Going Deep (Coastal Heat #1) Read Online Free Page A

and improved Brooke.
    “Hand it over and I’ll put my number in for you.”
    Brooke’s eyes narrowed when Jack waggled his fingers. Brian was surprised she didn’t try to bite them off. She proved she was still the same girl who ruled the cheerleading squad and the student government with equal aplomb when she fixed the fool with a brilliant smile. “I left it in my coat pocket.”
    “And you wonder how your phones end up stolen, Sugar.”
    Brian wanted to deck the supercilious asswipe. It rankled that a man who graduated in the bottom third of their class thought he could talk to like she was the one challenged by complex sentences. He took a half step forward, but Brooke halted him by threatening the toe of his shoe with her stiletto.
    “You know, you’re probably right. You’re so smart, Jack.”
    Brian choked on a laugh but quickly covered by raising his glass. Focusing all his attention on his new best friend, Johnnie Walker, he pretended not to be affected when the girl who fueled his teenage fantasies took his arm and pulled him closer.
    “You remember Brian Dalton, don’t you?”
    She squeezed Brian’s bicep as if she was testing him for ripeness, and a part of him hoped she would. If he could get rid of the big blond dickweed, he’d show her a man at the peak of his prime.
    Washed-up Ken barely spared him a look. “How’s it going?”
    The dismissive greeting pissed Brian off more than the People magazine article calling him ‘the Earth Channel’s sexy shark stalker.’ First of all, he didn’t stalk sharks or any other aquatic predator. He was a highly-trained marine biologist and oceanographer. Second, if the sexy label held any water, he was going to use every ounce of it to pry Jack Tucker’s hand off Brooke’s tiny waist and claim it as his own.
    “It’s going great.” Turning to Brooke, Brian dropped a slow, deliberate wink. “I’m glad your mama called to invite me. I figured I’d show up and drop off a check. I didn’t know I’d get a chance to catch up with the old…gang. Nice to see not much has changed since I moved away.”
    She turned to him with a smile set to stun and an edgy gleam in her eyes. “Brian and I were about to dance. Weren’t we, Brian?”
    He held it together. Barely. He couldn’t have been more surprised if she announced she’d seduced Brad Pitt in the Winn-Dixie and was carrying the movie star’s quintuplets.
    But she hadn’t.
    She said she wanted to dance. With him. His inner geek did an awkward dance-step-spin thing, but the rest of him stayed stock-still. He ignored the annoying, incessantly rational part of his brain when it chimed in to remind him this event wasn’t set up for dancing. Recorded pipers played a relentless stream of jaunty reels through a discretely hidden sound system, but there was barely enough room to walk, much less dance. Still, if Brooke wasn’t concerned with the plausibility of her excuse, he wouldn’t be either.
    “Yes, we were.” With Brooke’s hand secure in the crook of his left arm, he couldn’t resist the impulse to rub a little salt in Superjock’s gaping wounds. Offering his hand, he stared the other man straight in the eye and told the biggest lie of his life. “Good to see you again.”
    Jack scowled. “Yeah. See ya.” The ice in his glass rattled as he drained the last of his drink then turned away without taking the proffered hand.
    Brooke stiffened as they watched Jack stalk toward the bar. Brian didn’t need to read her mind to know the faux pas was unforgivable. One thing a gently-reared Southern woman took seriously was the appearance of good manners.
    “Horse’s ass.”
    She drawled the epithet, her lips pursed with enough taut displeasure to warm Brian straight down to the bone. Anxious to claim his chance at getting his hands on the Homecoming Queen at last, he covered her hand with his and started leading her from the room.
    “Where are we going?” she asked as he steered her toward the