Overachiever (Slumming It Book 2)

by S. M. Shade

  Whatever awaits me at the construction site the rest of the summer is worth this. I’ve only been to the ocean twice in my life, when I was seven, then again at fourteen, and I’d forgotten how amazing it is just to be near it.

  When Owen and I went back to the motel to get ready for the beach, we ran into a few of the others from the crew, and they’ve accompanied us. One of them is Weston, who didn’t seem to take offense to Owen swapping rooms. Adrian and another guy named Carlos also join us.

  The second we find a nice spot that isn’t too close to others, all the guys run off like madmen to dive into the waves. Coating myself in sunblock, I stretch out on the blanket to take in the sights and relax. My phone buzzes with a text from Zara.

  Zara: Are you working?

  It’s quickly followed by one from Serena

  Serena: What are the guys like? Beefy hardbodies with huge hammers?

  Laughing, I turn to take a selfie with the ocean behind me, then send it to both of them.

  Me: Work starts tomorrow. Guys are nothing special.

  That’s not exactly true. Evan has a sexy smile and thick biceps. And Carlos has gorgeous hair and eyes, both dark.

  I put the phone away when Owen approaches. He’s drawing plenty of looks of his own from the women around us. It’s not surprising. It’s hard not to see him as the friend he’s always been, but he’s good looking. Lean body, lightly lined with muscle, wavy light brown hair, and dark blue eyes.

  Ignoring the attention he’s getting, he flops onto the blanket beside me. “Don’t you want to get wet?”

  “Someone had to watch our stuff,” I point out, gesturing to the phones and bags the guys dropped like a kid shedding a backpack at the door after school.

  “Good point. Here comes Weston. He can take a turn.”

  Weston is a big guy, but he doesn’t seem self-conscious in the least. He’s happy enough to hang out and watch for a bit while Owen and I head into the water. The sun heating my skin while the cool water rushes over my legs feels amazing, and I charge in deeper, diving into the waves.

  Time slips away as I swim, and my stomach growls when I stretch out on the sand at the shore. I’d be happy to sit here forever, watching the evening overtake the sky, washing it in pale blue and green. As nervous as I’ve been, I’m glad I came.

  Owen jogs over to plop down beside me. His eyes are bright and happy, his cheeks flushed. “Hey, ready to go? I’m starving. A guy told me about a great seafood place a few blocks away.”

  He gives a wave to a group of people who are packing up their towels and stuff to leave. Everywhere he goes, Owen makes friends.

  “Sounds good. Let me go rinse off the salt and sand.”

  “Good idea.”

  We walk to the outdoor shower, and the second the spray of water strikes my back, I know I screwed up. Owen glances over at the sound of my hiss, and his lips pull back to show his teeth. “You’re pretty burnt. Didn’t you wear sunblock?”

  “Not enough, apparently. I’m fine. I’ll grab some aloe before we go back to the motel.” Ducking into the restroom to change into a tank top and shorts, I find Owen dressed and waiting when I return. We both look like a couple of bedraggled beach bums as we locate the restaurant, but so does everyone around us.

  We’re seated at an outdoor table overlooking the ocean, and I can barely take my eyes off the horizon. The setting sun throws streaks of bright red, orange, and yellow across the sky in a way that feels almost violent. It seems to leak into the water, making it hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

  Owen flips his phone over when it keeps buzzing. “Marty. He’s drunk and telling me how much I’m missing out on the party he’s at.”

  “Oh, totally. Why would you want to be by the ocean, eating crab legs and drinking margaritas when you could be in some frat guy’s house bonging beers and trying to get laid?”

  “Right? Why not get drunk and laid somewhere much more tropical?”

  “Serena was texting me earlier asking about the guys on our crew.”

  “Did you tell her they all pale in comparison to me?”

  Munching on a piece of shrimp, I shrug. “I told her there were a couple of prospects for the summer fling she insists I experience while I’m here.”

  Owen sits back and covers his mouth in fake shock. “Remee, are you considering premarital sex with a Floridian? Scandalous.”

  “Shut up.”

