by Jill Sanders
“Carter,” Riley broke in, “you don’t want to be overwhelmed.”
He chuckled. “Me? There are more than two dozen things on here that will have you running around the day before or the morning of the party. You can’t be everywhere at once.”
She sank in her chair slightly. “No, I…” She sighed. “Okay, it would be nice having some help get everything ready. I don’t want you to try to do too much. I can always ask my dad and Conner to do some of it.”
“The least I can do are these three items.” He pushed the notepad back across the table at her. “I may need a reminder the day before, but it should be easy enough.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at him and tucked her notepad back in her purse. “For everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no to letting us use this place.” She glanced around. “It really is beautiful.”
“It will be, when I’m done with it,” he agreed. “It already feels more like home than before.” He remembered how the place had looked the first night he’d slept there.
The walls had been covered in old, peeling wallpaper, the flooring had needed to be replaced in some of the rooms, and he’d only had a small single bed and an old sofa.
He’d just hired Blake to work on the master bedroom, but when he’d seen the vast improvement she’d made there, he’d given her free rein on the entire place. He’d filled her in on what he’d wanted, mainly just the basics, and she’d come through perfectly. Now, he didn’t even question her. If she said he needed something, he wrote out a check and helped her move whatever it was in.
“What else have you got planned?” she asked when he stood up and took their empty plates to the sink.
He leaned against the countertop. “Not a lot. Some more fresh paint, some furniture.” He shrugged, then walked over and picked up his wine glass. “Let’s take this outside. The sun is going down and the view improves greatly.”
She jumped up and grabbed her wine glass and then followed him out onto the back patio.
“Wow, you weren’t joking.” She leaned against the railing of the patio as the sun slipped low over the horizon.
“I do want to have a larger patio built out here,” he said, shifting to look at her a little better. The sun’s rays made her face and hair glow. He’d believed she was beautiful before, but now she looked exquisite.
“I can just see it.” She smiled over at him and motioned with her wine glass. “The patio could spread out here.” She walked to the end of the current space. “It could run the entire length of the back here.”
He’d been thinking the same thing. Instead of pushing the deck outward from the house, he wanted it to run across the back of the house. He ran a few other ideas through his head, but then Riley moved closer to him. The smell of her mixed with the afternoon breeze and his mind switched gears.
She relaxed casually on the railing next to him, sipping her wine as her eyes scanned the horizon.
He’d been denying the attraction he felt for her since they’d met. Even now, he felt a pull stronger than he’d felt in a long time. He didn’t realize that he’d moved closer to her, but then his arm brushed against hers and his entire body became aware of just how close they were.
“My thoughts exactly,” he finally said. His eyes were still taking in everything there was to take in about her from the way she nibbled on her bottom lip to the way she pushed strands of her hair out of her eyes.
How many times had he dreamed of touching those beautiful locks himself?
“I’m really impressed at what Blake has done with your place.” She turned slightly towards him, and her eyes moved back to his.
“As am I.” It came out as a whisper. “She was a good investment.”
Her head tilted. “Is that how you look at things?”
“What?” He’d lost track of what they were talking about. He’d sunk too deep in the blueness of her eyes.
He stilled when she leaned even closer to him.
“Do you look at everything as an investment?” She almost purred it.
Damn. He was a goner. The way she was wetting her lips as her eyes darted to his mouth told him exactly what she wanted. Hell, he’d been denying the desire to kiss her, to hold her, for too long. Maybe… If he just leaned in…
His phone buzzed loudly in his pocket and he jerked away.
Answering it as he paced the small patio, he almost barked into the phone.
“What?”
“Well, good evening to you too, brother.” Corey chuckled into the phone. “Since it’s obvious that I caught you at a bad time… Lilly mentioned that Riley was heading over there for dinner.” Carter’s eyes moved over to Riley, who was watching him closely. “I’ll just…”
“What do you want?” he broke in, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.
“Well, Lilly and I were talking about it. She was thinking of having the rehearsal dinner…” His brother stopped.
“Where?” He groaned.
“Is it too much to ask…” Corey started.
“You want it here?” He looked around at his place.
“No, we were thinking of Baked.” His brother chuckled. “I know it’s kind of weird, but the place is the reason Lilly and I are together.”
“Fine.” He shrugged. “Sounds good.”
“We’d have to close down for the day.”
“Not a big deal. We’ve closed before.” He walked over to the railing and picked up his forgotten wine glass.
“Have you heard from Grandfather’s lawyer lately?” Corey asked, causing Carter to still his motions.
“No, why?”
The line was silent for a while. “It seems that there’s a new… hitch.”
“What?” He downed the rest of his wine.
“The parental units have hired a different lawyer. This one… well, may have found a loophole. That is if they can find a copy of some of our grandfather’s old wills.”
“Shit.” He ran his hands through his hair. “How bad?”
“Triggs seems to think it’s nothing, but he wanted to give us a heads-up anyway.”
