Beyond the Waves (Pacific Shores Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

It would have been nice if they’d had a daughter her age. But it didn’t matter, because if they did have a daughter, she would have money, which in Marinville meant she would be popular, and therefore, definitely not in the same group of friends as chubby Taysia Layne Green.
    Oh well, she was working on the chubby part, at least. She had dropped fifty pounds since this time last year.
    She turned to jog toward the beach and collided with a firm, somewhat lanky form. She let loose a surprised squawk even as she bounced back like a tennis ball and fell onto her backside. Her sunglasses tumbled off and landed in the grass a few feet away.
    He was the best-looking boy she had ever seen.
    “Why are you staring at us?” the boy asked.
    Mouth dry, Taysia gawked at him in dumbfounded silence. He had black, curly hair and eyes as dark as a moonless midnight. A diamond stud winked at her from the lobe of one ear, drawing her attention to his high, angular cheekbones. He wore designer shorts, and his dirt-smudged polo hung from his shoulders with kingly grace. Definitely popular! And he had spoken to her! Her mouth was no longer just dry. It was parched. Like a sea sponge in the middle of a desert during a drought. She continued to gawk, her mouth hanging open.
    She stared at him for so long he finally gasped, “Oh, you can’t see! I’m sorry. Here!” He plucked her dark glasses from where they’d landed and placed them carefully into her hands. “And here I thought—”
    She blinked and refocused on his face, unable to help herself.
    He frowned at her. “You can see!” he accused. “What are you looking at?” He brushed at the corners of his mouth as though searching for stuck-on food. When she still made no reply, he reached a hand down to her with a puzzled expression. “Here, let me help you up. Did I hurt you?”
    It was the concern in his voice that finally snapped Taysia out of her stupor as she accepted his help and scrambled to her feet. “N-no. I-I’m f-fine. T-thanks.” She dusted off the seat of her shorts, but still couldn’t seem to break eye contact.
    With a quizzical grunt, he rubbed the back of his neck, scrutinizing her as though he didn’t quite believe she had all her cards stacked right. He held out a hand again. “I’m Kylen Sumner.” With a nod of his head in the direction of the mansion, he added, “We just moved in next door.”
    Taking his hand, Taysia managed to stammer, “A-Anastaysia L-Layne Green.” Her face bloomed with heat. Whenever in the world had she introduced herself to someone by her full name? She was an idiot!
    He cocked his head, and a twinkle leapt into his gaze. For a moment she thought he was going to point out her idiocy, but then he shrugged and seemed content to move on to another topic. He glanced at her jogging shorts and Nike running shoes—the ones she had saved all year to buy—and asked, “Were you going somewhere?”
    “Jogging.” She congratulated herself for not stammering.
    “Okay. I should go help unpack my stuff, so I’ll catch you later… Layne .” The twinkle was back in full force, and this time it was accompanied by a grin. But to her surprise, there was no animosity in the teasing. Just simple friendship.
    Friendship! That was the problem. If he hadn’t been so kind to her that first summer; if he hadn’t so quickly become her best friend; if he hadn’t kissed her under her mother’s backyard grape arbor, life would have been just fine for Taysia, and her blithering-idiot alter ego would probably never have been seen again. But he had done all those things. And she had trusted him.
    Taysia hissed in pain as she swabbed hydrogen peroxide on the scrape on her shin. “If I’d had a lick of sense, I’d have begged Mom and Dad to move to Siberia that very day.” Pressing the last Band-Aid on, she glanced at her watch. “Great! I’m five minutes late for class!”

    Kylen slumped into his car and scrubbed his hands through his hair.