Page 101 of Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

I opened the envelope.

Dear Mia,

I have tomorrow night off. Meet me at the dock at 6 pm for your belated—and private—sunset cruise. You won’t regret it.

Love, Jason

I don’t know why I kept staring at theLove, Jason.

We had nothing in common. He was a bartender who took risks, had no future plans. No plan for disasters.

I didn’t take risks. I had my future planned from now until I died. I had plans for every imaginable disaster.

He lived in paradise. I lived in New Jersey and commuted to New York because it was cheaper than a New York apartment.

Love, Jasonwas just a signature, like I might write on a note to a friend. Casual. It meant nothing.

But that kiss, that perfect, delicious kiss, meant something. That kiss was... damn. It was everything I have ever wanted in a kiss. It was the kiss to end all kisses. The kiss I had been waiting for my entire life.

No man has ever kissed me like Jason Mallory.

And when I left St. Claire, I knew I’d never find a man who could.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”

—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,A Case of Identity

An annoying, steady noise broke into my subconscious, pulling me out of a deep sleep. I groaned, managed to open my eyes a slit and look at the digital clock. 8:03.

I put a pillow back over my head, but a knocking noise cut through the layers of feathers and cotton.

I sat up, dropped the pillow, and heard my name outside the glass doors. I’d lowered the blinds, hoping to sleep. My entire body ached as I pushed the button to open the blinds.

Brie stood there and motioned for me to open the door.

My knees creaked as I hobbled the ten feet over to the door and opened it. I turned and shuffled back to the bed and collapsed, face-first.

“I’ll make coffee.” Brie walked over to the kitchenette.

“You shouldn’t be here.” My voice was scratchy.

“I’msomad at my dad,” Brie said. “I didn’t know he was going to talk to you until Sherry told me. I would have come last night, but we got into it and—well—they’re getting married.”

She blinked back tears.

“He told me,” I said.

“I told him it wasn’t okay to act like a Neanderthal and embarrass you, embarrassme, like he did.”

“He was nice and apologetic, but worried. He’s right—if you’d fallen and were hurt—”

“I didn’t, and I wasn’t, and you weren’t, and I swear Gino made a much bigger deal about it than it was.”

“Why did Gino talk to your dad anyway?”

“Because he’s a jerk.”

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