Priceless Love

  Priceless Love

  Published by Emily Walters

  Copyright © 2016 by Emily Walters

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews – without the permission in writing from its publisher, Emily Walters.

  www.EmilyWaltersBooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About Emily Walters

  Prologue

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  A man in a hoodie was out on his morning run. The sun was just waking up, brightening everything around it as it did. The man looked around and wondered at the beauty the world had to offer. With a smile on his face, he continued on across a bridge, until he saw something that caused him to stop in his tracks. On a bench that looked out towards the river flowing under the bridge sat a girl in a wedding dress. Her face was in her hands and he could hear her crying from where he stood. What an odd time for a bride to be out in her wedding dress, he thought to himself. Concerned, he approached her, wondering if there was anything he could do, any way he could help.

  “Excuse me, miss,” he said, hesitantly. “Are you alright? Is there anything I can do to help? Anything I can get you?”

  “GO AWAY!” came her reply, muffled by her hands. “I’ve been humiliated enough to be seen in all my shame and glory by some stranger. Just leave me alone, please!” And a fresh spurt of tears burst out from behind her hands.

  The man couldn’t see her face but he knew deep in his gut that he needed to help her. Whoever she was, she was in a lot of pain and he didn’t want to leave her by herself. What if she harmed herself? He needed to make sure she was alright before he could go.

  “Look, miss, I’m not comfortable leaving you here like this. Is there anyone I can call for you? A friend, maybe that you’d want with you right now?”

  The girl raised her head, fire in her eyes as she spat out, “God! Can’t you leave me…” The words died on her lips as they looked at each other. Recognition sparkled in their eyes and the girl swallowed and said, “You!” as if taking her last dying breath.

  Chapter 1

  “Jenny, be careful with those,” Miranda said, helping her best friend since middle school with the tray she was carrying. “You don’t want all of Max’s hard work to go to waste, now do you?”

  Jenny laughed and shook her head, remembering the temper the head chef could have. “Right you are, boss. Max would have a heart attack. I’ll be careful, promise.”

  “You know how I feel about you calling me boss, Jen. Now get your ass out there before I make you.” Miranda rolled her eyes at her. They had been friends since Jenny had moved across from her. They had been glued together ever since and when Miranda got a job as a restaurant manager on a seven-star cruise ship, she made sure that Jenny had one too. They were docked at the moment but had kept the restaurant services open for customers who wanted to enjoy the luxury of a cruise ship without having to move from the shore.

  Giggling, Jenny replied, “I’d like to see you try.” Then she zoomed out, balancing three trays full of food. Miranda looked on in awe. How Jenny did that, she had no idea. Carrying one tray in itself was a feat for Miranda. But she wasn’t really surprised either. Jenny had been better at almost everything. She had been popular and loved by all. She was smarter and prettier than Miranda. Miranda on the other hand had always felt a bit self-conscious next to Jenny. Although recently, with this job she had felt a lot more confident. With her 5-foot-3 height and petite figure, people always thought she was younger. She often had a hard time getting into clubs as well thanks to the baby fat on her face that refused to go away. The only feature that she liked were her emerald green eyes.

  Miranda loved her job. She loved the smell of the sea in the morning when she awoke and she loved the fact that her job was basically a vacation all year round. She enjoyed interacting with the guests, meeting new people and seeing them have a great time. She wouldn’t trade her job for the world.

  But while she did love her job, some parts of it could be rather tedious. Like certain passengers, who thought buying a ticket entitled them to treat “the help” any way they wanted. More than once Miranda had to bite her tongue and smile at a guest who was harassing her for some obnoxious reason or other. She hoped that when the ship took off in two days on another ten-day cruise, the guests would be a bunch of really nice, really decent people. Hey, fingers crossed and all that, right? Here’s to wishing.

  ***

  Two days later the staff of the Golden Star stood on the dock and on the deck of the ship as they welcomed the guests aboard. A platform had been attached to the cruise ship for the passengers to board and Miranda had spent quite a bit of time, along with the other staff members, decorating it to make it elegant and welcoming. So far, a lot of old people were boarding, which if you asked Miranda was a good thing. Old folks were the sweetest guests to have. Jenny didn’t agree, however.

  Miranda stood along with Jenny and a few other staff members on the deck by the platform, welcoming the guests, when Jenny said, “Oh god, I hope at least one good-looking guy gets on this ship or I’m going to be having the worst trip ever!”

  Miranda pursed her lips together, trying to keep her laughter in. “Gosh, Jen, you are so callous at times,” she said grinning at her best friend.

