Page 47 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

“No, dude,” Carter lifts his hands like two blades, leaning toward Maddox. “I will fix his problem. And then he won’t have a problem anymore. He’ll just have a memory. Get it?”

Maddox shakes his head. “No? Couldn’t you just say you’ll take away his problems?”

“That wouldn’t be as cool, though,” Carter complains. “I’ll make them a memory is the kind of thing you say before popping on some shades and firing off finger guns.”

“It really wasn’t cool, either way,” I note.

Carter looks at me with evil in his eyes. “D-2.”

Glaring, I pick up a peg and stuff it into one of my ships. “Hit,” I say.

“That’s right, bitch,” he smirks. “Now, as I was saying, Liam–” He frowns, noticing Liam has got up and walked inside during the argument. Carter shrugs, pursing his lips. “See? I told him exactly what he needed to hear.”

“Or he was escaping while you were distracted,” I suggest.

Carter purses his lips in disagreement. “Speaking of ladies, what are you doing here with us? Shouldn’t you be at the B&B with your lovely little family?”

“Yeah, man,” Maddox says. “Honestly, it’s kinda shitty of you. Coming straight here like this instead of seeing your woman and your kid.”

“I texted when I got here a few hours ago. Walker was asleep, and Caroline was dealing with some plumbing issues. She said it’d be easier for me to just wait at Jesse’s until she could come.”

“Oh,” Carter says, eyes darkening. “Plumbing issues, you say?”

“Yeah, why?”

He shares a look with Maddox, and they both shake their heads sadly.

“What?” I demand.

“Well…” Carter starts, making a show of looking reluctant. “I’m just putting the pieces together. She tells you to stay away. She says the kid is asleep. And she says she’s got a guy over in her house right now laying pipe for her? I’m no math teacher, but I think I can solve this equation.”

“He’s right,” Maddox says. “Sometimes, two plus two just equals four.”

“Two plus two always equals four,” I say.

“Usually,” Maddox agrees, as though he’s still leaving the door open for other possibilities.

I get up, chair scraping against the patio deck. “I think I’m getting dumber by the minute with you two.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Carter agrees. “But you have seemed a little dumber lately.”

I reach over to his side of the game, look at where his ship is, and lock eyes with him. “C-7. Direct hit.”

“Oh, sure, Jake. Real mature. It’s one thing to take shots at me, but when you cheat and strike my ships like that? You’ve crossed a line. Those sailors you just sunk had families. Wives and children, dude. Monster.”

Ignoring him, I go inside and join the others. I pause mid-step when I see Caroline coming in with Walker in her arms.

The sight of them together makes my breath catch. Her wild, curly brown hair is tied back, and she’s wearing clear-framed glasses today. Her dress hugs her curves in a way that I think is supposed to be modest, only there’s nothing modest about her body. The hints her dress gives just make me even more tempted to get her alone.

Except I know I won’t because we’ve been in some kind of cease-fire.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” Carter starts to chant.

I walk over to her, smiling. It’s not hard to look happy to see her. I am happy to see her. Walker, too. I just…

She lifts her eyes to mine, licking her lips. There’s a heartbeat of hesitation between us that I doubt anybody else would notice. Then she goes on her tiptoes, and I kiss her.

I mean to just peck her, but I can’t help myself once I feel the soft warmth of her lips against mine. I kiss her deeper, slipping my tongue in. She moans softly against me.

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