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

do shish kabobs the day before when Coop and I had Frankie pinned between us.

Neither of us wanted to be interrupted by smoke like that again. “Where is he anyway?”

“On the phone with his dad again,” Coop said, and I scowled. The satellite phone and the radio were our only contact points. The cells didn’t work for shit out here, and I was fine with that. “Come on.”

At his urging, I followed him toward the kitchen. “He’s not yelling.” That was something. The first full day we’d been here, he’d been shouting down the phone line before the phone itself crashed into a wall. You couldn’t have told it from his mood after, but Frankie had. She’d dragged him out to the water to teach her to body surf. There was a better side of the island for actual surfing, but that was for tomorrow.

“Nope, so maybe it’s going better. I want to stick my nose into it, but he hasn’t asked for help. So…” Coop spread his hands, and I got the feeling really well. There was only so much butting in we could do.

Well, butting in they could do.

I’d been there in New York when he went to see his mother and then the follow up with his father. I’d been there for the court case and seen them both through that situation before and after. Archie was intent and he was angry, but he wasn’t obsessed.

“We wait,” I said. “Whatever this is, when he’s ready, he’ll tell us.”

“Or he’ll just handle it,” Coop pointed out as he headed to the fridge, and I pulled down the list we’d been left for ready-to-heat meals versus the food we could cook ourselves.

“Possibly, but we have to trust him to know his own limits, Coop. What the hell is a charcuterie board, and why are we making it?” Who made this list? We might as well just do cold cuts and sandwiches.

Laughing, Coop glanced up from the fridge. “It’s a cheese and meat board, snacks and stuff.”

Right.

“How about we just stick with the basics? There’s steak, right?”

Charcuterie. Who came up with this crap?

“Yep. And potatoes. Steak is defrosted right?” At my nod, he grinned. “Cool, we can fire up the grill on the deck and put the potatoes in so they can slow cook, then hit the water with Bubba and Frankie.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. Except… I sent him down without me before diverting to the second floor, where Archie had shut himself behind a door with coffee to talk to his father.

One knock, and I pushed the door open. Archie stood in front of the open doors, swim trunks on and the phone to his ear. Like us, he had a view of the beach, and he stared down at Frankie.

Man, we were all kind of creepers. Good thing we had the right to look. I just raised my eyebrows at him, and Archie made a face.

“Edward, I’m putting you on hold a minute.” He lowered the phone. “Everything good?”

“That was my question for you.”

His solemn expression split into a grin, and he said, “Yeah, I’m just fucking with Edward over some stocks he wanted to rearrange. He’s trying to suck up to Grandpa, but he won’t commit to dumping Maddy. Actually, he hasn’t actually said shit about her in days and that’s weird.”

“Weird weird or bad weird?”

Anything to do with the dumpster fire of her mother was suspect.

“Weird weird, hopefully not bad weird. I’ll give him credit, he’s using the business as an obvious ploy to just talk to me, but I’m making him work for it.” Amusement curved his lips. “You and Coop done making sure I don’t burn the house down?”

I rolled my eyes. “We’re hitting the water, you coming down?”

His grin widened, and he lifted the phone. “Edward, I’m on vacation. We’ll talk later. When you’re ready to answer those questions, let me know.” He didn’t wait for any follow-up, just clicked it off and tossed it on the bed. “Thanks for trying to rescue me.”

Ignoring his snort, I opened the door wider for him. “Clearly, you needed it.”

“Clearly.”

Coop

Surfing lessons were hilarious. Everyone but Frankie and I seemed to have some measure of a clue for what they were doing. It was skiing all over again, only with a lot fewer clothes and no instructor hitting on Frankie.

Okay, correction, no instructor not named Archie, Jake, or Bubba hitting on Frankie. The waves were strong on the western side of the isle where we’d driven on four wheelers to do our surfing. No lie, I liked the four wheelers more than the surfing itself. Probably didn’t help that I could not pop up to my feet to save my life without falling off the damn board.

Frankie seemed to be having as much trouble as I was, but neither of us could stop laughing long enough. Jake just shook his head at us, but Archie and Bubba seemed determined to get us to do it at least once.

“Hey,” Frankie called from where she straddled her board. We’d paddled out here and watched the others ride the last wave in, since neither of us had been in any great hurry. The fact we could see our feet in the water and the colorful fish below us added to the relaxing effect. Low tide was the best waves to ride, and they weren’t particularly high here, at least not right now.

“Hey, beautiful, come here often?” I grinned, and she laughed.

“Smooth.”

“Eh, I don’t have to be smooth,” I commented, dusting the water droplets off my shoulders. The fact her eyes dipped a little to check me out made me smile wider. It was one thing to be adored by her, but something else to know I turned her on. I could not fathom going back.

Not now.

Not ever.

“No?” The challenge in her voice dragged my attention up to the sparkle in her eyes. I’d always loved how green they were. They fit her mood, darkening when she was