Earl Triggs had been their grandfather’s lawyer for as long as the boys could remember. Not that they’d had a lot of contact with their very wealthy grandfather growing up. Their parents had seen to that. Calvin Miller, their father, had been a big disappointment to his father, so much so, the old man had seen fit to leave him out of every will he’d written in the twenty-some years before his death over a year ago.
As far as Carter and Corey went, they’d blocked their parents out of their lives completely shortly after their eighteenth birthday. They had only run into them again at the reading of their grandfather’s will, when they had shown up and demanded what “they were due.”
Their mother, Kimberly, had attacked Lilly shortly after that and had spent a week in jail for assault. After that, both of their parents had grown silent, only moving through their lawyers.
“I’ll keep an eye out for his call,” he answered.
“Okay, I’ll let you get back to Riley.” Corey chuckled. “Have you kissed her yet?”
Carter hung up without a response.
Chapter Four
“Problem?” Riley asked. She had watched Carter on the phone call and had seen him tense several times during the conversation with his brother. When he ran his hand through his hair, she knew he was worried about something.
“My parents are constant thorns.” He tucked his phone into his back pocket as he paced in front of her.
Before the call had interrupted them, she’d been so ready to lean in and take what she wanted from him. She’d wanted to touch her lips to his, as she’d dreamed of doing for a long time. She would have made the first move. If she didn’t do something soon, she’d be an old maid before he ever made a move towards her.
But now the moment was lost. Emptying her wine glass, she set it on the railing and walked over to stop his pacing.
“What have they done
this time?” She remembered the last time they had caused problems and was instantly worried. “Lilly?”
He must have sensed her worry because his hands went gently to her shoulders.
“No, she’s fine,” he said quickly. “They haven’t shown up anywhere, just sent some new lawyers our way.”
“From what Corey has told Lilly, it seems like your lawyer can handle anything they throw at you,” she said.
“True. Still, it doesn’t stop the worry. And, frankly, it doesn’t stop me from getting pissed off about it.”
“You’re afraid you’ll lose all this?” she asked, motioning around.
“No.” He frowned. “I could care less about…” He waved his hands around them. “Our main goal in life in the past year has been to keep everything away from the two people who made our lives hell.” He rolled his shoulders slowly. She watched the movement and bit her lip, trying to hold back her desire. She’d seen him working out at the local gym or playing basketball several times without a shirt on and knew that, even though he and his brother appeared tall and skinny, they were packed with muscles underneath those clothes.
Ever since she’d seen him like that, covered in sweat as he played a basketball game, she’d dreamed of getting her hands on him.
“I’m sure everything will turn out okay.” She smiled up at him. “I’d better…” She glanced down at her watch. The sun had sunk below the water while he’d been on the phone with his brother. Or maybe it had been before, and she’d been too busy wishing he’d kiss her to notice. Either way, she knew that her two cats, Alley and Gutter, would be begging for their dinners.
“Yeah, I’ll walk you out.” He took the wine glasses and set them down on the kitchen counter. She grabbed her notepad and purse as they walked through the house. The place really had turned out great. She was going to have to call Blake in the morning and talk about some other items they had in the store for a few of the rooms upstairs.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said when they stepped onto the front porch.
He chuckled. “You’re the one who cooked, remember?”
She smiled. “I mean for meeting me and for taking a few things off my list.”
“Anytime.” He smiled. “Are you good to drive?” he asked as she shoved her notepad into her purse.
“Yes, it’s only about two miles away.”
“Two miles can seem like a long way on two glasses of wine.” His eyes narrowed. “I’d better…”
“What?” She chuckled. “You drank two glasses too.”
He frowned. “True.” He glanced around. “I have some cake.” He shrugged. “We could drink some water and have a slice.”
Her eyes narrowed this time. “What kind of cake?”
“Double chocolate. Is there any other kind?” He nodded behind him. “Give it an extra half an hour?”
She wasn’t feeling tipsy at all, but at the mention of chocolate, she caved. Besides, it would give her more time with him.
“You had me at chocolate.” She laughed.
“I loved Jerry Maguire. Great movie.” He opened the door wide and motioned her inside.
“Really? Who forced you to go see it?” she asked once they were back inside.
He pulled a container from the fridge. “Who? Oh.” He laughed. “No one, I watched it on Amazon Prime one night.” He shrugged.
“Bored?” she asked. “Most men don’t watch an obvious chick flick by themselves.”
He set the container down on the counter and leaned closer to her, until he was a heartbeat away.
“Can you keep a secret?” he whispered.
“Yes,” she said after letting her heart settle.
“Some men”—his eyebrows wiggled— “like chick flicks just as much as women do.”
“Be still my beating heart.” She wished she was strong enough to reach up and run a hand down his strong jawline. She could almost imagine what the light stubble would feel like under her palm.
His eyes flicked down to her lips for a split second before he turned around and set a slice of cake onto a plate for her.
