Chapter Thirty-Two

Trapper climbed the stairs to Leah's apartment dreading the amount of luggage he knew he was going to have to lug down the stairs. It never failed that when he traveled with a woman, she packed for every contingency plus enough clothes for an extra week. Leah's door was wide open.

"Leah?" he called in. Worried that something might have happened, he stepped in without waiting for an answer. He looked in the kitchen, walked out to the patio, and finally started toward the bedroom. "Leah? Are you here?" He spun around when he heard her answer at the front door. "Where…"

"I had to go to my storage to find a smaller bag. My suitcase is way too big for a boat trip. Good morning," she said with a smile as she walked past him into the bedroom.

Following her, he stopped at the bedroom door and watched her pack. "Isn't it a little dangerous to leave your apartment open when you're not here?"

"No, not really. I figured you'd be here any minute, and I didn't want you to think that I wasn't here because I didn't want to go. Besides, my storage room is right down below the stairs. I saw you come up."

Puckering his lips, he raised his brows and nodded as he watched her pack, not so much at her explanation, but at the way she was packing. She threw in a change of clothes, a sweatshirt, a swimsuit and cover, flip flops, a brush, three or four tubes and bottles, a book, and a lady's wallet. Taking her sunglasses from her night table, she put them on, and then pushed them back on top of her head, taking her hair back at the same time. "My guitar is on the sofa. Would you mind getting it? I just need to close the slider and get my hat."

Slinging the duffle strap over her shoulder, she disappeared into a closet, returning with a sun hat, and by the time he had the guitar, she was headed for the door. He watched her go, chuckling at first, his chuckle turning into an all-out laugh. "What's so funny?" she asked as he took her keys and locked her door, putting the keys into his pocket.

He looked at the guitar case, holding it out, and pointed to the duffle. "I don't think I've ever gone anywhere with a woman, even just for an overnight, without a small load of luggage."

"Oh, well, that would depend on where I was going, and this weekend, I don't really see a need for much more than this. After all, we will be on a boat…fishing, right?"

"Right," he said enthusiastically, taking the duffle from her and following her down the stairs. He opened his trunk, laying her duffle on top of his bag.

"Good grief," she said. "It thought this was for one overnight. What's all this?"

Pointing, he said, "That's tackle, and that cooler is for fish. You do want to bring back some fresh fish, don't you?" She nodded, smiling. "These are cooking utensils, and these are rods."

"Why don't you just leave this stuff on your boat?" she said, looking over everything.

"Because it's not my boat. I'm borrowing it."

"Ah," she said, opening the passenger side door of the car, and lowering the seat to put her guitar in the back. "There's another cooler back here?"

"Well, we do need something to go with our fish, don't we?" he said, grinning and holding her hand as she stepped into the car. Closing the door, he smiled all the way to the other side. "Here we go."

When Trapper parked the car at the dock, Leah asked, "How far down is the slip?"

"All the way at the end."

Stepping out of the car, she went back to the trunk. "All right then. Load me up."

"Oh no you don't. You're not supposed to be lifting anything."

"You're not going to carry all this stuff down to the end of the dock by yourself."

"You're right. I'm going to get a loading cart. You stay here and guard the booty," he said with a snarl in his best pirate voice. She covered her mouth with her hand, hiding a grin at his cheesiness. With the cart loaded and the car locked, they made their way down the dock.

"Pulling is as bad as lifting. What are you going to do when I hook a big fish?"

"I'll bring it in for you."

"Oh no. If I hook it, I'm bringing it in."

Looking at her over his sunglasses, he said, "We'll see."

Trapper stepped up on the boat, turning and pulling Leah up. Next, he unloaded the cart and both worked on stowing everything in its place as Trapper gave Leah a tour. On the main deck, a living area was center, opening to the bow where there were two chaise lounges and a table. To aft, the cockpit contained two fighting chairs. Below deck were two cabins with their respective heads and showers, and the galley. Trapper moved their bags to their rooms, and then joined Leah in the galley, putting away the food from the cooler. They climbed up to the fly bridge, and Trapper maneuvered the boat out of the slip. Standing side by side, they slowly left the marina for the bay.

Trapper took the boat all the way out and brought her speed up to a steady cruise, heading southwest under the Golden Gate Bridge. "Come 'ere," he said, pulling Leah in front of him. Moving his arms under hers, he placed her hands on the wheel with his over them. "Do you feel the resistance?" She nodded. "The swells tend to pull her, so you have to apply a little force. The trick is to watch the compass and maintain that heading." He removed his hands from the wheel and stepped away from her.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she said apprehensively.

He grinned. "I'm just going to turn on the other instruments."

"What other instruments? You can't leave me up here alone!" she shouted mildly frantic. "I don't know how to drive a boat."

Leaning over her shoulder, he gave her a rather smug smile. "You're driving one," he said, kissing her cheek. "I just have to turn on the circuits. All the instruments are up here. The radio, the weather receiver and the radar have extra sets in the main cabin."

"But what if another boat comes?" she yelled, turning and seeing that he was gone.

"Stay to the right," he shouted from the bottom of the ladder.

"Stay to the right, he says," she mumbled tersely, holding the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. Studying the panel next to her as her eyes darted from the ocean in front of her to the instrument panels around her, she started flipping switches. "Radar, sonar, antennae, navigation…depth, speed, wind speed…fish finder? This thing finds fish for you?" she yelled.

"Yes, it does," said a calm, deep voice behind her that caused her to jump. "I see you've been flipping switches. You left out the AIS," he said, flipping that switch.

"I didn't know what it was."

"Automatic identification system…required by the Coast Guard on a vessel this size."

She nodded. "Is thirty-five miles per hour enough?" she asked, pointing to the navigation console.

Trapper broke out in a high-pitched chuckle. "That's not miles per hour. That's knots."

She gave him an embarrassed smile. "I knew that…somewhere…in the deep, dark recesses of my mind." Still chuckling, he stepped into her side, wrapping one arm around her and putting his other hand on the wheel, relieving her of steering duty. "And what about a fishing license? I don't have one."

"Yes, you do. I added you temporarily to mine."

"I don't see why you need a fishing license to fish in the ocean anyway. It's not like the state stocks the ocean…or does anything to maintain it. And what if you fish in international waters? They don't own those fish even if they think they own the others."

"You're a little late to that party," he answered, pulling her closer into him.

Watching his eyes move from right to left and back to center, she decided she didn't mind his arm around her since he wasn't really paying much attention to her. But when he turned and looked her square in the eye, she instantly cast her eyes down, suddenly feeling uneasy. Gently pushing away, she said, "Why don't I go get some drinks? What would you like?"

"I have a better idea. I'll bring up a variety for the fridge up here." Grabbing her hand, he put it on the wheel underneath her menacing gaze. "Don't worry," he said with an animated glare. "I'll be right back."

When he came back up with a bag full of bottles and cans, she waited until he had stocked the small refrigerator to say anything. The wind and boat noise made it hard to hear unless they were standing right next to each other. He walked up behind her and caught her hair in his hand, moving it away from her ear and leaning in. "I've got orange, apple and cranberry juice, root beer, Sprite, Pepsi, beer and water. I also brought some tea bags and coffee, and some wine. What can I get you?"

"We're only staying one night, aren't we? Why so much?"

"With the wind and the sun, whether it's hot or not, you will get dry out here. It's easy to get dehydrated. I expect we'll drink most of it."

She smiled. "Root beer. It's been a long time since I've had one."

"Root beer it is," he said, returning her smile. He grabbed himself a beer and traded her root beer for the wheel.

"How far are we going before we stop?"

"Not that far. Just a little further south out of the shipping lanes."