He dressed and grabbed his phone, surprised to find a text message from Carolina.

Amazing game. You kicked butt. Congratulations!

He dialed her number. She answered on the second ring.

“I thought you’d be out celebrating.”

He grinned. “On my way. You saw the game?”

“Yes. I was doing some minor beadwork at home, so I had the game on while I worked. Though I have to admit for a while there, I was riveted to the television. Nice goal, by the way.”

“Thanks. I would have invited you to the game. I wanted you to come, but I figured you were going to be busy.”

“I am busy. Which doesn’t mean I can’t catch your games on TV. I just wanted to let you know I was cheering you on.”

He took in a deep breath. “Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome. Now go enjoy your celebration.”

“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow. Don’t work too hard.”

“I’ll try not to. Good night, Drew.”

“Night, Lina.”

He hung up, and grinned.

“What the hell, man? Get up and let’s get going. I’m starving here.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He put on his shoes and followed Trick out the door.

NINETEEN

CAROLINA HATED NEW YEAR’S EVE IN NEW YORK CITY. Typically, she either hightailed it out of town, or hid in her apartment, content to let everyone else crowd the streets and celebrate.

She anticipated with dread whatever Drew had in store for her for tonight. Knowing him, he’d thrust some hideous party hat on her and drag her out to Times Square.

She was sipping her tea when her phone rang. Frowning, she looked at the time. It was only eight in the morning, and it was Drew calling.

“A little early for our date, don’t you think?”

“Not really. Pack a bag. We’re heading out.”

“Staking out our place in Times Square already?”

He laughed. “Do you really think I’d do that to you?”

“I have no idea.”

“Pack a bag. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

“Okay. And what should I pack?”

“Pack for the beach. I’ll be there in an hour to pick you up. Can you be ready?”

What did he think she was, some diva who needed three hours to prep? “Yes. I’ll see you in an hour.”

Pack for the beach? Where were they going? As long as it was out of here, she was game.

She headed into her bedroom and grabbed her bag, threw in some capris, a sundress, and, though it was a ridiculous notion, her swimsuit. It was winter. Even if they hopped over to the Hamptons, which sounded like a delightful idea, it was still winter. She added a sweater and her yoga pants, too, just in case.

She took a shower and got dressed, then grabbed a bagel to eat while she waited.

Drew showed up exactly at the time he said he would. She liked that about him. He rang the bell, so she grabbed her bag and went downstairs.

When she opened the door, he smiled. “I love a woman who’s on time.”

“Hey, I even had time to eat breakfast.”

“Well, aren’t you efficient. Is this it?” he asked, grabbing her bag.

“You’re not kidnapping me for a week, are you?”

He led her down the stairs toward the waiting taxi. “Nice thought, but we both have to work, so no. Just overnight.”

They climbed into the taxi.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Seriously? You’re not going to tell me?”

“We’ll be there before you know it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

The ride ended up being to one of the smaller airports, where she was surprised to see the Preston jet.

They boarded, and buckled in.

“How did you arrange this?”

Drew settled in next to her. “I talked to Gray, who talked to your dad.”

“Good morning, Miss Preston. Mr. Hogan.”

Carolina smiled at Oren, the captain of the flight crew. “Good morning, Oren.”

“We’ll be taking off shortly. We’ll have you into Daytona Beach in no time. Enjoy the flight.”

After the captain went into the cockpit, Carolina turned to face Drew. “We’re spending New Year’s Eve with Gray and Evelyn?”

“Not exactly. They had a change in plans and decided to go to Virginia to be with Evelyn’s parents. With the baby news, they wanted to spend some time with her parents and talk wedding plans. So I talked to Gray, and he’s letting us use his house.”

“Oh. This is fantastic.” An overnight in Florida trumped a cold New Year’s Eve in Times Square every time.

“I knew you didn’t want to be in the city for New Year’s Eve. I thought you might like to go someplace warmer. I actually was going to get us a hotel room there and asked Gray about the plane, but then he told me they were heading to Virginia and offered up the house. I didn’t refuse.”

“It’s a great house on the beach. And someplace warmer is a wonderful idea. Thank you.”

They took off, and Carolina busied herself with working on her line. She had models in place, and had pretty much decided on which clothes each of them would wear. There might be a few switches, but other than completing production, she was mostly finished. Now she just had to get advertising going, and she had to get Drew on board for that, along with one of her female models for the women’s line. She’d already talked to the agency and had selected one of the female models to do the advertising shoot for the women’s line.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, needing to rest and gather her thoughts.

The next thing she knew, Drew was shaking her shoulder.

“We’re getting ready to land.”

She blinked and opened her eyes. “Already? I must have fallen asleep.”

He smiled at her. “Just how hard have you been working 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 crew, who 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 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.”

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

She laughed. “Yes, that would be bad. Sunburnt is definitely not a good color on me.”

They turned around and Drew walked them farther up the beach into the shade on the way back.

Once inside, she headed into the kitchen.

“How about something to drink?” she asked.

“A beer sounds good.”

“Okay. Actually, that sounds pretty good to me, too.” Normally she disliked beer, but it was warm outside and she was parched, and today it felt like summer. And summer meant beer. She grabbed two beers and handed them over to Drew, who opened them both and gave her one. They went out onto the terrace and took a seat.

There wasn’t a soul out there, just the whitecaps billowing over the water. Carolina spotted a boat far off in the distance, but couldn’t make out what kind it was. It disappeared along the horizon, so all she could see then was water. No one else could be seen along their private stretch of beach. She felt like they were the only people in the universe right now. Shipwrecked, alone, and utterly in their own world.

She kind of liked it.

“Tell me how work is going.”

She shifted her gaze to Drew. “I don’t want to talk about work today. I’m on vacation.”

He cocked a brow. “I’ve never known you to not want to talk about your work.”

“So you’re saying I’m obsessed?”

He laughed. “No. I think you love your job. Nothing wrong with that. I talk about hockey a lot, because I love what I do. So do you. If you didn’t, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”

“True. And I do love it. I’ve also been a bit obsessed by it for the past several months.”

“Rightly so, I imagine, since you have a lot riding on this being a success.”

She drew her knees to her chest. “Don’t remind me.”

“Oh, right, because you’re on vacation today and you want to obliterate it from your mind.”

Her lips lifted. “Exactly.”

“I can take your mind off work.”

“You can, huh?”

“Yeah.” He got up and grabbed his beer and hers. “Follow me.”

He led her through the door and into the house, down the hall and into the side yard, an oasis of greenery and palm trees, where there was a pool and a hot tub surrounded by a tall fence. He sat them down at the edge of the pool.