Back To Us (Shore Secrets 3) Read Online Free PDF

hundred-mile radius in one day—it still wouldn’t be half as impressive as Sleepy the Snail.”
    Their laughter bounced off the leafed-out trees reaching over the canal. Even Joel joined in. For about two seconds. Then he cleared his throat. Hard. Hard enough to startle away a trio of birds overhead. “You ready to hear something actually impressive?”
    Carefully, giving the guys a chance to compensate for the weight shift so the boat didn’t turtle, Ward threw a leg back to straddle his seat so he could see everyone. “Gonna be hard to top Zane’s snail factoid.”
    Teeth gritted, jaw tight, Joel muttered, “Dawn and I are going out.”
    “Only took you...what...three
years
to get up the balls to ask our mayor out? I asked Ella to marry me after less than three
weeks
. Talk about moving at a snail’s pace,” Gray huffed.
    That earned him a glare that would’ve shut up many a weaker man. Hell, it would’ve had them diving out of the boat. Slowly, eyes narrowed, Joel drawled, “Lots of women prefer a man who knows how to take his time.”
    Gray shook his head. “Come on. Three years, Joel. You took enough time to date, marry, have a kid and get divorced.”
    “Well, we’re starting with a date.”
    Joel was at least ten years older than the rest of them. Had to be pushing forty or right past it. Ward would’ve thought that, by that age, he wouldn’t want to waste another minute by going slow. The fearless black-ops/special-ops/whatever-dangerous-sneakiness soldier must really be scared about taking things with Dawn to the next level.
    “Hang on.” Zane leaned forward, elbows on his thighs. “You asked her out a while ago. Right after Casey and I got engaged. Back in July, right?”
    “I was going to. But I backed off for a while because you popped the question. Her face lit up when she talked about basking in the joy of her stepdaughter’s happiness. I didn’t want to mess that up.”
    “Great.” Zane rolled his head to crack his neck. “So your snail’s pace is now my fault?”
    “A little, yeah. More than a little, actually.” Joel tugged off his cap, roughly scrubbed a hand through his curls, then resituated it. “As soon as Dawn said yes to a date with me, she flew off to Iceland with both of you to meet Casey’s father.”
    Talk about slamming the brakes on. An ex-husband back in the picture was a guaranteed damper. This particular ex-husband had run off with his young daughter and joined the infamous Sunshine Seekers cult. It took Dawn almost two years to track down Casey and rescue the eleven-year-old girl. The dad—the man Ward still wanted to beat black and blue as payment for everything he’d put Casey through—fled all the way across the Atlantic to avoid prosecution.
    When Zane showed up this summer, he got all hot and bothered about tracking down the lone survivor of the secretive cult. His bloodhound-like pursuit almost lost him the girl. In the end, though, Casey agreed to introduce him to the father she hadn’t seen in fifteen years so he could write the definitive book on the Sunshine Seekers.
Awkward
didn’t begin to describe that reunion. Casey had been one big exposed nerve. She’d texted Ward from the airplane, the airport, the taxi and even the lobby of the hotel leading up to the meeting with the jerkwad. Dawn went along to smooth the waters, so Zane and his brimming bank account had sent her on a dream vacation to Paris afterward as thanks.
    Ward figured he’d throw the blame bomb on Joel’s behalf. “Professor, that is totally your fault.”
    Zane dipped his head, brown hair falling forward onto his forehead. “Point taken. But Dawn got back three weeks ago. I’m not taking the blame for this latest holdup.”
    Ah. Ward thought he knew exactly who to blame. Every bit as much as he knew Joel would never cop to the real reason. But for a supposed
ex
-soldier, he sure disappeared with regularity and returned with bruises, gashes and a weak-ass cover