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    The Summer Heat
    The Summer Heat
    The Summer Heat
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    The Summer Heat

    By Elodie Parkes

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    When lifelong friends Nate and Evan watch the arrival of a new neighbor, they never expect to find their friendship rocked by the lovely Annabel who moves into the empty house next door.

    Annabel likes both Nate and Evan the moment she meets them. As they all grow close, will she be forced to choose between these gorgeous men?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEvernight Publishing
    Release dateAug 9, 2014
    ISBN9781771309509
    The Summer Heat
    Author

    Elodie Parkes

    Elodie lives in Canterbury, United Kingdom. It’s famous for the Cathedral, Chaucer, and there is a UNESCO world heritage site, which includes the ancient ruins of St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church. There is also a ruined castle. It’s a pretty place too and the coast nearby is great. She works in an antiques shop and writes. Elodie has two dogs that keep her fit with their need for walks. Elodie writes romance, contemporary and always erotic with a twist of mystery, paranormal, and suspense now and then. She likes to make the story unusual in some way, by a quirk in the tale

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    Book preview

    The Summer Heat - Elodie Parkes

    Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

    www.evernightpublishing.com

    Copyright© 2014 Elodie Parkes

    ISBN: 978-1-77130-950-9

    Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

    Editor: Karyn White

    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

    This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

    THE SUMMER HEAT

    Elodie Parkes

    Copyright © 2014

    Chapter One

    Watch out, Nate. That thing’s lethal. Evan burst out laughing as the chainsaw blade bounced off the tree stump and onto the grass, forcing his friend to cling on tight to the handle.

    Fucking thing has a mind of its own. Nate turned the chainsaw off and laid it down on the gravel path. I reckon the trunk’s short enough now to dig the roots out. He picked up a spade that leaned against a neighboring tree.

    Evan grinned. Maybe we need to take the two remaining branches off. He ran a hand over his forehead and took off the clear framed, safety glasses he wore. After tossing them down on the grass, he pulled off his T-shirt. Sweat trickled down between his muscled shoulders, and he wiped the back of his neck with his shirt, a frown creasing his forehead. It’s already hot. Let’s get this finished. He strode around Nate to the path, and retrieved the chainsaw. Within a few moments, the tree stump stood devoid of the remaining branches.

    Nate shook his head at Evan. You should be wearing the glasses and the gloves I gave you.

    Evan grunted. It’s done. Don’t fuss.

    Nate grinned broadly at his friend’s gung-ho dismissal. Hey, it’s not fussing. A flying sharp splinter could take your eye out.

    Evan’s returning grin held affection. Yeah, I know, I just wanted it done. He placed the power tool on the path and picked up one of the bottles of water standing next to Nate’s supply of work gloves and safety glasses. He poured some over his face and then took a drink. Warm. He grimaced at Nate, put the bottle down, and picked up a spade.

    Nate shrugged and then drove the edge of his spade into the soil around the tree.

    Evan joined him digging silently at the base of the tree stump.

    The tree grew on the edge of their garden, and they’d had complaints from people because it dropped branches on the sidewalk. Nate had dutifully hired a tree doctor who discovered disease caused by a virulent beetle pest. The prognosis for the tree was bad. It needed cutting down, and the tree doctor informed Nate they were lucky the other trees hadn’t contracted the beetle.

    The Saturday morning sun blazed in the June sky. Heat shimmered off the sidewalk. Nate and Evan were the only people out in their front yards. The noise of their work tools were the only sounds, as not even the seagulls that often wheeled overhead ventured from the cool of the ocean yet.

    Nate and Evan’s house was one of the largest in the rows of three story houses built along the river in a modern development unimaginatively called Riverside Mews. Narrow lanes that led to the river path separated the rows. Somehow, patches of white sand always settled on the paths, though the nearest beach was a mile away. Each house had its own river access, through a gate at the end of the back yard to a riverbank public path, but there was no boat access, no jetties. The public path wound along by the river from the seaside town close by and on into the countryside. The house to the right of Nate and Evan’s place was occupied by a small family, but the house to the left had been empty and for sale all year.

    The roar of a large van engine broke the hot, morning silence as it turned into the street and thumped over each speed hump in the road, until it drew up in front of the empty house next door.

    Nate gave the van a cursory glance, but Evan leaned on his spade and watched as two men leapt out of each side of the van. He read the name of a removal firm and their logo emblazoned across the side of the vehicle and discovered it was from a city in the north of the state. It piqued his interest, so he continued with his unashamed staring.

    The men who’d alighted from the cab walked to the back of the van and opened its double doors, just as a pale blue, old model Mustang drove up and parked a short distance away.

    A young woman got out of the Mustang.

    Evan liked her shapely body right away. He straightened up for a better view and admired the swing of her hips. Without taking his eyes off her, he murmured to Nate. Check her out.

    Nate stopped hacking at the sun-baked soil around the remaining tree trunk and looked around. He gazed at the young woman for a few seconds and then turned back to his job. Sexy. Don’t stare.

    Evan resumed digging, but he stole glances as the two workers unloaded the items from the removal

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