Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8) by Heather Long (best books to read for beginners TXT) 📕

or back in Texas visiting their families, or finding some new hot spot to travel to, then that’s what we do. But this is our month together. For us. As a family.”

I loved that so much.

We clinked our glasses together, and I grinned. After dinner, the guys traded out their wine for beer while I stuck with the wine. We lounged around on the deck chairs, staring at the sky and trading stories. The weather was just about perfect. It wasn’t hot or cold. The breeze was comfortable, the air beautiful, and sometime between Archie and Jake’s debate on something to do with circuitry and Coop settling me against his chest while Ian pulled out his guitar, I fell asleep.

The next time I opened my eyes, the sun was turning the horizon pink, golden, and red. It was…a postcard, it was so perfect. All around me, the guys slept. We’d all just fallen asleep up here with light blankets. Coop was still tucked next to me, but I was able to just sit up and stare out as the sun rose.

There weren’t a lot of truly perfect moments. Yet here, surrounded by the guys, with the remnants of our lazy dinner from the night before as the sun rose—not only on the other side of the world from home, but in another hemisphere—I was flying higher than the little wisps of pink clouds painting against the rapidly brightening navy sky.

This time, a year ago, Maddy let me down for the hundredth time. No trip to Harvard. She’d gone off on business. I’d shut the guys out. I worked, hid out in my apartment, and left only for one long weekend to see Jennifer in San Antonio.

Fuck, I hadn’t talked to her in months. A little laugh escaped me. Rachel was still on my shit list for having ripped the blinders off me, and now her absence was probably the only thing really dimming today, and even that couldn’t do it. Mostly because I knew she was where she wanted to be.

“You okay over there, Angel?” Ian asked me quietly, and I grinned at him.

“I’m perfect.”

He rose, raking a hand through all that gorgeous blond hair and looking sleep rumpled and beautiful. With ease, he plucked me up and cradled me to him. “Yes, you are.”

I chuckled as I looped my arms around him. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments.”

“I know,” he teased before rubbing his nose against mine. “Just remember how much I love you.”

“I have no intention of forgetting.”

“Good.”

I should have known better. That heart stopping grin of his bewitched me though, and it barely registered that we were moving before it was too late. Ian jumped right off the end of the yacht into the near crystal perfect water.

At least I didn’t scream too loud.

But we weren’t in the water alone for long. The whoops from the guys as they plunged over the side and into the water with us just made me laugh. The crew was already readying for our departure by the time we climbed out of the water and then back onto the yacht. I rinsed off below deck and changed into a suit with a sarong I could tie around my waist. The water around us was so crystal perfect, it was right out of a magazine.

I’d pinch myself, but I didn’t want to wake up from this dream.

Ever.

Subject: COVER OPPORTUNITY READ ASAP

Hey! Answer me as soon as you get this. We’re putting together a charity album and inviting some of our favorites to do covers of our songs. Since you are such big fans and cool (okay, let’s be blunt, I like you two more than I like most of our peers), the girls and I thought we’d give you an opportunity to record a cover of one of our songs.

Pick your favorite. Pick one you like. But tell me which one so I can lock it up. If it all works out, we’ll even let you guys use it on your first album, but only if you let me join you for some kind of trio moment. Or maybe a five way. Think your boy can handle four girls at once?

Okay, that was way dirtier than I intended.

Email me. Or better yet, call me. I have no idea what country we’re in, but voicemail works.

Kisses.

KC

Chapter Seventeen

Beach Bums and Babe

Frankie

The temptation to re-enact the Titanic scene was way too cheesy to resist. Bless Jake for hopping right up there with me on the prow. He locked one arm around my waist as I stretched my arms wide, and we yelled out that we were king of the world.

The guys laughed and there were pictures and I didn’t care. The sun in our face, the ocean around us, and the way the yacht sliced through the water just added to the whole experience. I ducked below deck to change at one point, opting for short shorts over my bikini bottoms and a bikini top.

Jake grumbled a little when I came back up, hair pulled up into a pony tail. Hands on my hips, I stood by the door and waited him out. Coop’s lips twitched, but his eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses. I couldn’t see Archie or Ian from this angle, but neither of them usually minded how much skin I showed.

This bikini was hardly indecent, but there was side boob.

A muscle twitched in Jake’s cheek, but it was hard to tell because the adorable scruff had been filling in. I bit my lip and raised my brows. The air out there was exceptional. We were all still tired, but it was a lazy kind of tired and I wanted to be out in the sun.

“I’m putting sunscreen on you,” he conceded grumpily before stepping aside. Relief and delight combined to flood through me. Coop let out a low whistle and then tilted his head back as though he needed to sun himself. Archie and Ian both grinned at me