Renegade Path

She held up each suit, asking for my opinion.

“I like that peach one.” I frowned as I shifted my gaze between the two choices. “But the white and blue is still my favorite. It has an older, sophisticated vibe.”

That’s all I needed to say. She squealed and tossed it on her pillows. “That’s the one, then. I have these cute blue shorts and a white peasant blouse with embroidery all over the sleeves that I’ll wear with it.”

“That’ll be pretty.”

“Here.” She thrust the extra bag into my hands.

“What’s this?” The smooth plastic bag crinkled against my fingers.

“Open it.”

Heat seared my cheeks as I opened the bag. At the bottom was the green suit I’d tried on earlier. “Vienna,” I sighed. “I can’t accept this. It’s too expensive.”

She waved her hands in the air. “I bought it for me. Just in case the others didn’t work out.”

I leveled a “don’t b.s. me” stare at her. “You bought a suit four sizes too big for yourself? Just in case.” I raised my eyebrows to punctuate my disbelief. “Convenient.”

“I know, right?” she gasped and pulled an exaggerated shocked face.

The corners of my mouth twitched. “Vienna, I can’t. I have a bathing suit. I’ll be fine.”

“It’s non-refundable.” She shrugged. “Besides, it looks so good on you. I can’t be the hottest girl there. It’s not fair to the rest of our class.”

I snort-laughed.

“You have to help divert some of the attention,” she pleaded. “Otherwise, I’ll get a giant, inflated ego.”

I laughed even harder. “Too late.”

“Come on. If you won’t do it for me, do it for Roman. He deserves a hot woman on his arm.”

“V, aren’t your parents going to be upset? This wasn’t cheap.”

“They don’t pay attention to what I spend.” Her mouth turned down. “Please. I had fun with you today. No one ever goes shopping with me anymore.”

That finally did it. Even though some awkwardness lingered, I caved. “Remember that weird, see-through, long blouse I found at the Salvation Army last year? I think I’m going to use that as a cover-up. It’ll match.”

“Ooo, that was such a pretty print.” She squeezed her eyes shut as if she was trying to picture the ensemble. “I like it.”

“I still need to pack a bag for tomorrow.” I tucked the suit away and stood.

“I’ve got loads of sunscreen.” She led me into the hallway, to the family linen closet, digging through her parents’ neatly folded towels until she found what she wanted. “SPF 50. You burn like toast,” she said as she handed it over.

Laughing, I accepted the tube. “True.”

Next, she pushed two plush towels into my arms. “Just in case I forget mine,” she said to ease the sting of embarrassment. We both knew she wouldn’t forget and that I didn’t have beach towels at home. Not nice ones that I’d want to use in front of my classmates anyway. “Thank you.”

“You know the towels the school’s gonna give us won’t cover up an arm, let alone anything else.”

“Probably.”

Downstairs, she stuffed everything into a shopping bag for me. “Let’s get you home before your aunt has a conniption.”

“Hey.” I stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Thank you, V.”

Her determined expression softened and she reached out, hugging me tight. “We’re going to have so much fun tomorrow.”

For once, I believed her. All the normal anxiety I’d usually have over a field trip had been replaced with excited anticipation.

Chapter Eighteen

Roman

Sitting next to Juliet was the only thing that made the long bus ride to Fletcher Park tolerable. Our classmates were wild. Yelling, singing, jumping up and down on their seats like monkeys. Hard to imagine these fools would be seniors in a few months.

Juliet’s giant tote bag took up a large chunk of space next to the window, forcing us closer together. She’d worn tiny denim shorts. It was a lot of bare skin for my overheated brain to handle all at once. Having her so close, sitting so we were touching from hip to knee, I just wanted to skim my fingers over the inside of her leg. Every time I did, she giggled and leaned into me.

I stopped to stroke an especially ticklish spot behind her knee and bent down, getting a face-full of her honey-scented hair blown in my face. “I want to kiss you right here,” I whispered in her ear.

Her giggles cut off with a gasp. “Roman!”

“What?” I traced a little higher. “Here too.”

Squire popped up over the seat in front of us like a deranged jack-in-the-box. “What are you two up to?”

“None of your business,” I growled.

His gaze dropped to Juliet and I wanted to throw one of her beach towels over her legs. Squire didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Juliet and he sure as shit shouldn’t have the honor of staring at an inch of her bare skin.