Do Me Baby (The Beaumont Series) (4 page)

“Your room? This is
my
room,” she added with a defiant tilt of her chin.

Rance chuckled. “Nice try, Debra. Look… if you wanted my autograph then you should have just asked instead of stalking me.”

“Stalking you?” She drew back like she had been slapped. “Why in the world would I want to stalk you? Trust me, dude, you ain’t all that.”

He took a moment to admire her in the white cover-up that stopped mid-thigh. Beneath the sheer material he could see a swimsuit that showcased every dangerous curve. She was truly a double deluxe. Just the way he usually liked his women. But this one had a lot of nerve.. “I have a dozen women on speed dial who would disagree.”

“Then go share their cabin and get out of mine,” she countered with a hand at her hip.

“Listen,” he said quietly. “There must be some kind of mix-up. We’ll just go back down to the desk and see if we can find you another room.”

“Me?” Debra took a step closer and stabbed her index finger at his chest. “If anyone is going to move, it’s going to be you. As you can see, I’ve already settled in.” She brushed past him and over to the bed. The smell of her sweet perfume ruffled his nose as she padded over to her suitcase and made a show of tossing her clothes all over the bed. Apparently, the woman was delusional. “It says on this registration form that I’ve been assigned to cabin. 734,” she said, flinging a piece of paper at him.

He looked down at her itinerary and scanned the details. Sure enough, she had been assigned to the same room as him. Rance didn’t know why he felt relieved to know that she wasn’t a stalker after all. But either way, he wanted her out of his cabin. “Look,” he began, giving her a sympathetic smile. “Why don’t we both go down to the front desk and straighten this out?”

After a prolonged silence, Debra finally replied, “Fine.”

He opened the door and waited for her to reach for her purse, slip her pretty feet into a pair of green flip-flops and step out into the hall. Rance was completely aware of the sway of her wide, lush hips as she walked a few feet in front of him.
Baby got back
he mumbled under his breath. He loved a woman with enough to grab onto, and was ready to nickname her Good and Plenty.

She moved to the bank of elevators and angrily punched the button.

“Women,” he scowled. “I’m taking the stairs.” Without another word he brushed past her and started to walk away. Debra called after him.

“Oh, no you don’t! If you’re walking, I’m walking.”

Rance blew out a frustrated breath and moved toward the dual staircase. She was sexy as hell, but the sooner he could get away from this crazy woman the better.

While he headed for one set of stairs Debra headed for the other, and he noticed that she was practically racing down the stairs. With his long legs, Rance took them two at a time and managed to beat her down to the main level. At the annoyed look on her face, and with her chest heaving heavily, he had to resist the urge to laugh. At the look of her face, he was sure she wouldn’t have found the situation amusing.

The line at the counter was shorter than he had expected.

“Welcome to Carnival Glory, how may I help you?”

“Ma’am I—”

“There’s been some kinda mix-up,” Debra interrupted, and abruptly stepped in front of him and leaned against the counter. She met his look, glare for glare, before he pressed his lips together and allowed her take charge.
Just like a woman
.

While she explained the problem, Rance allowed his eyes to roam the length of her voluptuous body. His eyes lingered at the generous swell of her breasts beneath the swimsuit. The only thing keeping him from seeing them was the tie at the center of her back. He had always been a breast man, but then again he loved him some thighs as well, and baby girl had plenty. While Debra explained the situation, his eyes traveled down past the high cut of the suit, exposing her long, shapely legs. Thick didn’t begin to describe the woman and her dangerous curves. Rance felt his Johnson stir in his boxers as he grew increasingly uncomfortable with every lingering stare. Trying to slow down the effect Debra had on him, he took several deep breaths and shifted the weight of his body over to his other leg.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have any more balcony cabins,” he heard the clerk say, jarring him from his thoughts.

Rance cleared his throat. “Then I’ll take any other upgraded cabins you have. A suite, even.”

The clerk tapped away at the keyboard, but the frown on her face said the news wasn’t going to be good. “I’m sorry, but the only available room we have is an inside cabin down low, with no window.”

“He’ll take it.”

Rance turned and look at the feisty woman. “Excuse me. I don’t think so. I am too tall to be in a small windowless room.” He returned his attention to the clerk. “She’ll take it.”

“I’ll do what?” Debra leaned forward and glared up in into his dark brown eyes. “I know I didn’t hear you right, because there’s no way I’m giving up my cabin to accommodate you!”

He swung around until he was hovering over her. “Well, neither am I.”

Debra threw both hands high. “Fine! Then I’m going home.” With that she turned and started to storm off.

“I hope you can swim,” Rance called after her.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Of course I can swim.”

Rance nodded. “Good, because that’s the only way you’re getting home. The ship just left the dock.” He pointed toward the picture window.

As she followed the direction of his hand, he wished he had a camera. The alarmed look on Debra’s face was priceless.

He chuckled, then watched as she stormed off, mumbling something that he couldn’t seem to make out. He felt a small tug of pleasure knowing it irritated her.

“Sir, we’ll be more than happy to move one of you to another cabin, and also offer both of you a three-hundred dollar credit toward your next trip?”

He had forgotten all about the clerk behind the desk. Rance turned and smiled, shaking his head. “No, that’ll be it.” He hurried after the voluptuous beauty and reached her just as she was about to board an elevator back to the seventh floor. At the sound of his running feet she turned and glared at him as she climbed inside.

