Beautiful Abyss (California Dreamers #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“They never really noticed me.”
    “Ever?”
    “Nope. Never.”
    “That’s sad.”
    “That’s one word of it.”
    “You’d better take another lick of your ice cream.” She points to a drop that’s just getting ready to dribble down my hand.
    I quickly do a little cleanup with my tongue. And that makes me think about other things I could be doing with my tongue. Like tasting her ice cream. On her lips.
    “What are you thinking about?” she asks.
    Is it that obvious?
    “You,” I reply.
    “What about me?”
    When her eyes meet mine there’s enough heat between us to melt what’s left of both of our cones.
    “Kissing you,” I admit.
    Her face reddens again. She blushes a lot. Or maybe it’s so noticeable because her skin is so white.
    “Okay.” She says the word so softly I’m not sure I heard her correctly.
    “Okay?” I ask just to be sure.
    She doesn’t bother with a reply. She leans over and places a soft kiss on my lips.
    Was that an earthquake I felt, or was it my body responding to her mouth touching mine? In California sometimes it’s hard to tell.
    Whatever it was it wasn’t nearly enough. Now I’m the one who’s hungry, but not for food. I’m hungry for Abby Sullivan. Just one taste of her and I’m starving for more.
    I kiss her again. This time my tongue gets in on the action. She tastes like strawberries. It’s a good thing I love strawberries.
    And I may even love Abby. 
    It probably sounds crazy, but it feels like the world stops around us. It’s like there’s just me and Abby and our kiss, and that’s all that exists.
    She places her small fingers on her lips. “I’ve never been kissed like that before.”
    Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m afraid to ask. She has a strange expression on her face that makes it hard to tell.
    Our ice cream cones, or what’s left of them, look like blobs of melted goo on the table. Luckily we put napkins underneath them so the mess won’t be difficult to clean up and chuck into the garbage.
    “Were you done with your ice cream?” I ask her.
    When she notices the mess on the table she laughs. “There’s not much left.”
    I grab a few more napkins from a dispenser on the table and clean everything up.
    Just as I’m tossing the mess in the trash Abby leaps from the table in a panic. “I have to get back to work. It’s almost one thirty.”
    She looks like she could break into tears at any moment.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you so long.”
    “I lost track of time. I didn’t realize it was so late. My aunt is going to be furious.”
    Now I feel like an idiot. I hope she doesn’t get in trouble and then hate me for it.
    “Let me talk to her,” I offer. “I’ll tell her it was my fault.”
    Abby shakes her head. “That’s not a good idea. Trust me.”
    As she hurries away from the ice cream shop I struggle to keep up with her. The girl is fast when she wants to be.
    When we get a few hundred yards away from the nursery she comes to an erupt stop. Or maybe it’s abrupt . Anyway she stops so fast I nearly run into her.
    Then she kisses me. It’s happens so fast it feels like a dream.
    “You can’t walk me any further than this,” she tells me.
    “Why not?”
    “You just can’t.”
    Before I have a chance to say anything else she takes off again. This time she’s practically running.
    She leaves me standing in the sidewalk wondering what the hell just happened.

 
    Two
    “What are you doing?” Nellie asks.
    I’m sitting at the kitchen table in front of Roscoe’s laptop refreshing the screen every 30 seconds.
    “I’m waiting to see when my check from the commercial I did gets deposited. It’s supposed to be sometime soon.”
    “You know you can put an alert on your account so that you get an email or text whenever there’s a deposit.”
    “I didn’t know that.” I refresh the screen again. Still no deposit.
    “Would you like me to set it up for you?” she asks.
    I nod. “Thanks.”
    I rise