Break Me (The Summer Series) (5 page)

~~~

“You about ready? He’ll be here any
minute.” Kate stood behind Gemma while she looked in the mirror and tried to
figure out what to do with her hair. He had said they were just going to grab
some food near the water, so she knew putting too much effort in would be a
waste. If there was any wind, it would instantly bring her hair crashing toward
its death, and if it was hot, sweat would finish it off.

“Yes.” She groaned. “I’m thinking about
throwing it in a ponytail, is that just too lazy?”

“Well, it doesn’t exactly scream ‘take me here and
now, cowboy,’ but it isn’t the worst thing you could do.”

“Really? ‘Here and now, cowboy?’” Gemma snorted
and dropped her hair in frustration.

“You know you want to ride that.” Kate laughed.

“Oh, my gosh!” Gemma’s eyes went wide in the
mirror. “Do you always have to be so graphic?”

Kate rolled her eyes as she stepped up and
swatted Gemma’s frustrated hands away. “Here, let me.” In no time, she put some
sparkly headband in Gemma’s hair and twisted the back up and made her hair look
better than it did for prom.

“How the hell . . .? You know what? Never mind.
Just be on standby if this thing goes past one night.”

“You got it.” Just then they heard the doorbell,
and both of their eyes shot wide. “Oh, crap. You didn’t tell him?”

“It didn’t come up. Hurry.” Gemma pushed Kate
out of the bathroom ahead of her. Their father hated doorbells. He said it was
like a period for his brain. When he heard one, he usually bellowed from
upstairs and came down to yell at whoever would be so thoughtless. They turned through
their room and ran out the door and down the steps as fast as they could, but
not fast enough.

“Do you have any idea how long I have been
trying to figure out that scene? Who rings a damn doorbell anymore?” He turned
to yell up the stairs and noticed the girls. “Oh, Kate, I’m assuming this is
for you?”

“Um, actually, no, sir, I’m here to take Gemma
out.” Abe interrupted awkwardly, still standing outside the door and clearly
not interested in entering the house after their father’s warm welcome.

“Oh, of course.” Michael had the decency to
look embarrassed, but it wasn’t as if it was shocking that the mistake had been
made. It just served to amplify the self-doubt Gemma had been struggling with
all day.

“It was nice to meet you, sir. Gem, you ready?”
Abe held out his hand, gesturing for her to lead the way down the steps.

“Bye, you two.” Kate giggled from the door. Their
father was already gone and most likely back at his computer.

“So, that’s the famous dad. I’m guessing he’s a
writer?” Abe fidgeted as they made their way toward the water.

“Good call. And he is my father, but we aren’t
close if you were wondering. In fact, I pretty much can’t stand the man,” she
admitted, looking down at the ground, suddenly overcome with embarrassment. She
didn’t want Abe to think of her as some bitter girl who held on to someone
else’s drama. She hated that he was making her look at herself through new eyes
but couldn’t help but want to thank him nonetheless. Abe North was starting to
get to her.

“Oh, sorry. At least you and Kate get along.”
He looked over and smiled when she started to laugh at him. “What?”

“I think before this morning Kate and I may
have had a total of thirty conversations. Until you, we pretty much had nothing
to talk about or bond over.”

“Didn’t seem that way today.” He shrugged,
looking at her with those far-too-knowing eyes of his.

“You’re right. We reached an understanding,
and, I don’t know, it just kind of gets exhausting hating everyone, you know?”
She laughed to herself. “Of course you don’t know. You’re the good guy, the one
everyone likes.” She kicked a rock and thought for a minute, debating how much
she wanted to say. What was it about this guy that had her so trusting? “My
mother met my father in college. A month later they found out she was pregnant.
