Drew had rented a car. They threw their bags in the backseat and headed toward the house.
Carolina loved Gray’s house. She’d been out a few times, and he’d even let her stay there on vacation when he was away racing. She loved the expansiveness of it—right on the beach, no neighbors close by. It was gorgeous and peaceful, and as they pulled into the driveway, one of Gray’s staff was there with the key.
“Thank you, Louisa,” Carolina said, taking the key from her.
“The house is fully stocked for you. I’ll be back tomorrow—at three o’clock, Mr. Preston said—to get the key back?”
“That’s right,” Drew said.
Louisa nodded and left. Drew took the key from Carolina and opened the front door.
Carolina could already smell the ocean breeze wafting in from the open terrace doors. She walked to the terrace and outside.
It was warm out, so much warmer than Manhattan. She wanted to immediately shed her clothes and take a walk on the beach.
Drew came up behind her and put his arms around her. “I thought this might be more fun than the craziness at Times Square.”
She leaned her head back against his chest. “It’s absolutely perfect. There’s nothing more calming than the ocean.”
“Do you want to get changed and go take a walk?”
“Absolutely.”
They went upstairs and headed into the guest room down the hall from the master bedroom. The guest room was amazing. Oversize, with a big bed, a deck overlooking the ocean, and its own bathroom. Carolina changed into her swimsuit and put on her capris and a tank top, then slid into her flip-flops.
“This feels so decadent for December,” she said as she turned to Drew, who’d thrown on a pair of board shorts and a sleeveless top. She loved seeing all that muscle exposed.
They walked outside and Drew grasped her hand. She felt giddy, like she was on vacation, without a care in the world.
Of course, she had a lot of cares, a lot of tension, a lot of stress.
But not today. Today she wasn’t going to think about all of that. One day off was all she needed to melt all of that away.
The warm sunshine bathed her skin as they kicked off their shoes and hit the sand. It wasn’t summer by any means, but it was warm here, and it felt good. The salt in the air rejuvenated her as they walked parallel to the water. Carolina dug her toes into the sand, wishing it were summer already.
“We used to go to the shore a lot when we were kids,” she said as they strolled along at an easy pace. “It’s one of my fondest memories of my childhood. Playing in the water with Gray, splashing and dunking each other. Dad didn’t come with us all that often because he was so busy when we were kids, but Mom was always there, and aunts and uncles and of course cousins would join in. We had such a blast.”
Drew shifted his gaze toward hers and smiled. “That sounds like fun.”
“It was. We’d spend a week at the shore every summer. I looked forward to it every year.”
“I love the beach, too,” Drew said. “Of course, growing up in Oklahoma we didn’t have the beach, but there are a lot of lakes. We’d go camping. Everyone would go out on boats and water-ski.”
“Did your parents have a boat?”
He shook his head. “We didn’t, but my parents were friends with people who did, so we’d all camp together and we’d ski off their boat. Then when I was a teenager, I had a friend whose parents had a boat, and we’d head off on the weekends to go water-skiing.”
She stopped and turned to face him. “So what you’re saying is that you’re an amazing water-skier.”
He gave her an adorably boyish grin. “Hell, yeah. If the water out there wasn’t so cold right now I’d show you.”
“How unfortunate. Some other time, then.”
He took her hand and continued to walk. “We’ll come back in the summer. Then I’ll impress you with my water-skiing prowess.”
He assumed they’d still be together in the summer. She didn’t know what to make of that.
Would they be? She had no idea. She’d never had a long-term relationship with a man, had never progressed beyond a few dates or a month at best before the whole thing fizzled out due to lack of interest or her just being too busy to care if the relationship went any further. Her focus had always been on her career, and never on a man.
Her career had to remain her number one priority, now more than ever.
But the idea of not having Drew in her life made her ache, and she didn’t like that.
She’d never depended upon a man for her happiness. The thought of it had always seemed ludicrous to her. The only thing she had ever wanted, the only thought that had ever made her happy was launching her fashion line.
Something inside her was changing, some subtle shift in her priorities.
“Your shoulders are getting red. Did you put sunscreen on?” Drew asked.
“Oh, you know what? I was so excited about getting outside in the warmth that I completely forgot.”