The Merriest Magnolia (Magnolia Sisters #2) - Michelle Major Page 0,11

have everyone fawn all over you?”

Sam laughed again. “Dude, I told you those designer clothes you wear make you look like a tool.”

“Eat your donut,” Dylan commanded.

He tried to ignore the way awareness fluttered along the back of his neck like a summer breeze when Carrie stifled a giggle at the boy’s insolence.

But Sam had heard it, and he loved an audience for giving Dylan grief.

“You should see him in Boston,” the kid told her, fishing a donut out of the bag. “He wears scarves like they’re fashionable.”

“I wear scarves when it’s freezing and the wind is howling,” Dylan clarified then shook his head. “I’m not defending the clothes I wear.”

“Because you’d lose.” Sam was always ready with a snappy comeback.

Carrie stared between the two of them like she’d seen a ghost.

Dylan took his wallet from his back pocket and handed a five-dollar bill to Sam. “They sell drinks in the hardware store, or at least they used to. Go get one.”

“Caffeine, carbonation and sugar to start the morning.” Sam nodded. “Breakfast of champions.”

Running a hand through his hair, Dylan watched the boy disappear into the nearby storefront before returning his gaze to Carrie.

“Is he yours?” she asked, barely above a whisper. All the color had drained from her face, and he wanted to reach for her. To apologize for shoving back into her life when he had no business being a part of it. To tell her how sorry he was for everything that had gone wrong between them.

“No.” He shook his head and tried not to let emotion get the best of him. “Hell, Carrie, he’s fifteen. That would have made me—”

“Sixteen. I wasn’t your first, Dylan. It’s conceivable that—”

“He’s my cousin Wiley’s son.” He cleared his throat and focused on measuring his breathing. The mention of first had brought him back to a cold winter night Carrie’s senior year of high school. He might have been more experienced but being with her had made everything seem brand-new.

Her forehead furrowed. “Is he visiting?”

“Wiley and his wife, along with my uncle Russ, died in a plane crash last fall. Sam has been with me ever since.”

He’d craved it moments earlier but now hated the sympathetic noise she made. It grated along his skin like sandpaper. If Carrie was going to be his enemy, he didn’t want any kindness from her. She was too inexperienced at being cutthroat to know, but emotion made her weak. It would have made him the same, so he wouldn’t allow himself to be vulnerable. Ever.

He held up his hands. “I’m sure it pains you as much as it does everyone else in Sam’s life that he not only lost so much but got stuck with me in the process.”

“I’m sorry you lost your family,” she said simply. “I remember how much your uncle and cousin meant to you.”

The grief he’d buried rose to the surface like some sort of monster waiting to be released from its cage. Carrie could break the chains that held his emotions in check with a few softly uttered words, making her more dangerous to him than any creature that prowled the night.

“You don’t get it both ways, sweetheart.” He hardened his jaw and made his tone razor sharp. “You can’t want to run me out of town one minute then act like you care about the kid I’m saddled with the next. Pick a side, Carrie.”

“My side,” she said fiercely. “For the first time in my life, I’m taking my side.”

He almost laughed but swallowed it back, knowing how much it would anger her. He’d wanted this for Carrie—for her to regain the faith in herself that her father had squashed when she was younger. Ironic as all get out that it seemed to take having him as a target to pry it out of her.

She stepped closer. Although the winter sun peeked through the cloudy morning sky, the connection between them made it feel as intimate as the deserted street at midnight. They were the only two people in the world. That was how it had always been for Dylan. His awareness of her shut out everything else. He’d needed that grounding as a troubled teen, which was why it shocked him how much he still wanted it.

“Life isn’t black-and-white.” Her eyes were the color of the Atlantic Ocean after a summer storm. “I’m not going to be heartless to get my way. But make no mistake, I’ll get it. I’d advise you to stay out of my