“Not at all. I had already run this morning to get my five miles in.”
She rolled her eyes. “So you know I’d be lame?”
“No. You’d told me you hadn’t run in a couple years, so I knew you’d be limited to a mile or so.”
“Well, you were right,” she said, pulling up a stool to my kitchen counter.
“You know…” I said, stopping mid-sentence.
She took a sip of her wine. “What? What do I know?”
Oh, what the fuck.
I took a deep breath. “I had a crush on you for the longest time. Even though I hardly knew you.” There. It was out.
She turned an adorable shade of pink that turned to bright red. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She just looked at her wine, swirling it in her glass, with little bits of hair now dried to her forehead. Shit, I didn’t know if I could wait until after dinner to make my move.
I pulled the chicken out of the oven to let it sit before carving it up. When I turned around, she was standing behind me. Right behind me. Close behind me.
I’d always had a weakness for women who took the bull by the horns. So to speak.
One corner of her mouth turned up into the cutest crooked grin I’d ever seen. I ran my finger over her temple to push away her errant strands of hair, and she closed her eyes at my touch.
Not that I wanted to, but there was just no stopping this. I’d wanted her since I first saw her moving boxes into her house with her douchebag boyfriend, although I’d never imagined he’d be fool enough to leave her. His loss, my gain. And, hopefully Dig’s, too.
I reached to loosen her ponytail. I had to get my hands in that red hair, and when I did, my heart hammered against my chest so damn hard, I was sure she felt it. She was the perfect package—beautiful, slim, smart, ambitious, and even a little crazy. She did, after all, take on a piece of shit run down old house that most people would have run away from, screaming.
If I didn’t watch myself, I’d be down on one knee proposing within the week.
I slowly backed her up to the kitchen counter and leaned to taste those sweet lips, the ones I’d been unable to take my eyes off every time she moved them to speak.
A small growl escaped my throat. She might as well have known how badly I wanted her.
Chapter 11
JAYMA
Oh my. I hadn’t been touched by anyone but Lance the asshole in several years. And how did it feel to be touched by someone new?
Fucking amazing.
Carter was so…strong and self-assured. That’s what it was. He seemed like he’d never be afraid of anything. Like if something bad came his way, he’d find a way to handle it. I needed someone like that on my side.
He made me feel…safe. Yeah. I’d not felt safe in a long time.
Sure, Lance had a fancy law degree and a job at a fancy law firm. But he was also insecure and paranoid as hell, always sure someone at work was going to best him, or some guy would try to steal me away from him. That his dick wasn’t big enough, or that his back waxer missed a spot. Such a sad way to go through life.
But Carter just seemed like a guy who got shit done. Didn’t sit around bellyaching, but stepped up to the plate like a real man. And now he was kissing me. My next door neighbor was kissing me.
And I was kissing him back.
A huge part of me knew it wasn’t a good idea. That nothing good could come of making out with my hot neighbor. I could have walked out. Said goodnight, thanks for the jog, enjoy the chicken on your own.
But the wine and t
he nice rock ‘n’ roll music playing in the background convinced me otherwise—not to mention his hands, which started in my hair and worked their way down the sides of my face to my neck and around my shoulders. One landed on the back of my head and the other on my upper back. Perfect leverage for him to pull me in, which I willingly allowed him to do.
Hell, if he hadn’t, I’d probably have thrown myself at him anyway. That’s how good it felt to be the object of his attention.