Prologue:

Arya:

“Girl! Lighten up and have some booze,” Emma, my best-friend says as she pushes the glass of vodka on the counter.

I shift awkwardly in my seat, shrugging. “I don’t feel like drinking.”

“You are kidding, right? Arya, you deserve this as hell, Kevin is an asshole, the sooner you let go of him the better.” Emma rolls her eyes.

Kevin...The name brings a bitter churn in the pit of my stomach. Weeks ago, I had a fiancé, my wedding was in two weeks, and then I caught the love of my life cheating on me with my friend, Anna. That wasn’t the worst part though; they had been planning on taking the estate in my trust fund.

Kevin and I had been dating since high-school, and the fact that Anna, my once best-friend, had the guts to do this to me, I don’t know which hurt most, the betrayal from a friend or from that of your fiancé, either way, they both hurt real bad. 

This one week cruise getaway was planned in advance for our honeymoon, already booked for two, and when the wedding was called off, I switched off my phone and ran here, dragging my best-friend as my plus two. I have been ignoring my family and friends’ calls, they were worried, but I just didn’t want to deal with their pity especially after finding out my fiancé had been planning on jilting me.  

“This is our last day on this ship, and I know that after this, you are going to pretend like you are fine, you will get back into your designer clothes with your shitty boss. Look around, men are walking around half-naked, have fun.”

I give her a pained look, “I just got out of a relationship like a week ago, Em.” I came to this already expensively booked cruise to take my mind away from stuff like this.

She huffs a breath, before looking around. The neon light flashes in my face, soft music blaring in my ears, people are packed together in booths, drinking alcohol and laughing.

I need to get out of this party, as soon as possible.

Emma gestures towards a group of men that’s looking our way. “Look, they are coming here; at least pretend to smile at them.”

I straighten up my posture, turning my back away from her, but she pushes me back and I groan, do I really have to do this? I shouldn’t have texted Emma; I should have just gone with Nicole, my other no nonsense best-friend.

“Hey, ladies.” I hear a soft drawl and my gaze focuses on the two men in front of us, a tall, broad shouldered man with blonde hair and the other with dark hair, each holding a glass of whiskey.

Emma smiles too brightly, “Hi, I am Emma, and this is my friend, Arya,” 

“I am Dave and this is Tom.” The dark-haired man smiles, before pointing at his friend, I will rather be anywhere but here.

The man with the blonde hair stares at me through his glass, his gaze making me uncomfortable. “Aren’t you too young to be on a cruise?”

Excuse you? “I am twenty-six.” I fold my hands across my chest.

“Sorry, you just have a cute and babyish face.” He says, before laughing, but I don’t laugh back.

I contain my anger as I stand up, pushing my glass aside, “I need some fresh air.” Without saying anything, I stomp out of the bar and down to the end of the ship, the night sky twinkles above me as I place my hand on the taffrail, staring down, the blue water ripples gently. I pull my denim jacket together around my body; Emma had made me dress up in this ivory lace gown.

I sigh, after today, I am back in New York, forgetting everything that happened. The hurt still weakens me. I was supposed to be married, I was supposed to be here with Kevin, but fate has different ways of throwing surprises at us.

“Slow night, huh?” I hear a deep raspy voice from behind me and I look up, my breath clogging behind my throat.

He’s tall and broad-shouldered, his dark hair is perfectly arranged, though some strands are sticking out of place, his dark t-shirt broadens around his muscles; he’s handsome, no doubt. I can’t place his age, but late twenties? mid-thirties?

He places his hand on the taffrail and slowly exhales.

“Yeah,” I mumble under my breath, and he stares at me, like really stares at me, those inkling mysterious green eyes watching me.

“What are you doing here all alone?” He looks up at his sky, his deep smoky voice tingling down my spine.

“I needed to escape,” I blow out a heavy breath, “You see, I was supposed to get married, this was supposed to be my honeymoon and just a week to our wedding, I found out he was screwing my ex best-friend, and not only that, they were both planning on taking my estate. The estate was only going to be released to me when I got married, it’s been so hard, and when I got the notification about my already booked expensive getaway, I just had to come, sorry I am boring you with my life details.” But, if I might as well screw my personal life details to a stranger on a cruise ship, then why not.

“Not a problem.”

“So, what brings you here? I am guessing not a run-away fiancée or wife?” I ask, with a laugh.

He stretches his arms forward. “Just work.” He’s not going to explain further, so I don’t bother.

“You have to move on, you know.” He finally says after a long beat of silence. His eyes trail over to my ring finger that’s coated with a huge diamond engagement ring.

He’s right, I should move on from Kevin, he hurt me, but somehow a part of me is still hoping this isn’t true. Maybe I am still holding onto Kevin for some sort of balance.

No, I won’t let him hurt me further. He’s out of my life and I just have to accept that.

“I don’t really like to do reckless things.” I say with a mischievous smile.

“Then, what are you going to do?” That deep voice again rumbles out of his chest, he acts so composed and well arranged, it’s no doubt in the way he talks. The strong mystery aura that surrounds him is so strong, for a second I wonder who he is.

This is just a cruise ship; hundreds of strangers are from different places only to forget about each other the next day. This is just a stranger on a cruise, but somehow, it feels like so much more.

I pluck the ring out of my finger, before throwing it into the water, we watch as the ring collides with the current, the water swallowing it up. I let out a resigned breath. “I am done with him.”

He nods, “You should be proud of yourself.” Our eyes lock together, there’s something deep about his emerald eyes gleaming under the moonlight, a sense of mystery and....sadness.

“My name is Arya,” I say gently.

“Devon.” We don’t bother with last names, I don’t think it matters anyways, in the next few days, I will forget about the stranger I met on the cruise, none of this conversation will matter.

I move closer, inhaling his strong cologne, I place my hand on his chest, feeling his strong muscles underneath, I knew earlier that he worked out, the epitome of perfection.

I move the strands of my wavy raven hair behind my ears, “I don’t normally do this.”

“Do what?” He chuckles, and my heart skips a beat.

“Kiss a stranger under the moonlight on a cruise.” Without waiting for his reply, I go on my tip-toes and gently place my lips on his, kissing him gently.

His large arm wraps around the small of my back and pulls me closer, a short gasp emits from my lips as the kiss turns more passionately. Kevin never kissed me like this, this man is strong, his hand wrapped possessively around my back. 

“We could go to my room.” His warm breath fans across my neck. He stares at me, waiting for my answer.

I realize that I don’t ever make rash decisions, I always know what I am doing, but there’s no way I am about to resist this man. I have never done a one-night stand before. But I am about to make an exemption tonight.

This is supposed to be a night where I don’t have to worry about anything, besides, I am leaving tomorrow back to New York. I could pretend like it never happened, we are just two strangers who meet on a ship and forget each other the next day.

So, I kiss him harder and say, “Yes, let’s go to your room.”

That night ended up as the best, most passionate night of my life. The next day when I woke up, he was gone and there was a check for five thousand dollars. I felt used and casted aside.

Pretending like it never happened was easy enough, I went back to New York and continued my normal life until a month later, I found out I was pregnant.