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“So you want to go somewhere that smells better?”
“Sure.” She turned with Luke to walk back to the car. “Has Zac taken you to Hearst Castle yet?”
“Um, no. Not yet.” He was speaking carefully.
“Not in the mood for a castle?”
“Honestly, Summer?” He touched her arm. “I just want to hang out with you somewhere we don’t have to think about anything else. Like on a beach that doesn’t smell like a seal sewer. Or at a coffee shop that isn’t Slow Pour. Or, I don’t know...”
“All of that sounds nice.” Her voice came out low and shy.
“Cool.” He took her hand and her heart started beating faster again, plus a funny pressure swelled in her chest. She guessed it was just going to be that way around him until her infatuation faded or he broke her heart.
“Thank you for coming over today, Luke. I would have been too proud and too stubborn to apologize first. Seems like a stupid waste of time now.” She liked the way his hand felt wrapped around hers. Such a little thing but it carried big emotional weight. “Though if you’d come into Slow Pour while I was working, I wouldn’t have been able to stay mad for long.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I am growing up a little.” He moved away to smile at her, stretching their arms, then came back closer.
“Not always a bad thing.” Summer smiled back. The pressure in her chest increased, and she suddenly understood exactly what it was.
She wanted to tell him her secret. She trusted him that much.
“I’m studying psychology. In case you wanted to know. As soon as I can I’m going to enroll full-time at Cal Poly.” Her words rushed out and she was immediately anxious, as if she’d done something terrible and irrevocable, like push someone off a cliff.
“That’s great.” He squeezed her hand. “Good for you.”
And...
That was it.
Summer nearly laughed. Why had she thought telling Luke would be a big deal? She might as well have told him what she had for breakfast, or that she was thinking of changing her hairstyle. Everyone went to college in his world. He had no reason to think she was extraordinary or daring to accomplish it in hers.
He’d also therefore have no reason to mock her, or to tell her she couldn’t possibly make it through the program. He had no reason to expect her to fail.
And it hit her that some of her attraction to this charming, funny man-boy was that around Luke, she already felt like the woman she wanted to become.
10
COLD. WHY WAS his room so cold? Zac reached for the extra blanket he kept at the bottom of his bed.
No blanket.
What was that noise?
He opened one eye. It was barely light outside.
He blinked to clear his vision and focused on...mmm, a female breast. Waves tumbled gently onto the sand behind him. His lips curved in a smile.
Oh, yeah.
He moved closer to Chris, who turned away, curling up against him.
Last night had been everything he’d fantasized and more. He’d been able to cut nearly all the way through the weird straitjacket she’d strapped herself into and connect to the fiery, funny woman he was so crazy about.
She’d cut through his straitjacket, too. Lying with her after having one of the most astounding orgasms of his life, he’d been able to open up a little, tell her something of what he was feeling, with amazing results: it hadn’t killed him.
What’s more, she was still here, so he hadn’t scared her away. Now he was daring to hope his plan was going to work, that under the guise of a casual fling Chris would discover her feelings ran deeper than she thought. Maybe deep enough to keep the relationship going long-distance, or, if he got into Columbia, very short-distance.
That was the dream, anyway. He was getting way ahead of where they were now. He should take a page from her Zen book and concentrate on the moment.
Like that her hair smelled faintly of flowers.
Like that her legs were tangled with his.
Like that her incredibly firm and shapely ass was pressed against his groin.
He should let her sleep, but...
She stirred, letting out a faint whimper, then adjusted her body more firmly against his.
Zac stifled a groan. His flesh was definitely willing. Come to think of it, so was his spirit.
