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

“No, I just wish I felt that way in the water. If anything, it’s the opposite. Pure, unadulterated fear.” A gust of wind blows past us and I shiver again.

“You’re freezing. Take it.”

“Now you’ll be freezing.” I want the jacket though. I want to smell it, to know what this beach boy smells like and if his scent is as delicious as everything else about him.

“I’m pretty hot-natured. Anyway, I’ve got another shirt in my car. Here,” he says placing it over my shoulders. “I mean, we’re like third cousins once removed, right?”

I make a covert attempt to sniff his jacket. I’m hit with the warm scent of laundry detergent and sunscreen. Better than I hoped for.

“Are we?” I ask trying to do the math of how illegal it would be for me to kiss him.

“Nah,” he laughs. “I don’t think so. Although, your mom does know my uncle Richard.”

“Oh, I met him. He’s nice. I mean, he tried to get me drunk. Not in a creepy way,” I promise. “It was a nice gesture. I was trapped.”

Justin tips his head back and laughs, flashing his teeth in the dark. They’re nice. White and only a little bit crooked. Why am I looking at his teeth? I shift my eyes to his lips. Then, his smooth shoulder blades…I look at the water.

“I suspect he was around during those late-night adventures Anita was talking about.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Definitely. There’s been whispers about the one that got away for years. It’s all starting to make sense.”

“Wow. I’m having a hard time believing that. About my mom, that is.”

“Really? Why’s that?” he asks.

“The last crazy thing my mother did was ditch the Junior League tea for a book club hosted by the mayor’s wife.”

He gives me a funny look. “Your mom lives in a shiny rocket ship trailer. Around here that definitely is crazy.”

“How is that crazy? All of you live in the same place—hers is just silver.”

He shrugs, his bare shoulders catching light. “Yeah, but we’ve all lived here forever. It’s not every day a best-selling author and her daughter move in. That’s big news.”

“I guess.”

“Well, Summer, what do you plan to do with your summer other than fight over campground water, sunburn yourself to peeling skin, and hanging around?” He reaches over and peels a strip of skin off my back. We both watch it flutter away in the breeze.

“Gross! And that water thing was your fault.”

“Maybe.”

“Completely.”

“So?” He’s still waiting for an answer. I remember what Anita said about his persistence.

I look out at the water and confess, “I’m not sure, I thought I’d just relax and have a little vacation but between Anita dragging me all over the place, my mom making me work and all the stuff I keep finding out about her; the family, the history. It’s like she’s been hiding all this from me and I never would have known if I hadn’t crashed her trip.”

“Maybe you tagging along was a good thing then.”

I glance up at the small smile playing on his lips and try to figure out his angle. I’m not convinced I want to know.

“I guess we’ll find out,” I say. He doesn’t respond but there’s that feeling in the air. The one where everything gets electric. I’m afraid of that feeling, so I just smile and walk away while I can.

* * *

We’re packing up when I overhear Maggie and Anita whisper-arguing about something. I hear the word “Summer” which could be my name or the season and I try to squash my paranoia, but it’s followed by other words like “Justin” and “The Pact,” and curiosity gets the best of me.