Love and Rumors: A Summer Sisters Beach Reads Contemporary Romance (The Summer Sisters Book 1) by Jean Oram Read Free Book Online Page A

when he’d acted like a pushy alpha who was hungry for one thing and expected to get it.
    But there’d been something about the way Nature Nut had reacted that stirred his blood in a way Finn’s ex-girlfriend never had. Was it the challenge? The fire within her? The lack of vapidness? This photographer was nothing like Jessica. At first Jess’s plastic perfect appearance had thrilled him. She wanted him . But as time wore on, her fake breasts and piles of makeup had started to repulse him. Yet everyone else found her beautiful.
    Maybe that’s why he was so turned on by his nature nut. It was her realness. She was the opposite of Hollywood, and every emotion played across her face like a Hot List actor earning her Oscar.
    Wait…
    His nature nut?
    He rubbed his jaw. Canada was getting to him.
    Oh, hell. She settled beside him, making him sympathize with the way Miss Muffet felt when the spider sat down beside her.
    “I’m not going to slap you,” she announced, after ordering a draft beer.
    “Okay.” His voice squeaked, and he cleared his throat. He needed to regain control. Though he wanted rub against her long, bare legs like a homeless kitten, he knew he had to play a role. Be cool. Intriguing. Debonair.
    But she hadn’t liked Mr. Hotshot earlier, and chances were she’d hate any role he put on—anything that was less than real.
    Finn gripped the bar and rubbed his jaw again. He was screwed.
    “I came to apologize,” she said, her voice flat.
    He spun on his stool to face her. She looked lost, defeated, rejected. Not at all like the fiery woman who had escaped him earlier. He wanted to pull her into a hug to feel her small body against his and make her smile. Make those worries not quite hidden in her eyes flit away like a cloud of butterflies.
    “I should be the one apologizing,” he said, trying to keep the slur out of his words. Damn. Why did he have so many drinks?
    He placed a hand on the bar and leaned toward her. “I’m not the man you’ve seen in the tabloids. I’m not the man you met hours ago.” He turned away. He was already blowing this chance. He was slurring. Obviously there was something wrong with him. Seriously wrong.
    “Don’t play me,” she said, staring at him with serious blue eyes. “I know you don’t have a twin brother.”
    He scratched his head warily, buying for time as he worked to hide the emotions associated with him having a twin brother. The public didn’t know about his twin, Julian, and they certainly didn’t know about that fateful night when, just a block from home, Finn had lost the man he’d shared a womb with for nine months and a bedroom for sixteen and a half years. “Sorry?”
    “Don’t lie to me and don’t play the role of caring gentleman. I can see it coming and I don’t like it. I’d prefer you be straight-up honest. Be who you really are.”
    “Oh.” He pushed his sweaty glass away, contemplating her words. That should be easy. Except he didn’t know who he was. He knew who he used to be and who he was becoming, thanks to Derek’s hard work. But who he was at this exact point in time…that was difficult to pin down.
    “So, I’m sorry.” She pushed away from the bar, her beer in hand. A pang of loneliness hit Finn harder than a Jean-Claude Van Damme punch to the gut.
    “No.” He grabbed her arm a little too tightly. “I’m sorry. Please. Stay.” He gestured to the stool she’d slipped off. “Finish your beer. I promise I won’t manhandle you.”
    She cautiously slid back onto it.
    He grinned and leaned toward her as though sharing a secret. “Unless you ask me to.”
    The way she turned, looking shocked and prim, made him laugh. He liked this woman. All uptight and responsible and real. He wanted the beauty of her. He wanted real life with her, right here, right now.
    Wow. He really needed a vacation if that’s the way he was thinking.
    Finn shook his head at himself and leaned on the bar. “So, what do you want in life?”