Read Online Red Tide (Siren Publishing Classic) by Tymber Dalton - Free Book Online

the chairs, reading the instruction book for the new GPS, his legs propped up on the sofa bed. He was handsome in a subdued sort of way, with his dark blond hair and beard peppered with grey, his lithe body tanned from his hours on the water, and light freckles dotting the backs of his shoulders. Built long and lanky, from his legs to his piano-player fingers, he moved like a cat, fluid and smooth, every action natural. And then he had those killer sky blue eyes, friendly, engaging, not cold like John’s. Old memories came back to her from childhood about staring at his eyes and loving them. His slight Florida cracker accent sounded warm and friendly.
    As Mitch drifted off to sleep, the feeling that she had heard of the Emmerand before this weekend nagged her again. She shrugged it off, attributing it to the fact that she had an overactive imagination, and finally put it out of her thoughts.
    Ed’s voice reached through her presleep fog. “Good night, Mitch.”
    She smiled. “Good night, Ed.”
    “Good night, John-boy,” Ron hollered from his makeshift bunk in the cockpit.
     
    * * * *
     
    Ed couldn’t keep his mind on the instruction manual and realized he’d been trying to read the same damn page for nearly five minutes. Despite the events of the day, all his mind focused on was how Mitch looked after returning to the boat, the clinging sweatshirt emphasizing every agonizingly beautiful inch of her body. Not that he hadn’t ever noticed her body before, but it’d never had such an acute effect upon his own. Taken in context with what Ron and Jack had said earlier, it was almost a form of self-torture.
    She was beautiful, but she’d never shown any interest in him other than friendship. Now, with the blinders removed so to speak, he couldn’t think about anything but Mitch. What if she met someone else and he lost his chance to be with her because he was too chickenshit to do anything about it?
    He finally tossed the manual aside and risked a glance toward the front cabin. She’d left the door open, and he saw her long legs disappear into the darkness. She’d worn a baggy T-shirt over a pair of loose cotton shorts to bed. That outfit was almost as torturous to him as the wet sweatshirt had been.
    He finally bunked down and shut the lights off, but despite the hectic day, it was several frustrating hours before he finally slept.

Chapter Seven
     
    Mitch woke first the next morning. She passed Ed in the salon. His right arm was thrown around a spare pillow. For a brief moment, she wondered how it’d feel to have him holding her like that. With Pete padding along behind her, she went outside and stretched, enjoying the fresh salt air. The sky still looked grey, the sun not quite high enough yet to pierce through the morning haze.
    She helped Pete over the stern and waited while he did his doggy business on the dive platform. When he finished, she hoisted him back inside the boat and used a bucket to rinse off the platform. Finally able to get her morning started, she returned to the cabin.
    A cup of coffee later, she started breakfast. The smell of eggs and bacon aroused the men, and Mitch kicked everyone out on deck so she could finish cooking.
    Breakfast conversation naturally gravitated to the prior day’s events.
    “Ed, I still can’t believe you didn’t lose it when that hammerhead nailed you,” Jack said. “Extremely impressive.”
    “I impressed the hell out of myself, let me tell you.”
    Mitch sat back and ate, paying little attention to the men. Her thoughts returned to the Emmerand . Something still nagged her, the thought that she’d heard of the yacht before. Or perhaps seen it.
    “You still with us, Mitch?”
    She looked up at the men. “What?”
    “I said, are you still with us?” Ed repeated.
    She smiled. “Sorry. I just keep thinking back to the Emmerand . I still say I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
    “Probably just because you heard it on the radio,” Ron suggested.
    She