“You can move in with me.” She grinned and bumped my shoulder. “We’ll get a bunk bed. I’ll even let you take the bottom bunk if you want.”
I snorted, but a smile slipped out with it. “Your parents might be the most relaxed people I’ve ever met, but even they wouldn’t let us share a room.” Summer’s parents were these free-spirited, one with nature, hippy type people. They were really nice, but extremely casual with the rules. Actually, I’d go as far as to say that Summer and Hunter didn’t really have any rules. Mr. & Mrs. West were lucky that they had two abnormally good kids. If my mom and dad had the same parenting philosophy, Lucas would probably have multiple wives by now and Logan would be running an underground gambling establishment or something.
Summer paused in thought. “You’re probably right. Ok, so your mom can have the guestroom at Gran and Pop’s and you and your brothers can move in with us. I’ll share a room with Hunter and you and Lucas and Logan can put your bunk bed in Hunter’s room. I’ve always wanted more brothers.” She said that last part a little too sarcastically.
“You’d do that for me? Share a room with your brother?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t really be so you could have Lucas in the room next door?” I prodded, and her cheeks turned pink.
“Fine, you and Logan can share Hunter’s room and Lucas can sleep out back in the hammock at your grandparent’s house.”
I nodded my head in agreement. “Much better plan. But maybe I could have Hunter’s room to myself, and Lucas and Logan could share the hammock?”
Summer laughed wildly and my heart squeezed a little. She’d been gaga over my brother for almost as long as I’d known her. That wasn’t a problem for me until last year. We’d showed up and I ran to her house first thing, as usual. But when she answered the door, it wasn’t regular Summer. It was like Summer in high definition.
She was still pretty short, but she’d filled out over the year. Skinny waist with curvy hips and not to sound like a perv, but a rockin’ chest. Her curly blond hair had grown out long and wild. Her honey tanned skin had a glow. And she’d started wearing a little makeup, which made her blue-gray eyes pop. All of a sudden, I was finding it hard not to notice her physically. She’d always been awesome, so by the time we left for home, I’d developed a full-blown crush on her.
I never said anything though, because we lived so far away. It seemed pointless. Not to mention she was smitten with my brother. Lucas isn’t necessarily a player. It’s more like he has the attention span of a toddler. He moves from girl to girl quicker than you can change your underwear. I consider myself lucky that he’s never shown interest in Summer. I’m not even sure if he knows she likes him. But if anything happened between them, it’d be over almost as soon as it started, and she deserves better than that. Plus, if he kissed her, I’d be tempted to punch his lights out. I don’t know who’d win between us in a real fight.
Summer stopped laughing and gave a cute little sigh. “Seriously though, if you guys really do move down here, you have to stay close enough to walk because I don’t think I’ll ever get a car. You know how my parents feel about carbon emissions. Cars are the devil. They only own one out of necessity. And it’d be so cool if you went to school at Franklin with me. Jayden would freak out. She thinks you’re the cat’s meow.” Summer raised her eyebrows up and down suggestively.
Jayden was Summer’s best girlfriend. She lived at the opposite end of the street from Gran and Pop. Funny enough, Jayden visited her grandparents in Arizona each year over break, so we never really spent any time together. We’d met and even hung out in our few days of overlap, but I was secretly glad she left each year. That meant I didn’t have to share my girl. I felt bad for Jayden though. She was a cool chick. Nobody that nice deserved to spend June, July and August in Arizona. That would be pure hell.
“She thinks I’m the cat’s meow, huh? Are those her words or yours?”
“Well, I added the cat part. Every time I talk about you, she usually just says meow.”
I laughed again, glad that when I was with Summer I could forget about all the other crap going on in my life right now. Even if it was only for a few minutes at a time. “I’ll have to store that tidbit in my info bank. It could come in handy someday. You know, in case I’m ever lonely and need someone to cuddle with.”
Summer huffed loudly. “You can’t cuddle with Jayden, I’d be insanely jealous.”
My heart tightened again, this time with a surge of hope. I’d never bothered to flirt with Summer for real. I mean, how could I compete with Lucas’s girly pants and pirate eyes? But maybe it was time to change that. Lucas was a prima donna. She was way too good for him. He always got all the girls, but honestly, I’d never given him any competition. Perhaps it was time I threw my hat in the ring.
“You’d be jealous, huh? But you have Lucas to pine over.”
She blushed again. “Yes, but Lucas is just a silly fantasy.”
Did that make me more of a reality? “Fine, no cuddling with Jayden.” I pretended to mope and she nudged me in the shoulder. It was silent for a moment and I switched topics. “About almost crying a minute ago, you won’t tell my brothers, right? They’d never let me live it down.”
“There’s nothing wrong with crying, Levi. In fact, I’d say, given your situation, that you’d have to be a robot not to be emotionally overwhelmed. I know how much you respect your dad.”
“Respected,” I clarified under my breath.
She ignored me and continued. “My point is that crying is an appropriate reaction, even for a boy. What we need to do is find you a proper distraction, so that you don’t waste your entire summer thinking about the bag of crap that’s been thrown at you. Maybe I’m being selfish, but I’d rather spend my vacation with fun Levi, not depressed Levi.”
I looked at Summer, my eyes automatically darting to her shiny pink lips. I quickly rerouted them to make eye contact and tried to push thoughts of kissing her out of my mind. “What’s your plan, oh great goddess of fun summer vacations? How would you propose keeping me distracted?” And now my brain was back to kissing her. That’d keep me plenty distracted.
“I’m thinking prank war.”
“Huh?” I’d been focused on lip locking so her answer surprised me.
“Hear me out. You know how last year Lucas and Hunter were always doing stupid things to drive us nuts? Like hiding our phones and shoes and crap like that? Well, I think this summer we should get even. Only not with lame stuff, with good stuff. Maybe we could recruit Captain Diabolical, a.k.a. Logan, to help us plan some good pranks. It’d be nice to see them get what’s coming to them.”
“Hmm…that could be a worthy distraction. I don’t know about getting Logan involved though. He’s a wild card. Sure, he’d have the best ideas, but he’s also likely to turn double agent.”
Summer frowned. “Good point. Maybe we don’t need him. We can think up some good ideas on our own. If not, that’s what Google’s for, right? We’ll only ask Logan for help if we get super desperate.” Summer stood from the bench and faced me with her hand out, ready to shake on it. “What do you say?”
I chewed on my lip, all the ways this could end in humiliation running through my head. On the other hand, it might be the perfect way to show Summer that I was the better man for her. “I don’t know. This idea has huge potential for embarrassment. Once they realize what we’re doing, Lucas and Hunter won’t take it easy on us.”
“Please?” she whined, bouncing rapidly on her toes like a puppy who had to pee.
“That’s the best you can do? Please? If I’m going to risk being humiliated, potentially publicly, at my brother’s design, you’ve got to do a lot better.” I wanted to make her work for it because she was so cute when she begged.
Summer dropped to one knee and took my hand in hers, like she was ready to propose marriage. “Levi London, there’s nobody in the world I’d rather have on my side when starting a prank war. Wi
ll you do me the honor of being my husband in crime?”
I couldn’t hold back the grin that spread across my face. Now how could I say no to that?
Perfectly Summer, the next book by Robin Daniels, is coming soon! Sign up for my newsletter for notifications of future releases: robindanielsbooks.wordpress.com/
Table of Contents
TITLE
ALSO BY ROBIN DANIELS
NEWSLETTER
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT ROBIN DANIELS
SNEAK PEEK
Perfectly You (The Perfect Series Book 2) Page 25