Forbidden Boy (16 page)

Julianne ran her fingers through Remi’s brown hair, which was getting scruffier by the day. “I’m thinking about the sky. Can you figure out what color that is?”

Remi stared up and tried in earnest for a few minutes to figure it out. “Nope. Can’t say I can. But I also don’t think that’s what you were thinking about. Try again?”

Julianne laughed softly and continued playing with his hair. It wasn’t as soft as it looked, but it was surprisingly fluffy. Downy, almost. She thought she would be perfectly content just weaving her fingers in and out of it all night. She looked down and saw that Remi’s big eyes were staring up at her, filled with a mix of curiosity and expectation. “Are you actually still asking me?”

Remi nodded.

“You’re really going to make me say it?”

Remi nodded again.

“Okay, fine.” Julianne rolled her eyes. “I was thinking about your hair, okay?”

Even Remi looked a little surprised at this one.

“What?” Julianne challenged. “You have very nice hair; it’s a very interesting texture.”

Remi rolled back over and buried his face against Julianne’s stomach. “I love dating an artist,” he mum-bled, laughing. Julianne sat up, like she’d been hit with a sudden inspiration. Jolted by the movement, Remi shot up after her. “Hey!” Julianne squealed. “I have a good idea.”

“What?” he asked gamely.

“How about you come here and kiss me?” She grinned.

“You don’t need to ask me twice.” Remi pulled himself up from the ground with a laugh.

Soon they were rolling over each other in the sand, laughing and kissing the kind of slow, greedy kisses that go on for days. They kissed like they were trying to breathe each other’s air. Julianne felt Remi’s tongue in her mouth, soft but insistent, like he was determined to find out more, but willing to take all the time in the world to do it. She ran her hands up and down his spine, tracing the muscles of his back. Jules remembered her surprise at seeing him in his towel in the trailer and blushed. Julianne hadn’t been surprised at all by what a great kisser he was—not even the first time they’d kissed at the party—but she was pleasantly surprised that every single time they kissed, it got better and better. Julianne’s tank top had slid up around her rib cage, and Remi bent to kiss her stomach and run his fingers along her sternum. She buried her face in his neck, and was kissing the side of his jawbone. Then she heard something moving farther up the beach.

She nudged Remi and hissed urgently, “Someone’s coming.” Remi’s already-huge eyes grew as big as Frisbees as he catapulted himself at least five feet away from her. “Nice air!” she whispered, grinning up to his standing figure.

Remi pointed to his sweater, which was sitting to Jules’s left. A minute ago, it had been tucked under her head while they looked at the sky. “Toss it somewhere!”

Remi whispered, before subtly blowing her a kiss and taking off down the beach as though he were out for a night run. Julianne smoothed down her shirt and hair and tucked her legs under her, staring out at the ocean.

Absentmindedly, she began making piles of sand around her legs, transferring little bits from one pile to the other and back again.

The footsteps got closer, and Julianne was aching to turn around and see who had busted up her make-out session with Remi, but she was afraid of blowing her cover.

When the footsteps were directly behind her, Julianne tossed a casual glance over her shoulder just in time to see Chloe slide down next to her. Chloe’s coffee-colored hair was pulled into a high, tight ponytail, and she was wearing her teal Kappa Delta T-shirt and a pair of light blue seagull-printed pajama pants.

Chloe’s eyes scanned the beach and Julianne thought she saw her sister squint at the sight of the figure that was now a few hundred yards down the beach, moving at a steady jog. But if Chloe saw anyone, she didn’t say anything. She just pulled her legs up to her chest and turned her head toward Julianne.

“Cute outfit,” Chloe said.

“Thanks.” Julianne smiled at her sister.

“Nice to know that even without my styling you, you can come up with something nice.” Chloe giggled. “So, was the Fishtail hopping?”

“Oh, Chloe, it was ridiculous, totally packed.” Jules leaned in to fill her sister in on that night’s party. “There was an awesome DJ and a ton of cute guys—even some we didn’t already know.” She laughed at the closeness of their town. “I think Lucy got, like, three new phone numbers.”

Chloe laughed. “And you? Did you add anything to your little black book?”

“Not so much. I wasn’t really there looking, if you know what I mean,” Julianne answered.

“I have absolutely no idea what you mean. These days, I’m always looking!”

