Seduction of Steel: The Complete Series Read online

  Jessica wondered if anything could possibly be better than this. She thought she was pretty enough, but no one had ever called her that. She ran her hands over Ryan's toned pecs and wished they could just stay there on the beach forever.

  Of course, they could not. The ship had to leave, the passengers needed to be accommodated, and Ryan and Jessica needed to do their jobs. The time spent on the beach was nice, but that meant that they both needed to put in some time in their respective departments later that day.

  Cruises are for passengers, and the stops along the way are the entire point of the cruise. For crew members, the stops are a nice occasional perk of the job. But the job comes first.

  They got dressed, gathered their things and made their way back to town to catch the tender back to the ship. The last tender to the ship was leaving in about fifteen minutes, and they didn't want to miss it, as the ship was going to pull anchor and leave within the hour.

  They approached the dock and stood in line to catch the tender. Lots of people tend to linger on shore a bit longer than they should, so the last few tenders are often fairly full.

  “I've got to put in about six hours at the Passenger Services desk tonight. I'll be off around eleven. Want to catch a drink afterwards?”, Jessica asked.

  “Sure. I've got to put in some time myself, but I should be free anytime after ten. How about if I meet you at eleven thirty at the crew bar?”

  “That will be great”, Jessica replied. She thought that would be a great time to put on that cute pink dress she'd bought earlier today. While she rarely thought of herself as a great beauty, she was pretty sure that seeing her in that dress would knock Ryan's eyes out. The thought of Ryan getting excited got her excited, too.

  The line continued to move slowly, and they made small talk. Just then, a cell phone rang. It was Ryan's. He looked at the phone, stepped out of the line and said, “I have to take this call while I'm still on shore. You go ahead. I'll meet you later.”

  Right then, the queue moved quite a bit, as the last tender had just arrived. A harbor employee was frantically trying to get everyone on board. Jessica looked back and saw Ryan having a rather animated conversation on his phone, and she grew concerned.

  This is the last tender. He's going to miss it!

  The tender began the trip back to the Ocean Enchantment with Jessica onboard and Ryan still on shore. She looked back at him in panic, wondering how he was going to find his way back to the ship, which was leaving port within the hour.

  He was gone.

  Chapter 7

  Jessica put in her time at the Passenger Services desk that evening, but she couldn't keep her mind on her work. She'd get distracted, and the passengers were obviously becoming a bit short tempered with her, as she couldn't remember what she was supposed to be doing for more than a few seconds at a time.

  What was that phone call all about? Did Ryan get back to the ship?

  “Miss....Miss. Hello! You were trying to cash a traveler's check for me, remember?”

  “Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, let me take care of that for you. Where is the signed check?”

  “You're holding it in your hand!”

  It went like that for the entirety of Jessica's shift, as she was clearly preoccupied. Eleven o'clock couldn't come soon enough.

  But come it did, and she quickly ran downstairs to her room to get dressed. After all, Ryan did say that he'd be along and that he'd meet her, and she didn't want to show up in that dull khaki skirt and white blouse uniform. She put on that adorable pink dress and a cute pair of Steve Madden wedge sandals that she'd been saving to wear on a special occasion. She touched up her makeup and put on a bit of her favorite perfume, a scent called Lovely.

  She really wanted to make an impression on Ryan tonight.

  They'd agreed to meet at the crew bar and she was there at eleven thirty, right on schedule.

  Ryan was nowhere to be found. She waited for an hour, and he never did arrive. She began to grow more concerned. The ship had long since left port; they must be a hundred miles from the Caymans by now.

  What happened to Ryan? She needed to find out. But how? She'd never been to his cabin and didn't know even know the name of his roommate.

  There wasn't much she could do tonight; she'd had a long day and needed to work early tomorrow. She went back to her room and checked her email, hoping to see some sort of message from Ryan. Nothing.

  Jessica went to bed crying and spent a fitful night trying to sleep.

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  At 6 AM, Jessica was awakened by a pounding on her door. She quickly threw on a robe and opened the door slowly. Outside stood two members of the ship security team.

  “Jessica Steel?”, asked a burly man security man with a mustache.

  “Yes.”

  “Could you come with us, please?” He didn't seem to be particularly friendly. Then again, ship security is serious business, and the cruise line didn't hire these people for their congeniality. Besides, nobody is friendly at 6 AM.

  “What is this about?”

  “Please get dressed and come with us.”

  She quickly threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, put her hair in a ponytail and followed them to the security office.

  The office fairly small and had a couple of desks, two computer terminals, and a small holding cell in the corner for the occasional criminal. There are rarely problems with violent crimes on cruise ships, but it's better to have an available cell than not, just in case. There were a couple of portholes to let in a bit of early morning light, but on the whole, the office wasn't particularly attractive. It was just a place to conduct business.

