Page 53 of Summer Ride

“Sounds perfect.” She kissed him before pulling away. “After I take a bathroom break.”

When she came back out, she found him with his head in the fridge.

“We have several options,” he said. “Breakfast quiches, sandwiches, or…”—he pulled out a container—“donuts.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s milk in there. We can eat out on the deck.”

“Go on and head out there, I’ll get everything together.” He returned to the fridge.

She opened the large sliding glass doors all the way, stepped out, and took a deep breath of the fresh salty air.

Freedom.

This is what it smelled like.

This was the best feeling in the world.

Carter set a plate of donuts in front of her, and she realized that this was the best moment of her life.

Chapter Sixteen

“You’re looking at those like you’ve just won the lottery,” Carter joked as he set down two glasses of milk and then sat beside Kara.

“I have.” Kara laughed. “The donut lottery.” She bit into a donut covered in pink sprinkles and moaned with pleasure. “How does he make these so good?” she asked with a full mouth.

Carter bit into one with chocolate sprinkles. “He’s a wizard,” he answered before taking a sip of milk. “A sugar wizard.”

They each ate three donuts while discussing their plans for the day. But the more they sat there, the lazier they got. Neither of them could really get motivated to get up and go kayaking.

Instead, shortly before lunch, they put on their swimsuits and swam until they were hungry enough to head back upstairs and heat up something to eat.

After that, they snuggled on the sofa and watched another movie. Kara fell asleep a few minutes into the show, and he lay there and just enjoyed doing nothing with her in his arms.

It had been almost a year since they’d had time to themselves like this. And back then, she was still trying to pull away from him.

After the other day, he doubted she’d pull away any longer. His hand rested over her stomach and the thought of them having a child together had him smiling.

When Kara woke from her nap, they walked along the beach, holding hands and talking about everything they saw.

She collected a bucket of shells that she had no idea what she was going to do with. He suggested putting them in the bottom of one of his glass lamps. He’d seen Damion’s mother do something like that at her place and had really liked the look of it.

When they reached the house again, they sat in the soft sand to watch the sunset.

“Do you know why I picked Florida?” Kara asked him suddenly.

Her knees were up, and she was resting her elbows on top of them as she looked out over the water.

“No, why?” he asked, almost holding his breath. In all the years he’d known her, this was the first time she’d willingly talked about her past to him in a casual way.

He hadn’t asked, yet here she was offering a piece of herself to him.

She glanced over at him. “Axel hates the water.”

“Okay,” he said slowly.

She turned her face back to the sunset glistening off the calm Gulf waters, and he saw her lips curve up. “It makes me love that even more. Apparently, when he was a kid, he almost drowned. He claimed that God saved him and told him that he would go on to do great things and that he would give him all the children he wanted. I believe he twisted that last part the way he wanted to.”

“Sick SOB,” Carter spat out, wishing he could get his hands on the man and pay him back for everything he’d ever done.