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Carter
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We ride in silence until we reach the gates to my subdivision. I wave to the security guard and then put in the access code. We wait while the large iron gate slowly creaks open to grant us access.
We pull into my circular driveway and Taryn breathes, “You live here?”
I smirk, finally feeling relaxed. “Oh, this old thing?”
I see her crack a smile. I get out and open her door for her.
“You seriously want me to stay here?” she asks as she follows me willingly to the front door.
I unlock it with the keypad code and open it, ushering her to go in ahead of me. “Yes. And don’t try to Uber back to that bar. I’ve got cameras and they won’t get through the gate anyway.”
She looks around the foyer as I throw my keys and wallet onto the entryway table and head into the kitchen.
“You’re such a weirdo,” she says out of the blue.
I freeze in my tracks as I go to open the fridge. “Why?”
She toes her high heels off and leaves them in the foyer before padding into the kitchen. She sits at a barstool and puts her chin on her hand. “Oh, I don’t know. You treat me like shit at work, and then when I ask you out you tell me it’s not a good idea. And that was fine by me. I was having a good time and thought maybe you’d wanted to join me, but obviously not. Then you show up out of the blue and snatch me out of a restaurant? Rude. And weird.”
“First off, I don’t treat you like shit at work. I...” Fuck. What can I say? That I’m too attracted to her to keep it professional and that puts me in a perpetual bad mood?
She stares expectantly at me, one eyebrow raised.
Turning, I grab two waters and hand her one. “Drink that. All of it.”
Taryn rolls her eyes. “I’m not drunk.”
“You’re a lightweight,” I comment, cracking open the bottle and taking a sip while staring at her.
She’s silent while she drinks, staring a hole through me with her amber gaze. She has a lot of makeup on and I want to wash it off her face. She doesn’t need it.
“I suppose you want me to sleep with you now? My knight in shining armor?”
I grin around the mouth of the bottle and then lower it. Staring into her eyes, I reply, “Only if you want to.”
She huffs. “You are seriously unbelievable! You should just take me home.”
I toss the empty bottle into the recycle bin and shake my head. “Nah. I’m settled in now. I’ll take you home tomorrow.”
Folding her arms across her chest, she says, “Carter, seriously. What are we doing? What are you doing?”
“I was getting you out of a bad situation.”
She narrows her eye at me. “I wasn’t in a bad situation.”
“Douche canoe was about to ask you to go home with him.”
“How do you know?” she snaps.
I grin again. “Because it’s what I would have done. He was smart about one thing, though.”
She groans. “What?”
“He chose the prettiest girl at the table,” I reply sincerely.
Taryn’s angry gaze softens. I watch her suck in her cheeks like she’s trying not to smile and lifts her chin. “Yeah, he did.”
Wow.
I chuckle, glad she didn’t choose to put herself down and deny it like I expected. I walk around to the other side of the island where she’s still sitting on the barstool and I box her in with my hands against the marble. Her face is inches from mine.
“Listen. I’m sorry if you feel like I treat you badly at work. That’s not my intention. I had a brief slipup with an employee a couple of years ago. Now Lisa thinks we should just hire old hags or men to work for us so I don’t ‘slip up’ again,” I confess. “She couldn’t deny how qualified you are so she had nothing to say. She just watches me closely.”
She nods. “That actually makes sense. She lurks around like a mother hen. I thought she was just a bossy bitch.”
I chuckle. “She’s that too, but she’s damn good at her job and I pay her well. She makes sure we stay out of trouble and is excellent at hiring and everything HR. I don’t want to lose her. And she really is nice deep down. She’s a rock star on birthdays and holidays, goes all out with food and making the employees feel special. She loves it.”
“We’ll see what she does when my birthday rolls around,” she comments with a grin.
“And when is that again?” I ask quietly since our faces are inches apart.
“August twenty-ninth,” she whispers.
