by Stacy Borel
I was done. I didn’t want to trust another guy again.
I glared at him because he knew better than to bring him up. “First of all, you owe me an ice cream for that. Second, I didn’t say I was interested. Just because I find someone visually appealing doesn’t mean I want to jump in bed with them. I’m not like someone else I know.” It was a low blow, but I took it.
He eyed me skeptically. “I’ll give you that one because I shouldn’t have brought up Cooper. And I know you wouldn’t just go jump Crew’s bones because you like the eye candy.” He tugged me to him and gave me a tight hug that left me gasping for air. He was trying to be playful to recoup from his slipup. “Hell, I wouldn’t have him living with me if I thought he was a bad dude. I just don’t know a whole lot about him. He isn’t much of a talker.” He wagged his brows. “Time will tell what his type is. If he’s getting your attention, lord only knows what kind of women he will bring home.”
I scoffed and turned to walk away. “You’re a pig.”
He chuckled, and said, “The sunscreen is on top of the fridge. You’re a little pink from the other day, so use it.”
I mumbled under my breath to shut up. Foster might be older than me and my cousin, but he always acted more like an older brother. It wasn’t unusual for us to banter like this, but I could take care of myself. Surrounded by strong men, I was taught the art of being confident and was capable of handling myself from an early age. The presence of an attractive man certainly didn’t make me weak-kneed.
Crew had left the kitchen and was sitting at the table eating his food. He had kept the music off, and I wondered if he had overheard any of my conversation with Foster. My cheeks reddened as I sauntered toward the kitchen, and his yellow eyes met mine. For a millisecond, he broke my gaze to glance down my body before he came back. I felt exposed and inadvertently crossed my arms over my midriff in a pathetic attempt to cover up.
I hated to seem bashful or weak, so I attempted lame conversation. “Food good?”
He chewed, leisurely licking his lips after he swallowed. “When I’m hungry, everything tastes good.”
Interesting response. I walked to the fridge and stood on my tiptoes to retrieve the sunscreen. When I turned back around, he was gawking at me, pupils dilated, and his fork was stuck in a piece of steak halfway between the plate and his mouth. Why was he looking at me like that?
Why in the hell wasn’t Foster out here yet? It never took him this long to be ready by noon. I hated awkward silences, so I tossed the bottle in the bag and slung it up on my shoulder.
“The pool is calling my name. It was nice seeing you, again. Crew, was it?” I knew damn well what his name was.
He gave me a Cheshire cat smile. “Yeah, you too. Ashton?”
I blinked. He sounded melodic, and his voice gave me goose bumps. He formed my name as a question just as I had his. Tit for tat. His watchful gaze was causing my knees to feel weak, and I could only imagine that I looked like some confused child waiting for her mom to pull her out the door. I should go.
Giving him a polite smile, I walked to the other side of the living room. I yanked on the sliding glass door, but I couldn’t get the damn thing to budge. I tugged and tugged, not even thinking that it could be locked.
I struggled a few more beats before he said, “Need some help?”
I felt the heat of him watching, and I prayed he didn’t get up and come over here. “No, thank you.”
I needed to gather my senses. Flipping the metal tab that kept it shut, I finally got it to budge. Of course, in my flustered state, I pulled too hard and the door went flying across the tracks, slamming into the other side. My shoulders bunched as if I was bracing to be hit. I looked up at the ceiling, mentally cursing the gods. Could I be any more awkward?
I refused to turn around and look at him. My face was beet red, and I was certain he found this all amusing. Groaning inwardly as casually as I could and trying to make it look as though I’d done it on purpose, I grabbed the handle and shut the glass door as softly as I wished it had opened.
I needed distance from this apartment and from my own embarrassment. The pool was across the parking lot, and it was accessible with a key. It didn’t take long for me to settle in for a quick hour of tanning. Slathered in sunscreen, I could feel the heat seeping into my skin. My back relaxed against the plastic slats of those white lounge chairs found around every pool, and my skin stuck to them from the sweat that was accumulating. A group of kids were shouting and splashing around as they played a game of Marco Polo. It reminded me of carefree days as a child when I only had to worry about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and which cartoon was on. It made me smile.
