Love in All the Right Places (Chick Lit bundle) by Chris Mariano, Agay Llanera, Chrissie Peria Read Free Book Online

year,” he said without thinking.
    “Are you inviting me back?” Min Hee asked, pulling the goggles down her face and giving Gio a view of her cocked eyebrow.
    “Do you want me to?” he countered.
    “I don’t mind,” she murmured. “I think every girl should just go on vacation and reinvent herself. No questions asked. No explanations necessary.” For a moment, her expression darkened but she shook it away. “Just start from scratch. Be a blank slate instead of having to live up to what people expect her to be, and then suddenly she’s a new person.” She smiled almost lazily. “That’s what every break should be like.”
    A steady throttling sound over the water announced the presence of another outrigger. The boat was still a good distance away, but it was heading to where they were. Gio could already hear voices raised in excitement. Korean, he figured. They pointed in their direction, cameras at the ready to take in the scene.
    “You know those people?” he asked Min Hee, only to hear a splash behind him.
    He turned to see her paddling away. Gio wondered what prompted her to dive without her gear and swim away, when she had been so wary about snorkeling when they first arrived. “Min Hee?”
    She emerged from the water near the tip of their boat, on the side facing away from the new outrigger. She floundered a bit and Gio instantly remembered what she had said about not being a good swimmer. He didn’t hesitate; he dove in after her. In a few powerful strokes, he was there by her side. He propped her up by her arms. There was some faint panic in her eyes but she relaxed against him when she saw who it was.
    “Are you okay?” he demanded.
    She didn’t reply right away. Instead, she immediately put on her goggles, as if she had just remembered that they had been around her neck all along.
    “Min Hee?” he repeated.
    “Shhh, not too loud,” she told him.
    Gio was confused. “What, your name?”
    “I’m hiding from gangsters who want me to work off my father’s gambling debt,” she said with a cheeky wink. “They’re in that other boat.”
    For a brief moment, he had a flash of Min Hee running down dark alleys in Seoul, trying to evade men with guns and tattoos. But then he regarded her seriously. After nearly scaring him, that was all she was going to say? “What’s wrong? Or you’re really not going to tell me, are you?”
    “What?” she protested. “I just did. Now how about feeding the fish over here? Or maybe we can just go. I’ve had enough of this place.” She paddled towards the bamboo outrigger and tried to pull herself up.
    Gio sighed and followed suit. And just like that, the subject was closed.
     

Chapter Six
     
    AFTER SNORKELING, they continued their banca ride around the island. Min Hee seemed quite content with the muffins he had bought, taking larger bites when she thought he wasn’t looking. She made no mention of the incident earlier, so he didn’t either. He just asked the skipper to drop anchor at Yapak and Puka Shell Beach on the northern side for lunch. What he didn’t tell her was that there were also Torreses here; a distant relative named Genrose Ureta (nee Torres) ran a small eatery just down the road. He used to eat here when he was in the area, often when he was younger, but that had changed over the years. Still, Genrose and her family (her father Gener and her mother Rose, thus her unique name) welcomed him as if he were a close relative.
    “I heard you were doing an exhibit on Governor Anding,” Genrose said. At his surprised look, she laughed. “Oh, don’t be so surprised. You know how word gets around. My lolo said he used to come here often, before he became a statesman. Of course Boracay wasn’t Boracay then, and Lolo still lived in Malay. But he would take his boat to bring Governor Anding here once in a while. Even had a pretty girl with him.”
    “You mean Mamang Pilar?” Gio clarified, naming Ex-Governor Torres’ wife.
    Genrose shook