  “It’s a one way ticket to damnation. Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

  His teasing makes me laugh despite the pain now growing in my burnt skin. “I’ll risk it. Come here, let’s send a picture to show them what they’re missing.”

  “You want me to press my cheek to yours while we hold up margaritas like some cheesy BFF picture?” He scoots over to me and continues before I can answer. “I’m in.”

  Our reflected faces are pink from the sun, and we both look ridiculously happy. After I send the picture to him and Serena, he forwards it to Marty. His lips tilt up at the sides when he gets a reply. “What did he say?”

  “Just called me a dick. Are you going to eat that last crab leg?”

  It’s still early when we get back to the motel, stopping along the way at a pharmacy for some aloe and vinegar. Owen swears the vinegar is some kind of miracle cure, and by the time I’ve showered, I’m willing to try anything to take away that heat. How stupid of me to get burnt on day one.

  My legs aren’t too bad, but my shoulders, chest, and back are a misery. Owen shakes his head at me when I emerge from the bathroom wearing my other bikini top. No way I can stand wearing a shirt. I hope they have me working indoors and not out in the sun tomorrow.

  “Wow, you might glow in the dark,” he quips, and I flip him off. “Come here.”

  I take a seat in the chair he gestures toward, and he stands behind me. “That smells awful.”

  He gently brushes my hair aside then dunks a towel in a container filled with water and vinegar. “Trust me. I had tons of bad sunburns when I was a kid.”

  The shock of the cold towel on my radiating skin makes me gasp, but the relief is almost instant. The smell of vinegar is gross, but I don’t even care as he drapes another towel to cover the worst areas.

  “Mmm…that’s better,” I breathe.

  “We’ll have to rewet them a few times. They’ll warm up fast, but the vinegar pulls the heat out.”

  He’s right. When he takes the towels off the first time, the heat surges. The second time isn’t as bad and by the third, my skin is barely warm. “Better?” he asks, patting my back dry.

  “Yeah, much better.”

  It suddenly strikes me how close he is. How personal this whole thing feels. It’s not like I’m naked, but he’s taking care of me. It doesn’t feel awkward, just…intimate when he coats his hands in aloe and slathers it over my skin.

  The heat in my face isn’t completely due to the sunburn, but I hide it under a coating of aloe as well. I’m not in nearly as much pain by the time I strip the blanket off the bed and climb between the cool sheets.

  “Thanks,” I mumble, the extremely long day catching up to me when I lay my head on the pillow.

  His voice is soft, and his reply finds me in the peaceful fog between awake and asleep. “Anytime, Rem.”

  Chapter Four

  Owen

  Remee’s groan wakes me just before the alarm, and I open my eyes to see her shuffling into the bathroom. Despite how sure I was last night that she was asleep, I made myself wait another thirty minutes before I grabbed a wad of tissue and took care of the hard-on I’d had since the second I ran my hands over her skin.

  Not that it was the first one she’d given me yesterday. Remee is a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, and seeing so much of her skin on show in that bikini drove me crazy all day. The beach was bursting with sexy women with their ass and tits on show, but my attention kept coming back to her. Maybe this job wasn’t the best idea. Christ, two days and I can barely keep my han
ds off her.

  It’s our first day of work. At least that’ll be a distraction. Meyer, the guy in charge of our group, was thrilled to hear I have roofing experience, so I know where I’m likely to end up. Looks like I traded one roofing job for one in a hotter place.

  Remee is quiet during breakfast and the drive to the worksite. Halfway across the muddy yard, she sighs. “This is so embarrassing. I look like a lobster.”

  “It’s summer in Florida. Land of skin cancer. No one’s going to notice.”

  The words are scarcely out of my mouth when a voice from behind us booms out, “Damn girl, you red as hell!” We both turn to see Meyer coming up behind us. “Better tell Evan to keep you working inside today.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Remee mumbles, watching him walk past us and into one of the houses. She spots Evan and veers off in his direction while I follow Meyer.

