Friendly Fire (The Echo Platoon Series, Book 3) by Marliss Melton Read Free Book Online Page B

pretending to fly. Most likely hundreds of couples had reenacted that moment while on a cruise.
    Dreamy nonsense, she scolded herself.
    "That's because we've entered the Caribbean," he stated on a thoughtful note.
    "Now the color is—what would you call it?—azure, maybe teal?" she asked him.
    "I wouldn't know," he answered with a hint of humor. "Men have a pretty basic color palate—dark blue, light blue, navy blue."
    "You're not like most men." She glanced over at him. "You've read Pride and Prejudice ."
    "It's a classic," he said with a dismissive shrug. "But this view does remind me of a poem by Wordsworth. Let me see if I remember it."
    He had a gift for memorizing verse that had blown her away the first time she heard it—and every time subsequently. She turned slightly so she could study his arresting profile and waited for him to begin.
    " And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man. "
    The words hung between them, too perfect to be sullied by mundane commentary. Her heart lifted on the breeze as if held aloft by something true and eternal.
    "I wish I could do that," she stated wistfully. "My memory is awful."
    He shrugged and looked at her. "I can't really take credit for it. That's just the way my brain works."
    Feeling his gaze on her lips, her heart skipped a beat. Was he so focused because he meant to kiss her? If so, what was taking him so long?
    "There is something else that I've worked hard to develop, though."
    He removed his sunglasses as he turned to her, and she knew they'd gotten to the point of their stroll.
    "What's that?" she asked dismissing her shallow disappointment over not being kissed again.
    "My intuition. You know, we all have untapped mental powers." His hazel eyes searched for her reaction to his words. "With concentration and training, intuition can be enhanced and strengthened, just like the muscles in our body. Intuition resides right here—" he said and lightly touched a spot on her forehead between and above her eyebrows. "Between the left and right hemispheres."
    Her skin seemed to burn after he pulled his hand away. She frowned, wondering where this was leading and also wishing his lips would go where his fingers had just touched her or lower, capturing her mouth once more.
    "You've probably heard it referred to as the third eye."
    His words distracted her from craving the feel of his lips on hers. "Are you saying you've developed extrasensory powers?"
    "Anyone can," he answered. "Haven't you thought about someone when the phone rings, and it turns out to be the person you were thinking of?"
    "I always know when my sister is calling," she admitted.
    "Well, there you go. That's called prescience . Your intuition picks up on the energy of their intent and gives you advanced warning. American Indians used to be able to see the road ahead of them before they walked it. I've learned to do that, too."
    She regarded him in amazement. "You can see what's lying around the bend before you take the turn?"
    "Yes, and more. I can see puddles, ditches, and enemies lying in wait behind a wall."
    "Oh, my gosh." A thought entered her mind. "Did you know that our paths would cross again?"
    "No." He shook his head. "Unless I'm actively remote-viewing—that's what it's called—then I don't see anything. But sometimes I get intuitive hits, like when I boarded the ship yesterday." He broke eye contact to study the pilot house on the fourteenth level, immediately above and behind them.
    She could sense the tension building in him. "What did you see?"
    He looked back at her and immediately away again. "I'm not sure yet."
    For some reason, his vague answer disturbed her.
    "Just..." His gaze sought hers again. "Keep vigilant," he pleaded. "And if you see anything suspicious, please tell me