Past midnight, the bar might still have a straggler or two. The deck was dead.
Except for Eleanor.
She showed up as promised and found Alex Price waiting.
Sales department, the guy who'd added her earlier.
He'd claimed, over text, that he'd taken some photos of her during that day's shore excursion and wanted to send them over.
Eleanor had a nagging sense the photos were just an excuse to slide into her contacts.
Small talk followed, and eventually he suggested meeting on the deck to look at the water. She turned him down three separate times before he sent a video call and left her no graceful way out.
"Why the deck, specifically? What did you actually need?" she asked, no preamble.
Alex had an easy, honest-looking smile, the kind that read as harmless.
"Eleanor, honestly I've ha
