Private Paradise by Jami Alden Read Free Book Online Page B

seen. She watched,
helplessly, as Sam dragged his father outside.
    Later, when Carla tried to bring up the
incident, Sam snapped at her to forget it. “He hit me up for cash.
He does it all the time.” He'd shaken his head and stared off into
the distance, a look of sadness in his eyes so profound that, even
now, remembering how he'd treated her, Carla still felt a pinch in
her chest.
    That was the moment she'd fallen completely,
utterly under Sam's spell. When she came up with her plan.
    Eleven years later, the memory of how
stupidly eager she'd been, the way she'd thrown herself at his
feet, made her cringe.
    It was mid August, a week before Sam was set
to head off to Fort Jackson in South Carolina for basic training.
Three days after that, Carla was heading to the University of
Arizona. Though they spent nearly every free minute together, they
hadn't had a single discussion about what would happen after they
left the resort. Whether they'd stay together, seeing each other as
much as they could. Whether they'd stay in touch at all.
    As the day of his departure loomed closer,
Carla became more convinced that she and Sam were meant to be, that
there was no way she could stand to be halfway across the country
from him.
    So she came up with a plan. Unfortunately
Sam's response hadn't been what she'd been hoping for.
    They were up on their usual spot on the mesa,
lying on their backs, staring at the stars. Carla still had her
clothes on, though Sam had edged his fingers up under the front of
her shirt to draw lazy circles on her stomach. Slowly, gently, in a
mesmerizing pattern he worked his way up, until soon his fingers
brushed the undersides of her breasts. She knew she only had a
short window before hormones took over and she'd be too distracted
to think, forget talking.
    “ I need to tell you something,” she
said, catching his hand before it could reach up to cover her
breast.
    “ What?” he murmured, his voice muffled
as he kissed the spot on her neck guaranteed to make her
shiver.
    “ The University of South Carolina
offers almost exactly the same program as U of A. I talked to the
Dean and if I wait until winter quarter to enroll I can probably
get a scholarship to cover tuition.”
    His mouth froze on her neck. “So?” The wary
tone in his voice should have tipped her off, but miss know it all
Carla who saw the solution before everyone else was like a horse
with a bit in her teeth, barreling to the finish line.
    “ So,” she'd laughed, “that means
instead of going to Arizona, I can be close to you while you finish
basic.”
    Sam sat up so quickly Carla's head, which had
been resting on his arm, thumped against the hard- packed earth
under their blanket. “Basic only lasts nine weeks. Then what will
you do?”
    Carla's stomach had sunk to her feet at his
response. “I― I don't know.” She hadn't thought that far ahead. “I
suppose I could transfer to be closer to you―”
    “ What, you'll be like my stalker,
following me all over the place?”
    Carla remembered how the cold had overtaken
her at the cruel tone in his voice. In the moonlight, she could see
the change come over his face, his mouth pulling into a sneer, a
look of pure meanness on his face that she'd never seen on him
before. Still, like a moron, she couldn't stop pushing forward.
“Not your stalker,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Your
girlfriend.”
    “ Who ever said you were my
girlfriend?”
    Any response she might have made stuck in her
throat as his words hit her like a punch to the chest. She couldn't
move. She couldn't breathe. She could only sit there mutely as he
went in for the kill.
    “ I don't know what you think we've got
going here, Carla, but I'm just hooking up.”
    She wanted to point out all the time they'd
spent talking, the way they spent every free moment together even
if they weren't fooling around, but she couldn't make her mouth
form the words.
    “ Don't get me wrong, it's been fun.
You're hot, and you