Sweet Solace (The Seattle Sound Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

cancer. It ate her up for years before she finally died.”
    She touched my cheek, her eyes softening with empathy. I didn’t tell her I’d been thinking about her as much as my mom. That sounded unrequited, and I’d never liked Romeo and Juliette. He should’ve moved on, like I did.
    I hung my head, my turn to feign interest in the sand. A long moment slid passed, the only sound the water lapping at the shore as I searched for a safer topic. “You weren’t kidding about connecting with lyrics. Let me guess—you’re a writer.”
    “Mmm. Nailed it in one.”
    “Anything I’ve heard of?”
    “Doubt it.”
    “Color me curious.”
    “You ever read a romance novel?” Her muscles tensed, probably because of the usual comments about writing smut.
    I sang about affairs—mine and my buddies’—I’d heard all the shaming comments. “A couple.”
    “Really?”
    “Reading. Yes, I do it. There’s not much else to do between stops. I’m shit at Xbox.” I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t love ‘Moonshine Eyes’?” I had to know. “‘Drifting deeper in my dreams,’” I sang, my voice soft and low. Dahlia shuffled closer, her eyes widening as I continued, “‘I swear I never thought you’d leave.’”
    Her lips parted, her tongue darting out to touch the center of her bottom lip just as it had that first time I sang this tune.
    I dipped my voice lower. “‘I’ve stared so long into those moonshine eyes, sliding further in the calming sea of pleasure and mystery.’”
    “Oh, God,” she whispered, her breath a warm puff across my lips.
    Yearning was etched deep in her eyes and the way her luscious mouth opened in welcome.
    “I do like that song. So much. It’s beautiful,” she said, her voice reverential.
    I wanted to pull her close, mold her soft body to mine. “What if I told you I wrote it for you?”
    She leaned back enough that her lips were no longer inches from mine, her eyes darkening with pain. “I’d say you were trying to get in my pants, and we have an agreement.”
    I was silent for a long moment, wishing I’d reconnected with her sooner. Later. Any time but now when my life was so totally fucked. I picked up a shell and tossed it hand to hand.
    “If I wanted to get in your pants, I’d sing you ‘Let’s do it in the Surf.’ You know, to set the mood.”
    She laughed, grabbing her stomach, eventually collapsing back onto the sand. “That’s the song that created my daughter,” she gasped between giggles.
    “Wait until I tell the guys we get to claim partial credit for your daughter. And critics say our music doesn’t always live up to its potential.”
    “For what it’s worth, I was eighteen, looking for adventure, and hyped from your gig. I met Doug on the beach later that night. He wouldn’t come to your concert.” She sobered, her eyes distant, remembering. “The water was so freaking cold. Don’t do that, by the way.”
    “What?”
    “Try to make love in Puget Sound.” Dahlia shuddered. “That’s hypothermia waiting to happen.”
    Silence enveloped us again. Like the dark, it was comforting.
    “So you really read romances?” Dahlia asked. I loved how she looked at me. I had her full attention. She cared about my answer.
    “Of course. Jessica reads them, goes through them like they’re candy. My mom was more literary, but she had a couple favorite genre authors. One was a romance writer.”
    She snorted. “I bet you read a vampire or BDSM series. Something sensational.”
    “Neither. My mom told me about Lia Moore’s books when I was going through a bit of a slump. When Mom died, I wanted to connect with her on some level. She, Lia Moore, I mean, is pretty deep.”
    Her shoulders tensed, and she glanced at me from the corner of her eye. I wondered . . . There was no way.
    “So what do you write? Anything as good as Lia Moore’s books? Last I heard, she was taking some time off to spend with her family.”
    She stood, brushing the sand from the back