off, animal style sex.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah, that’s not me.” I shook my head. I had never had that kind of need for anyone.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was one person, but that was a long time ago and I was sure she had moved on.

“If you say so, but trust me. If anyone needs a week of hot, wild, buck-naked sex, it’s you, my friend.” He held up the files and walked toward the door. “Don’t worry about us. Just concentrate on getting your dick wet, and I’m not talking about in the pool.” I could still hear his laughter as he headed back to his office.

I shook my head and grabbed my luggage putting Josh and his ridiculous ideas out of my mind. This was a family vacation. There’s no way that sex was in the cards. I was only going to support my sister and my aunt. That was it.

FUCK, I HATED BEING late. Stupid TSA. Since when does a shaving kit look like a fucking bomb. The minute I touched down in Florida I was signing up for pre-check. I didn’t fly a lot, but it would be worth whatever the hell it cost not to have to go through that again.

I rushed through the airport to my gate and instead of boarding first, I had to stand in line behind everyone else trying to get on the plane. To make matters worse it looked like someone was having some sort of issue up front so the line was basically at a stand still.

The vibration of my phone distracted me for a moment. I pulled it out without looking at the name, figuring it might be someone from the office with a problem.

“Seeley Adler.” I answered.

“Hey there, brother.” Darby’s excited voice greeted me.

“I’m getting on the plane now.” I rolled my eyes. I really didn’t need her checking on me.

“Good, but that isn’t why I’m calling.”

“Really?” I had a hard time believing that.

“Really.” She repeated. “I’m calling because I need you to do me a favor.”

I was fifteen minutes from taking off. What the hell could she need me to do in the air?

“What is it?”

“Okay, don’t get mad.” That was code for I was going to be pissed. “Originally Aurora was supposed to fly down with Aunt Kelly, but things changed and now she is flying down with you.”

My teeth ground together. “Darby.”

“I know you two don’t get along. Although for the life of me, I have no idea why,” She said. “When we were kids you guys seemed like you liked each other. You were even there with me when she got hurt.”

I had been there. I had needed to be there to make sure she was alright, but that was before everything changed. Not that I could tell Darby any of that.

“Look, just be nice to her on the plane.” She kept going. “Wade already has a car scheduled to bring you both to the dock and then the rest of us will be here as a buffer.”

“Sure.” I wasn’t about to get into this with her when I was finally at the front of the line. “I have to go, but I will play nice.” There were only a couple people in front of me now, and I needed my phone for the agent to scan.

“Thanks, Lee, and I’ll see you when you get here. Love you,” She said quickly and the line went dead.

I hung up with another shake of my head. I pulled my ticket back up in time to hand it to the woman waiting and headed down the tunnel to the plane.

By the time I got on my mood wasn’t exactly the best, but I tried to put that aside when I saw Aurora sitting in the seat beside mine. She was leaning over the empty chair smiling at the flight attendant. Damn, I remembered that smile. It had been seven years and that smile still affected me. I made my way down the aisle to my seat and stopped to let them finish.

“I will check to see if we have that particular brand.” The attendant was speaking.

“No, don’t do that.” Aurora replied. “I’ll just take a ginger ale.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, and thank you.” Aurora’s soft voice answered.

“I’ll be right back.” The flight attendant turned toward me. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir.”

“No, problem.” I smiled at her. “Is it possible I could get a ginger ale also?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but the pre-flight service is only for first class.”

I pointed next to Aurora. “That is my seat right there.”

“Oh, of course.” She corrected herself. “I will get that for you right away.”

“Thank you.” I stood off to the side to let her pass before turning back to face the beautiful woman looking up at me. “Hi, Rory.”

She took a deep breath and turned her head toward the window without saying a word. Fuck, it was going to be a long flight.