All Hands Below by Lelani Black Read Free Book Online Page B

two.”
    “For two?” frowned the older woman.
    Evangeline blushed. “I made them in advance. Just in case I hooked up with someone.”
    “By day two? Ha! You think ahead, I like that. It’ll be my pleasure to join you.”
    “Did you know,” said Maisy an hour later as they applied warm, richly colored chakra mud all over their skin, “of these Mayan ruins—Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Coba, Coba boasts the tallest of the temple pyramids in the Yucatan. It’s called the Nohoch Mul and stands twelve stories high. You can climb the steps to the top.”
    “Ah, but Tulum has what Coba doesn’t have—a cute little beach. Besides, I’d rather swim than climb.”
    Evangeline breathed in the eucalyptus and clove-infused steam filling the exotic bath, tiled in magnificent blue mosaic designs.
    While glad for Maisy’s company, she’d hoped to connect with someone to share the couples’ treatment sooner. They’d be rubbing the mineral-rich mud into each other’s bodies right now, she mused, feeling her skin come alive from the mud’s detoxifying elements.
    While it pleased her to see Maisy enjoy the perks meant for someone Evangeline hadn’t met yet, she had to admit…Liam Rossi cornering her in the elevator today had boosted her spirits.
    He made her feel alive from inside. He helped her see herself in a different light—as a woman who had the ability to twist a man like him up in knots.
    “Why didn’t you book the Mayan tour, Maisy?”
    “Because, my dear, while everyone else is off exploring, I’ll have the ship’s pool and amenities all to myself.”
    “Very clever.” Evangeline hadn’t given the other woman enough credit. Maisy was no scatty-headed sweetheart. She was glad to know she wouldn’t have to Maisy-sit on her first shore tour, either.
    After all, she could very well meet someone special.

Chapter Five
    Day 3
    Any thoughts about meeting someone took a back seat to Evangeline’s shore tour of the cliff-side ruins in Tulum.
    She roamed the immense, sunbaked landscape and explored ancient temples and structures long since dug out from the surrounding jungle. A tour inside some of the larger buildings wasn’t an option as much of the area had been roped off.
    The former glory of an ancient civilization was far from anything she’d yet to see in Portland, she thought, gazing up at the mysterious carved masks of the Temple of the Frescoes, their ancient faces pointing out from the temple’s corners.
    While an occasional breeze swept through the ruins, the sun beat down without mercy, getting her hot, sweaty, and eager to jump into the crystalline waters below the limestone cliffs the city was built on.
    Only when she felt like a roasting pepper in need of a hosing did she make her way down the staircase that led to a charming beach below El Castillo. The Castle, an imposing structure, loomed over land and the very sea that Spanish expeditions sailed upon when reaching the Yucatan peninsula.
    On her way to the beach, she noticed a small army of lizards basking in the sun. Sprawled out on sand and stones, a few more lurked in the shade of rocky nooks.
    As interesting as the ruins, some looked monstrous enough to dwarf a small dog, but their I am the king posturing didn’t stop her from her mission of sinking her feet into the buff-colored sand.
    Hoards of people had the same idea about a cooling swim, but Evangeline and her towel managed to find a spot along the shore. Moments later, she was swimming in a turquoise sea so pristine that when she opened her eyes underwater, grains of sand reflected the shimmering sunlight.
    After taking a break to reapply sunblock all over her skin, she sprawled out on her towel and dreamed of a fearless corsair, a dark pirate dazzling her pussy with his cock along the shoreline, where the sea wasn’t the only thing licking at her body.
    “If we want to make it back to the ship in time, we need to get moving.”
    Evangeline opened her eyes. No cute pirate loomed