Malibu Rising: A Novel, Taylor Reid [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗

not from a two-sink world either. Where I’m from, we couldn’t even afford lobster rolls.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that,” June said. She wasn’t sure if it was true or not, in general. But she felt it when she said it.

“I’m just saying … I don’t come from any money at all. But I don’t think what you’re born into says anything about where you’re headed.”

Mick had grown up in a glorified tenement, sharing a bathroom with other families. But he’d decided a long time ago that there would be no more squalor in his future. He would have everything and it was how he would know he’d outrun it all.

“I’ll be rich one day, don’t worry,” he said. “I’m just advising you that I’m a penny stock.”

June smiled. “My parents’ restaurant is on the verge of bankruptcy every two years,” she said. “I’m in no position to judge.”

“You know if we ever make our way into the two-sinks world, those two-sinks people are gonna call us New Money.”

June laughed. “I don’t know. They might be too busy tripping over themselves for your autograph.”

Mick laughed, too. “Cheers to that,” he said. And June lifted her drink.

For dessert, Mick handed the decision to June. And so she nervously perused the menu, trying to pick the perfect thing, as the waiter looked on. “I’m on the spot!” she said. “Bananas Foster or baked Alaska?”

Mick gestured back to her. “It’s your choice.”

She hesitated a second longer and he leaned over and stage-whispered to her. “But get the bananas Foster.”

June looked up. “The bananas Foster, please,” she said to the waiter.

When it showed up, the two of them tangled their forks over the same plate.

“Watch it, mister,” June said with a smile on her lips. “You’re hogging the whipped cream.”

“My apologies,” Mick said, leaning back. “I have a mean sweet tooth.”

“Well, so do I, so I guess we’ll have to compromise.”

Mick smiled at her and pushed the plate to her side of the table, giving her the rest of dessert. June took it.

“Thank you for finally being a gentleman,” she said.

“Oh, I see,” Mick said. “You just wanted me to say that I would split the dessert but then let you eat it all.”

June nodded as she continued to eat.

“Well, I’m not that kind of guy. I want in on the desserts. I want my half. And if this thing has legs, you’re gonna have to get used to it.”

If this thing has legs. June tried her best not to blush.

“All right,” she said, handing the rest back to him, content to give it up. “Fair’s fair.”

When the waiter put the check down on the table, Mick picked it up immediately.

“Do you want to freshen up before we go?” he asked her.

“Yes,” June said, hopping up from the table. “Thank you. I’ll be out in just a moment.”

She went into the bathroom, where she reapplied her light pink lipstick, powdered her face, and checked her teeth. Was he going to kiss her? She opened up the bathroom door to find Mick waiting for her.

“Ready to roll?” he said, putting his arm out for her to grab.

As they hastily made their way back to the car, June got a sense that Mick might have skipped out on the bill. But she put the thought out of her mind just as quick as it had come in.

That night, after they left the restaurant, they parked on the side of the road by the beach. Mick took June’s hand and pulled her out into the cool evening air, the two of them running their bare feet through the chilled sand.

“I like you, June,” Mick said as he held her close, wrapping her tight in his arms. He wanted a woman he could make happy. “You’re one in a million.”

He began to sway with her, as if they could hear music.

June wasn’t quite sure what Mick thought was so exceptional about her. She hadn’t played it as cool as she’d meant to. She was sure she’d made it obvious how charmed by him she was. She was sure he could sense how naïve she felt about all of this—about love, about sex. But if he believed she was special, then maybe she could dare to believe she was, too.

“Can I sing to you?” Mick said.

June grinned and said, “I get to hear this great voice?”

Mick laughed. “I was talking a big game back there. Maybe it’s not so great.”

“Either way, I’d love to hear it.”

There, just off the Pacific Coast Highway, they were miles away from the nightclubs of Hollywood, isolated from the movie studios farther inland, far up the coast from the hustle and bustle of Santa Monica. The lands of Malibu back then were only half-tamed, all ocean and desert, navigated by half-paved roads. Everything could still feel quiet and wild.

June pushed her body up against his and pressed her cheek to his chest and Mick starting singing a quiet song on a quiet beach with his beautiful voice to a beautiful girl.

I’m gonna love you, like nobody’s loved you, come rain or come shine.

His voice was buttery and gentle. She couldn’t detect even an ounce of effort. The notes left his throat like breath out of lungs, and June marveled at how easy it all was, how easy the world felt when she was near him.

She understood then that she’d been right, back at dinner, when she said she believed he could do it. The man in her arms right now was a star. June was sure of it. And it thrilled her.

I’m with you always, I’m with you rain or shine.

When the song was over, June didn’t lift her cheek or stop swaying. She simply said, “Will you sing Cole Porter next?” She had loved Cole Porter from the time she was a baby.

“Cole Porter is my favorite,” Mick said. He pulled away from her for a moment and looked her in the eye. “A beautiful woman who will fight me over the bananas