Lasting Summer - [Loving Summer 05] Read Online Free PDF

that Drew, but this one…it’s growing on me…”
    “Glad this one is growing on you,” Drew
said. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint. But listen, Summer, there is a real good
reason why I brought you here tonight instead of anywhere else.”
    I stared into Drew’s blue eyes,
demanding him to tell me the truth.
    “Whatever we say in here, whatever we
do, it’s surveillance-free. We’ve been swept for bugs, viruses, whatever can be
used by the crime ring. This suite here is on top of Donovan Dynamic’s new
secret satellite office. It also provides a way for me, Rachel, and now Nat to
be down here as college students with you in Malibu.”
    I couldn’t believe my ears. Did I hear
right?
    “You just said Nat was here too?” I
asked.
    Drew blew out some air. “I shouldn’t
have said that.”
    “Is he here?” I asked again.
    Drew looked down and said, “Shit. I blew
that one.”
    “Drew?” I asked, taking my hands to hold
his face so he’s looking me in the eyes. “I’ve been through so much the last
few months worrying and grieving over Nat…at least tell me something…is he here
in Malibu…so so close to me?”
    Drew’s eyes held mine as he said those
words that he knew could cause him to lose me forever. “Yes.”
     
    As though right on cue, the doorbell
rang, causing both Drew and I to turn our heads so fast to look at the door
feeling both dread and excitement.

 
    Chapter 5
     
    I wanted
to run to the door and yank it open, but Drew put a hand on my shoulder,
silently telling me he would check on the door. His jaws clenched tightly as
his anger with Nat took over, and he walked towards the door in strong strides.
From the way his hands balled into fists, I was expecting a fight.
    I got up and walked calmly over to stand
behind Drew as he opened the door. If there was a fight brewing between the two
brothers, I was going to be there to stop it, knowing and fearing someday, they
may end up killing each other if I was not around.
    Keeping me safe from Sloane was one of
the reasons the brothers bonded again after Nat and I got together and Drew
went missing. Also, there was a bond we all shared, having been raised by Aunt
Sookie, who was my biological aunt, but who took the Donovan siblings under her
wings. When she died, the bond was still there, but it had been tested many
times.
    Drew, always Drew, had been there for
me.
    Always there…picking me off the floor.
    Oh how I’ve been so blinded by my own
hurt to see that Drew was only keeping Nat’s secret in order to protect me.
    I gently touched Drew’s shoulder and
leaned in to kiss his cheeks, surprising him enough to stop from opening the
door, ready to pounce on Nat. “Drew,” I said, looking up into his eyes, “I
understand. It wasn’t your fault, and I’m sorry I blamed you all this time. I’m
sorry I shut you out of my life for the last two weeks after I received Nat’s
letter. I was consumed with grief over Nat, and then to find out it was all
something you, Nat, and your father came up with to deceive me, I couldn’t take
it any longer. So you see, Drew, I didn’t mean to have all that pain explode on
you when you came to see me. I shouldn’t have blamed you. You were just as much
as a bystander as I was. Nat and your father always had a way to make you go
along with their plans. I realize now how it isn’t your fault…it couldn’t be.
You were just there to pick up the pieces Nat left of me. He should be the one
I never want to see again. Not you. You’ve always been there for me. I just
never saw through my blindness to your love and kindness.”
    Drew’s hand fell off the doorknob, and
he turned around, wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me to him.
“Summer,” he whispered, his eyes filled with agony but love. “You don’t know
how long I’ve waited to hear you say that to me.” He crushed his lips on mine
in a kiss that made my toes curl and my head spin. How long we had been
kissing, I didn’t know,