Love Story Read online

  They think the car is going to be the problem here? It’s not the car that’s toxic to me. It’s him.

  Reece Sullivan. My brother’s best friend. My parents’ “other son.”

  Slowly I force myself to turn, and even though I’m prepped, the force of that ice-blue gaze still does something dangerous to me.

  He winks, quick and cocky, and I suck in a breath, and I have to wonder…

  I wonder if my parents would feel differently about their little plan if they knew that their makeshift mechanic is the same guy that popped my cherry six years earlier under their very roof.

  And then broke my heart twenty-four hours later.

  Chapter 2

  LUCY, EIGHT, REECE, NINE

  The little boy hurriedly wiped the back of his hand over his sniffling nose as he heard someone climbing up the Big Toy, fingers swiping quickly at his wet eyes.

  He tried to stifle the surge of anger at the intrusion. Craig was probably just trying to help. But he’d heard Mrs. Hawkins tell Craig that Reece needed space right now, and Reece had been grateful his best friend hadn’t followed him into the backyard and onto the top of the Big Toy. Hadn’t been there to watch him cry.

  As far as Big Toys went, this one sucked. It just had one stupid little slide, and a swing that creaked. But the Big Toy was more than Reece had at his house, and the first time Reece had come over, he and Craig had used some boards and sheets to create a pretty cool fort.

  He didn’t feel like building a fort today.

  Reece sniffled. It sure was taking his friend a long time to climb up the short ladder. He turned his head just as a dark head came into view, and Reece blinked in annoyed shock at the girl invading his privacy.

  He’d only met Craig’s little sister once. He’d seen her around school and on the bus, but fourth graders didn’t have much to do with third graders.

  And every time he’d come over to Craig’s house, Lucy was always on her way to Brownies or soccer practice or ballet.

  But she was here now. Of all the rotten timing…

  Lucy crawled on her hands and knees over to him, and he noticed the smashed Kleenex box in her hand. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, she sat beside him on the platform, swinging her legs around to dangle like his, and handed Reece the Kleenex box.

  He pushed it back at her.

  She blinked at him with green eyes, the blue tissue box smashed against her chest.

  He thought maybe he’d hurt her feelings, but he didn’t care. Not today.

  Lucy turned and stared straight ahead, still clutching the tissue box. “My mom told me your mom went to heaven.”

  Fresh tears immediately filled his eyes, but he refused to reach for the Kleenex as he blinked them away. Boys don’t cry.

  Except, Reece’s dad had. Yesterday, he’d cried and cried and cried when the policeman had come by their house.

  There was an accident….

  Reece swallowed a sob, sniffing in dramatically before turning and glaring at the girl beside him. “Can you go away? I don’t like you.”

  I don’t want you to see me cry.

  She looked at him carefully. “You want to be alone?”

  “Obviously,” he said with all the disdain he could muster.

  She didn’t look away. “My mom said your dad dropped you off here. And that your sister hasn’t come out of her bedroom.”

  “So?” He didn’t want to think about the fact that his dad hadn’t so much as hugged him. Or that fourteen-year-old Trish hadn’t said a single word since hearing the news.

  He was all alone.

  Lucy heaved a big sigh that reminded Reece of when his mom was frustrated with his dad. A sound he’d never hear again…

  Tears rushed again, and this time he wasn’t fast enough, and they were running down his cheeks, dripping off his chin faster than he could wipe at them.

  He looked at Lucy in embarrassment, but she didn’t seem to mind. She reached into the pocket of her pink hoodie and pulled something out.

  Reece watched incredulously as she held up the deck of cards.

  “Go Fish?” she asked.

  He could only stare. His mom had just died, and this little girl wanted to play Go Fish?

  It was…

  It was…

  Slowly, Reece nodded, suddenly realizing that he’d do anything to have a break from thinking about his mom. To keep from thinking about how nothing would ever be the same.

