Forbidden Boy (7 page)

Julianne beamed, thrilled to have an artistic project to work on already. “That sounds fine,” she said, trying not to gush.

“Good. After Mitch introduces you to the rest of the guys,” Bill concluded, “you can head into the trailer. I’ve got you all set up.” He smiled and walked off.

Mitch and Julianne made their way through the site, greeting the other members of the crew. “That’s Jack.”

Mitch pointed across the yard to a burly college guy wearing a Lakers cap and a sleeveless T-shirt. Julianne recognized him from last summer, when he had bussed tables at the Fishtail, but Mitch told her that he had also competed in the lumberjack games for three years running and was a silver-medal holder in log rolling. Tom was on the baseball team at Stanford (and, Julianne noticed, had the arm muscles to prove it). Beau was an English major at UCLA. Nick, who was Julianne and Mitch’s age, was just in town for the summer visiting his aunt and uncle; he was a snowboard pro up in Utah, where he’d be returning at the end of the summer.

Jules tried to keep her mind from wandering during the introductions, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the lines of the house, the angles, and there was a Lily Allen song playing on repeat in her head.
“Sun is in the
sky, oh why oh why would I want to be anywhere else?”
She was still humming to herself and bobbing her head softly when she heard Mitch saying her name.

“Jules? Julianne? Earth to Julianne?”

“Oops. Sorry.” Julianne blushed. “I was just thinking about my first project.”

“Yeah, sure.” Mitch smirked. “You’re surrounded by college guys and you’re busy thinking about bathroom tiles. I buy that.”

“Hey, I’m a much better multi-tasker than you give me credit for.” Jules laughed, punching him lightly on the upper arm.

“I’m sure you are. C’mon, let’s head over to the trailer.” He pointed and led the way.

“Thanks for the tour, Mitch. Let the guys know that it was
great
meeting them, okay?” she joked, winking.

“Later, Jules.” Mitch laughed.

Julianne walked up the steps of the trailer and knocked three times. When there was no response, she propped open the door and walked in. Then she spotted a note on one of the empty desks.

Julianne,

Unfortunately we don’t have a desk for
you, so you’ll sort of be drawing wherever you
can find space. The desk I’m setting you up
with to start is the new project manager’s, but
I’m sure he won’t mind if you borrow it for the
day. He seems like a nice guy. Give a holler if
you need anything.

Bill

Alone in the trailer, Julianne stretched out, twirling her pencil between her fingers. She propped her legs up on the project manager’s desk, like the queen of the site.

This was definitely going to be a fun job. She tapped the eraser of her pencil on the vast expanse of white space on her blank page. A fresh sketchbook was one of her favorite things in the universe—so full of possibility. Still tapping her eraser against the page, she began to brain-storm about tile designs. Since it was an eco-friendly project, maybe something with leaves? Or maybe something geometric to match the lines of the house? Or something with an ocean motif, since they were so close to the beach? Dividing her paper into four quarters, she decided to give each idea a chance and then commit to fully sketching the best two designs for the owners to choose from.

Julianne was in the middle of her second sketch when the door creaked its way open. “Hello?” she called out, not looking up from her drawing. She was in the middle of sketching a line of mosaic tiles curling into the branches of a larger tile tree.

A familiar voice answered, “I didn’t know this office came with a chair warmer. Man, this job gets better every day.”

Julianne looked up from her sketch. Her stomach did a series of quick backflips when she saw the new project manager beaming at her.

“Remi?”
she said, dropping her pencil onto her—

correction—
his
desk.

“We’ve got to stop meeting this way.” He laughed.

His laugh was even deeper and richer than Julianne remembered, and his face was warm and bright.

Julianne swallowed hard. How could this be happening? She felt like she had somehow fallen out of her life and landed in a romantic comedy. If she just counted slowly to five, maybe Drew Barrymore would walk in and the transformation would be complete. Remi was completely decked out in preppy professional attire, but his hair was still adorably shaggy and ruffled from the breeze. He was wearing gray dress pants, shiny square-toed shoes, and a light blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up for that “casual yet approachable boss”

look. Remi’s outfit amused Julianne. Even though his tie was clearly expensive, it was adorned with tiny T-squares.

