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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 176

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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.

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!

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.

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“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.” Chloe laughed. “Do you remember when that was us? Watching senior guys pass by in the hallway at school and just totally losing it?”

“I know! Mitch even went up and asked them their names, and they just giggled and ran away.” Julianne leaned in closer to her sister, still laughing. “I thought Lucy was going to make them name tags or something.” 179

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“It sounds like it was fun.” Chloe sighed. “Much better than filling out charts all night.”

“You’ll have to come with us next time. It’ll be great!” Julianne promised.

Julianne linked her arm through her sister’s. She couldn’t have been happier to be sitting on the beach with her best friend in the world after a fabulous night, with one glaring exception. She felt gross not telling Chloe about Remi. Right now, they were the two most important people on Earth to her, and she would have loved it if they could somehow get along. She had a feeling they would, if Chloe could forget he was a Moore.

Save for some pilfered Halloween candy when she was eight, Julianne had never hidden anything from her sister before. It made her feel dirty.

Chloe’s voice jolted Julianne out of her reverie. “Let’s talk more about your night!”

“Okay,” Julianne replied enthusiastically. “What haven’t we covered? So, the Fishtail was packed, the music was great, people were dancing. It was really fun.”

“The guys were cute?” Chloe reaffirmed.

“Definitely,” Julianne answered, though her thoughts centered around one cute guy in particular.

“I haven’t been out in for-ever,” Chloe enunciated.

“All I do these days is work. I don’t think I’ve been to a party since Malibu.”

“Yeah . . .” Julianne trailed off noncommittally. She 180

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was realizing that her promise to go out with her sister next time around might not work if she wanted to see Remi, too.

“Can I ask you a question?” Chloe asked thoughtfully. Julianne felt her heart sink. She couldn’t have a heart-to-heart with Chloe right now. Not when there was something so big that she couldn’t share.

“Yup?” Julianne squeaked.

“How would you feel about having a little soiree next week?” Chloe suggested conspiratorially.

“While Dad is in New York?” Jules was hesitant—she already had way too many secrets in her life right now.

“You, my dear, are a mind reader. You know, like a bringing-down-the-house party?” Chloe pressed on, full steam ahead.

“A what?” Julianne had no idea what Chloe meant.

“A bringing-down-the-house party. You know, if the Moores are going to level our house anyway, then we ought to throw it quite the goodbye shindig.” Julianne felt her heart thud to her feet. Her pulse was racing.

“But wouldn’t Dad be pretty pissed off if we get to keep the house after all and there’s nothing left but a post-party pile of stones and beams?” Julianne focused on the mounds of sand she was still transferring from leg to leg.

“Fair enough,” Chloe answered thoughtfully. “I was halfway joking, anyway.”

Julianne rested her head against her sister’s shoulder.

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Her heart was still racing with the stress of being dishonest. “I know,” she said softly.

“So, tell me more about the Fishtail,” Chloe chirped.

“Who was there, who was single?”

“Um, Hunter and Mitch,” Julianne began.

“Yeah, but you run with them. They don’t count.

They’re too sibling-y to make out with. Who else?” Chloe pressed on.

“Oh, I don’t know. Some surfers. Some guys playing pool—Lucy was really into them.” Julianne wished this conversation would just stop, somehow.

“Hmm. Definite potential,” Chloe declared. “Anyone really catch your eye, though? Anyone special?” This was becoming torturous. “No one new.” Julianne answered, choosing her words deliberately so that she wasn’t lying, exactly. She thought she and Chloe had covered all of this already.

“Well, just meeting new guys is half the battle,” Chloe said supportively. “I know it was tough for you to get over McMansion Jr., but I’m really glad you did. It’s good to see you going out and meeting new guys.” Julianne was silent.

“Jules, you know I’m proud of you, right?” Chloe’s words were like salt in a huge cut on her sister’s heart.

“That painting was really amazing, you know,” Chloe said after a moment of silence.

Julianne smiled at her sister. “Thanks.” 182