Lost Wishes Read Online Free Page B

hate him.  “No.” I stand up and try to snatch the raft back from his hand, but he won’t let it go. “I can do it.” I tug harder. “I just need the damn paddles.”
    His lips slowly curl up and then he chuckles, a deep sound that teeters between charming and downright irritating. I’m about to sacrifice my life here, and the son of a bitch is laughing at me. I open my mouth to tell this asshole where in the hell he can go when I hear something puncture the raft, followed by a loud hissing sound. My eyes snap to the raft, and I can see it’s quickly shrinking.
    “Did you really think I was going to let you go out on that thing,” he says, closing the switchblade he must’ve pulled out while I was glaring up at his smug face. He slips the knife back into his jeans pocket. “Jessina would have my ass if I let anything happen to you.”
    Thank God! I lift my dropped jaw from the floor and release the wilting raft from my hand.
    “Wait,” I say, wits rebounding, “why’d you let me spend all that time filling it then?”
    He shrugs. “To keep you out of my hair.”
    My blood cooks and my hand curls into a fist. I want to punch him, to wipe that self-satisfied expression clean from his gorgeous face. But I keep my cool. He started this. And, it’s game on, baby. If I’m a bump in the routine of his sorry excuse for a life, then I’m really going to rock his boat. “Now that the raft’s ruined, what are we going to do if this ship goes down?”
    “It’s not going down.” He turns.
    “But it could, right?”
    “No,” he says, heading back to the captain’s chair.
    “There’s a small possibility, though,” I say, following close behind him. “What then?” His shoulders rise as he takes a deep breath. Good. I’m annoying him. “Do you have another raft,” I press.
    He stops, and I nearly bump into him. His head turns, aggravated eyes slithering along the way. “No.” A muscle quivers in his jaw. “So, I hope you’re a good swimmer.”
    “I am.” I smile big.
    “Good.” He sits down in the chair, shifts the throttle, and the motor revs. “Why don’t you go sit down? It’ll be another hour before we get to Avalon.”
    “But I—”
    He shoots me a warning look. “That wasn’t a suggestion, stowaway. Stop talking and go sit your ass down.”
    I have a good sense to open my mouth, but as I sink deeper into those desolate, hazel eyes, empathy squeezes tight around my heart. This man has obviously been tortured enough. Even if he’s the one doing the harm, the pain still has to hurt. Besides, as he said, Avalon’s only an hour away. Game over. I walk away. Not defeated; just not in the mood to add to his self-inflicted misery.
    Retrieving my cell from my purse, I wander around the boat searching for bars. One pops up and then disappears. Dammit. I walk straight to the edge of the boat, stretch my arm out, and again the bar appears and then vanishes. I grip the rail, bend forward, and reach as far as I can. Two bars! I glance down at the violent waves slamming loudly against the side of the boat then back to my cell. Three bars! I let go of the rail to try to send a text. My foot slips and I fall head first toward the ferocious ocean. It’s going to swallow me whole! I’m dead!
    A strong yank of my skirt pulls me from my death. I fall back into the boat. But before my ass can hit the floor, Fallon’s arm comes around me and he jerks me against him. I crash into his naked, chest. Hard, everywhere he’s hard. And being encased by all that strength is exhilarating. I raise my head. Face scowling, lip twitching, he snarls, “What the fuck!”
    “I… I was trying to get a signal,” I stutter, aware of how asinine it sounds.
    He grabs my hand, pulls the phone from my clutched fingers, and tosses it overboard. “There, now you won’t need to worry about getting a fucking signal.”
    “My phone!” My jaw drops back to the boat floor. He threw my phone in the ocean and then just