Read Online Ship of Dreams (Dreams Come True Series Book 2) by Rebecca Heflin - Free Book Online Page B

Marseille spread out before them, and the sparkling Bay of Marseille beyond. Some five hundred feet below, the city’s white stone buildings with their terracotta-tiled roofs fell in a jumble at their feet, like a child’s discarded building blocks. Above, a sky so clear and blue, it almost hurt to look at it.
    The splendor of the scene outside competed with the magnificence of the basilica’s interior. Nathan had never seen anything like it. The church’s mosaics had fascinated him with their brilliant palette of colors and depth of detail. He wasn’t a religious man, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the architecture and artistry of the Neo-Byzantine structure.
    “I’m not often rendered speechless, but this does it,” Laura said as she gazed out over the vista.
    “Ditto.”
    The salt tang drifted in on the breeze, and Nathan filled his lungs with it. As work assignments went, this one was off the hook.
    He and Laura stood in companionable silence, too awestruck to do anything else. She removed her sunglasses, lifting her face to the sun, eyes closed, a slight smile on her face. The breeze teased a few strands from her braid and fanned him with the scent of her perfume. He could see the pulse in her neck, enticing him to press his lips to her sun-warmed skin.
    “You should know I’m not opposed to a shipboard fling.”
    He glanced up and into her open eyes. Yeah. The chemistry couldn’t be denied. He’d felt it the instant he’d wrapped his hand around the ankle of her imprisoned foot. Should he forego the opportunity fate presented to him on a silver platter? He’d regretted not asking for her phone number that day and now here she stood offering him what any man would be crazy to refuse.
    She turned to face him. “I’m a big girl, Nathan. I’m not dreaming of white dresses and china patterns. I’m receptive to a purely physical relationship with no strings. Clearly there’s attraction here.”
    Sweet Jesus.
    She stepped closer, but didn’t touch him. Didn’t matter. His body responded as if she had. Yep, crazy. So let the romancing begin. Snaking an arm around her waist, he drew her in for a kiss sure to be as soul-searing as their first.
    He touched his lips to her sun-drenched mouth, tasting the heat and desire there. Clutching her hips, he felt her sway toward him, her hands pressed to his chest. Vaguely aware of the crowd, he sought to deepen the kiss without making a public spectacle. His tongue tangled briefly with hers, before he withdrew, taking a tender nip of her lower lip as he retreated. He gazed down into eyes so blue and unwavering they gave the sky a run for its money.
    She flicked her tongue over her lips before sucking her lower lip into her mouth.
    He groaned, closing his eyes. “God, woman, you’re killing me.”
    She smiled, slow and seductive. “Wait ‘til I get you to bed. Hope your insurance is paid up.” She lifted a shoulder. “Just saying.”
    His knees threatened to buckle. But wait he would, and so would she. The patience he’d learned as a boy on the streets of inner-city Atlanta, then later in the hills of rural North Georgia, had taught him as a young man that the anticipation of obtaining the object desired only heightened the experience once it was obtained. And he had hours left in the day, and the evening, to romance her. And romance her he would.
    Nathan shook his head as he studied the view.
    “What?” Laura asked, confused.
    “I feel as if I’m on the set of a movie or something. It just can’t be real.”
    Their table at Chez FonFon in the picturesque Vallon des Auffes , a small fishing port off the Corniche , overlooked the little harbor where colorful wooden fishing boats bobbed at their moorings.
    Earlier they’d walked along the Corniche JFK, tracing the rocky coastline of the Mediterranean, stopping to appreciate the beauty of the villas and gardens that dotted the route.
    Then they’d ordered what was touted to be the best