Making Waves (The Summer Lovin' Series Book 2), page 1
Making Waves
The Summer Lovin’ Series Book 2
K.L. Ramsey
Contents
Ginger
Jude
Ginger
Jude
Ginger
Jude
Ginger
Jude
Ginger
Jude
Ginger
Jude
Norah
Colter
Bruno
Gino
Damion
Nixon
About K.L. Ramsey & BE Kelly
K. L. Ramsey’s Social Media
BE Kelly’s Social Media
Works by K. L. Ramsey
Works by BE Kelly (K.L.’s alter ego…)
Making Waves (The Summer Lovin’ Series Book 2)
Copyright © 2023 by K.L. Ramsey
Cover Design: Clarise Tan
Formatting: Mr. KL
Imprint: Independently published
First Print Edition: July 2023
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Ginger
Prologue
Ginger walked into the pharmacy on the corner about two blocks from the beach house. She quickly looked around to make sure that no one had followed her. After she gave Savannah’s address to Brooks and saw him off, she realized that she was feeling a whole lot better. Her tummy had stopped churning and she didn’t feel the need to run to the bathroom every few minutes to toss her cookies. The ginger ale and crackers she had eaten did the trick.
But then, she started to think back over the past few days of her mysterious illness and realized that she seemed to only be sick in the morning when she first woke up. As soon as she was able to keep down a few crackers and ginger ale, she usually felt better and by lunchtime, she was starving and eating all the snacks while on the beach.
She decided to give good old Dr. Google a try at diagnosing her because the last thing she wanted to do was take another trip to the clinic in town to find out what was wrong with her. She had spent enough time there with Savannah after her go-carting accident since she had to be monitored for a week after her concussion. When the question “Could you be pregnant?” popped up on the laptop screen, she wanted to toss it across the room. It was a good question though—could she be pregnant? The answer, unfortunately, was yes. She realized that she had not gotten her period once since they were at the beach house, and it had been over a month since they arrived. That meant that she was actually about two months late since she skipped last month too. Usually, that was no big deal for Ginger. She was never very regular, but she had never been a full two months late.
She did some math and realized that the last time she had sex was with Trevor and it lined up with the possibility of her being two months pregnant. But she was getting ahead of herself. First, she was going to have to find a test and take it, then, she’d worry about the math and Trevor. It wasn’t a good plan, but it was the only plan she had.
She really hated feeling like everyone was watching her as she walked up and down the aisles of the pharmacy, trying to find the pregnancy tests. Ironically, she found them next to the condoms and wanted to laugh at how funny that was, but she wasn’t in a laughing mood. If she had insisted that Trevor used condoms, she wouldn’t be in this situation. Instead, she foolishly believed that her birth control pill was enough to keep her out of this aisle in the pharmacy.
She wasn’t sure which brand to buy, so she tossed about five different boxes into her basket and started for the register. Ginger put the basket up on the counter and the clerk looked at her and smiled. She was an older woman and Ginger was pretty sure she was going to ask a lot of personal questions she wasn’t ready to answer.
“First baby?” the woman asked.
“Um, I’m not even sure that I’m pregnant, so no,” Ginger said. She sounded like a bitch, but she just couldn’t help herself. She wanted to pay for the damn tests and go home to take one—or all of them.
“I see,” the woman said, still ringing up the tests. “This is a good one. If a plus sign appears in the window, you will instantly know that you’re pregnant.” She said it as if it was a good thing. The last thing Ginger wanted to be was pregnant.
“Thanks for the tutorial,” she grumbled. “How much do I owe you?” she asked, trying to speed along the process.
“Oh, it’s eighty-five, ninety-three,” the clerk said.
“What—for five pregnancy tests?” Ginger asked. She hadn’t really paid much attention to the price of each test, but that had to be wrong.
“Well, some of those boxes have two tests in them, so it’s not a bad deal,” the woman said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ginger breathed. “Fine, here’s my card,” she said, handing the woman her credit card.
“You have to insert the card into the chip reader,” the woman reminded.
“Yeah, I know,” Ginger mumbled. She was losing her damn mind, worrying about a possible pregnancy, she couldn’t remember how to even pay at a pharmacy. “Sorry, I’m just a bit on edge.”
“I understand, dear,” the woman said. She handed Ginger the bagful of tests and the receipt.
“Thank you,” Ginger said, quickly making her way to the door.
“Have a good day,” the woman called after her. Ginger waved over her head and left the store. There was only one way that her day would end well and that was if she took the damn tests and they were all negative, but she had a sick feeling that wasn’t going to happen.
