Loving Summer (Loving Summer Series)

Prologue

When I think of my summers spent at Aunt Sookie’s Malibu “pad” as she called it, I think about first kisses, first love, and first heartbreak. I think about my friendship with Rachel Donovan and her brothers Nathaniel (Nat) and Drew. I think of all the sunsets, dawns, and first attempts. And then there was this summer, the summer I grew up, in more ways than one, and everyone noticed, especially the boys, especially Nat. –
Summer Jones

Rachel Donovan paused at the door to the room her brothers shared, steeling herself for the kind of chaos within. What was it about guys that they couldn’t live in any space that wasn’t knee deep in unwashed clothes? Okay, so maybe her own room wasn’t exactly perfect, but she was a sixteen-year-old girl. And she was meant to be the rebellious one. It was
allowed
.

            She pushed open the door to see Nat and Drew still stuffing clothes into their bags for the summer vacation. Nat was a year older than she and Drew, with short, wavy deep copper hair, an increasingly muscular build, and a good three or four inches in height on either of them. Drew was handsome, built like the athletic star quarterback he was, with jet black hair that would have matched Rachel’s except for the purple streaks running through hers, deep blue eyes that did match, and those same high cheekbones. Even though they were only fraternal twins, people always commented on the similarities. But the difference was he was tall, almost six feet, two inches, and muscular, while she was average and not muscular.

            The room was every bit as bad as she’d thought it would be. Worse, even, because now there were clothes strewn over the two beds while they tried to work out what to take with them, the rejects joining everything else on the floor. Rachel picked her way through it as she headed inside.

            “Aren’t you two ready to go to Summer’s Aunt Sookie’s place yet?”

            “What’s the rush?” Drew asked. Nat just shrugged.

            “What’s up with you two?” Rachel demanded. “It’s like you don’t
want
to spend the summer in a Malibu beach house or something. Is the idea of spending days on the beach that bad?”

            Drew shoved a few more clothes into the bag, stuffing them down into it hard. “It is when I have to miss football camp for this.”

            “Like you and the other jocks don’t spend all year running into one another anyway,” Rachel shot back.

            “This is a big deal for me,” Drew pointed out.

            Rachel snorted. “Like you aren’t a shoo-in for some dumb jock football scholarship anyway. A few weeks at Summer’s aunt’s place aren’t going to hurt. Come on, are
you
really telling me that you’d rather spend the time playing football than on the beach talking to all the girls there?”

            “I would if it means you’re going to be there in a bathing suit,” Drew replied. “There are some sights the world isn’t ready for.”

            Rachel looked around for something to throw at her twin, couldn’t find anything suitably heavy looking, and settled for ignoring Drew instead. She turned to Nat. “What about you? What’s got you sulking here?”

            “I’m not sulking,” Nat said. “I’d just rather be here.”

            “With Chrissy,” Drew added from behind Rachel. Nat shot him a dark look.

            “Why not?” he demanded. “I’ve only just hooked up with her, and now I’m supposed to just go off to Malibu?”

            Rachel rolled her eyes. “Like you seriously think she won’t be here for you when you get back? You two are so into each other it practically makes me want to throw up.”

            “Isn’t that your response to romance generally?” Drew asked.

            “This from the guy who seems to be making his way around every girl in our class?”

            Her brother shrugged. “Can I help it if they all seem to want me?”

            That got another eye roll from Rachel. “Arrogant, much?”

            Nat stepped in, the way he always seemed to so that they wouldn’t end up fighting. It was no fun being a twin with a sensible older brother, sometimes. “Look, Chrissy and I are not in love, guys. Infatuated right now, yes. I mean we went out a few times but that’s about it.”

            “Did you actually want something, Rachel?” Drew asked. “Or are you just here to make sure that we never finish packing?”

            Rachel remembered and pulled out her phone, bringing up the photo that Summer had sent over.

            “Summer’s aunt is going to be busy at her acting school, so Summer is picking us up herself. She sent over a photo so that we wouldn’t miss her at the airport. I’m kind of glad she did. She might have been my best friend, but I haven’t seen her in, like, forever. I wouldn’t have recognized her.”

            Nat took the phone.

            “She’s changed a bit,” Rachel said, and as her brothers looked at the photo, she watched for the moment when their expressions said they’d finally realized just how much Summer had changed. The slightly awkward thirteen year old in glasses, with braces and puppy fat was gone in the picture she’d sent, to be replaced by a chestnut haired, blue eyed beauty with a willowy body, delicately tanned skin and a perfect smile.

            “Whoa,” Drew said.

            Nat did not say anything, but his eyes looked pensive.

            “It’s quite a change, isn’t it?” Rachel said with a smile of her own, just to let her brothers know that she’d seen their faces. “Honestly, I’m not even sure if I can be friends with someone
that
pretty. I mean, Summer looks like she can easily be a supermodel, better looking than the queen bee in our school, so she’s probably turned into a total bitch.”

