by Cathryn Fox
Her lids fell shut. “Night, Sailor Boy,” she whispered, the pounding of his heart lulling her to sleep.
…
A long time later, a noise pulled her awake, and when she saw sunshine slanting on the pool house wall, she jackknifed up. Shit. Memories of last night came flooding back, and the need to flee gripped her like a vice. Towels fell to the floor as she jumped up and went in search of her clothes.
Dammit, they were still wet. Ugh. She tugged on her jeans and T-shirt, foregoing her bra and panties. Her nipples poked through the damp white fabric. She might as well have been naked for all the good the top did. If anyone saw her now, they’d surely think she’d just come from a wet T-shirt contest. She tiptoed to the door, and didn’t dare take one last glance over her shoulder. The gorgeous sight of him lying there might draw her back in. The lock squeaked, and she winced. She stopped moving and listened for signs of Carson waking. Once she heard his soft breathing sounds, she inched the door open. Clothes still wet, showcasing far too much of her body, she stepped from the pool house, ready to dart to her car. At least it was early, and she could get to her apartment without anyone seeing her.
But the second she made a move to go, she came face to face with a middle-aged man and woman, and a girl around her age.
Carson’s family.
Holy shit.
Chapter Five
Jumping to Gemma’s rescue, Carson grabbed his shirt off the floor and hung it over her shoulders as she stood there flashing his family. She sagged against him and he pulled her close.
“Son,” his father said, that familiar look of disapproval on his face as he took in Carson’s wet pants and the girl he had in the crook of his arm. “Everything okay?”
“Hey Dad, Mom.” Desperate to lighten the situation, he reached out and mussed his sister’s hair like he used to do when they were kids. “What’s up, Sis?”
“Carson,” she warned, but grinned as she whacked him away. He pushed his free hand into the wet pocket of his pants and looked back at his dad. “Yeah, everything is fine. We just fell in the pool with our clothes on.” He scratched the back of his neck. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you weren’t coming until next week.”
“That’s obvious,” his mother said, and he saw Crystal struggle to fight off a laugh. “We didn’t mean to catch you by surprise.”
Gemma wiggled beside him, and he pulled her in closer. “I’m glad you’re here. I wanted you to meet Gemma.”
“Gemma?” his mother said.
“Yeah, Gemma…ah, my fiancée.” Shit. Shit. Shit. He didn’t even know her last name.
“Your what?” His mother’s blue eyes nearly popped out of her head. He could understand her surprise, but since she’d been trying to marry him off for years, he was pretty sure she’d be thrilled…once the shock wore off.
With the hand that wasn’t hiding her panties and bra, Gemma pinched his side, but she didn’t try to wiggle away or protest. That would only expose her to his family again. For the time being she was trapped, and they both knew it.
“I didn’t mean to spring this on you.”
His dad ran his hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, his shrewd eyes moving over Carson’s face. “Carson, this is such a surprise. Why are we just hearing about this now?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to tell you until I saw you in person. Gemma, this is my mom Diane, my dad Alistair, and my sister Crystal.”
“How do you all do?” Gemma said. “I’m Gemma Carr.”
The shock in his mom’s eyes gave way to pleasure. And there you had it. She was so desperate for Carson to get married, settle down and have kids, it didn’t matter that he and Gemma were standing there in wet clothes, with sex written all over them. His mom held out her hand.
“Gemma, I’m so happy to meet you.”
Gemma reached out, and groaned when she offered the hand clutching her bra. Carson snatched it from her, and Crystal chuckled again. She was enjoying this way too much.
“Uh, nice to meet you, too,” Gemma said.
His mother smoothed her hand over her skirt. “Can you come in, stay for breakfast?”
“No, I have to get back to Gracie?”
“Gracie?” his dad asked.
“My dog.”
“Come tonight for dinner, then,” his mom said. “I won’t take no for an answer. I’m dying to get to know my son’s fiancée better.” Diane gave Carson a warning look. “We have so much to catch up on.”