My eyes became heavy even though I had already slept in so late.
Swimming in the deep end, I waded along the plastic rope that separated the area between where the divers could jump in and where the rest of the swimmers were allowed. I had been swimming for the last hour and a half, and I was getting tired and hungry. Ready to get out and go ask my dad for money to get a snack from the vending machine, I got to the ladder and climbed up onto the pavement. It was entirely too hot today, and within moments of being out of the water, I wanted back in. Just as I wrapped myself up, a colossal splash of water hit my back and soaked half of my brand-new rainbow-colored beach towel.
“Stop splashing me!” I yelled at Foster. God, he could be an ass sometimes even though the wet towel felt good. I glared at him as I made my way to one of the lounge chairs that could fold flat. It was in the shade and a few degrees cooler than this damn Georgia heat.
“Quit being a baby, Ash. You’re already wet.” He rolled his eyes and went back to torturing his little brother.
“I’m not a baby, Foster. I am trying to dry off, you jerk.”
He waved me off, just as my eyes found the person I’d been scanning the pool entrance for since we got here.
Cooper Miles.
He had just moved in one street over from me and was one of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever seen. It was going to be his first year at our school, and after seeing him swimming here a few times, Foster decided to introduce himself. Cooper was the first boy I could remember ever having a crush on. He was all shaggy blond hair, crystal blue eyes that only looked bluer with his reddish tan skin, and freckles sprinkled across his nose. He was tall, and I blushed whenever he spoke. Especially when his voice cracked a little when he laughed or got excited.
It was the summer just after my sixth-grade year, and Cooper was in the grade ahead of me. He was going through the normal transitions that kids our age go through, and I found myself attracted to the teenage puberty changes. Being that I was about to start seventh grade and had never dated a boy, it was almost wild to me that I found myself crushing so hard on the new kid. There were other cute guys at my school who were definitely interested in me, but I ignored it all because my dad drilled in me how important focusing on school and simply having fun was. He said I was young, and there would always be boys, but good grades and family were more important. Too bad for my dad, Cooper Miles couldn’t be ignored.
I caught sight of Cooper walking in, and I felt a giddy thrill go through me. He was in his blue board shorts, and he was dragging his pigtailed little sister behind him. He paused briefly when he stepped out of the boys’ locker room door and spotted me and my cousins. Up until this point, I had been able to hide my brewing crush from Foster, but I had a feeling I was being obvious lately and hiding it much longer would be impossible. I was getting to an age that I think it’s okay to have a boyfriend. I wanted to know what it felt like to hold a boy’s hand and feel butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to know what it felt like to kiss someone and not just practice in my mirror like I did sometimes when I was by myself.
As he approached, I allowed my towel to slide down from my shoulders and fall around down my waist. In the middle of last year, I grew small A-cup breasts, and my mom allowed me to finally buy my first bikini. Before this summer, my dad w
as strict and said that bikinis weren’t appropriate for girls my age. When I begged my mom to let me get one this spring, she smiled at me and told me not to worry about my dad, that she would take care of him. I found the one I wanted, and here I sat with my neon green suit with fringes tickling the skin on my ribs.
The pool speakers blasted songs from all eras, and “My Girl” by The Temptations came on as if some higher power knew I was trying to set the mood. My parents raised me on all types of music, and as far as oldies went, this was a favorite of mine. As Cooper approached, he smiled at me.
“Hey, Ashton.”
“Hey,” I tried to say as casually as I could.
“Water cold?”
“Nah. Not once you get used to it.”
He nodded and set his stuff down beside me. His little sister spotted a couple of friends playing in the kiddie pool and went to join them. Foster hadn’t seen Cooper yet, so I had a moment to take him in without worrying about being caught admiring.
“Are you ready for school to start?”
He peered at me with his pretty blue eyes. “Sort of, but I’m not ready for summer to be over, though.”
