Caitlin Read Online Free

I wasn’t going to be influenced by his cuteness or the fact that he seemed as though he might be a lot of fun. Been there, done that.
    I felt a disturbance near my hip-pack — where I’d clipped my park ID earlier. My eyes sprung open in time to see him holding my ID and reading my name.
    “Caitlin. I like it,” he said.
    “Like I care what you like,” I said, shooing his hand — as though it was a pesky mosquito — away from my badge.
    “So why are you giving me such a hard time?” he asked.
    “You’re a player. Obviously.”
    “Why? Because people call me Romeo?”
    “You’re here with another girl. Shouldn’t you pay attention to her?”
    “Actually, I’m not here with another girl. I just met her this morning. We were hanging out in the pool for a while. She’s off doing something else now.”
    Why was he telling me all this? Didn’t my attitude say “I don’t care”? And where were Robyn and Whitney? I sat up, looked around, and spotted them at a nearby table. Robyn wiggled her fingers at me. Great. Wewere supposed to be lifeguards, rescuing people. Why couldn’t she and Whitney see that I needed rescuing?
    “Gotta go,” I said. “My lunch partners are here.”
    I picked up my soft-sided cooler.
    “Later,” he said.
    I didn’t want to be totally rude so I gave him a halfhearted wave. I crossed over the sand that made this part of the park look like an island. I dropped into the chair at the table. “Thanks, y’all, for coming to my rescue.”
    “I didn’t realize you wanted rescuing,” Robyn said.
    “Well, I did.”
    “Who’s the cutie?” Whitney asked.
    “Romeo,” I stated flatly.
    Robyn laughed. “No way!”
    “Yeah. That’s what I thought. I’ve already had one Romeo this summer, thanks so very much.”
    “I hate when people make judgmentsabout someone without really knowing the person or make a decision based on someone else,” Whitney said.
    “What are you talking about?” I asked, opening my cooler and taking out my sandwich.
    “Just because Tanner turned out to be a jerk doesn’t mean this guy is.”
    “For most of the morning he was in the pool with another girl, then he comes over and starts talking to me. Hello?! That tells me all I need to know.”
    “You’re harsh.”
    This from Miss I’m-So-Adorable-No-One-Ever-Says-No-to-Me. Don’t get me wrong. I liked Whitney but somehow she always, and I mean always , got what she wanted. Worked where she wanted, when she wanted, with as much or as little effort as she wanted. And if she wanted the park owners to throw a party for the employees? They did. The employee get-together where Tanner had decided he wanted to kiss someone else had been Whitney’s idea.She liked parties. So did I. But it was as though she had some secret password or something. And she wouldn’t share it.
    Robyn had been my best friend forever. I knew everything about her. Well, almost everything. It had been a shock to learn that she liked my brother.
    But we’d only known Whitney for a few weeks. We were still trying to figure her out. No matter how much time we spent together, no matter how much she talked, she never really told us anything important. It was as if she didn’t really want us to know anything about her except for surface stuff. She never shared deep, dark secrets.
    “So … you don’t have a boyfriend,” I said. “Go say hi to Romeo if you think he’s not going to break your heart.”
    “Maybe I will.”
    I issued another challenge with a look over the top of my sunglasses.
    “Fine. Okay. I will.” She got up and walked away.
    I glanced over my shoulder. Romeo wasstretched out on the lounge chair that I’d been sitting on. Had his Birks been under the chair when I got there and I just missed them? And what was so special about that chair anyway? A lot of empty ones were available.
    Whitney sat down on the lounge chair beside Romeo and started talking to him. He sat up and grinned at her. Of course, here was