Summer Dreaming (Hot in the Hamptons Book 1) (2 page)

My best friend spent every summer in the Hamptons, maybe she knew him.

“Cool, talk to you soon, Kelsey.” He smiled, winked, and then tapped the top of the car twice before turning towards his Jeep.

The orange board shorts he wore hugged his cute ass. The white t-shirt clung to his lean muscled body. The words Ocean Rescue stretched across his broad shoulders. I started the engine. The soft rumble of the seats only added to the throbbing between my legs.

Sean had already won the starring role in my lifeguard fantasy. And I hadn’t even touched a grain of sand yet.

*

I drove up
to Storme’s sprawling family estate. My mouth dropped, marveling at the size. “Stay out at our summer cottage in the Hamptons,” she had said. The shingled summer cottage was a mansion by any standards. I knew her family had money, but holy crap, I never knew she was billionaire rich.

I turned off the car and ran a hand along the dashboard. At least the Shelby Mustang looked like it belonged here. Me, in my thrift store chic clothes, didn’t. I glanced in the rearview mirror at the flea market sunglasses I wore.

My friends had never made me feel like I didn’t belong. Still, I rarely went shopping with them. In school, I either had a nonexistent paper to write or fake practice to attend. Not that my family was poor. But even with the volleyball scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to attend Penn State if it wasn’t for the scholarship fund the Atlanta Storm baseball team had set up for the sons and daughters of soldiers killed in action.

Upon my graduation from college, the car my father had lovingly restored over a decade had become mine. Not only had my mother given the okay for me to sell it, she’d encouraged me to accept one of the multiple offers I’d already received on it. But I couldn’t bring myself to part with the only physical reminder of my Dad. Even if selling the Mustang would provide me with enough money for my graduate studies overseas.

During the school year, I’d earned enough by waitressing to pay for the insurance this summer. After that, I’d have to take it off the road until I had a steady job in…well, that was the problem wasn’t it?

But for now, the whole summer stretched out before me. Parties. Beach. Sun. And lifeguards. Sean.

Remembering the paper bag, I grabbed it before stepping out of the car. I breathed in the salted air. Already feeling lighter, I pulled one of my suitcases from the trunk and headed for the house.

Storme greeted me at the door, wrapping me in a hug like it was our ten-year reunion instead of six weeks since graduation.

Backing away, I tossed the paper bag to Storme. I wondered if Sean would have believed me if I’d told him they were for a friend.

“How much do I owe you?” she asked, heading for her purse on the counter.

I followed, taking in the impeccable white walls and dark floors. If it weren’t for the pop of color from the pillows, the place would’ve looked sterile. I was about to make a joke about the tampons costing a hundred dollars, but sometimes Storme was more self-conscious about being rich than I was about being…well…not rich.

“Seriously? It’s a box of tampons. Besides, if it weren’t for your period, I wouldn’t have met the hottest guy ever to walk the planet.”

Storme’s eyes widened. “Already? You haven’t even unpacked your bags yet!”

With a dramatic hair flip, I said, “It’s the boobs. Men are defenseless against them.”

“And your sweet southern accent that makes cursing sound like a compliment,” added Storme.

“It’s an art,” I admitted. “When is Leigh arriving?”

“Later today. She tried to back out, but I laid the biggest guilt trip on her. An art I learned from my mother.”

And as a victim of, I thought, otherwise Storme would have been a graduate of the Fashion Institute instead of Penn State, her mother’s Alma Mater.

Storme hooked me by the arm. “I’ll show you to your room and then let your summer of debauchery commence!”

We started up the grand staircase. I felt like I had walked onto the set of the TV show
Revenge
. I worried again about my wardrobe. This home lent itself to elegant women wearing high fashion, not college girls who planned to live in bikinis all summer. My teeth tugged on my lip remembering we weren’t college girls any longer.

“So tell me more about this hot guy.”

“He’s a lifeguard.”

“You don’t mess around, do you?” she said regarding my mission to land a lifeguard this summer. “Is he cute?”

