Read Online The Art of My Life by Ann Lee Miller - Free Book Online

about to go,
found some garlic salt that hadn’t turned to rock, a pinch of red
pepper.”
    The wind whistled outside the cabin
and swung the boat west. Sun coming through the portholes dimmed,
and Cal turned on the marine battery-powered light. “We make a good
team.”
    Her eyes lowered.
    “ I wish I would have asked
for your help at the beginning,” he said. “You always wanted to run
your own business. You’ve got the aptitude for it. I have the boat,
the seven hundred and twenty sailing hours for my Coast Guard
captain’s license.”
    He gave her the rundown on the
repairs, catalogued the fourteen customers he’d had in three months
of operation. “Help me, Al. Talk to your boss. Buy me some time.
Think about taking over the business end of things. You could make
the business fly. I know you could.”
    Rain pelted the cabin and decks. Van
Gogh whined under the table.
    Aly’s brow wrinkled. She peered
through the porthole.
    He picked up on her unease. “It’s just
rain—no lightening. I can take you back. I’ve got a rain
poncho.”
    “ No. What if it started
storming when we were half way between the Escape and the
marina?”
    He could point out that land was less
than five hundred yards away, but he didn’t want her to
leave.
    She pushed away the empty carton of
ice cream, shivered, and rubbed her arms.
    Cal headed for the bow. “I’ll get you
a blanket.”
    Thunder clapped.
    Aly launched from her seat and gripped
the bulkhead, wild-eyed. Before the sound dissipated from the
cabin, the color drained from her face.
    He crossed the two steps between them
and pried her fingers from the bulkhead, slipping the blanket
around her, pulling her close. “It’s just a squall. It’ll blow
over.”
    A wave smacked against the hull,
lurching the boat to one side and pitching them off balance. They
fell onto the bunk in a tangle of limbs.
    Cal laughed and tried to sit
up.
    Aly’s arms snaked around him in a
death grip, pinning him to the bunk. “It’s not funny.”
    Cal pushed the hair out of her eyes.
“The thing that looks like a wire brush on top of the mast is a
lightening arrestor. You’re as safe here as you would be in your
condo.”
    “ That’s not
helping.”
    Cal stuffed pillows under their heads
and repositioned the blanket over her. He rubbed circles on her
back. “It’ll be okay.”
    The boat rocked in the wind. A shudder
passed through Aly’s body with every clap of thunder.
    Van Gogh put his front paws on the
bunk and tried to scramble up.
    Cal shoved him down. “No, you big
sissy. If I let you up here once, you’ll think you get to sleep
here every night. Besides, if it’s between you and Aly in my bed,
she’s going to win every time.”
    Aly giggled.
    Good. She was calming down.
    The storm sounded like an all-night
rain and not a squall that would rumble through in half an hour.
Maybe that was wishful thinking.
    Now that Aly was in his arms, he
didn’t want to let her go. With the exception of his short-lived
infatuation with Raine, he’d probably always wanted permanence with
Aly. Only now, time was running out. Aly probably dated some guy
now. She was always seeing someone. But at twenty-three, people
didn’t just go out. They got engaged. She could marry the guy in
months.
    He closed the space between them and
filled his lungs with the scent of mint growing in the forest. He
needed Aly to rescue his business, his self-worth, so he’d have
something to offer her. It was humiliating to ask. But he was out
of options.
    The thunder subsided, but rain
continued to assault the boat and his optimism. Aly had said the
bank was past the point of giving him more time. She was too smart
to sign on to a sinking business. He needed to prepare himself for
her no .
    Aly’s breathing eased into a normal
cadence, and his body warmed against hers. He’d made some pretty
stupid decisions in the past, but having sex with Aly tonight would
go into the hall of fame. He put air between