  She giggled and replied, “Proud to be, baby. Now help me pray to the universe!”

  “Dear universe, please send a hot guy for my desperate friend here. Oww…” Miranda yelped, rubbing the side that Jenny had jabbed with her elbow. Still massaging her side, while Jenny tried to swallow her giggles, she looked up into a pair of the most vibrant dark blue eyes she had ever seen. She did a double take as she noticed that those gorgeous blue eyes were looking at her too. The more his eyes looked into hers, the more she felt like the world had begun to sway and any second now she would lose all strength in her legs. She couldn’t comprehend how a pair of eyes could affect her so much. Entranced, she stared with her mouth probably open until another nudge to the side jolted her to her senses. She looked at Jenny, who was practically bouncing where she stood. She turned back to look again and now she noticed the rest of the face to which those gorgeous eyes were attached.

  The man was coming up the platform, straight towards where she stood. He was thirty-two or so, she guessed. He had a mess of brown hair that sort of kept falling over his eyes. A hard jawline and a perfect nose completed the face. He was wearing a Hawaiian button-on shirt and salmon-colored shorts. Man, was he tall; like maybe six feet or more and his body hinted that he must be really something to look at under that shirt of his. Wait, what was she thinking? She shook her head, trying to get her mind out of the gutter and that’s when she noticed that a woman was attached to his side.

  She was tall, blond, wearing shorter than short jean shorts and a cami that hardly covered her chest or her tummy (which by the way was perfectly toned). Miranda was pretty sure she must’ve had some work done both front and back, because no one was born that good, or were they?

  “Welcome to the Golden Star. We are excited to have you here and we hope you have a wonderful time,
” Jenny announced, swooning all over the new guest. Miranda couldn’t help rolling her eyes at Jenny’s teenage behavior. She looked up to see that the man with the striking eyes had just seen her doing that. He looked at her intently for a few moments making her blush and feel her legs start to turn to jelly again. He gave her a smirk that said he knew what effect he was having on her and that brought Miranda to her senses. She scowled at him, making his grin grow wider.

  Turning to Jenny he said in a coy manner, “Oh, I definitely intend to enjoy myself immensely, love. It seems like it’s going to be an adventurous, fun-filled vacation after all.” He winked at her and then turned to give Miranda one last lopsided devilish grin before he moved on, taking his maybe-girlfriend with him.

  Once the passengers had boarded the ship, the platform was removed and everyone headed back to their daily chores. Miranda went to the restaurant to get everything in order and to ask everyone to start with the dinner. Guests would be arriving in an hour and a half so everything needed to be prepared before then. She was talking to one of the waiters when Jenny came up and pulled her to a corner. “What are you doing, Jenny?” Miranda reprimanded her. “I was in the middle of a conversation.”

  “Never mind that,” she squeaked excitedly. “Did you see him? Did you? OMG, he even winked at me!”

  “Will you relax,” Miranda said, holding her down by her shoulders. Jenny couldn’t seem to contain herself. “He was just some guy and he has a girlfriend, by the way.”

  She waved her off, replying, “So what? You saw them together, he isn’t that into her and I can see why, she probably has a brain the size of a pea.”

  “Jenny,” she gasped, not wanting to admit that she had thought the same at one point or other.

  “What? It’s true and you know it,” she challenged, grinning.

  Miranda just shook her head and sighed, “I have to get back to work and so do you. So, no more discussion about this.”

  “Whatever you say, boss,” Jenny replied, giving her a mock salute and then Miranda went back in the kitchen to finish the preparations for dinnertime.

  Soon, it was time for dinner. The cruise had begun its journey and it was up to her and the rest of the staff to give these people the best vacation of their lives. She looked around the restaurant as the guests began to walk in. It was a large rectangular room with large windows that looked out to the sea. The walls were covered with paintings and red and gold banners. Bright lighting illuminated the room and made it a lively place to eat. There was a small stage at the end where a band played music. There were round tables all around the room and a buffet table along one wall. A mini bar stood at the side and it was always open for the passengers’ pleasure.

  The waiters and waitresses went around the room to assist the customers. If a guest did not want food from the buffet or wanted an item that was not on the menu, a waiter was there to provide that. Miranda’s job was to preside over everything and make sure that everything went without a hitch. She also had to be available to the guests to see if they had any inquiries and to make sure they were having a good time.

  She was helping out an old lady at the buffet table with a question about nuts, listening as she droned on and on about her allergies, when all of a sudden the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She looked up, wondering why her Spidey senses were tingling. Her eyes scanned the room before they came to rest on a pair of familiar blue ones. The man from the dock that afternoon was sitting across the hall with his girlfriend and he was staring right at her.

