Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
“Bring her with you!” the kid whines. “I have no one to throw the ball with!”
Ollie turns to me with a grin. “What do you say, Becca? Want to get wet with me?”
I swallow hard. I’m already wet for him.
“I should go say hi to your mom first,” I say as I glance down the beach. “I want to thank her for hosting me for the summer.”
“Alright,” he says. “We have all summer to play around and get you wet.”
He turns to the kid and shrugs. “Maybe later, Caleb.”
Caleb gives me a dirty look before walking back to the shore. He must have known he wasn’t going to win out to a girl in a bikini.
“It’s such a beautiful house,” I say as we start walking. I glance at it over my shoulder, still in disbelief that I get to stay there for the next month. “Have you had it long?”
“My mom bought it about six years ago when one of the companies she was an early investor of went public. She made all of that and more in one day.”
“Wow,” I whisper as I spot her hugging my dad. They look so happy. “She’s a smart lady.”
“The smartest,” he says with a laugh. “I mean, who the hell invents a new kind of rubber?”
“Our parents,” I say with a chuckle.
She squirts some suntan lotion on her hand and starts lovingly rubbing it onto my father’s face. They’re both laughing and giggling when the lotion gets on his glasses. Even I have to admit they’re both really cute in an extremely nerdy kind of way.
“Hi, Becca!” she says with a chipper voice as she gets up to give me a hug. She stops herself when she realizes her hands are full of lotion. “Ummm…”
I lean in and give her an awkward hug. “It’s nice to see you again, Debra. What a lovely beach house you have.”
“Oh, thank you,” she says as she waves her hand at me, looking embarrassed. “I wish I could take credit for it, but all I did was sign a check.”
That must have been a mighty big check.
“Sit, sit,” she says as she waves at an empty chair in the sun. I catch Ollie checking me out as I sit down. “There are drinks and snacks in the cooler. Help yourself to whatever you want.”
She starts nervously rifling through it and offering me everything from watermelon slices to wine coolers to egg salad sandwiches.
I smile as I watch her pull one thing out after another, desperately trying to get me to eat something. I forgot what’s it like to have a mom around. It’s nice.
“I’ll take a wine cooler,” I say, feeling like I have to take something to get her off my back. “Thanks!”
“I’m just so happy we’re all going to be at the house for the next month,” she says with a big smile as she sits back down. “I’m thrilled to have such a wonderful new family to call my own.”
I give her a tight smile between sips of my drink.
“I see that you’ve met Ollie.”
We all turn to him. His heated eyes are locked on me as he sits in the empty beach chair seat beside me. “She sure did,” he says as he drops his big hand on my knee. “We’re already starting to get really close.”
My skin tingles all over with the feel of his skin on my leg. The contact seems to emanate a warmth that spreads out and settles between my legs. I grab his wrist with a tight squeeze and yank his hand off. That’s enough of that.
“Hopefully, by the end of the summer we’ll be really close,” he says with a grin.
“That would be nice,” my father says, completely oblivious once again. “I think you’ll find Becca to be really sweet.”
“I have no doubt,” Ollie says under his breath.
“Kevin,” Debra says. “Can I get your help with something back at the house?”
No, don’t leave us alone! Not yet.
My dad practically leaps out of his chair. “Yup! Let’s go!”
I watch in confusion as they hurry down the beach hand-in-hand.
“What was that about?” I ask.
Ollie laughs. “What do you think it’s about?”
“I don’t know…”
“Newlyweds,” he says like it’s completely obvious. “They haven’t seen each other in three days.”
“So, what are you—Ew!!”
He laughs again as I close my eyes, trying to get that horrifying image out of my mind.
“Good thing we’re all staying in a big house,” Ollie says with a shake of his head. “I don’t want to be anywhere near that.”
“Me neither.”
We both look at the ocean as I take another sip of the strawberry wine cooler.
“So, is your boyfriend upset that you’re going to be away all summer?” he asks with an eyebrow raised.
“I… don’t have one,” I say as I steal a glance at him. The look of relief on his face makes my chest get all fluttery. “Is your... girlfriend going to be upset?”