Forbidden Boy

“Crap!” Remi muttered. Julia

“Sorry,” he explained sheepishly. “The alarm on my 53

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cell went off. I’m supposed to be home for di

“Then I guess I should get off of your surfboard,” Julia

“In a minute,” Remi agreed, sliding down next to her.

He lifted one hand to Julia

Jules felt her pulse quicken as she kissed him back. This was definitely the best part.

Reluctantly, Remi pulled his lips away. “Um, I guess I should be getting home.”

Now it was Julia

A little bit.”

“Oh, really,” Remi said, feigning offense.

“And it’s definitely possible that I don’t want to make the same mistake twice,” Jules continued. She reached over and took Remi’s arm by the wrist, turning it so the underside of his forearm was facing up. “So this time, I’m giving you my number.” Julia

Forbidden Boy

brush and jotted her phone number in blue oill paint along the inside of Remi’s arm.

“That tickles,” he protested halfheartedly.

“Yup,” Julia

“Very clever.” Remi laughed. “I love a girl with fore-sight.” He leaned in and gave her a soft peck on the cheek, as if to illustrate his point. Julia

“So I guess you’d better head home, huh?” Julia

“Guess so. And I guess you’d better get back to painting before you lose the light?” he replied.

“Guess so,” she answered, even though she’d forgotten about the painting entirely. “Call me sometime?” she asked, half teasingly.

“Absolutely.” Remi smiled. “If for no other reason than because I don’t have any turpentine in the house—

your number will probably be on my arm for the rest of the summer,” he joked, picking up his surfboard.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Jules gri

“Enjoy di

“Thanks! See you later.” Remi smiled at her one last time before turning and jogging back up the beach.

Julia

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toward her easel, determined to keep her cool and not check Remi out as he jogged away. She picked up her paintbrush and got exactly two strokes onto the canvas before she just couldn’t resist. Trying to be as subtle as possible, she turned slowly and looked for him on the horizon.

She spotted his lanky figure several hundred yards in the distance. Her eyes locked on to him just in time to see him place his surfboard gently on the ground, dust himself off, and walk right through the giant glass door of the Moores’ giant glass house.

56

Chapter Four

!

Several hours later, Julia

She’d thought that some quality sister-time would be just the thing to help her get it together.

“I mean, he’s still pretty perfect, though,” Julia

Chloe swept her hair off of her shoulders into a high ponytail and then adjusted the drawstring on her pink-and-yellow-striped lounge pants. “All I know is that we’re never going to a party where they only have PBR

ever again,” she mused. “Think about it—crappy beer, crappy guys. They go hand in hand. From now on it’s good drinks or bust.”

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“Things went that well with Michael, huh?” Julia

“Like I said, crappy beer, crappy guys. He seemed like such a sweetheart in physics lab.” Julia

“Oh Lord, Jules. Stick with art, okay? Because comedy? Not your thing.” Chloe tried to look miffed, but her hazel eyes were laughing.

“When did it start going downhill?” Julia

“Oh, I don’t know . . . about half a second after he told me that I was pretty good at physics ‘for a chick.’ ” Chloe’s heart-shaped face screwed up into a horrified grimace. “I’d say it was a pretty quick descent to rock bottom from there.”

“No way!” Julia

“How could I possibly make this up?” Chloe lobbed the pillow back at Julia

Forbidden Boy

and gnawed her left thumbnail thoughtfully while Julia

“You mean, because he should really never talk to anyone ever again?” Julia

“Julessssssss!” Chloe wailed. “Why is every guy I meet a complete loser? Are there no guys on the entire West Coast who aren’t completely sketchy? And you—” She turned her attentions toward Julia

“But . . .” Julia

“I know, I know.” Chloe cut her off decisively. “He’s smart, he’s hot, he’s fu

“Not everything runs in families, Chloe. Dad has green eyes, and neither of us do. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, right? Besides, if you’d seen him this afternoon . . . oh my God. He completely got everything I was saying about painting. And his surfing lesson was pretty much the hottest thing ever. And—”

“Okay, points duly noted.” Chloe was all business.

“So you’ll have some awesome memories. But you can’t 59

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keep seeing him. There’s no way it can go anywhere good.”

“But why not?” Julia

“Because he’s one of them, Jules. He’s a McMansion Moore. His parents are terrors. They are the living embodiment of bad news.” Chloe was on a roll. “And that house! Can you honestly imagine someone living in that glass house who isn’t a complete and total jerk?”

“He’s not a jerk,” Julia

“Maybe not yet. And maybe he won’t turn out to be as complete a jerk as his parents, but still, nothing good can possibly come of dating him. The Moores are nothing but trouble.”

“Can we please change the subject?” Julia

“Yeah, of course.” Chloe’s tone was bright again and Julia

“Sure. Of course. Seriously, don’t worry about it,” Julia