AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know. I’m sorry,” she said.
Dylan stood up, pulling her with him and twining their fingers together. “What do you think? Because I’d like to give this a chance.”
Something inside of Hollis soared and her throat tightened with emotion. “Me, too,” she whispered.
Dylan felt a warmth flare up within his chest. Then, he leaned forward and captured her mouth in a long, heated kiss. Just as the kiss began to deepen, Dylan’s cell phone rang. With a soft curse, he pulled away and grabbed his phone off the counter.
“Dylan Ford,” he answered. For a long moment he said nothing, just listened. Hollis tried to see past his inscrutable face. Then, he let out a long, low breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Today?” he asked. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
When Dylan disconnected the call, Hollis raised a brow. “What’s going on?” she asked.
For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, he raised turbulent dark eyes to hers and said, “That was my brother.”
Hollis’s eyes widened. “Brother?”
“Yeah. Chase.”
“I never knew you had a brother.”
“I didn’t either until about a month ago,” he admitted. When Hollis frowned, Dylan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We haven’t met yet, but guess that’ll change today.”
“Why?”
“Because my useless father finally died. Apparently, his funeral is today at two.”
“Oh, Dylan, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, don’t be too sorry. We weren’t that close.”
“I know, but, still. He was your father.”
“Ironic isn’t it? The parent we both loved most died too soon. And, the one who didn’t give a shit about us...”
Hollis reached out and wrapped her arms around Dylan. “Lived longer,” she whispered and pressed her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat. “I’m going with you. To the funeral.”
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I know how much you want to get back out to the dive site.”
“It can wait,” she said. “I’d rather be with you.”
Dylan’s eyes slid shut and he placed a kiss against her temple. “I’m going to drop Fisher off at Hiro’s. We’ll dive later.”
Later that afternoon at the cemetery, Dylan met his half-brother for the first time. Chase Ford had dark hair with piercing blue eyes and looked around 30 years old. He was just as tall as Dylan and walked over and offered his hand.
“Dylan? I’m Chase.”
As Dylan shook his hand, Hollis studied Chase and instantly recognized quite a few similarities to Dylan. They both had high cheekbones, strong jaws, thick, dark hair and the same long, lanky build. Even their voices sounded similar.
It was a little disconcerting at first. Then, she realized that it was kind of adorable.
“This is Hollis,” Dylan said and wrapped an arm around her waist. His message was loud and clear-- Hollis was his woman.
“Nice to meet you,” Hollis said.
“You, too,” Chase said.
The first minute felt a bit awkward then Hollis watched as the two of them started to warm up. Chase lived in New Orleans and the moment he and Dylan started talking about the jazz scene there, there was no stopping them.Two peas in a pod, she thought with a small smile.
Chase planned to spend the next couple of days in town so they decided to go out to dinner. But, first things first. Dylan and Hollis had a sunken ship to excavate.
