“Yes, I’ll be one of them,” he answered, and against my better judgment, I was thrilled. “Ally and Knox will be the other two. Do you remember them?”
“I remember Ally. I’m not sure about Knox, though.”
Evan nodded, but he still seemed uncomfortable, which was worrying. I had assumed that he’d told me the worst of it—that we’d be going undercover— but if he’d told me everything, I had a feeling that he would be more relaxed. I braced myself as I waited for the rest.
“I need to tell you one other thing, so prepare yourself,” Evan said, as I expected. “Since we’ll be undercover, we need a cover story. The best one we came up with, the one that makes the most sense so that no one questions why we’re together most of the time, is that Ally, Knox, you, and I are two couples who are friends, and are traveling together.”
“Couples?” I repeated. The entire situation was hard to believe. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not kidding,” Evan said. “But it’s the best way to keep you safe.”
“And what if I refuse your help, and go by myself?” I asked him.
“Well, we already have our tickets, so we’re going on the cruise, too. And you can try to avoid us, but we’re going to do our best to stay close enough to protect you, even if you don’t like it.”
“You are impossible!” I said with exasperation. “I don’t appreciate you treating me like an invalid who needs a babysitter. I’m just fine on my own, like I’ve always been.”
“Oh, I’m definitely not thinking of myself as your babysitter,” Evan said. Was he flirting with me? It definitely seemed like it. When I let out a huff but didn’t say anything, he continued. “Listen, Kassidy, I don’t know what’s going on with you, and why you’re being so reckless. What I do know is that it’s not a bad thing to have people who care. Let us help you with this. You don’t have to be on your own.”
“So you care about me? Your team cares about me?” I asked sarcastically, trying to call his bluff, but it backfired on me in a big way.
“Yes,” Evan said simply. “I know that might be a weird thing to hear, but I told you about how I grew up, and how abusive my dad was. I’ve learned that life is short, and that I always want to be honest about how I feel, even if it makes others uncomfortable. I’m sorry if it’s too much right now.”
Honestly, everything was too much at that moment. I couldn’t come close to processing everything that had happened tonight, and it wasn’t even over. The kiss, the agents joining me on the cruise, Evan telling me he more-than-cared about me. It was overwhelming.
For a few moments, I forced myself to think about all the information Evan had dumped on me. I realized that I didn’t really have any good choices, and that even if I went on the cruise by myself, I wouldn’t be truly alone. So what was the point of fighting it?
And the more I thought about it, the less appealing the idea of going alone became. If Evan and his team were willing to protect me, and had already gone to so much trouble to make it happen, the least I could do was go along with it.
“Are you okay?” Evan asked, since I’d been silent for a while.
“Yes. I’m okay,” I finally said, and surprisingly, I was pretty sure I was telling the truth.
“Good,” he said, sounding relieved. “And one other thing. You can decide if you’d rather pretend to be a couple with me, or with Knox. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, and Ally said she’s okay pairing up with either of us. But you’ll have to share a room with Knox or me, whoever you pick.”
Finally, an easy decision. “I’d rather be paired up with you,” I said with certainty
“Okay,” Evan said, and his small smile told me he was pleased with my choice. “I also wanted to talk about logistics while I’m here. Is it okay if the four of us ride together? It’ll be better for our cover story. We can pick you up in the morning, around 7:00.”
I thought about it for a moment, then agreed. I’d been planning to drive myself the three-and-a-half hours to Norfolk, but riding with them would be easier, and would make the most sense. “That’s fine,” I conceded.
“Great,” he said, and he finally looked relaxed, giving me hope that the worst of the conversation was finally over. “Any other questions before I head out, and let you get back to packing? I’ve got to do some myself.”
“I can’t think of any.”
“Well, then, I’ll see you bright and early in the morning, Sunshine,” he said softly, running his fingers along a strand of my hair before tucking it behind my ear.
Did he just give me a sweet nickname and play with my hair? What world was I living in? I didn’t know what to do with all the emotions he was creating in me, so I stuffed all of them back down, to deal with another time.
Evan left my home just as quickly as he’d come, and while everything in my apartment was still exactly the same, my heart and my mind had been jolted. It felt like a tornado was tearing through my life, and I was still in the darkness, unable to see how bad the damage was. I wasn’t sure yet sure if things were mostly intact, or if it had left complete devastation in its wake.
14
KASSIDY
“Here we are, home sweet home,” Evan said the next afternoon as we stopped in front of our cabins on the cruise ship. Thankfully, by the time Evan and the others picked me up this morning, all of last night’s awkwardness had disappeared.
Knox unlocked the door to the cabin he was sharing with Ally, and at the same time, I unlocked the door to the room Evan and I were sharing, which was right across the hall. I pulled my suitcase behind me as I walked inside, looking around the small cabin and admiring the huge porthole on the other side of the room, before suddenly coming to a stop.
“There’s only one bed,” I said, turning to look at Evan, and he had the gall to look guilty.
“The couch is a pull-out bed,” he explained. “It would look strange for us to be sleeping separately, since we’re supposed to be dating. But I can take the couch at night, as long as we fold it up during the day, and make it look like we’re sharing a bed. If the crew come in to clean and notice that we’re sleeping separately, they might get suspicious.”
He had a good point, and I wished I’d thought about it sooner so that I wasn’t surprised at the last minute. I adapted quickly, though. “I can take the couch, since I’m much shorter than you,” I conceded. “The pull-out bed is probably tiny.”
“No, you take the bed,” Evan insisted.
“Why?” I challenged him. “We’re spending eight nights in this room, and if you spend all of them squished up on the pull-out bed, you won’t be able to walk by the time the cruise is over. Just let me sleep there.”
“I’ve slept in much worse places, I promise. Especially while I was in the Army,” Evan said, then his voice became teasing. “And I know you don’t like me to talk about my time in the military, but it just naturally came up this time.”