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

She clucks her tongue and I raise my eyebrows. Finally, she says, “Good luck keeping the guys away down here. They’ll definitely take notice.”

“Notice of what?”

“You, silly. You’re fun. New. Smart. You look great in that bathing suit, although you could show a little more skin.” My jaw drops. “What?” she asks. “I can’t help it. Your boobs are right there. I noticed.”

I sigh and sit up, adjusting my chair so I can see her better. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not sure I’m really dating material right now. The breakup was pretty horrible. I can’t even imagine getting involved with someone else.”

Anita’s face falls. “Oh, I’m sorry. That sucks. Was it serious?”

“As serious as these things get, I guess.” This is a lie of course. My heart hurts just talking about it. Because it was great. And then it wasn’t.

“What happened?”

I make a face. “Too soon?” I beg. No way can I talk about this. Not now.

“Another time,” she says, and from the tiny smile on her face I know she means it.

“Deal.”

I’m about to close my eyes when she asks, “So did you meet anyone interesting at the cocktail party? What about Mrs. Graves? She’s the one with the tiny sherry glasses.”

“Yes! Those were adorable, but no one paid me much attention. They were all enthralled by Julia and her stories.”

“I told Bobby about the book she’s writing. I had to hold him off from coming over.”

I smile. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. She loves talking to her fans and about dead people and stuff.”

“Good, he can talk to her and not me.”

I nod in agreement and then remember something. “I did meet this one other guy. Richard? He seemed nice.”

“Oh yeah, he’s Bobby’s uncle. Super-duper nice.”

“He’s from here?” I’m surprised. He seemed higher class than Anita and the other locals. His speech sounded less country. He dressed nicer, too. I hold back on those remarks.

“Yeah, he’s an attorney. He went to UNC for college and then Duke for law school. But he came back here to work and live.”

“He lives in the campground?”

“No,” she says. “He has a house off the waterway. He just comes down to the parties and stuff. He knows everyone down here.”

“Oh,” I say. I guess this is proof I shouldn’t judge books by their covers. That made me think of the other guy I met—well, crashed into the other night. “I forgot! I did manage to embarrass myself after I made my escape.”

She raises an eyebrow. “What did you do?

“I crashed into some guy carrying ice through the park. Slammed right into him.” I roll my eyes at myself. “He was cute, too. I’m sure he thought I was a spaz.”

“What did he look like?”

“Dark curly hair, gray eyes. Led Zeppelin shirt.”

“Eyelashes to kill for?”

“Yes!” I sat up. “You know him?”

“Sure. That’s Pete. He’s one of the guys. My mom hired him to do a lot of the maintenance work at the camp

ground. He’s handy. Did you talk to him?”