Filed to story: Young Girls Forbidden Love Series: My Best Friend’s Daddy
“And in the hallway just now? You seemed pretty upset.”
“I promise, I’m fine, but thank you,” I said, trying to muster up a small smile.
Michael did not look convinced, but he let the topic go. We stood looking over the ocean for a long time in complete silence. The yacht had left the small island, and so the wake was bubbling lazily behind the propellers.
“When do we make port again?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Tomorrow.”
“I am going to miss you, Michael,” I said quietly.
“What are you talking about, Shelby?” Michael said as his eyebrows knit together in concern.
“I’m going to catch a flight back to New York tomorrow.”
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Shelby. POV
Michael stared at me for a long time after I said that I would be leaving when we got to port the next day. Or at least I hoped I would be. I didn’t even know where we would be, let alone if there was an airport or a ticket home I could afford.
“I would really hate to see you go, Shelby,” he said with a serious look on his face.
“I think it’s for the best,” I answered softly.
“The best for you?” he asked. I stayed quiet for a long time. Was I deciding what was best for me and/or running from my problems?
“I don’t know….” I answered truthfully.
I took another small sip of the wine Michael had poured me and watched the liquid as I swirled it around in my glass.
“You know wine always tastes better in the sauna,” Michael said, watching me.
I turned to him, “That does sound nice, but I am sure the staff who work the spa have already gone to bed.”
“Well, good thing the sauna is in my bathroom,” he said as the corners of his mouth eased into a smile.
“You have a sauna in your bathroom?” I asked, impressed.
“Of course, so what do you say?”
“I’m not really dressed for a sauna,” I gestured down to my shorts and T-shirt.
“I have a robe that you can borrow unless you’d rather go without.” Michael winked and started walking towards his stateroom.
“So what else do you have up here all to yourself?” I asked, liking the distraction from the mess of a night I’d been through.
“Well, you have seen my private deck, then there are the massage chairs in the living room, the two-hundred-inch wall TV, electric fireplace, soaking tub, double showers, and I have a hot tub on the balcony off of the private kitchen.”
We walked through a large sitting room, a bedroom with the biggest bed I had ever seen, and then finally to the bathroom. Michael calling the tub in his bathroom a soaking tub was an understatement; it was more like a small swimming pool sunken in the middle of the floor.
“You can get changed in here.” Michael led me into an extravagant walk-in closet, complete with a large vanity table and chaise lounge. He hung a white cotton robe on a hook next to the door, making it the only garment in the empty closet.
I realized Michaels’s staterooms must include his and her’s closets, but Michael had no use for this one.
I undressed down to nothing and slipped the buttery soft robe over my skin. I would have lived in that robe if I could have; it was so unbelievably soft. There were definitely some amazing perks to being rich.
I walked out of the closet, and Michael was waiting for me in a matching cotton robe.
“See, it’s a perfect fit,” he said.
“I don’t even want to know how much one of these robes costs,” I said. Michael laughed a little at my comment.
“The sauna is through this door here,” Michael said and pushed the door next to him open, holding it for me to enter first.
I didn’t know what I had been expecting when Michael had said he had a sauna in his bathroom, but the sauna I walked into was more than I could have ever imagined.
Every inch of the room was covered in light wood. The benches looked as though they conformed perfectly to your body and were accented with white pillows.
The steam was warm and enveloped you as soon as you walked into the room. However, the most breathtaking part of the sauna was the floor-to-ceiling window.
It made it feel like the sauna was open to the ocean itself, and the dark water reflecting the dim light of the room was extremely romantic.
“How do you ever leave?” I asked after a few speechless seconds.
Michael laughed again and took a seat in the center of the bench, staring out into the dark water. I sat next to him and realized I might be too close, so I tried to scoot away subtly.
“I don’t bite, Shelby.”
I laughed awkwardly but remained close enough to feel the heat of his body next to mine. I closed my eyes and tried to let go of the evening. I thought about watching the dolphins swimming in the cove while Michael sat next to me on the jet ski.
“You look like you’re feeling a little better,” Michael whispered.
“I am. This is exactly what I needed.” I paused for a few seconds and added, “You keep saving me today.”
“You’ve saved me on this trip too. Can I tell you a secret?” he asked, leaning in closer to me.
“Of course,” I answered, and my heart started beating faster.
“The rest of Lauren’s friends drive me insane.”
“That’s your secret?” I bumped his shoulder with mine. “That is a really weak secret. They drive me insane too.”
“If that is not a secret, then tell me a better one,” he said.
“What kind of secret?”
“Tell me why you are leaving tomorrow?” he asked and looked into my eyes.
I paused, considering if I should tell him the truth, but he was getting Todd as a son-in-law. So I chose a different path.
“I can’t afford to stay,” I said finally.
Taking Michael’s silence as confusion, I elaborated, “I’m completely broke. I’ve put all of my money into school. I work as a bartender and live off of my tips and ramen noodles.”