Unearthly Power by R. K. Read Free Book Online

moment herself, she decided to go o n. “I like when people give me gifts. I love chocolate, walks in the park, and candlelight dinners. And I never pass up a good cheeseburger and beer!”
    “What about you?” She asked.
    “Me? I love cheeseburgers and beer.”
    “No, silly, I meant tell me about yourself.”
    “Oh.” He said feigning misunderstanding. “Well, my job is my life. I can’t see myself doing anything but diving for one reason or another. I live with Alex, and my sister Deidra lives in Miami but she helps with the business too.”  
    “No wife, kids, or significant other?”
    “No. This is it. You?”
    “No. I guess our jobs keep us too busy for that.”
    “Yeah, I guess so. But, there probably are circumstances that could change that.” He said reasonably.
    “I certainly hope so. Most of the things I like in life are better when shared with someone else.” She said seriously as she stared into his eyes.
    “Unless you’re running low on beer,” he replied, instantly changing the seriousness of the moment which resulted in his seeing the better portion of her tongue.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

~ Four ~
     
    W hen the Cantankerous II made port, both Dee and Tori helped Alex secure the boat while Sean shut down the engines. Tori spent most of the cruise in the company of either Sean or his sister. She was close in age to Deidra and they soon found they were more alike than they would have imagined. Intelligent and professionally minded girls of their age were seldom taken seriously; especially when they had the physical attributes they were endowed with. There was no competition between them in their current circumstances and no threat to any personal interest. While she loved her father, Tori was happy with the situation she found herself in. Having people her own age to interact with on the job was a luxury she seldom experienced. In the short time that she knew them, she instinctively knew Deidra and her brother were close and that there were more similarities between the two than not, excluding their outward demeanor. So even if she didn’t spend all of her time flirting with her good-natured brother, Tori learned much about Sean from her interaction with Deidra. She liked them both.
    Once the ship was secured, Alex inspected the engines, Sean filled out his log book and the professor came to the wheelhouse.
    “I’ll go ashore and make arrangements for fuel. I also need to contact our benefactor to see about the ROV. I shouldn’t be long,” he stated before turning to leave.
    “Sounds good.” Sean managed to say to his back as he walked out the door.
    When everyone was finished with whatever self-assigned task they had, they gradually filtered into the galley.
    “So what now?” Alex asked.
    “We wait until the professor gets back. He’s checking on the ROV and some fuel.” Sean answered.
    “It’s a beautiful day out. Maybe we can spend some time ashore.” Tori said.
    Dee nodded her head in agreement.
    “We’ll see,” Sean said not unreasonably. “It’ll depend on what your dad has to say. It’s his dime.”
     
    When professor Kirby returned to the boat, the sound of voices led him to the crew.
     
    “The boat will be refueled later today,” he said as he stepped into the room. The others became silent waiting for him to continue. “The bad news is that the delivery scheduled for the submersible has been delayed. It won’t arrive for another two days.”
    While that may have been bad news to him, the other four people in the room felt quite the opposite. The boat owners were being paid by the day regardless of their activity and his daughter had sight-seeing on her mind.
    “So there isn’t any reason we have to stay onboard.”
    He looked at his daughter, considered what she said and then replied, “No. I don’t see why there is. Unless there are any other preparations that need to be made,” he finished as he turned to look at