“I…uh…” Gemma mumbled.
“I’ll pick you up at six,” Carson said.
She pinched him again, and he flinched. “Now, let’s get you out of here, so you can get home to Gracie.”
He turned her sideways, hiding her body from his family, and kept her in the crook of his arm. Hurried steps took them to the driveway, which was still visible from the pool area. When they reached her vehicle, she fished her key from her pocket and turned to him, her eyes shooting daggers. Damn, she was seriously pissed.
“What the hell, Carson?” she said between clenched teeth.
“See you tonight,” Crystal called out, and Gemma plastered on a smile and waved back.
His folks sat at the poolside table as Crystal disappeared into the house. Gemma grabbed her bra from his hand, opened her car, and tossed it in, along with her panties. “I’m going to kill you for this.”
“Just hear me out.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No. I’m leaving, and I’m not coming to dinner.”
He put his arms on either side of her and pressed her against her car. “I have a proposition for you.”
“Last night shouldn’t have happened, Carson. But it did. We had sex—”
“Again.”
“Yes, again, and—”
“It was fantastic.” Her sweet scent, stronger than an aphrodisiac, reached his nose, and he pulled it into his lungs.
She briefly closed her eyes and huffed. “I’m not interested in anything more—and definitely not being your fiancée. We don’t even know each other, Carson. Hell, you didn’t even know my last name.”
“Wait, I wasn’t serious. I’m not interested in getting married, ever.”
Her brows pulled together. “Okay…so, then, what was all that about?”
“My parents have been trying to marry me off to the daughter of one family friend or another for ages. The last couple of years they’ve set their sights on Audra James, and I am so not interested in her, or marriage.” He stiffened, and shook his head. “Now that I’m here for the summer, they’re really going to put the pressure on.”
“Why don’t you want to get married?”
Oh, because he didn’t want to end up like his parents, faking happiness in a loveless marriage. They’d gotten together because their parents saw them as a good fit. They both wanted something from each other. For his mom, it was a husband to provide a lifestyle she was accustomed to. For his dad, it was a socialite to stand by his side at functions. Carson loved them both, but he was just so sick and tired of their fake, unhappy marriage. Everywhere he turned. Fake. Fake. Fake. Since he’d yet to meet a woman who didn’t want something from him, someone who liked him for who he was and not what he had in his wallet, he’d given up on the idea of marriage. Now, he was a self-proclaimed bachelor to the end.
“I just don’t.” He paused and looked her over. “Why, do you?”
Tough girl demeanor back in place, she said, “No.”
The “no” didn’t surprise him, but it did leave him wondering who’d hurt her and why she hid behind a bad-girl persona. He was used to people pretending to be what they weren’t, but for some reason he hated that she did it—even though he’d just asked her to take on another role.
He studied her face. “Why not?”
“Just don’t,” she responded, giving him the same answer as he’d given her.
“Now that we’re on the same page, I thought that maybe you could help me out, pr
etend to be my fiancée.”
“Jesus, Carson. What a stupid idea. No one is going to believe it.”
“We’ll make them believe it.”
“How?”
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip and dipped his head. She sucked in a breath, and a tremble moved through her. “Like that,” he whispered, her body’s reaction saying it all. “And don’t worry, I plan to make it worth your while, too.”
“Oh, yeah? How?”
“I’ll invest in your business.”
Her body stiffened. “I don’t know, that sounds—”
“Like a business arrangement. Nothing more. You said you were working at the bar for extra cash. This will give you extra money and help me get my parents off my back for the summer.”
“And at the end of summer?”
“We fake a breakup, and I leave town. I wasn’t planning on sticking around for the fall anyway, and you said you were only here for the summer.”
“I don’t think I can do this. I’m not really the kind of girl they’d expect you to marry.” She put one hand on her hip. “In case you’re not aware, I have a reputation, Carson. Ask around. Anyone will tell you.”
