Summer's Kiss (The Boys of Ocean Beach 1)

“Ha!” I laugh, tipsy. “Nah, I’m good. I just never desired to be the center of attention like she does, you know? She loves the drama and the fame her job provides. She loves digging around in the history of these murders, all the gore, but also revealing the personalities and people. I just kind of prefer not to be noticed.”

“Why’s that? You seem like a perfectly interesting young woman. Are you in college?”

“Vanderbilt. I start this fall.”

“What are you studying?” He leans against the railing of the dock. I notice his shoes are made from a soft, dark leather. Expensive.

“General studies right now. I haven’t picked a major.” I shrug. “I’m not all that together.” That is possibly the understatement of the year.

“You’ll figure it out.” A boat cruises by and Richard waves to the people inside. The water laps at the dock pilings. He tilts his head and raises his glass at me. “Nice to meet you, Summer. Hopefully we’ll see each other again.”

“Thanks,” I reply. “It was nice meeting you also.”

I watch him wander through the crowd of neighbors, stopping once to look at my mother, before disappearing between the campers. I turn to see the final traces of the sunset now by the edge of the waterway. The flaming pink and orange fireball dips over the horizon, leaving the world with a cotton candy sky. Unsteady on my feet, I spin in the direction of my camper and plow right into someone.

“Fuck,” the guy swears.

Two huge bags of ice drop to the ground. One splits and scatters cool wet cubes all over my feet.

“Ohmygod,” I say in a rush. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” he replies, wiping his hands on his shorts. “Totally my fault. I wasn’t looking.”

I bend over and try to keep the ice from spilling. He squats, doing the same. He looks up at me with gray eyes and eyelashes a girl would pay big money to have. He looks close to my age, maybe a little older. Slim build but wide shoulders under a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt. His skin, like everyone else’s here, has a warm glow, and the breeze blowing off the water tousles his curly black hair. I wait for him to introduce himself but he doesn’t and I don’t trust my tongue due to the wine.

“I think I’ve got it,” he says, lifting both bags. A flurry of ice falls out of the ripped one and I lunge forward, stopping it with my hands. He smiles his thanks and shifts the bag so the tear is against his chest. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

His eyes sweep over me, like he’s really just noticed me. But I didn’t come down here for attention from cute boys. I came down here to escape. He opens his mouth to say something else but I bolt, skirting around him and not stopping until I’m behind the aluminum camper door.

Chapter 5

“You went to the cocktail hour?”

I shade my eyes and look at Anita, who has a huge grin on her face. “Yes, my mother made me go.”

She howls with laughter, even bending over to hold her stomach. “Oh. My. God. That’s the worst.”

“What, the fact I went at all or the fact I went with my mother?” I ask with disdain.

Still laughing, she says, “Both. They’re both terrible.”

“Well, it’s not like I had much of a choice.”

“Don’t worry. Next Monday I’ll save you.” She stretches her legs out into the sand. The girls play by the edge of the water and JT works on the foundation of a castle. We’ve started meeting here, unscheduled, for the last couple of days.

“I’m holding you to that,” I tell her.

We sun in silence for a while. I’m definitely more diligent with the sunscreen, not wanting to repeat the terrible burn from my first day out. Right now I have big, flakey, peeling skin all over my chest. I look like a leper.

“So Summer,” Anita says. “You said you broke up with your boyfriend. Are you seeing anyone else?”

I keep my eyes closed and say, “No, definitely not.”

“Really? No prospects?”

“Back home? Zero.” I’d isolated myself too much for any guy to take notice. “And here? I don’t know anyone and I’m not interested.”