  Lucy gave him a big smile, and began dealing the cards, all the while chatting about how her friend Robin had broken her arm and gotten a pink cast and how Lucy had signed it with a heart, and how she hoped her mom would let her quit ballet because she wanted to take gymnastics instead, and how she found a moldy grape in her lunch box and how it was the grossest thing ever.

  They played one game.

  Then another.

  By the third game, Reece’s eyes had dried. His stomach still hurt, but his chest didn’t hurt quite as much. For the first time since they’d told him his mom had died, he thought he might not die too.

  They played and played, and Lucy chatted, and Reece even laughed once or twice.

  Finally, he heard Mrs. Hawkins’s voice calling them in for dinner.

  Lucy began picking up the cards and putting them back in the deck. Reece picked up a ten of clubs, playing with the corner as he mustered his courage.

  When she held out her small hand expectantly for the card, he took a deep breath and handed it over, meeting her eyes. “Thank you. For staying with me.”

  Lucy blinked, looking a little confused, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world that she’d spend an afternoon with a crybaby.

  Then she gave him a small smile, looking a little shy for the first time since going to him, as though she’d just realized something. “I’ll never leave if you don’t want me to.”

  Chapter 3

  Reece

  I learned a long time ago that life’s not fair.

  I learned it when I was nine, and my mom was struck and killed by a drunk driver at a crosswalk outside a donut shop.

  I learned it just a few months ago when my dad finally gave in to the cancer in his stomach.

  I learned it when my older sister ditched the crap out of me right when I needed family the most.

  To sum up? Life’s not fair, and people leave. I get it.

  But right now, what feels more unfair than just about anything else is that the person I hate the most for leaving looks damn hot in tiny denim shorts and a white tank top, with murder in her eyes.

  Lucy Hawkins. She’d be my ultimate downfall if I hadn’t already hit rock bottom.

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to say, Hey, babe, to see her fire ignite even further, but her parents are here and they don’t know our, um, history.

  I know it though. And right now my damn cock is remembering all too well what it felt like to run my hand up those smooth calves, my tongue up the even smoother thighs.

  There might be some pain in there somewhere at the memories, but mostly there’s anger. Anger that I didn’t see before it was too late that for all of Lucy Hawkins’s easy laughter and girl-next-door charm, she’s really just a self-serving brat. Always one foot out the door, her eye on what’s ahead instead of what’s right in front of her.

  Her hands find her narrow hips and she looks me over. “Reece.”

  “Lucy,” I say in response.

  “What are you doing here?”

  The question pisses me off. I have as much right to be here as she does. Delia Hawkins was as much a mother to me as to her, having put at least as many Band-Aids on my scraped knees over the years as on Lucy’s. And Tim Hawkins was more dad to me than my own, teaching me everything from how to throw a football to how to drive a car, back when I was sixteen and my own dad was in the throes of depression.

  Hell, lately, I feel like I have more right to be here than Lucy. While I’ve been fixing her parents’ busted garbage disposal, cleaning their gut
ters and fixing this fucking car, she’s been off prancing around in high heels at some fancy restaurant, plotting her escape to California.

  I guess on that last one I can’t blame her since I’m after the same thing. But damn, I wish like hell I’d known about Princess Lucy’s plans before I’d taken the job at the Sonoma winery.

  She’s after it for the glory. I’m after it for the change.

  I’ve worked in the vineyards since I was fourteen, and as damn proud as I am to be a part of Virginia wine country, I need to get away from here. Away from the memories.

  I’d applied for the job at Abbott Vineyards in Sonoma the day after I buried my father. Not because I thought I was too good for Beaumont Winery, where I’ve been assistant winemaker for three years, but because I simply can’t take this fucking town right now.

  It’s like there’s a ghost around every corner, either of my parents, or my sister, or Lucy, even my damn dog Dudley, who I had to put down a few months ago.

  It was Craig’s idea that I get out of town for a while. His idea too that I approach his parents, ask about fixing up the ancient station wagon and using it to get my ass to California.