She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan—it looked like his mother had dressed him. Still, it was impossible to ignore how hot he looked. Remi wore his authority well, and the little trailer was suddenly filled with his friendly confidence.

Smiling back without even realizing it, Julianne took another deep breath and said simply, “Hey.”

Julianne felt like there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t shaking. She was being torn in a million directions from the inside out. She wanted to be mad—furious even—that Remi was here. Where did he get off interfering with her totally eco-conscious summer job, especially considering what his parents were doing? Still, whether he was the spawn of the devil or not, there was no denying that he looked like the same cute, charming Remi she’d spent the day with on the beach. Worn out from her internal debate, Julianne settled on total shock, took a deep breath, and swung her boots down off his desk.
This will be fine,
she told herself.

This will all be okay. I’ll just focus on what I’m doing and soon
I won’t even notice he’s here.

She pushed her dark curls back off of her face and gathered up her sketchbook and pencils. Squinting out the window at the crew working outside, Julianne thought about making a quick getaway before he could reach her, before realizing that the only ways out of the trailer were over Remi, under Remi, or through him.

There were no two ways about it; he was standing directly in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Remi beat her to it.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here. It’s a nice surprise,” he said with a coy smile.

“Yeah, this is unexpected,” Julianne managed in response. Unexpected? That was the understatement of the year.

“I guess we never had the ‘how are you spending your summer vacation’ talk, did we?” Remi chuckled.

“During the school year, I intern for this architectural firm up in Seattle. They do a lot of really interesting stuff—eco-friendly, sustainable—and a lot of structurally innovative stuff, too.” Remi spoke quickly, with what seemed like genuine enthusiasm.

Jules couldn’t help notice the way his button-down shirt drew attention to his strong chin and the way his eyes sparkled when he spoke.
No, no, no,
she reminded herself.
You can’t like him. You just can’t.

Julianne could tell that he was really excited about the house they were building, maybe even as excited as she was, but she was determined to affect a look of casual disinterest. So what if he was cute, smart, funny, and came complete with cool academic interests? He was probably still a jerk. Well, he was certainly the
son
of jerks.

And there was a good chance he would turn into a jerk himself. He probably wasn’t even that interested in eco-design anyway—maybe he had been wait-listed for some suit-required corporate internship and had gotten shuffled into this job.

“So when my folks told me they were moving down here, it seemed like a really good opportunity to check out the LA office,” Remi added. “It’s a newer office, a little bit smaller; so that’s how I got to project manage this summer. Basically, it’s a cool job and an independent study all rolled up into one, you know?” Julianne nodded slowly, only half-processing what he was saying.

“So what are you doing here?” Remi asked. Julianne tried to avoid his eyes, which were still—much as she hated to admit it—warm and syrupy.

“Bill Cullen, the contractor, set me up with the job,”

Julianne explained. “He saw one of my sculpture pieces in the Chamber of Commerce and called and asked if I’d be interested in trying this. Plus, I like to be outside, work with my hands, and try new things. Like you said, it’s sort of a combination of business and pleasure.” The moment the words were out of her mouth, Julianne kicked herself.
Business and pleasure?
she repeated to her-self.
Did I really just say that out loud?

Remi nodded appreciatively, oblivious to Julianne’s discomfort. He wiped his hands on the sides of his pants before responding. “I want you to know, I can be totally professional. I promise not to make this weird.”

Julianne’s blue eyes widened with disbelief and her jaw muscles tightened.

“Excuse me?”
she managed to choke out, trying desperately to figure out how things could possibly get any weirder. She pushed up the sleeves of her T-shirt, like she was getting ready for a fight. The whole construction site, which had felt so magical and full of possibility just half an hour ago, seemed to be shrinking, closing in on her.

