Midnight Sun by M. J. Fredrick Read Free Book Online

flopped onto his back. When she chanced a look at him, he gave her a grin that would take her breath away if she had any left.
    “We are really good at this.” He twisted to kiss her and sat up in the same movement, climbing off the bed. “Do you have your own bathroom?”
    “Through there.”
    He bent to give her another, lingering kiss before disappearing in the attached room. He returned a moment later and crawled back in bed, sliding his legs between the flannel sheets, under the thermal blankets.
    “You prefer a side?” he asked, his back to the bulkhead as he leaned on his elbow.
    She couldn’t think of what to say. She’d expected he’d stay maybe a few minutes more, then bolt back to his room. She didn’t think he’d make himself at home in her bed.
    “I—don’t care. You don’t have to stay.”
    He folded his hands behind his head. “You want me to go?”
    “No. You don’t need to go.” The idea of sleeping in his arms sent twin shivers of terror and longing through her.
    “Good. I’m comfortable here.” He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her beneath the covers, her back against his chest. He smoothed his hand over her hair and settled his head against her pillow.

    Marcus woke with a start. Sunlight streamed through the shuttered windows onto the bed. Brylie’s cloud of red hair snagged in his stubble. She smelled delicious, some kind of fruity shampoo or something, mingled in with her own scent. His arousal nudged at her bottom and she made a soft sound of approval in her sleep. He shifted, careful not to disturb her, and rubbed his eyes. Something had woken him, and it wasn’t his inner alarm telling him to get out of a woman’s bed. He wondered where that alarm was.
    Instead, he listened to an unfamiliar hum vibrating in the air.
    “Brylie.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm to wake her. “What’s that sound?”
    “Hm?” She woke slowly, turned toward him before she opened her eyes dreamily. “Hey. You’re still here.”
    “What’s that sound?” he asked again. “It’s different. Like an engine.” He hadn’t heard the engine of the Ice Queen since he’d been on board—that was supposed to be part of the excellence of the ship.
    She lifted her head when shouting outside her window carried over the other sound. He sat up then and peered through the slats of the porthole shutters. What he saw had his heart arresting before pumping adrenaline through his body. Another ship had pulled alongside the Ice Queen, about a third of the size, and men were on deck, waving their arms as black smoke poured from the chimney. Brylie pressed her face close, to look, too.
    “Are they in trouble?” he asked, though some instinct told him they weren’t.  He strained to see the security team Captain Winston had spoken of, but couldn’t from this angle. Surely they’d move into position since they were under an alert.
    She shifted away from him. “We should go see what’s going on.”
    And then, while Marcus watched, Brylie’s father approached. Marcus’s skin iced when the men on the other ship pulled out automatic weapons.

Chapter Three

    Marcus rolled into action, pushing Brylie off the bed ahead of him. “Get dressed. Quickly. In something warm.”
    He bent to snatch up his clothes as the sound of machine gun fire rang out. Brylie made a sound of distress and lunged for the window, but Marcus grabbed her. The last thing he wanted her to see was her father bleeding on the deck. He gripped her shoulders and looked into her face.
    “Brylie. Think. Where can we hide?”
    “The closet? The bathroom? I don’t know!”
    They’d be trapped in those places. He released her with another curt order to get dressed, and scanned the room, and the ceiling. Solid. Hell. He opened the door into the hallway and saw what he was looking for, tiles that could be pushed up and likely had a crawlspace. The trick was getting up there, and quickly. He hoped it would hold their weight.