Glimmer (Glimmer and Glow 1) - Page 7

“Whoa, hold still. I’ve got you,” she said. When he’d steadied on his feet, she reached and helped him peel the sign off his face. He looked around at her with thankful, startled dark eyes.

“You okay, Dave?” someone called.

Alice glanced aside and saw the guy they’d been leching over in the limo running up to them, the other end of the flapping banner and a hammer in his hands. Dave seemed to have gained his balance. She let go of him and stepped back down onto the ground.

“That’s a frickin’ strong wind,” Dave said disbelievingly, following her down the stepladder.

“Maybe you guys should hang it in the direction of the wind,” Alice suggested delicately, pointing between two alternate trees. “I know the kids won’t see it when they first arrive next week, but they will as they walk toward the cabins.”

Thad laughed. “The brains of the outfit,” he said, hitching a thumb at Alice. “I guess Harvard taught you everything but basic common sense,” he told Dave.

“You were marching in the same asshat parade. I was just doing what Sebastian told us to do. It was supposed to be a welcome for the counselors, too, but Sebastian and his crew didn’t get it up in time,” Dave said, firming his hold on the end of the madly flapping banner. Then he smiled, and Alice realized he was really very handsome in a quiet, reserved, smart-guy fashion. “So … welcome. And thanks, by the way,” he said to Alice, stretching out his hand. “Dave Epstein. And that’s Thad Schaefer.”

“Alice Reed,” she said, shaking Dave’s hand first.

“You move fast,” Thad told her as they exchanged a handshake. “I like that it in a woman.”

Dave snorted. Alice rolled her eyes and smiled, because Thad Schaefer had clearly been teasing. He had a tattoo of a leaping shark on his biceps and a smear of dirt on a bulging pectoral muscle. His green eyes were warm and friendly on her face. She didn’t think he was a male clone of Brooke, or at least that was her first impression.

“Seriously,” Thad said as she dropped her hand from his. “I like fast people in general. At least while I’m here I do. Sebastian put me in charge of football, swimming, and sailing. Do you want to help me coach football? You’re a Durand counselor, right? You three are the last to get here. We’ve been waiting for you,” he said, nodding in the direction of the sedan. The driver was removing their luggage from the trunk, and Brooke and Tory were milling around, glancing in their direction, Tory holding back her long windblown blond hair from her face.

“Hey. I thought I was going to coach football with you,” Dave said, scowling.

“That was before I saw her,” Thad replied.

Dave made a subtle “I see your point” shrug. Alice laughed. She couldn’t help but be flattered. Thad hadn’t said it in a gross, lecherous fashion. He’d sounded honest and down to earth, and just plain nice. The two men seemed completely at ease with each other, and their comfortable bubble seemed to expand somehow to include her. It was just what she needed after sitting in the backseat with Brooke gnawing at her nerves for hours.

“Still, no fair recruiting her before anyone else gets a chance,” Dave persisted. “Are you any good at archery?”

“I don’t know,” Alice said. “I’ve got a pretty good aim with a rock though.”

“Do we want to know why?” Thad laughed.

“Probably not.”

He had a dimple in his right cheek and a great smile.

“I’m nothing great at football, but I like running. And oh … yeah, I am a Durand counselor,” she said dubiously, checking off Thad’s earlier queries.

“You sound a little uncertain about that,” Thad said.

“I feel a little old to be a camp counselor, I guess. It’s a unique setup they have going on here,” she said.

“If you call being under the microscope during an almost fourteen-hour workday a unique setup,” Dave said quietly. She shared a glance of silent understanding with him. Durand employees would be watching them constantly while they were there, observing how they reacted to stress, tallying who rose to challenges and who failed.

“Well, I plan to have some fun while I’m here,” Thad said. Dave gave him a skeptical look. “There’s nothing to say I can’t work hard and have fun, too,” Thad reasoned.

“Spoken like a true-blue Durand executive,” Dave replied with amused sarcasm.

“I’m just a little nervous about the kid factor,” Alice adm

itted honestly. “I’m not so sure what being a Durand exec has to do with babysitting.”

“Maybe the question should be: What does being a Durand exec have in common with being a prison guard or probation officer?” Dave said. “I hope I don’t sound too pessimistic for saying that, but Sebastian Kehoe told Thad and me firsthand a few minutes ago that quite a few of our sweet little future protégés have multiple past arrest records.”

“He was probably exaggerating to make a point,” Thad said with a shrug.

“I don’t think so,” Alice replied. She felt Thad’s gaze go sharp on her, but didn’t flinch in returning his glance. She herself had a couple petty arrests on her record, both acquired before she was seventeen. Police prowled Little Paradise constantly. Alice could never claim to have been an angel growing up, but neither could most kids. It was just that in Little Paradise, you had a damn good chance at being caught at something suspicious. She’d been squeaky clean since moving to Chicago and earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees. But it was kind of hard to live in Little Paradise—it was sort of challenging to be Sissy Reed’s daughter—and not have any run-ins with the law. She imagined it was a similar scenario for a majority of the kids who would be arriving by the busload from Chicago and Detroit in a week’s time.

Tags: Beth Kery Glimmer and Glow Erotic
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