Undercurrent. Sara K. Parker

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СКАЧАТЬ from anyone. The fact that her house was being rebuilt while she was away was only a small reason she’d left Miami. Max was another. Only he’d still found a way to stay close. She simply wouldn’t share everything about her life with a stranger.

      Even if that stranger had saved her life.

      “I’m sorry about your father,” Alice said. “It’s hard to lose someone you love.”

      “Thank you.” She stood, unwrapped the blanket from her shoulders and laid it over the back of the chair. “I’d better call for my key. I’d like to get back to my room and out of this dress.”

      She moved toward the phone, but Sam snagged her hand. She looked back at him, and her breath caught. The tenderness in his gaze tugged at her heart, a deep longing rising from where she’d shoved it away. Longing for constancy, companionship, family.

      “I was hoping you’d stay with my grandmother while I talk to ship security down below.”

      She tugged her hand out of his grasp and set to tying her wet hair back into a low bun. The cool dampness did its job and she pushed her feelings away.

      “I do not need a babysitter.” Alice muttered the words under her breath. Crossed her arms defiantly.

      “Noted, Grandma.”

      Kat looked from Alice to Sam. It was none of her business, but she found herself increasingly curious about this man who had taken leave from work to care for his grandmother on vacation and then taken on Kat’s protection as his responsibility. Her cynical side reminded her that people who seemed too good to be true usually were. But the woman in her—the part of her heart that longed for companionship—sensed that Sam was everything he seemed to be. And more.

      Alice stood and walked over to the balcony door. “What I need is a little fresh air and some company.”

      Kat grinned. Yes, just like Morgan, Alice had a flair for drama. “I don’t imagine I’ll have access to my room anytime soon. I’m happy to stay until then.”

      And she was. Even though she really wanted a shower and some clean clothes, she also didn’t relish the idea of going back to her room alone just yet. Surely the incident in the atrium had been an accident, but she was still shaken by how close she’d come to losing her life. And she had to admit she’d like to get to know Alice a little better.

      “Thanks,” Sam said. “You should get some fresh air, too. You still look pale.”

      “I did nearly get crushed by a chandelier,” she said, mimicking the words he’d used and trying to lighten the mood.

      But Sam’s expression darkened. “Glad you haven’t forgotten.”

      A cold chill swept up Kat’s nape, and her hand came up to press it away.

      “Sammy, enough with your gloom and doom,” Alice chided. “I hardly think she could forget what happened just thirty minutes ago.”

      Sam glanced at his grandmother and a sheepish expression softened his face. “Good,” he said. “Hopefully, that will keep you both out of trouble while I’m gone.”

      His eyes held a teasing glint, and Kat’s stomach flipped. She moved toward the phone and away from all the feelings he stirred up.

      “We’ll be fine,” she said and picked up the phone to call the concierge station as Sam left the room. After the phone rang several times with no answer, Kat gave up for the time being. “I’ll try again in a few minutes.”

      “You coming, then?” Alice asked as she stepped onto the balcony, then looked back at Kat. “Or maybe you’d like to freshen up first? It might feel good to splash some water on your face.”

      “I think I’ll do that,” Kat said. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.” She walked to the bathroom, her side aching where the scars stretched taut, shoulder bruised from rolling off the stage. Her gown was ruined, but that was the least of her concerns.

      A deep shadow of unease swept in and stole the relief she’d felt earlier after escaping the chandelier. Could Sam’s intuition be on the mark? What if someone had deliberately caused the explosion? She tried to push the thought away. Sam may be suspicious of her ex, but the idea of Max setting a bomb off was ludicrous to anyone who knew him. That wasn’t the kind of fire he played with.

      Regardless, Kat wanted to know what exactly had happened in the atrium. And she wanted off this ship before something else happened.

      Days from land in every direction, she knew she was stuck.

      She closed herself in the bathroom. The mirror glared back at her in the bright fluorescent light and she winced as a headache flared. What a mess. Debris dotted her hair. Dust smudged her nose and her right cheek. Her eyes were bloodshot, burning from the too-familiar sting of smoke. Mascara smudged under her eyes. Hard to believe only an hour had passed since she’d left her cabin for her performance.

      She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she had survived, but she didn’t feel relieved in the least. An eerie sense of danger crawled along her spine, dread pitting in her stomach. The opportunity to travel the world for the summer on a cruise ship had seemed like a gift—a chance to recharge and renew her spirits.

      Sunshine. That was what Morgan had said. You need lots of sunshine. And to put some distance between you and Max.

      It had worked, for a little while. Performing and sightseeing and experiencing the peace and relaxation of the open waters, Kat had begun to feel more like herself again. Over the past couple of days, though, alone in her room, the quiet had gotten to her. The sunshine she’d been hanging on to replaced with shadows of sadness from the past, and the enormity of what she’d be returning to at the end of the summer...a brand-new house, empty of everything that made it home.

      The photos and videos. The scent of her father’s cologne. The piano she’d woken up to Christmas morning when she was six years old.

      Gone. All of it.

      At least she had escaped.

      Not your time to go. That was what her dad would have said. He’d believed that everything happened for a reason, and Kat had always believed that, too.

      Lately, though, she’d begun to question. Her losses kept stacking up, and she wasn’t sure what else she had left to lose.

      What purpose had her parents’ deaths served? And why would God spare Kat’s life but allow a fire to destroy her home—the home she’d grown up in—and with it all her tangible memories?

      The questions swirled through her mind, but she had no answers. For now, she’d just have to clean up and be happy she could do it.

      She turned on the faucet and washed her face, grateful for the warm water running over her chilled hands and rinsing the grime away. She pulled her hair out of its makeshift bun and finger combed it, then wet a hand towel, rubbing it along her arms and neck. She looked a little better, but still she stood, staring back at her herself. Willing herself not to think about what would have happened if Sam hadn’t been in the atrium tonight. Forcing herself not to think about his questions, but, of course, she couldn’t stop thinking about them.

      Enemies? No one came to mind. СКАЧАТЬ