What had those men wanted? Did they just want to rob us? We didn’t have anything worth taking, as far as I knew. I couldn’t fathom what had happened because it felt too fake, too surreal.
The rain began to slowly stop and Nate gave me a look.
“Come on,” he said, “we need to get you home.”
I followed him in a daze as he tied the boat off to the dock. Normally I would have helped, but it was like my body didn’t want to respond to the commands of my mind. I stood there on the dock watching him, wrapped in a blanket he had found below deck for me, staring vacantly out into space.
“We’re okay,” he whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arm around me and steered me away from the boat and toward the house. “We’re going to be okay.”
“The police,” I said suddenly. “We have to call the police.”
“No cops,” he growled. “I killed those men. I can’t risk getting the cops involved.”
“But you defended us.”
“Yeah, you’re right, but trust me on this.”
I stayed silent. Nate was right. We couldn’t involve the police. He had taken care of me so far, and he would continue to do so.
I found myself trusting him more than I thought possible. Where he was a crude and rude asshole before, suddenly he was the man that risked his life to keep us both safe.
As we moved back toward the house, walking down the path, he kept whispering comforting things in my ear. He kept telling me that we were safe, that nobody was going to come for us, but it was like his words just slipped from my mind as soon as he said them.
I could barely concentrate. I could only see the man’s face, the knife in his neck.
Finally, we made it back to the house. Nate pushed open the back doors and ushered me inside.
“Hello?” he yelled out. Silence greeted us. “Good,” he mumbled, “the assholes aren’t home.”
“Where’s my dad?” I asked him.
“Business deal or some shit, probably. Don’t worry.” He led me upstairs toward our bathroom. I didn’t bother trying to resist. I didn’t think I could even if I wanted to.
He pushed open the bathroom door and started the shower. The room quickly filled with steam.
“You’re shaking,” he said softly. “Get in and take a nice hot shower.”
“Okay,” I said automatically. I stripped my shirt off, not caring that he was standing right there. He stared at me for a second until I reached back to untie my bikini top. He quickly turned around. I barely registered that uncharacteristic action.
I undressed and stepped into the shower, letting the warm water cover me. It felt good. I hadn’t even realized how freezing I really was, but he must have noticed. Immediately I began to feel better as warmth came back into my cold and stiff limbs.
“You need to eat something,” Nate said.
“Okay,” I replied.
“Come downstairs when you’re done.”
“Wait,” I said quickly without thinking about it. “Stay in here with me."
He was silent for a second. “Okay, babe. Whatever you want.”
I stood there and let the water run down my body, not caring that Nate was barely a foot away from my soaking wet, naked body. I could barely form a coherent sentence, let alone articulate why it was bad to have him in the bathroom with me while I showered.
I just kept seeing him, that guy. And Nate’s face, serious and emotionless, like he was taking out the garbage. I knew he was a SEAL and was trained to fight men like them, but seeing it was a totally different thing.
“You okay in there?” Nate grunted at me.
“Oh, fine,” I said.
“You’ve been in there a while.”
“Really?” I blinked, coming back to myself.
“Ten minutes, at least.”
“Sorry. I lost track of time.” I reached forward and turned off the water, and then I opened the shower curtain.
Nate’s eyes widened as I stood in front of him, naked and dripping. It took me a second to realize what I was doing. Until that moment, everything had been on autopilot, like someone else was running my body and mind. But seeing Nate staring at my body like that made me come back to myself. I yanked the shower curtain back over me.
“Towel,” I said.
“You sure?” he said, grinning. “I’d rather keep looking.”
“Don’t be an asshole.”
He handed me a towel. “You’ve got an incredible fucking body, you know that?”
“Thanks,” was all I could think to say.
“Fuck girl, if this were any other time I’d be making you scream my name right now.”
I hid behind the curtain as I wrapped the towel around me. “Yeah, well, good thing it isn’t.”