Love's Call Read Online Free PDF

thoughts of another woman. A woman who, like Shaila, also wanted to have nothing to do with him. The curvy and clearly complex lady who he’d yet been unable to reach--Liana Harris.
     
    ***
    Liana pulled the sheets over her shoulders and settled into her tiny twin bed. Alyssa hadn’t returned to the room yet, and Liana hoped she wouldn’t pull an all-nighter with some stranger her first night on the ship.
     
    She assumed that if she did, it would be with Lloyd.  Lloyd was just her type. He was the tall, light-skinned type of pretty boy that she couldn’t resist.  And she knew it would be hard to pull her friend away from him.  She would have preferred to drag Alyssa back to the room with her, to keep her friend out of trouble, but Alyssa was a grown woman, and she had learned a long time ago not to meddle in her business. All she could do was hope that Alyssa exercised at least a modicum of common sense on that cruise ship.
     
    But though Liana was concerned about Alyssa, she knew it was just a distraction from what her mind had actually continued to revisit that night since she’d returned back to her cabin.  Kyle Jones. If Alyssa had found her type, she had to admit that Kyle was definitely hers.
     
    Though her last relationship was with Brian--an abnormally tall man--before him, she’d always found herself attracted to men of average height, sometimes even on the shorter side. But that was fine since she wasn’t exactly a tall woman either.   Kyle seemed to stand no more than five feet, ten inches tall, and that may have even been pushing it.
     
    His even-toned, chocolate skin seemed so smooth that she longed to reach out and touch it just to see if it felt the way it appeared. And the effortless way that he sang had struck a chord within her that she hadn’t even known was there.  When he’d looked at her from behind that piano, as if she were the only person in the room and his song was a serenade meant for her, and her only, she had felt her defenses weakening.
     
    If I was stupid enough to consider getting with someone on this trip, he would be the one. But I’m not, she told herself, s o it doesn’t matter.
     
    Liana wasn’t interested in a relationship, or even a fling on this trip. She had come here to enjoy a week-long vacation with Alyssa and that was it. At least that was what she’d told herself before she’d met Kyle Jones. Though his friends’ intentions were a bit questionable, she didn’t quite get the same feeling from him when she spoke to him.  He had seemed genuine and kind—even sweet.  But she knew all too well, that most people’s behaviors didn’t stray much from the company that they kept.  If Lloyd and Duane were his closest buddies, it was likely that he was like them---players on a mission.  A mission to conquer as many women as possible on that singles cruise.
     
    Besides, women are already clinging to him. She remembered the way the women had flocked to him after his performance.  She closed her eyes, in an attempt to sleep and shake the memory of the petite and fully glammed-out beauty that had taken a seat next to him right before she’d left the lounge.
     
    She heard a noise at the door and opened her eyes to see moving shadows underneath the door, interrupting the light from the hallway that streamed into the room.  She heard muffled voices and laughter from the other side of the door, and a slight pause. The lock of the door clicked and she watched as the door swung open.
     
    Alyssa walked in, and closed and locked the door behind her. Liana turned so that her back now faced Alyssa.  She really didn’t feel like chatting tonight.
     
    “You still up, Lia?”
     
    “Uh-uh…” she mumbled from underneath the covers.
     
    “What a hell of a night, huh?”
     
    “Not really,” Liana answered.
     
    “I am really feeling Lloyd.  I think we’ll get along just fine.”
     
    Liana turned back to look at her friend.  Alyssa turned on the lamp