Page 28 (1/2)

He s this week?"

"Oh, not too hard"

He gave her a look "I don’t think I believe you"

They landed and she and Drew both thanked the creho insisted they were thrilled to spend New Year’s Eve hanging out on the beach Her father was flying their families out to spend it with them, so they were all excited

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 ay 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 toet 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 s in from the open terrace doors She walked to the terrace and outside

It arm out, so much warmer than Manhattan She wanted to immediately shed her clothes and take a walk on the beach

Drew caht this ht be more fun than the craziness at Tiainst his chest "It’s absolutely perfect There’s nothing ed and go take a walk?"

"Absolutely"

They went upstairs and headed into the guest roouest roo the ocean, and its own bathrooed 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 Dreho’d thrown on a pair of board shorts and a sleeveless top She loved seeing all that rasped 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 suood The salt in the air rejuvenated her as they walked parallel to the water Carolina dug her toes into the sand, wishing it were suo to the shore a lot ere kids," she said as they strolled along at an easy pace "It’s one ofin the water with Gray, splashing and dunking each other Dad didn’t come with us all that often because he was so busy ere 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 cao 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 caether 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 hi 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 su prowess"

He assuether in the summer She didn’t knohat to make of that

Would they be? She had no idea She’d never had a long-terressed beyond a few dates or afizzled 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, nowDrew in her life made her ache, and she didn’t like that

She’d never depended upon a ht of it had always see she had ever wanted, the only thought that had everinside her was changing, soetting red Did you put sunscreen on?" Drew asked

"Oh, you knohat? I was so excited about getting outside in the warot"

"We’d better head back then, and get some sunscreen on you before you fry up like a lobster"