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and then I’m whisked off the ship to visit the Nassau straw market. We spend most of the morning milling around, playing the ultimate tourists, and eventually make our way back onto the ship in time for lunch. Lana goes on and on about how bad she felt for ditching me at the Bordeaux Room last night, asking me where I sneaked off to. I tell her it didn’t bother me in the least, and that I took a stroll on the jogging deck. When I get to the part about running into Mr. Blue Eyes, she perks up with interest, practically drooling for details.
    “Please tell me you lured him back to the stateroom and seduced him,” she says deviously, gripping my shoulder as we enter our room.
    “What?” I laugh, unlocking the door. “Lan, you have such a one-tracked mind.”
    “When we’re talking about Mr. I-Own-The-Cruise-Ship Christensen, hell yes, I do! And I am not ashamed, babe. He’s sinfully sexy. You should do him.”
    “Lana!”
    Her eyes bulge at the tone of my voice. “You’re only freaking out because you know I’m right.”
    “We’re reviewing the cruise liner.”
    “So?”
    “ His cruise liner.”
    “Still not gettin’ it.”
    I sigh and drop my purse on the edge of the bed, slumping onto the mattress. “He might be sinfully sexy, but that’s like…like sleeping with our boss.”
    “It’s nothing like sleeping with our boss. Girl, what have you been smokin’?”
    “Forget it.”
    “No.” Lana thrusts her hip to the right and crosses her arms as she plants herself in front of me. She stares down with narrowed eyes and kicks out her ankle to nudge my shin. Her red hair is especially fiery today. “What is with you?”
    “What do you mean, what’s with me?”
    “Why are you so determined to put the lock-down on bringing the sexy back?”
    “Lan, will you please not speak in Justin Timberlake?”
    She sighs dramatically and drops her hands to her sides. “I want this cruise to help you move on from Jeremiah.”
    “I’m over Jeremiah. You’re acting like he broke my heart and shattered it into a million pieces. He was just a fling.”
    “An eight-month-long fling.”
    “So?”
    “So, you obviously had some feelings for him, even if they didn’t run very deep.”
    “It was nothing serious. Jeremiah’s history.”
    “I get that, An. I do. But you got comfortable. And what you had with him was so…”
    “So what?” I raise a brow and deliver a warning glare. She really isn’t one to dole out judgment of relationships, considering all she put up with when it came to Matt Jenkins. But I know she loves me, and that deep down, she really thinks she’s helping.
    “Mediocre. You settled. And now you’re in a funk.”
    “I’m not in a funk.”
    “Um, yeah. Yeah, you are. And as your best friend in the whole world, it’s my sole duty to get you back on the horse. Or in this case, back on your back.”
    I fling a pillow at her.
    “And then there’s the whole drowning thing…”
    “Don’t go there. Please.”
    “I know you don’t like talking about it, but what better time is there to confront it?”
    “I am confronting it by being here.”
    “Fine. I won’t push it.”
    “Good.”
    “But I will push you right into Christensen’s bed, if that’s what it takes.”
    I flop back onto the mattress with a sigh. “I saw him with some brunette yesterday. In the hallway.”
    “So?”
    “He was about to…”
    “About to what?” Lana lunges forward to the edge of the bed to hang over me, bursting at the seams with burning curiosity.
    “He was about to screw her. Right there, in public.”
    “No effing way!” She gasps and hops onto the bed, bending down to shake my shoulders. “Why didn’t he?”
    “Because I crashed their party.”
    “Oh my God, that’s so hot.”
    “Yeah, well. Was. Before I ruined their fun.”
    “Okay, now I’m certain of it.” Lana stops shaking me and slides off the bed, hopping back to her feet.
    “Sure of what?”
    “You positively have to