Oceans Apart Book 1 (Oceans Apart #1)(15)

“Wow,” I breathed as I clicked through, looking at everything. I smiled when I saw a picture of Tristan on one page of the site, the title “Senior Project Manager” under his name with a little blurb about his job.





Ginny :P: Okay, that’s actually impressive. You must be loaded then.

Tristan: I’m not loaded. My parents are loaded. There’s a difference.

Ginny :P: Makes sense. Well, thanks for telling me. I can see why you wouldn’t want too many people to know about this. Hard to tell who likes you for you and who wants to get close to Daddy’s money, right?

Tristan: Exactly.

Ginny :P: Your secret’s safe with me. Mom’s the word, I promise.





Chapter 8 — Tristan





Oceans apart from Ginny, in my apartment, I stared at the screen. That was by far the least excited reaction I’d ever had to someone discovering who I was, but it excited me. Ginny knew, and unless she was a good actress, it didn’t change anything for her. She still thought of me the same way she had before she’d found out.

The two of us had been talking back and forth for weeks, and the more I learned about her, the more I wished…

Well.

Wishing for that was dumb. I wasn’t used to not getting what I wanted. Not that I’m spoiled or anything, but money talks. It just didn’t talk to her, and that’s why it surprised me that I wanted her so much. Usually there had to be at least some kind of physical connection between me and a woman before I started thinking about her all the time, and I’d never even kissed Ginny properly. Although sometimes I really wished I had while I was with her. At least so I would have something to think about when I lay in bed alone at night.

Mike often made fun of me for how distracted I seemed these days, and he teased me about having my mind stuck on a girl thousands of miles away, but he didn’t know how right he was. Sometimes at night I found myself thinking about her and what it might be like to wake up next to her and feel those soft curves, to smooth her hair back from her face, to kiss her awake and compliment her cooking.

It wasn’t like me to pine after things I couldn’t have, because usually, I could have just about anything I wanted. But for whatever reason, Ginny Peterson was in my head, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to change it at all.





Chapter 9 — Ginny





Another Friday rolled around, and Kari and I were at our usual club. For whatever reason, having someone like Tristan to talk to gave me more confidence than I usually had. I didn’t spend nearly as much time fretting about what the men at the bar or on the dance floor thought of me, and Kari seemed to approve of that.

“Look at you, looking all sexy,” she complimented me as we made our way from the dance floor to the bar. “That dress is gorgeous. Your hair looks great. What’s got into you?”

It was more revealing than I usually wore, but I’d seen it in a shop window on my way back from the market one weekend and hadn’t been able to resist buying it. It was black with a halter-top bodice, a wide black bow going around the back of my neck to keep it up. The skirt had little polka dots in lavender on it, and it flared around my knees, showing off a lot of leg. I’d paired the dress with some strappy black heels that added three inches to my unimpressive height, and I could actually feel the difference.

Kari always radiated confidence, but now for the first time in a while, I felt like my best friend didn’t outclass me. “Girl, you’ve been raggin’ on me forever to get some confidence and now you question it? Give me a break,” I teased, shaking my ass for effect. “Are you jealous?” I couldn’t put my finger on what the change was, but I was sure it had something to do with Tristan. Just…the way he talked to me, complimenting and making me feel like I mattered…It did something to me, and apparently, this was the result.

If so, I was more than fine with it.

“Me jealous? Gin, you know I would never be jealous of you.” She wrapped her arm around me and giggled. “You’re my best friend. When we work it, we work it together!” she laughed, shimmying to the music. Yes, she was my big, beautiful BFF.


When we reached the bar, Kari ordered a Jack and Coke, and I debated before deciding that I wanted something sweet and blended. I was getting ready to tell the bartender what I wanted when a smooth voice interrupted.

“Let me guess. Strawberry daiquiri.”

I’d recognize that *’s voice anywhere, and it was a good thing I didn’t already have a drink in my hand or I would have dropped it. “Brad?”

He grinned, and my heart twisted. It was the same grin he always used to throw me when he thought I looked good, like when I was fresh out of the shower or when I was dressed up for a date or a night out with Kari. It started with him looking me up and down, and then his lips stretched slowly into a smile that took over his face. I used to get tingles from his approval, but now, I was thankful the feelings were stale; I just wanted to get away from him.

“You look really good, babe,” he said. “How’s things?”

I looked over at Kari, who seemed to be as speechless as I was. Neither of us had been expecting to run into Brad ever again.

Apparently, persistence was going to be his thing, because he was leaning in closer and reaching out like he was going to touch me.