Damn it. What would it take to get him to make a move?
For the next half hour, they sat at the kitchen bar and talked about movies while eating chocolate cake. She downed more than one glass of water and by the time the cake was gone, she was one hundred percent sober again.
Somehow, the last part of the evening had been even more enjoyable than the first. Maybe it was because she was more relaxed, or maybe it was the topic of conversation. Either way, she felt like she had gotten a better look at Carter’s personality than she had in the year and a half since she’d met him.
“This was fun,” she said once she was again standing on his front porch, her bag tossed over her shoulder.
“Yes, it was.” He looked more relaxed than before.
“Carter?” She stopped halfway down the stairs that led down to the small parking area in front of the home.
“Hm?” He was a step behind her.
Screw it, she thought. Dropping her bag, she turned, only to be met halfway.
She may have thought she was making the first move, but he was right there, meeting her full force.
When their lips met, it was like her entire body went up in flames. His hands wrapped around her, pulling her closer as he slanted her lips to fit his. She practically melted in his arms as she gave as much as he took from her.
When he pulled back, she was breathless and drunk all over again.
“Wow,” she said softly, leaning her forehead against his chest. She could feel his heart beating erratically and smiled.
“Yeah, wow,” he said. The tone of his voice made her glance up at him.
She hadn’t expected to see a frown on his lips.
“You’re already regretting it?” She tensed.
“No. Yes.” He shook his head. “Your cousin is marrying my brother.” He ran his hand through his hair. “This… just…” He shook his head.
“Has nothing to do with them,” she finished for him.
“You’re right. I know you are, but still…”
“Carter,” she stopped him. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while. I’m not going to lie about it, nor am I going to tell you I don’t want more.” She held her breath and watched as he struggled with his feelings.
Finally, he relaxed and his hands loosened their grip on her hips. “Me too,” he said softly. “For far too long I’ve dreamed about kissing you.”
She couldn’t have stopped the smile if she’d tried. “Good, then let’s not—”
“But,” he broke in as he pulled her closer, “I can lay some ground rules.”
She chuckled. “Sure, shoot.” She tightened her hold around his waist and slowly ran her hands up his muscular back.
“Until we… decide where this is going, I’m the only one you’re kissing.”
She nodded. “That door swings both ways.”
“Agreed.” He shifted. “And this stays between us. At least for now.”
“I don’t kiss and tell.” She thought about it. “Well, maybe I do, but it’s…” The look on his face stopped her. “I’ll try, but my cousins have a way of torturing it out of me, especially since I can’t hide my feelings very well.” She sighed, heavily. “They know me too well.”
“I’ve seen you trying to keep a secret.” He chuckled. “Do your best.”
She nodded in agreement, then leaned up and placed her lips over his again.
“God, you feel so good. Better than I’d imagined,” he said against her lips. “Now go home, before I invite you to stay.”
She felt her knees weaken at the thought of spending the night with Carter.
He dropped his hands and picked up her purse for her. All the while, her mind played over how it would be, being with him.
She’d never been with a man before. Not in that way. Sure, she’d had lots of play time with guys before, but she hadn’t crossed the line she’d drawn for herself on her sixt
eenth birthday after one of her classmates had ended up pregnant after prom.
After that promise, she’d just sort of… stuck with it. She supposed it was fear of choosing the wrong man as her first. She’d dated plenty of nice guys before, but none she could imagine giving that big of a gift to. Not until Carter.
“Thanks for tonight,” she said again. “For the cake.”
He brushed his hand down the side of her face, pushing her hair slightly out of her eyes. “Any time.” He leaned in once more for another soft kiss.
She wished that she was a bolder woman and had the guts to invite herself to stay with him. But after another kiss that turned her knees to butter, she backed down the stairs and climbed into her car.
It took a few moments for her body to settle as she drove down the hill.
As she pulled into town, she berated herself for not being more courageous. How did she ever expect to get what she wanted if she didn’t go for it?
After all, in the past year she’d opened her own shop and moved out on her own. She’d proved she could get what she really wanted if she put her mind to it. What was she waiting for?
Chapter Five
There was little Carter could do to keep Riley from his mind over the next few days. Everywhere he went, there she was. Or at least something that reminded him of her, like one of the many members of her family that filled the small town of Pride.
Everywhere from the grocery store to the donut shop, he was bound to run into someone from her clan. Not that he minded. He liked every last one of them, including her twin brother, Jacob, whom he played basketball with twice a week.
Still, keeping his mind clear of that kiss had been very hard while trying to whoop her twin on the court. He was pretty sure that, more than once, his face had heated from just the memory of what he’d done to the guy’s sister, or more important, what he dreamed of doing.
Jacob Jordan was nothing like his sister. He took after his father, Iian. Where Riley was five foot four inches, Jacob and their older brother, Conner, were both well over six feet tall. They were easily as tall as their father, who was six foot six.