I stretched my legs out in front of me, wondering if he’d checked me out at all. “What about all the other kids? Are you nervous to be around all the new people?”
The corner of his lip tilted up in a boyish grin, and I very briefly saw his eyes glance down, but he quickly looked away. My heart skipped a beat. “Uh, yeah. I mean, no.” He stumbled. “New people don’t make me nervous.”
I balked at him. “Not even during lunch?”
“Why would lunch scare me?”
When I started school, it was literally my worst fear. What if nobody wanted to sit next to me? What if I didn’t have someone to talk to? I feared being excluded.
“I dunno. I mean, besides me, you don’t know anybody in your grade.”
He sighed. “Yeah, but it’s okay. I’m used to it.”
And he was. His parents moved a lot because his dad was in the military. I didn’t know how many times Cooper had to move before he got here, but he had an air of confidence in his words that made me believe him. I wished I was half as confident in myself as he was in himself.
I fidgeted with one of the fringes on my top, and his eyes followed the movement. “Well”—I cleared my throat—“I’ll come find you and sit with you. I mean, if that’s okay. I don’t want you to be embarrassed that you’re sitting with a girl, but I promise, I’m not uncool or anything at school. Most kids like me. And I want everyone to feel welcome. Well, except the one who was mean to me when I was in fourth grade, but that doesn’t matter anymore.” Oh my god, could someone come tape my lips shut? This was word vomit in the worst sort of way.
He chuckled. “It’s fine, Ashton. You can sit next to me.”
Our eyes met, and my cheeks heated. “Okay.” I smiled.
It grew quiet but only for a moment. A moment when I think both Cooper and I realized a mutual interest existed. There was no more wondering; the way he said I could sit with him was my answer to what I’d wanted to know all summer since I’d met him. Cooper Miles liked me back. My heart fluttered to life, and the summer heat couldn’t dampen my spirits. I felt weird inside, and I wondered if this was what it felt like to have a real-life crush on someone. Either way, the possibilities of the coming year left me feeling elated.
“Cooper!” Foster shouted. My cousin was about to get dunked by his little brother and one of his friends. “Get your butt in here. I’m outnumbered, man.”
He stood. But before he went to jump in the water, he turned back toward me and gave me the cheesiest grin, then winked before he did a front flip into the water next to Foster.
I felt cool sprinkles hitting my back and shoulders, and I groaned.
“Hey, you’re getting a little red there.”
It was a voice my groggy brain immediately placed.
Crew.
I opened one eye and slightly shifted so I could look up at him. His broad shoulders blocked the sun. I squinted and realized that my top was untied, and if I raised any higher, I’d be giving him a show. I pressed myself back down into the chair and reached for the bikini strings, thanking my lucky stars I didn’t roll over while I was napping. That would have been epically bad, considering the kids that were here. Adolescent boys were notorious for trying to see boobs.
Once secured in my top, I pushed up and adjusted my front. “I guess I fell asleep.”
“Mmmhmm, I think you did.”
The arch of his brow raised. In the light, his eyes were even more yellowish gold. I wasn’t so sure I liked the pitter-patter of my own heartbeat.
Pullin my towel up over my chest, I cleared my throat. “Do you know what time it is?”
He pulled out his phone to look at the screen. “It’s two thirty.”
My sluggish brain was trying to catch up after my dream threw me off. I hadn’t thought about Cooper in a while. Thanks to my cousin for bringing him up and probably triggering something, which only annoyed me. “Crap, I’m going to be late.”
“Late?” he asked.
I stood, holding the top of the towel, careful not to let it fall below my breasts. The only person who was here aside from us was a sixty-something-year-old with a pot belly and bright red swim trunks on. I wasn’t feeling modest because of the old man.
“Yeah, my family gets together for dinner sometimes on the weekends.”
“I see. Probably where Foster went twenty minutes ago.”
I cursed under my breath, and Crew chuckled. I must look like some crazy female who didn’t have her shit together, seeing as how I did nothing but make a fool of myself every time I was near him. Foster always waited for me. What the hell was the deal?
