Entangled Summer (19 page)

Kenzie came with me to Grace’s office to hand in my keys. Our remaining sessions had been cut short by the unfolding events. Darcy’s death, plus my termination meant there wasn’t any reason to continue. Steve’s accusations had been ‘
handled’
, but the damage was done.

There was actually a small tear in Grace’s eyes as she said good bye. She hugged me, holding on longer than necessary. When she finally let go, I had to fight back tears of my own. “Thanks Grace. For everything.”

She nodded, giving me a genuine smile. “Good luck Nora. And from now on, sweet dreams.”

Kenzie managed to hold off saying I told you so until we were outside. “See, just what you needed.” she nudged me.

“Guess the cosmos were right after all.” I said.

Her lips twisted in a sneer. “Sucks that you still have to leave even after that loser’s accusations were thrown out.”

I thought I was over it, but now I realized how attached I was to this place. Still, leaving early meant more free time before college started. At least that was how Troy and Kenzie had spun it.

“This has been quite the summer for two city girls,” I sighed.

“One city girl,” she pointed to herself and then pointed to me, “And one pretty woman with a real life rags-to-riches fairytale. Yeah, quite the summer is right. Wouldn't have traded a moment of it,” she added.

I glanced at her, not sure if she really felt that way with how things ended. But then Keith, a gorgeous guy from Jamaica with thick dreads hanging down his back, strolled past us flashing Kenzie a secret smile. He slipped her a card with what I can only assume was his number.

A smile played over her lips and she shrugged. “A girl’s gotta get right back on the horse and keep riding.”

She’s fine, I laughed to myself. “Can we go now?”

“No wait. There's just one thing we have to do before we pack.”

I looked at her expectantly.

“Wait for it,” she said. She’d dragged me to the front gates, and we stood waiting for her mystery surprise a few feet from the doors to Troy's office. I'd been keeping my distance since the board's decision, but it had been hard. I hated being apart from him, but it was temporary, and at the moment he was locked in Skype meetings, with his own board trying to kick him out of his own school.

When I'd told Kenzie everything Steve had done, she was strangely calm. But she hadn’t taken it all that well, judging from the purple bruise around Steve's eye.

“I think that guys like Steve shouldn't get away with the kind of crap he pulled on you.”

“I’m so over it Kenzie.” I groaned. “I hit him. Troy hit him. Darcy hit him. You hit him.—I think we’re good.”

“Well I wasn’t. I needed… closure,” she said.

The word had just slipped past her lips when I heard sirens. In the close distance. We stood in silence as a police cruiser pulled up to the black iron gates of Camp Wanderlust.

I drew in a slow breath. “Kenzie, what did you do?”

  “I might have filed a complaint of my own. And I might have thrown around terms like verbal abuse, attempted sexual assault, and general douche-baggery.”

I stared transfixed as Steve was led out of the office by the campus security and handed over to the police.

“No one does that to my bestie and gets away with it. Plus you weren’t the only one. A line up of girls stepped forward to file their complaints. A couple of them not quite legal age in some states.”

We watched as he was carted off by the local police, his hands cuffed behind his back as he spewed profanity at us.

Kenzie took great pleasure in spreading the news, whispering the sordid details to everyone who joined the growing crowd.

Arm in arm, we watched the cruiser pull away from the gates, removing him from Wanderlust Academy. Never to return this time around, no matter who his uncle was. In fact Troy had him removed from the board as well, conflict of interest or something.

Troy still owned his school, but the decision not to teach there remained. We were moving into his townhouse close to the campus on the weekend and Granddad would be moved into the state’s most prestigious facility shortly after. I had everything I'd ever dreamed of, —and so much more than I didn't dare let myself dream. And all it took was not having my dreams come true.

Kenzie dusted her hands. “There. One thing off my plate. You ready?”

I nibbled my thumbnail, lost in thought. “Hmmm?”

“God, just go see him already,” she groaned, reading my mind.  “You’ll never get a thing done if you don't.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. I took the steps two at a time then paused halfway up. Troy was sitting on the top step, watching me.

He stood up.

“Hey,” I raced up the rest of the steps. “Did you see what happened? There’s your karma,” I said. I was a little breathless but not just from the stairs.

Troy stepped toward me. His hands steadied on my waist and he pressed me back against the wall. Warmth spread through me as his lips found mine. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing my hands to his back, feeling his muscles flex as he tightened his grip on my waist. His kisses grew deeper, more intense, until we were both breathing heavily in unison. The door opened and Grace stuck her head out.

Troy pulled back a little, despite my protest. “I have to go.” He groaned.

“Don’t go.”

