Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I was pretty sure his words had just stolen the breath right out of my lungs. He was right, of course he was fucking right, but no one had ever called me on it before. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I realized it until Carter said it. I heard myself say, “Cam’s my best friend.”
“I know that. It’s cool you guys are close, but still, you’re Sawyer Burke, and who that person is, is independent from who Camden is. Just wanted to make sure you knew that.”
A tremor raced down my spine, making me shift uncomfortably. The thing was, I knew if Cam were here, he would agree with Carter. I didn’t know why I did that. It was all me. “Um…thanks. So, you know, since you called me out on my shit, I have to call you out on yours. You’re bummed and trying to pretend you’re not. What’s up?”
“Oh, I didn’t agree to this game,” Carter replied, and I laughed.
“Did you think I was asking?”
“You said that sort of growly. I knew you had it in you. Demanding Sawyer is hot.”
Damned if I didn’t feel myself blush. “You’re stalling, and I’m not falling for it.”
“You suck.” He looked down, pulling books out of a box as he spoke. “I got a phone call from my mom, and that’s always…weird for me. She thanked me for money I sent her and then said she missed me, but those are just words, ya know? Anyway, yeah, that’s all I got, but it’s more than anyone else would get out of me, so can we get back to Demanding, Hot Sawyer now?”
I couldn’t help but smile at him. Strangely, I felt that smile in my chest. It was so typical of Carter to make a joke out of it all and somehow bring it back to flirting, but I was also smart enough to know I really was lucky to have gotten what I had out of him. I’d never heard Carter say those things to anyone else. I assumed he did with Dax, but I certainly didn’t have the same friendship with him that Dax did.
It also made me wonder more about his mom. I knew what he’d told me in Whistle Ridge, and apparently he sent her money, but he felt like her saying she missed him was only words. It made my heart soften more toward him, and holy fuck, what was I thinking? My heart softened? I would die if anyone could hear my thoughts.
“Is this one of those moments when you’re having a conversation with yourself in your head? You rolled your eyes, but I don’t think it was at me.”
“Shut up,” I replied, but smiled. Carter paid attention well. “And no, it wasn’t at you. I also don’t think Demanding, Hot Sawyer is really a thing.” I was the quiet one. The bookish one. I wasn’t the one who usually got noticed by other guys—at least not as much as my friends—and I’d never been demanding with someone I was attracted to.
“Oh my God. What am I going to do with you? You’re hot as fuck, and you have that whole commanding thing going on, simmering beneath the surface, just waiting to burst free. I’m going to be there when it does, Sawyer. I can promise you that.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he was wrong. To lock myself up tight and not play this game with him, because I didn’t think I was who he seemed to believe I was. But I was fucking tired of not letting loose more when it came to men.
I shrugged. “If you can handle it.”
“Dear, sweet Sawyer, you know you just issued me a challenge, right? I never back down on those.”
“Game on,” I told him, even though my mind was starting to question my sanity at the moment. Plus, hadn’t it been me who said I didn’t play games? This, however, was a different kind of game, one we were both on board with.
“Who are you, and what did you do with Serious Sawyer?”
I was beginning to wonder the same thing. “Actually, let’s go back a moment. Before we go any further, we need to discuss the rules of this game.”
Carter dropped his head back and let out a loud, contagious laugh that found its way straight to me. Before I knew it, I was laughing too, while still trying to figure out what in the hell had gotten into me.
“I’ll go easy on you,” Carter replied, which immediately made my spine stiffen.
“Don’t. I can take it.” Because fuck that noise. I didn’t want him to go easy on me. For once, I just wanted to let go of all that shit that always held me back—my insecurities and my brain that never stopped going.