Page 61 of Hometown Hottie

I hadn’t even noticed he was here until now, and it threw me a bit to suddenly find myself looking at the man I’d spent all day and all night last night thinking about. “You’re here.”

“Am I?” He brought a bottle of beer to his lips and drank down a long sip before grinning at me. I watched, transfixed in my tipsy state by the bobbing of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed and then by the rugged beauty of that grin.

Nova! He said something. Respond.

I jerked my gaze away from those lips and looked at him. “I’m pretty sure you are here, yes. If I’m dreaming and none of this is real, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Wouldn’t I?” he asked, his voice a little rougher now. Then he rounded on me, moving closer and penning me in against the kitchen counter. When he spoke again, his lips were against my hair and I shivered. “If you were dreaming, I think I would be here, but none of these other people would be. It would only be the two of us.”

“Keep dreaming,” I retorted, pushing the words out past my suddenly bone-dry mouth.

He chuckled, the sound reverberating through me and making me feel all tingly before he pulled back to look into my eyes. “I’d love to, but I didn’t bring the jet ski to hide what will happen if I do.”

My lids slammed shut and I dragged in a sharp breath. I didn’t think we were going to talk about that again, but here he was, casually bringing up the raging erection he’d had yesterday when it’d only been him and me on the water.

“Carson.” I inhaled deeply, opening my eyes again to find him giving me that same pained look he’d had on his face in my kitchen the other morning.

He pushed away from me, putting a good three feet of distance between us. “Yeah, I know.”

I swiped my tongue across my lips, willing my heart to stop racing so much. I needed to think clearly. “Where are Vance and Ryan?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. We got here a couple hours ago and I lost them almost immediately. Haven’t seen a trace of either of them since, so I’m starting to think they’re either behind closed doors somewhere or they’ve taken off for a walk or something.”

The party raged on around us. I knew I should’ve told him that it had been good to see him but that I should get back to my friends. Those weren’t the words that came out of my mouth, though. Flipping cocktails have taken control of my tongue.

“Do you want to come have a drink with me?” I asked. “If we’re both alone, we may as well be alone together.”

He nodded slowly, then smiled and swept a hand out in the direction of the yard. “I think I saw two spots opening up around the fire. Our cooler is there and you’ll have choice of beer, beer, and beer.”

“Beer sounds good,” I said, falling into step beside him and staying close to his side so we wouldn’t get separated in the crowd.

At some point, his fingers twined around my own and my heart went absolutely berserk, slamming, and racing, and skipping, and jumping, but I didn’t let go of his hand. Not now that I was finally holding it after so many years of dying to do just that.

Wordlessly leading me to the firepit, we took two seats off to the side. Almost instantly, we were surrounded by a wall of people. Most of them had their backs to us. Carson seemed to have blended in here, with no one paying him more mind than they did anyone else.

The benefit of all that was that we were fairly safe behind all these bodies. Even if Ryan did come back to the party from wherever he’d gone, it was unlikely he’d see us here together, with me sitting close to Carson with a goofy smile on my face and stars in my eyes.

“How was your day?” he asked, leaning in closer to be heard above the music. “We took it easy, but I think Vance was counting the minutes until he could come see Jessie.”

I giggled. “I think Ryan might’ve been counting the minutes, too. Were you?”

“Yes,” he said against my ear. His hand slid onto my thigh and yet another shiver raced through me.

I was at the precipice. Filled with liquid courage and after Cassidy’s pep talk, I wanted to take him inside. I wanted to kiss him—and more. But we talked for another little while before I finally managed to get the words out.

“Should we go somewhere quieter? It’s really getting loud out here.”

“Sure.” He nodded, reluctantly letting his hand slide away from my thigh.

I missed the weight and the heat of it there immediately, but that was why I was doing this. So that I can feel the weight and the heat of him everywhere.

Hopefully.

Taking him back inside the lake house, my heart was hammering in my chest. I led him upstairs to the bedroom I’d been staying in. There was enough space that everyone had their own room this time around, and I’d never felt so lucky to know I had my own lockable door.

Once we were in there, I closed the door behind us, drowning out the worst of the noise from below. Leaning against the door, I was unsure of what to say or do at this point. It was suddenly so quiet and we were suddenly so alone.

Carson turned around, not seeming nearly as uncomfortable as I was in the soft light of dusk that filled my room. “Are you keeping me prisoner up here?”

I reached behind me and flicked the lock on the door. His eyes went wide and dark with understanding. In that same instant, he let out a low, raw growl, and then we were closing the distance between us, crashing together someplace in the middle. He didn’t waste any time, one arm snaking around my waist and the other capturing my face. Then he bent his head and kissed me fully.

I melted into his touch. We were both frantic. All the tension was finally bursting and I was going for it. Nothing was going to stop me now.