Breeze off the Ocean by Joan Hohl Read Free Book Online Page A

decided to stalk you.” His eyes laughed at the sudden pinkness in her face. His voice dropped to a low caress. “I still might.”
    Struck speechless, Micki had stared at him, praying for some bright, crushing words to pop into her head. None did, and then it didn’t matter, for someone—that throaty voice could only have belonged to Regina—inside called to him and he turned away from her. He took one step, then glanced back at her, the wicked grin flashing again.
    “A pleasure meeting you”—he paused—”young Micki.”
    Micki had gone all hot and flushed, first with embarrassment, then with anger. He spoke to me as if I was a little girl, she’d thought furiously, and I’m not. I’m nineteen, for heaven’s sake and I hope I never see that bigheaded, overbearing Wolf again.
    Even so, her anger and hope notwithstanding, his image filled her mind the rest of the night and she saw very little of the evening’s entertainment.
    “Well, honey, I see you’ve found a good seat for the show.”
    Micki blinked away the past and glanced up at her father, a shaky smile on her lips.
    “Yes,” she answered vaguely, noticing, for the first time, that it was nearly dark. “Shouldn’t it be getting under way soon?”
    “How far away were you?” Bruce laughed. “If you’ll merely look to your right, you’ll see it’s nearly on top of us.”
    Micki’s eyes followed the direction of his casually waved hand. Then she whispered a surprised, “Oh!” Sure enough, the procession of gaily decorated, brightly lighted boats of all sizes was indeed nearly on top of them.
    For several minutes Micki watched the parade of boats, enjoying the reflection of the lights on the water, laughing at the clowning antics of the men in the smaller boats, and waving at the people of all ages aboard the cleverly festooned crafts.
    But her eyes soon drifted to that one spot at the rail, clouding over with the rush of memories.
    She had not seen him again for almost a week. Then, when she was finally beginning to get his image out of her mind, she felt the touch of his silvery eyes again. At the time she’d thought it was very strange. She’d been walking near the far end of the boardwalk with Cindy and two other girls, all of them laughing as they munched on slices of pizza, when she felt an eerie shiver skip down her spine.
     What had made her lift her head, glance around, she didn’t know, but she’d just felt compelled to look. This time he was propped against the boardwalk’s pipe railing, his eyes fastened on her. He didn’t call to her or even wave, but the grin flashed white and wicked and his eyes seemed to speak of things beyond her wildest imaginings. She had caught herself just in time from choking on her pizza and had hurried on, but after a dozen steps she’d glanced back to find his eyes still on her.
    Early in August she’d seen him again. That time she’d been leaving the theater after the early evening showing of a controversial R-rated movie. She had been with her gang and the comments, both pro and con on the film, were flying hot and heavy. Wolf, with a beautiful, high-fashion-type redhead clinging to his arm, was going in to the late evening showing. Micki nearly bumped into him. There was no grin this time, but as he passed her one eyelid came down in a slow, devilishly suggestive wink.
    And then, in late August, there was a cookout at a friend’s beachfront house and all the unbelievable events that followed it.
    There must have been twenty of them, not counting her friend’s parents and the people they’d invited. After they’d eaten, they’d split up into two-man teams for a sand-sculpting contest, which, the adults vowed, they’d judge impartially. Micki had been teamed with Tony Menella, and even with all the horseplay and general craziness, their sculpture of a reclining nude had won hands down.
    As twilight settled gently on the beach, Cindy had suggested they go hunting in the sand. They’d