He caught me staring at him. “Thanks for this.” He eyed the last sandwich but politely didn’t reach for it.
“If you don’t eat it, it’ll go to waste.”
“Thanks.” He picked it up and took another ravenous bite, making me wonder if he did everything else with the same passion.
He caught me watching him again, and he looked back at me with his direct stare. “You surprised me today.”
“I did?”
“With all your boat knowledge and help.”
“Did you expect me to sit around and watch?”
“Sort of.”
When people learned I’d been born into a super-wealthy family, they automatically assumed I was incapable of work. But I was raised by two of the hardest-working people I knew.
“I have a job, you know.”
“Oh yeah? What kind of job is that?”
“I’m a buyer for Au Revoir.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a French boutique-style department store.”
“You sell clothes?”
“Au Revoir sells clothes, shoes and outerwear for men and women. We have stores in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. My job is to purchase clothes from the designers for the store.”
He sounded incredulous. “Your job description is to buy clothes?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a professional shopper.”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
He ducked his head on his chest and it took me a moment to realize he was struggling not to laugh.
“Why is that funny?”
A huge smile crossed his face. “No reason. Tell me what that involves.”
“My department is women’s wear. I travel to Europe a lot, I go to fashion shows, talk to designers, and try to figure out what is trending. Then I need to do sales planning, often a year in advance. There’s a lot of contract negotiation and inventory management involved. And a lot of travel.”
He nodded, impressed. “That sounds like a real job.”
“It’s real enough.”
“How did you get a job like that?”
“I have a bachelor’s degree in retail marketing.”
His expression was thoughtful, but he didn’t speak.
“What?”
He shrugged. “It sounds a bit like my job, that’s all.”
That made me pause. “You have a job? I thought this was your job?”
“Kidnapping?”
“A life of crime.”
“I guess I deserve that.”
“Tell me about your job.” I couldn’t imagine what he did for a living.
“I used to walk on the darker side of things, but after Andrusha met his wife, we decided we’d had enough. We wanted to own a legitimate business, so two years ago we started our own security firm.”
“A security firm?” I was trying to wrap my head around the idea that Viktor had a real life. “With paying clients?”
His tone was dry. “We prevent people such as yourself from getting kidnapped or hurt.”
“Such as myself?”
“Our clients have lots of money.”
I imagined some young socialite dragging Viktor to nightclubs, getting drunk and madly flirting with him. For some reason, that idea annoyed me. “Do you play bodyguard?”
“Not if I can help it. I handle all the inventory and travel logistics for our teams—making sure everyone has what they need. I also manage all the training.”
I had been operating under the assumption that Viktor was a criminal. “That sounds like a real job.”
His smile caught me off guard. “Real enough.”
Was it only two days ago that I had woken up to him standing over my bed? It seemed like a lifetime ago. “I’ve had some preconceived ideas about who you are.”
“You surprised me too.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
His gaze clashed with mine, and a hot awareness zapped between us, like an electric current charging an invisible line. The memory of wiggling on his lap against his arousal made my face flush with heat.
His jaw tightened, and he dropped his eyes, putting up a barrier where I was unable to.
I forced myself to remember the reason I was here. Right now, my grandfather was in the hands of those who were willing to harm him. We needed to stay focused. I wished I could tell my pappa that we were on our way and his ordeal would be over soon. “Are we going to meet the ship in time?”
His jaw tightened. “Yes.”
“Okay.”
He studied me. “Thanks for not fighting me every step of the way.”
“Are you really going to help me find my grandfather?”
“I said I would.”
“We still have to get across the border.”
“We do.”
“And then find your friend in Ho Chi Minh City.”
“Yes.”
“And then we will get our papers and fly to Singapore. When are we supposed to be there?”
He looked grim as he looked at his watch. “We have roughly seventy hours.”
“That seems like a lot of time.”
“It’s not. I still have to find my contact, and we need to give him time to work.”
I studied Viktor. He looked fatigued. “You look tired.”
“I could use some sleep.”
I looked up at Skipper. “We also should give him a break.”
He stood up. “Let’s do that first.”
Four hours later, the boat continued slowly to chug down the river. Viktor had been right—the water had deepened and we hadn’t run into any more weeds. He had sent Skipper to sleep for a few hours. And despite searching every nook and cranny, he hadn’t found any more snakes on board. I was secretly too afraid to sit on the deck of the boat by myself, so I was perched on the stool beside Viktor, in the boathouse, watching him steer.
Below us, Skipper was passed out on the hammock. I was so tired I could barely keep my head up.
“Why don’t you head down to the bunks and try to sleep?”
The thought of being alone in the tiny berth didn’t appeal to me. After the snake incident, neither did the hammock. All I knew is that the closer I stuck to Viktor, the better my chances of survival.
“I’m fine.”
“Take the wheel. I’m going to go wake Skipper. You need sleep.”
Ten minutes later, Viktor and I stood outside the small berth. I held his flashlight.
“What are you waiting for?”
I swallowed. “Could you check for snakes?”
To his credit, he didn’t mock me. Instead, he took the flashlight and shone it in every corner and beneath the bottom bunk.
“Can you check the bedding?”
He ran his hands along the top of both bunks. “Place is empty. Do you want the top or the bottom?”
I debated my options. The top bunk was way too close to the ceiling and would make me feel claustrophobic, but the bottom bunk was closer to the floor and therefore closer to potential snakes.
I didn’t even care how desperate I sounded. “Can we sleep on the same bunk?”
“There are two beds. Which one do you want?”