Love's Call Read Online Free

making progress.
     
    “How are you tonight, Ms. Liana?”
     
    “I’m just fine,” she said, without looking at him.
     
    “I can see.  You seem to be enjoying yourself now.”
     
    She shrugged, and continued bobbing her head to the song that played over the surround system.
     
    “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
     
    She turned to face him, now curious about what this man she didn’t know could possibly want to ask her. “I guess not.”
     
    “Why are you here?”
     
    “Excuse me?”
     
    “It’s pretty clear that you don’t want to be here.  I just think it’s a bit odd that you would come on a trip where you’d be confined to a boat with hundreds of other singles that you don’t want to have anything to do with.”

 
    She was completely caught off guard by his question, but found herself snickering at how well he had been able to read her. Am I that bad?
     
    “Okay, you figured me out. I don’t really want to be here on this ship.”
     
    Kyle’s face showed his confusion. “So, why would you come then?”
     
    “You know, I’ve been asking myself that same question since I got here.” Liana pointed in Alyssa’s direction.  Her friend, still talking excitedly to Lloyd, was oblivious to the fact that she was the topic of Liana and Kyle’s conversation. “My good friend over there, is why I’m here. We take a girls’ trip every year. But the girls’ trip usually turns into a hook-up trip. And this year, she just dropped all of the pretense and at least owned up to what our trips really are, by dragging me along on her singles cruise.”
     
    “But were you forced here?”
     
    “Not literally, but I might as well have been.  I never feel like I can leave her alone to her own devices.”
     
    “So, you’re Alyssa’s security guard, then.” His statement made her laugh, and Kyle smiled when he saw her genuine amusement.
     
    “Maybe in a way, I am,” she shrugged.
     
    Kyle looked down at her nearly empty glass. “Well, since you’re here on duty, I guess you won’t be able to accept if I offer to buy you another drink.”
     
    She nodded.  “On or off duty, I don’t accept drinks from men.  I don’t drink, anyway--at least not alcoholic beverages.”
     
    Kyle raised a curious brow, “Really?”
     
    “Nope. Never have, and don’t plan to start tonight.”
     
    Kyle kept his eyes on Liana as she scanned the room, watching the other passengers.   This woman, he thought, is getting more and more interesting by the minute.
     
    The music stopped abruptly and they heard a man with a silky smooth deep, radio voice say, "Good evening, good evening folks.”  The room erupted into cheers when they recognized Branson Brice at the center of the room, microphone in hand.  He waved at the crowd, acknowledging their applause and then made a gesture encouraging them to quiet down so that he could address the guests.
     
    The noise in the room died down and he continued, “Y’all are looking good tonight. I’m glad to see so many of you here, for our first annual Sexy, Grown Singles Cruise.”
     
    The thunderous applause began again and Branson waited for the noise from the excited guests to quiet down to a low rumble. “Yeah, I like that enthusiasm. Keep that up, and we can make this trip epic. And along the way hopefully you all will get to meet a few friends and maybe even a few of you will leave with something more than a friendship but this time next week.”
     
    Several guests shouted and whistled, but Liana groaned and rolled her eyes.  She wasn’t falling for the hype that Branson Brice was attempting to build up for the cruise ship passengers. An amused grin curved Kyle’s lips when he saw Liana’s reaction. If nothing else, she’s consistent.
     
    “And to kick this off tonight we want to have karaoke night to break the ice, and maybe find out a bit more about your cruise mates. We might get to showcase some undiscovered talent in here before it’s