Hollywood Hills Read Online Free
watches before every hike, her younger brother, Josh, persuading Tyler to sneak slugs into Holly’s sleeping bag—still irritated Holly. But she was okay letting the issue go for now. Even though she’d developed a slightly thicker skin of late, Holly still loathed confrontations. And besides, she’d much rather be kissing Tyler.
Sitting side by side, her slender legs stretched across Tyler’s lap, Holly and Tyler kissed, their lips meeting with sweet, easy familiarity. Holly buried her fingers in Tyler’s wavy, dark-blond hair and shut her eyes, letting the pleasure of her boyfriend’s nearness and the familiarity of his clean, soapy scent course through her.
Through the wall, she could hear laughter and champagne glasses clinking, and she was grateful that she and Tyler had escaped. Though Holly considered Alexa a surrogate sister, she couldn’t quite appreciate the more glamorous aspects of her friend’s world. The simple pleasures of running track—well-worn Sauconys pounding the pavement, ratty T-shirt sticking to herback, high ponytail swishing—were what made Holly happiest.
Next to being alone with Tyler, of course.
Tyler slowly ended the kiss and drew back, his handsome face breaking into a tender smile and his amber-brown eyes brightening.
“I love you, Holly Rebecca,” he murmured, brushing her bangs back to kiss her forehead.
“Right back at you, Tyler Maxwell.” Holly grinned, swatting at his hand and then finger-combing her bangs back into place. “Even when you do that,” she added teasingly. It still amazed her how far she and Tyler had come since their first kiss on a moonlit Miami beach in their junior year. After so many ups and downs, Holly finally knew what rock-solid love felt like: a pair of arms around you, a net below you, safety, certainty, peace.
And the occasional stupid argument over vacation plans.
“That’s why I want to share stuff like family trips with you,” Tyler explained, pulling Holly in closer toward his broad chest. “It’s part of who you are. I love that, too.”
Holly swallowed hard, her earlier anger mellowing. Meghan, Holly’s second-best friend after Alexa, had recently called Holly in tears because her father and her brand-new boyfriend, Jeff, had gotten into anactual fistfight due to Jeff’s saying “goddamn” at a family dinner. Holly knew she was extremely fortunate that her parents and boyfriend got along as well as they did. Holly’s mom and dad were so fond of Tyler that Holly sometimes got the sense that, if given the chance, they’d gladly swap her for him.
“And since we’ll be going to school nearby,” Tyler went on, clearly aware that Holly was softening, “I thought it might be nice for all of us to—you know—bond or something.” He shrugged and shot her a game, yeah-I-know-I’m-a-loser grin.
Giving Tyler a playful shove, Holly tried to dispel the image of herself, Josh, her parents, and Tyler singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire. Bonding aside, that fall she and Tyler would be starting at Rutgers, which was only a twenty-minute drive from Oakridge, and the university Holly—and her parents—had always assumed she would go to. But Tyler’s deciding to join her there had been a last-minute surprise.
Holly thought back to that perilous, stomach-churning time in April, when skinny and fat envelopes from colleges had started to arrive in droves. One night, over the phone, she and Tyler had torn open each envelope in tandem, breathlessly relaying the score: Holly into Bucknell, Tyler rejected; Tyler into U. Mich, Holly rejected; Holly into UCLA, Tyler into Bowdoin; Holly into U. Conn and, finally, both ofthem into Rutgers. Somehow, by the time they reached Rutgers, neither could imagine going to college without the other.
“That reminds me,” Holly added, steering the subject away from their camping conundrum. “My housing request form came this morning. I haven’t looked at it yet but—”
Tyler’s face lit
Sitting side by side, her slender legs stretched across Tyler’s lap, Holly and Tyler kissed, their lips meeting with sweet, easy familiarity. Holly buried her fingers in Tyler’s wavy, dark-blond hair and shut her eyes, letting the pleasure of her boyfriend’s nearness and the familiarity of his clean, soapy scent course through her.
Through the wall, she could hear laughter and champagne glasses clinking, and she was grateful that she and Tyler had escaped. Though Holly considered Alexa a surrogate sister, she couldn’t quite appreciate the more glamorous aspects of her friend’s world. The simple pleasures of running track—well-worn Sauconys pounding the pavement, ratty T-shirt sticking to herback, high ponytail swishing—were what made Holly happiest.
Next to being alone with Tyler, of course.
Tyler slowly ended the kiss and drew back, his handsome face breaking into a tender smile and his amber-brown eyes brightening.
“I love you, Holly Rebecca,” he murmured, brushing her bangs back to kiss her forehead.
“Right back at you, Tyler Maxwell.” Holly grinned, swatting at his hand and then finger-combing her bangs back into place. “Even when you do that,” she added teasingly. It still amazed her how far she and Tyler had come since their first kiss on a moonlit Miami beach in their junior year. After so many ups and downs, Holly finally knew what rock-solid love felt like: a pair of arms around you, a net below you, safety, certainty, peace.
And the occasional stupid argument over vacation plans.
“That’s why I want to share stuff like family trips with you,” Tyler explained, pulling Holly in closer toward his broad chest. “It’s part of who you are. I love that, too.”
Holly swallowed hard, her earlier anger mellowing. Meghan, Holly’s second-best friend after Alexa, had recently called Holly in tears because her father and her brand-new boyfriend, Jeff, had gotten into anactual fistfight due to Jeff’s saying “goddamn” at a family dinner. Holly knew she was extremely fortunate that her parents and boyfriend got along as well as they did. Holly’s mom and dad were so fond of Tyler that Holly sometimes got the sense that, if given the chance, they’d gladly swap her for him.
“And since we’ll be going to school nearby,” Tyler went on, clearly aware that Holly was softening, “I thought it might be nice for all of us to—you know—bond or something.” He shrugged and shot her a game, yeah-I-know-I’m-a-loser grin.
Giving Tyler a playful shove, Holly tried to dispel the image of herself, Josh, her parents, and Tyler singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire. Bonding aside, that fall she and Tyler would be starting at Rutgers, which was only a twenty-minute drive from Oakridge, and the university Holly—and her parents—had always assumed she would go to. But Tyler’s deciding to join her there had been a last-minute surprise.
Holly thought back to that perilous, stomach-churning time in April, when skinny and fat envelopes from colleges had started to arrive in droves. One night, over the phone, she and Tyler had torn open each envelope in tandem, breathlessly relaying the score: Holly into Bucknell, Tyler rejected; Tyler into U. Mich, Holly rejected; Holly into UCLA, Tyler into Bowdoin; Holly into U. Conn and, finally, both ofthem into Rutgers. Somehow, by the time they reached Rutgers, neither could imagine going to college without the other.
“That reminds me,” Holly added, steering the subject away from their camping conundrum. “My housing request form came this morning. I haven’t looked at it yet but—”
Tyler’s face lit
Readers choose
Sheila Himmel
Kate Miller
Anthony Bellaleigh
Michael J. Sullivan
Donna Grant
Callista Foley
Barbara Erskine
Anne McAllister