Behind the Curtain - Page 21

He gave a small shrug. “Let’s just say my parents are extremely farsighted.”

“Tell me about it,” she said softly.

“What do you mean?”

“What’s it’s like for you. Living under the magnifying glass.”

She looked so somber, it gave him pause. It struck him then that as unlikely as it seemed, as different as their worlds probably were, she might really understand. So he began to tell her—haltingly at first, because he wasn’t used to talking about his relationship with his parents—how one of his first memories was of them looking down at him so expectantly . . . how another of his first memories was their expressions of frustrated disappointment.

“I can’t please them,” he said after talking for a while. “So I gave up trying. A long time ago, actually.”

“That’s so sad,” Laila murmured. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t be proud of you, having just gotten two degrees from Stanford.”

He grimaced. “My dad hated the idea of me going to Stanford, a liberal, West Coast school. He wanted me to go to Harvard, like he did. Like Eric did. Like most Gaites-Granvilles did. But, to be fair, they were proud of me at graduation.”

“They were?” she asked, leaning toward him. She started in surprise when the bottom of her raft scraped the shore. Their rafts had bobbed inland while they talked, Asher realized, and the beach was only a few feet away.

He nodded, holding tighter to her raft while he used his other hand to paddle, pulling her off the shore and back out to deeper water. His hand slid off the slippery plastic and they started to separate. She made a surprised sound and reached for him. He caught her hand and their rafts bumped together again. She laughed breathlessly. Their gazes held.

He didn’t let go, and she showed no sign of wanting to pull away from his grasp. In fact, she laid her head back on the air mattress pillow, her stare fixed on him.

“The only reason they were proud is because they think I’m going to start working at Gaites-Granville Media now that I’m done with school.”

“You say that in the present tense,” she said slowly, a look of concern crossing her face. He was intensely aware of the feeling of her soft, warm hand in his. He reached with hi

s finger, feeling her pulse. Her heartbeat was strong. Fast. She was as affected by their touching skin as he was.

“That’s because I haven’t told them yet,” he said, distracted. In all fairness, he’d been pretty preoccupied by her nearness the entire time he’d talked. It was challenging, lying side by side with the most gorgeous girl he’d ever seen, who was wearing only a bikini. But his distraction spiked high as he rubbed her wrist and absorbed the feeling of her beating heart. “Not that I’m not going to work for GGM, or that I’ve already taken a job at the L.A. Times.”

Her expression was so full of compassion it made him self-conscious. Why had he spilled all his family drama like that? It wasn’t like him. Thanks to his parents, he’d learned long ago to hold his feelings in . . . to give nothing away that might later be used as future ammunition against him.

“When will you tell them?” she asked.

“I’m supposed to go to Chicago to see them after this vacation. I’ll tell them then. Do you think that’s selfish of me?” he asked after a pause. “To take this vacation, and then to disappoint them at the end of it?” He frowned. “Of course you do. You’d do anything for your family.”

“No. I don’t think you’re selfish. You said it was your father’s graduation gift to you, a last opportunity for a carefree vacation before you enter the adult world. That’s true, whether you work for GGM or the L.A. Times.” He stroked her more boldly, gliding his fingertips against her inner forearm. She was so soft. So beautiful.

“I think it’s really brave of you, Asher.”

He watched her full lips moving with a razor-sharp focus. Her words seemed to skim across his sensitive skin, roughening it. Still, he was a little disbelieving.

“Brave?”

She nodded. “You’re living your own truth. That’s a really courageous thing to do.” A spasm crossed her face, like she’d just experienced some small pain. He leaned closer, concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t do it. I could never be that brave,” she said. He couldn’t have heard her near-whisper if he weren’t just inches away from her moving mouth.

“Sure you could,” he insisted.

“You don’t understand,” she murmured.

“Maybe not. I’d like to try, though.”

She gave a shaky laugh and shook her head, as if to minimize the importance of what she’d said. There was a defined black circle around the clear, light green of her iris. The smile faded from her lips . . . ripe-looking, dusky pink lips. She parted them. He caught a glimpse of her tongue, and suddenly, it was happening.

He was taking his first taste.

Tags: Beth Kery Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net
readsnovelonline.net Copyright 2016 - 2024