“I have been having trouble sleeping,” Shizuka admitted, wishing she were capable of adequate lies so she could claim she’d been out with a handsome young man until the early hours of the morning being romanced, then caught herself in horror. Did she want to make Killian jealous? How ridiculous was she? This was literally the second time she’d been in the man’s presence – a man who had already proven that he wasn’t remotely her type; entirely uninterested in marriage, convinced he would be a terrible parent and thus wanted no children, flirted with every woman he could find – and yet Shizuka feared she was developing an inappropriate crush on the pirate. Clearly, she was allowing his initial idle flirtations to get to her head, and she needed to sever the strings immediately.
Permitting none of this to reflect in her tone or her expression, she continued, “I haven’t been able to relax. I’m sure it’ll pass though.” That was as much of her troubles as she was willing to discuss, not wanting to dampen the mood of the afternoon. She figured that physical activity might be exactly what she needed in order to actually fall asleep normally, and then everything would be all right in the world again. So long as she didn’t count being trapped in a town with a bunch of strange people, of course; that was about as far from ‘all right’ as one could possibly get.
She listened to him prattle on about bathing suits with growing trepidation, wondering what in the world he considered to be appropriate improvisation, when he asked what was potentially the most inappropriate question she’d come across in her life.
Was she going to swim naked?
With him?
In broad daylight?
Naked?
Shizuka made an indignant sound low in her throat, turning her head to stare at him in utter shock. Killian knew better than to ask that question, and yet he asked it anyway, as if he harbored some hope, no matter how slim, that she would actually agree to strip bare. Oh yes, Jones-san, I would love to take off all my clothes and swim naked with you! It’s what I always dreamed of! He was damn lucky that she didn’t have a free hand to slap him with.
“I have a bathing suit,” she said stiffly, fingers twitching.