“Everything good?”
I bent over and grabbed my sandals, along with my tote, and started shoving my clothes inside. “Yes. I just wasn’t expecting to be out here so long.”
When I stood, he was looking down toward my breasts. Before I knew what was happening, he had reached forward and shifted the string of my bikini over, exposing a white line against my red skin. His touch, though just a gentle graze, seared across my skin.
It wasn’t from the sunburn.
I held my breath, trying not to breathe in his fresh soapy scent. A slight breeze blew past him, ruffling his already messy brown tendrils. The side of Crew’s mouth tipped up, and I got the feeling he enjoyed toying with me. Men who looked like him were damn well aware of their effect on women. Unfortunately, I was grouping myself with them. I hadn’t been on this earth for a ridiculously long time, but it was long enough to proudly say good looks never made me some gushy teenager who couldn’t form a whole sentence. Today, I’d officially joined their ranks as a bumbling idiot.
“Good thing I saved you from melting.”
Not my panties, good sir. I blushed at my own thoughts, and my lashes fluttered. “Thank you. So, um, I’ve got to take off.”
He started walking backward, still giving me the full force of his beautiful face. “Have a good evening, Ashton.”
“You … too.” I hadn’t gotten it all out before he’d turned and walked away.
My tote slid down my arm, and I caught it with my hand. Sighing, I realized this was going to be some crazy-ass living situation. Foster couldn’t have found one of those oddballs who worked at Best Buy selling graphics and wore khakis with pleats every day. No. No, he had to be a lady-killer.
Which was going to be the death of me if I wasn’t careful. Mental note: Don’t talk to Crew next to a busy road. My luck, I’d get hit by a bus.
Ashton
PULLING UP TO MY GRANDPARENTS’ house, I recognized every car here, and it looked like I was the last one to arrive. I grumbled under my breath. Once I walked through the grand double doors of their large two-story home, the familiar scents of home cooking and undertones of cinnamon assaulted my nose. Loud voices boomed from the den just to the left of the entry. My uncles and gran
dfather gathered around the television, watching whoever was playing college ball. I passed the large formal sitting room before entering the kitchen.
Immediately, I spotted Foster standing next to Grams, stirring whatever she had cooking. He was just about to put the wooden spoon in his mouth to take a taste when I marched up to him and slapped the back of his head. The spoon clattered to the counter, and his hair fell flipped forward.
“What the fu—” he started to say when Grams nudged him in the gut with the back of her hand.
“Foster Brooks, you watch your mouth when you’re in my kitchen.”
He rubbed the spot she smacked. “Geez, Grams. Work out much?”
“I keep just enough muscle to handle you boys,” she quipped.
He leveled a glare at me. “What was that for?”
I put my hands on my hips. “You know what for. You left me to fry outside. I got woken up before I died of third-degree burns, thank you very much.”
He tried to keep a straight face. However, the subtle twitching of the corner of his mouth gave away his amusement. “But you look so pretty when you’re pink. I mean, you’re not quite red, and you’re not your normal pasty self. Winning, Ash, winning. Who woke you up?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. The fact that I didn’t even have to say his name and it elicited a blush made me want to whack him with the spoon. In fact, good idea. I picked it up and had raised it in the air to chunk at him when my grandma interrupted.
“Who are we talking about?”
Foster was now the one glowering. “It’s nobody.”
Oh, look how the tables have turned. “You didn’t tell Grandma?”
I knew why he hadn’t said anything. “You can forget that ice cream I owe you, Ash.”
I shrugged.
“Kids,” she said in a firm, you better tell me now voice.
The thing about Southern women was that they were nosy. If they didn’t have something to gossip about when they went to church or met for coffee and tea, their life’s mission wasn’t fulfilled. It was just who they were. They were like polite little politicians digging for dirt on their enemies and spreading the news in a sweet, candy-coated wrapper. If a Southern woman followed up a statement with bless your heart, I could guarantee you she wasn’t the least bit concerned about your heart as much as she was plotting who next to tell your misgivings to.
