“St. Joseph Peninsula and Cape San Blas,” he said as he got up and unhooked the rope and started to steer them a little further away from the land that was getting closer. “We’re going around this and then we’re only an hour away.” He turned the wheel.
“What’s the farthest you’ve traveled?” she asked, lying down on the cushion and stretching out in the sunlight.
“The Keys,” he answered quickly.
“Oh, right. I knew that.” She yawned and closed her eyes to the brightness.
She hadn’t planned on falling sleep, but the sunlight and the full stomach helped. The quiet sounds of the water lapping at the boat and the birds overhead soothed her and the gentle rocking of the boat all must have lulled her to sleep.
She woke to Damion’s kisses. His hands were on her shoulders and arms, rubbing slowly in circles.
“Did you have a good nap?” he asked. She realized he was sitting next to her and that the sails were down. More importantly, the boat was no longer moving.
Wiping her hands over her face, she sat up and stretched before looking around.
They were docked.
“We’re here?” She blinked a few times.
“Yup.” He smiled and helped her stand up. “Welcome to the Hideaway.” He motioned to a blue metal-roof home nestled amongst trees.
An extremely long raised walkway led from the dock over the shallow Gulf waters to a private white-sand beach area. There was a plush green yard between them and the three-story home that held a fairly large swimming pool.
“This place is massive,” she said, taking it all in.
“It has seven bedrooms for larger family gatherings or guests who rent the place with friends. But we’ll just be using one.” He pulled her into his arms.
She couldn’t help teasing him. “Oh? Will you be sleeping outside then?”
“You wound me,” he said before kissing her. “Come on, I’ll give you the tour before we drag our stuff inside.” He took her hand in his and helped her out of the boat and onto the dock.
“My dad and I rebuilt this dock a few years back. Every now and then a couple of boards need to be replaced,” he said as they walked side by side down the narrow wood planks.
“How shallow is the water out here?” she asked, knowing most docks in this area that could accommodate boats as large as his sailboat had to be extremely long to reach out to the deeper waters. It was the reason the docks at the camp were along a narrow waterway instead of on the bay or Gulf sides.
“At the dock? About fifteen feet. Right here, about two feet.”
“How many parties have you had here? I bet you used to come down here all the time in high school.” She stepped onto the green grass.
“Only one. You’d think I’d be more popular than I was.” He laughed. “I was pretty much ignored, which was better than being bullied all the time,” he said as they walked past the pool.
“Any neighbors?” she asked, looking to the surrounding trees.
“Someone owns the lots on either side, but they haven’t built on them yet. My dad has been trying to buy them for years. Even though he’s officially retired, he’d like to build two more of these places and retire instyle,” he said as they stepped up to a door.
The entire bottom floor was nothing but exposed stilts. A hammock hung between two of them. There were parking spots along with kayaks and a canoe. There was a large deck off the back of the house with stairs leading up, but they headed towards a doorway that opened to a narrower set of stairs. In the front of the home, towards the roadside, there were wider exposed stairs that she expected went to the front doors.
“We’ll go in the back way,” he said, using a code to unlock the door. He quickly stepped inside and disarmed a security system, then turned to her and motioned for her to go on up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs was another door. This one was unlocked, and she stepped into a large laundry slash mud room.
“Nice.” She looked around. There were hooks with beach towels hanging off them. Weaved baskets sat on a shelf above the washer and dryer along with laundry detergent and other soaps. Everything someone would need while away on vacation.
“You think the laundry room is nice, wait until you see the rest of the joint,” he joked as he opened another door.
She stepped out into a massive two-story living and kitchen space. There were huge windows on the wall facing the water. Somehow the view from up here was even more spectacular, as if seeing it behind glass made it more desirable. The high ceilings in the great room were done with wood planks in a light wood coloring. There was matching wood on the floors with huge area rugs in a soft grey in several places, giving it a cozy feeling.
A dark grey sofa and chairs sat in front of the windows. A massive flat-screen television was on one wall and a twelve-person dining table in grey and white sat along the other wall. The kitchen was near the back of house relative to where they had arrived, but she realized it was actually the front of the home if you had arrived from the road.