Pier Lights Read Online Free PDF Page B

coffee.
    Shoving her blanket away, Caroline got out
of bed and cursed. Her foot hurt. A lot. She knew she’d turned
wrong the night before, in the sand, when she thought she saw a
glimmer as she left the beach and pivoted toward it. Too fast. Too
careless. She’d felt the pop, had to sit down long enough to
massage it back to where she could walk home. And damn it hurt
today. It would be a long night at work as she forced herself to
hide it.
    It nearly pulled her thoughts from the sword
guy, though. Not quite. It was too intense, her vision of him. Of
course as always her thoughts made him far more intriguing than he
would be if she got to know him, if she knew what he did on a daily
basis. She always did. She always fantasized men into more than
they were and the reality when it whacked her in the face always
knocked her over.
    So this time it wouldn’t. This time she
would enjoy her fantasy and never meet him. Her fantasies were
always kick ass. Her reality couldn’t ever compare. She didn’t ever
expect it to compare, unlike a lot of naive women who thought they
could have a fantasy man in real life.
    Caroline laughed as she hobbled to the
shower and turned it all the way to the hottest position. At least
she could separate her fantasy from reality. At least she learned
from her earlier mistakes. That was more than many women did. They
just kept on looking for Mr. Perfect who would never exist.
    Let them. If that’s what got them through
their days, let them have at it. She would find something more
real, something temporary and fleeting and passionate ... and then
she’d move on first.
    Not with Mr. Big Sword. Him, she would not
meet. She would not use and leave him. She would admire him from
the shadowy distance and make him into anything she wanted and
refuse to let that burst into nothing by actually meeting him.
    Although she did have to wonder if his other
sword was just as appealing, just as...
    Of course it was. He was a fantasy. She
would make him anything she pleased. Of course it was. He was
magnificent. Big. Broad. Muscled. Controlled. Oh, so very
controlled. And so very uncontrolled.
    Damn. The pain couldn’t even begin to
distract her from that.
     

 
     
     
    ~6~
     
     
    Dio rowed out from their dock out along the
shore, down toward the pier. Tomorrow night he could go back to
work. He was tempted to go tonight, to see her. But the day had
been long, too long, and he needed time alone to unwind under the
stars.
    He’d waited later than normal, until his
mother was finally asleep through her congestion. He worried when
she got sick, even a little summer cold as she called it. She told
him again to find a nice girl so he’d still have someone around for
him once she wasn’t, someone to cook for him and to look after
things for him, to talk to at night.
    He told her he could cook just fine and look
after things just fine. Talk didn’t matter. He’d rarely talked to a
girl who held his interest enough, or agreed with his views well
enough, to be worth the trouble. He only needed one for his
physical needs and he could do that with bimbos from the audience,
while in costume, when they didn’t know who he was.
    He wouldn’t again risk trying for more, not
with the way things were. It wasn’t worth the heartache.
    And he wouldn’t allow himself more
heartache.
    Anchoring his boat to his normal spot since
he wasn’t interested in exploring tonight or in seeking new waters,
Dio stripped out of his clothes, other than the black shorts, and
picked up his sword. He started with easy warm ups, rotations,
thrusts, bends that rocked his boat but only as far as it would
still hold him. He knew exactly how far he could push and when he
had to rein in and shorten his movements.
    There was something exhilarating in taking
it almost all the way to the edge and then pulling it back. It was
something perverse in his nature, he expected. Or it was
learned.
    Either way, it was part of him. And it would
drive a