“Well, the Fishtail was an awesome place to look tonight,” Julianne conceded. “Everyone was dancing.

There was so much energy. Some freshman girls followed Mitch and Hunter around all night, just giggling at them. It was hilarious. Every time we turned around, there they were. But they never said a word!”

“Oh man.” Chloe laughed. “Do you remember when that was us? Watching senior guys pass by in the hallway at school and just totally losing it?”

“I know! Mitch even went up and asked them their names, and they just giggled and ran away.” Julianne leaned in closer to her sister, still laughing. “I thought Lucy was going to make them name tags or something.”

“It sounds like it was fun.” Chloe sighed. “Much better than filling out charts all night.”

“You’ll have to come with us next time. It’ll be great!”

Julianne promised.

Julianne linked her arm through her sister’s. She couldn’t have been happier to be sitting on the beach with her best friend in the world after a fabulous night, with one glaring exception. She felt gross not telling Chloe about Remi. Right now, they were the two most important people on Earth to her, and she would have loved it if they could somehow get along. She had a feeling they would, if Chloe could forget he was a Moore.

Save for some pilfered Halloween candy when she was eight, Julianne had never hidden anything from her sister before. It made her feel dirty.

Chloe’s voice jolted Julianne out of her reverie. “Let’s talk more about your night!”

“Okay,” Julianne replied enthusiastically. “What haven’t we covered? So, the Fishtail was packed, the music was great, people were dancing. It was really fun.”

“The guys were cute?” Chloe reaffirmed.

“Definitely,” Julianne answered, though her thoughts centered around one cute guy in particular.

“I haven’t been out in
for
-ever,” Chloe enunciated.

“All I do these days is work. I don’t think I’ve been to a party since Malibu.”

“Yeah …” Julianne trailed off noncommittally. She was realizing that her promise to go out with her sister next time around might not work if she wanted to see Remi, too.

“Can I ask you a question?” Chloe asked thoughtfully. Julianne felt her heart sink. She couldn’t have a heart-to-heart with Chloe right now. Not when there was something so big that she couldn’t share.

“Yup?” Julianne squeaked.

“How would you feel about having a little soiree next week?” Chloe suggested conspiratorially.

“While Dad is in New York?” Jules was hesitant—she already had way too many secrets in her life right now.

“You, my dear, are a mind reader. You know, like a bringing-down-the-house party?” Chloe pressed on, full steam ahead.

“A what?” Julianne had no idea what Chloe meant.

“A bringing-down-the-house party. You know, if the Moores are going to level our house anyway, then we ought to throw it quite the goodbye shindig.” Julianne felt her heart thud to her feet. Her pulse was racing.

“But wouldn’t Dad be pretty pissed off if we get to keep the house after all and there’s nothing left but a post-party pile of stones and beams?” Julianne focused on the mounds of sand she was still transferring from leg to leg.

“Fair enough,” Chloe answered thoughtfully. “I was halfway joking, anyway.”

Julianne rested her head against her sister’s shoulder.

Her heart was still racing with the stress of being dishonest. “I know,” she said softly.

“So, tell me more about the Fishtail,” Chloe chirped.

“Who was there, who was single?”

“Um, Hunter and Mitch,” Julianne began.

“Yeah, but you run with them. They don’t count.

They’re too sibling-y to make out with. Who else?”

Chloe pressed on.

“Oh, I don’t know. Some surfers. Some guys playing pool—Lucy was really into them.” Julianne wished this conversation would just stop, somehow.

“Hmm. Definite potential,” Chloe declared. “Anyone really catch your eye, though? Anyone special?”

This was becoming torturous. “No one new.”

Julianne answered, choosing her words deliberately so that she wasn’t lying, exactly. She thought she and Chloe had covered all of this already.

“Well, just meeting new guys is half the battle,”

Chloe said supportively. “I know it was tough for you to get over McMansion Jr., but I’m really glad you did. It’s good to see you going out and meeting new guys.”

Julianne was silent.

“Jules, you know I’m proud of you, right?” Chloe’s words were like salt in a huge cut on her sister’s heart.

“That painting was really amazing, you know,” Chloe said after a moment of silence.

Julianne smiled at her sister. “Thanks.”

“Have you given any thought to applying to schools yet?” Jules could tell that her sister, always the organizer and the achiever, was gearing up for a big Jules-goes-to-college push.

