Kissing Fortune (Man Season) Read Online Free PDF

swim,
holding all the bad memories of her childhood at bay for only so long. Then
they poured out of her psyche – the miserable hours she was forced to swim back
and forth in the lap pool, endless hours of tears and pain. Her parents were
constantly berating her for being lazy and unwilling to try to excel, as her
mother had. A child has really only one desire in their life – to please their
parents. And she had tried, valiantly. But they could never seem to acknowledge
that. They were interested in her if she did exactly what they wanted, with the
expected results. Otherwise, she was a damned nuisance.
    “Is it much farther?” she asked; her
limbs were giving out.
    “Not much. Hold on, girl! You can
make it!”
    Tierney felt something hovering
nearby. There was a black shadow in the water, with a fin.
    “It’s a shark! Travers, help me!”
    “Stay calm. We’re almost there!”
    “But I’m bleeding! He’s coming for
me. I know it!”
    She was freaking out, losing every
last bit of control.
    “Be still, now!” Travers commanded.
“Don’t let him see you panic!”
    She was crying, hysterical, thrashing
around like a fool, making herself a target.
    Then there came a shot from far off, and
another, and another. The water danced with every hit. The shark scurried off
into the depths of the sea.
    “Hello!” Travers shouted. “Leave it
to you to make a hero’s entrance!”
    Tierney looked to where he was
shouting. A ragged yacht was speeding towards them. At the helm she could see Kiel Fortune, as beautiful and golden as
a pirate in a Technicolor epic.

 
    CHAPTER THREE
     
    Tierney woke in a warm, clean bed on Kiel ’s boat. She was naked, sheathed by a
thin blue knitted blanket. Her leg was bandaged, still stinging like the devil.
Speaking of whom, Kiel Fortune entered the room, eyed her
with a strange melancholy that unnerved her.
    “ You feeling better?”
    “Yeah, I guess so. Did I pass out?”
    “You did.”
    “Sorry. You must think I’m an awful
wimp.”
    “No, actually you’ve dealt with this
stuff a lot better than most would. Is your leg still hurting?”
    “Some, but not like it was. Where’s
Travers?”
    “He’s on deck, minding things.”
    She glanced out a small window. The
sky was indigo, lit up with a crescent moon and about a zillion glittering
stars.
    “It’s night.”
    “Yeah.”
    God, what an idiot she must seem to
him! Usually she could talk to a guy with the sweetest phrases and sexiest
suggestions until he had to give in or bust. But she didn’t know what to say to
a man like Kiel . He wasn’t some airhead jock or
moody pianist. There were sorrows in his eyes that defied categorization.
Things he’d probably never reveal to a living soul. To a complicated,
intelligent man like him she was just a shallow, reality show diva, not worth the
time of day.
    “I hope you don’t mind but I had to
take your clothes off. I washed them and hung them out to dry.”
    “Oh, sure, thanks.” He’d seen her
naked? She wasn’t at her best asleep. Istvan said she
snored, and sometimes drooled – ugh! But who could believe anything he said?
    “You’re a … a beautiful girl,” Kiel whispered unexpectedly. She dared to
peer into his cinnamon eyes, glistening in the dim lamplight. What was she
seeing there now? He closed the door, stepped closer; sat next to her on the
bed. “Travers told me everything.”
    “What do you mean by everything?”
    “He told me about the guys who tried
to kill you two. And he told me why you’re here. You came looking for me. Right?”
    She let her gaze wash over his face;
licked her dry lips in anticipation.
    “You must think I’m really arrogant,
or stupid, to come after you.”
    “No, I believe if you want something,
or someone, bad enough, you’ll find a way to get to them. So, do you want me,
Tierney?”
    She didn’t answer in words but raised
her arms and wrapped them about his neck. He leaned in, touched her lips with
his, opening them