Free Loving Summer (Loving Summer Series) by Kailin Gow

resist.
                “Why don’t you come out to my house in the Canyons?” he suggests.
                “You’re inviting me to your place?”
                Astor smiles. “Well, I’ve spent so much time at yours, it only seems fair to return the favor.”
                “Right now?” I shake my head. “I don’t think I can go just like that…”
                Astor brushes a hand down the line of my cheek. It’s such a soft movement, and a sensual one. “Tomorrow then. I’ll come by and pick you up once you’re done at the acting academy.”
                I nod automatically. Astor wants me to go see his place in the Canyons? How can I turn him down? “I’d love that.”
                Rachel loves the idea almost as much as I do the next morning, and she insists on taking me shopping for something to wear. Apparently, I can’t just go to Astor’s house wearing any of my normal clothes. We have to find something special. Actually, I don’t mind that. It’s a good opportunity to spend more time with Rachel while doing something other than staying on the beach.
                The main trick is keeping her out of the boutique Goth clothing stores long enough for us to shop for something I might wear. Though we do spend some time in one, while I try to think of things to say about the clothes she picks out other than “It’s very… um, black.” Actually, now that I’m used to this new look of hers, I actually find myself thinking that it kind of suits her, and we quickly pick out a couple of skirts and tops for her that work.
                Then it’s my turn. Finding the right thing to wear to Astor’s place is tricky, because Rachel is determined that I won’t go in anything that is less than perfect.
                “I thought you were over the whole fan-girl thing?” I point out, when she rejects my fifth choice of outfit on the grounds that it isn’t great enough. “I don’t have to dress up just because it’s Astor.”
                “No,” she says, “you have to dress up because he’s invited you to his house and that’s a big deal. You’re going to look perfect for this if we have to shop all day, Summer.”
                “Not all day,” I point out. “I have to help out with an afternoon class that starts in… um, I think we’d better start to wrap this up, or I’m going to be late.”
                “Just one more dress?” Rachel suggests. “I think I see the perfect one.”
                Perfect for her or for me? Except that, when she comes back with the one she has in mind, it is perfect. It’s a peach mini-dress cut low both front and back, and Rachel has brought back silver heels too, so that the combination is almost dazzling.
    “This dress and shoes would show off your long legs and flawless skin. Lots of it! I hope Astor knows how lucky he is,” Rachel says, “because you’re going to look great in this.”
    I know as soon as I see it that it’s the outfit for tonight, which is probably a good thing, because as soon as I have paid for it, I have to run for my SUV so that I can make it to the class I’m helping with.
                That class seems to drag out forever. Normally, I’m really into what I’m doing at Aunt Sookie’s school, so the time just flies by. Now though, I’m busy thinking about Astor, and the time we’re going to spend together, so that the class can’t end soon enough. Almost as soon as it is over, I rush back to the beach house to get changed for when Astor shows up. The dress looks every bit as great on me as I knew it would. It’s the perfect choice for tonight.           
                I hear a knock at the door- Astor’s here already?- and rush out to meet him. I almost run straight into Nat, who’s standing there by the stairs as though he were about