  They hadn’t even hesitated, and I love them for it.

  What I’m not loving them for at the moment is the fact that the second the precious middle child’s car breaks down, they foist her on me. I mean, I get it. It’s logical. Two people needing to make a cross-country move, one car…and a shit ton of baggage, and I’m not talking the literal kind.

  “This will be perfect,” Lucy’s mom says, oblivious to the resentment simmering between her daughter and me. “We’ve been worried about you making this journey on your own, sweetie, especially in that car, and this way you’ll have someone to help if the car breaks down.”

  “I can get Triple A,” Lucy says, crossing her arms.

  I roll my eyes. Diva. I want to remind her of all the summer afternoons when she got a flat tire and called me to come fix it. Me. Not some anonymous AAA number. Me.

  But then, that was back before she got fancy.

  “I appreciate the offer,” Lucy is saying, “but my whole reason for wanting to do a road trip was to actually see the country on the way.”

  “And what, I’ve just been planning to make the drive with my eyes closed?” I ask, leaning against the doorjamb. I feel her parents look over in surprise at my sharp tone, but I don’t look away from Lucy.

  She pins me with pissed-off cat-shaped green eyes, a startling contrast to her dark hair, tan skin. “The drive I’d planned was going to take two weeks.”

  The fuck?

  We could easily get from Virginia to California in a few days, even without pushing it too hard.

  “Two weeks? What was your plan, just driving in big loops around Kansas?”

  She ignores my sarcasm, looking back at her parents. “I really appreciate the offer, guys, but if I’m not going to stop in Miami on the way, I might as well just fly.”

  Miami? Only Lucy Hawkins would get from Virginia to California by way of Florida.

  “I’m sure Reece won’t mind the detour,” Delia is saying. “Reece have you ever been to Florida?”

  “Nope.” Not planning on it either.

  I thought it’d be a cold day in hell before Lucy and I would agree on something, but we’re on the same page right now. This joint road trip is a no go. She can take the car if she wants, but no way am I getting in there with her. I’ll find another way to get to California.

  “And it could be nice for Oscar to meet a family friend, even if he’s never met your actual family.” Delia is still rambling.

  There’s a slight pout to Lucy’s mom’s tone, and I narrow my eyes on the three Hawkinses, who seem to be having some sort of silent standoff.

  Then the name registers. “Oscar?” I ask, before I can think better of it.

  “My boyfriend,” Lucy says in a sugar-sweet voice, shooting me a smile laced with venom.

  Boyfriend. The word rocks through me.

  I knew she was seeing someone, but I figured that it was some overeducated douchebag she’d dump when she moved across the country.

  That’s what Lucy does. Looks ahead, moves forward.

  But if she’s planning to go out of the way to see the guy…

  Something hot and dangerous rips through me. Possession.

  I don’t want Lucy Hawkins. I got that pipe dream out of my system a long time ago.

  And yet somehow, I hear myself uttering the most idiotic words of my life: “I wouldn’t mind seeing Miami.”

  The look she shoots me would have made me laugh if I hadn’t been so rigid with the shock of what I’d just agreed to.

  Me. Lucy. Horny.

  And I’m not talking about the car.

  Chapter 4

  LUCY, FIFTEEN, REECE, SIXTEEN

  The song ended, and Lucy lifted her head from the pillow and reached out and hit back on her CD player so that the song would repeat.

  It wasn’t even a good song. Two days ago, she and her friend Kayley had talked about how much they hated it.

  Now, however, she was listening to it with fresh ears. The pop star was no longer singing about generic heartaches, she was singing about Lucy’s heartache.

  Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up, then dropped it again when she saw it was a text from Paige. Like Kayley, Paige was dying to know all about what had happened this afternoon at Tyler’s house. Wanted to know if Lucy had finally gotten her first kiss.

