Read Online With Every Breath (Sea Swept #2) by Valerie Chase - Free Book Online

come unplugged from the wall, so it’s not across us. I try to sit up, but West shakes his head.  
    “Don’t move just yet. Are you hurt?” His eyes search my face. He pushes himself up onto his elbows so I can breathe, but our faces remain only inches apart.  
    “I don’t think so,” I say shakily. “How about you?”  
    He doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he brushes the hair from my face and runs his fingers over the back of my head.  
    “What are you doing?” I say.  
    “Shh.” His own blue eyes look a little dazed. And worried. He’s almost a different person right now, with concern pulling the edges of his mouth down. His fingers are gentle. The West I thought I’d figured out would be telling me to brush myself off and get back to work. But this West has curled his hand around my cheek, every bit of his attention focused on me.  
    Finally, he nods. “Doesn’t look like you have a concussion.”  
    That’s when I realize that West has seriously saved my butt. Those lights are super heavy, and I don’t want to think about what might’ve happened if one of them had hit me on my head.
    “Thank you,” I say.  
    “For what?”
    “You know, catching my fall.”  
    “It was nothing,” he says, meeting my gaze. Our bodies are still pushed against each other, and his warmth radiates into me more with every second. His muscled arms bracket my torso, making me feel safe. Alive. I’m not sure I want him to move. Realizing that one hand is clutching his shirt, I make my fingers relax. Of their own accord, they flatten on his chest, reveling in the feel of him.
    Something hot and bright flares to life in West’s blue eyes, almost like he knows what I’m thinking. His body tenses against mine—and then he mumbles something and pushes himself into a sitting position.  
    “What happened with the ship?” I ask, sitting up too and feeling embarrassed about my reaction to the guy who hooked up with my roommate last night. Are he and Camelia a thing now? Or does he sleep with lots of shipmates?
    Either way, it’s so not my concern, I remind myself, and focus on the ship and the alarming lurch that started this whole thing. Could it have been the storm? But the Radiant Star isso big that I’d figured it would be immune to anything but a hurricane.
    “Not sure. I should find out.”  
    We stand up, leaning on each other, and an announcement comes on over the speakers. The captain, in a thick Italian accent, explains that the ship’s motion was the result of a rogue wave, and that anyone injured or seasick should report to the ship’s clinic immediately.
    “Rogue wave?” I say. “Is that even a thing?”
    “It happens. First time for me, though.” West studies me again and starts running his hands over my arms. “Hold on. Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”  
    “What?” I say. His touch is distracting.
    “You’re bleeding,” West says.  
    I look down to see blood on my shirt. West lifts the hem to look at my waist, but there’s no injury.
    I realize West has a gash on the outside of his left bicep, and that’s where the blood is coming from. “I’m not hurt. You’re the one who’s bleeding.”
    West twists his head to look at his arm and mutters a curse. “Great.” It’s not serious, though, and he returns to studying me. “You sure you’re okay?”
    It’s strange that he’s fretting over me, especially with how gruffly he’s treated me since I got here. “Yeah. Maybe bruised a little.”
    “Sorry about that.”
    He turns before I can tell him not to apologize; after all, he was protecting me. Shielding me from the light that nearly fell on my head, which might have—
    “West, your back!” I exclaim, seeing the bright red splotch on his shirt just below his right shoulder blade. He groans a little.  
    “Yeah, it hurts.”
    “It’s bleeding! We have to get you to a doctor.”
    West reaches around with his left hand to feel the wound. He winces, but shakes his