“What kind of reputation?”
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I sleep around. All the time.”
Bullshit. “Do you think you can stop? Just for the summer. While we’re pretending.”
“I don’t know. I like sex.”
He grinned. “I’ll give you sex. Lots of it.”
“If you’re paying me to do this, I can’t sleep with you.” She cocked her head, her long, mussed hair falling over her shoulder in waves. “I’m not a prostitute.”
He grinned, and wanting to touch her, he brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Furthest thing from it. I’m supporting your business, and the sex is outside the arrangement. Just something we do for fun.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
“So, you’ll do it, then.”
She frowned and looked down. What was going through that pretty head of hers? “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll tell you what.” He inched back. “Give me your phone.”
She eyed him, and he could almost hear the wheels spinning. “What do you want with my phone?”
He held his hand out. “Just pass it over.”
A beat passed then she reached into her car and grabbed it. He ran his fingers over the screen, memorized her number, and put his information into her contacts. “Take some time to think about it, and I’ll call you later.” He gestured with a nod behind him. “I have to go play a game of a hundred and twenty questions.”
She arched a brow, her look unsympathetic. “You have no one to blame but yourself.” She tapped his chest, and he grabbed her finger and held it against his heart. “You got yourself into this, Sailor Boy.”
“But it’s the perfect solution, don’t you think?”
“I think a lot of things, but I don’t think this idea is perfect by any means.” She tugged her hand away. “It has trouble written all over it.”
He leaned into her. “But last night, Gemma. That was perfect, wasn’t it?”
She rolled her eyes. “It was fine.”
“Now, can I kiss you? They’re still watching.”
“I haven’t agreed to this, Carson.” She glanced past his shoulder. “Besides, they just caught me sneaking out of the pool house with you. How much more convincing do you think they need?”
His mouth hovered inches from hers, and he heard her breath catch. “Maybe it’s you I want to convince.”
The warm morning sun beat down on them, and she wet her bottom lip. That was all the encouragement he needed. He pressed his lips to hers, and at first her mouth was stiff. He slid his tongue along her lips, easing them open. He moaned, refusing to give up, and a heartbeat later he was rewarded with the softening of her body. Sweet. His lips pressed harder and she kissed him back, passionately, deeply, a little whimper of pleasure bubbling in her throat when he cupped her face. His cock thickened, and he broke the kiss and sucked in a sharp breath. Jesus, he needed to get himself under control before he faced his parents. The last thing he wanted was to be sporting a raging hard-on while undergoing an inquisition.
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Go home, take care of Gracie, and think it over.” She nodded and slid into her car. He held her door. “And Gemma?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice a breathless whisper.
“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble convincing anyone.” He shut her door, and stood back, staring after her until she disappeared down the driveway.
“Carson,” his mother called out. He heard the sound of a chair being pulled out from the table. “Come sit with us.”
He spun on his heel and put his hands into his pockets. Padding barefoot across the back driveway, he met his folks at the poolside table, last night’s pizza still sitting there unopened and uneaten.
“When did you two meet?” his mom asked.
He hovered over her, refusing to sit. “Ten years ago.”
She blinked, surprise all over her face. “And this is the first we’re hearing of her?”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“What does she do? Where does she live? Who are her parents?” she asked, firing off too many questions.
“Slow down, Mom,” he said, shutting down her inquisition. “All that matters is she’s with me, and you’re going to love her.” He pressed his mouth to his mom’s cheek and gave her a kiss. “Now, I need to get changed and get to the hospital.” He turned to his dad. “We’ll catch up tonight, okay?”
His father gave a curt nod, and Carson darted inside. He hurried to the shower, his thoughts still on Gemma and last night. Fuck, the sex had been incredible. Sure he’d expected good, but damn, he never expected it to be that good. He showered, dressed, pulled on his scrubs, and left the house. Since it was a beautiful day, he decided to walk and cut through the park, taking a shortcut to work.
