Page 64 of Total Ship Show

She smiles against me. “Comfort. Peace. I want a relatively calm life with a husband and kids and soccer practices and ballet recitals and picnics and playdates.”

I chuckle. “Kids are the opposite of calm and peaceful, you know.”

She turns between my legs a bit sitting sideways so she can look at me. “You don’t want kids?”

“Of course, I want kids. I love kids. I don’t love when they swallow magnets or batteries or stick pebbles up their noses. And I don’t love when they get sick or break their bones and have to come see me, but on the other side of that, I’m grateful to have the chance to help heal them, protect them, and make them smile again. It’s a nice reward of the job when it works out. And it’s what I’m good at.”

“You’ll be a great father someday, Aris.”

“You think so?” I kiss her temple again, wrapping my arms a little tighter around her.

“I know so.”

“So, you want the dream life. The husband, the kids, the house, the picket fence.”

She chuckles. “Do you think I’m asking too much?”

“Not at all,” I tell her. “What’s kept you from building that life in the past?”

“I moved to Los Angeles and wanted to be an actress. You can’t have the dream family life with the picket fence in L.A. It’s chaos there. It’s loud. It’s busy. It’s the opposite of private. So, I guess it’s all those reasons…plus not finding the right partner.”

“I find it hard to believe that good men aren’t knocking on your door twenty-four-seven.”

She laughs. “Please, guys don’t knock on doors anymore. They slide into your DMs and they send dick picks instead of phone numbers. That’s the dating world now. Sad, right?”

This is your chance, Aris.

Take it.

“What if I slid into your DMs?”

She pauses for a moment, fiddling with her dress, and then she smiles.

“Would it include a dick pic?”

“Fuck no. I’m a real man who knows how to treat a woman.”

She laughs and her body eases against me. Finally, I can feel her relax in my arms.

Right where she needs to be.

I lean my head down to her ear. “But if you asked me for a dick pic, I would be happy to provide.”

“You would?” She grins.

“I would give you anything, Adrienne. You know that.”

She nudges me teasingly. “You have to stop being so nice to me, Aris.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Because we only have a couple more days together and then we go back to our realities. You go back to Seattle, and I go back to L.A. I don’t want to leave this ship feeling like I lost something. I want to go home with all the blissful memories we’ve shared knowing this was the trip of a lifetime. And the nicer you are to me the more I’m going to hate having to walk away.”

“What if you didn’t have to walk away?”

She sighs. “I think we have to be realistic, Aris. We just met a few days ago and there’s like eighteen hours of distance between us at least.”

“Okay, but that’s only two and a half to three hours by plane.”

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