Always Next Summer Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  Acclaim for Radclyffe’s Fiction

  Applause for L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters Series

  By Radclyffe

  Always Next Summer

  About the Author

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  Always Next Summer

  A small-town girl returns home and rekindles a relationship with the woman she'd dreamed of in high school.

  Acclaim for Radclyffe’s Fiction

  In Prescription for Love “Radclyffe populates her small town with colorful characters, among the most memorable being Flann’s little sister, Margie, and Abby’s 15-year-old trans son, Blake…This romantic drama has plenty of heart and soul.”—Publishers Weekly

  2013 RWA/New England Bean Pot award winner for contemporary romance Crossroads “will draw the reader in and make her heart ache, willing the two main characters to find love and a life together. It’s a story that lingers long after coming to ‘the end.’”—Lambda Literary

  In 2012 RWA/FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW Aspen Gold award winner Firestorm “Radclyffe brings another hot lesbian romance for her readers.”—The Lesbrary

  Foreword Review Book of the Year finalist and IPPY silver medalist Trauma Alert “is hard to put down and it will sizzle in the reader’s hands. The characters are hot, the sex scenes explicit and explosive, and the book is moved along by an interesting plot with well drawn secondary characters. The real star of this show is the attraction between the two characters, both of whom resist and then fall head over heels.”—Lambda Literary Reviews

  Lambda Literary Award Finalist Best Lesbian Romance 2010 features “stories [that] are diverse in tone, style, and subject, making for more variety than in many, similar anthologies…well written, each containing a satisfying, surprising twist. Best Lesbian Romance series editor Radclyffe has assembled a respectable crop of 17 authors for this year’s offering.”—Curve Magazine

  2010 Prism award winner and ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award finalist Secrets in the Stone is “so powerfully [written] that the worlds of these three women shimmer between reality and dreams…A strong, must read novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.”—Just About Write

  In Benjamin Franklin Award finalist Desire by Starlight “Radclyffe writes romance with such heart and her down-to-earth characters not only come to life but leap off the page until you feel like you know them. What Jenna and Gard feel for each other is not only a spark but an inferno and, as a reader, you will be washed away in this tumultuous romance until you can do nothing but succumb to it.”—Queer Magazine Online

  Lambda Literary Award winner Stolen Moments “is a collection of steamy stories about women who just couldn’t wait. It’s sex when desire overrides reason, and it’s incredibly hot!”—On Our Backs

  Lambda Literary Award winner Distant Shores, Silent Thunder “weaves an intricate tapestry about passion and commitment between lovers. The story explores the fragile nature of trust and the sanctuary provided by loving relationships.”—Sapphic Reader

  Lambda Literary Award Finalist Justice Served delivers a “crisply written, fast-paced story with twists and turns and keeps us guessing until the final explosive ending.”—Independent Gay Writer

  Lambda Literary Award finalist Turn Back Time “is filled with wonderful love scenes, which are both tender and hot.”—MegaScene

  Applause for L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters Series

  The Midnight Hunt

  RWA 2012 VCRW Laurel Wreath winner Blood Hunt

  Night Hunt

  The Lone Hunt

  “Raand has built a complex world inhabited by werewolves, vampires, and other paranormal beings…Raand has given her readers a complex plot filled with wonderful characters as well as insight into the hierarchy of Sylvan’s pack and vampire clans. There are many plot twists and turns, as well as erotic sex scenes in this riveting novel that keep the pages flying until its satisfying conclusion.”—Just About Write

  “Once again, I am amazed at the storytelling ability of L.L. Raand aka Radclyffe. In Blood Hunt, she mixes high levels of sheer eroticism that will leave you squirming in your seat with an impeccable multi-character storyline all streaming together to form one great read.”—Queer Magazine Online

  “The Midnight Hunt has a gripping story to tell, and while there are also some truly erotic sex scenes, the story always takes precedence. This is a great read which is not easily put down nor easily forgotten.”—Just About Write

  “Are you sick of the same old hetero vampire/werewolf story plastered in every bookstore and at every movie theater? Well, I’ve got the cure to your werewolf fever. The Midnight Hunt is first in, what I hope is, a long-running series of fantasy erotica for L.L. Raand (aka Radclyffe).”—Queer Magazine Online

  “Any reader familiar with Radclyffe’s writing will recognize the author’s style within The Midnight Hunt, yet at the same time it is most definitely a new direction. The author delivers an excellent story here, one that is engrossing from the very beginning. Raand has pieced together an intricate world, and provided just enough details for the reader to become enmeshed in the new world. The action moves quickly throughout the book and it’s hard to put down.”—Three Dollar Bill Reviews

