But I kept those thoughts to myself as I joined her on the couch and poured us each a glass of the dark red liquid.
“Here you go,” I said, trying desperately not to stare at her.
“Thank you,” she said as she took the glass, her eyes meeting mine.
Was she as nervous and tense as I was? Did she feel the something special that was happening between the two of us?
“I believe we haven’t been formally introduced,” I finally said. “I’m Parker James.”
She smiled. It was the prettiest, most perfect smile ever. “Yes,” she said with a light chuckle. “I know. Your name was on the invitation.”
Oh, that Ace, I thought. He hadn’t mentioned her on the guest list, but I was damn happy to see that he’d thought to invite her. What a genius. I would have to thank him for that.
I looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to officially introduce herself. Was she Summer? Had she completely turned her back on that identity to build a new one?
“Oh,” she said as she realized what I was waiting for. “I’m Summer. Summer Jones.”
Just hearing her say that… just making it official. It really was her. My knees buckled even though I was sitting. Holy shit. I couldn’t believe the effect she was having on me.
“I can certainly see why all the ladies are crazy about you,” she said after a while. “Not only are you rich and successful, not only are you gorgeous and sexy, but you’re charming in the most adorable way. There really is something disarming about you. You’re so humble and modest. I don’t see that in young men very often.”
“I have my moments,” I said. “Sometimes I can be a real ass, believe me.”
She laughed as she looked up at me from under her thick lashes. Damn, she was so beautiful, so alluring. I could barely keep it together.
“You’re the one who was at the Rob Raven concert, weren’t you?” she said. “You and your friend. I bumped into you, remember?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I remember.”
“I’m such a klutz sometimes.”
I smiled. “Ace is a big Raven fan,” I said. “I mean, I like his music, too. Maybe not enough to actually call myself a fan, but… It was a good show. I enjoyed it. Though my ears were buzzing for quite some time afterwards.”
I was rambling on and couldn’t stop myself.
“Rob is a very gifted musician,” she said. “He writes most of his music.”
“You seem to know him very well,” I said, daring to venture into her relationship with him.
“I do,” she said. “Rob and I go way back.”
“Oh,” I said, unable to hide my disappointment. “So, you two are an item then.”
She let out a charming little laugh. “No,” she said. “Not really. I mean, we once shared a chaste kiss when we were kids, but that’s the extent of it.”
“Kids?”
“Yeah,” she went on. “Rob and I went to the same special training camp when we were… oh, I don’t know… eleven or twelve years old, I would say.”
Training camp? Summer never mentioned going to a training camp. From what I remembered, she’d spent most of her summers at her Aunt Sookie’s beach house in Malibu, along with the Donovans.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the blow to her head that night of the explosion hadn’t given her alternative memories.
Maybe it was just a friend of hers who’d gone to some special camp and she was taking on the memory as her own.
“So, you’ve lived in the area all your life,” I said, hoping to jog her memory.
“Yes.” She took another sip of port and looked around. “This is a really nice place. It’s different from a lot of the houses I’ve seen. My friends tend to have very strange tastes sometimes. But this is nice. Very warm. I like it. It feels cozy… homey.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“You know,” she said. “As I was coming up the drive, I didn’t really know what to expect… from the house and from you.”
“I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
“On the contrary,” she said with a wicked grin. “I’m very pleasantly surprised. If not, I would have left a long time ago. Is the rest of the house as warm and welcoming as this is?” She gestured around the great room.
I put my glass of port down on the table. “Would you like to see? I could give you the grand tour.”
She also set her glass down and stood. “I’d love to.”
I led her down the stairs to take a peek at the computer room.
“Nothing much to see here,” I said as I opened the door to the organized mess that was Ace’s workspace. “Ace like to play around. You know… video games, shit like that.”
She smiled. “So, he lives here with you,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “He’s kind of like my kid brother. He’s got no one, and… well, I’m alone so… I look out for him.”
“That’s nice of you.
I then showed her a glimpse at Ace’s room and then I did a full stop at my room. Before completely entering the room, I showed her the bathroom.
“Interesting bath,” she said of the hammock style bath. “I don’t think I’ve even seen anything like that before.”
“Yes,” I said. “It is out of the ordinary.”
We moved on into the bedroom.
“Oh, wow,” she said as she walked up to the wall of windows that showed the twinkling lights of the city in the distance. “What a view. This is stunning.”
I looked at her, thinking the very same thing. Here she was, in my bedroom, with my bed just there… so close. I could taste her like I used to do all the time.
“You know, my boyfriend had a house with a nice view, but it was nothing like this,” she said as she glanced back at me.
Fortunately, she turned back to take another look out the window, missing the look of shock and dismay on my face.
Boyfriend? What boyfriend?
“I thought you said that you and Rob were just friends,” I said, trying to make light of the situation.
“Oh,” she said. “No. Not Rob. Ash Fairway.”
I frowned. “Yeah. I think I’ve heard the name before. He’s a celebrity, right?”
“He’s in movies,” she said with a nod. “Action movies.”
“And you two are dating?” I said, hating the tinge of jealousy and envy in my voice.
“Were,” she said. “We just broke up.”
“Oh,” I said, hiding my grin. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must be rough.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. It hurts, but I think it’s for the best. I mean…” She looked up at me, her sad eyes begging to be understood. “I thought he was the one. I believed we really had a connection, but it turned out to be a one way connection.”
“Are you okay?” I said, eager to comfort her.
She shrugged again and looked at me with those beautiful, big eyes.
Damn.
“I could sure use a hug,” she finally said.
Yahoo! Right away.