Quit Bein' Ugly (The Southern Gentleman 3)

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you have feelings for Schultz?”

I shifted uncomfortably once the words left my mouth, not because of the gunshot wound to my shoulder, but because I shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that.

One, I was kind of scared of the answer. Two, I didn’t want to hate Schultz, because he was a great workout partner and beginning to become a really good friend.

It was the expression on her face that had my abdominals loosening.

“Schultz is a friend,” she answered. “That’s it. That’s all he’ll ever be. I’m not saying that I don’t want kids, but I think that everything that comes with Schultz would be a pain in the ass thanks to who his sister is.”

Nivea, Schultz’s sister, had once dated Flint, Carmichael’s brother.

Things had gone fantastically wrong, and at the end of the day, every time someone ran into Nivea, she made it a very, very big deal.

Just last week I’d heard about Camryn and Flint running into Nivea and the kids at the grocery store.

Apparently, it’d been a rather large blowout on Nivea’s part, to the point where the cops were called.

And Schultz, being one of the responding officers, had to deal with a family dispute that involved his own family.

Nivea and Schultz shared custody of their nieces, but Schultz was currently taking her back to court to get even that small amount of time she got to spend with them revoked.

“The only reason you’re not dating him is because of his awful sister?” I asked, feeling my stomach sink.

“Not the only reason, no,” she admitted. “Schultz is nice to look at and all, but he’s just not… it for me.”

Was that a deep breath I could take? Or was it just because I’d repositioned my body?

“Oh,” I said. “So, you’d be willing to go out with me?”

She looked at me oddly.

“Croft,” she said softly. “I’m not doing this with you right now. You’re high on pain meds, you’ve just been shot, and neither one of us is thinking very clearly right now. Can we just please eat, watch a movie, and not talk about this?”

I’d give her that out.

For now.

Until the pain meds had worn off, and I wasn’t currently falling asleep.

But when I woke up in the morning? Game on.

We finished our dinner in relative silence, but every once in a while, we would laugh at something that was said on the television program she was watching.

However, by the time that I was finished with my food and was leaning into the couch with my head lolling to the side, I couldn’t stop myself from succumbing to sleep.

The thing was, I wasn’t mad that I did.

Because a few hours later when I woke up to her laughing, it was one of the best feelings in the world.

When my eyes opened, it wasn’t just the pain that had me waking up. It was the smile on Carmichael’s face as she read something on her phone.

“What are you laughing about over there?” I asked, voice raw with sleep.

She looked over, her face guilty, as if she didn’t want to tell me.

“I don’t think it’s good for you to laugh right now,” she admitted. “And this’ll make you laugh.”

My brows rose. “I bet I won’t laugh.”

She turned more fully to face me, her feet brushing my side as she said, “Wanna bet?”

I thought about that for a moment.

Did I want to bet that I wouldn’t laugh? It depended on what I would lose if I laughed.

“Depends on what we’re talking about,” I admitted. “Are we talking about the fact that I have to give up beer for a month if I laugh? Or do you want me to mow your lawn for a week?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment.

“How did you know how much I hated mowing the lawn?” she asked.

Because I practically stalked her when she and I were both at home.

Because, when she was around, there was nothing else that I would rather do but watch her. Even if it was her sweating while trying to get her lawnmower started.

“Because I want you,” I told her bluntly. “When you’re outside in short shorts and a tank top, what else do you expect me to do? Ignore the fact that your beautiful thighs and ass are on display? I think not.”

Her mouth fell open in surprise.

“Did you just compliment me?” she asked with a note of surprise in her voice.

Which instantly made me feel like shit.

Had she never seen the way that my eyes stayed glued to her ass at the gym?

She had one particular pair of shorts that literally brought me to my knees.

So many times, I’d caught her with those shorts on, and so many times I’d nearly had a heart attack when I’d had to work out while watching her ass bounce around in those shorts.