by Liz Lincoln
“Did you do a comics club at your old school?” Carrie asked. She sat behind Seth, and he caught a glimpse of her in the rearview mirror as she shifted her body toward Mads’ seat.
Mads twisted around to answer Carrie. “Yeah. My best friend, Sophie, and I got it started. Last year was the first year, and I didn’t even get to stay.” Her voice was an odd mix of excited and petulant.
“That’s too bad. I ran one at my old school, and we had a lot of fun. If you ever need ideas, let me know.”
“That would be awesome.”
As he turned the car into the lot for the swim club, Seth caught Carrie’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He smiled to indicate his appreciation that she could pull Mads out of her tween-girl funks. Carrie smiled back.
Seth pulled up in front of the low, drab building that housed Mads’ private swim team facilities. Her coach back in Houston had said the West Suburban Aquatic Club was the best in the area, so he’d signed her up. After two practices, she’d declared the coaches “OK” and the other kids “fine.” For Mads lately, those were akin to raving endorsements.
“This is it,” Seth said for Carrie’s benefit. She’d tagged along so she would know where the facility was.
“Pretty straightforward,” she said.
Mads shoved open her door. “See ya.”
“I think we’ll run and grab takeout. Anything you’re in the mood for?” Seth asked.
Mads gave an always-helpful shrug, then slammed the door.
Before he could pull away, Carrie opened her door and got out. She circled the car, then settled into the front passenger seat beside him.
Suddenly the front seat of his BMW X5 felt claustrophobic. He scrubbed a hand over the side of his beard, trying to rub away the tension. He had to get over this. There was no way he could live with this level of awareness every time he was around her.
Surely it would start to fade. It had only been two days.
Huffing out a breath, he said, “I could go for a burger. Something better than McDonald’s, but doesn’t have to be fancy.”
“There’s a Culver’s nearby,” Carrie offered.
He gave Carrie a questioning look; he didn’t know that name.
“Local chain. The usual fast food, plus they have frozen custard.”
He could definitely go for frozen custard. He’d eaten far more than his share of the local dessert treat that was more popular than ice cream in Milwaukee.
He put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. “Point the way.”
*
—
Riding in the front seat with Seth was torture, but she’d felt like an idiot in the back by herself. Carrie’s skin buzzed and her muscles were antsy. Everything in her strained toward the man in the driver’s seat.
The drive was silent except for her telling him when to turn. Her mind kept flashing back to the previous night, when she’d gone to get a cup from the kitchen and found him there, hunched over a tablet and nibbling grapes. She hadn’t been able to stop the hungry way she’d looked at him. And the answering fire in his eyes said he saw her hunger and shared it.
But they couldn’t. They knew that. And surely after a few more days, the attraction would die down and they could comfortably cohabit.
Seth took them to the drive-through, again only speaking to her as necessary to get her order. He got more food for himself than he did for Maddie and her combined.
“I’d forgotten how much more football players need to eat.”
Seth chuckled as he lifted his hips to pull out his wallet.
Carrie almost choked on her tongue, watching him move like that. She quickly looked the other way, staring at the pavement outside her window.
She was pathetic. She needed to go on a date, have some hot sex so she wouldn’t obsess over her new boss. Maybe she could have a fling at the cosplay convention next month.
“I won’t even get into how much we eat at the practice facility.” He flashed a quick smile as he handed over his credit card.
Ms. Manners would probably say Carrie should offer to pay for her own meal. But she was broke and he was a millionaire and her employer. He could cover it.
“Some of the guys, especially linemen, could probably put away an actual dragon, all on their own.”
The mental image had her laughing out loud. “How big are we talking? I have no idea how big the Milwaukee Dragons’ dragon even is. Horse-sized? Elephant? Wooly mammoth?”
Seth grinned as he rolled the car to the next window to get their food. “That’s an excellent question that I have no answer to. But I’m pretty sure Kendall Allen could eat all three of those in one sitting.”
The drive back to the pool was more relaxed, light conversation continuing the whole way. They’d both gotten dishes of double strawberry, the flavor of the day, and since it would melt if they waited, they ate their dessert first.
Carrie was nearly done with her frozen custard by the time Seth parked the SUV along the tree-lined edge of the parking lot.
“I’m gonna get out and enjoy a gorgeous evening while we wait,” he said.
Carrie slid out of the car and joined him, leaning against the hood of the SUV. It was a perfect September evening, warm but not hot, the sun low in the pink-streaked sky, with just enough breeze to ruffle her hair. She was wearing a tank top, and the air on her skin felt almost sensual. Which was probably because Seth was so near that she could almost touch him.
“Nights like this are why I’m happy to stay in Wisconsin when it’s forty below zero in January.”
Seth’s head whipped around to stare at her. “Forty below? No one mentioned it gets that cold.”
She shook her head. “Texas boys. You need thicker skin.”
“I’ll need a thicker coat, that’s for damn sure.”
“Forty below is usually wind chill. It rarely drops past twenty below for actual air temperature.”
“Oh sure, I can see where that would be much better. Practically balmy.”
She knocked her shoulder into his side. Solid man that he was, he didn’t move at all. “OK, but what’s it like right now in Houston?”
