“Well?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “Well, I said hello to one of the security guards.”
“So, nothing?”
He had a curious look on his face and Chloe pressed the point. “Wes, what? You look as if something is bothering you!”
“I’m not sure—”
“I don’t care if you’resureor not, what is bothering you?”
“Wow. You’re beautiful when you’re mad,” he told her, glancing away for a moment.
“Wes! You’re trying to get out of just talking to me!”
“No, it’s true, but you know that you’re an attractive woman. I mean, you must, and... All right, all right. I headed out on our deck, and I was talking with one of the security officers who works for the cruise lines. I just told him I was restless, couldn’t sleep. And he laughed and said that I’d be surprised, that’s one of the reasons their night crew was as big as their day crews—lots of people loved to come out in the middle of the night and just look at the stars. Anyway, I thought... I thought I heard a splash in the water, but he didn’t seem to hear anything. I thought the sound came from the adult pool, but I hurried to it and... nothing. So, I guess, I’m letting frustration take control a bit. And...”
“Hey!” Chloe told him. “I know!”
She wasn’t sure what compelled her, but she walked overto him, placing a hand gently on his arm. “Trust me, I know. I feel like... I don’t know. Frustrated, too. We’re on a wild- goose chase on the one hand—and possibly in the middle of a mass murder or the like. I understand. Seriously, I understand!”
She shouldn’t have touched him. She shouldn’t have felt his warmth. She’d thought too many times that if they were really married, they’d have forgotten the frustrations of the day, come back to the room, shed whatever they were wearing and...
She stepped back quickly. He thought that she was beautiful? That was nice, so nice, especially when she thought that...
She’d like to screw the mission, professionalism, and everything else and feel the warmth of his naked skin, when they were curled together, when she could touch that flesh with her lips, feel his touch in return...
“Back to bed! I’m going back to the room. But! You do not even think about taking off without talking to me first!”
He laughed and nodded. “You’ve been hanging around Celia too long! Turning into a bossy shrew!”
“Wes!”
“I’m teasing, I’m teasing! We do need to get some sleep. I promise. I will be professional in every way.”
And she would be, too.
She gave him a nod and quickly escaped. It was time to get some sleep.
But at first, she couldn’t sleep at all. She stared at the ceiling. When she finally began to drift, her half sleep was tormented by dreams. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They were working a case. They were both so professional! But nothing could change the fact that they weren’t any kind of AI—they were people.
And people...
She smiled slightly to herself, trying to turn off her thoughts. Her imagination.
Somewhere in it all, she finally fell into a deep sleep. And for the first time since they boarded the ship, she woke up because she kept a morning alarm on her phone—just in case she should oversleep.
And it was morning. Time to get serious, clear out her mind, concentrate on what they were doing and what they needed to do.
And this morning...
A cooking class. Well, Chloe determined, a cooking class certainly couldn’t hurt her. She could boil water just fine, create a few things she was fine eating, but she’d never been known as an “Iron Chef.”
As always, Wes was dressed and ready when she emerged from the bedroom. She showered quickly, dressed for their day at sea in a bathing suit—the old one she wasn’t so fond of!—beneath a halter dress.
“Prepared for anything, my love?” he asked her teasingly.
“Breakfast, and the cooking class. And so far, neither of us has taken one of Amelia Swenson’s classes, so...”
