Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
They meandered out of Diego’s and through the crowd that lingered near the door. When they got to the main road, Dune walked along the curb, protecting Caroline from traffic.
“The tourists can’t be trusted sometimes,” he told her. “They don’t know where they’re going most of the time, or they’re too busy looking for a street sign and aren’t paying attention to the people on the sidewalk.”
“I think it’s very kind of you to want to protect me.” She put her arm through his and matched his steps. She caught him smile and blush from her compliment. They walked in silence—well, she did. Dune said hi to everyone he knew, but thankfully he didn’t stop to chat. When they got to her cottage, he walked her to her door.
“Thanks for a nice evening”—he looked at his watch—“and early morning.”
“How far do you live from here?” she asked him.
Dune looked toward the road. “I won’t go home. I’ll just head back to the docks and sleep on my parent’s boat.”
“Nonsense. Stay the night.” Caroline didn’t want the night to end, but she also wasn’t ready for the next step or any step with Dune. She just wanted to be in his presence and have him be the first person she saw in the morning.
Dune’s eyes lit up. “I promise to be a gentleman.”
Caroline smiled as she unlocked the door and walked in. “You’re sleeping on the couch,” she told him over her shoulder.
Dune chuckled. “Of course, I am.”
dune
Dune woke up before dawn. He checked his cell phone for the time and saw he had a message from his dad, Jack. He’d asked Dune to head to the other side of the island and grab some parts he needed for a project. Dune didn’t have a problem with Speed and Wilson running things, but he didn’t want to leave Caroline with them on her second day. Mostly, Dune didn’t want to spend the morning without her.
Dune got up, went into the kitchen, and rummaged through the drawers until he found a pen and piece of paper and scribbled a note:
I’ll be back to pick you up,
Dune.
He then set it in front of the coffee maker hoping she’d see it before she left the cottage to head downtown.
To save her from nosey neighbors and town gossip, Dune went out the front door and then snuck around the back to walk along the shoreline. If someone saw him, they wouldn’t think twice about it. He was often near the water at odd hours. When he was a safe distance from the cottage, he veered toward the street and casually walked the rest of the way to the pier without looking over his shoulder.
While he shouldn’t feel like he’d done something wrong, he did. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Caroline so abruptly in the morning because he didn’t want her to think he was that type of guy—the kind that bailed before anyone could see them together. But he also wanted to do something nice for her since she was new in town, and his dad had given him the perfect excuse. He also didn’t want her neighbors to talk poorly about her. After all, Dune had spent the night on the couch, and if Caroline’s neighbors saw him leaving—especially with his reputation— they’d all assume she had fallen for his wily ways.
Dune slipped his key into the lock, turned the handle, and stepped over the metal piece of the frame resting on the wooden planks. He shut the door gently behind him so that he didn’t wake anyone who slept on their boat last night. This was where he usually crashed, especially during the summer. He loved his home and the view, but there was something about being on the boat and the water that calmed him. If Seaport ever established a houseboat community, he would be the first one to have a place.
He boarded his boat, turned on the engine, and then went into his small kitchen and started a pot of coffee. There wasn’t much food on board, but that was something he could rectify easily. Dune pulled his phone from his pocket and placed an online order at Carter’s Diner, the restaurant his family owned. Even though it was in the opposite direction of where he needed to go, it was easier because he could pull up to the dock, instead of having to walk someplace now.
After he untied the lines from the cleats he set off toward Carter’s, wishing he had Caroline’s number to let her know he would be back soon. He took a huge leap in the land of assumptions by heading back to her place and taking her with him on his errands. For all he knew, she could really despise him and only let him stay over because it was late. Hell, maybe she liked the creepy dude at the table last night—the one Dune manhandled to get away from her. When he saw the stranger sitting in his chair, he saw red, and rage built deep within. He normally didn’t care because most of his flings were just that: flings. Caroline was different. Dune really liked her even though he shouldn’t. She’d leave at the end of the summer, and then what?