Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Seasiders,
News on the docks is Sutton Bradley may be adding new stock to her little boutique store, Coastal Chic, on the square. Now, I can neither confirm nor deny that it is sexy lingerie, but seeing as Ms. Bradley has been seen on more than one occasion in the company of Brody Wilson, who, let me remind you, was voted as the catch of the season. One can only come to a certain conclusion and that is…
Love is in the air.
I, for one, would love to see Sutton move on from that terrible first marriage of hers, and in my humble opinion, Mr. Brody Wilson would do a fine job of making her forget all about…what’s his name.
Next on my list of to do’s for today…stop by Coastal Chic! Stay tuned for more on Lingerie Gate!
Fair winds and following seas!
FULL BOOK START HERE:
Sutton
End of Senior Year
I’d always heard that when you meet your soul mate, the one you were meant to spend the rest of your life with, you would feel it in the very depths of your soul. That your two hearts were forged in the same fire. I never felt that with Jack Larson, my now ex-boyfriend. I cared about him, but when his eyes met mine across a room or he smiled at me, something was…missing. Jack had a way of making me feel like I was the lucky one to be with him. It wasn’t a partnership. He was quick to point out my faults, and then fast to explain that he didn’t mean to hurt my feelings. It was clear that he would never change. It would always be his needs above anyone else’s. That wasn’t a soul mate.
My older sister, Adelaide—whom everyone called Addie—and her ex-boyfriend, Gannon Wilson, were soul mates. Everyone could see that. Jack and I…were far from it.
And here I sat, alone on a beach, after Jack had informed me that he wanted to call things off. We were both on our way to college, and he felt like he needed to explore other…options was the word he’d used. I should have been sad, but I wasn’t. Once again, he’d been cruel with his words, like always.
He’d actually wanted to have sex only minutes before, even with everyone gathered around the dune at the bonfire. Everyone. Including my sister, Addie, and Gannon—who was home on leave from the Navy, along with his older brother, Brody. There was no way I was doing that with Jack. Plus, I wasn’t ready. At least, I wasn’t ready to take that step with him.
I heard someone walking toward me, and I quickly wiped my face.
“He’s not worth a single tear, Sutton.”
Looking up, I saw Brody standing there. He smiled, and my stomach flipped while my chest fluttered. When his eyes met mine, my heartbeat picked up. The way he made me feel was like nothing I’d ever experienced with Jack. Not one single time. What did that say about me and Jack?
I was the first to admit that I’d had a crush on Brody for as long as I could remember. But when I saw him show up with Gannon tonight—with his nearly black hair shaved in a military buzz cut, and his body more muscular and hardened—my entire insides felt like they melted on the spot. I knew Jack had seen my reaction, and it was the reason he’d pulled me aside and tried to pull the whole “we need to sleep together before we leave for college” stunt. I also knew in my heart that sleeping with Jack wasn’t what I wanted, and if there was one thing I could control in our relationship, it was if and when I gave him my entire self.
I cleared my throat and looked up at Brody. “I’m not crying over him. Only the words he spit out.”
Jack had said that I wasn’t worth the wait and that we were over. His words weren’t said in anger, really, but from somewhere deep inside of him. It had hurt only because a part of me knew it was a sign that he’d always known, like I did, that we were never really in love.
It was hard to love someone when you’d already given your heart to another man, regardless if that man realized it or not.
Brody sat down and handed me the beer he’d been drinking. I took a sip and handed it back, then rested my head on his shoulder. He was four years older than me and had joined the Navy right after he’d graduated from high school. I remembered sitting in my room and crying for hours because he was gone. I would no longer be able to see that crooked smile of his or the dimple in his cheek. Or those beautiful hazel eyes with the gold flecks sprinkled in as if they were a gift from above.