He leaned into me and smiled. “You are a serious pain, Addie Battes.”
I leaned forward just enough so that my lips touched his ear. I felt him quiver at the slow, deliberate movement, and it felt like his chest tightened. Just when the action became too much for us both, I shouted into his ear. “Takes one to know one!”
I snorted with laughter at his reaction. He began ringing out his ear with one of his fingers like he had just been swimming and tilted his head like a dog after a fireworks show.
“I’m real glad you think that was funny.” He feigned annoyance, but I could hear the smile in his voice, and after a second he pulled me back to him. We were two clumsy dancers, stumbling over each other and our laughter.
“What I think is funny is how I smell like something out of a cigar club. I feel like I’m in desperate need of a shower.”
He paused. “You ain’t going alone.”
“I can handle myself.”
Charlie gave me a Charlie smile and sighed. “While I bought some safety, I ‘bout trust a sailor on this ship as much as I trust myself.”
“I consider that an endorsement, Charlie Hays.”
“I don’t.” He frowned.
I laughed nervously and hoped he wouldn’t catch on to how embarrassed I was. “Well, you’re not coming in there with me.”
Correcting his posture, he stood straight and tall then held out his hand as if taking an oath. “I’ll be my usual gentlemanly self. I swear.”
I put my weight against my hip and considered his proposition. Of course, I still trusted him to be watchful and respectful at the same time, but could I trust myself? I was no longer taking the time to consider whether or not I was attracted to Charlie. The pull I felt toward him was an overwhelming urge that coursed throughout my whole being. And I was now afraid of what being alone with him might mean in terms of my ability to control myself. I had never been physically tempted before and I found it downright frightening.
But Charlie was looking out for me—he had since the moment ’we’d met, and I would see to it I didn’t do anything we would regret.
I took his hand. “I would expect nothing less.”
The silence ebbed into a steady stream of things left unsaid, things that remained to be said, and what was meant to come. After some time, he took my hand in his and curled his thumb around the index finger, pointing them out to the sea.
“See the foam at the end of the waves? Feel how warm the air just got? It’ll storm tomorrow for sure. Probably for days…”
Charlie lent me a faded gray t-shirt and some blue gym shorts, which, in truth, I was just as excited about as the shower itself. And while I had to roll up the shorts at the waist a few times just to get them to stay up, they were immensely comfortable. I adored the Charlie smell they had, and spent a few minutes before getting under the water trying to commit the scent to memory.
I spent a lot of time washing my hair and doing the little things like scratching the grit out from under my nails. Showering always gave me a lengthy excuse and a private realm in which to think, and I was in desperate need of some serious meditation.
I tried to picture what would happen when we got to Singapore. If the ship arrived on schedule, I would have to go to the embassy and talk to the police. But that was if Charlie kept his word this time. And as I wondered before—what if he didn’t? What if he didn’t let me go?
Yet even if Charlie wanted me on some kind of regular basis, I couldn’t just leave my family and disappear off the face of the earth. As much as I wanted it, the lack of responsibility in running away with Charlie was beyond me…even if he asked. I giggled at the memory of our kiss. He had held me so zealously; it had to be more than just the physical attraction between us.
The highlights of my life seemed duller to me now. I didn’t care if my books were alphabetized or my grade point average was a 4.0. As I massaged the soap from my hair, I laughed as I realized how very little it all really mattered. Yes, I had been abducted,