“You have no idea. Six-two, black wavy hair, blue eyes that invite you to dive in and drown.”

Storme halted mid-step and I nearly ran into her. She whirled around and grabbed my arm. “Sean Dempsey?”

“You know him?” By the widening of my friend’s eyes, she did. “Should I be jealous?”

“No! I’m getting married, remember?” Storme released her grip and put her hands on her hips. “It’s just that at the pool party tonight I’d planned to introduce you to one of Philip’s golf buddies. But leave it to Kelsey Mitchell to come to the Hamptons, a hotbed of fabulously rich men, and hook up with the poorest boy around.”

“Dollar signs don’t mean a thing between the sheets.” It wouldn’t matter if Sean didn’t have a dime. Money had never impressed me. Reaching the landing, I fished for more information. “What else can you tell me about Sean?”

“The summer girls call him ‘The Hampton Hottie’.”

Before I could ask Storme to expand, she opened the door and said, “Here you go. I hope you like it.”

Unlike the downstairs decor, the room was decorated in a casual beach theme. Still, it looked like a page out of a magazine. The crisp white comforter on the queen-sized bed invited me for a nap. Fueled on Red Bull and on the excitement to reach the Hamptons, the long drive from Georgia settled in my bones.

“The bathroom is through that door,” said Storme.

“I have my own bathroom?” I risked looking uncool and rushed in. The decor mirrored the bedroom. Seashells and candles lined the lip of a jetted tub, a steam shower with several shower sprays beckoned, and a marble vanity with a place to sit and put on makeup. If I were the squealing type, I’d be squealing like an annoying fourteen-year-old girl.

Growing up, I’d shared a bathroom with two sisters and then at college with my sorority ones.

From the door Storme said, “I’ll let you settle in. Come down when you’re ready and we’ll have something to eat. Then we’ll drink Chardonnay on the deck while we watch the sunset in style until Leigh arrives.” Storme went to leave but peeked back in. “Sorry, no lifeguards by my stretch of the beach.”

Beachfront house, check. Money, check. Chardonnay, check. No lifeguards? Guess it’s true you can’t have it all.

Sean

I
hung by
the pool as the partygoers tried to drowned themselves in alcohol. Stone cold sober, I kept watch over the illuminated water, ignoring the chaos around me. After rescuing people from the ocean, saving someone from a pool was easy money. If the rich parents of a twenty-two-year-old entitled punk, who’d never worked a day in his life, wanted to pay me a hundred bucks an hour to lifeguard at their home to prevent a lawsuit, who was I to complain?

Why someone would go to the expense of building a pool when the Atlantic Ocean was in your backyard, I couldn’t understand. That was rich people for you. Materialistic assholes. With a red plastic cup filled with ice next to me, and a phone to my ear, I tried to blend in as requested.

The money I earned during my summers had bankrolled my trips around the world during the off-season. But at the end of this one, I’d be headed out for a different kind of adventure.

I wasn’t going to work parties since I wanted to enjoy the summer nights before I headed to boot camp, but my buddy had a hot date and had pleaded with me to take his spot. I was all about helping a bro out, especially when I had nothing going on tonight. Hot Rod Chick hadn’t called and I wasn’t going to hold my breath. So what if every time my phone rang I looked at the screen hoping for an ‘unknown number’ to pop up.

I told myself, it’s for the best. One taste of Kelsey and I’d need another and then another. I knew this because I was full of shit. I’d been smiling like an idiot all day just thinking about her. It bothered me that she hadn’t called even if it had only been twelve hours since she’d typed my number into her phone.

“It’s for the best,” I repeated to myself. Summer romances never lasted. And that’s all it could ever be. Once I entered boot camp, my life wouldn’t be my own.

I had always dreamed of serving my country. I had been anxious to see the summer fly by, that was until I’d met Kelsey. The prospect of spending the summer in her arms made me want to slow down time. But she hadn’t called.

