I sat back in the chair and put on some Joan Jett. She always helped me work through my anger. I had this feeling that if we met in real life, Joan would have loved me. We were kindred spirits. If anyone could make me feel better, it was her.

It was scorching hot. I was barely clothed and still felt like I’d been put in an oven to bake. I squeezed my eyes shut again, deciding to think about something else. If I wanted a decent tan, I’d just have to deal.

I couldn’t help thinking of the place where I should have been tanning. A big-ass lake with sunlight gleaming off the surface. A striped beach towel stretched out across hot sand. Surely there were disgusting old guys lurking around there, too, but I’d never caught them spying on me.

Everything about this place was wrong, like a fun-house mirror distorting the reflection of what my summer was supposed to be. On the surface, some parts looked the same; I was still with Dad, the way I wanted. But the details were altered beyond recognition. The people, the location, even this goddamn swimming pool—none of it was right.

I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, laying my iPod next to me on the lounge chair. The next song on my playlist was Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer.” How appropriate. This summer was more than cruel, though. It was a nightmare. And I just wanted to wake up.

Whit… Whit, wake up.

If only it were that easy. If only someone could just shake me a little. I wanted to open my eyes and be back at the condo, in the old bed with the creaking frame, wrapped in the neon-green and orange comforter Dad bought me the first summer we spent there, the smell of charcoal from the grill wafting in through my bedroom window.

A hand on my shoulder, sending me back there, shaking me out of this summer, this bad dream.

For a dazed moment, it was like God had heard my prayers. I felt a cool palm pressed against my bare back, nudging me gently.

It took a minute for reality to sink in, and my first coherent thought was that the gross old guy had hopped the fence and was trying to molest me or something. So I flailed onto my side, slapping at my attacker with the back of my hand.

“Aah! Shit,” he groaned when I felt my class ring collide with some part of his face.

“Serves you right,” I muttered.

“For what?”

I paused for a second, then rolled onto my back. It wasn’t the creepy dude at all.

“Nathan? What the hell were you doing?”

“Trying to wake you up,” he said, clutching his cheek. “You fell asleep. You’ve been out here for, like, two hours, and you were getting sunburned.”

“What?”

I twisted my head around to look at the back of my shoulders. Red. Very red. I pressed a finger to my skin and watched as it turned white under the pressure. Ouch. I was seriously scorched, and only on my back, so I wasn’t even icky red all the way around. Sunburns are bad, but uneven sunburns are the worst.

“Goddamn it.”

“Come on. We have some aloe vera inside. It looks like you’ll need it. You’re a lobster.”

“Shut up,” I snapped. I jerked out my earbuds and stomped toward the back door with Nathan trailing behind me. He was laughing under his breath, and I thought about backhanding him again.

“Follow me,” he instructed, moving in front of me and leading the way down the hall. Bailey was sitting on the couch watching the Disney Channel. Wasn’t thirteen, like, way too old for that? She switched it off quickly when she heard us coming, and then turned around on the couch to look at me, her eyes widening. But before I could say anything, Nathan grinned at her. “Whit took a little nap outside. Isn’t red her color?”

“Whitley!” I shouted.

Bailey tried to hide her giggles but failed. “Are you okay?” she asked me.

“No,” I grunted. “Not at all.”

I followed Nathan into the bathroom and waited as he pulled open the bottom cabinet. “I think Mom put it in here.” After a second he found the bottle of green gel. “Here you go,” he said, holding it out to me.

“Can you put it on my back?” I turned, pulling my hair over my shoulder.

“Uh…”

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He was eyeing me uneasily, his cheeks turning just the slightest bit pink. “Oh, please, Mr. Cool and Collected. Don’t pick now to go all awkward on me. I’m not trying to seduce you or anything; I just can’t reach it myself, and it’s not like it’s anything you haven’t touched before.”

He gave me a warning look.

“Right,” I said. “I forgot. That never happened. Whatever.”

Nathan sighed and flicked open the bottle. I turned my head and heard him squirt the gel into his hand. An instant shiver ran up my spine when his aloe-covered fingers hit my shoulder.

“Christ, that’s cold,” I gasped.

“Sorry.”

