A Little Piece Of Paradise

8.

"Are you sure" he asked with a relieved look on his face. "Yes" replied Rebecca. "Okay then, we'll order two sea food salads instead of the lobster". The waiter wrote everything down and left the table. Rebecca and Sandro both started laughing. "Wow"! "A $100 dollars for a small lobster, it would have to be a very tasty lobster for that price." "Yes, but if you really wanted it, I would have ordered it for you"."To tell you the truth, I don't really like fish; but I didn't want to offend you" said Rebecca. "Oh, but you ordered the sea food salad that has fish in it ". "Yes, I like shell fish though and that salad looks very tasty". They had a wonderful lunch. After lunch they returned to the ship. "You still have a couple of hours before work, don't you"? "Yes I don't need to start getting ready for a while yet". "Why don't we go up to my cabin"? "Don't worry, I promise I'll be good". "I'd love to come with you to your cabin, but what time do you have to work"? "I'm on the late shift", he replied. "I have to work from midnight till four so I'm free until then".

 She followed him up to his cabin which was on bridge deck and was a lot bigger then hers. It was nice because he had his cabin to himself. There was a double bed, a wardrobe, a table with a TV and a stereo and a small bathroom with a toilet and a shower. Sandro had pictures on the wall of his family. "Is this your family"? She asked indicating the photo's on the wall. "Yes, this is my mum and dad and this here is my brother Antonio and his wife Angelica and their two children Alessio and Caterina and last but not least my little sister Francesca". "Your sister isn't that little, how old is she"? "She's nineteen". "You have a lovely family". 

"Are they as you imagined them to be"? "Yes and no" replied Rebecca. "The other day when you told me about them, I had a vision of all of them being dark haired and brown eyed but your mum and your brother are blonde haired and blue eyed, where as you and your dad and your sister are very Mediterranean looking "Tell me about your family"? " Well, my dad was fair haired and tall, my mum and my sister are both quite small and dark haired". "So you take after your dad"? "Yes" replied Rebecca. "My father was a wonderful person". "He died a few years ago." "What did he die of"? "He had cancer". "Oh! It must have been very hard on you". "Yes, it was". "Not only for me, but for my whole family". "I can imagine" he said pulling her closer to him. "How old were you when he died"? I was only twenty two".

 "It took me a long time to get used to not having him around". "Do you know that it's been ages since I talked to anyone about this"? "You make me feel so at ease. It's as if I could tell you anything". "I'm really happy you feel this way and I feel the same way too" he replied emotionally. "He pulled her closer to him and they started kissing". 

"The kiss was nice and slow to begin with and then the passion took over". "They couldn't get enough of each other". She could hear a voice in her head telling her to stop before it was too late, but she didn't want to. Sandro was touching her and making her feel like she was the only women in the world, she had never felt sensations like this before. Sandro could feel her shudder and he began to pull away slowly. "I think we better stop". "I promised you that I wouldn't take advantage of you". Rebecca wanted to continue, but Sandro stood up and walked away from the bed. Rebecca could feel tears come to her eyes. "Do you know I think you're very special"? Sandro helped Rebecca to her feet and gave her a very tender kiss. "You better go while I'm feeling this way, otherwise I might change my mind". "Please don't look at me like that" he said trying to control himself. "I keep trying to tell myself that this is the right thing to do". He gently pushed Rebecca away from him. "I'll try and come down to the shop before I start my shift".