“Not far, and not for long.”

A few surprised gasps and whispers came from the crowd still dispersing.

I wanted to duck down, as if that would keep me from being seen. “People are watching us.” My lips moved against his.

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured “Who cares?”

“Not me, but—”

He tugged me closer, cutting off my words with another kiss. His hands tangled in my hair and I felt him surrender. For a while I didn’t resist it, but then reluctantly I pulled away. His mouth traveled to my cheek.

“Love you.” I whispered. “See you later?”

“See you forever.” He whispered against my cheek.

I smiled up at Grace, who nodded before returning inside.

“I owe her my life.” Troy said. “She has a gift for seeing though the circumstances people are living, deep into the heart of who and what they truly are.”

I felt his eyes on me and my gaze lifted to his. "And what are you?"

"Someone who's been entangled with the girl I love, for more lifetimes than I can count.”

With a whisper touch, he traced a finger over the arch of my eyebrows, down the bridge of my nose, and across my lips, before he spoke.

“Thank you for being the girl of my dreams."

My lips brushed his, then I pulled back to stare into his eyes.

“Thank you for
not
being the man of my dreams.”

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Entangled Summer by Michele Barrow-Belisle

They say our dreams mask hidden secrets. Secret desires. Secret fears. Secret lives. 20 year old Nora Dultry’s dreams hide even more. They’re a gateway to the man of her dreams and an escape from her painful past. She’s fantasized about him for years, and when he magically walks into her summer teaching gig, she never dreamed she’d question whether he was the one she truly wanted. But her former fling Troy Belassaro doesn’t just own Wanderlust Academy... he’s her boss, he still has her heart strings tied in knots, and he’s hiding secrets of his own. One of them will be her dream come true, one her waking nightmare. Untangling the truth could make this summer job, her last.

Love Me Like You Do by Bonnie Bliss writing as L. Kirk

After being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend on Valentine's’ Day Daisy Philips jumps to the defense of mysterious loner, Jason Lancaster. Jason hasn’t spoken to anyone since he came to the High School three years ago. But that day he speaks to Daisy.

Daisy is a dancer with her heart set on Juilliard, but a family secret threatens that path. Jason is a lost soul with a path that halted three years ago. Together they create a friendship that quickly turns to romance. But a tragedy in Daisy’s life pulls them apart.

Will Jason follow Daisy to claim the love that brought him back to life and mend both their broken hearts?

Chase by Elena Dillon

Rylan Maguire has run from a dangerous situation to start her life over but she didn’t count on finding Chase Sullivan or falling for him so quickly. When their pasts tangle squarely in the present will fear win out or will her newfound courage hold?

My Best Friend’s Ex by Tina Gayle

She loved him first, but her best friend married him. Now, divorced Brooke must choose between her best friend and the man of her dreams.

Brooke Janson has loved Garrett Sawyer since she met him on her first day of high school. Now, he’s free to love her too. Except, his ex-wife happens to be her best friend.

How can Brooke choose between a friend she’s known since kindergarten and the man her heart wants?

The Good Girl by Tracy Reed

Gabriella Townsend has been patiently waiting for her dream job. When she’s presented with the dream, it’s not exactly what she was expecting. She was hoping to work her way up the corporate ladder. Instead, one phone call and an office number on a slip of paper, lands her on the executive floor.

After a month working for the elusive, handsome and sexy, Phillippe Marchant, he offers her a life changing assignment…the position of “girlfriend.” Terrified of her feelings for him and the possibility of losing her job, she’s not sure what to do.

Betrayal at Crater’s Edge by Kathleen Rowland

Marchand LaFond is in control: his spy mission, his rules. After a suspicious betrayal by a friend, he knows this time, he needs help to dispose of deadly nerve agent. The person he trusts most is his former girlfriend, Yardley Van Dyke. She trusts him with her life but not her heart. Nothing is as simple or complicated as his perfect kiss.

Under the uncharted sulfurous clouds on Venus, they get closer to answers—and play to win as they get closer to each other. Will they find the poison before Vito Savage annihilates those who get in his way?

Random Acts of Violet by Geralyn Corcillo

Quietly independent Violet Parker is enjoying an uneventful summer of house-sitting, writing her thesis, and working to make ends meet. But suddenly a kid gets dumped on her doorstep, something keeps going bump in the attic, and most disturbing of all, Noah Swardguard shows up to lead a summer football program.

Noah has never succeeded in getting close to his reserved lab partner Violet. But when he sees her on campus in July—in charge of a little girl who makes her laugh and live a little—he wonders if maybe, just maybe, he has a chance with Violet Parker after all.