Surprise!” She threw her hands up and then smiled over at him. “They got
married right away because”—she held up two fingers and made air quotes—“it was
the right thing to do. Two months later he was gone and engaged to Kate’s mom,
the annulment papers in the mail.” Abe didn’t speak, so she went on. “I guess
for my mother’s sake and my own I have hated him all along. And, by
association, his new wife and their perfect children. Then, last night I
actually had a fun conversation with Kate. This morning I saw this new side of
her and it just clicked. I don’t have to hate her. She didn’t do this. And I
just . . . decided not to, I guess.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand then. “I’m
really sorry . . . about all of that. But I am glad you and Kate are getting
along. I think that’s cool.” He shrugged.

“It is what it is. I guess I have learned from
it and all that.” She waved her hand dismissively. “
So
, what are we
doing?”

Understanding the subject change and wisely
moving on, he kept her hand in his as he pulled her after him toward the public
end of the beach. “I thought we’d start by hitting my favorite food truck and
getting some of the best hot dogs you will ever eat in your life.” Her eyebrows
went up at the idea and he just laughed. “I promise you’ll love them. Then I
figured we would make our way back to your snooty end of the beach so we could
have more privacy and try to get to know each other.”

“That sounds nice.” She smiled to herself, glad
that even though it would be more private there would still be others around,
removing the opportunity for Abe to get any ideas about going too far. She was
ready to take a chance, but she was still unsure if she trusted him beyond a
dinner and some small talk.

“This,” he said as he pulled her up to the
glorified food truck, “is Hank, and these are the greatest hot dogs you will
ever eat in your life.” A severely overweight and jolly man reached his hand
out of the high window and shook hers. If Santa Claus trimmed his beard and wore
greasy T-shirts, this would be him. His rosy cheeks, most likely from the
contained heat of the truck and not the freezing cold of the North Pole, glowed
against his pale white skin. She thought he might be the only person on this
beach with skin less sun kissed than her own.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hank.” She smiled as he
winked at her. “So what exactly makes your hot dogs the best on the planet?”

“I said ‘the best you’ll ever eat in your life,’
not the best on the planet. Don’t give him a bigger head than he already has.”

“Now listen here, boy. These are the best damn
dogs you’ll eat or miss out on and you know it.” He leaned toward Gemma conspiratorially.
“The secret is to buy the cheapest sons-a-bitches you can find and then cover
them with more toppings than the eater can decipher. Cheap dogs and expensive
toppings. That’s the way to get ’em.”

“Sounds perfect.” Gemma laughed. “What toppings
do you recommend?”

“Well, my girly, for you, I’m going to say you
need to try the cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped, corn dog.” He smiled at the shocked
look on her face. “I may wrap some fried onions around the dog as well. If you
are going to spend the day with this fool, you’ll need to get something
delicious to make it bearable.”

Wide-eyed she just nodded as Abe requested the
usual, a BLT dog. “How does he fit all the ingredients in that truck?”

“You’d be shocked, but I’ve helped him out
before on busy weekends, and it’s a well-oiled machine. I’ve never had anything
here that wasn’t delicious.” A few minutes later, Hank was sending them on
their way with their hot dogs and drinks. Gemma tried to ignore her weight
insecurities as they walked down the beach. She knew she wasn’t what Abe saw
everyday just from one trip on the beach with him. There was no way any of his
friends or Kate would eat what she was about to consume. If they did, the next
morning would just include an extra-long work out. Essentially, it sucked to be
a woman, and now that she had found a guy worth impressing, Gemma’s eyes were
more open to that fact than ever before.

Once back on the private beach, they found a
couple of beach chairs that were somewhat private and sat as far under the
umbrella as possible. The sun would be going down soon, but that only made the
glare behind them that much worse. “So,” Abe stretched out the word, “I know
that you like to read, you like alone time, and you don’t like the sun. You
also can’t handle your liquor and you have a jealous side. What else is there
to know about Gemma Andrews?” He smirked at her before he took a bite of his
hot dog.

