Page 75 of The Last Time

I want to reapply Brie’s sunscreen anyway, so I grab the bottle and head down to meet them at their spot.

Both girls look up at me with big smiles on their faces. My heart aches from the amount of love it generates.

“I thought I told you to relax,” Charlotte says as I sit down.

“I did,” I tell her. I open the sunscreen and start to apply it to Brie while she continues to dig. “I relaxed for fifteen minutes. It was incredible and exactly what I needed. But now I want to spend the rest of the time we have left with my girls.”

Charlotte bites her lip. I wonder if she’s trying to hide her reaction to me calling them my girls.

Either way, she’s fucking adorable trying to hide her grin.

“Daddy, look.” Brie points to her hole. “It’s a baby pool.”

“It’s an awesome baby pool.” I look around at the piles of sand. “I thought you were going to build a sandcastle.”

Brie giggles. “I stomp on it.”

Charlotte and I both busted out in laughter.

“We switched to digging holes,” Charlotte says cheerily.

Once it hits three, I know we need to get back to drop Brie off at Layla’s. Charlotte wanted to be dropped off first so she could rinse off.

It only takes me about thirty minutes total to drop off Brie and then get back to Charlotte’s. Before I get up her porch steps, she comes out in a black casual dress that cuts above her knees.

Her hair is down in some beachy-looking waves.

My stomach tightens just looking at her.

She holds up a bottle of wine.

“I figured we could have a little fun while on the boat.”

We walk our way back to my truck.

“I can have one glass’s worth of fun since I’ll be driving the boat,” I tell her as I open the door and help her in.

“I guess I’ll be having a lot of fun on my own tonight,” she says as she raises her eyebrows at me.

I close the door and shake my head as images of her having fun on her own in a different way float through my head.

I start the truck, and we head toward the marina. My hand reaches for her thigh, resting on her soft skin as we listen to the music.

It takes about fifteen minutes, but as I park, I realize we didn’t say anything to each other the entire ride. But it wasn’t weird. It was comfortable—nice even.

I decided against fishing tonight. I don’t want to focus on anything other than Charlotte.

After I help her out of the truck, I grab the bag I packed for us out of the truck bed. We walk along the dock, down the row of boats, until we reach mine.

“Here we are,” I say as I stop in front of it.

I place my bag and her bottle of wine over the edge onto one of the seats, and then I hop down onto the boat first.

She reaches her hands toward me. I place them on my shoulders and grab her hips to pull her over.

“I can’t believe this is your boat. It’s incredible. I wasn’t picturing a speed boat.”

I move along the boat, getting everything ready while Charlotte sits on one of the seats.

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