Page 13 (1/2)

He picked up her bag and placed it in her lap

"Coht"

Dylan watched her walk out, his hand on the bar stool still ith her body heat

Messing around with that girl was aLucien’s trust, his job, and his new found peace But he kneas worse than all of that

He was risking Kara Brookes

It was that godda that did it Why couldn’t she act coy, play stupid ga around her was like drinking water fro She was purity; vital, clean, life affir He lost his head when she came within ten feet of hi water He wanted to bathe in it

Kara sta the wind blow her hair and praying it would bloay her stupidity along with it

Dinner with Dylan Day? On The Love Tug? The fucking Love Tug?

It sounded, and looked, like the set for soh fucking Hefner? A disturbing i jacket surrounded by topless Barbie girls ca The clue was in the na the driveway and turned the car in next to Lucien’s Ferrari

Only a few hours back she’d assured Sophie that she wasn’t about to tumble into bed with Dylan Day, and here she was about to walk through the door and tell her the complete opposite

‘I’ll cook for you,’ turned out to be an a on a boat was an entirely different prospect to rustling up dinner in a conventional kitchen Dylan was no h to be able to sizzle a decent steak Except there was no sizzle to be had on the Love Tug – not of the culinary kind anyway - just a tiny ca was all he had at his disposal It was alht, he needed a plan B

He cast a glance out at the restaurants dotted around the beach, their evening lights starting to glow as early diners and faarlic and fresh seafood reached his nose and plan B quickly asse the uncooked steaks back inside the unfeasibly s Did he look okay?

Why the hell did he feel like a teenager on a first date? He was no kid, and Kara was very far froh; she had him on the e for a long time But then life hadn’t dealt him the easiest card when it ca scene for a while

Twenty minutes later and he was back on board after a dash, empty pan in hand, to the nearest restaurant for paella, thanking his lucky stars for the laid back attitude of the chef, who’d whipped up the ood-humoured wink It wasn’t a moment too soon, because a flash of distinctivedown the hill towards the bay She hadn’t changed her e way he’d known full well that she’d show up It didn’t fit ith her ‘what you see is what you get’ ethos not to do soreeting as shethe rocky path down to the boat As she drew nearer, he had the strange sensation of regretting having asked her to come Not because he didn’t want to see her, but because he feared that he wanted to see her too ht, and he knew froood or safe place to be

"Hey Sailor," she said, reaching out her hand for hiht the urge to tell her to go back Go back to shore Back to safety And then she stepped close, and any sensible intention left his head, because she looked and s" She hooked the handles of a paper bag over his fingers

"This is the bit where you say thank you, and then tell me I look lovely," she supplied, when he didn’t speak