Passionate Tides Read Online Free

could see sadness in his eyes when he talked about his home and she hoped that someday he would feel comfortable enough to share with her his real reasons for leaving.
    They sat and talked until the sun dropped low in the sky. He told her about his friends back home and the championship football game in which he fumbled the winning touchdown. They laughed at stories about Tiffany and her as children running up and down the sand. His laughed warmed her even as the cold evening wind chilled her skin. The lights of the pier signaled the end of the tourist and the beginning of night fishing. When the fisherman came to check on their poles, they knew it was time to leave, but she wasn’t ready for the night to end.
    She wanted to spend as much time learning about him and his life as she could, but she didn’t want to press him and make him feel obligated. Every minute that she spent with Jake was like time spent with an old friend. The problem was that this friend was gorgeous and she could feel her healing heart slip away with each small gentle touch. They reached the end of the pier and she watched him as he led the way to his truck. She wasn’t ready to call it a day. She looked out over the pinking sky and an idea to drag out the evening struck.
    “Why don’t we walk the south end of the island? I haven’t been out there for years and I’d love to see the sun set over the sound.”
    “I thought you’d never ask.” His response was almost instant and his boyish smile brought waves of desire that the cool evening air couldn’t compete with. When he brushed her leg with his hand while helping her into the truck, she swore she could hear her heart skip a beat.
    At little over twenty miles long, most of the island was covered by homes and businesses, but not the south end. It was a bird sanctuary and was undeveloped, leaving miles of untouched sand and surf to explore. Jake pulled in and parked his truck at a public access and after removing their shoes; Jake reached across her seat to grab a small backpack from the backseat and threw it over his shoulder, making the muscles in his chest bunch. Handing Paisley a small flashlight, they started on the long walk that would take them from the ocean side to the sound side of the island.
    At first, neither said a word, but there was no strain in the silence between them and that was unusual for Paisley. She always felt like she needed to fill the void that was between her and Vince when they were alone, but with Jake she was okay with just being beside him and listening to the water as it tried to push closer to their feet. This went on for several minutes until she realized she wanted to share more of herself with him.
    The view of the sun dropping behind the horizon had them stopping at a nearby dune. Sitting in the sand, they watched the brilliant colors dance over the waves, making it look like a moving rainbow. She looked out over the darkening ocean and took a deep breath of the salty air. She didn’t understand why she felt the need to tell him about her past, but the urgency was so strong that she couldn’t have stopped the words if she tried. It was like Sunday in church, the need to confess so strong that it tore the words from her throat. “I love this part of the island. When we were little, we would come down here and walk for hours, collecting shells, and playing in the tide pools. It seems like such a distant memory, almost like it never happened. My dad would carry me on his shoulders when my feet became tired and I could barley hold my eyes open, while my mom told me stories about the pirates that used to hide in the sound. She once told me there was a ship there,” she pointed off into the water, the lights of Wilmington twinkling in the distance beyond the sound. “She said that a storm rolled the ship while it was trying to make safe passage from the British Armada. She said that the waves took the ship down to the ocean floor and lost with it was