Faye was awake but she didn't dare open her eyes. She knew it was still too early in the morning – likely before the crack of dawn, if her body clock was still in operation – and she wanted to go back to sleep. It was her vacation. Her sabbatical. Her time of rest. Waking up before the crack of dawn was just not something that constitutes a restful holiday.

There were different ways of going back to sleep that she knew of, that didn't involve getting out of bed – because if she did get out of bed, it would be impossible to get back to sleep – but none of them worked. They had worked before when she rested during the holidays where no one wanted to work, but now, they were just ineffective.

Finally, she resorted to go back to the night's events. In a nutshell, it was nothing exciting. It was such a relief that even as the day ended, the room was empty and claimed the bed for her own. She had been expecting a comeback from Nathan, but they did not see each other. She went around the cruise ship by herself inspecting what places she could go to entertain herself always wary about the possibility that he might rear his ugly head – well, no longer ugly, but she would always have the pleasure of calling him ugly. And after a complete self-tour of the ship, she had outlined an itinerary of what to do to keep her from getting bored in the days to come.

Thinking about those only brought Faye awake even more, until she finally gave up and resorted to watching the sunrise. She had not seen a sunrise ever since elementary when her aunt woke her up just to see it with her. It had been so long ago that she forgot why she had been so fascinated by it as a child.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she screamed and flailed about, holding the covers up to her chin.

Nathan glared at her from the ground rubbing his back. "Push harder, will you? I don't think I died just yet."

"What the hell are you doing on my bed?" She growled at him.

His glare disappeared, only to be replaced by mocking amusement. "Your bed? I think I made it clear that the bed is mine."

"I don't see your name on it."

"Well, if you don't like sleeping with me, you can go for the couch like I said." He shrugged and climbed back on the object of their dispute. "I'm sleeping on this bed whether or not you're in it. Oh, and you look pretty hot in that shirt. You have anything underneath that?"

She threw a pillow at him, which he, disappointingly, easily caught. "Don't you have an ounce of gentlemanly quality inside of you?"

"Of course I do," he answered as if shocked. "But why would I waste it with someone like you? You're no lady. You're a pack mule who just keeps on working your ass off until you die. Now, that's totally not sexy."

"Why would anyone even try to be sexy around you?" she rolled her eyes at him.

"My girlfriend could probably give you a detailed explanation."

For the first time in her life, she was at a loss for words. She did not know how she would react to that. It was as if she was in the Twilight Zone. "Yo-you have a girlfriend?"

"I'm not surprised you find it unbelievable." His smirk went even deeper. "I'm assuming you don't. I mean, who would ever take an interest in you?"

She threw another pillow at him and stormed off into the bathroom, not caring if it hit its mark or not. A long dip into the bathtub was in order, if only to get her irritation out of her system. For that, she chose the scent of vanilla. If the websites were right, it would soon have a calming effect on her. And she needed that more than she needed to make her skin look beautiful.

He had always been an ass, so why would anyone bother hooking up with him? Maybe it was a girl who only wanted him for his looks. Maybe he was a trophy boyfriend or something. But either way, having a significant other really meant nothing and she shouldn't let that get to her. So what if he had a girlfriend? That meant nothing. She refused to be valued by the kind of person that was interested in her. Besides, romantic relationships would only derail her from her ultimate goal of being one of the best CEOs to ever grace the covers of Fortune 500.

With her resolve back on track, she threw on her towel and cursed. She had not taken any clothes coming into the bathroom and her suitcase was at the corner of the room, by the bed. There was nothing for it but to act calm and collected and pretend that he wasn't in the room no matter what insulting things he might tell her. It was not going to be an easy feat to accomplish, she was sure of that, but it was not impossible.

She peeped through the door as her eyes searched for him. Luck was on her side, as he was nowhere in sight. Taking a deep breath, she strode out of the room and made a beeline for her suitcase, searching through her clothes and decided to dress in the bathroom anyway, just in case.

"Wow, you're really hot for a mule."

She was startled by his voice and almost stumbled from her position. Her hands instantly shot up to her chest and pulled the towel closer to her. She felt him standing just behind her.

She turned around and made a run for the bathroom but he was much faster than her and placed his hands on her waist, pulling her flush against his body. It had happened so quickly, all she could do was gape up at him.