“Eighty-five and humid,” he mumbled.
“And that is why I stay in Wisconsin.” She smiled triumphantly as she slid the last bite of custard into her mouth. As if it meant something that today her home state had better weather than his.
As she drew the plastic spoon from her lips, something in Seth’s gaze shifted. It went from Milwaukee warm to Houston sweltering. And breathing became Houston-humidity difficult.
For a long moment that stretched out endlessly, much like their moment in the kitchen the previous evening, they remained like that, gazes locked together. Unconsciously she angled her shoulders toward him and was both gratified and terrified when he did the same. Her skin was so alive with awareness of him, she was hyperconscious of the brush of her loose hair against the backs of her arms as she moved.
She needed to lick her lips, it was almost a compulsion, and doing so while caught in his stare would be torturous. So she closed her eyes and turned her head away, breaking the spell. Only then did she allow her tongue to trace over lips that she swore felt kiss-swollen. Except that was impossible.
“I guess we should all summer up here and winter in Texas.” Seth’s voice was thick, like he had something caught in his throat.
“It would be nice,” she agreed softly. They had to get their crazy attraction under control. Her system couldn’t handle daily jolts like that.
She took several long, slow breaths with her eyes still closed, trying to ground herself and remember all the reasons she couldn’t throw herself at Seth and kiss him right that instant. When she finally got her pulse back in the vicinity of normal, she opened her eyes, scanning the lot for a trash can. She didn’t want her mostly empty cup to drip in Seth’s car.
She spotted one near the building and pushed off the hood to walk away. “I’m going to—”
The
rest of the words died on her tongue when Seth’s hand wrapped around her upper arm and turned her back toward him. She looked up, taking in the six feet four inches—yeah, she’d looked up his stats—of broad, delicious man filling her vision.
She didn’t breathe as she watched him rake his gaze over her. The hunger she felt in it made her nipples harden to the point of visibility, but she was too turned on to care. As if he didn’t already know what he did to her.
Huffing out a breath, he took the step into her space. Another step forward and her back pressed against the SUV’s hood, his hand slid into her hair, and his lips descended on hers.
It all happened so fast, she didn’t have a chance to process everything. Her body simply reacted, her mouth moving under his as her arms slid around his large body. She clutched his back, pulling him closer; they both moaned.
With her lips parted, Seth’s tongue slid into her mouth and began a wild exploration. She stroked her own tongue against his and elicited another moan. All the while, the coarse hairs of his beard scraped at her skin, adding to the myriad of sensations vying for her attention.
But overshadowing them all was the feel of his body pressed to hers. He slid one arm around her, the other tangled in her hair as his thumb caressed her cheek. His arm held her tightly against him, his hand splayed low on her back.
Such a bad idea. But so, so good.
Restless and reckless, she needed to touch more of him. She wanted to feel all those muscles, feel the power coiled up in his athlete’s body. She slid her hands up his arms and he shuddered against her.
“Carrie,” he groaned, then gave her lower lip a little nip before sinking in deep once again. Lights burst behind her eyelids and she dug her nails into his biceps, drawing a moan that vibrated from him into her.
A domino effect of sensation and reaction, sensation and reaction.
What would be his reaction to the sensation of her running her hands over his shoulders until they met at the nape of his neck?
He deepened the angle of their kiss and traced his tongue along the edges of her teeth. She nipped playfully at his tongue, and he chuckled and pressed tighter to her.
Pressed his solid erection against her, a little higher than where she wanted it most. But she didn’t chase after it. Not in a public parking lot, no matter how much she wanted to.
“You are too fucking sexy,” he bit out, his voice a rough rasp over her ear.
And his kiss was too good. Too much from just a little kiss. Her muscles twitched as heat coursed through her. She couldn’t take it. They needed to stop.
Before she could say something, he drew his face back enough to look into her eyes. His own were dark blue and stormy, the lines of his face tense.
“Seth.” She mouthed it more than spoke, barely a whisper escaping. She didn’t have enough breath for more.
“Jesus, Carrie. I don’t…” He searched her face for another hot moment. “You are so sexy.”
He made her sexy. She’d never felt this wild with a man before, this uninhibited. No other man could have inspired her to make out against the hood of a car. But Seth connected with something hidden deep inside her, a woman unafraid to grab what she wanted and take it.
Except she couldn’t take it. Not now. Maybe not ever.
He huffed out a frustrated sound, his breath hot over her lips.
A new wave of desire rolled through her and it took all her restraint not to pull him back down to her and again get lost in his kiss.
“I think I finally understand what singers mean when they say they’re drunk on a woman.” His voice was raw and thick.
She trembled inside at his words, unsure what to think of them, unsure how to respond.
So she said, “We can’t do this.” Her voice came out breathy, but with his chest still pressed to hers, her nipples hard, her breasts heavy and aching, she couldn’t pull in enough air. “But I still…” She lifted her lashes and made herself look directly into his eyes.
This close, they were impossibly, intensely blue. Something softened in her chest, leaving a hot, melted ache she didn’t understand.
