Undertow Read Online Free Page A

even called Kels in weeks.
    But Jim wasn’t to blame for her behavior.
    Each night, Marissa dreamed of a man in the ocean, a creature, unsurpassed in beauty and strength, who had saved her from drowning. It was that intoxicating fantasy which invaded her mind, not a crush on some mere mortal guy. She longed to escape her world and join his.
    If only she knew how.
     
      
    Winter break finally arrived. Jim planned to fly back to Denver to visit his family for the holidays. Actually, he was going there because the skiing in the Rockies was vastly superior to the wet stuff on Mt. Hood. Marissa wouldn’t know. The thought of strapping sticks on her feet and zooming down a hill appealed to her as much as bungee jumping.
    Before he left, Marissa struggled to tamp down her nervous energy. He dawdled inexplicably and kept asking if she would be alright.
    “All you have to do is say the word,” Jim said for about the eighth time. “I’ll call the ’rents up and let them know I can’t make it.”
    It was freezing on the porch, and she bounced from one leg to the other to keep warm. “Are you nuts? It’s Christmas. They’ll kill you if you don’t go home.” She wished he’d just kiss her goodbye before Erin came out and started chattering.
    “I’ll take that chance,” he smiled. “Sure you won’t get too lonely?”
    “Lonely? Are you kidding? There’s no getting lonely. Mom never leaves me alone for a second when I’m there.” She tried to laugh, but made a weird hiccup sound instead. He frowned at her. Marissa nearly shoved him toward the car, reassuring him that she’d be fine.
    An hour later, when she calculated that he was safely past the point of changing his mind and turning around, Marissa dragged her suitcase from the closet where she stashed it after packing last week. She grabbed her coat and phone. Hopefully, she’d get out the door before Erin caught her. Really, the last thing she cared to do was to engage in some meaningless conversation with her roommate, and the girl was absolutely incapable of taking a hint.
    She didn’t intend to drive straight to her mother’s, not yet. That could wait. What she planned couldn’t. For weeks, since that first dream in which her rescuer had finally appeared to her, Marissa had been aching to do some detective work and those investigations required a trip to the coast. Solo.
    It was a straight shot out to Waldport from Corvallis. From there she drove south on 101 until she saw the vacancy sign. The website had done a pretty good job capturing the look of the place, but seeing it in person sent a tremor across her skin. She sized it up. The inn was an old house set upon a bluff, just South of Cape Perpetua. With its ocean view, even off-season rates were sure to be pricey, but she reasoned the expense was for a good cause—scientific research.
    The woman in the lobby gave her a suspicious look and asked for cash. Marissa counted the bills one at a time on the counter, took the key from her and stomped off. She hauled her bag up to the room on the second floor and dropped it on the bed. Standing at the window, she took in the view of the ocean.
    He lived under those waves somewhere, she knew. She just had to find him.
    The sun would set in a couple of hours. If she planned to get to the beach and back before dark, she’d better go now. She grabbed her binoculars and slammed the door shut behind her.
    The beach below the hotel was empty. Even the popular beaches didn’t get much traffic during the winter; without a parking lot and stairs for easy beach access, drivers weren’t likely to stop here anyway. She picked her way down narrow stairs obscured by manzanita shrubs and clung to the rope anchored beside them.
    Sand gave way beneath her feet as she walked along the base of the bluff. Logs and stones, polished smooth from tumbling about in the ocean and deposited at high tide, would rest unmolested until some extraordinary wave in a winter storm stole them