Page 7 of Dirty Rumors

When we’re finished with our elaborate snack, Carson sets the tray and our mugs on the cooler. Then he reaches out to lay his hand palm up on my armrest. This is a pivotal moment. If I’m really going to stick to my guns and refuse to date anyone, I categorically cannot take his hand.

I take his hand anyway.

His skin is so warm against mine, and I can’t help smiling as he squeezes my fingers gently. “I really like you, Nikki. Whatever your thoughts are about dating, they have nothing to do with me personally, right?”

“No.”

“Would you be open to at least a test date tomorrow night?” Before I can answer, he rolls off his chaise lounge to kneel beside mine. “Honestly. A test. You can check me out. Think about things. Get your bearings. If there’s anything you don’t like, you just tell me it’s over and” – he snaps his fingers in the air – “that’s it.”

“Carson, I just…” A heavy sigh rolls through me. The light is growing dim, but even in the fading blueish purple light of the sunset, he is so striking, so rugged and raw and sexy, that I honestly do want to reach out for him.

“Tell me,” he whispers, resting his hands on my knees.

“Let’s not get into all of the details,” I say. “I’ve just always had it in my head that I need to wait several more years.”

His mesmerizing lips pull to the side in a saucy smile. “So, I’m a car guy. I have options besides this truck. I could always pick you up in the F12 Berlinetta.”

“Do you think that being seen in a Ferrari is going to push me over the edge?” I laugh.

“I’ll let you drive.”

My mouth falls open. Really? I hesitate. “Is it by any chance…bright red?”

“Of course.”

He moves forward, practically crawling over to whisper in my ear. “You know that the goal of a first date is usually to get a good night kiss. Once you lock that down, you’re pretty much guaranteed a second date.”

My heart is pounding in my chest, the rhythm off kilter as I try to catch my breath. He smells like the forest itself, and his warmth is its own force of nature. “What are you getting at?” I whisper.

“I’m not positive, but I think I can see in your eyes that you’re hoping I can find a way to wriggle around your rules.” His dazzling grin is almost hypnotic. “So it follows that if you say I can kiss you now, that kind of makes this a first date. Which means tomorrow will be ourseconddate, and the pressure is totally gone.”

My tongue darts across my bottom lip as my stomach flutters. “It feels like you’re a bit proud of yourself, dancing all over my rules.”

His head shakes slightly. “Not at all. I’m not trying to be a naughty boy and get away with something here. I’m a mechanic. I test systems and find flaws. It’s what I do.” His fingers begin to play with the edge of the blanket right along my collarbone, making me shiver. “I can see how you react to me, Nikki. I feel that you want me. I honestly don’t see what harm could come from you saying, ‘Yes, Carson, I think you should kiss me now’.”

Maybe he has hypnotized me, because I sputter, “Yes…” and then freeze in shock.

“Close enough.”

He moves in slowly, teasing, his lips barely brushing mine on the way to my ear. He breathes, “Good thing you said yes. I was about to go crazy if you didn’t.” His mouth trails a string of kisses along my temple, then down my cheekbone.

“How crazy?” I somehow manage to gasp.

“Enough that I could go all Medieval on the situation.” His eyebrow raises. “We’re talking burn the village or something. Honestly, Nikki, the only way to save the innocent townspeople from the marauding beast is to kiss me like you really mean it.”

I grin, turning my head barely an inch to catch his mouth against mine.

I assume that as a first kiss it would be something light. A test. But it takes all of two seconds for the tiny peck to dissolve into flames. The heat courses through my body, igniting my breasts, my inner thighs, my soul.

Before I know what’s happening, Carson has rolled us onto the fake grass, with me on top of him. Suddenly, every last reservation inside me crumbles, and I’m kissing him as if my very life depended on it. His tongue explores my mouth as his hands roam over my back…my cheek…every part of me he can reach.

“Nikki,” he growls low in his throat, “I’ve needed you from the first second I saw you.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I try to show him. My left hand inches down his sculpted abs as my right fingers tangle in the back of his hair. I realize that I’m spread on top of him, knees wide, in a position that might look completely obscene to anyone walking by.

Yet Carson doesn’t grind against me. Doesn’t make a move to touch me anywhere other than on my back, my throat, my face.

We sink into the kiss as time seems to stop, leaving me wondering… If this feels so good, could all my fears be completely unfounded?

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