Read Online Pier Lights by Ella M. Kaye - Free Book Online Page A

me.”
    “No.”
    “Dio...”
    “Not until you take off yours.”
    “What?”
    “You know.” He kissed her again, harder,
deeper, softer. “You’ll be here tomorrow?”
    “Yes.”
    “Let me take you home tonight. To your
door.”
    “No. I...”
    “Lina, I won’t come to you. I’ll wait for
you to come to me. But I don’t want you to walk home now, as late
as it is. As ... relaxed as you are. Let me take you to your
door.”
    She nodded.
     
    Dio wished he had something better than his
old truck to drive her home. She didn’t comment. She let him hold
her door and slid over to the middle beside him, her head on his
shoulder as he drove her a few blocks from where he kept his boat
tied.
    They arrived too soon. He turned it off. She
didn’t move to get out.
    “Lina?”
    “I’m not ready.”
    He tilted her face up, met her lips. She
shifted closer, held him tight. “Walk me in.”
    Walk her in? And if he ran into someone in
her building in his mask and the black shorts and T-shirt with Lina
in nothing but her sarong? She hadn’t put the bikini back on. She
wrapped the sarong over her, barely covering herself, and climbed
in his truck that way.
    Dio raised a hand to her breast, caressed
her nipple, felt it harden. She caught his mouth, clamped a hand
over his sword, as she called it.
    “Walk me in. Dio, walk me in.”
    “As you command. But I’m not responsible if
I scare your neighbors.”
    “They’re all long in bed by now.”
    He opened his door and she slid out behind
him. “You left your suit.” It was on the seat.
    “Yes.” She reached up to kiss him. “I’ll get
it back from you later.”
    He would have to hide it. Under the seat.
Not that his mom was ever in his truck, but in case. This, he
didn’t want to explain to her. And he wouldn’t be able to stay
long. Dawn would arrive soon. He had to be home before then.
     

 
     
     
    ~12~
     
     
    Dio paced in the hospital hallway and turned
his head away whenever anyone drew near. Still, he got stares. He
wished he could have taken his mom into Columbus instead of having
to rush the fifteen minutes, or what should have been fifteen
minutes and turned out closer to ten, to Charleston. He didn’t want
to be seen in Charleston.
    When he got home this morning, too late this
morning since he had trouble pulling himself away from Lina, he was
concerned about what his mom would say. She wasn’t naive. She knew
he’d been with women. Hell, he was over thirty. Barely over thirty.
That didn’t mean he wanted to be obvious. And it didn’t mean he
wanted questions about whether she was a nice girl.
    Yes. She was a nice girl. A naughty nice
girl. A beautiful sexy intoxicating naughty nice girl. And she said
she’d be there, on the beach, tonight. She didn’t want him to pick
her up. She wanted to walk as she always did and meet him as though
she didn’t know who he was and pretend she might or might not tread
out to her boat again.
    An amazing naughty nice girl. Dio wanted to
see how long she would last, how long she would stay with him
before she insisted on seeing his face. That was usually how it
ended. They would insist. He wouldn’t give in. They would
leave.
    Once he did. He did give in. Only once. He
never wanted to see that reaction again. He’d rather let them
go.
    But Lina...
    A clearing throat took his attention. His
mom’s doctor. At her door.
    “How is she?”
    “She has pneumonia. It’s going to be touch
and go for a while. You might as well go on home or to work or
wherever you need to go. We’ll have to keep her here.”
    “No. I’ll take her home and take care of
her. Just give me her prescriptions and...”
    “I don’t suggest that. It could be
dangerous. As I said...”
    “I want to see her.”
    “Yes, come in. We’ll talk about it
more.”
    Dio knew this guy expected his patient to
give in to his advice, but he didn’t know Cleo Troy.
    “Well there you are. Come here and tell this
man I’m just