Read Online The Light of the Blue Pearl by K.C. HAWKE - Free Book Online Page A

beat,” he said, looking out at the shadows of trees and the
ocean in the distance. “But I’m sure you are probably even more
tired than I am.”
    “I am pretty tired,” she said, staring down
at the ground still recovering from the brief touch which obviously
hadn’t affected him the same way. “But I might have a walk on the
beach in me,” she said, looking up and seeing him smiling at
her.
    “Let me just put this inside. Do you want me
to put yours in here too for now?” she asked before even thinking,
hoping that it didn’t imply anything to him for later, but afraid
that it had.
    “Sure,” he said, trying to hide his smile
but failing miserably.
    She unlocked the door and they both put
their bags in before heading out to the warm beach.
    As she stepped onto the sand she couldn’t
help but remember the dream that had haunted her when she was on
the plane.
    Obviously this setting wasn’t the same, it
was night instead of day, and she was with Ian rather than waving
at an unknown stranger. But for some reason the dream came to mind
and she couldn’t help but wonder if Ian had been the stranger she
had seen on the beach in her dream.
    She was forgetting herself. Forgetting the
reason she stayed away from people when she was home. But there was
something about this place, something about Ian that made her not
even care.
    In the end she figured this trip would be
over soon and Ian would be a distant memory, someone kind she had
briefly enjoyed an island paradise with. She ultimately had no
intention of it being anything more than pleasant company with an
unexpectedly kind and admittedly attractive man.
    “How long are you staying here?” he asked
her, almost as if he had read her mind.
    Not wanting to have to think about this she
quietly responded, “I’m actually leaving in the morning.”
    Ian slowed his pace to a speed a snail could
have kept up with. “Really?” he asked, obviously disappointed.
“That is a pretty short trip,” he said, quietly laughing to himself
at the absurdity. “Your friend couldn’t pay for more than one day
for you to be here?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Almost seems cruel to make you travel all the way here, only to be
here one day.”
    “Yeah,” was all she could muster as a reply.
She hadn’t wanted to even come on this trip. She had been
completely terrified, but now that she was here and saw how
incredibly magical and beautiful it was, she didn’t want to leave.
Add to that the fast friendship she had found with Ian and the
thought of going home in the morning almost made her cry.
    “Well I’m kind of glad you didn’t go
straight to bed then,” he said, quickening his pace just slightly
and smiling again at her. “I’m exhausted and you are too, but you
have to see more of this place before you go, to do otherwise would
be criminal.”
    “But it’s dark now,” she responded. “What
can I really see now?”
    “Well we could go to a bar…or go dancing,
but I think we are both too tired for that,” he said.
    “Yeah, definitely too tired for that,” she
said, smiling at the thought that he didn’t want to say goodnight
to her either.
    “Well then we should just enjoy the beach.
It is beautiful, especially at night and much calmer for a couple
of old people like us,” he said with a laugh.
    She laughed with him, and they continued
walking down the beach and seeing the stars look down at them.
    They both tired after a little while and
decided to take a rest. Not having brought a blanket but not really
caring either they both plopped down on the sand and looked out at
the dark ocean in front of them.
    “What time do you leave tomorrow?” he
asked.
    “My flight’s at 9:00 a.m.,” she answered, a
bit sad that the subject had been brought up again. “And I have to
say I am not looking forward to the flight home, especially without
my moral support,” she said, nudging him a bit and smiling.
    “Yeah, what are you going to do