“I said that I want you to know that I can be totally professional,” Remi repeated sweetly. “And that I promise not to make this weird.”

Julianne’s head was swimming. She couldn’t believe he was here at this construction site, when his parents were clearly the antithesis of everything the eco-house represented. Even more, she couldn’t believe the effect he was having on her. This was never going to work. It was too confusing, too messy. But she wasn’t about to walk away from this fabulous job without a fight. That would mean leaving the crew short a person
and
relegat-ing herself to a summer spent indoors selling surf wax or ice cream.

“Julianne? Are you okay?” Remi asked gently, peering at her across the desk.

Please let him disappear, please let him magically disappear,
Julianne silently begged. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, but when she opened them back up, Remi was still there. And looking at him made her weak in the knees.

“I think you should leave,” she blurted out. “Or I should leave. Someone should leave.”

Remi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Um, okay. I can go back outside, but it would help if you could tell me why I’m going?” He said it like Julianne had presented him with a riddle and, if he solved it, there’d be some sort of prize.

“I believe in what everyone’s doing here, and I want to be a part of it,” she said shakily.

“Okay,” Remi said again slowly. “So far, it sounds like we’re both on the same page.”

“I don’t think we are,” Julianne said, more definitively than she felt. “At least, I know I’m not on the same page as your parents.”

“What?” Remi crinkled his brow, genuinely befud-dled. “What do my parents have to do with this job? You don’t even know my parents.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re Remi
Moore
?”

Julianne shot at him, eyes blazing. Her voice was a lethal combination of pure sugar and pure steel.

“Why didn’t I tell you my last name?” Remi tried to keep up with Julianne, but he looked like a lost puppy.

Julianne tried not to get distracted by how adorable he was when he was confused.
Just stay angry,
she told herself.
Now we’re getting somewhere.

“I didn’t realize I hadn’t told you my last name. I guess it never came up. I can try again. Hi, I’m Remi Moore. Nice to meet you.” Remi smiled at Julianne, waiting for her response.

Julianne just shook her head from side to side, mute.

“Okay,” Remi said, trying again. “Remi is short for Remington, but no one other than my folks ever uses the full name. My full, full name is Remington Justin Moore. When I was in third grade the other kids teased me because they thought Remington sounded like the name of a British butler. My cousin Sophie also said that the Remington is a type of razor or something, but I’d never heard of it.” He continued to smile weakly in Julianne’s direction. When Julianne still didn’t answer, his face slumped a little. “Jules,” he said quietly, his big brown eyes begging. “I really don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

Her frustration boiling inside, Julianne finally spat out, “Your parents’ house! That’s what’s wrong!”

Remi looked at her as though she were arguing her case in ancient Mayan or something. “Why do you care about my parents’ house? I really don’t understand.”

“It’s destroying the beach!” Julianne nearly wailed.

“You know, the beach where I grew up? Where I live now? With my family? The beach where we hung out the other day?”

“Julianne, this doesn’t make any sense,” Remi protested. “Listen, I’m really sorry that you don’t like the house, but it’s my parents’ house. Not mine. I didn’t design it. I didn’t build it. And, last time I checked, my parents weren’t in the habit of asking the professional opinion of their eighteen-year-old son before making major life choices. If they were, I wouldn’t have spent my entire life toting around the name Remington. If you’re wondering, I also didn’t get to weigh in on their retirement plans.” He paused, as if waiting for Julianne to crack a smile.

“You just don’t understand,” Julianne replied bitterly.

“Do you even know what that house could do to my family?”

“No!” Remi exclaimed, his face knitted in frustration.

“That’s what I’m trying to say—I have no idea! And I have no idea what I have to do with any of it. Please, please explain it to me!”

Julianne’s mind raced.
Was he playing dumb? How could
he not see? It was so obvious!
Overwhelmed with emotion, she plopped back down in the desk chair. As she opened her mouth to try to explain one last time, the trailer door opened and Mitch popped in.

“Hey, Jules.” He nodded his head in acknowledgment at Remi before continuing. “Just wanted to check in.