Read Online Haunted by Cheryl Douglas - Free Book Online

of stars, holding a glass of wine and listening to the waves
wash in. There was nowhere on Earth she’d rather be and no one she’d rather
share this magical moment with. Caleb was special. She knew that the moment she
met him, but she could never have guessed how quickly and effortlessly he would
capture her heart.
    He was warm and funny, sensitive and
compassionate. Not to mention ridiculously handsome. Every time she stared at
him a little too long, looking for the tiniest flaw, he would give her that
lop-sided grin and ask her if he had food stuck in his teeth. He didn’t take
himself too seriously, and he loved to laugh. She found that when she was with
him, she laughed more than she had in years.
    “I love it here,” he said quietly. “It was
tough for me when my parents decided to move to Nashville.”
    “What do you mean?” she asked, pulling the
light throw higher to cover her bare arms.
    “My parents kind of impulsively moved from
Florida to Nashville when I was a teenager. They just saw an ad and answered
it. Next thing I knew, I was saying good-bye to my friends and preparing to
start my junior year in a strange city.”
    “What made them decide to move?” she asked,
filing away every little tidbit about him. She liked forming a clear picture of
where he’d come from and where he hoped to go in life.
    He shrugged. “They wanted to make more
money. My dad was a maintenance man at a local apartment building, and my
mother cleaned a few houses a week. I guess they didn’t think they’d be able to
help me with college when the time came.”
    “So they made the sacrifice.” She reached
for his hand, smiling. “They obviously saw potential in you, realized you could
do great things with your life if you were given the right opportunities.” She
wished she could say the same about her own parents. They’d often ridiculed her
when she told them of her dream to be a country singer.
    “That wasn’t the first time they’d picked
up stakes to give me a better life.” He lifted his head when they heard a bird
rustling in a nearby tree. “I was born in England, but we moved here when I was
just a toddler. My uncle was a contractor, and he promised my dad steady work,
something he couldn’t find back in England.”
    “How did that work out?” Elle suspected it
wasn’t the happy ending Caleb’s family had been expecting.
    “It didn’t.” He smirked. “My uncle liked
the bottle a little too much. He managed to get work for a while, but when he
showed up drunk to too many jobs, word got around.”
    “Which meant your father was out of a job
too.”
    “I’m afraid so.” He tipped his glass,
savoring the last sip of wine. “We always managed to get by, but it wasn’t easy
for my parents. There was never a lot of money for extracurricular sports or
family vacations. I appreciated how hard they had to work just to keep a roof
over my head and food on the table.”
    Elle swallowed the lump in her throat.
Caleb had been a selfless little boy, and he’d grown into a successful man in
spite of the odds. “Your parents must be very proud of you.”
    “You know, I never thought about having all
of this.” He swept his hand to indicate their ocean view. “I never thought
about buying myself a fancy sports car or big house. I didn’t care about any of
that. I just wanted to give my parents a better life. I wanted them to be able
to retire anywhere in the world without ever having to worry about money
again.”
    Elle loved that he was the kind of man who
always put the people he loved above his own needs. “Have your parents
retired?”
    “They have.” He grinned at her. “I bought
them an incredible house on the beach not too far from here. I knew how much
they loved the Keys when we lived in Miami. They often talked about living
here, so about four years ago, I decided it was time. I picked up the phone,
called an agent, set up some appointments, and bought their dream home.” He
laughed.