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The chill of the night before still lingered, even with the sun beating down on us. The light made the water sparkle and it dazzled my eyes. The air was fresh, salty.
He hung an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Kate. Tell me you’ve got a pair of sea legs.”
“Might have paddled around in a canoe once or twice.” Lie. I’d never been anywhere but to the beach. I hadn’t ever been on a boat.
We ambled our way toward a length of dock and passed a handful of people as we went. I scanned the various sized boats rocking on the water. I didn’t spot anyone that could be identified as security. There appeared to be so many boats parked close to each other. A number of them were huge, including a few three-story yachts that were parallel parked along the broadest side of the dock. We walked right past the dock house, and no one stopped us or bothered to ask why we were there. What if we were here to steal one of these things? Would they even notice?
“You do this often?” I asked.
“I’m not home too often. And when I am, I usually don’t have time for sailing,” he said. He stopped along the edge of the dock, facing into the wind. His blond locks swept into his eyes and he brushed them away from his face. He pointed to one of the smaller sailboats at the far edge. “There she is.”
I squinted. The boat’s sails were down, and compared to some of the other boats around it, it seemed so small. “All that money and you’ve got that thing?”
He grunted. “You just don’t know anything about boats. That, my dear, is the biggest boat a single person can sail on his own. Unless you’re going to tell me you know a thing or two about sailing.”
“And if I did?”
He grinned. “Then I’d buy a bigger boat.”
“I thought you said you had a yacht.”
“Do you want to go sailing, or do you want to go to Europe?”
“What?”
“I only take the yacht for long distance trips. I’ll show you my yacht when you’re ready for that.” He nudged me toward the sailboat.
He climbed on first and then held out a hand to me to help me get onboard. He pointed to where he wanted me to sit on the front deck. I wanted to do something besides watch him, but he insisted on doing it himself. He tugged this rope, and he pulled that lever. Soon he had the sailboat pulling away from the docks and out beyond the edge of Charleston.
And he did it in exquisite precision, with that broad smile on his face, the tan clashing against his white, perfect teeth. His hazel eyes were wide, excited. His hair blew around in the breeze, the tips teasing his cheeks, and he had to release the helm on occasion to brush hair away from his eyes.
I stared at the water to relieve the butterflies doing whirligigs in my core.
When the boat went past the stretch of peninsula and out into the harbor, he opened the sails fully and the boat sped up. I wanted to compare it to driving with the top down on a car, but it was much better than that for some reason. The air felt cleaner. The water splashed as the boat lunged forward. We were getting away from people instead of diving into traffic. Freer. Fuller.
He didn’t go far, just out into Charleston Harbor. The city sat behind us, with Mount Pleasant to the north and John’s Island to the south. When we were near the middle of the harbor, he slowed, dragging in the sails until we were almost dead still.
“Okay,” I said. “I may like your boat.”
He released a rich laugh, running a hand through his hair. “At least I have something going for me.” He sat down on the deck next to me, sitting cross-legged and leaning back on his hands. “Girls are usually into the good looks and fat pocketbook.”
“Meh,” I said.
He smirked. “Well shut my mouth. Miss Kate doesn’t like handsome faces.”
I rolled my eyes and looked out toward Mount Pleasant. Sailing really wasn’t all that bad.
But if I had felt uncomfortable wasting time with Corey the day before, I felt worse now. Again I felt the guilt that I should be working instead of masquerading like this. I had to think about Wil. It seemed deeply unfair.
Suddenly, it hit me how Wil was out there somewhere, at school, maybe even worried about me because I’d been gone for so long. Was he mowing lawns still on his way home when he should be studying? Was he distracted because he hadn’t seen me in a couple of days? He’d probably get a kick out of sailing.
“Sugar,” Blake captured my chin, drawing me from my sad thoughts to look at his hazel eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head, pursing my lips. I couldn’t tell him about Wil. Despite everything, I still needed to prove what he was up to. I couldn’t have him chasing down Wil in case this was all an illusion.
When it was clear I wasn’t going to answer his question, his fingers released my chin, and he planted a palm against my cheek. “I’m not the bad guy, Kate. I wish you could trust me.”
“I’m not allowed to go on just your word,” I said.
His eyes narrowed. “Who really sent you?”
My lips pursed. The truth was, no one did. I came on my own, but the whole mess started because the Academy guys had a curious itch. And I’d already promised not to tell anyone about it.
Blake’s palm soothed over my cheek. “You’re full of secrets,” he said. “And you come to me demanding mine? Seems a little unfair.”
“If it were a good thing, it wouldn’t need to be a secret.” I didn’t hide the distrusting edge in my tone. I regretted saying it after.
His frown deepened. “What’s happening to you, Kate? Maybe I don’t know you, but you can’t even tell me exactly why you’re following me. Or who you’re working with.”
“I don’t want any recourse just in case you’re really out here to tie my legs to a rock and throw me overboard.”
He huffed and backed his head up. “Are you serious? Listen to yourself. Is this what you think of everyone you don’t know? All you had was a rumor to go on. I let you into my home, onto my boat, and you want to still pretend I’m some crazy person?”
I didn’t have a good answer for him. I didn’t know him at all a few days ago. If I had passed him on the street like any other person, I may have paused at his good looks but I wouldn’t have thought anything more. However, I still couldn’t forget how Raven had looked warning me about him, or how serious Marc had been about protecting me from him. Now that I was
here with Blake, it felt all muddled. He felt like just a normal person. He didn’t feel like a drug dealer. Or was I just hoping?
Blake released me, sitting back on his hands. “Sweetie, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not a perfect guy, but I don’t do drugs. I’m not interested in them.” He paused. “But telling you this isn’t helping.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt.”
His gaze didn’t move from me. “What about you? Who is this Kate that showed up at my door out of the blue?”
“What about me?”
“Let’s start with something easy. Where are you from?”
“Here. Charleston.”
“A local,” he smiled. “Ever been out of the state?”
I shook my head.
“Not much of a traveler?”
“Never had the chance.”
He nodded slowly, his hazel eyes tracing over my face. “Was Brandon really someone you just met that day?”
My heart fluttered at the thought of Brandon. The kiss we’d shared I could still taste on my lips. I kept telling myself I was doing this for him, as much as for the others. He wouldn’t feel obligated to protect me any more after this. I swallowed back my feelings. “Yes. Well, I bumped into him the day before, but that day of your party was the first time we’d said more than a few words to each other.”
“What did you argue about? That night at the party?”
Heat drifted across my cheeks. My fingers wandered, tracing the smoothness of the wood of the boat as I thought of a lie. “Sports,” I said. “Apparently he’s a Yankees fan.”
Blake leaned into my shoulder. “And who are you for?”
“... The Steelers?”
Blake grinned. “So you prefer football to baseball?”
Damn. “Yeah?”
He shook his head. “Nice try. If you’re going to lie, you need to at least get the teams right.” He stood up, and dusted off his jeans. He opened his hand to me. “Come on.”
“What are we doing?” I planted my hand in his.
“I’ll show you how to drive this thing.”
“Me?”