Ten minutes later, he walked through the ambulance bay doors and into the ER. He greeted the nurse practitioner on duty with a “chin up” as she stepped into a treatment room and glanced around to get a feel for what he was walking into today.
Sara, the charge nurse, stood at the nursing station, studying the patient flow monitors hanging on the wall across from her. He stepped up beside her and braced himself.
“What’s the damage?”
Sara waggled her hand. “Could be better, will be worse.”
“I hear you.” He headed toward the doctor’s lounge to grab a cup of coffee and something to eat before starting his shift.
“Hey, Carson,” Jake called out, hurrying down the hall to catch up to him. “How did last night go?”
They passed a couple of nurses and a few more doctors, and everyone was grinning at him. “What’s the big deal? I was helping Gemma with her cause. You were doing the same.”
“Come on. She’s the hottest girl around, and you paid top dollar for her. I’m sure it must have helped your cause.” He winked and nudged him with his elbow.
Carson didn’t like where this was going. His fingers fisted at his side. “My cause?”
“Come on, you know what I mean.”
When they reached the doctor’s lounge, Carson stopped and turned to Jake. “Just so you know, that’s my fiancée you’re talking about. You say one more thing about her, and I’ll punch you in the fucking throat.”
Jake stiffened, and Carson couldn’t be sure what shocked him more, Gemma being his fiancée, or his threat to punch him.
“What the fuck, Carson? This is Gemma Carr we’re talking about. She’s not the fiancée type, if you know what I mean.”
“No. You’d better explain it,” he growled.
“She sleeps around. Everyone knows it.”
He clenched his jaw hard enough to break bone. “Yeah? Has she slept with you?”
“Not yet, but—”
“What do you mea
n, not yet?” Carson went still. “What part of she’s my fiancée didn’t you get?”
Jake backed up. “So you’re serious about that?”
“Serious as a fucking heart attack.”
“But she sleeps…” He stopped and scratched his head.
“Who, then, are all these men she’s sleeping with?”
“Uh…”
“That’s right. So back the fuck off. Don’t bring this up again, and we won’t have any problems.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Turning his back to Jake, Carson punched his code in the keypad beside the door and stepped inside, taking a moment to calm himself before he grabbed a cup of coffee. He took a sip, selected a muffin from the refreshment counter, and then headed back to the ER. As soon as he entered, he saw Sara with the phone tucked to her ear, writing down notes as she listened. She hung up the phone and turned to him, activating the Bluetooth receiver in her other ear, one every staff member wore so they could hear her report of the incoming trauma as well.
“Motorcycle verses guardrail, open right tib-fib fracture, two minutes out. Going to trauma three.”
“Got it.” Carson shoved the remainder of his muffin into his mouth and washed it down with a gulp of coffee. A few minutes later, the ambulance bay doors slid open with his first patient of the day. He hooked his stethoscope around his neck, grabbed the clipboard with an evaluation sheet attached, and followed them into the trauma room, getting a detailed report from the EMS crew as he went.
The rest of the morning went by in a rush, and by the time noon rolled around, he was starving, the muffin barely keeping him going. Maybe instead of calling Gemma, he’d make his way to Score for lunch and see if she had an answer for him. Still dressed in his scrubs, he left the hospital. Warm sunshine fell over him as he walked the short path from the hospital to the bar. He passed a few staff coming back with takeout containers, and hoped Gemma was working.
Hurried steps took him to the bar, and he pushed the door open. His eyes adjusted to the dimness as he glanced around, and the level of disappointment that sat in his gut at not finding her was a bit disconcerting. Turning on the balls of his feet, he left and walked around the side of the building. He’d forgotten his bag there last night, so retrieving it was as good an excuse as any to see her again. He started up the stairs leading to her loft, and hoped to God Gracie was tied inside.
