Surrender to Love by Raine English Read Free Book Online Page B

after I change. It’ll only take a minute.”
    “Did you say Candle Ridge?”
    “Yes.” She raced up the stairs, but not before hearing her grandmother’s laughter.
    Once in her room, she slipped off her sweatshirt and tossed it on the bed. She opened the French door to let in some air and spotted Easton below on the pier, staring out at the ocean, and then, as if he sensed she watched him, he turned and looked up at her. She stood there a minute longer, then stepped back into the shadow of her room. After quickly changing into a pair of yoga pants and an oversized shirt, she looked out again before closing the door, but he was gone.
    She went downstairs and found her grandmother sitting at the kitchen table. Tara made them each a sandwich, along with a bowl of the vegetable soup she’d made the other day.
    Before taking a bite of her dinner, her grandmother asked, “What did you think of the view from Candle Ridge?”
    “Breathtakingly beautiful. I’d like to see it at night sometime.” Tara wondered if her grandmother really cared what she thought of the view, or if she was simply fishing for info about what happened between her and Easton.
    “I’ll bet you could get that handsome young man of yours to take you back there.”
    Tara set her soup spoon down and stared at her. “Grandmother, he’s not my boyfriend.”
    “Maybe not yet…” She smiled slyly before taking a bite of her sandwich.
    “You’ve known Easton a long time.”
    “Since he was a child. The family would spend every summer next door. Everything changed, though, when his mother died. He was in high school. A junior, I think. Tragic. So tragic.”
    Her pulse began to beat erratically. “How’d she die?”
    Her grandmother lowered her voice as if she was letting Tara in on a secret. “She drowned not too far from the pier.”
    She felt as if a hand had closed around her throat. “I didn’t know.”
    “Well, how could you, my dear. Easton doesn’t like to talk about it. Neither does Boyd. That’s when their relationship really fell apart. And it didn’t help that Bennett aggravated the situation. He was always jealous of Easton. You see, Bennett never knew his father, and his mother wasn’t exactly a great role model. He always looked up to Boyd, so when he took Bennett under his wing, the boy would make Easton look bad every opportunity he could.”
    Tara leaned back in her chair. That explained a lot, and she thought she understood Easton much better now. She’d been right about Bennett too.
    They ate the rest of their dinner in silence, and she was glad, because she was still processing everything she’d just learned.
    Later, when she was up in bed, instead of falling asleep right away, she just stared at the ceiling, thinking about Easton. She couldn’t imagine what he must have gone through as a teenage boy. No wonder he’d shied away from relationships. And to think she’d been moaning to him about how Jason had cheated on her when what he’d endured was a thousand times worse.
    Would he ever be able to fully open his heart to anyone?
     
    ~*~
     
    Easton tossed and turned. He couldn’t get to sleep no matter how hard he tried. Maybe it was the blowup he’d had with his father. He hadn’t been happy to learn that Easton had taken Tara to the brewery. Though why that should’ve made him angry was a mystery. After all, he wanted Easton to spend time with her, so what difference did it make where he took her. No matter what he did, it never pleased his father, so he’d given up trying to a long, long time ago.
    Another reason he might not be able to sleep was that his thoughts kept going back to when he’d held Tara up at Candle Ridge. Something intense had flared through his body, and then when he kissed her, it grew to a burning heat that made him think he might explode. He couldn’t explain why she made him feel that way. Sure, she was gorgeous, but he’d been with plenty of really hot women before, and they’d