Passion and Pearls (The pearl series) by Dani Marie Read Free Book Online Page A

and hissing of indrawn breaths was so loud that it seemed as if it had been choreographed. He smiled and told them quickly that she was doing well, the operation had fixed the problem but she would be in recovery for some time. He suggest they go home, get some rest and come back later when he would let a few of them see her.
    When the doctor left the room the conversations started up again and the room almost exploded with questions and relief. All to soon, the question Aqua was dreading came when Blu’s sister asked him how he knew their Mom was going to have a heart attack.
    Aqua couldn’t speak, she just looked at Blu and then down at the floor. She knew this was it, the new life she had carefully constructed was about to end. Her heart was breaking, this time not only was she going to have to leave her friends, business and home, but she was afraid she’d fallen in love with Blu and wasn’t sure how she was going to bear it. With a strangled sound of pain she turned and ran. She didn’t want to watch it happen again, not this time.
    Blu and his family watched her go, surprised and not understanding. But Blu knew he’d seen fear and pain in her beautiful green eyes and he wouldn’t watch this woman run away from him. With a shrug for his family he went after her. He found her walking away from the hospital. He fell into step next to her, saying nothing but noting that she had tears flowing down her face. They walked another couple blocks in silence, until she started to step across the street and Blu put a hand out to stop her. She hadn’t seen the car coming and he didn’t want her to get scared or hurt. She stopped and looked at him as if she didn’t even know he’d been there, maybe she didn’t, he thought.
    Now she tried to wipe her tears and he could see her trying to gather herself.   “Wanna talk about what just happened?” Blu asked her and she looked at him but shook her head no. 
    They continued walking, ending up at the back entrance to Aqua’s apartment. Blu took the keys from her shaking fingers and unlocked the door. He followed her in and shut the door. Aqua was just standing in the kitchen when Blu took her hand and walked her to her bedroom. He sat her on the bed, then went into the bathroom and Aqua heard the water start in the bath. He came back to her and taking her hands, stood her up and began undressing her. She didn’t stop him, or even waver as he gently stripped her naked. He walked her into the bathroom, adjusted the water again and added a generous amount of bath salts. Once he had the bath ready, he slowly helped her into the hot soothing water. He left the room and returned shortly with a glass of wine and Aqua could hear soothing music from the stereo. Blu was glad he had sisters and understood that now was not the time to talk. He knew Aqua needed some time to decide what or if she wanted to talk to Blu or anyone about what was bothering her. He left her and went to the kitchen and started cooking a simple late lunch since they had missed it with everything going on.
    Aqua cried herself out then once she realized the water had cooled knew it was time to face Blu and talk about her gift with him. Come what may, it was already an issue and she might as well face the situation. She got out of the tub, a bit wrinkled and cold but with her mind in a better place. She dried off and went into the bedroom. She was dressing in comfortable clothes when she smelled whatever Blu was cooking and realized how hungry she was.  With one last mental pep talk she headed toward the kitchen. When she walked in the kitchen, Blu turned from the stove and with a smile, went to her and enfolded her in a hug. He just held her for a while. He wanted her to feel comfortable and secure. He wasn’t sure what was going on, why she was so upset but he wanted to find out and the protector in him wanted to fix it. Blu couldn’t help himself, he softly took her face in both his hands and kissed her. He