  The burly man held out a photograph. “Do you know this man?”, he asked.

  It was a photo of Ryan. Jessica's heart began to race.

  “Yes! That's Ryan Stevens! He got left on shore in Grand Cayman. Did he make it back to the ship?”

  “We don't know, and we were hoping you could tell us. We're looking for him ourselves.”

  “Why?”

  “It appears that Mr. Stevens may be an industrial spy. Our evidence and surveillance video suggests that he was here to steal a copy of the software that runs MHI's new drive system. How well do you know him? Do you know where he's gone?”

  Jessica's mind was racing. Ryan a spy? How could that be? How could an industrial spy infiltrate the ship's mechanical crew?

  “We've had a couple of drinks and a date or two. We spent some time on the beach yesterday and he missed the last tender back to the ship. That's all I know.”

  The burly man with the mustache looked at her sternly.

  Jessica fidgeted nervously in her chair. “Am I under arrest or something?”

  “Not at the moment, but you are prohibited from leaving the ship until further notice. We may have some further questions for you later. You may go.”

  Jessica realized that she was a bit overdue for work at the Passenger Services desk. How was she supposed to get any work done now?

  Is Ryan really a spy? How could I have been so foolish to fall for him? And how am I supposed to get through my remaining months of my work contract? I can't even leave the ship!

  The day, like all work days, did eventually come to an end, though the passengers had undoubtedly seen better service than they'd received from her today. After her shift was over, Jessica took a walk on one of the upper decks to watch the sunset. Sunsets, were, after all, one of the great perks of working on a ship. They were always beautiful.

  What am I supposed to do now?, she wondered. She didn't want to spend the next five months on the ship, especially without Ryan. She was really eager to find out what happened to him and to find out the truth about whether he was really a spy. In the meantime, she was forbidden to leave the ship, in deep trouble with ship's security, and possibly in trouble with the law...in some country or another. She wasn't even sure which one.

  I guess all of these things will sort themselves out in time. I'l
l just have to be patient. What else can I do?

  Chapter 8

  The next few weeks were grueling for Jessica. When the ship docked in Miami, the police were there to talk to her.

  She met with Detective Johnson, who met her in an empty office at the port. He was a tall, thin man, who didn't appear to have much of a sense of humor. He was, at least, cordial.

  “Good morning, Miss Steel. Cup of coffee?”

  “No, thank you.” Jessica was nervous.

  “Please tell me about your involvement with Ryan Stevens.”

  “I have no involvement with Ryan Stevens. I met him on the ship. We had a couple of drinks. We had a date on the beach. He disappeared. That's all I know.”

  “Are you sure? The ship has surveillance video of you and Mr. Stevens in the ship's engine room. What were you doing down there with him?” He took a sip of his coffee from a Styrofoam cup.

  “He told me that he was a mechanic. He took me on a tour of that part of the ship, and that included the engine room. I'd never seen it, and I thought it might be interesting.”

  Jessica didn't mention that she and Ryan had engaged in some hot, steamy sex in that engine room. Somehow, she didn't think that Detective Johnson would appreciate that or find it amusing.

  “You know that only authorized personnel are allowed in the engine room. Your presence there suggests that you may have been helping Mr. Stevens engage in espionage.”

  Jessica bristled at the suggestion. “I had nothing to do with that. We were friends. That is all.”

  “That's your story? You just met this man, had a couple of dates, and you just happened to accompany him to the very part of the ship that interested him as a spy?” His look suggested that he didn't believe a word she was saying.

  “That's the only story I have. It's the truth. I'm sorry that I can't help you further.”

  “Fine. You may go. You will make yourself available if I need to ask you some more questions, won't you?”

  “Yes. I still have several months left on my contract and I intend to fulfill it. I'll be in Miami roughly once a week for the next few months.”

  “Thank you for your time, Miss Steel.” He stood up and held the door open for her.

  This wasn't the first time that Jessica had been interviewed by the police. She had almost identical interviews with the police in the Cayman Islands, with representatives from the cruise line, and even with officials from the Japanese government, as shipbuilder MHI is a Japanese company.

  They all asked the same questions, and Jessica gave them the same answers. She didn't know any more about Ryan than they did.

  Except, of course, that in addition to being an exceptional thief, he was also an exceptional lover. Jessica was feeling pretty conflicted about Ryan right now. Sure, he'd deceived her. Had she known he was a spy, she'd never have become involved with him.

  But then again - what kind of spy tells people, “By the way, I'm a spy?”

  She was angry with Ryan. She felt hurt and deceived. He left her without warning, and he left her to be grilled, over and over, by detectives, police, cruise line officials, and government agents.