Ginger Leigh wasn’t about to throw away her career in fashion to follow a man she barely knew across the country. That was not a part of her plans, and neither was getting pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, yet here she was. She hadn’t gone to college and spent countless months in New York and Paris at some of the top fashion houses to just toss it all in the garbage for Jude Connors. It was bad enough that she was going to have to figure out how to add a baby to the mix in just seven short months.
As soon as she took the tests, she knew that they were going to be positive. She could feel it in her gut and when she read the results, all positive, she knew that she was going to have to make some serious lifestyle changes. And those changes didn’t involve the sexy man sleeping next to her in bed every night. Jude was a fun distraction, but nothing could happen between them—nothing. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them, but then again, she was used to life not being fair. Catching her ex in bed with another woman wasn’t fair. Finding out that she was pregnant with that asshole’s baby wasn’t fair. And having to work up the nerve to tell him about the baby wasn’t fair at all, but that’s what she had to do.
She and Jude had spent the better part of a month getting to know each other after being stuck together in a beach rental that was double booked. Agreeing to share the beach house with three men wasn’t her idea of a fun “Girl’s summer vacation,” but she didn’t want to give up her chance at a whole summer at the beach with her two best friends.
She was supposed to be trying to get over her ex, Trevor, and she was hoping that a whole summer away from town would do the trick. Ginger had broken things off with him just before agreeing to take this little girl’s trip after he admitted that he wasn’t looking for a commitment. Well, he should have thought about that before she gave him four prime years of her life. Now, she had nothing to show for it except a broken heart and an unexpected pregnancy. Sure, she lied and told the girls that she was fine but finding out that Trevor was cheating on her before they broke up, with his now-skanky girlfriend, was a slap in the face. But this summer was supposed to help her get over all of that—she just hadn’t planned on Jude crashing her life and her bed.
When Savannah convinced her and Norah to go to the beach with her for the summer, she arranged everything including the great beach house. The only problem was the house had also been rented to three hot guys. When they decided that they could all be adults and share the rental for the summer, she never dreamed that would also mean sharing a bed with a complete stranger.
At first, she thought about sleeping on the sofa, but that lumpy old thing was so uncomfortable she gave up that plan. Jude offered to share his bed and she quickly agreed, knowing that it would be better for her back than the sofa. Her friend, Savannah, hadn’t gotten so lucky with her decision to sleep on the sofa. Her poor friend didn’t last more than a night on that thing though. It was honestly the most uncomfortable sofa on the planet.
Out of the three women, she was the first to cave and share a bed with one of the guys. She saw Jude as a nice guy—even kind of shy, and that appealed to her. He wouldn’t spend his time hitting on her and when Ginger found out that he was planning on moving to the West Coast after the summer was over, she knew that he wasn’t a threat. She had chosen the path of least desire, and that worked for her—until it didn’t.
Watching her best friend fall for Brooks during their fir
Savannah came back to the beach house, after getting her father situated back at home after he broke his hip. Her dad convinced her to live her life and promised to be there waiting for her when her summer of fun was over. It was crazy to think that when they all went home, Savannah would be married to Brooks, and they’d be moving in together. Her father’s nurse was going to move in with him—well, not as his nurse, but as his girlfriend, and Ginger thought that was the sweetest thing she had ever heard. Watching them all make plans made her both happy for her friend and sad that she didn’t have anything to be excited about once this summer was over—well, except for the pregnancy she was hiding from everyone. She would have her baby in the new year, and if she could figure out how to tell her friends about him or her, she might find some way to be happy about the unexpected little bundle growing inside of her.
Of course, Jude could tell that she was upset about something, and when she foolishly spilled her guts to him, telling him about her whole sorted past—everything except for the truth about her being pregnant, she found herself letting him comfort her, and when she woke up the next morning naked, in Jude’s arms, she knew that she had made a mistake. She quickly extricated herself from his warm body and snuck off for the day to be alone with her thoughts. She couldn’t fall for a guy who was planning on moving across the country in just two short months. Ginger knew that going home with another broken heart wasn’t going to get her to where she wanted to be. She wanted a relationship with a man who wasn’t going to disappear or cheat on her. Jude seemed like the perfect guy, but then, she also knew that long-distance relationships never worked out. She had a baby to consider now and trying to make a relationship that was doomed from the start work, would be too time-consuming. Instead of facing the issue head-on, Ginger decided to hide out on the beach, knowing that Jude would be going fishing with Colter for most of the day. She just never counted on Savannah and Norah tracking her down in her secret spot she thought only she knew about.
“Found you,” Norah said.
“You sure did,” Ginger grumbled, “and here, I thought that I had found the perfect hiding spot.”
