“Nina, you look like you’re being kidnapped,” Captain Xav said.
I ignored him and wrapped my arms around Ollie’s neck.
“Hey,” Ollie said, his voice a whisper.
I stared up into his eyes, hoping he couldn’t feel how fast my heart was beating. “What?”
“Did you ever find out the underwear thing?”
“What underwear thing?”
“You know, how male gymnasts keep their junk from swinging around.”
“You’re thinking about...” I shook my head and laughed, pressing my face into Ollie’s shoulder. I could feel his breath against my cheek as he laughed along with me. It loosened me up a bit, making me feel as if I’d just finished warming up before a competition, though the stakes were just as high, if not higher, that day than they’d been when I competed.
As soon as I caught my breath and lifted my face to Ollie’s, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. It took me by surprise. I suppose that had been his plan all along, to make me stop thinking about it.And boy, did it work. Maybe a little too well. Ollie’s mouth was soft on mine, softer than I’d ever imagined, not that I’d imagined it all that much. Only sometimes. It was the least chaste closed-mouth kiss I’d ever experienced. For a moment, I forgot about Captain Xav, and the fact that none of this was real, and was actually illegal, and could very well ruin both our lives more than they were already ruined.
Instead, all that ran through my mind was a steady rhythm ofOllie, Ollie, Ollie, as if his name kept my heart beating. I thought he felt it too, because we both pulled away at the same time, blinking at each other as if we were complete strangers.
Ollie looked away first. His hands dropped from my face, and the tops of his ears turned a furious shade of pink. I touched a hand to my cheek as I stared at him, certain my skin was warmer than it ought to be.
“That was...” Ollie said.
“Fine,” I said, sure my voice sounded higher than it normally did. It was this weather. It would make us both sick if we had to stand out here any longer. I turned to Captain Xav, hoping to dispel the awkwardness that had fallen between myself and Ollie. God, I hoped that stupid kiss wouldn’t ruin our perfectly platonic marriage the second it began. “It’s fine, right?”
“How the hell would I know?” Captain Xav said. “I’ve done plenty of kissing in my day, but—”
“Not thekiss, you fool. Thephoto.”
“Ah, yes, the photo.” He shielded his eyes and looked down at the phone. “Photo’s perfect,” he said. “That’ll really sell it. Hell,Ialmost believe it. You don’t get shots like this at the courthouse.”
Ollie raised his eyebrows at me, and I raised mine back. My heart was knocking around in my chest like it had been thrown into rough seas, but there was no turning back now. The ceremony had taken a mere moment, Captain Xav had signed the marriage license, and now we had the photos to prove it. All we had to do was drop off themarriage license and we could start working toward the whole reason we’d done this in the first place: getting Ollie his residency.
“Thanks, Cap,” I said when he handed Ollie his phone.
“I think you can just call me Xav now, Nina,” he said. He clapped both me and Ollie on the shoulder. “Enjoy the honeymoon.”
“Take a hike,Xav,” I said.
“So,” Ollie said as we watched Xav make his way down the dock to the parking lot. To think I’d ever been afraid of that silly old man. “We should...”
“Get off this boat for a while,” I said. I stepped away from him when I realized our arms were touching. “We can drop off the marriage license and have the least romantic dinner of all time. What’s the least romantic place you can think of?”
“Gas station,” he said.
“Disgusting. Get changed and we’ll go. Oh, wait a sec.” I turned my back to Ollie and pushed my hair over my shoulder to expose the zipper of my dress. “Unzip me before you go, or I’ll never get out of this thing.”
Ollie grumbled but stepped closer. I was miserably hot but didn’t mind the warmth of his fingers at the nape of my neck or how it skimmed along my back as he tugged the zipper down.
I’d only meant for him to unzip it a little, just enough for my fingers to catch hold of the zipper so I could do the rest myself, but I didn’t say anything when he kept on going. He stopped once the dress was fully unzipped, and neither of us moved or said anything for a moment. But then Ollie cleared his throat. “That should do it,” he said. I turned to thank him, but he’d already turned away, heading belowdeck as if he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
Half an hour later, we sat side by side on the hood of his car, trying to distract ourselves from what we’d just done by listening to music we hated and eating 7-Eleven chili dogs.
“Do we really have to listen to this again?” Ollie said.
I held up a finger, chewing a too-big bite as quickly as I could. I’d been playing the same Nickelback song on loop from my phone. Ollie reached over me to try to grab it, but I swatted him away.
“Yes, we have to listen to it again.”
