Going Deep (Coastal Heat #1) Read Online Free

algae.”
    “I need your help.”
    The request for assistance didn’t shock him as much as the word ‘need’. The Brooke he knew was always careful about what she said to people. Since she’d become a journalist, he had to assume word choice was still every bit as important to her now. And how was he supposed to turn his back on her if she actually did need him? As if sensing his inner turmoil, she plunged ahead.
    “I’m working on a story. A big story. Big as in important. Not that your choice in underwear isn’t—”
    “Hello, beautiful.”
    Brooke stiffened as a hand encircled her waist. Brian had to glance down to confirm it wasn’t his own hand. It wasn’t. He jerked his head up, prepared to glare at the fool who dared to interrupt this moment. Surprise, surprise. Jack Tucker.
    As oblivious as he’d always been to anyone but himself, the jackass pulled Brooke a little closer to his side. “Miss Emmaline said she thought you might make an appearance, and I couldn’t miss my chance. You are one tricky lady to pin down.”
    Watching them together, Brian found it hard to believe the overblown frat boy was still a variable. The guy was clinging to Brooke like the creeping kudzu Brian’s mama battled in her garden. And like those persistent vines, the man was insidious. Thankfully, the brittle smile frozen on Brooke’s pretty face told him she felt the same way.
    “Didn’t you ever get your cell phone replaced, Sugar?”
    Brian bit back the urge to take notes when the flash of annoyance flittered across Brooke’s beautiful features. The girl who once ruled his daydreams had lost the ability to mask her true feelings, and that was a discovery worth witnessing.
    “Oh. Uh….”
    She darted a glance in Brian’s direction and wet her lips. If she’d looked at him like that in tenth grade biology, his knees would have gone weak and his palms sweaty. Today, he managed to stand his ground. Barely. He wasn’t a nervous, awkward boy anymore. He was a man. A highly educated and accomplished man. And a celebrity. Of sorts. Women wanted him. Men wished to be him. At least, some men did. And as for the women… Funny, he was still most intrigued by a woman he’d known almost all his life.
    Her sharp green eyes and the killer curves poured into a slinky black dress were the bow on a potent package. A pearly pink blush stained Brooke’s cheeks. He knew her well enough to recognize it as the glow of anger and frustration, not embarrassment. As a teenager, she was far too bright and ambitious to fit the mold everyone wanted her to squeeze into. Everyone around her wanted her to be less than she was.
    All he ever wanted was for her to be more. To herself and to him.
    Brian once prided himself on pushing her. Looking back on their friendship, he could see he clearly hadn’t been fair to her either. With the perspective of time and distance, he saw he was as guilty as the rest of them. He hadn’t allowed Brooke to simply be.
    Seeing her now, it was obvious she was still the paragon she’d always been, but more imperfectly perfect. He wanted her more than ever. If that was possible.
    “I did, but they gave me a new number.”
    “Well, what is it?” Jack’s tone was colored with enough indulgent amusement to make Brian grind his teeth, but Brooke handled it with her usual grace.
    “I can never remember it.”
    Her airy reply startled Brian from his reverie. He stared at her, incredulous. Any idiot could see the annoyance and impatience simmering beneath peach-colored skin. Well, any idiot but Jack Tucker. Brian stifled a snort, but failed at hiding his grin. Nothing more amusing than watching an intelligent woman try to play dumb.
    “You were never a technical girl.”
    The moron actually chuckled when he said it. His too jovial, too condescending, too-stupid-to-be-believed laugh made Brooke’s nostrils flare. The tension in Brian’s shoulders and back uncoiled. Jack Tucker would never have any luck with this new