Series: Summers in Seaside
Author: Rachel Radner
Genre: Contemporary Summer Romance Novella
Release Date: August 22, 2025
.jpg)
I used to think love was supposed to hurt—until I met a man who didn’t even know my name.We talk only through text. No pictures. No pressure. Just raw honesty in a world that’s asked me to be quiet for too long. He goes by Z. I go by a version of myself I’m only starting to recognize.
Then there’s Chad—sarcastic, infuriating, too observant for comfort. He’s the last person I expected to see the cracks in me… and the first to reach through them.
Somehow, between late-night messages and stolen moments that feel like more, I begin to remember the sound of my own heartbeat.
Two men. One anonymous. One far too real. And somehow, I’m falling for both.
Now I have to decide which version of love I’m brave enough to choose—and whether I can trust myself to finally begin again.
.jpg)
It’s just me. And him. And the strange sense that, Chad is seeing everything I’m trying to hide. But my brain quickly reminds me of all the things he’s said to me in the last week or so, and I bring up our conversation from earlier. Almost as a defense mechanism for what’s happening in this moment. This closeness I’m so afraid of.
“Why have you been such a jerk to me?” I whisper.
He exhales slowly, like he’s been waiting for this question to resurface.
“Because you scare me,” he finally says.
“Why?” I ask.
We’re close now—too close.
“Because you just do,” he breathes.
Our lips draw close, like we’re opposite sides of a magnet being drawn together. His mouth is on mine before I realize what’s happening, and I’m kissing him back. Small pants as his hands wrap around and press on the small of my back.
Our kiss is instinctual, hungry, but also soft. A collision of emotion and restraint. I taste the apology on his lips, the ache, the fear, the hope. My hand finds his chest. His slides around my waist.
But almost as quickly as it starts, we both pull back. Breathing heavy.
“Shit,” I murmur, eyes wide.
“Yeah,” he says, dragging a hand through his hair. “That… probably shouldn’t have happened.”
“Probably not,” I agree, even though part of me still wants more.
We both take a step back.
Then I laugh softly. “This is going to make being friends really complicated, isn’t it?”
Chad grins, but it’s laced with something wistful. “Only if we let it.”
“Why have you been such a jerk to me?” I whisper.
He exhales slowly, like he’s been waiting for this question to resurface.
“Because you scare me,” he finally says.
“Why?” I ask.
We’re close now—too close.
“Because you just do,” he breathes.
Our lips draw close, like we’re opposite sides of a magnet being drawn together. His mouth is on mine before I realize what’s happening, and I’m kissing him back. Small pants as his hands wrap around and press on the small of my back.
Our kiss is instinctual, hungry, but also soft. A collision of emotion and restraint. I taste the apology on his lips, the ache, the fear, the hope. My hand finds his chest. His slides around my waist.
But almost as quickly as it starts, we both pull back. Breathing heavy.
“Shit,” I murmur, eyes wide.
“Yeah,” he says, dragging a hand through his hair. “That… probably shouldn’t have happened.”
“Probably not,” I agree, even though part of me still wants more.
We both take a step back.
Then I laugh softly. “This is going to make being friends really complicated, isn’t it?”
Chad grins, but it’s laced with something wistful. “Only if we let it.”
Rachel Radner is a former Pennsylvanian who will always miss Wawa.
She's been writing since the first grade when her teacher handed her a journal and instructed her to write about her day. From then on, she was always writing down the stories in her head.
After she graduated from Penn State in 2010, she spent time in NYC doing improv, acting for film, and performing in musical theatre. She participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2012 and started what would become her first romance novel.
When she isn't writing and drinking coffee, she can be found geeking out about Star Wars or SNL, watching something from the Marvel universe, reading, or studying Latin and German.
She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA where she's also pursuing her dream of acting and filmmaking.
She's been writing since the first grade when her teacher handed her a journal and instructed her to write about her day. From then on, she was always writing down the stories in her head.
After she graduated from Penn State in 2010, she spent time in NYC doing improv, acting for film, and performing in musical theatre. She participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2012 and started what would become her first romance novel.
When she isn't writing and drinking coffee, she can be found geeking out about Star Wars or SNL, watching something from the Marvel universe, reading, or studying Latin and German.
She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA where she's also pursuing her dream of acting and filmmaking.
HOSTED BY:
0 comments:
Post a Comment