“Sure,” Julianne said. “I mean, you know, some.

Nothing really serious. I’ve been sort of … occupied with other things this summer.”

“No, totally. I understand that.” Chloe nodded. “But you should really check out some art schools. You’re incredible—you’ll be beating off recruiters with a stick.”

“Oh yeah. That’s the best way to get a full ride to college, ya know,” Julianne teased. “I’ll definitely bring a stick along to all my campus interviews.”

Chloe giggled. “I think that’s what they mean by taking the college application process into your own hands.

Beat them into submission and so on.”

“You never miss a beat, do you Chloe?” Julianne laughed at her own bad joke.

“Oh God, we really are related.” Chloe snorted.

“Please tell me we don’t pun alike. I think we Kahn girls may be genetically not funny.”

“I’m afraid it’s true,” Jules agreed—but she couldn’t help but laugh.

A“w yeah!” Randy called as Julianne and Remi walked toward the staircase to the basement, tiles crammed into their tool belts, cement and spreaders in either hand. “If the bathroom’s a rockin’, don’t come a’knockin’.”

“Oh,
stop
!” Julianne laughed. “Remi and I are just going to lay some tile.”

“Well that’s a shame, darlin’,” Randy replied. As Julianne followed Remi downstairs, she heard Randy chuckling to himself.

Crammed into the tiny auxiliary bathroom in the basement of the eco-house, safely hidden from the tor-rential rains outside, Remi reached for a tile across Julianne’s lap and (maybe not so accidentally) brushed across her thigh.

Every time he got anywhere near her, Julianne felt like she’d just walked into a really pleasant bug zapper.

Everything flashed blue and electric and she had to double check to make sure that she was still breathing.

She pulled herself together long enough to raise a sly eyebrow and tease, “Excuse me, Mr. Moore. A responsible project manager keeps his hands to himself.” She laughed at her own mock-saucy voice.

Remi shot back a sexy, “Oh yeah?”

“Definitely.” She pulled the zipper of her gray hooded sweatshirt up to her tanned collarbones.

Somewhere around noon, Julianne reached for the cement. As she stretched across the tiny bathroom, trying to wrap her fingers around the handle of the cement bucket and grab the wooden stirrer, the edge of her hoodie got caught on a loose piece of cabinet that hadn’t been installed yet. She lost her balance and went tumbling into the bathtub, the cement from the stirrer splashing across Remi’s new button-down, and one lone drop landing on his nose. The bucket teetered dangerously on the ledge for a moment before mercifully settling back in place.

Cement-splattered, Remi spun around, nearly as surprised to see Julianne sprawled out in the newly installed bathtub as she was to be there. “Hey, lady, you better watch where you’re splashing that stuff!” Remi scolded in mock indignation.

“Or what?” Julianne shot back. “You’re going to rap my knuckles with your big bad T-square?” She burst into hysterical laughter as Remi tried to put on his best “I mean business” face.

“You know,” she managed to gasp between bouts of laughter, “it would be a lot easier to take you seriously if you didn’t have cement on your nose.” Remi groped around his face, trying to locate and remove the offend-ing cement. “C’mere.” Julianne reached a hand out to Remi and pulled him into the bathtub on top of her.

She licked one finger like a child’s grandmother in a shopping mall and started to scrub the cement off of his nose. Before Julianne could reach in for a second try, Remi caught her with a long kiss.

“I think I missed a spot,” Julianne breathed between kisses, tenderly reaching toward the remaining cement speckled on Remi’s nose.

“I think I can live with that,” Remi murmured back, winding his hand under Julianne’s tangle of curls and letting it rest on the warm nape of her neck. He pulled her face back to his again.

Julianne eased her lips apart, making room for Remi’s mouth on hers. Every time they kissed she only wanted to kiss more, kiss longer, and memorize the feeling of their lips meshing against each other.

Reflexively, she felt her entire body relax and sink into Remi’s. She pressed her palms flat against his strong back and pulled herself even closer to him. He did the same.

The outline of his cheek and nose pressed under her ear made Julianne positively giddy. She leaned back and slid down along the bathtub’s flat floor, bringing Remi along with her. She felt free and powerful and so ridiculously alive, in a way that nothing other than making art had ever sparked in her before.