  Lucy rolled onto her back as the singer launched into her chorus about how the boy she liked liked another girl.

  I get you, Amber, Lucy silently told the first-name-only singer. I so get you.

  There was a knock at her bedroom door, and Lucy heaved a sigh. “Go away!”

  There was a moment of silence, then someone spoke. “You okay?”

  Lucy sat bolt upright. She’d assumed it was either Brandi or Craig telling her it was time for dinner, but it wasn’t.

  She swung her legs off the bed and brushed her hair back, wishing she were wearing something other than the gym shorts and T-shirt she’d worn to track practice.

  “Come in.”

  The door opened slowly, and the familiar face of Reece Sullivan appeared in the doorway. His blue eyes flicked briefly over her, then narrowed. “You okay?” he repeated.

  She scratched her nose. “Sure.”

  His eyes narrowed further, and he entered the room, shutting the door before leaning back against it with his arms crossed. Like Craig, Reece had made varsity football as a sophomore, but unlike Craig, he didn’t wear his letterman jacket everywhere he went. Today he was wearing a white polo and jeans, his forearms tan from working in the vineyards after school.

  “Do I need to beat someone up?” he asked, his mouth hitching up in one corner. “Also, what the hell is this song?”

  Lucy reached out and hit the pause button. “I’m wallowing.”

  “I can see that. Want to talk about it?”

  She picked at her cuticle. “Not with you.”

  “Hey,” he chided softly. “You’ve always told me what’s bugging you.”

  “Yeah, well, this is different.”

  And it was different. Reece was one of her best friends, and she knew she was one of his, despite their age difference, despite the fact that she was the pesky kid sister of his actual best friend.

  Usually, he was the first person she ran to with what was bugging her. He had a calm way of getting to the heart of every issue and making her see that whatever she was upset about wasn’t the end of the world. She supposed since he’d had a rough go of it with his sister bailing and his mom dying that he had a different perspective from most of her girlfriends, who thought the concept of tragedy only applied to their favorite show being canceled.

  This topic though…that was different. Reece was quiet, but well liked, especially by the girls in his class. No way was she about to tell him that she thought she was finally going to get her first kiss from
Tyler Vance today, only to learn that he wanted her to fix him up with her friend Paige.

  Reece pushed away from the door, coming to sit beside her on the bed, leaning forward so that his hands were clasped between his knees. He looked over and met her eyes. “Guy trouble?”

  She bit her lip. “Nobody likes me.”

  He blinked in surprise, then let out a little laugh. “Don’t let it go to your head, but you’re one of the most popular girls in the freshman class.”

  Lucy shook her head. “No, it’s just that everyone knows me because I participate in every possible extracurricular activity and talk a lot. But the guys…they don’t like me like that.”

  “Ah.”

  Reece looked away, staring down at his hands.

  She scratched her nose again, suddenly embarrassed. Not a feeling she was used to having around Reece. He always made her feel safe. Comfortable. But lately…lately he was making her feel something else too.

  “I thought it would be different once I got rid of the braces,” she said, feeling stupid for even saying it. “I thought maybe nobody wanted to kiss a girl with braces, but it’s been four months, and—”

  “Hold on. This is about kissing?”

  She shrugged, feeling her cheeks heat. “I’m the only one in my group who hasn’t been kissed.”

  Reece rubbed his hands over his face. “Not sure I’m the right person to be having this conversation with.”

  “Why not? You’ve kissed lots of girls.”

  She wanted him to deny it, but he didn’t.

  “Look,” he said, pressing his palms together in agitation and then standing. “If it makes you feel any better, first kisses aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.”

  She frowned. “They’re not?”

  He shook his head. “Definitely not. Nothing to look forward to, really.”

  “What about after the first kiss,” she countered. “Those are better, right?”

  He looked away and shuffled his feet. Nodded.

  “Well then,” she said, crossing her arms smugly. “How can I possibly get to those kisses, until I get the first one out of the way?”