He felt drunk from kissing her. Holy swoon. No man had ever said something so bluntly honest to her. And she felt it too, a dizzying high buzzing through her simply from having his mouth pressed to hers.
Sex with him would probably be better than the highest-quality narcotic. All the fun, none of the illegality or addicting side effects.
Too bad she needed a job and a house more than she needed great sex.
“I know.”
Seth’s words jerked Carrie out of her head and back to the sensation of his fingers on her cheek.
He traced her bottom lip with a long, thick finger. “I shouldn’t have done that, but I said I was going to kiss the hell out of you, and I couldn’t take the chance that I wouldn’t get to. And you…” His voice trailed off, the rest of his words left unspoken.
It wasn’t beautiful poetry, it wasn’t romantic or sweet or seductive. But it was honest. His words made her knees a little weak.
“I’m glad you did.” A smile flirted with the corners of her mouth. “I liked you kissing the hell out of me.”
He huffed out a startled chuckle. “Good.”
They remained forehead to forehead, looking into each other’s eyes, smiling until the moment approached awkward. Before it could get there, Carrie caught Seth’s hand, pulled it away from her face, and pressed their palms together.
“Your hands are really big.” With their wrists aligned, her fingertips barely reached his first knuckle.
“You know what they say about the size of a man’s hands,” he said in a deliberately smarmy voice.
“Better for catching a football?”
He grinned. “Something like that.” The intensity of their kiss finally dissipating, he stepped back.
Carrie noticed her blue plastic spoon on the ground, the empty custard cup nearby. Apparently she’d dropped them. She bent and picked them up, then took Seth’s off the hood. “Be right back.”
She was a few steps away when he called, “Hey.”
She turned back, eyebrows raised. She would not notice how delicious he looked, leaning against the truck, legs crossed at the ankles, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone.
A faint smile played over his face. “I should say I’m sorry. But I’m not.”
Her stomach hollowed out at his admission. “Me neither.”
“But it won’t happen again.”
She was an idiot to feel disappointed. He was right and they both knew it. “I know.” Her mouth stayed open, like she was going to say something more, though she had no clue what it would be.
Since nothing good could come of that, she forced it closed and walked away.
Chapter 5
Maddie flopped down on the couch next to Carrie and propped her bare feet on the coffee table. “You were a science teacher, right?”
Carrie pulled an article of clothing out of the basket on the floor by her feet, keeping her attention on the girl. “Yep. For six years.” Automatically she started folding the huge black undershirt.
Chatting with Seth’s daughter and folding his laundry. It was so domestic, so wifely. Too bad she didn’t get other wifely benefits, like regular kisses. A week later, she could still feel the press of his lips on hers. Still imagined what could have happened if they’d been somewhere more private.
If he weren’t her boss.
She shoved the thoughts out of her head. “Why, what’s up? You need help with some homework?” After a week as Maddie’s nanny, she’d figured out that English, Spanish, and math were the girl’s strong subjects, science was in the middle, and social studies was her weak link.
“No, I finished my lab report in study hall. But, um, I was wondering what you think about me maybe starting a sort of environmental club at school?” Maddie stared at her hands as she spoke, worrying a ring on her right pinky.
“I think that
would be great. I know swimming keeps you pretty busy, but as long as you keep up with homework, there’s no reason not to do a school club.” She sounded like a mom.
“Did you do any kind of club like that? Like run it at your school?”
“I got involved a little in the Greens Club. But another teacher had been running it forever, so I was definitely second fiddle.” Second fiddle? Since when did she use expressions like that?
“I guess I should talk to my science teacher. But I don’t think there is one already.” Maddie continued twisting her ring, round and round and round. “My best friend and I were in a club like that in Houston. We were supposed to be co-presidents this year. But my dad got traded, so now it’s just her.”
The disappointment pulled heavily at the girl’s expression.
Carrie took another garment out of the basket and deliberately kept her focus on it rather than Maddie. “You miss Houston?”
Maddie gave a long-suffering sigh, the anthem of seventh-grade girls. “Yeah. Sophie was, like, my best friend since we were in preschool. And no offense, but my grandma’s the best. It kinda sucks needing a nanny.”
Carrie rested her arms in her lap and met Maddie’s eyes with a rueful smile. “No offense taken. I can’t say I was planning on being a nanny either. I like you and your dad, but I do wish I could have found a job teaching.”
“What do you even, like, do all day?” Maddie asked.
Good question. She’d cleaned every room in the large house, including scrubbing the tubs. Which had caused a major case of tub envy. Seth’s bathroom had both a walk-in shower and a soaking tub with jets. Since she’d discovered that feature, she’d had more than one daydream about relaxing in a bubble bath. But it was way too weird to use his bathtub, even when she knew he was gone for hours. Maybe after a few months she’d feel comfortable enough to use it.
“Well, I’m doing an hour of yoga each morning. And I’m going to start using your dad’s weights.” He had a sweet exercise room set up in the basement. Might as well get in shape. “I’m putting together ideas for dinners so I can plan those in advance. And I’ve caught up on a lot of my comic book reading.” And her Netflix queue. And the articles she’d bookmarked on her phone to read later.
