Under the Boardwalk Read Online Free

and secure in his arms. He was so much bigger than her, but somehow he didn't frighten her at all. She felt safe and relaxed.
    They stood rock-still until the deer wandered off, disappearing back into the fog.
    Hallie pulled away from Kyle. Her heart was pounding. She shook her head to clear the fuzziness, and lost her balance.
    Kyle immediately grabbed her again, supporting her in his arms so she didn't fall.
    "Hey, you're not getting dizzy, are you?" Kyle asked. "Do you need to sit down?"
    He helped her sit down on the path, then knelt in front of her. She put her hands out on the petal-strewn path to brace herself.
    She could almost believe that this gentle, warm-hearted man had conjured up the blossoms and the little "unicorn" just for this occasion. She felt a part of her that she'd thought had died, the part that believed in dreams and magic and wishes that came true, begin to stir to life inside of her.
    "Are you sure you're okay?" His voice was a deep murmur, low and gentle as a caress. "I can carry you the rest of the way if you want." He reached up to pull a flower petal from her hair. When he touched her, the reconnection with him sent a shock through her and she froze. What was he doing to her? She'd never felt like this before.
    Hallie came back down to earth with a thud. What was she thinking? There was no such thing as magic. The unicorn was just a mangy old deer. Windy's larger-than-life brother was no storybook hero, but just a mortal man with problems that were none of her business. And her head hurt, and she felt confused, and all of this was wrong, somehow.
    She pulled away from him and he frowned. "Hallie?"
    "I'm fine," she managed to say. "It's just... magical. The unicorns, I mean."
    Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "Well, magic or no, it's time to get you home. I'll call Dr. Lil to have a look at you. And," he added with a mischievous grin, "I'll leave it to you to break the news about the Little Guy to Windy."
    "Windy?" Hadn't she been talking to Windy? She put a hand up to her forehead. "Windy?" she repeated.
    "Yeah, Windy. You know. About this high," he gestured. "Talks a mile a minute. Giggles incessantly. That Windy."
    "Windy."
    "Yeah. What's wrong, Hallie?"
    She looked up at him. "Where's Windy?"
     
    ~*~
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Windy's phone was ringing again. She listened as the "Call Me, Maybe" ringtone repeated itself, its volume muffled by her purse. It had been one of Zac's little jokes, changing her ringtone every time he got ahold of her phone. He thought he was so funny. As soon as she got out of here, she was changing his ringtone to the Hanson brothers. That'd show him. The phone stopped, then a minute later started ringing again.
    "I should answer that call," she said.
    The guy holding her purse in his lap just shook his head. Who was this crazy dude? She had no idea why he'd brought her to this stuffy little room, no idea why he was fidgeting with an old but lethal-looking Colt pistol and eyeing her with a thoughtful look.
    "People will wonder where I'm at."
    Again he shook his head.
    So she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to ease the aching from the zip-ties holding her to the creaky wooden chair, and looked around again, trying to figure out where she was. A basement, maybe. No windows, no sense of where she'd been taken by this guy. Four walls, a low ceiling, a door. Cement floor. Lots of cobwebs. Single bare lightbulb hanging in the middle of the room. Yup, it was the standard horror movie basement room.
    "There's probably already a search party out looking for me." She heard the beep from the phone that told her somebody had left her another text message.
    The guy started rifling through her purse. "Hey!" she said. "That's mine." Dumb comment, since he hadn't seemed too concerned about her personal space when he bashed her in the head and brought her here. She was at least comforted by the fact that he hadn't touched her after tying her up. Hopefully that meant he wasn't