Taming Chloe Summers (Grover Beach Team #7) by Anna Katmore Read Free Book Online

making the entire room laugh at his jokes a moment ago. If I remember it right, his name’s Brian. His chaotic hair is stiff with gel, and the collar of his denim jacket is pulled upright. He seems to have group-leader potential. Better he put that to good use than lazing around.
    “The team that finishes their puzzle first,” I say, my gaze on him, “wins.”
    Instantly, Brian slides down from the bunk bed and starts to set up the puzzle on the floor. “Get your lazy bones down here,” he commands his friends, proving me right. All the boys drop whatever they’ve been doing and surround him on the floor.
    Greyson takes the second puzzle box and carries it into the Raccoon cabin, laying out the rules to his own group.
    When he comes back, he smacks me on the shoulder. “Brilliant idea.”
    “Kids need an occupation. Give them something to do, and none of them will come up with shit.” I zip my hoodie and tuck my hands into the pockets as I start off toward the lake. “Let’s go visit the girls now.”

Chapter 4
     
    Chloe
     
    “Jesus! The light of a freaking candle would be better than this bulb,” I snarl through gritted teeth. The damn thing has been flickering from the moment we switched it on after we returned from the dining hall. Unfortunately, we don’t have candles in the cabin, and it’s too late at night to unpack and put things away without any light.
    “Maybe there’s something wrong with the cables?” Julie suggests and briefly turns off the light for what feels like the hundredth time in the past half hour. When she switches it back on, we have about two minutes of continuous, flawless light, but then the flickering starts again.
    She puts her things into the wardrobe next to the door, so I claim the one on the opposite side. The moment I open my suitcase on the floor, shirts and skirts spill over the sides as if shot out by coiled springs. An additional bag might have been helpful, but this morning I refused to carry two cases when I could press everything into one. Quickly, I change from my white jeans and black blouse into cutoffs and a purple camisole. The heat in this cabin resembles a sauna.
    “Wow!” Julie’s eyes grow round and wide, and when she giggles, it sounds like a baby duck. “It looks like you’re moving in for five months instead of five weeks.”
    “I only packed the essentials.”
    She comes to kneel by my side, lifts a pair of my strappy sandals in one hand and my dark-blue pumps in the other, and smiles. “Right.”
    I snatch my shoes from her and put them with the rest of my footwear at the bottom of the wardrobe. The blue ones are my favorites. I couldn’t leave them behind. In fact, I barely have enough shoes for the two weeks I intend to stay. But based on the meager belongings Julie brought, she wouldn’t understand that. How one can live a whole summer on a few T-shirts, a handful of shorts, and two pairs of sneakers is beyond me, especially with no washing machine around. Numbers Two, Three, and Four might be okay with washing their things in the stream nearby Neanderthal-style. I, however, prefer to have a fresh set of clothes on me every new day.
    Gathering my toiletries in both arms, I carry the load into the bathroom and arrange them on the vanity shelf there. Brushes, lotions, perfumes, and my toothbrush line the shelf above the sink. My shampoo and conditioner, together with my orchid-scented soap, get hauled into the shower cubical.
    “So, are you calling dibs on Justin?” Julie’s voice drifts through the open door.
    Stepping out of the shower stall, I find a place for the hair dryer and straightener in the cupboard beneath the sink, then call out, “No. Why would I?”
    She appears in the doorway, hands linked behind her back, wearing a grin as bright and annoying as the flaring light bulb. “Dunno. Just thought maybe because you’re friends?”
    From my hunkering position in front of the sink, I send her a pointed stare. “We’re not