She looked him in the eye. He was laughing at her—oh, not out loud—but she could tell from his expression, he was laughing at her. She struggled to step away, but he merely locked his arms more tightly around her. Her clothes were the only barrier between them.

"Let me go!"

"That's all you ever say to me apart from the insults." He sighed and pretended to pout.

"That's because you're always grabbing me!"

"I'm sorry, but I just had to come over here and tell you that you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen on a mule." He said, pressing his forehead to hers.

She stamped her foot in frustration and he burst out laughing. She gave him an 'I wish I could kill you' look and turned to leave only to be jerked back when he grabbed her arm. She instantly tore her arm away from him and poked a finger to his chest.

"Listen, you pig! If you touch me one more time, I'm going to do worse than slap you, you hear that?" She warned him.

"Relax babe, I just thought to help you. You dropped it off while we're having this lovely conversation. Don't you need this? Not that—I would mind if you are without it." He tried to suppress a grin as he held a black bra from its string and let it dangle infront of her. It bounced around her head, first in disbelief, then in shock, and finally, in anger. She quickly snatched it from him and stomped off to the bathroom.

As soon as she got out of the cabin, dawn had already broken and she resigned to watching daybreak the next day instead. After all, her body would still be adjusting to sleeping in later, so even if she missed tomorrow's sunrise, she would still have other opportunities to witness it.

At breakfast, she was one of the first to arrive and reveled in the silence of the hall. In a few more minutes, the serenity would be broken by excited children and adult chatter. She took her time to read their itinerary once again before she was rudely interrupted by the arrival of Nathan and did the math in her head. Hawaii, Guam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Madagascar in a month? It didn't add up. She read the rest of the itinerary and her jaw dropped. Two months?! Why the hell did her aunt tell her that it would only be one month? Her boss would throw a fit when he finds out, then she would be out of the job! What was her aunt thinking!

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. There was a way out of it. By the time the ship reached either Guam or Malaysia, it would be one month. From there, she could book a trip home and make it in time for her job. That's right. She couldn't panic. Her aunt already got her wish, but to extend it to another month is just ridiculous!

"Problems never seem to leave you, does it?"

She looked up at him, her surprise pale in comparison to the new revelation. "Yeah. You always follow me around, don't you?"

He snorted and gave his order to the waiter. "Everything just upsets you, doesn't it? What is it now?"

"Well, let me surprise you by saying that our cruise isn't just for a month. It's two months!"

"I know." He drank a glass of water to emphasize how off-handedly he took the news.

"You know?"

"Yeah. Your aunt probably lied to you because you would complain about taking a vacation too long. She's been complaining about how much more you've become a workaholic since moving to the big city. Not that I see any difference."

"You talked to my aunt?"

"I visited."

Suspicion bubbled inside her. "You knew about all this!"

"Nah. I just knew my dad was sending me off to a two-month trip to give me time to rethink my life and what I'm doing with it."

She nodded to the waiter who gave her order before smirking at Nathan. "Let me guess, you've been doing drugs, being a bum at home and impregnating innocent women."

He snorted at her implications. "You wish."

She shrugged. "Let's just not talk. I'm not interested in your life anyway."

"Not happening." He crossed his arms. "I told you, I need a toy in this trip to keep me from being bored. And you're just the perfect toy." He laughed. "You don't know how relieved I was that I wasn't going to look for a random innocent girl and make her life on this trip hell. At least you don't break no matter how roughly I play with you. My goal this time is not just to make you scream, but cry too. Begging would also be nice. Hopefully I'll get my wish."

She clenched her jaw to keep from retorting. If her temper and back fighting was a form of entertainment for him, then she would not grace him with it. As she looked at anywhere but him, she noticed the horrified expressions on the faces of older women and the embarrassed and interested looks by those who were younger. She looked at them all and wondered if there was something on her face.

As his words replayed in her head, she felt her face heat up and her insides churn with embarrassment. And suddenly, he burst out laughing as if her embarrassment was what he had been waiting for in that short expanse of silence. In fury and frustration she left her food half-eaten and stood up. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!" She stalked off leaving the scene and a still-laughing Nathan behind her.

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