  He also left her with the lingering memories of the warm touch of his hands and his lips, not to mention the incredible sex she'd had with him. Jessica wasn't sure, at all, how she'd react if she saw Ryan again.

  Then again, she didn't expect to see Ryan again. For all she knew, he was in a Japanese prison.

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  After a few weeks, the ship's security officials told Jessica that she was free to leave the ship when in port. They had come to the conclusion that she likely didn't have any additional information about Ryan Stevens to give them. While the video of Jessica and Ryan in the ship's engine room was pretty damning, the video didn't actually show the two of them doing anything unusual.

  It's a good thing they didn't catch the sex on camera, Jessica thought to herself.

  In the meantime, she was still keeping busy at the Passenger Services desk, and the nature of the cruise business meant that she had thousands of new passengers to solve problems for every week. The problems themselves tended to be the same - lost luggage, plumbing problems and financial issues, but the faces that went with those problems changed weekly.

  After six months on the ship, Jessica was beginning to get a bit worn down by the strains of working in customer service. She didn't mind helping someone who had lost their luggage; after all, it is rather difficult enjoying a cruise when you don't have a bathing suit or even a single change of clothes. What became tiring was the passengers' reactions, which was almost always to blame her for the missing luggage.

  “I don't know how you could have been so careless”, one woman exclaimed. “What am I supposed to wear to dinner tonight?”

  “I'm sorry, ma'am. We can lend you some clothing until your bags arrive at the next port. That's the best that I can do.” This was the third time today that Jessica had been accused of essentially losing luggage herself.

  “I certainly hope so”, the woman huffed. “I can't wear these clothes every day for a week.”

  Jessica was relieved that her time on the ship would be up in another two months. She was also delighted that she was now able to leave the ship when it was in port. Cruise ships are fun, and there is plenty to do, even for employees. But it does become tiresome when you can't leave.

  The Ocean Enchantment was due back in the Cayman Islands the following day, and Jessica was determined to leave the ship, do some shopping and have herself a good time. She was hoping that Kristin would be able to come along, as it would be great to just have a girls' day out.

  Chapter 9

  The next day was a typical day in the Cayman Islands - gorgeous. The day was sunny and cloudless, there was a gentle breeze, and it wasn't too hot. It was a great day to shop, hang on the beach, or just walk around and look at the sights. Jessica put on a pink sun dress and a cute white hat, grabbed her purse and took the tender to shore. Kristin joined her.

  It was nice to set foot on dry land again. After weeks at sea, land can feel strange, and even while shopping in the stores, Jessica occasionally thought she felt the ship moving, even though she was standing on a cement floor.

  It's a disconcerting feeling, and one that doesn't pass for several days. Unfortunately, she was only going to be on land for five or six hours, so she just had to deal with it.

  Spending some time on shore with Kristin was helpful, too, as it got Jessica's mind off of all of the problems she'd been having lately. They visited the local shops and looked at jewelry and T-shirts, and cute beachwear.

  In one shop, Kristin tried on a red bikini. “You look gorgeous”, said Jessica. “You could probably land a guy in about five minutes if you were wearing that on the beach right now.”

  “Perhaps we should go to the beach next”, Kristin replied with a grin.

  Jessica bought a cute pair of earrings and a matching necklace, and they took a taxi down the main road towards Seven Mile Beach to find some lunch. They decided to dine at a rustic outdoor restaurant called Sloppy Joe's. This was an informal restaurant that had plastic tables with umbrellas and a number of wild birds just sort of roaming about. It wasn't a fancy place, but they made a great rack of ribs and a decent burger, and the umbrellas made the place comfortable, even on the hottest of days.

  Even though Jessica hated messy foods as a rule, she loved ribs, and ordered a small rack and a salad, along with a Margarita. Kristin ordered a burger, fries and a beer. They talked a bit about their love lives.

  “I'm really sorry about what happened with Ryan”, Kristin said between French fries. “He sounded pretty hot.”

  “I'm not even sure what happened with Ryan. I thought we had something between us, and then he turned out to be something else, and then he was just gone.”

  “At least you had something for a little while. I don't have anybody.”

  “What happened to that guy you were see
ing”, Kristin asked, as she wiped barbecue sauce off of her cheek.

  “We had a few dates, but nothing serious came of it. I'd like to stay on the ship for a couple more years, but he was ready to leave. We just didn't seem like a good fit.”

  As they finished their lunch, Kristin excused herself to use the ladies' room. Jessica just spent a moment enjoying her day on dry land.

  “Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”, said a male voice.

  Jessica shivered for an instant, as that voice was instantly recognizable. She turned around and there was Ryan. He'd grown a beard, and was wearing sunglasses, a short sleeved Polo shirt and some fairly new Levis. Jessica wasn't really all that crazy about beards, but right now, she thought Ryan looked positively hot.