He tilted his head in amusement and brushed her hair to the side. “Yes, it’s still foreplay, and I want the foreplay to continue until we’re ready for more. And I’m not just talking about sex. I’ve been ready for that for quite some time, and I have a feeling you’re ready as well.”
Her heart raced with his words. “What more do you want?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“I want you, Hailey. All of you. And not just in my bed.”
HOLY SHIT. HE JUST laid his heart on the line and had absolutely no idea if Hailey was ready to take the next step. If she was ready for a relationship. Even if she wasn’t, he was. One thing he learned this week—one thing of many—was that open honesty was the only way to keep a relationship going.
It might as well be the way to get one started as well. The captain of the ferry came on the loudspeaker, announcing their arrival, saving him from having to hear her rejection.
They still had a two-hour car ride to continue the conversation. He’d let her take the lead on it, though. If she wanted to avoid the topic, he wouldn’t push her to respond. They left the ferry hand-in-hand and made their way to the truck.
They’d had a big breakfast at the resort this morning, but his stomach growled, reminding him it’d been quite a few hours. “Feel like a salad?” he asked, knowing her lunch preference. “Maybe a bowl of soup to warm up?”
“I could go for a bowl of soup.”
“I’m not too familiar with places along the way. Want to wing it or look up something on the phone.”
“Winging it is fine.”
They drove along for another twenty minutes until they spotted a diner that didn’t appear too run down. “Should we give it a whirl?”
It ended up being a decent place with options Hailey could eat. When they were back on the road, Hailey brought up the resort and some of the areas she thought would best be highlighted on the new website.
The rest of the drive was business as usual, talking shop and possible points of interest to write up on the website. She wrote down their ideas in her notebook, and before he knew it, he was pulling up to her apartment.
There were no other cars in the driveway; it appeared her landlords weren’t home. He got out of the truck and retrieved her suitcase from the back seat. Whether she wanted him to or not, he was going to walk her to her door.
“Thanks,” she said, holding out her hand for her suitcase. He kept it firmly in his grasp, not letting go. Hailey withdrew her keys from her pocket. “This was a fun work trip. I’m booked Friday through Tuesday with two weddings and edits. I’ll work on editing the photos we talked about and will try to get them to you by the end of the day tomorrow.”
He cupped her chin with his free hand. “Hailey.” Her name purred off his tongue, and he lowered his head to kiss her. A car turned into the driveway, and she jumped to the side.
“You can’t, um ... they are ... uh, old fashioned about things.”
A car door closed followed by a second one. He set Hailey’s suitcase on the ground and turned to introduce himself to her landlords. They were a cute elderly couple in their eighties, if not older. While Mr. Eggerson walked with a cane, his wife’s shoulders were hunched, her footsteps shuffling forward.
“Mr. and Mrs. Eggerson. Hailey’s told me many lovely things about you.” He held out his hand to Mrs. Eggerson first. “Carter Marshall. Hailey and I were on a business trip for the past few days. I’m a graphic designer and was fortunate enough to be asked to work side-by-side with her.”
Mrs. Eggerson shook his hand, and then he held it out for Mr. Eggerson.
“It’s nice to meet you. Roger informed us Hailey was going on a work trip. He didn’t tell us she had company.”
“Carter was gentlemanly and picked me up and drove me to Bar Harbor so I wouldn’t have to travel alone. I look forward to finishing our project next week.” She held out her hand to shake Carter’s.
With a raised eyebrow, he took it in his, lingering longer than necessary, but not too long to warrant any questions from her landlords. “Until we meet again. It was nice meeting you both,” he said to the geriatric couple.
For all the confidence Hailey liked to portray, she sure was scared of doing wrong by the elderly. Chuckling to himself, he got back into his truck and drove home. The next few days promised to be chock full with emails, finishing up his current projects, and laying out the new website for the Acadia Falls Resort.
His workload would keep his mind off Hailey.
Her sweet as sugar mouth.
Her skin, smooth as satin.
The soft moans that escaped her lips when he kissed her.
And he’d be kissing her again.
Soon.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
If she didn’t have two weddings to shoot and four thousand pictures to filter through and edit, Hailey would have surely lost her mind. Carter didn’t let a morning go by without sending her a good morning text, and every night he sent her a selfie of him doing something silly.
Smiling with his grill, his only friend, he’d said. A close up of a spider, asking if she’d come over and kill it for him. Him in his side-by-side ATV covered in mud. Can’t wait to get dirty with you, was his caption. Another one from the top of a mountain, showing her a panoramic view of the ocean.
For two days she didn’t respond, but on Friday night after the wedding, when she was back in her apartment, she took a picture from her window.
Hailey: My view
She’d captioned it, showing nothing but blackness. On Sunday afternoon, as her eyes blurred while going through the weekend’s photos, she caved and encouraged the flirty texting.
Carter: Boxers or briefs?
Hailey: Commando.
She didn’t mean it, but it was more fun to push Carter than to let him take the lead.
Carter: Your preference for your ... partner or for you?
Hailey: Both. What are you wearing right now?
