The Neighbor Wager by Crystal Kaswell

Author:Crystal Kaswell [Kaswell, Crystal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: California, Los Angeles, New York City, New York, Manhattan, Orange County, Huntington Hills, corporate business, business owner, women run business, sisters, investors, dating app, soul mates, artist, artistic, artsy, sexy, steamy, glow up, bet, wager, opposites attract, grandmother, grandma, romance author, illness, cancer, family drama, single dad, single parent, neighbors, childhood friends, crush, teen crush, destiny, absent parent, business proposal, tattoos, marriage proposal, New Adult & College Romance, Friendship Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction, Women's Romance Fiction, Love Triangle Romance, Romantic Comedy, Women's Humorous Fiction, Contemporary Romance Fiction, Boy Next Door Romance, Fake Relationship Romance, Genre Fiction, Entangled publishing, Amara, Trade paperback romance, new romance book, popular romance book, single title romance, stand alone romance book, 2024 Romance book, 2024 Trade Paperback Romance, books with a Happy ending, HEA, Adult Romance, Romantic Book Series, Series romance, New series, Bestselling author, Fake Dating Romance, Unrequited Love, Secret Crush, Bet romance, Romance with tension, City Life Fiction, romantic tension, force proximity romance, neighbors romance, dating app romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2024-02-19T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Deanna

When I was a kid, I loved the ocean. I loved racing through the surf, wading into the water, diving under the waves.

Dad never loved the beach. Mom was the one who loved the Pacific, who came to California to be near the ocean (and the entertainment industry).

She loved spending weekends at the beach. Sometimes, Dad joined. He sat under his umbrella, reading books in rash guards, breaking to adore Mom or us.

Sometimes, she brought her guitar, and the two of them took turns singing as Lexi and I raced through the waves.

Sometimes, she brought a book and read with him.

Other times, she braved the waves with us. She wasn’t like most adults. She dove under the water, embraced every cold drop.

Then she died, and we didn’t go to the ocean anymore.

I didn’t remember my love of it until I was in high school, until my friends started using the beach as a spot to hang. It was more of a make-out point than anything, and I wasn’t cool enough to hang at most of those parties (or inclined to swap studying for socializing), but I found my love all the same.

The roar of the crashing waves, the deep blue-green hue of the water, the blue sky bleeding into the ocean. An obvious contrast during the day. A subtle one at night.

I feel like that now. Like the sky above the ocean at night. Like I could dissolve into the water, stay one with it forever.

For the first time, in a long time, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

And then I find River, and I wrap my hand around his wrist, and, somehow, I’m even closer to where I’m supposed to be.

He pulls my body into his, pushes off the sand, wraps himself around me. “Your turn.”

I laugh as I carry him toward the sand. “You’re too heavy.”

He releases me and dives under a wave.

Even though I dive just in time to feel the perfect pull of the current—a light sway, toward the depth, then toward the sand, just enough to keep me exactly where I am—I feel a different sort of pull.

Toward him.

I like him.

That complicates things.

Or maybe it simplifies things.

Maybe this is what we both need. A little fun that cures him of his feelings for Lexi and ends my long dry spell.

I want him.

I feel it everywhere. And the more I watch him swim, those feelings expand. Even though he’s awkward in the water. Because he’s awkward in the water but loves it anyway.

That’s what I need in a partner, someone who knows how to have fun, even when things aren’t perfect.

Because I can’t do that. I need someone else to lead.

So, when we finish swimming and he asks if I want to go home, I say no. I insist on lunch at my favorite nearby restaurant, and I spend the drive lost in images of the two of us together.

…

River tears into his carne asada tacos with gusto. “I forgot good Mexican food existed.”

He looks out of place here, on the pristine patio, at the fast casual place just off PCH.

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