“Dr. Dibble!” A little boy cried out as he exited the car.

“Hey, kid,” Rance replied with a smile and ruffled his curly hair.

He followed Debra onto the half-empty car and punched the button taking them up four floors. They were silent the entire ride.

The car had barely come to a complete stop before she was storming off again, him following.

“Hey, are you going to say something?”

“Yes. I’m going to get my cell phone and call my best friend and cuss her out for getting me into this mess!”

“You can say that again,” he muttered.

Rance followed her down the narrow corridor and found his eyes once again straying to her nice round ass. Maybe sharing a cabin wasn’t such a bad idea, he thought, then scowled at the ridiculous idea. The last thing he needed was to be stuck with a female for two days. He preferred one-night stands where he went to their homes, and afterward they would go their own separate ways before breakfast.

Debra swiped her keycard and he followed her into the cabin. “Look, what about we flip a coin or something?”

She gave him a lethal glare. “I don’t think so.”

He watched as she fumbled around in her purse, removed a cell phone, then stabbed the keys before bringing the phone to her ear. He had to admit she was cute when she was angry. But then she was cute when she wasn’t as well. In fact, the longer he stared, the more beautiful she became.

“Bianca, I know you’re there, screening your calls,” he heard her growl into the phone. “Call me.. I
mean
it.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. Did you just say Bianca?”

She ended the call and rolled her eyes in his direction. “Yes, my best friend. Or at least she was until today.”

 
He stepped. “Bianca who?”

Giving him an annoyed look, she replied. “Bianca Beaumont Brown.”

Chapter 4

Debra watched his eyes widen at the mention of her best friend’s name. “What’s wrong? You know her?”

“Yeah, I’m afraid I do.” With that he reached inside his back pocket and retrieved his iPhone.

“How do you know her?” she asked. Especially since she and Bianca had never had any secrets. If she’d mentioned this tall, gorgeous hunk Debra would have remembered. Although there was something about him she found familiar.

Rance pressed a few buttons and brought the phone to his ear.

“Hey, buddy, did you hear me? How do you know her?” Debra repeated.

Completely ignoring her, he moved toward the door and stared off over the balcony while he waited for someone to answer.

“Yo, this ain’t funny. You need to holla at me ASAP,” he barked into the phone, ending the call with a loud groan.

“Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

He turned to face her and looked as annoyed as she felt. “What’s going on is that someone is playing games with me.”

“Games? What kind of games? And I’m still waiting for you to tell me how you know my best friend,” she said defensively.

His eyes rolled in her direction, and what he said knocked the air from her lungs. “Bianca’s my cousin.”

Debra blinked and took a moment to process his words. Cousins? She thought she had met all of Bianca’s cousins. Well, most of them, anyway. At Bianca’s wedding she thought they had all been there. Her stomach rolled.
Except for the NBA player
.

“You’re Rance Beaumont.”

He gave her a disarming grin. “You’re a fan.”

Frowning, she replied, “Nope. I prefer football, especially RG III.”

Rance chuckled. “You sure know how to bruise a man’s ego.”

She gave a roll of the eyes. “I remember Bianca mentioning you.”

“I hope it was good things.”

She gave a rude snort. “Not when she’s talking about the Force MDs. That’s why that kid in the lobby called you Dr. Dribble.”

“The one and only.”

Oh, brother
. Debra flopped down onto the bed. “I can see your ego is as big as your feet.”

Her comment caused him to chuckle again. “Well, at least you noticed.”

“Who could miss them? I almost tripped over them trying to get off the elevator,” she snapped.

“Yeah, right. I could say the same about that fat ass of yours, but to be honest, I like it.”

She stared, mouth wide open, and wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or insulted. How dare him! But then none of the Beaumont men she knew had ever been one to hold their tongue.

“Listen, it’s obvious our being in the same room was not an accident.”

He nodded. “I agree.”

“It’s too late to get off, so we have two choices. Either one of us moves down to the smaller room …”

“Ain’t happening,” he blurted out.

“Or we slide these beds apart and share the room.”

He gave her a look that indicated he didn’t like that option, either. He wished there was a Plan C. Well, too bad. She wasn’t exactly excited about sharing with him, either.

She leaned back on the bed, and after a prolonged silence he finally spoke.

“Okay, I guess since we’re stuck we really don’t have much of a choice,”

“No, we don’t.” She rose and reached for the clothes she had thrown around the bed. Her actions seemed childish now. “I guess I better get my things put away since we’re sharing the space.” She stole a glance in his direction.

His expression softened and he nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

The room suddenly seemed small and his presence practically towered over her. It’s those sexy dark eyes of his, she fumed inwardly.

The bells chimed from the PA system and Debra stopped to listen as the captain announced that all guests needed to report to their muster stations for evacuation procedures.

“I’ll finish when I get back,” Debra promised, heading to the closet to retrieve her life jacket.

“I just heard him say we don’t need them. Just make sure there’re enough in the room for each guest.”

Debra looked inside and verified there were two jackets hanging inside. “There are,” she informed him.

His eyes twinkled. “Good, then let’s go down to the fourth floor.”

He moved and opened the cabin door. Debra stepped out into the hall and paused, waiting for him to following

This is going to be interesting.