 "Okay" said Rebecca shakily. "I'll see you later" and with that she went to open the door. Sandro grabbed hold of her hand a pulled her to him and gave her a kiss that she would never forget. "See you later". Rebecca walked out of his cabin on shaky legs and returned to her cabin. Sadie wasn't in the cabin, so she jumped into the shower and had a nice long cold shower. She couldn't believe how close she had come to letting herself go and regretted that Sandro had stopped her in the nick of time. Getting ready for work she couldn't help thinking about him and she finally admitted to herself that she was slowly falling in love. Rebecca was so happy that when Sadie walked in she had a big smile on her face. "You're back early? "Yes. "We came back about two hours ago". "Did you have a good time"? "Yes, it was fantastic and you"? "I had a nice day". "I just went up on deck to get some sun and then I went into the lido restaurant for lunch". "Did you see Paolo"? "Yes, he was in the Lido Restaurant, so we had a coffee together". "And"! "And nothing, he then had to return to work". "It's tomorrow isn't it your big date"? "Yes and I can't wait". "You are going to the Sandy Bay Aren't you". "Yes, but first we are going to hire a jeep and go for a ride around the island and then later on we'll go to the beach". "What are you doing tomorrow"? "I don't know yet". "Sandro's at work so I'll just have to wait and see". "Do you want to use the shower first"? "No you go ahead, I've already had one." Sadie went and jumped into the shower. "I'm just going to run up on deck and grab a coffee". "Ok I'll see you in a few minutes. Rebecca left the cabin and went up on lido deck. She still had an hour and a half before work, so she grabbed a coffee and watched the ship leave Saint Martin. What a special place she thought to herself. It is really a little piece of paradise. She was so intent on her thoughts that she didn't hear Jenny call her name. Suddenly, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. "Oh! Hi Jenny, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you". "I know" said Jenny. "You were lost in your thoughts". Rebecca could feel herself blushing. She hoped that Jenny didn't notice. "Listen Rebecca," "There is something that I need to tell you, but I'm going to tell the rest of the staff after work tonight". "The ship is changing routes, instead of doing the Caribbean we are going to do the pacific run". "The pacific run!" "Where does that go"? "Well, we will be going out of Los Angeles and then we will go to Port Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, but before starting that route, we will be going into dry dock for two weeks in San Francisco". "Does that mean that you will have to change staff as well"? "No, not at all". "In fact, the nice part of this is that we will be doing a ten day cruise from San Juan to Los Angeles". "Which means we'll be going through the Panama Cannel. 

"Oh, that sounds fantastic". What other places will we be going to? "Well, we leave San Juan and then we will be going to Cartagena Columbia , Costa Rica and then through the Panama cannel and then a small fishing village called Ziwhataniho and then Acapulco and then Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and then to Los Angeles". "In L.A.we will then leave the passengers and go up to San Francisco with an empty ship". "Although, I warn you there will be a lot of work to do and the conditions of the ship when we are in dry dock aren't the best". "That's not a problem said Rebecca, I'll do all I can to help". "I know you will" replied Jenny. 

"I must tell you that I am very impressed with the way you work and I have already told head office that I think you would make an excellent asst. Manager. "Me! But I haven't been here very long said Rebecca". "Yes, I know, but you've been here long enough for me to see that you have the right qualities to be an asst. Manager". "Carry on like this and when Dave goes home I will try and get you promoted, but don't go and tell anyone yet". "Okay". I'm really grateful for the trust you have in me". "You've earned it". "I better be going said Rebecca standing up". "It's nearly time to open the shop and I still need to get changed". "Just remember, don't say anything to the others about changing routes, I'll tell them after work". "Ok, no problem". "See you later". With that she ran down to her cabin get changed. That afternoon the shops were really busy.

 At about five o'clock she was busy serving a passenger when she looked up and saw Sandro stood in the liquor store talking to Mark. While she was finishing serving the passenger Sandro walked into shop where she was working. He waited until the passenger left the shop and then said "Hi pretty lady how are you doing"? "I noticed that you've been pretty busy". "It's been crazy" said Rebecca "but I'm pleased because at least the time has passed pretty quickly". "Did you get any sleep"? "Yes". "I slept for about an hour". Rebecca looked around making sure that there were no other shop staff near to where they were and said "Jenny told me the news about changing routes, but I didn't tell her that you had already mentioned it to me". "It sounds really exciting." "It has always been one of my dreams to see the Panama Canal". "It will be fantastic". "The only thing is that it will be a very busy time for me, but I promise you that I will find the time to take you around SanFransico". "Don't worry about me". "Even staying on board with you is enough for me". "Sandro looked at her and said "Be careful Rebecca, if you keep looking at me like this I won't be responsible for my actions". Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. At that precise moment a passenger walked into the shop, "Saved again", but there's always a next time and with that he winked at her. 

"See you tomorrow and don't work too hard. After work Jenny had a meeting and told everyone about the change of route and that in a couple of week's time they would be doing the ten day cruise. Everyone was really excited, going back down to their cabins they couldn't stop talking about it. "Are you coming to the crew bar? "No, not tonight" replied Rebecca. "I'm pretty tired". "I think I'll have a nice hot shower and then watch a film". "Listen, how about if I go and get something to drink and some snacks from the crew bar and we can relax in front of the TV"? "That sounds great, but aren't you meeting Paulo tonight"? "No, he has to work and I'm getting off with him tomorrow afternoon"."Oh yes, I forgot" said Rebecca. "What are you going to do tomorrow"? "I don't know, Sandro's working, maybe I'll go to the beach with Karen. "I know she's off tomorrow. So I'll call her later". "Rebecca and Sadie then had a nice quite night in.