Hot Point Read Online Free

getting serious about poker. The only bets were who was buying the first round next time they went to the Doghouse Inn.
    So he stayed put but still watched Denise as she moved through the line. She’d exchanged her work vest for one of soft leather that wrapped and showcased her figure. He watched how the ends of her hair curled down the back of the dark leather, mirroring the curves of her splendid behind that invited a man to dream of…
    He shook his head. Who in the world was he kidding?
    Getting the hots for Denise Conroy was about as useless as getting the hots for some movie star on the big screen. Sure, a guy could lust after Zoe Saldana, but that didn’t get him on the bridge of the Enterprise .
    No way it was ever going to happen with Denise Conroy. To make it even more unlikely, she’d been dating some townie for almost a year, which struck him as pretty damn serious. And her attractiveness level was off the charts. Vern usually did pretty well—occasionally very well, though those occasions always surprised him—but Denise was up at a whole other level of amazing.
    Vern turned back to the game. “Come on, you losers. My stomach is grumbling.”
    Mickey flashed his hole cards at Vern. Vern slapped his roommate on the back in a friendly way. It was a good thing that they were only playing for drinks. No matter what last card was turned up, Bruce was about to kick Mickey’s ass.
    And boy did he ever, getting a three-drink raise before driving the hammer down.
    Damning himself for a fool, Vern swung wide as he and the guys threaded their way toward the chow line. The others bucked their way in the straightest line, weaving and dodging among the tables, occasionally goosing somebody as he was about to take a drink. You could easily follow the wake of turbulence they left behind as they went.
    Vern followed the line of least resistance, walking outside the perimeter of the clustered tables. A flight path that just happened to pass close by where three of the four women had settled.
    Carly and Denise sat with their backs to him. Denise was half a head shorter than Carly, even sitting down. But the way her hair caught the last light of day and shimmered with each tiny shift of body position was a siren call.
    He might have crashed right up on those rocks if Jeannie hadn’t been facing him from across their table. She watched him, puzzled for only a moment, then offered him a knowing smile.
    Shit!
    The woman was too smart for his own good. Well, hopefully she’d have the common decency to keep her mouth shut or he really would be crashing on the rocks.
    He cut farther to the outside to get clear. That had him passing close to Mark, Emily, and their daughter. Tonight their island nation was slightly isolated to one side from the rest of the group.
    He passed behind them just as Emily spoke softly to her husband.
    â€œHonduras?”
    Vern suppressed a shiver across his shoulders and paused at their table. “Honduras? If you’re thinking of a vacation now that the fire season is almost over, you can do way better than Honduras.”
    Emily closed a folder that was sitting on the table before they both turned to look at him.
    â€œYou know Honduras?”
    â€œI do.”
    Tessa sat at the end of the table beside Emily, beating on a small bite of chicken with the back of her spoon and the enthusiasm of a two-year-old.
    He circled around and sat next to her, starting the airplane game with a small french fry to get her to eat it while he spoke to her parents. She was a bright, shining girl who looked much like her mother.
    â€œIn 2009, I was serving on the Coast Guard cutter Bertholf. We were coming out of San Diego as the Honduras coup d’état of that year was kicking into full gear. Five months of political train wreck.”
    He managed to land the french fry, which Tessa began cheerfully chewing away on. He selected a bit of beaten chicken for the next