I can’t stand the small space that separates us and I lean down and kiss her. She immediately responds, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me back. I start kissing her faster, licking her lips demanding she grant my tongue access. Hers duels with mine as our lips seal and unseal as we make out. I hike her skirt up and wrap her legs around me. I’m as hard as a rock and need to be inside of her.
We kiss on the way to my room. Once inside, she slides down my body and lands on her feet, her hands still on my shoulders.
She slowly breaks the kiss and looks up at me. “Carter.”
“Taryn,” I say back, out of breath.
She places her hand on my chest and looks directly into my eyes. “I am not sleeping with you.”
I’m shocked. “May I ask why? I like to think we’ve got some damn hot chemistry going right now. And I can definitely tell that you want me. Just not as much as I want you.” I bring my hand up and tuck a strand of light-brown hair behind her ear.
“Because I don’t think I’ll be able to handle how you treat me at work if we do this. Sorry, but I’m an analyzer and an overthinker. I already know what’s going to happen.”
“It won’t be like that, love,” I say quietly, trying to kiss her again.
Her hand on my chest pushes gently. “It will. Besides, you can’t just barge into a bar and drag me like a Neanderthal back to your cave and expect me to just jump into bed with you.”
“That’s not what I intended. I had to get you out of there because...” I step back and swipe a hand through my hair.
“Because why? Because I was tipsy? Because I was having a good time? Without you?”
“Because he was touching you! He had his greasy paws all over your hair and skin, trying to get you drunk and take you home...”
“Wait. How long were you there? You saw all that?”
“I saw enough,” I mutter.
“Well, you embarrassed me. I didn’t need you going all alpha and dragging me out of there. I’ll never hear the end of it from my friends.”
I blow out a breath. “I apologize for that then.”
“Not just because you want to sleep with me right now?” she asks, her eyebrow quirked in question.
I shake my head. “No, I mean it. I’m sorry. I just lost my shit.”
She smirks up at me, a teasing look in her gaze as she sing-songs, “Because you like me.”
Stepping closer, I lean down to touch her hair. I don’t blame the tool for doing the same, it’s so soft and touchable and smells like pineapples. “Maybe a little too much.”
She smiles wider, still looking up at me. I want to kiss her again badly, but I don’t.
“Where’s your guestroom?” she asks quietly as we stare at each other in the dark of my bedroom, just the moon shining in as it hovers over the mountains in the distance.
“I’ll show you.” I glance at my watch. “Are you tired, though? It’s only ten-thirty.”
She shrugs. “Not super tired. What do you want to do besides have sex?”
“Well, nothing, but I’ll compromise with a movie and some popcorn. Here, I mean. Not going out.”
She laughs. “Movies are closing soon anyway.”
Her laugh makes me warm and happy inside, and soon, I find myself curled up on my massive sofa watching a Marvel movie with some microwave popcorn and a couple of beers.
When she starts to doze off, I take the beer from her hand and set it on the coffee table, pick her up, and carry her to the guestroom. She’s wearing nothing but one of my oversized tee shirts and I’d almost jizzed in my pants when she’d come out of the room earlier wearing it. I tuck her under the covers and kiss her forehead.
As I head to the door, I hear, “Carter?”
I turn around and stare questioningly at her in the dark.
“Thank you,” she murmurs before rolling onto her side and closing her eyes.
I close the door with a quiet click and grin to myself.
I really want her in my bed but I don’t trust myself, especially in the morning when she’ll be way too tempting for me to resist, all warm and messy hair in the Colorado morning sun.
Instead, I turn off the television, instruct Alexa to turn off the lights, and head into my bedroom. I leave my door open in case she changes her mind, which I doubt she will, and slip into bed wearing nothing at all.
My body wants to get some rest and sleep, but my mind won’t shut off. I’ve never had a woman refuse to sleep with me. I smile at the memory of the look on her face. Leave it to Taryn Andrews, stubborn, sassy, and gorgeous as hell.