  Always Next Summer

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  Always Next Summer

  © 2017 By Radclyffe. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-63555-140-2

  This Electronic Original is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, NY 12185

  First Bold Strokes Books Electronic Edition: September 2017

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editor: Ruth Sternglantz and Stacia Seaman

  Production Design: Bold Strokes Graphics

  Cover Design by Melody Pond

  By Radclyffe

  Romances

  Innocent Hearts

  Promising Hearts

  Love’s Melody Lost

  Love’s Tender Warriors

  Tomorrow’s Promise

  Love’s Masquerade

  shadowland

  Passion’s Bright Fury

  Fated Love

  Turn Back Time

  When Dreams Tremble

  The Lonely Hearts Club

  Night Call

  Secrets in the Stone

  Desire by Starlight

  Crossroads

  Homestead

  The Color of Love

  Secret Hearts

  Honor Series

  Above All, Honor

  Honor Bound

  Love & Honor

  Honor Guards

  Honor Reclaimed

  Honor Under Siege

  Word of Honor

  Code of Honor

  Price of Honor

  Justice Series

  A Matter of Trust (prequel)

  Shield of Justice

  In Pursuit of Justice

  Justice in the Shadows

  Justice Served

  Justice For All r />
  The Provincetown Tales

  Safe Harbor

  Beyond the Breakwater

  Distant Shores, Silent Thunder

  Storms of Change

  Winds of Fortune

  Returning Tides

  Sheltering Dunes

  First Responders Novels

  Trauma Alert

  Firestorm

  Oath of Honor

  Taking Fire

  Wild Shores

  Heart Stop

  Rivers Community Novels

  Against Doctor’s Orders

  Prescription for Love

  Love on Call

  Short Fiction

  Collected Stories by Radclyffe

  Erotic Interludes: Change of Pace

  Radical Encounters

  Edited by Radclyffe:

  Best Lesbian Romance 2009-2014

  Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe, eds.

  Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments

  Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love

  Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions

  Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games

  Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery

  Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets

  Breathless: Tales of Celebration

  Women of the Dark Streets

  Amore and More: Love Everafter

  Myth & Magic: Queer Fairy Tales

  By L.L. Raand

  Midnight Hunters

  The Midnight Hunt

  Blood Hunt

  Night Hunt

  The Lone Hunt

  The Magic Hunt

  Shadow Hunt

  Always Next Summer

  A silver Jaguar pulled into the motel parking lot next to me just as the sun disappeared behind the silhouette of a distant mountain range. The woman who stepped out looked just as sleek and expensive as her car, and even more attractive than I remembered. Fifteen years had done nothing but add beauty to an already exquisite canvas. Her blond hair was shorter and more elegantly styled than the free-flowing fall she’d worn in high school. Her figure had matured into the captivating landscape and taunting terrain of full-blown womanhood, but I could see that she had kept up with her running. Her white sleeveless blouse exposed arms that were tanned and toned, and the firm lines of her long legs were apparent beneath the casual cut of her dark linen slacks.

  “I’m sorry I’m late. Traffic,” Maggie said with a What can you do? shrug and the false familiarity that Realtors often displayed toward clients. She held out her hand. “I’m Margaret Collins.”

  “No problem,” I replied, taking her hand. “I just got here. Sharon Willis.”

  Maggie narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Willis.” She looked down at the clipboard she carried in one hand. Her notes, I presumed, regarding the kinds of properties I’d told her I was interested in seeing. Probably my credit history and everything else anyone would ever want to know about me, too. “You said in your email you were from around here originally, didn’t you?”

  “That’s right. I grew up a little bit north of here. Fort Edward.”

  “I knew a Willis. Tom.”

  I nodded. “My older brother.” She looked at me curiously, as if searching for signs of Tom. I knew she’d find some, because we both favored our father. We had the same dark brown hair prematurely streaked with gray at the temples, the same brown eyes and angular features, and the same rangy build. In chinos and a button-down shirt, I looked a lot like him.

  “Wait,” Maggie said. “Tom always used to call you Wills.”

  “Everyone still does.”

  “You played basketball or…?”

  “Softball. We won the state championship the year you graduated.”

  “I’m so embarrassed that I didn’t remember—”

  I laughed. “No reason that you should have. You and Tom were in the same class, three years ahead of me. In high school, that might as well have been thirty.”

  She smiled as if in agreement, and I’m sure that for her it was true. It hadn’t been for me. I’d known who she was. I’d had a painful, prolonged crush on her. I’d been fourteen years old and just realizing that I was gay. She’d been everything in life that was unattainable, or so I’d thought back then. She was the most popular girl in the senior class, bright and accomplished and even a star athlete. A girl like her would never look at someone like me, and obviously, she hadn’t. I shook myself, still surprised that the wounds from so long ago could still bleed, and realized she was watching me intently.

