I snatched the razor from his hand and tried to shut the shower door on him. “Thank you,” I drawled.
“Well-come,” he said, matching my tone, although with a curious eyebrow lift above his dark eyes. I couldn’t tell if he understood my sarcasm. He backed up so I could close the door.
“What’s going on, Raven?” I asked, lathering up the soap to start shaving. It was a cheap men’s razor, two blades, disposable and generic. I had to go slow to not slice myself. “Did you need something?”
Raven opened the door again, holding it open fully this time as he looked in on me. “What?”
I rolled my head back, looking at the ceiling in exasperation. Maybe it was better if we all got over the modesty bit anyway. If I was going to work with these guys, and we were going to live in tight quarters, I had to get used to them seeing me naked. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen a girl nude before. “Why did you open the door?”
“I couldn’t hear you,” he said. “You’ve got the shower running.” He left the door open and then crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the door, pressing it to the wall. The black clothes made him a little scary with his wide brown eyes, especially when he intensified that gaze. “What did you say?”
Oh well. He wasn’t ogling. Raven’s boundaries were simply nonexistent. “I was just asking what’s going on with you. How’s the crew?”
“Fine,” he said.
“Raven, you can’t hold the door open like that,” Corey said. “You need to let her shower on her own.”
“Why?” Raven asked, turning to look at Corey. “She was talking to me.”
“Don’t worry about it, Corey,” I said. I tried to bend, but then ended up lifting my leg, shaving my calves, going up just to above the knee, and then thought better of it and decided to shave the whole leg. I didn’t really know how short the dress was, better to do too much than too little. “Come on over if you can’t hear me, either.”
Raven didn’t shift, keeping his eyes on me. I wasn’t sure if Corey was going to do it. I lifted my leg as best as I could in the tiny space to prop it up on the shower wall, concentrating on shaving and it wasn’t until I stood up that I spotted Corey peeking around the wall. At first, he started to tuck his head back around but when I didn’t say anything or cover myself, he stepped around, his cheeks red, as red as Brandon’s face got when he was angry. “Are you sure this is okay?” he asked.
It wasn’t like he was interested. And I’d already given up with Raven about trying to stay modest around him. I waved dismissively at him and then continued shaving the other leg. “It’s fine,” I said. “It’s more important to catch me up.” I looked at Raven briefly before I refocused on my leg. “So did we figure out about this blond guy? Who is he? The one Mr. Smith paid.”
“German,” Raven said.
I stood up quickly, almost slipping but catching myself on the grab bar. Corey reacted, reaching out for me but then backed up when I’d corrected myself. I looked at Raven who hadn’t moved. “What did you say?” I asked.
“He’s German,” Raven said. “His name is Sam.”
“Is he part of Eddie’s group?” I asked, remembering the leader of the German team who had kidnapped us.
“Don’t know,” he said. “He doesn’t seem bothered by me or you or even Corey. If he is part of it, he doesn’t know our faces.”
“I’ve been trying to get his history,” Corey said. “All I have is his resume. He’s been on this cruise ship for a while, and before that, on another cruise, and before that at resorts around the United States. He’s German but he’s been in this business a long time. Not like Eddie’s group, who was only here for maybe a year or so.”
I was bent over to start on my other leg. I still didn’t like the idea. I didn’t want to be prejudiced around any other Germans we might meet, but I had to be cautious and couldn’t help but wonder if Eddie might have reached out to this Sam at any time. It felt like too much of a coincidence.
There was shuffling in the room, and I thought it was Raven and Corey moving around again so I didn’t look up.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Marc’s voice sliced through the silence, making me nick my leg with the razor. “You’re all just standing around watching her shower? What the fuck, you guys?”
Oh great. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain this. I stood up quickly, spotting Marc in dark slacks and a white button up shirt. He was either going to dinner with us or somewhere with other guests, because he was completely combed, washed up and shaved. The rock star was ready to start mingling with the guests.
His mismatched eyes flared at the others. He pushed at Corey’s shoulder. “Go gawk at someone else.”
“It’s okay!” I cried out at him, waving dismissively. It was admirable he was trying to stick up for me, but I didn’t want to start another fight about this. “Sorry, they couldn’t hear me and I needed to be caught up. Did you need something?”
Corey grimaced while Raven grinned, amused.
Marc pulled his hands up in a give-up gesture. This time, he looked down at my body quickly, and then back up at my face. “You’re just going to shower with the door open?”
“I’m trying to hurry. Step back into the room if you need to? Give me a minute.” I asked, not willing to address the naked issue. I’d eventually have to get use to them running in and out while I was naked at this rate. Maybe that was my problem; I tiptoed around these guys. Blake had said I was missing my fire. Maybe I just needed to be more assertive. I needed to be one of the guys. Guys don’t mask their nakedness. If I acted too much like a girl around them, the meek thing I’d become since a few weeks ago, then they reverted to Neanderthals trying to be modest for me and respectful. If I let go of it to make it a nonissue, maybe that would jar them out of that and we could roll forward. “If you’re trying to hurry, though, just tell me what you need now.”
Marc opened his mouth, his jaw shifting a bit. I imagined he was trying to figure out what I was up to. “I got word from Axel to get down here. We need to go over what we’re doing tonight.”
“Tonight, I’m going to dinner with Axel and I guess a bunch of other Nightingale folks,” I said. I bent over and started shaving my leg again. They got the full view. I didn’t hide anything anymore. I bled a bit from the nick in my leg, but I ignored it for now. If I complained about it, they’d do that protective thing. “I think Avery and Ethan are going to try to talk to the one woman I haven’t met yet. Do we have a seating chart? Who am I sitting next to?”
“I don’t know,” Marc said. He opened his mouth, but then shook his head, and pulled his cell phone from his back pocket. “I can find out.”
“Do that,” I said, glad that he seemed to be pulling himself together. “If anyone from Nightingale isn’t at our table, or with Ethan, I want you to cover that table. Maybe include Brandon or Corey, too.” I finished my leg and did a quick swipe at arm pits. I hid my smile as the boys’ eyes followed my every move. Why was I getting a weird kick out of them watching me? They were memorized. Maybe I should have done this a while ago. I tried to peek out to see if any of them were turned on, but from the angle and the small space, only Raven’s crotch was really visible and I couldn’t tell since he was wearing all dark clothes. It was all shadow.
Marc backed up, his butt against the sink, and used his phone, his eyes darting up to me every few seconds over Raven’s shoulder.
Corey raked at his hair with his fingers. “I’d prefer if Brandon did the talking,” he said. “I’m never good at it unless we’re talking with geeks.”
“If it happens to be Colt is on his own,” I said, “can you sit next to him?”
“Why just him?”
“Just a hunch, but he seems like the geek type.”
Corey shrugged. “I don’t take him for a geek.”
“He wears glasses,” Raven said. “Geek.”
“That doesn’t make him a geek,” Corey said. “He’s just a guy with glasses. Yo
u’ve worn glasses.”
Raven pointed at himself. “Made me a geek.”
Corey rolled his eyes and shook his head before refocusing on me. “He might be smart, but I don’t think he plays video games and likes anime. That’s all I’m saying.”
“You know math,” I said. I rinsed off the razor and then passed it to him when I didn’t have a place to put it. “Talk math with him.”
Corey took the razor and held it, smirking. “You don’t just talk math, Kayli. That’s not really a thing you talk about. To be honest, I think he’s just a normal guy who happens to wear glasses. Kind of like you, when you’re being Kitty, except your glasses are fake.”