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 see you looking,” I said. “It misses you too.”
We’d spent the first part of our run discussing our workdays, not getting right to the heart of what had been weighing on my thoughts the past couple of days. However, now that I knew he hadn’t blown me off, I felt it was time to face the issue head-on.
He sped his pace up until he was beside me once again.
“Misses me? Really? Surprised to hear that, considering I didn’t hear from you all weekend.”
“Okay, you mind if we break for this conversation?”
I slowed down, coming to a stop with him in the middle of the trail that wound through the wooded part of the park. Turning and facing one another, it annoyed me that his expression didn’t give me much insight into what he was thinking about my remark.
“So what happened in your car,” I said. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward or…”
His brows tugged together. “You certainly weren’t the only one calling the shots then.”
“I know, but…”
Just as soon, I heard something down the path behind us, and then another runner passed us.
“Carter, there’s something on your mind. Just tell me what it is.”
“I know what you think of me, based on what you said before about seeing me with that guy in the bar…and then when the moment the opportunity presented itself, I just went for it.”
“Are you forgetting who kissed who first?”
How could I have forgotten—it had totally thrown me.
“No, it’s just… This is very confusing territory for me. I don’t…” I struggled to get the words out, and he waited patiently for me to go on. “I don’t normally have conversations like I’ve had with you and then mess around with that someone.”
“I gathered as much. And I don’t normally throw guys into the back of my car and—”
Another sound caught our attention, and we turned and saw another jogger heading down the path.
Sawyer took me by the arm and gently ushered me off the trail, a few feet into the wooded area. “And I certainly don’t take to guys like a fucking animal, but seems like we’re both in uncharted territory here. Do you feel we did something wrong? A month ago, I would have, but it sure didn’t feel wrong while it was happening.”
I couldn’t fight the smile playing across my lips. “So you thought it felt good?”
“That was definitely feel-good territory.”
“Why do you seem like you’ve thought this through so much more than I have?” I asked.
“I was talking to Cam about it.”
“You told him we—What am I talking about? If you hadn’t told him, he would have picked it up from some psychic astral plane.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s pretty much right. But you haven’t talked to anyone about it? A friend or Dax?”
“Dax—who’s also my boss? No, I kind of left off the bit about the tussle in the back of your car during our Monday meeting, and in case you didn’t notice, I’m severely lacking in the friends department, which is why I was dumping all that information about my mom on you last week.”
He wore this annoying smile, as though he had some secret on me. “So let me get this straight… You, Carter James, have been freaking out about what we did in my car, because you actually enjoy talking to me, but then you also had a hot time?” He winced. “It sounds like you might have a crush on me.”
“Oh my God. I hate you.”
“Do you hate me? Or are you really confused about liking me?”
“Okay, we can change the conversation now,” I said as I started walking farther into the woods.
“Hey, hey,” Sawyer said, walking alongside me. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. If anything, you pretty much disproved everything I initially thought about you in what you just said. You’re clearly capable of thinking more of a guy than just how much you want to bang him, which I can assure you, I figured out before I shoved you up against the side of my car.”
His mention of that maneuver—the way he’d guided with such power but consideration too, to keep from just pummeling me against it—got me all worked up.
“So I think it’s safe for you to admit that you kind of like me,” he continued.
“I can concede to kind of like before crush. Crush is what a prepubescent teenager feels. And what is even happening right now?” I stopped, and he turned to me. “When did we get into this role reversal of you getting under my skin? I liked it better the other way.”
He had this conceited smirk spread across his face like he was so excited to have found a way to annoy me as much as I usually annoyed him. As maddening as it was, there was something hot as fuck about the power he had over me.