Tempest by Jenna-Lynne Duncan Read Free Book Online Page B

pulled away. “You smell really
good, has anyone ever told you that?”
    I laughed, “No.” I
tried to reconcile this version of Ana with the quiet, shy girl I saw
the first day in the lunch room. Both were appealing but it was
refreshing to see Ana away from all the realties.
    “Well, I’m glad to
be your first. The first.” The sound of her laughter filled the
car. “I don’t know why I said that. Oh! Music.”
    I smiled as she
fidgeted with the radio.
    “No,” Luke grabbed
her hands and that seemed to sober her. “Let’s just see if we can
be quiet, ok?” Luke was still holding onto her hands long after she
nodded. He suddenly realized it and released them as if he was
burned.
    Ana looked at me and we
shared a secret smile.
    “Why hasn’t she
passed out by now?” Luke was trying hard to be irritated.
    “I’m not sure,
we’ll have to get something in her stomach.”
    “How far away are we
from civilization?” Luke mumbled.
    “It’s ok, Luke!”
Ana patted Luke’s back and that shut him up real quick. I laughed
as I heard Luke stop his breathing and stare straight out the window.
    “So you like music?”
I asked Ana, wanting to get as much information about her while I
could.
    “Yes,” she was
still trying to keep her eyelids open while twirling a strand of
golden hair between her fingers. I was getting a glimpse of
‘Care-free Ana’. Of the Ana she was without all the confusion and
aloofness, and I was liking it. I thought of how it would be with
just us and our time, not clouded with the supernatural.
Something…normal. I really need to get this stupid grin off my
face.
    “What else do you
like?”
    “Hmm,” she seemed
to ponder this, still touching her hair, tempting me to run my
fingers through it to test its softness, “like, my favorite
things?”
    “Sure.” Yes.
Please tell me anything that could help me win you over, I
thought eagerly.
    “Well, you already
know one of my favorite books.”
    Did she wink at me?
“Yes, I do. And you mine.”
    “If I recall it was a very interesting selection.” She chuckled more to herself
and I once again wondered what pieces of the puzzle she put together.
“I love the feeling of being able to breathe and be weightless
underwater, I love my grandma’s red beans and rice, I love the
color purple, and I love New Orleans. The people, the culture,
everything,” she breathed.
    “You like to dive,
then?” I already knew this about her. The information Troy had
gathered on her revealed from her w-2 that she was employed at the
St. Bernard Parish Community Center as a part-time Scuba instructor.
She has been PADI certified for three years and, according to her
passport, has put it to good use.
    “I love it.”
    Perfect, I
thought. I was confident now that she was going to love where I was
taking her.
    She continued after a
yawn, “My dad is a salvage diver…among other things.” She
paused as a laugh escaped her. “I used to travel with him on
business…the good ol’ days.”
    “But not anymore?”
    She shook her head,
gently stirring the scent of lavender in her hair. “No, not so much
anymore.”
    There was a hint of
sadness to her tone and I knew there was more to the story. I decided
not to ruin her mood by asking about who her father had evacuated
with that morning .
    Ana looked at me, still
with the same dreamy expression.
    “Why don’t you lie
down?” I suggested guiltily.
    “I don’t want to
lie down. I’d rather talk to you.”
    Who could argue with
that?
    “Look, we can get
some food up here to the left,” Luke interrupted, reminding me that
he was there.
    I looked to the place
he was referring to, “it’s a bar.”
    “A bar?” Ana
sounded a little too upbeat about it. And that was only part of the
problem.
    “It has food,” Luke
shrugged, “and I really need to get out of this car, Hayden .”
    So touchy lately. “She
doesn’t even have shoes on…” Ana was still barefoot, having
lost her flip flops when I