“Scientifically, Wes, we’re all animals!” Chloe told him.
They checked out with the security officers who were on duty and headed on out.
“A real beer?” Wes asked her.
She smiled. “Shower first. I think that somehow I’m feeling really dirty, and that’s not from our dip in the ocean! Oh, and we need to get our stuff from where we dumped it on the deck.”
“Good idea,” he told her.
They headed to the open-deck area where they had left their things. The same security officer was there, and he nodded gravely to them.
“Thought you’d be coming back for this stuff,” he told them. “Kept an eye on it for you!”
“Thanks,” Wes told him. “Appreciate it!”
“Now, shower,” Chloe said.
“Shower. And you know...”
“I know what?”
“We have time, we’ve done our duty...”
“Right?” she said, waiting.
“We could share a shower,” he suggested.
She grinned. “We don’t have to pretend to be a married couple anymore. We just told the main killer who we really are.”
“I didn’t want to shower with you as your fake husband. I wanted to shower with you as you, and me as me,” he saidquietly. “And, of course, I’m hoping that maybe you’d like to shower with me as me, because I need to wash off all this salt water—”
Chloe smiled. They hadn’t met through classes, through friends... They hadn’t even met online.
But she hadn’t met anyone who attracted her as much, who made her laugh, feel comfortable—made her happy!—in forever and ever. And while they had met “at work,” they didn’t work for the same agency. There was no reason they couldn’t enjoy one another.
As themselves. Except, of course, if they did wind up going separate ways, she would feel as if she had lost a part of herself.
The best “husband” ever.
“Well, as long as you don’t take up too much room!” she told him, making him laugh.
They headed back to the cabin where she set her bag down. As she did so, she was surprised to see that it was open. And when she looked into it...
No.She dumped everything out.Ithas tobe a mistake...
There wasn’t.
“What’s the matter?” Wes asked her.
“My 3D-printed gun! I had it when we ran up and dumped our clothes and all to jump in the water.”
“The security guard said—”
“I know! But my weapon is gone, Wes!” Chloe told him in distress.
“All right. Okay. Amelia, Broderick and Celia are being held, about to head off to the mainland to be charged. It might have fallen out. We just need to find it. There are little kids on board this ship. Come on, we’ll head back. The shower can wait.”
She nodded.
