Read Online Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) by Mary Hughes - Free Book Online Page A

“I mean, I wouldn’t have disturbed you, except I thought as long as I knocked you up…I mean woke you up…I’d see how you were doing. If you needed any help. Can I buy you a coffee in the lounge?”
    “Sure. We should talk about the bench too. Give me a moment to dress and straighten my hair.”
    “Of course. I have a comb and brush in my carry-on. Did you find it?”
    “Your bag? Yes, though at first I didn’t know it was a carry-on. You have a really big one.”
    He choked.
    She frowned at him. “Are you okay?”
    He waved while getting redder and redder. “Yes, yes.”
    “Ooohkay.” She knew he wasn’t, but without knowing why simply said, “Oh, your bag. Did you want it out there with you?”
    “I want it in the bedroom.” He slapped a hand over his bespectacled eyes and released a soft sigh that almost sounded like a groan.
    Over a bag?
    Lifting the hand from his face, he looked quite sheepish. “I mean, you can keep the case with you in the room until we reach port. Just let me get a few things.”
    “Right.” She opened the door wider for him to enter and waited, wondering what had gotten into him, while he rummaged in the bag.
    He pulled out a shirt and undershirt and returned to the door, where he turned. “Um, I’ll wait in the snack bar, okay? When you’re ready, come— ack. ” His face went bright red, and he pulled the door shut so fast it slammed.
    She frowned at the closed door. Gabriel Light was normally the most rational of men. He was acting awfully strange.
    Shrugging, she turned to the case and rifled through it for a comb. They’d had a stressful couple of hours. It would be strange if he wasn’t acting oddly.
    A short time later, dressed and feeling better, or at least better groomed, she made her way to the ferry’s deli-style galley.
    He was in line with a tray already filled with plates and cups, to the point that he’d had to pile bags of chips around the edges like a levee.
    She sidled up next to him, reminded point-blank how much bigger he was than she when her head barely cleared his massive biceps. He’d weigh over two hundred pounds, all muscle. Getting enough fuel would be a problem.
    She waved a careless hand at him. “I suppose you have to eat a lot to keep that much mass powered.”
    His head swung toward her, mouth open, eyes wide. “Um…you mean body mass?”
    What else would she have meant?
    Then she saw, with their height differences, that she was waving at his crotch. She laughed. “Yes.”
    “I do eat a lot, but I was picking up things for you too. You like nacho chips, right?”
    “I love nacho chips.” She clapped hands. How did he know that? He either was more observant of her specifically than she knew, or more likely, he simply knew a lot about all the employees he supervised. She licked her lips. “Especially when the cheese is hot and salty and runs down your throat…” She broke off. He was choking again. “You really should have that cough looked into.”
    “Ye-es.” He hacked a bit more before subsiding, his normally direct gaze somewhere over her head and slightly crossed behind his glasses. “So anyway, I got nachos and yogurt and some chocolate chip cookies. And coffee.” His eyes finally focused and came back to hers. “It’s always cooler on the lake.”
    “It’s a warm night, though, and I’m a bit hot. Do you mind if I find seating on the deck?”
    “Outside?”
    “Yes. We can come in if it gets too cold or windy. But it’s kind of muggy in here, you know? Humid. I’m getting sticky.” She plucked at her shirt, still damp from rinsing out Bruiser’s drug.
    “Sticky.” His eyes closed for a moment, then he sighed and opened them to take the tray to the checkout. “Outside and cooler sounds perfect.”
    “I’ll go snag us a place.”
    Outside, she found a long metal mesh bench facing the rail and sat.
    Gabriel soon followed and sat beside her, settling the tray between them. He rearranged the plates so the