Savannah unloaded her arms of beach equipment into the sand. “Well, letting you hide isn’t really our jam. I mean, you two didn’t let me hide when everything was happening with Brooks last month. In fact, you made sure that I faced every single painful decision head-on. We’re just trying to return the favor.”
“Gee, thanks,” Ginger grumbled.
“So, you did the nasty with Jude,” Norah said, sitting down in her beach chair.
“Does everyone know?” Ginger groaned.
“Afraid so,” Savannah said. “From what Brooks told me, Jude is pretty into you.”
“Great,” Ginger mumbled. “It’s not a matter of us liking each other.”
“What’s the problem then? Because from what I heard, you two seemed to really click,” Norah teased.
“Shut up,” Ginger growled. She took a deep breath in and let it back out. “The problem is that he’s moving across the country once our summer is over.” There was also the problem of her being pregnant with another man’s baby, but she wasn’t ready to share that with anyone yet.
“So, have some fun with him now, while you’re both here. There’s nothing wrong with a summer fling,” Savannah insisted.
“Sure, and how is your summer fling working out with Brooks? Because I remember you saying that was all the two of you were doing and now, you two are inseparable, in love and getting married, and moving in together when we all go home. You found your happily ever after and maybe that’s what I’m looking for.”
“Who says that Jude can’t be your happily ever after?” Norah asked.
“His new job in California says,” Ginger said. “I can’t do the long-distance thing—not that he’s even asked.”
“What if he asked you to move to California with him?” Norah asked. “Would you do that?”
Ginger shrugged, “No,” she said. “We only spent one night together and I’m going to make sure that’s all this amounts to. I won’t sleep with him again. It’s not fair to either of us.” She caught the look that Norah shot Savannah and groaned. “This is why I like to find a private spot on the beach and hideaway.”
“You can hide all you want, but sooner or later, Jude will find you. He’s home from fishing early and he wants to talk to you,” Savannah said. She even seemed to take some satisfaction in telling her that Jude was looking for her.
“What does he want to talk to me about?” Ginger asked, trying for nonchalance.
“Don’t know, but we can only buy you so much time to hide again. I’m pretty sure that the guys know about this spot too,” Norah said.
“You guys can’t just tell him that I’m in town for the day or something?” she begged.
“Well, since you were the one to give Brooks my address, I’m not sure if I should help you or not. I mean, I’m so happy with the way things turned out, but you did nark on me,” Savannah said.
“That is true,” Norah said.
“I really don’t like either of you right now,” Ginger breathed. “Fine, tell him where to find me, but this changes nothing. I won’t succumb to Jude’s charms again. We had a one-night fling, and that’s the end of it.” It would have to be the end of it if she didn’t want anyone to find out about the baby yet. Keeping her secret was going to be hard, but she had to find a way until she could decide what she wanted to do about him or her.
“If you say so,” Savannah said. She sat back in her seat as if enjoying the warm sunshine and it took everything in Ginger to control her temper and not stomp off, leaving both of her friends behind. No, she was done hiding. It was time to face Jude and the feelings that she was trying to deny she had about him because she just couldn’t let herself get hurt again—not by him. It would destroy her.
Jude
Jude Connors had spent half of the morning looking for Ginger. She took off on him early in the morning when he was still sleeping off the post-sex bliss. Ginger had finally opened up to him about wanting a relationship and being committed to someone. He thought for sure that she wanted the same thing as him until he woke up to find her side of the bed empty and no sign of Ginger the whole rest of the day. She was hiding from him, and he hated that, but he’d let her have it—for now.
Brooks walked into the kitchen to find him making a sandwich. “You know cutting our fishing trip short to come back to find Ginger was a great idea.” Brooks looked around the room and back at Jude. “Where is she exactly?” he asked.
“Not here and I have no clue, smart-ass,” Jude grumbled. “She’s hiding right now, but I’ll find her sooner or later. She can’t hide forever.”
Brooks held up his phone wearing his shit-eating grin. “It’s Savannah,” he said.
“Of course it is. You two haven’t seen each other for a whole ten minutes. I’m sure she’s just calling to tell you that she loves you and can’t live without you or some sappy shit like that,” Jude teased.
“Shut the fuck up, man,” Brooks spat. “My girl isn’t calling for me. She’s calling to tell you where you can find Ginger. But if you don’t want to know—” Brooks held up the phone and acted like he was going to end the call and Jude told him to cut it out.
“Hold on, honey,” he said into the phone. “I’d really like to hear you say the words, man. Tell me that you want to know where Ginger is,” Brooks said to him.
“Fine, I want to know where Ginger is. I need to talk to her before she flips out and takes off on me like Savannah did you.”
