Net of Lies Read Online Free PDF Page A

sand, she felt an unfamiliar and surprisingly painful sting paralyzing her foot. She gasped, swaying and barely avoiding tumbling into the deep water again. The pain was like nothing she had experienced before. The burning sensation that radiated from her foot sent hot shards of agony up her calf. She managed to hobble toward the beach, hopping clumsily as tears sprang to her eyes. One quick glance toward the umbrella confirmed that her friends had left for the bar. The cheerful cabana swarming with tourists sipping drinks wasn’t far. Still, the idea of walking over the hot sand died as she looked down at her foot and was dismayed by the sight of a broken spike lodged firmly in her flesh. She must have stepped on a sea urchin, one of the usually harmless creatures that littered the sea bottom near the beach. Cursing her own forgetfulness, she recalled her friends’ advice to wear sneakers or sandals while walking in the shallow waters of the bay. In her eagerness to leave behind the flirting couples, she had dismissed any thoughts about possible unpleasant surprises waiting under the calm blue water.
    S he dropped to the sand to brush the remaining grains of sand from her throbbing foot. She probed the spike with her nails, biting her lips to stop herself from crying out loudly as the pain intensified. It moved promisingly, only to slide back deeper. The dark spot taunted her as she weighed her options. She could continue to sit there, waiting for her friends to return, or she could hobble back to their parked car a couple of kilometers away. Or she could try reaching them at the terrace of the bar, but the few hundred feet stretching between them seemed like a vast desert.
    As she looked down at her foot, the redness and swelling getting worse by the minute, she opted for the third option, determined to overcome her weakness. Standing up was tricky, and her clumsy hands shook as she pulled a t-shirt over her wet bikini top and forced herself into her white jean shorts. She tried to walk on her tiptoes, but the first few steps convinced her of the absolute impossibility of the task. Resolved to the awkward hopping, she started her trek, biting her lips to stop herself from whimpering. The electric shock shooting up her leg with every single movement she made hurt like hell. Plopping back into the sand, she searched her pockets, hoping to find something to wrap around the sore spot before she continued walking toward the restaurant. Only she had nothing. She cursed softly, her frustration taking over.
    ‘Are you all right?’ A voice, beautiful and deep, broke into her miserable musing, and she looked up into the blinding sun. His tall dark silhouette blocked out the sunrays, and her dazed eyes saw nothing but the outline of his muscular frame. She wasn’t afraid, not at all. After all, they were on a public beach in the middle of the day, with the restaurant close enough for her to hear a wisp of laughter and music that the wind carried toward them over the sand and water. Whoever had stopped to ask the question couldn’t really have dark motives.
    ‘I stepped on a sea urchin .’ She smiled up at the stranger, blinking to adjust her eyes to the shadows around his face. ‘And I think I got a part of its spike in my foot.’
    ‘ Can I have a look?’ His English was impeccable, with just the tiniest hint of a Spanish accent coloring his rich voice. He crouched next to her, close enough for her to smell the subtle fragrance of his aftershave and get a better view of his features. And the world changed. Her mouth dried up as their eyes met, the darkness of his gaze holding her spellbound for a second that seemed to last an eternity. He was absolutely gorgeous. Raven hair and equally dark, straight eyebrows framed his elegant high-boned cheeks, straight nose, and sensuous mouth. His skin was olive colored, and instinct told her it wasn’t because of the sun. Parts of his body that wouldn’t normally be exposed to the