Honeymoon for One Read Online Free PDF Page B

actually done it. She’d climbed a forty-foot wall. Conquered the wedgies, the sore fingers, and tired legs, and rung the bell. Careful not to touch the rope on the ride down, she landed on her feet and spun around to find Kirk.
    “Race you to the top!”
     
    ***
     
    There was an excitement about Micki that Kirk couldn’t ignore. A contagious energy. With her the same old, same old, seemed fresh and new. Again today, at the last port of call, walking the crowded tourist market, a place like every other open-air market on every other island he’d ever been, he was sucked in by her enthusiasm, searching for the next great bargain.
    “How much is this?” She wore a floppy hat, a thin green strand of straw delicately woven along the brim.
    “For you, pretty lady, only twenty-five dollars.”
    Kirk swallowed the urge to laugh out loud. This poor island woman had no idea what she was in for. His Micki might look like an ordinary tourist but lurking inside was a shrewd woman who could put Donald Trump’s famed negotiating skills to shame. Kirk had been watching her all morning. If she wanted that hat, and he’d come to recognize the glint in her eye when she found something she absolutely wanted, she would get it and not for twenty-five dollars.
    “Thank you, no.” She bit back a smile and handed over the hat. She’d done this on every island port. She either had a family the size of the Osmonds or enough friends to fill a town. Either way, he loved watching her shop.
    “This is handmade, not machine made. Normally I sell these for thirty dollars. Today you can have it for only twenty.”
    “Ten.”
    “No, miss. Look at the quality. Eighteen.”
    Micki shook her head, and took only one step before the woman countered, “Fifteen.”
    “Ten,” Micki repeated.
    The woman hesitated a second. “Twelve. I can do no better than that.”
    “Thank you, but I’m not willing to pay more than ten.” On that, she turned on her heel, had taken two steps when the woman shoved the hat in her hand.
    “Ten dollars for the pretty miss.”
    It was all he could do to stop himself from kissing the big grin off her face. If he told Dave how much fun he’d had walking every aisle of the market, his friend would have him undergoing a full medical exam, maybe even psychiatric testing.
    For the umpteenth time today, Kirk had almost broken his steadfast rule and asked Micki for her phone number. So far, she’d been the perfect shipboard companion. Together, they'd laughed hard and played hard. Nothing existed outside the here and now. She knew the rules of the game as well as he did.
    With the exception of their first dinner where he’d talked about his first trip with Dave, neither had divulged anything personal. For all he knew, she had a husband and two-point-five children at home waiting for her. Though he doubted it.
    So many times over the last nine days he’d wondered, What was her story? Why was she here on a ship alone? For most women traveling solitaire, the answer was easy—men and sex. Except from day one, he knew she was different. Still, he’d held fast to the unspoken rules of a shipboard liaison—don’t ask, don’t tell.
    Besides, he also knew, back in the real world, there was no such thing as different. All women were the same. The American dream was nothing more than a well-marketed trap, and he wanted no part of it. Next trip there’d be another woman to liaise with. There’d always be more women, but he knew they’d be like all the women before Micki. Same old, same old.
    Stopping short in front of him, that now familiar twinkle in her eye, she seemed to have zeroed in on one of the gold charms in the window.
    “Shall we go inside?” he asked. The question must have been more difficult than he realized. She nibbled on her bottom lip as though debating the solution to world peace. “Micki?”
    “Um, sure.”
    A middle-aged man with a slight British accent in a crisp white suit approached. “May I