The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(34)

Dear Moms,

This year’s veggie is carrots and they’re candied, so the good news is that I’m going to live. The bad news is that I’m ONCE AGAIN in the same cabin as Kinsey. They say it’s coincidence, but I know it’s because I can’t see at night and she’s always sick, and they put us together so only one counselor has to miss the fun nighttime stuff.

AND IT GETS WORSE!

There’s this cute guy named Sam, and he asked me to sit next to him at dinner. I did my hair in that cute braid you guys taught me. But then he didn’t even show up. So rude! I went back to the cabin and guess what? Kinsey was there, all pissy too.

Turns out, he told us both he’d sit with us, and then didn’t show for either of us! She was crying. I wasn’t.

Okay, I was.

I hate boys.

And before you ask, Kinsey told me I wasn’t Sam’s type, she was, so I still hate her too. I’d say come get me, but I know you’re in Santa Barbara taking that art class, so just send food.

Love you,

Brynn

THE NEXT MORNING Brynn showered, dressed, and then sat on her bed, taking care of a little business on her phone. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Eli she’d had a bunch of odd jobs in college. One of them had been working the front desk at a funeral parlor. It’d been a little macabre for her, but she’d made enough money to keep her in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Plus she’d gained a good friend in one of her coworkers. She’d texted Jenny the day after she’d learned about Eli’s grandma and how the poor woman’s remains were stuck in limbo. It’d hurt to hear the story, so she could only imagine how badly Eli hurt.

Jenny had finally gotten back to her with the information Brynn hoped could help her fix the problem. Thanking her via text, she then made the phone call she needed to make, and hoped it would work. Then she headed into the kitchen, and found the usual crowd—plus one. Eli, Max, Kinsey, Deck, and . . . little five-year-old Toby from her class.

They were all watching while Toby gave a demonstration of his shoe-tying skills—something she’d taught him in class yesterday. He was squatted low over his foot, dark head bent, tongue in the space where his two front teeth had been, as he concentrated, whispering the steps she’d taught him beneath his breath—“Bunny ears, bunny ears, jumped into the hole”—his fingers moving with awkward slowness.

A painful two full minutes later, Toby finally tightened his lopsided bow and jumped up. “See? I did it!”

“Nice going, little man,” Deck said, and scooped up Toby into his beefy arms. He was wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, both revealing a lot of his body art. “You’ve had a full morning. A gym workout and a new skill.” He mouthed a “thanks” to Brynn and then turned to Kinsey. “Ready, babe?”

Kinsey sighed and grabbed her bag. “I told you Eli could have driven me today. You and the cutie pie didn’t have to swing by and get me.”

“We wanted to,” Deck said, looking at Kinsey with the same amount of love and affection as when he looked at his son.

“See you at school, Ms. Turner!” Toby yelled, and then the three of them were gone.

“I’m hitting the shower,” Max said.

And then it was just her and Eli. His hair still wet from his shower, he was in another suit, looking far too good for her mental health. His expression was unreadable, but warming at the sight of her.

And something within her did the same. Whenever she was with him, she felt the odd and opposing emotions of safety and . . . danger.

“Morning,” he said.

Just one word, and yet it felt like a lot more.

She smiled, moved to the fridge, and eyed the contents. Mini sat at Eli’s feet, mirroring his stance while also staring intently into the fridge.

His tie was draped uselessly around his neck, and since wondering what was happening between them wasn’t getting her anywhere, she closed the gap. Shut the fridge. Lifting her hands to the tie, she accidentally locked eyes with him and then couldn’t tear herself away. His hands came up to her waist, every bit as heated as his gaze as he squeezed and . . . tickled her.

The squeal was utterly involuntary, and she was laughing when she shoved his hands away and knotted his tie, at the last minute snugging it up to his throat tighter than necessary.

“Feeling playful?” he asked, voice low and husky.

Well, she was most definitely feeling something. And to prove it, she tightened the tie a little bit more. “Maybe,” she murmured. “You?”

He stepped into her, and she found herself back against the fridge, held there by a hundred and eighty pounds of outrageously sexy male, both of her arms imprisoned between their bodies, her hands still holding on to his tie.

Not his hands though. They were free, and he slid them up her arms and playfully encircled her neck, his thumbs gently gliding over the hollow of her throat. “Maybe ‘playful’ isn’t the right word.”

“No?” she asked a little breathlessly. “What is?”

He smiled a very naughty smile, and she was grateful he was holding her up.

“Brynn?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to do all week.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“First, a question.”