If he asked her, she’d answer honestly. Sweatpants that dated back to when Friends was Must See T.V., and a sweatshirt from her college years.
Carter: A towel.
Hailey grinned and fanned herself.
Hailey: Hand towel, kitchen towel, or bath towel? Or do you only need a washcloth to cover your junk.
She hit send and instantly regretted it. Time stood still as she waited for his reply. Walking away, she set her phone on her kitchen table and made herself a cup of hot tea. Carter was the type of guy to drive to her apartment, pound on the door, and show her exactly how big his ... towel was.
He was also the type of guy who would go back home afterward and not force his way into her home or her bed. Part of her respected him for that; the other part made her crave him even more.
Foreplay. This was what he was talking about. Dang, he stretched it out a little too long. After their card game and talk about sex last week, she thought for sure he’d cave in, and they’d roll around together their last night at the resort. Instead, he was the consummate gentleman, touching her in appropriate places, placing sweet G-rated kisses on her knuckles, temple, and nose, yet burning her up with those X-rated eyes.
Her phone chimed, and she picked it up again.
Carter: Bath towel wrapped firmly around my waist. Junk is appropriately covered, but feel free to rectify that.
Hailey bit her lower lip with a giggle. Yeah, she could picture him clean from the shower, water droplets clinging to the smattering of chest hair. She’d gotten a good look at him in only his shorts while doing yoga and when he puttered around their room. And at night when they slept.
Even with her back to him and his arms around her, she could see him perfectly in her mind. It would take a catastrophic event to erase Carter from her memory, and not just because he was an Adonis. It was his sense of humor, his generosity, his loyalty to his family. He had the complete package.
Her phone chimed in her hand again.
Carter: Radio silence. Maybe you’re on your way over to
check out my towel and washcloth collection. A man can dream.
As tempting as it was, she still had a lot of work to do. Besides, she was meeting him at his house tomorrow at ten to look at the mockup he’d made. Not that he needed her approval.
Hailey: You’ve seen one towel, you’ve seen them all.
She inserted an emoji of a girl with her hands up, shrugging, and hit send with another giggle. Hailey was not the giggling type. Only Carter could turn her into such a ... girl.
Carter: Sweetheart.
Chills tickled their way up her spine. She could practically hear him purr the word, the low drawl, his hooded eyes sizing her up, his tongue licking the corner of his mouth.
She was falling hard and fast. If she didn’t end the texts now, she feared she’d hop in her car and check out the towel situation tonight.
Hailey: Gotta get back to work. See you tomorrow at ten.
Carter: Sweet dreams.
Hailey: Always.
She silenced her phone and turned it over. She’d get no work done if they kept this up, and she had a feeling she’d need all her energy to keep up with him tomorrow.
The foreplay would be ending soon, and they’d wind up in bed one way or another. Part of her looked forward to it, and the other worried what would happen after they did sleep together. Even though she knew he was nothing like the losers she’d been with in the past, self-doubt was a heavy weight to cast aside so easily.
The peridot crystal stared back at her from its place on her coffee table, where it had been since she got home from Acadia Falls. She crossed the short space to her living room and picked it up, rubbing it between her thumb and forefinger.
If she learned anything from last week it was to be honest with herself and the ones she loved. Nope. Not loved, lusted after. Those she wanted to be in a relationship with.
“Frick.” She closed her eyes and dropped to her couch. Relationship? All this time she thought it had been about sex. If she was honest with herself, she’d have realized from the start that she wanted more than that with Carter.
Cheapening what was going on between them to a sex-only fling was the only way to keep her guard up. The only way to keep her from getting hurt.
Opening her eyes, she stared down at the crystal in her hand. Maybe it did have magical powers. Whatever it was, she felt better, stronger, and willing to take the risk by being honest with herself and to Carter.
In the end, the worst that could happen was that he’d actually be a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of guy. No worse for wear. Putting the peridot down on the table, she went back to her laptop and worked late into the night, escaping behind pictures of beautiful strangers and the magic of filters.
“YOUR WORK ATTIRE REQUEST was ... unusual,” Hailey said when Carter opened his front door for her.
He took a moment to scan her up and down, not in a sexual manner; at least, that wasn’t his original intent. She’d done as he asked and wore hiking boots, jeans, and a sweatshirt. Nothing fancy and trendy.
“You look perfect.” He picked up the drawstrings to her hoodie and pulled her closer to him, placing a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose. Vanilla and brown sugar coated his senses. “And smell delicious.”
“You know...” She skirted around him and into his living room. “We could have done this final proof on the phone. I didn’t have to come by unless you had an ulterior motive.”
“I thought you knew me better than that.”
“I do, which is why I know you have more planned than just going over the website. We’re going on a hike somewhere, and you want me to take pictures. Hence the last request.” She held up her camera bag.
“Beautiful and intelligent. Such a rare combination these days.”
Hailey snorted. “I’m neither, and we both know it.” She held up a hand to ward off his reply, and the furrow between her brows deepened as it usually did when she didn’t believe him.