My whole body tensed as his palm moved down the back of my arm. The chill started on the surface, but it seemed to move deeper. Invading my entire body.

It only got worse when he rubbed the cream between my shoulder blades and down my back. Nathan’s hands were calloused, but not too rough. His skin passing over mine left a strange tingly sensation. Like an ice-cold fire spreading across my back and seeping into my veins. Even my fingers trembled a little, and I clenched my fists together to stop them.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” I murmured, but I was on the edge of convulsing.

Every second Nathan’s hands were on me, another moment from graduation night flooded back into my memory. The way his fingertips had pressed into my hips. The way I’d practically thrown him on the bed. The way he’d kissed me, more passionately than anyone else ever had. I remembered the half-crazed feeling when he took his time kissing me, touching me, whispering things in my ear.

Most boys take advantage of drunk girls. They make the sex all about them and their own pleasure. But that night with Nathan had been different. It had been slow and sweet. All about me. It had been amazing.

Suddenly, I realized the chills going through me weren’t just from the aloe vera. Worse, I was the one blushing.

I felt the sudden urge to relive those almost-forgotten memories as his palms moved down my back. Part of me wanted him to untie the top of my bikini. His thumb slid slowly down my spine in a way that made my breath catch in my chest and my heartbeat speed up. Pounding faster and faster and faster. I was caught somewhere between wanting him and wanting to hide, feeling suddenly embarrassed and a little shy.

Nathan stopped. His hands were just above my waist. I held my breath, not wanting to move, to break the spell. Waiting to see what he’d do.

“You can reach the rest,” he said, pulling his hands away from my skin so fast you might have thought I’d burned him. I know I heard his voice crack a little when he spoke. “You’ll be able to get to your legs, right?”

“Um, ye-yeah,” I stammered, not making eye contact as he handed me the bottle of aloe.

Nathan didn’t say another word. He just slipped out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

It had been fun pushing him this morning in the kitchen, but having the tables turned sucked. This whole stepsibling thing had just gotten infinitely worse.

CHAPTER 8

“Oh, honey,” Sylvia said, putting a hand on my arm when I came down for dinner that night. “Your shoulders are so burned. Are you okay? Let me take a look.”

I jerked away as she reached up to push my hair aside so she could see the back of my neck and shoulders. “Ouch. Don’t touch. It’s fine,” I said, moving toward my chair.

Once I’d sat down, I looked back at her. Our eyes met for a long moment before Sylvia shook her head, sighing. “Okay. Well, I’m sure Nathan showed you the aloe vera we keep in the bathroom.”

I nodded, forcing myself not to look at Nathan, who was sitting across the table from me. I was sure I could feel heat, unrelated to my sunburn, creeping up my neck.

“If you need anything else, let me know and I’ll pick it up on my way home from work.”

“Sure.”

Bailey walked into the dining room just then, blond ponytail swinging like a pendulum behind her. She took her usual seat between Sylvia and me. “Is your sunburn feeling any better?” she asked.

I gritted my teeth. “It’s fine.”

When Dad entered the dining room I half expected him to comment on my fried arms and shoulders, which were totally exposed in my tank top. But he didn’t say anything. He just sat down on the other side of me, barely glancing my way, and asked, “How did your first day of work go, sweetheart?”

“Really well,” Sylvia said, scooping chili into a bowl and passing it to Bailey. “I can really see myself at home there. Don’t get me wrong—I liked the people at the other firm. But this one is smaller and more… friendly? I feel more comfortable there in one day than I ever felt at my old job.”

“Do you get your own office now?” Bailey asked.

“Yep. I’ll take you to work with me so you can see it if you want.”

Bailey blushed. “Mom, you take your little kids to work—not your teenagers.”

“I can take anyone I want.” She handed me a bowl of chili, smiling. “You can come too, Whitley.”

“Maybe,” I muttered. Or not.

“What about you kids?” Dad asked, taking a sip of his tea. “Are you guys getting to know each other pretty well? I’m sure it’s a little bit awkward at first.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’d say we’re getting to know each other really well. Wouldn’t you, Nathan?”

He kicked me under the table and mouthed, Not funny.