  “You threw over my brother for Jack Mathews,” I said lightly, hoping to defuse the solemnity that had fallen around us as the twilight deepened.

  She looked momentarily rueful. “That was only one of my mistakes.”

  “Tom mentioned once that you married Jack.” I didn’t see a ring on her hand.

  “Divorced.” She gestured toward her car. “Why don’t we take mine and go see that property you’re interested in. I’m sorry the owners couldn’t clear out until evening, but if you think it has promise, we can drop by in the daytime so you can get a good look at the landscaping.”

  “The photos on the Internet listing are good for now,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat of her car, aware that she had directed the conversation away from our past history. Such as it was. “I can swing by myself some other time if I like the house.”

  “We’ll see.” She glanced at me quickly and smiled. “After all, it’s my job to see that you’re well taken care of.”

  Since my mind immediately went to places that I hadn’t visited since I’d lain awake fantasizing about her half a lifetime ago, I turned to look out the window and hoped the quick surge of lust hadn’t been apparent in my face. We traveled in silence down single-lane, twisting country roads until we came to a crossroads and I sat up straight in my seat, staring at the brightly lit apparition that stretched along one side of us.

  “I can’t believe this fair is still going.”

  “Every year at this time.”

  Maggie slowed the car as we approached the fairgrounds. The lights from the amusement park rides flickered and danced against a sky that had gone midnight blue in a matter of minutes. I could smell the popcorn and the sweet scent of cotton candy. Last time I’d been, I’d followed my brother and his friends, watching the boys with their arms tossed nonchalantly over the shoulders of their girlfriends, wondering what it would be like to be that close to another girl.

  Maggie had been there that night with Jack. He was a football star, tall and, I guess, handsome, and arrogantly self-confident. He’d steered her through the crowds as if she were unable to make her own way without his direction. At least that’s how it had seemed to me. Every time he’d touched her, I’d wanted to look away, but I couldn’t, unwilling to stop the pain if the price was not seeing Maggie.

  “Wills?”

  I jumped. “What? Sorry.”

  “I know it’s crazy,” Maggie said sheepishly, “but do you want to stop? We didn’t specify a time and the sellers said they’d be out for hours.”

  I shifted in my seat, only just realizing that Maggie had pulled the Jag over to the side of the road while I’d been daydreaming. She had the strangest look on her face, part wistful, part…hopeful.

  “Yes,” I said with sudden conviction and a thrill of excitement I hadn’t felt in longer than I could remember. “Let’s go to the fair.”

  Within minutes we were parked and following the flow of people between food stands and dollar-a-try games toward the rides. I stopped suddenly and, without thinking, grasped Maggie’s hand.

  “Hey. How about a candy apple? I love those things and I can never get…” The shocked expression on her face stopped me cold and I realized what I’d done. “Sorry.” I tried to pull my hand away, but she gripped mine tighter.

  “Don’t be. And I’d love a candy apple.” Her face was soft in the golden light of a nearby concession booth. “I haven’t been here since the year we graduated.”

  Something in her tone an
d the sadness in her eyes told me it wasn’t a happy memory. Watching her, remembering the girl she had been, I felt the overwhelming need to replace that remembrance with one that would make her smile.

  She continued to hold my hand while we ate candy apples and popcorn, and drank soda from paper cups, and ambled through the aisles as if we had nowhere to be. I tried my damnedest at the ringtoss to win her a stuffed monkey, but after ten dollars’ worth of near misses, she put her hand on my arm when I went to take my wallet out for another round.

  “You could buy one for the amount of money you’re spending.”

  I feigned indignation, but most of my attention was on the way her fingers felt wrapped around my forearm. If another woman had ever made my heart quiver the way the sensation of Maggie’s fingers on my skin did, I couldn’t recall it. It was sweeter than even the innocent longings a long-ago youth had dreamed.

  “Would you like to go for a ride on the Ferris wheel?” I asked, my throat far drier than the hot summer night and the dusty paths could account for. When she hesitated, I was certain I had gone too far. “On second thought, I guess we should go.”

  “No. No.” She took a deep breath and smiled a little unsteadily into my eyes. “I’d like to go on the Ferris wheel with you.”

  She put the emphasis on you, and though I didn’t know what it meant, I knew she’d explain if she wanted. If not, it didn’t matter. I’d always wanted to sit in a car at the top of the Ferris wheel and look out at the world with her by my side. They stopped every car up there for a minute, so I knew I was going to get my wish. Fleetingly, I wondered how it was that I’d had to travel over half the world only to come back to the beginning for the most important dream to come true.