He didn’t like this Hailey, the one who second guessed not only herself but his interest in her.
“Why don’t you show me what you’ve got.” She pushed past him and into the kitchen.
Needing the real Hailey back, he resorted to flirting. “I guess the foreplay is over.” He undid the top button of his jeans and started on his zipper, only stopping when she gasped. “What? You said—”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Relax.” He buttoned up and kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m kidding. We’ll get there, but not right now.”
Carter took her hand and led her to the table where his laptop was already set up. For the next two hours, they went through every window, checked all the links, made sure Hailey’s website was hyperlinked to her photo credits, as well as Carter’s information embedded in the website. He’d already proofed the copy she emailed him on Monday, and she’d made the minor changes he suggested.
“We’re a pretty good team. Ben and Alexis have been raving about their site as well. Lots of positive feedback.”
“That’s good. I still need to photograph Marshall Farm. The video journaling for both your places will be a nice addition.”
“I agree.” He leaned back and stretched his arm across the back of her chair. She wore her hair down, and he ran his fingers through the ends. “Now, all work and no play makes Carter a grumpy man.”
“You, grumpy? I can’t imagine.”
“I have a bad side. You don’t want to get on it.”
“Really?” Hailey turned sideways in her chair and grinned at him with renewed interest. “What does it take to get on Carter Marshall’s bad side? Hey, that should have been one of the cards we flipped.”
“I’m not easily set off.”
“So? What’s your pet peeve.”
He could answer one of two ways. Tell her he hated it when people didn’t see their own worth, when they put themselves down and didn’t believe in themselves. It really did turn him off; he didn’t like being brought down or surrounding himself with negative people.
With Hailey it was different. She was funny and real most of the time. And then random words would cloud her, and she’d pull a complete one-eighty mid-sentence. She didn’t take compliments well, and while she was confident in some areas, there were other times when she seemed insecure. Carter wanted to learn what it was that made her this way, and he wanted to help her see how much she was worth.
Now wasn’t the time for this conversation, so he kept it light and sexual.
“When a woman farts in bed.”
“Oh. My. God.” She slapped his arm and stood up. “For a guy with old-fashioned manners and charm, you sure say the weirdest things to a woman.” There was laughter in her voice. If she’d been truly offended the first time he teased her about it, he wouldn’t have gone down this inappropriate road again.
Hailey was fun to play around with. Speaking of play...
“Have you ever been on a four-wheeler or a side-by-side?”
“No.”
“Scared?”
“No.” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against his fridge.
Carter closed his laptop and slid his chair back. “Well then, glad to be your first.”
“I never said I’d go riding with you.”
“Chicken?”
“What?” She laughed. “No. I have a lot of work to do.”
“So do I. The work won’t go anywhere. A little fresh air is good for the soul. It rejuvenates you, clears your head, and gives your eyes a break.” He tossed his reading glasses on the table.
“Can you see without those? I don’t feel like being wrapped around a tree this afternoon.”
“A.” He got up and moved in front of her. “They’re readers for my laptop. I can see far just fine.” Carter inhaled her scent again and then nuzzled her neck.
“I thought we were ... going for a ride?”
He paused and groaned. Lifting his head, he grinned as he sipped at her lips. “B. I’d never let you get wrapped around a tree. Pushed up
against one, maybe.” Wrapped around his body, definitely. He kept his hands on either side of her head. If he touched her soft skin, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from showing her how much he wanted her.
A soft, “Oh,” escaped her lips before he swallowed the rest of her words with a kiss.
“C. Today, we’re going on a trail ride.” He took the kiss deeper before pulling back. “Next time, we go on a different kind of ride.”
“Carter,” she begged.
He didn’t know how much longer he could take this foreplay thing. The cold showers twice a day weren’t helping any. If he wanted to move past this stage, they’d need to have a heart to heart. That was what the trail ride was for.
No distractions, no cell service, no interruptions or ways for her to escape the conversation. “Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and rushed out the door. Any longer in his house and he’d skip the talking part and jump right to the sex part.
In the garage, he dusted off his spare helmet and secured it on Hailey’s head. “Too tight?” he asked after buckling it under her chin.
“I don’t think so.” She wobbled her head from side to side. “It’s heavy.”
“You’ve never worn a helmet before?” He strapped on his helmet and took her camera bag, stowing it in the cargo box in the back.
“I’ve never had a need.” She climbed into the passenger’s seat.
“Buckle up, buttercup.” He leaned over and tried to kiss her, chuckling when they clonked helmets. When they were both buckled, he revved the engine and backed it out of the garage. For the next hour they didn’t talk much, couldn’t talk much over the engine.
He took it easy at first, sticking to the cleared trails he’d ridden across hundreds of times before. They passed Coastal Vines and took the trail through the woods behind the vineyard, winding their way through the woods, across Frohock Brook, and up the small mountain.
When the trees cleared and they had a view of the ocean and dozens of islands, he killed the engine and took off his helmet.
“What do you think?”
All of You (A Well Paired Novel Book 7) Page 15
