The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(39)

“Good night,” he said to Celeste and Percy.

Percy nodded, and Celeste smiled, looking a little tired. “Good night, sweetheart. See you in the morning.”

When he walked into his room, Noelle had already changed into her pajamas. An oversize yellow T-shirt that said I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie and a pair of old tennis shorts. She sat at the top of the bed by the pillows, a thick paperback novel open in her lap. When she saw the cookies and pie in his hands, her eyes lit up.

“Thank you so, so, so, so much,” she said. She immediately dug into the pie, balancing the plate on her thighs. With her free hand, she opened her book again.

Jeremiah sat at the edge of the bed and leaned back, resting on his elbows. He peered at the cover of Noelle’s book. A woman and a man were caught in a passionate embrace. The man was shirtless, and the woman’s breasts were pushed up, displaying her cleavage. The title read Pirate Daughter in Disguise by Clara Crawford.

He glanced at Noelle again. She’d looked radiant tonight in her dress, but she looked beautiful now too, relaxed and comfortable in her pajamas with a scarf tied around her braids. When they’d kissed earlier, he’d felt it deep in his bones. Her lips were soft and plush, and he wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to lie down next to her, just to be physically closer. And…he absolutely should not be thinking about her that way because he was her client.

“What’s your book about?” he asked.

Noelle finished chewing and placed her pie to the side. “A woman named Anne grew up on a pirate ship because her dad was a pirate captain, but she’s always hated life at sea, so she seeks passage to France and lies about her identity because being a pirate is a crime. When she gets to Paris, she meets an inventor named Timothy and they fall in love, but she’s afraid to tell Timothy the truth about who she really is because his parents were killed by pirates, and he despises them.”

“Damn, that’s wild.”

“Right? But the real plot twist is that his parents weren’t killed by pirates. They were killed by a shady businessman who wanted to steal the patent of one of their inventions. He’s the villain in book one. This is book four in the series.”

“Wait, wait,” Jeremiah said. “Can you start from the beginning, please? What happens in book one?”

Noelle eagerly put her bookmark between the pages, holding her place. “Okay, so in book one…”

Jeremiah eased back fully onto the bed and listened as Noelle talked about pirates and drama and sweeping romance. He asked for clarification on certain things, like why one hero wanted revenge on his father, and why one heroine was seeking a treasure map. Noelle answered each question with patient enthusiasm. After she was done catching him up on the series, she asked if he wanted to borrow the books.

“Yeah,” he said, genuinely intrigued. “But I wanna be where you are in the story now.”

She looked at him and smirked a little. “Do you want me to read out loud to you?”

He nodded, smiling. “If that’s cool.”

Noelle began to read. Anne was finally admitting her true identity to Timothy. Noelle had an incredibly soothing voice. Jeremiah felt his eyes drift closed as she lulled him into relaxation. It had been a long day. Physically, mentally. He should change into his pajamas. But his limbs felt so heavy.

“Jeremiah…are you listening?” Noelle asked.

“Yes.” He forced his eyes open. “Timothy just asked Anne to leave, but then he immediately regretted it. Keep going, please.”

Noelle laughed quietly and shook her head. “You’re falling asleep.”

“I promise I’m not.”

After a moment, she continued reading. He listened to her honey-dipped voice, and soon his eyes drooped closed again against his will.

Later, distantly, he felt a blanket being draped over him. The bedroom light cut off, shrouding him in darkness. He was lying at the foot of the bed, perpendicular to Noelle, and her feet gently brushed against his side as she got comfortable.

I should get up and go to the nook, he thought to himself.

But instead, he rolled over and fell into a deeper sleep.





Chapter Eleven




“That has got to be the final boss of balloon arches,” Noelle said.

She stood in the Smiths’ backyard beside Jeremiah and stared up at the helium-inflated masterpiece made of white and gold balloons that arched across the pool. Another set of gold balloons floated in the water spelling out Happy 27th Birthday, Amara! This pool was a lot nicer than the pool she’d learned how to swim in at the Brickton YMCA.

Amara’s birthday barbecue was officially in full swing. A DJ was spinning. A painter was in the process of creating a live oil painting of the party. Servers maneuvered through the throng of guests, carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres. Other servers carried assorted baggies of Smith’s Sweets cookies.

From what Noelle could tell, Amara didn’t seem like the type to make a big deal out of her birthday. The dress code was all white, but Amara wore a sleeveless black minidress paired with her Doc Martens platform sandals. She was laughing with a few friends by the pool. Celeste was the one making the rounds, flashing her dazzling smile as she sauntered through the backyard, wearing a delicate-looking white midi dress and tie-up espadrille sandals. Her bob bounced effortlessly as she walked, stopping to talk to many of the guests who were business owners and/or neighbors in Heart Beach.