Take a Chance on Me by Debbie Flint

a rail, looking thoughtful. ‘Seriously, Mac—’
    â€˜I
hate
it when you say that.’
    â€˜
Seriously
, Mac, that’s why I called you inside earlier – because I heard the warning signs. Remember what happened the last time you veered off course for a woman with dollar signs in her eyes?’
    â€˜It’s taken me a decade
not
to remember, James. I’ll leave a key under the gangplank for you, now naff off and go pickle yourself.’
    â€˜Less of yer lip! One day you’ll come back and I’ll have taken the
Nomad
as a reward for my years of service. I’ll have sailed off into the sunset without you, landlubber!’
    â€˜Well, you’ll be sailing off into the
sunrise
without me tomorrow, won’t you? Just don’t forget my early morning swim – I can’t miss it. Mess with my training schedule and I’ll be sorry in a month’s time.’
    â€˜Just as long as you’re not sorry in a few hours’ time.’ The Captain looked defiant. ‘Anyway, the boys are lining up a bottle of Jack with my name on it, so I can’t hang around here listening to your nonsense.’
    â€˜Give Mimi my love.’
    â€˜Too busy giving her my own,’ he called from the doorway. ’Oh, and be careful, Mac. I’m not sure I can cope with another lovelorn socialite with her eyes on the prize. I’d just got used to you being celibate. Just make sure it’s not
me
clearing up the tears again this time. Or hers.’ And with that, he left, in a waft of Old Spice.
    â€˜She’s not like that,’ Mac said to himself in the mirror. ‘
Is
she …
deckhand.
’
    He practised a smile briefly, but then it faded and he chewed his cheek. It
had
been a long time. Nothing – and no one – had been tempting enough. None of the business deals, none of the rich men’s gadgets, and none of the eligible women Simon Leadbetter kept insisting he meet. Even the extreme sports barely filled the gap. And they were getting more and more extreme. And the gap was getting wider and wider.
    Maybe this was what he’d been waiting for – maybe
she
was what he’d been waiting for. A challenge, yes, that must be it, and so different to all the others. He certainly felt different in his body.
    Well, let’s make it a ‘one night only’ to remember
.
    Incognito. Designer stubble, and tousled hair untouched by gel nor coiffed by professionals. Old denims and a plain T-shirt. No expensive watches or telltale bespoke stuff tonight – no cufflinks or statement rings. No lobster, no champagne. He’d have beer, common-sense food, and no-nonsense company – he couldn’t wait.
    Mac the billionaire was officially off duty.
    There was a message-waiting light flashing when Sadie finally checked in to her hotel room. She sighed with relief when she saw her missing luggage dutifully delivered and marvelled at the decadent suite that she’d been booked into by the advisor who had arranged her meeting with the billionaire guy. Her heart skipped a beat again. Sixteen hours to go. What if she got tongue-tied? What if she botched the presentation completely? What if he said no …
Stop it.
Taking off her jacket and tight skirt, she went straight to the huge bathroom and dumped her sodden bag in the shower tray. Marvelling at the roman baths splendour of the decor, she briefly toyed with the ‘his and hers’ expensive toiletries by the ‘his and hers’ sinks in a bathroom that was almost the size of her lounge back home. The towels were impossibly white and supremely fluffy, the lighting was plentiful and flattering and she pondered whether to run the bath or take a shower. In the end she decided to run a bath anyway and make her mind up afterwards. She poured almost a whole small bottle of bath soak into the running water and sat wrapped in the pristine bathrobe breathing in the aroma. Her