“You two remind me of my husband, John, and me, when we were young,” the woman who was not Mary said wistfully. “We were so in love, and we were married for 52 years, until he passed away.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Alice,” Kassidy said, and I was glad to learn her name, so I could stop thinking of her as Not-Mary.
“Thank you, dear,” Alice said, clearly feeling sentimental as she thought about her late husband. “But John and I knew better than to neck in public, with only our underthings on.”
I glanced down at Kassidy, and noticed that her towel had fallen off, and she was wearing just her bra and underwear. I grabbed her towel, covering her up again, then made sure mine was secure, before grabbing her hand.
“Well, ladies, it was nice to meet you, but we’re going to take your advice and find somewhere more private,” I said as I pulled Kassidy behind me.
She was laughing as I tugged her towards the cubbies. I urged her to get dressed, and put my own clothes on quickly, more than ready to get to our room. Once we were back, I told Kassidy to go on into the room, and give me just a minute. I knocked on Ally and Knox’s door, and Ally opened it, her face becoming worried again when she saw it was me.
“You didn’t find her?” Ally asked, biting her lip. “This is bad.”
“No, I found her. She’s in our room. I just wanted to let you know that she’s safe, and that we’ll see you in the morning,” I said, winking at Ally, and hoping she’d figure out what I was trying to tell her.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so excited for you!” Ally said. Thankfully, she’d gotten my message loud and clear, and she gave me a quick, happy hug.
“Thank you,” I said, my face starting to ache with all the smiling I’d been doing.
“Well, what are you doing out here? Get in there!”
I nodded, wishing her a good night, then let myself into our room. Kassidy was standing at the porthole, her back to me as she stared outside, and I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her neck. She turned around, wrapping her arms around me, and I leaned in, kissing her thoroughly. I couldn’t get enough, wanting to touch and taste every inch of her, but eventually, I pulled away. I didn’t want to push things too fast, or make her think that I was only interested in getting in her pants.
“So what happens now?” Kassidy asked, almost like she’d read my mind. “The cruise ends in the morning. Is this just a one night vacation fling, and things go back to normal when we get home?”
“Is that what you want?” I asked, hoping she’d say no. She didn’t answer at first, looking nervous, so I decided to lay everything out there for her, in case she didn’t fully understand my intentions when I kissed her the night before the cruise. I wanted her to know where I stood, how I felt, so there was no confusion. I wasn’t playing games. My feelings for her were too strong, and I was too far gone, to do anything else. “If it’s up to me, we’ll go back to DC as a couple. You’re it for me, Kassidy. I want a future with you. But what do you want?”
Kassidy’s eyes grew wide, and I hoped I hadn’t just scared her off. I waited for her answer, trying to be patient. “I want that, too,” she finally said, putting me out of my misery.
“Thank God,” I said, then pulled her close, kissing her again and again.
Kassidy
When someone knocked on our cabin door the next morning, Evan and I were still wrapped around each other in bed, the slight rocking of the ship making it even harder to wake up. I groaned at the noise, pulling a pillow over my head to block it out, and Evan didn’t wake up, just pulled me even closer to him, which I didn’t think was possible. The noise stopped for a while, and Evan’s warmth lulled me back to sleep, but eventually, the knocking returned, even louder than before. Voices accompanied the knocking, and that time, Evan jerked awake.
“It’s still dark out,” he groaned sleepily. “What time is it?”
“Let me check,” I said, reaching for my phone on the nightstand, but Evan's arm was wrapped around me, and he tightened his grip around my waist as I moved, keeping the phone just out of range. “I can’t reach it,” I told him with a laugh.
“I’m not ready to let you go, Sunshine,” Evan responded, curling himself around me even more. He planted a few light kisses down my neck, his facial hair scratching against my skin, making me shiver.
“Guys, we need to eat breakfast and get off the ship. Are you even in there? I’m getting worried,” I heard Ally’s voice say from outside our room.
“Damn it,” Evan said with a sigh, walking to the door and talking to her without opening it. “We’re fine, Ally. We’ll be out in a few minutes.”
After eight nights in the same small cabin, Evan and I had become experts at maneuvering around each other, and it wasn’t long before we were both ready to go eat.
As soon as we opened the door, I could tell that Ally and Knox already knew that our relationship status had changed.
“I told Ally about us last night,” Evan whispered into my ear as he gently brushed my hair off my shoulder, caressing my skin with his thumb.
Once we ate, we finished packing up our things and made our way off the ship, headed home.
25
EVAN
That Monday, I got into work early, while it was still dark. Ally, Knox, and Kassidy had emailed me hundreds of photos from the cruise, and I needed to print all of them. By the time the rest of my team arrived, I had stacks of evidence lined up on the table in the conference room.
“What’ve you got for us?” Nolan asked, the first to join me.
“Evidence,” I answered him, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
He gathered the team in the conference room. I told them about the photos we’d taken, the recording we’d made in one of the ship’s kitchens, and the information we’d gathered from crewmembers, along with reminding them about the Passports and Visas, and the other evidence Kassidy had provided us before the cruise.
“Where do we go from here?” Liam asked.
“We need to get a statement from Kassidy, and then we should have enough evidence for a judge to sign off on search warrants,” Nolan said.
“I’m sure Kassidy will come in whenever we need her to give a statement,” Ally said, and I nodded my agreement.
“Once we have the search warrants, we can start digging into the company. We’ll request everything we can think of, including employee records, financial information, and access to their computers,” Nolan said.
“We also need to ask for permission to speak to crewmembers, and to search their ships and property,” Knox added.
“And we need to do this quietly, so that they can’t hide any evidence,” Ryder said. “They can’t hear a word about this until we’re ready to serve the warrants.”
“That’s what I’m worried about, though,” I said. “Once Paradise Cruises sees the evidence we have against them, Kassidy will be in danger.”
“We’ll figure it out. We’ve got a little bit of time,” Nolan said, looking thoughtful. “If we can’t get her any official FBI protection, you know between the ten of us, we won’t let anything happen to her.”