Read Online Summer's Song: Pine Point, Book 1 by Allie Boniface - Free Book Online

of the British Empire? Or she’d stare at a piece of needlework in its glass case and wonder about its creator. Who were you, really? Did you love? Did your heart ache at a sunrise? What was the world like, then?
    A breeze lifted the hair at her neck, and she shivered. Faint shouts floated up from the lake. The flames burned lower.
    “Course, present day has its moments too,” Damian said. “Tomorrow, next week, next year, all this is history too. Keeps shaping itself while we’re just passing through.”
    “I know. But somehow it’s different when you’re living in the middle of it.”
    He cocked his head, and Summer wondered if she’d said something wrong.
    “You involved with someone back home?”
    Her heart skipped inside her chest. “No. I mean, I was dating a guy a few months back, but—”
    Damian caught her mouth with his before she could finish the sentence. She lost her breath as his hands wound themselves in her hair, and she staggered against him, tingles in her palms. He smelled like soap and sawdust and the faint spice of aftershave. She ran her hands along his biceps, iron beneath her fingertips. Something inside her wanted to peel away his T-shirt and feel skin against skin.
    Their tongues met and one hand slipped from her hair to the small of her back. She could feel him against her, his want hard and making her own grow in waves the longer they stood there. After a long moment, he moved his lips to her cheek before resting his forehead against hers.
    “I’ve wanted to do that since yesterday.”
    “Yeah?” She laughed, a ragged, breathless sound in the silence. “Trying to make me change my mind about the house?”
    He pulled away from her and frowned. “No. Is that really what you think? ”
    “I was kidding.”
    He stuck his hands in his pockets and backed away. “Sure about that?”
    “Damian, please. I didn’t mean—” Somehow she’d ruined things. Her mouth ached with the absence of his.
    “Listen, I should probably go. Early day tomorrow.”
    “Wait. Let’s talk about this. Please.” But he was gone without even a glance over his shoulder.
    Summer crossed her arms as disappointment flooded her. Sparks jumped in the dying fire, and a piece of wood toppled into ash. For a few minutes, she thought maybe he’d come back and let her explain. She’d been joking. She’d just made a stupid comment to fill up the nervousness inside her stomach. He’d see that. Wouldn’t he?
    But Damian didn’t return. After a while, Summer laced her hands behind her head and stared at the stars. Maybe her father had been right. Maybe the farther away she went from Pine Point, the better for everyone.

Chapter Six
    Sunlight poked its yellow fingers through the blinds and prodded her awake.
    “Summer?” Rachael rapped on the door of the guest room.
    “Mmph.” She rolled over. “What time is it?”
    “Little after ten.” Her friend sat on the edge of the bed and began to bounce.
    “You let me sleep that late?” She sat up, disoriented.
    “Figured you needed it. I thought a party and conversation with a certain good-looking someone would be good for you.” Rachael crossed her legs. “So? Tell me what happened last night.”
    Clad in a tank top, Summer tossed off the sheet, swung her feet to the floor and reached for her overnight bag. “What happened? I came to your party, had dinner, watched while you and some other fools ran around naked. Then I went to bed.”
    Rachael looked around the room. “So where is he?”
    “What are you talking about?” Summer slipped off her shirt and pulled on a clean tank top and shorts. “Where’s who?”
    “Oh, please. Did you sleep with Damian?”
    “Damian? What?” She shook her head, but the edges of a memory began to sharpen behind her eyes. Smiles over firelight. Damian’s hand reaching across a step and touching hers. A heart-breaking kiss and a mistake on her part. Then nothing. “Of course not. I barely know him.”
    “Bummer.”