Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

leaving.   “So… how’s Mom doing after the wave fiasco?”
    Blakesley laughed softly. “Fine,” she said. “Although I will admit, it freaks me out every time I think about what would have happened if you guys hadn’t come to our rescue. I’ll admit I’m not a very good swimmer.”
    His easy smile broadened. “Now that you’re living in California, you’ll have to learn.”
    She waved him off.  “I was born and raised in California, so that has nothing to do with it,” she told him. “I’m from Los Angeles. I just never liked swimming very much. I was always one of those girls who would rather look cute on the beach than get my hair wet; hence, I never really learned how to swim very well.”
    He was warming to the conversation, thrilled that the initial awkwardness had passed.  Maybe if she warmed enough, too, she would ask him to sit next to her. “I get it,” he pretended to be wise to her. “You were the girl that all the boys wanted to pick up on.”
    She feigned outrage for a few seconds before breaking down in giggles. “That sums it up pretty well,” she said, sighing heavily. “Oh, let’s face it; I was a vain little witch.  Now I try and raise my daughters to be the opposite.  Girls like me always seemed to attract the worst kind of men.”
    By the time she finished, her smile was gone and, embarrassed, she turned back for her chair if only to give herself something to do.  She’d said too much and was feeling humiliated for it.  She pointed to the chair next to her.
    “Can you sit for a minute?” she asked, purely to change the subject. “Are you in a hurry?”
    “No.”
    “I’d love to buy a drink for the man who saved my child’s life.”
    He’d been waiting for that invitation since the moment he arrived and gladly took the seat next to her, although he didn’t want to seem too eager so he tried to be casual about it. He was so casual that he ended up stumbling into the chair and trying not to look like an idiot in the process.
    “Thanks,” he said, hoping she didn’t notice that he tripped over his feet. “Are you sure I’m not interrupting anything?”
     “Not at all,” she assured him, waving over the waiter. “Like I said, they’re at movie night. I have at least two hours to kill until I have to pick them up.”
    “Are you sure you want company? I mean, I really didn’t come here to interrupt you. You said you were on vacation so maybe you just want to chill without chatting it up with a stranger.”
    It seemed to her that he was a bit nervous.  She could tell just by the way he was rambling.  The big, beefy Navy man was actually nervous and she suppressed a smile.  She was thrilled, of course, but she also decided to have a little fun with him.
    “So…,” she leaned forward on the table, folding her hands and looking at him seriously. “You were just driving by the hotel and decided to come in and see how Cadee was?”
    He was sucked in by her big bluish-green eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”
    He answered as if he was facing an inquisitor and the smile she had been trying to hide was threatening to burst forth. “Where were you going?”
    “How’s that?”
    “I asked you where you were going when you were driving by the hotel. You said you were driving by.  Surely you were going somewhere unless you were just driving aimlessly.”
    “I wasn’t driving aimlessly, ma’am.”
    “Where were you going?”
    “It’ll cost you a drink to find out, ma’am.”
    She did grin, then.  The waiter was standing next to the table and Beck ordered a domestic beer.  When the waiter went off to fetch it, Beck returned his attention to Blakesley.
    “Until my drink arrives and you get the answer to your question,” he lifted an eyebrow at her, “I get to ask some of my own.”
    Her eyebrows rose in mock outrage. “What?”
    “You heard me. I’m reserving my right to ask questions, too.”
    She sat back in her chair and collected her wine, biting a