  This may be new for Remee, but my summers working with Marty have given me some experience with this type of working environment. I’m not sure what it is about the job that attracts the blowhard personality trait, but I’ve met way too many bragging, condescending, tough guy wannabes to deny there’s a link.

  Meyer seems okay, but Trevor is another story. Everyone has met a Trevor at some point in their lives. You know, the puffed up man who screams his insecurity by talking shit and dubbing everyone around him as weak. The type who likes to claim to be some ex-Navy Seal or secret CIA assassin who gets more ass than a bus seat ,when in real life they couldn’t make it a day without their beer and internet porn.

  I’m the youngest in our group and it takes him about three seconds to zero in on me. And about a minute for me to royally piss him off. What can I say? It’s just too easy.

  “We got the pretty boy, huh?” Trevor says when I join him, Meyer, Weston, and another guy named Colin.

  “Aw, thank you, I’m feeling pretty today.”

  Weston and Colin chuckle as I pretend to fluff up the front of my hair.

  Trevor sneers at me. “You gay?”

  “How badly do you want to find out?” The horrified look on his face when I step toward him and tilt my head with a smile is almost as funny as the way he stumbles backward.

  Meyer ignores our bullshit and regards Weston. “You head over to the house across from us. Jim will be there to show you what to do.” He turns to me. “You and Colin will be here. We start roofing today.”

  Trevor scoffs, “Roofing? Shouldn’t he be decorating?”

  Meyer glares at him. “Shut up and get over to project two. They’re laying rebar.”

  Laughing as if he won some contest the rest of us aren’t aware of, he walks off, his considerable gut leading the way.

  As Colin and I walk around to the rear of the house, he glances at me. “You know he’s going to spread the rumor you’re gay now.”

  “Probably.”

  He grins at my shrug. “You don’t care?”

  “Why would I? This place is a sausage fest. It’s not like it’s going to keep women away from me.”

  Colin scoffs, shoving his hair out of his face. “Being gay does the exact opposite. Trust me.”

  “Oh, so you’re—”

  “A dick enthusiast, yes,” Colin replies. “Got to admit. I had my hopes up about you for a moment.”

  “Understandable. What with how stunningly attractive I am, but guys don’t do it for me. Maybe give Trevor a whirl. You know what they say about homophobes.”

  “Also true. But they freak out after.” Colin drops his voice in mockery. “I’m not gay! The guy who was sucking my dick is!”

  Laughing, we get to work. The morning isn’t bad. I don’t hate roofing. It’s better than being trapped in some fast food or customer service job. Colin is fun to work with, and Meyer isn’t a bad supervisor. The big bosses, the J’s, only check in on us once and then move on without any criticism.

  I wonder how Remee’s day is going and I’m glad to see a smile on her face at lunchtime. She walks beside a guy I know I’ve met, but his name escapes me.

  “Hey, we’re going to grab lunch. Want to join?” Remee asks.

  Considering the way he’s looking at her, I want to elbow between them, scream “Mine” and maybe bite him. Which tells me I need to get my head straight after spending the last couple of days with her.

  It’s a struggle to decline and join the other guys gathered around one of the work trucks, but I manage. Building Hope supplies sandwiches for lunch, and I grab one, then plant my ass in the shade against the wall of the house where the other guys are eating.

  Most of the conversation gets tuned out until I hear one of them say, “Evan didn’t waste any time. Thought you had dibs, Adrian.” They’re all looking over toward a truck where Remee and Evan sit, talking and eating.

  “You can’t call dibs,” Adrian laughs. “And I’m not worried about his old ass.”

  Clearly, none of them realize—or care—that Remee came with me. The talk I hear is no different than I’d expect out of a crew of guys, and they aren’t exactly saying horrible things, but by the end of lunch, it’s clear there’s a race between a few of them to see who can fuck the only woman on the crew.

  While it’s infuriating, it also makes me want to laugh. There’s no way Remee will fall for any of their games. She’s smart. A few days of working here and she’ll see what she’s dealing with.