  For some reason, she started to fluster and her cheeks grew red. Calm down, she silently scolded herself. So what if he was looking at her, why was she reacting? She took deep breaths and wondered if maybe she was going crazy and needed to see a doctor. She was sure there had to be some kind of medicine for overreacting.

  She spun back around to the old woman and said, “Ma’am, I assure you, any food that is cooked with nuts has been labeled as such. So you will know what food to avoid.” She beckoned to a waiter who was standing nearby. When he came to her, she said to the old lady, “This is Sam. He can help you further.” Turning to Sam, she said, “This nice lady has a nut reaction, so show her all the items without any nuts in them.” She smiled at the old lady reassuringly and said, “If you still aren’t comfortable with the options you can always order something and I will personally ask the chef to make sure it is completely nut free.”

  The old lady smiled at her and said, “Bless you, child. Thank you for your help.” And then she bustled off with Sam.

  Just then, someone cleared their throat right behind her and she spun around. Somehow she knew who it would be when she turned. The same man was standing there, an amused look on his face. “Hey, so I was wondering where’s the sushi?”

  She tried to pull herself together, reining her heart in and trying to get it to calm down. In a professional yet friendly way she answered, “Sir, if you have a seat I will have someone with you momentarily. You can order sushi and whatever else you’d like.”

  “Why can’t you just serve it to me, here?” he asked innocently.

  “Sir, sushi isn’t on the buffet menu and I am not a waiter. I can help you with any inquiries you may have but if you want sushi you will have to return to your seat so I can send one of our waiters to you.”

  “Well, love, thing is I’d much rather be served by you.” He grinned at her, wiggling his eyebrows.

  The way he said it left Miranda without a doubt that he wasn’t talking about food in that moment. As it dawned on her that he was flirting with her while his girlfriend sat across the room, her blood began to boil. Any feelings of attraction she had been developing towards him since the moment she had first seen him flew out the window. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down, she put on a fake-smile and said, “Sir, I am the manager so I’m afraid I can’t wait on your or any other table. I will send our best waitress for you, though. She will be more than happy to make sure you are looked after.”

  “Love, the name’s Alec Bane. So, enough with the ‘sir’ business, shall we? Now, what do I have to do to have you serve me instead?” He seemed to be enjoying himself, his smile wide like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. By this point Miranda could feel steam pouring out of her ears like in a cartoon. God, this man was infuriating. Who did he think he was?

  Grinding her teeth together and trying her level best to keep calm, she stated in a monotone, “I’m afraid, SIR, that there is no possible way.” She turned to where Jenny was coming out of the kitchen and called out, “Jenny, would you come help this gentleman here.” Turning back to a surprised Alec, she said in a falsely cheery voice, “Now, if you will excuse me,” and with that she turned and moved across the buffet table to help out an old couple who had been waiting patiently for their turn to ask her something. Mentally she told herself to chill but the thing was that this Alec guy really unnerved her. She had no idea why he affected her so much. She had put up with rude customers before but for some reason this man just really got her in a temper. It was probably because he affected her in a way that other customers had not. Sighing, she decided that she was going to have to make it a point to stay away from him or she might end up saying or doing something she would regret.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning at breakfast, Miranda stood aloof. She was dreading the snarky Mr. Bane and his intruding eyes. The buffet table was laden with all sorts of breakfast items from all over the world, and watching the guests discover new cuisines never ceased to fascinate her. She was chatting with an old couple as they told her how they were on the cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. She was engrossed in their story, laughing as the old man was reminiscing about the time their dog ran into their neighbor’s house giving them all such a scare, when someone cleared their throat right behind her. Still chuckling at the story she turned around to help the customer behind her but the moment her eyes met with a pair of blue ones, the smile disappeared from he
r face. She turned to the old couple and said, “Lovely story. I need to help this gentleman out right now but I will come back for more stories.”

  The old man chortled and replied, “I’ve got a whole bucket full of them, deary. You come right up to our table when you’re free.” And with that the old couple wandered off towards their table. Inhaling deeply, Miranda chastised herself to keep her calm and then turned back to see what Alec Bane wanted that morning.

  “Good morning, Mr. Bane. How can I be of assistance today?” she asked in an overly sweet voice. Just behind him, she could see his blond girlfriend sitting a few tables down. She was flirting with a male waiter and showing off more skin then one would in a bikini. Miranda couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the sight. Of course this man’s girlfriend had to be as promiscuous as him. She looked back at Alec to see that he was watching her with amusement.