at me and grinned, a moment of silent connection, a moment where the din of the bar faded and we had—in that brief second—something. He looked back at Cammie and the connection was broken. Then he leaned into her, whispering something in her ear, and her eyes widened slightly at me, her hand passing over my phone.
I snuck a look at it as Carter shouldered through the crowd, a text from Cammie coming just as I dismissed the missed call alert from Vic.
He said “for as long as she’ll let me.” He’ll steal you for as long as you’ll let him. I think he’s a keeper.
I almost missed her second text, it coming through right as I went to lock my phone, and I smiled when I saw it.
P.S. Use protection. Hopefully Magnums.
49. Heartbreak Red
We stepped away from the club, his hand settling on my back, the slow caress of his fingers against my exposed skin sending shivers up my spine. He took on the role so easily, the Gentleman Who Behaves While Driving Women Crazy. I looked over at him and he spoke.
“Joey called me.”
“He did?” I frowned, my heel catching on an uneven part of the sidewalk, and I gripped his arm tighter.
“Yep. Told me to stay away from you.”
I laughed and glanced up at him. His face was serious, and his eyes stared straight ahead without a hint of humor. “What? Why?” I looked back down at my feet. Concentrated on putting one in front of the other without stumbling.
“He didn’t really go into details … just said that you were seeing someone on set.” I could feel the grip of his arm tighten, his muscles cording together in rigid strength.
“I’m not—that is so…” I growled under my breath as we came to a stop at a cross street, my hand letting go of his arm, my face hot with embarrassment.
“He also said he told you about Brit.”
Brit. The fuckbuddy. “Yeah,” I said curtly. “He told me about her.”
“We’re just friends.” Carter turned to face me under the glow of the streetlamp, his eyes on mine. “I mean … we’ve fucked in the past. But it’s just a physical thing. We wouldn’t work in a relationship.”
I wanted to follow up that cliffhanger with a jumble of questions, the first one being why not? But I didn’t.
“It’s not my business who you sleep with.” I did the cool girl shrug, like I was chill with whatever. “It’d be different if we were … you know. Dating.” I didn’t know why I brought up dating. I had come there for a hookup. Right? An isolated event that might turn into a casual sex relationship with one of the sexiest men I’d ever met. Not a real relationship. Not with … my mind stuttered a little. Not with a maintenance guy. I’d thought it before. It just hadn’t, in my mind, sounded so bad before. Why had I looked down on Carter? Just because I used to have rich parents? I shifted uncomfortably, another mark tallied in the Chloe Was a Bitch column.
“You wouldn’t want me to hang out with her. As friends.”
It took a moment for my mind to catch up. “Right.” Regardless of whether Carter and I would ever be official, I didn’t think I’d ever be okay with my boyfriend hanging out with someone he used to sleep with.
There was a break in traffic and we hurried across the road, my hand tucking back into his, his grip strong and reassuring as we turned the final corner before our building.
“So…” He squeezed my hand. “Nothing is going on with you and this guy on the set?”
“No.” I looked up at him. “He’s just an ex who showed up on set. Joey would love me to date him again, but…” I shook my head and looked away, down the street toward our building. “We’re over.” I tried not to think of Vic’s mouth, skimming down my neck as he held me down and thrust inside of me.
Carter let out a low whistle as we crossed the street, just steps away from the building, just steps away from being alone. My body tightened in anticipation, my steps hurrying—
I stopped when I saw what he was whistling at, a low-slung red Maserati convertible parked on the curb, my mind immediately shuttering back to the past.
“That’s your car?” Vic smirked at Mom’s Mercedes station wagon. “You’re going to show me around Miami in that?”