  The afternoon goes by quickly. It’s been a while since I was up on a roof and even though it’s hot as a devil’s asshole, I enjoy the feeling of working with my muscles again. My job in the financial aid office during the school year is so sedentary, not to mention all the hours I spend sitting in class. I’d be totally out of shape if it weren’t for going to the gym religiously. No need for that over the summer. I’ll sweat off every bite I eat in this job.

  That fact is clear as my stomach growls on our way back to the motel. Remee’s been quiet, but she chuckles at the sound. “I’m starving too. Want to order a pizza when we get back?”

  “Are you going to put pineapple on it?”

  “Pineapple is good.”

  “Pineapple is okay, but on pizza, it’s a goddamn travesty, Rem. Seriously, for such a smart woman, I wonder about your taste.”

  “I’m friends with you so you probably should.” She flashes a sideways smile at me, and I shake my head. “How did the first day go?”

  Shrugging, she looks out the window. “Everyone was nice.”

  I’ll bet they were.

  “But I suck at everything.”

  The defeat in her voice isn’t something I’m used to hearing. Remee is nothing if not determined and confident. “It’s a learning experience, remember? What did they have you working on?”

  Our conversation continues after I park in front of our room, and we get out of the car. “Well, let’s see.” She unlocks the door, and I follow her inside. “First, I hammered in a row of nails, and Evan had Adrian remove them to do it over. They weren’t that crooked. Anyway, Evan taught me how to use a nail gun since I can’t hammer, and I installed the baseboards in two bedrooms.”

  “See, you can do this.”

  “Upside down,” she finishes with a groan. “They were only a bit more narrow on one end, and I didn’t know. While they undid all that, I was assigned to help the painters. At least I didn’t screw up putting blue tape on all the trim.”

  Her shoes get kicked off before she falls onto the bed with a sigh. Pulling a pillow over her face, her words are a barely audible mumble. “At least I don’t have to go back for three days.”

  Her body bounces when I dive onto the bed beside her. “Hey, that blue tape can be tricky. Who can get that shit straight? I’m sure you nailed it. You’re probably the best taper they’ve ever had. They’ll want to hire you as a full time adhesive specialist.”

  “Ha ha.” She glances over at me when I pull the pillow off her face, and I’m glad to see a small smile. Her nose crinkles. “Oh my god. Go take a shower. You stink. You’re going to stink up my bed.”<
br />
  “That’s the smell of a day of manly work in the sun. It’s sexy.” Sitting up, I move closer to her. “Get a whiff.”

  “Ew!” she squeals, shoving me to the edge of the bed.

  “It’s okay. You don’t want the pheromones to set you off and make you want me. I completely understand. I’ll go shower off my irresistible masculine scent while you order a pizza.”

  When I emerge from my shower, Remee gathers her clothes and disappears into the bathroom to take her turn. “Pizza is on the way. I grabbed us some sodas from the vending machine,” she calls, before closing the door.

  I’m on my second piece of pizza and thinking about where we can go and what we want to do tonight when Remee returns. “Why the hell are you wearing pajamas?” Not that she doesn’t look cute in the thin pants and camisole, but it’s just getting dark outside.

  With a frown, she pulls her wet hair into a ponytail. “Because they’re comfortable.”

  “It’s Friday night.”

  “I’m aware.” She grabs a plate of pizza, sits cross legged on the bed, and pulls a giant book over beside her.

  “We’re in Florida.”

  “Right again, navigator.”

  I’m ignored when I move to sit beside her, but her eyebrows rise as I lean to read the title of the book. “Abnormal Psychology? You brought a textbook?”

  “It’s required reading for one of my classes next fall.”

  “No. No-ho-ho, this isn’t happening.” She reaches for the book when I snatch it and get to my feet.

  “Owen! Give it back!”

  Holding the book up out of her reach, I shake my head. “Nope, this is for your own good, Rem. I promised Serena I wouldn’t let you spend the summer studying and being all uptight.”

  “I’m not uptight!” Ignoring her glare, I lift the book as she jumps for it. “Owen, I’ve had a shitty day. I’m sunburnt and grouchy. I’m done with people today. Go hit the bars or whatever you plan to do, but I’m staying in.”