Remi rolled over and propped his head up on Julianne’s stomach. “What are you thinking, Jules?” He kissed her belly button, and Julianne felt her skin ignite again.
Julianne ran her fingers through Remi’s brown hair, which was getting scruffier by the day. “I’m thinking about the sky. Can you figure out what color that is?”
Remi stared up and tried in earnest for a few minutes to figure it out. “Nope. Can’t say I can. But I also don’t think that’s what you were thinking about. Try again?”
Julianne laughed softly and continued playing with his hair. It wasn’t as soft as it looked, but it was surprisingly fluffy. Downy, almost. She thought she would be perfectly content just weaving her fingers in and out of it all night. She looked down and saw that Remi’s big eyes were staring up at her, filled with a mix of curiosity and expectation. “Are you actually still asking me?”
Remi nodded.
“You’re really going to make me say it?”
Remi nodded again.
“Okay, fine.” Julianne rolled her eyes. “I was thinking about your hair, okay?”
Even Remi looked a little surprised at this one.
“What?” Julianne challenged. “You have very nice hair; it’s a very interesting texture.”
Remi rolled back over and buried his face against Julianne’s stomach. “I love dating an artist,” he mum-bled, laughing. Julianne sat up, like she’d been hit with a sudden inspiration. Jolted by the movement, Remi shot up after her. “Hey!” Julianne squealed. “I have a good idea.”
“What?” he asked gamely.
“How about you come here and kiss me?” She grinned.
“You don’t need to ask me twice.” Remi pulled himself up from the ground with a laugh.
Soon they were rolling over each other in the sand, laughing and kissing the kind of slow, greedy kisses that go on for days. They kissed like they were trying to breathe each other’s air. Julianne felt Remi’s tongue in her mouth, soft but insistent, like he was determined to find out more, but willing to take all the time in the world to do it. She ran her hands up and down his spine, tracing the muscles of his back. Jules remembered her surprise at seeing him in his towel in the trailer and blushed. Julianne hadn’t been surprised at all by what a great kisser he was—not even the first time they’d kissed at the party—but she was pleasantly surprised that every single time they kissed, it got better and better. Julianne’s tank top had slid up around her rib cage, and Remi bent to kiss her stomach and run his fingers along her sternum. She buried her face in his neck, and was kissing the side of his jawbone. Then she heard something moving farther up the beach.
She nudged Remi and hissed urgently, “Someone’s coming.” Remi’s already-huge eyes grew as big as Frisbees as he catapulted himself at least five feet away from her. “Nice air!” she whispered, grinning up to his standing figure.
Remi pointed to his sweater, which was sitting to Jules’s left. A minute ago, it had been tucked under her head while they looked at the sky. “Toss it somewhere!”
Remi whispered, before subtly blowing her a kiss and taking off down the beach as though he were out for a night run. Julianne smoothed down her shirt and hair and tucked her legs under her, staring out at the ocean.
Absentmindedly, she began making piles of sand around her legs, transferring little bits from one pile to the other and back again.
The footsteps got closer, and Julianne was aching to turn around and see who had busted up her make-out session with Remi, but she was afraid of blowing her cover.
Chapter Nineteen
When the footsteps were directly behind her, Julianne tossed a casual glance over her shoulder just in time to see Chloe slide down next to her. Chloe’s coffee-colored hair was pulled into a high, tight ponytail, and she was wearing her teal Kappa Delta T-shirt and a pair of light blue seagull-printed pajama pants.
Chloe’s eyes scanned the beach and Julianne thought she saw her sister squint at the sight of the figure that was now a few hundred yards down the beach, moving at a steady jog. But if Chloe saw anyone, she didn’t say anything. She just pulled her legs up to her chest and turned her head toward Julianne.
“Cute outfit,” Chloe said.
“Thanks.” Julianne smiled at her sister.
“Nice to know that even without my styling you, you can come up with something nice.” Chloe giggled. “So, was the Fishtail hopping?”
“Oh, Chloe, it was ridiculous, totally packed.” Jules leaned in to fill her sister in on that night’s party. “There was an awesome DJ and a ton of cute guys—even some we didn’t already know.” She laughed at the closeness of their town. “I think Lucy got, like, three new phone numbers.”
Chloe laughed. “And you? Did you add anything to your little black book?”
“Not so much. I wasn’t really there looking, if you know what I mean,” Julianne answered.
“I have absolutely no idea what you mean. These days, I’m always looking!”
“Well, the Fishtail was an awesome place to look tonight,” Julianne conceded. “Everyone was dancing.
There was so much energy. Some freshman girls followed Mitch and Hunter around all night, just giggling at them. It was hilarious. Every time we turned around, there they were. But they never said a word!”
“Oh man.”