“Well, for one, I don’t hate the sun. I hate
getting a sunburn. I actually love the sun. If it were possible to sleep on a
hammock out here, I would in a heartbeat. And number two, I wasn’t jealous. I
was annoyed. You had two girls throwing themselves at you, and they were just
being pathetic. It wasn’t you I was frustrated with; it was them.”

Abe laughed. “Sure, and just so you know—I was
jealous that night too.”

Gemma looked over at him, confused, while
tucking her legs up under her on the lounge chair. “What? Why?”

“Seriously?” He looked confused. “Don’t you
remember that night? You had every single guy there fighting to fill up your
cup as you emptied it. You didn’t even acknowledge me after you arrived, and I
had to send Kate to get you before someone got any ideas about having a chance
with you that night or any other.”

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. “I
think you were seeing things. I didn’t know how the keg worked, so Jay was
helping me, and I stood to the side saying nothing for most of the night.”

“Gem”—he shook his head at her, chuckling to
himself—“we guys love being the hero, especially when it involves filling up a
cup with alcohol for a girl. The silent thing only made you more intriguing,
and the fact that you don’t see how beautiful you are only makes every male
around find you that much more attractive.”

She hadn’t heard anything after he called her Gem
but came in just in time to hear the word beautiful. She tried as hard as she
could to hate that nickname and succeeded with almost any other individual, but
coming from Abe, it just ran though her chest, covered her body, and made her
ache for more. If she hadn’t been swooning before, this was definitely when it
became an issue. It was no longer a matter of if, but when. She would give in
to this guy. He would own her heart in every way, and he would break it into a
million pieces as she stood by, unable to do a thing about it. “Oh” was all
that came out.

Later, after talking and laughing for hours, a
yawning Abe helped Gemma to her feet. “Sorry that I’m so tired; it’s not a
commentary on the company. It was an early morning on the water, and then I
didn’t take my nap this afternoon as usual. I was a little amped up about
tonight.”

“I don’t know if I should be stuck on the nap
you missed out on or the fact that you were excited about tonight.” She tapped
her finger to her lower lip, enjoying the way his eyes darkened more than she
should. “I think I’d prefer to focus on the fact that a grown man is taking
naps.”

“Hey.” He laughed. “It’s a necessity. If I
don’t, it makes my night job a bit difficult.”

“Speaking of which”—she nudged him—“now that we’ve
come to an understanding, does that mean you’ll let me get back to my nightly
beach naps? Or are you going to keep kicking me out?”

“Well, I would love to let you sleep on my
beach; however, I need the job, and if management found out, I would not only
lose that job but I would also lose the one cleaning. I need every penny.” He
put his hand on her lower back, helping her along the sand. “Let’s work out a
new deal. Interested?”

“Hmmm, okay.” She agreed without much
hesitation.

“Let’s say you wait to sneak out until two when
I get off and I’ll let you read and sleep on the public beach all you want, all
the while keeping an eye out for danger.”

“You want to sleep with me?” she said before
she thought it through.

The look of shock on his face almost made the embarrassment
bearable . . . almost. “Well,
beside
you, I guess. I want you to be
happy, and I’m starting to gather that sleeping outside and relaxing with a
good book is what does that for you.”

“You learn fast, Mr. North.”

“I just pay attention when it comes to you; you’re
worth the effort.” She looked up and was disappointed to see they were outside
of her house. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Night?” she asked, shocking herself with how
badly she wanted to see him before that.

“Well, I clean houses in the morning as you
know, and then I hurry home for a two or three hour nap. I usually have about
four or five hours after that before I have to be on the beach to start sending
people home. Maybe we could get dinner or just hang out tomorrow evening?”

The fact that he was dissecting his schedule in
order to spend the maximum amount of time with her wasn’t lost on either of
them. She nodded her agreement, before giving him a small smile and turning to
head in the house. Stopping, she looked over her shoulder, suddenly tempted to
run back and at least hug him, and she was shocked at how much more she already
wanted both physically and emotionally. “Night, Abe.”