Lifeguarding had always been more than a seasonal job. I loved the lifestyle, and I admit, I loved the rush that came with rescuing a life, but it wasn’t a career path unless I moved to a place like California. College had never been on my radar. Not that I was stupid, far from it, but I was what you’d call a ‘hands on’ type of guy.

Too bad I’d never get them on that Hot Rod Chick’s smoking body.

Over the blaring hip-hop music, I heard a lounge chair scratching along the brick patio. I ignored it. I was responsible for the pool and nothing else.

“No!” A loud female voice with a Southern accent had my head snapping up.

Kelsey.

Kelsey, who hadn’t called.

Kelsey, who was letting a trust fund pussy, paw at her body.

No, not letting. She pushed away from him and made eye contact with me.

Her pretty mouth worded, “Save me.”

Well, in or out of the water, I was lifeguard first.

To prevent a scene, I quickly decided to play the boyfriend angle. Yeah, right. I wanted to claim that girl as mine and make sure the only hands exploring those curves were my own. “Kelsey, babe. I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sean!”

Saying my name in her now sweet drawl drove me wild. What would she sound like when I made her come?

“You didn’t say you had a boyfriend,” said the trust fund pussy.

“She shouldn’t have to. No, means, no,” I said.

“Sometimes, it means maybe.”

“
Maybe
, this will make it more clear.” Kelsey stomped on the guy’s bare foot with the spiked heel of her shoe. The ruffles at the bottom of her yellow mini dress flounced showing off more leg than I supposed she intended. I itched to play with the fabric and find out what lay beneath.

“Bitch.”

I wasn’t the jealous type, so when a wave of possessiveness flooded my body, it took me by surprise. My hand curled into a fist, but Kelsey’s fingers caressed mine, easing the rage to a ripple.

“Creeper,” said Kelsey.

With a slight limp, the trust fund pussy skulked off into the throng of partiers.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

If that little show was anything to go by, then she hadn’t needed my help at all.

The scent of vanilla wafted in the air, tempting me to nuzzle the delicate curve of her neck. I leaned forward and whispered, “Too bad you didn’t require mouth-to-mouth. It’s one my specialties.” I pulled back so I could see her reaction.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, lifeguard humor.”

I lifted her hand, brushing a kiss on her wrist. “It’s no joke.”

She tugged on her bottom lip in that cute way of hers. Damn, I wanted to do the job myself. Tug, lick, kiss, and more. Much more.

A splash sounded. I tore my gaze away from her hot mouth and scanned the pool. I had broken a cardinal rule of lifeguarding. Never look away from the water. Easy going as I was, I took my duties as a lifeguard seriously.

Luckily, the guys performing cannonballs weren’t drowning. Horseplay was fine by me, but when combined with alcohol it made for a dangerous mix. I couldn’t yell ‘no jumping’ without embarrassing the host of the party. This wasn’t the local pool with a gang of preadolescent boys being boys. This was worse. Prevention was half the battle of lifeguarding. In this situation, I was unable to stop the inevitable. I was on standby until someone hurt themselves.

I turned back to Kelsey. “Sorry, I’m on duty.” With my eyes back on the water, I continued, “I moonlight as a private lifeguard.”

“I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

“Go figure.”

“No red shorts?”

I wore blue ones. “Not tonight.”

“Not even a whistle?”

“Yeah, that would make me real popular at a party like this. I’m supposed to fit in.”

“Well, you’re doing a terrible job.”

“How so?”

“You’re not stupid ass drunk.”

I laughed. “I do have that going for me.” I didn’t dare turn my head, not even for a quick glance. If I did, I might not be able to peel my gaze away from how the light of the pool made her eyes seem like liquid fire. And that mouth! I wondered what she tasted like. Vanilla?

“Who are you here with?”

“Two of my girlfriends. Speaking of which, I should go find them.”

I wondered if I knew them. “I’ll be here until 1:00 AM if you need me.”

“Good to know.”

I risked that glance. Her smile promised her return.