Come Sail Away with Me

By M.E. Dain

Britt Belladonna, a workaholic employed at a cruise company, is sent on a rival company’s cruise to dig up dirt on the competition. It seems like an easy enough assignment: go on the cruise, figure out why this company is drawing in more customers than the cruise line she works for, and create an amazing report that will earn her a promotion.

While on the cruise, however, she learns it’s for singles and everyone on board is looking for love. As a single businesswoman, she has no desire to engage in any romantic endeavors. But her roommate Jamie Lyonne, a total slacker Britt had the displeasure of meeting in college, has a different idea. Jamie wants to experience everything the cruise has to offer, and drags Britt through all the different excursions. Water parks, ziplining, snorkeling ... Jamie wants to do everything, and Britt goes along with it under the guise of secret research.

Soon the lines blur between what’s strictly business and what’s for pleasure. Jamie’s bright personality starts to melt Britt’s walls, and Britt begins to fall for her frustratingly easygoing roommate. Is it worth it for Britt to turn away from everything she’s ever known and take a chance with Jamie? Or should she continue her workaholic ways and let her feelings for Jamie fall by the wayside?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685504670

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Come Sail Away with Me

By M.E. Dain

Published by JMS Books LLC

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2023 M.E. Dain

ISBN 9781685504670

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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For M.Z.

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Come Sail Away with Me

By M.E. Dain

My mother thinks I take things too seriously.

She’s obviously wrong. I just happen to like looking professional, don’t have time for idle chatter, and prefer being punctual. I don’t feel it’s a crime or that it makes me boring, it’s just the facts. I don’t want to waste people’s time.

In my small office cubicle, I gaze over the latest trends from spring break. Lots of tanning, beer pong, and other immature collegiate activities. But how to turn these into a profit?

I work for a cruise company, but not on one of the ships. I’m the person who thinks of entertaining things to add to the cruise that would provide clients with an even more fulfilling time.

See, Mom? I can at least think of fun activities. Not all things are serious.

I’m not sure how to transfer any of this trend knowledge to a report, but I’m thankfully interrupted by my boss, Ms. Reese, knocking on the side of my cubicle.

Hi, Britt. Not too busy, I hope? she asks me. I try not to stare at the many wisps of hair that have escaped from her bun and taken a mind of their own around the crown of her head. Or the way her shirt is halfway tucked.

This is ridiculous. She looks like she belongs on a cruise ship. I should be her boss.

Never too busy for a colleague, I say with a sickly-sweet smile. It’s untrue. I’m too busy for all of them and I wish I had my own office so that no one would bother me. I don’t see what’s so difficult to understand—if I’m typing, on the phone, or even breathing, I’m too busy to be interrupted.

Great, Ms. Reese says. She’s in her fifties, way past the prime of her life, and she desperately needs to clean her glasses. Then I can borrow you for a quickie?

I wish she wouldn’t call quick meetings quickies. They definitely give the wrong impression.

Not that I would ever entertain doing that or sleeping with a boss of any sort, even if she wasn’t double my age.

Ms. Reese and quick also do not mesh well. She moves slower than molasses in December, and that is enough to annoy me until next week. As she slowly ambles her way toward her office, I have enough time to pack my things up and still meet her at her door, with plenty of time to spare.

Always on time.

Oh, you’re so speedy, Ms. Reese says, patting my arm with what seems to be affection. I wish she hadn’t touched me at all.

Yes, ma’am, I say instead.

She beckons me into the office. Right on in you go, she says, and then she closes the door behind me.

Her office is terrifying. There are stacks upon stacks of papers on her desk, creepy neon motivational posters tacked onto the walls, and the whole place smells vaguely of week-old bologna. It’s the mess that bothers me, though, and there are too many carpet stains to pass off as spilled coffee—no one is that clumsy.

When I take over as head of this company, I’m going to have to take a blowtorch to this entire office and start over from scratch.

Have a seat, Britt, she says, gesturing to the worn chair in front of her desk.

I really don’t want to sit there. Who knows what sorts of atrocities have occurred on this poor cushion? Its stuffing is coming out, it’s discolored and gray. What made it gray?

But I want to be this woman’s boss, so I take the seat with a forced smile. Thanks, Ms. Reese. What can I do for you?

She flops down in her chair, which squeaks under her weight. Straight to the point. You’re so colloquial.

It is a herculean effort not to correct her.

That’s what I like about you, she says, and I perk