            “Because all pretty girls are mean girls?” Nat laughed. “Looks like you’re going to have to get over the stereotype there, Rachel. Anyway, it isn’t even true. Chrissy’s beautiful, and she’s as sweet as anybody you could ever meet.”

            Rachel took her phone back from him. “Because you’re into her right now. We’ll see about that in a month.” She’d barely gotten her phone back when Drew snatched it from her. “What are you doing?”

            “What?” Drew shot back. “I just want to make sure that I recognize her.”

            “So it has nothing to do with the part where you think she’s hot?” Nat asked.

            “What if it does?” Drew shrugged. “I’ve always… I’ve always thought she was kind of cool.”

            Rachel gave him a warning look. She knew what her twin brother could be like. “Don’t you dare go there,” she said. “Summer’s one of my best friends. You are not just going to play with her and sleep with her like all the other girls you date. She’s off limits, Drew. I mean it.”

            “You’d better listen,” Nat said, with a look that made it clear he wasn’t serious. “We wouldn’t want to be on Rachel’s bad side.”

            Drew caught his cue neatly. “She has a good side?”

            Why was it that her brothers always teamed up on her, Rachel demanded of any part of the universe that was listening? It was meant to be twins who teamed up on the rest of the world, wasn’t it?

            “I’m serious, Drew,” she said. “I don’t want Summer getting hurt. Besides, I don’t think you’re even her type.”

            “I’m not her type?” Drew said, looking slightly offended. Maybe it was just because he couldn’t believe that there was any girl whose type he might not be. “Well, maybe she isn’t
my
type. Had you thought of that?”

            “She has a pulse, doesn’t she?” Nat asked, and was rewarded by Drew throwing one of the t-shirts for Sookie’s Acting Academy that Summer had sent over at him.

            “He has a point, Drew,” Rachel said, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. “Right now, it seems like you’re interested in any pretty girl who looks at you.”

            “That isn’t true,” Drew insisted.

            Rachel shook her head. “All right then. Any pretty girl who’s prepared to sleep with you because you’re the star quarterback. You use them and then you leave them, and I don’t want Summer hurt like that.”

            Drew finished shoving clothes into his bag and yanked the zipper shut. “Why are you assuming that it’s always my fault?”

            “Maybe because it usually is?” Nat suggested. It looked like he’d finished packing too, and he put his bag beside Drew’s. There were still plenty of clothes left everywhere. Rachel knew better than to wonder whether they’d do anything about them. “Face it, Drew, you aren’t exactly the kind of guy to settle on one girl. How many girlfriends have you had in the last year?”

            Drew picked up his bag and grinned the kind of boyish grin that did a lot to explain why he’d worked his way through most of the cheerleading squad. “None. I don’t have girlfriends, just girls who like to have their way with me.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “And how many girls are that stupid?”

“IQ has nothing to do with it, little sister by five minutes. When it comes to me, they all think with something else. Believe me, just because I look good without my shirt on, doesn’t mean I’m a free for all, which some girls think. It’s kind of hard not to be with them when they’re practically throwing themselves at me.”

            “Well then,” Rachel said with heavy sarcasm, “the break will do you good. With all those girls making life so hard for you, this will give you a chance to recover.”

            Not that it made so much as a dent in Drew’s ego. He just shrugged. “I guess it would be kind of good to get away. Then, when I get back, the party starts all over again.”

            Rachel sighed. There wasn’t any point even trying when it came to her twin brother, some days. “Yeah, sure. Just finish getting ready, would you?”

            “I
am
ready,” Drew insisted. He took another look at Rachel’s phone, then passed it back to her. “You know, it’s going to be good seeing Summer’s Aunt Sookie again.
And
that beach house of hers.”

            “And Summer?” Nat added, obviously trying to stir things up between them.

            Drew shrugged. “It’s going to be a great vacation any way you look at it.”

            Rachel headed back to her room, looking for her bag and leaving her brothers behind. Right then, she was kind of thinking that the whole vacation might go a little better if she found a way to abandon them at the airport. It was probably the only way she was going to get any peace, for one thing. But it was too late for that kind of thinking. They were all going, and Drew was right about one thing. It
would
be good to see the old place again.

            It would be good to see lots of things. Rachel took another look at the photo Summer had sent her. They’d stayed in touch online, but she hadn’t seen her friend face to face since they were both thirteen. Summer was her dearest friend, and she was happy to be seeing her again. She also hoped that Drew would listen to her warnings, because from what she remembered, Summer was fun, and different, and exciting, but also maybe a little too fragile to be treated the way Drew treated girls. She was embarrassed that Drew was the type of walking one-night stand guy their mom had warned her about.

            “I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for,” Rachel said to the photo, but then shook her head. Summer had always had a crush on Nat, though, ever since she was five years old. No one, no boy had ever been able to shake her out of her crush on Nat, so at least that was a good thing about Drew.

Rachel was looking forward to getting out of the dreary grey San Francisco weather and into sunny Malibu. Aunt Sookie’s Malibu pad had always been magical. It was where they could be anyone or anything they wanted. And at this moment, in the Donovans’ lives, they wanted to be anywhere other than here.