The Downfall of a Good Girl by Kimberly Lang

bucket of cold water that doused the rising heat and left shame in its place. She shoved him away.
    Connor stumbled and caught himself on the wall. Righting himself, he shook like a wet dog and focused on her face. “You were supposed to hit me. A shove won’t leave a bruise.”
    “Just shut up.” She swallowed hard. She’d never hit another human being before, didn’t think she’d be capable of it, but Connor might be the one to change all of that. Not because of what he’d done, but because of her reaction to it.
    She took a deep breath, but whether it was to calm herself or prepare herself to berate him she’d never know, because cold air rushed in as the door opened. The same crew member from earlier stood there with his mouth open. The shock seemed to ricochet off the metal walls.
    Connor recovered first. “We thought you’d never come back.”
    “I j-just needed to get some glasses…” He started to step back outside.
    Vivi scanned the deck behind him. Empty. Thankfully it was just the three of them. No one else was there to witness this. She cleared her throat and smiled at the gaping man. “Connor and I stepped in here to speak privately out of the wind, not realizing you’d be back to lock the door. We’ve been shouting, but no one could hear us.”
    His face reddened. “I’m
so
sorry, Miss LaBlanc, Mr. Mansfield.”
    “Not as sorry as we are.” Connor grinned at the young man. “But no harm, no foul. We won’t mention this if you won’t.”
    The threat was subtle, but the young man caught it and nodded. “Of course. I appreciate it. I don’t want to get into trouble with the captain.”
    Connor grabbed Vivi’s wings and held the door for her to step through. The man stood there, probably in shock, but possibly a little starstruck too, as they left. The wind had picked up while they were locked away, and it blew Vivi’shair into her face. While that would normally be annoying, Vivi didn’t try to right it. It meant she didn’t have to look at Connor.
    “You go on inside,” he said as they walked. “I’ll follow in a minute or two. If anyone asks, don’t deny you were with me. Just don’t say where. If that guy decides to talk later, a denial you were ever with me will make you look guilty.” She nodded, and he handed her the wings. “Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. And if it becomes one, we’ll just go back to the other plan.”
    “You’re serious?”
    “Vivi, I never say anything I don’t mean. Now, go.”
    The noise of the party seemed ten times louder after being in that closet for so long. But no one gave her a second glance as she left her wings by the door and went to the bar for a glass of water. People spoke to her as she made her way through the crowd, but it was the same basic chatter. No one seemed to have noticed she and Connor had been rather conspicuously absent at the same time. Relief rushed through her as she pushed open the door to the ladies’ room and checked her reflection. Other than a slight pinkness to her cheeks and a rather chaotic hairstyle—both of which could be chalked up to the wind on deck—nothing looked amiss.
    I never say anything I don’t mean
. She thought about everything Connor
had
said and the statement began to sound vaguely ominous—if only because of her reaction to his words. Just replaying those moments in her mind had her nipples tightening against the silk lining of her dress and her thighs clenching in anticipation.
    This is not good. Not good at all
.
    She pressed a hand to her belly to calm the butterflies there. She might not have a public problem, but she sure as hell had a private one.
    They’d been locked in that closet for over an hour. It had felt like a lifetime, but with several hundred people on board—and the flow of cocktails probably helped—no one had found it noteworthy that neither he nor Vivi had been seen for a while. Everyone had just assumed the two of them were someplace