Storm Warning by Caisey Quinn, Elizabeth Lee Page B

letting her use him to make Coop jealous. He dang sure didn’t treat her like a sister. And he was good-looking. Okay, extremely good-looking. With those mischievous green eyes and dark hair and that boyish and simultaneously devilish grin of his.
    Wait…why am I swearing off my feelings for him? She walked up her front porch, lost in thought. It barely registered that she was being greeted by the cricket symphony. She glanced over at the peonies they’d planted earlier. Oh yeah. Hayden. He was ridiculously full of himself. And the way he just said whatever he wanted, like he didn’t care if it affected her or not.
    After a quick shower, she threw together ham and cheese sandwiches on sub rolls. She grabbed a bag of chips and two bottles of water, telling herself she was hungry enough to eat all of it so it was no big deal if he didn’t show. When Kyle wasn’t home, her mother didn’t fool with big dinners. They usually heated up one of the many frozen casseroles or ordered pizza and ate in the living room. It was too depressing to sit at the dining room table, just the two of them, both of them pretending not to notice the two chairs that remained painfully empty.
    She’d spent more time at The Ridge this summer than she ever had. And the past few times, Hayden had been there right along with her. They talked. It felt…real. Like they were becoming friends. Then he’d pulled that cocky crap on her. She huffed out a breath as she headed to her truck. She was going to drive over in case he didn’t show. She didn’t like to walk back home in the dark.
    In fact , she reassured herself, it’s probably better if he doesn’t show. Maybe he got the hint today. She wasn’t at all impressed with the whole spoiled brat persona. Or with the dual personality thing. Her father had done that — pretended to be a loving father and devoted husband, then bam. Turned out he’d had a slut on the side.
    And he hadn’t even called to say hello or ask about seeing her or anything. Nothing. One apologetic phone call after he’d left and then nothing.
    Well, she was done with two-faced liars. Coop had nearly kissed her then called the idea of being attracted to her incestuous. Hayden chatted easily about how funny his grandparents were and then acted like an ass.
    Done. I’m done , she told herself. She’d just live vicariously through Lynlee’s hot surfer boy stories. A summer romance of her own was out of the question.
    Until she pulled up at The Ridge and her headlights caught the silhouette of a tall brooding boy she’d just sworn she was done with.

H ER headlights nearly blinded him. Hayden raised a hand to his eyes to shield them from the glare. But as soon as they shut off, he lowered it so he could fully appreciate how gorgeous she was as she got out of the truck.
    Never in all his seventeen years had he seen anything like her.
    She was bold, sassy, and smart-mouthed as hell. And she didn’t take any shit, not even from him.
    His grandfather had warned him about her. But all the warnings in the world wouldn’t have kept him away.
    In Summit Bluffs, she’d have been laughed at for her cut-off shorts and flannel, plaid button-up shirt. And those boots. Cami and her friends would have a field day calling EJ a hillbilly ho. But damn if she didn’t make his mouth water. She approached him with a swagger in her hips that made his dick twitch. Tilting her head to the side, she handed him a bag.
    “It’s still not a date.”
    Pull it together, Prescott . He nodded, eyeing her toned backside as she lowered the tailgate of her old-as-dirt truck. She hopped up on it and ignored him.
    “Permission to come aboard?”
    There, that got a tiny smile out of her.
    “Permission granted,” she answered with an eye roll. Even her eye rolls are adorable. Hayden wanted to slap himself. He never thought of girls as adorable. He never even thought the word adorable. Girls were hot. Or sexy. Or do-able. Or none of the above.