Page 75 of The Charade

But I don't know…falling in love isn't logical, is it?

It wasn't always something that you could control. And while there was still a lot to get to know about Carter and it was too early to know if we had a chance at a long-term relationship, I knew that I at least wanted to keep moving forward with him.

"Carter, are you in there?" Nash's muffled voice sounded on the other side of the door, followed by a quick knock.

Carter groaned at his brother’s interruption, looking like he didn’t like the idea of cutting our last few minutes together short. But he pulled himself away from the kiss and rolled back so we were simply laying side by side. Then he called out, "Yeah, I'm in here."

I expected Nash to say something more, but he opened the door instead, saying, "Can I talk to you about—"

He stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide when he realized Carter wasn't alone in here. After getting an awkward look on his face, he turned away and said, "Um, sorry." He grabbed the doorknob and said, "I, um, I'll just come back later." And then he shut the door.

I turned back to Carter worriedly and said, "Are we going to get in trouble?"

But Carter just shook his head before leaning his forehead against mine and saying, "No. I mean, technically you might get in trouble if we don't get you into your room in the next twenty minutes, butI'mgoing to be totally fine."

I endedup making it back to my dorm room just before the dorm parents did their nightly check. After telling Elyse everything that had happened, I went to bed and had the best night's sleep that I'd had in a long time.

The next morning, my mom called to tell Elyse and me that she had a client with a dress emergency and she would need to fly to California. After apologizing over the fact that we'd have to postpone our girls’ weekend for a few weeks, she promised to make it up to us before hanging up.

As I finished getting ready for the day, I realized that I'd forgotten to ask her once again about her dating Carter's dad in high school. But then I shrugged it off and went about my day, deciding that maybe it would be best to just ask her about it in person when we were able to get together next.

The next days and weeks went by way too fast. My days were spent in school, my nights and weekends spent with Carter. He showed me more of Eden Falls on the weekends and even took me on a hike to see the waterfall the town was named after.

I'd expected a pretty waterfall, but when we'd first turned the bend and I caught my first glimpse of the gorgeous waterfall, it took my breath away with its crisp blue water and the lush vegetation of the surrounding area. It was definitely the kind of ethereal scene that you'd expect to find in the Garden of Eden—like a place from a dream.

The next weekend Carter took me to the stables at his house and I got to ride a horse for the first time. I'd been afraid that I might get bucked off since the extent of my experience with farm animals was when my mom took me and Elyse to a rodeo in Madison Square Garden when we were eight. But Cambrielle's horse, Starlight, had known just what she was supposed to do with a beginner rider like me, and we were friends by the end of the afternoon.

Basically, Carter and I spent as much time as we could together over the next two weeks doing homework, going to football games, hanging out with our friends and his family whom I was growing to like more and more as the weeks went on. Nash and Cambrielle were basically the extra brother and sister that I'd always wanted. And while Mr. Hastings was out of the country on a three-week retreat that he did each year to recalibrate and just unplug from the hectic world of a billionaire CEO, Mrs. Hastings had been so sweet to me and almost made me feel like part of the family, which was kind of nice since my own mom was so busy developing her new line at the moment.

"So, what are we going to do to celebrate your first ever A on a math test?" Carter asked me one Monday after school. We had just finished doing our homework in the library and had gone up to my dorm room to hang out before he headed home.

"I don't know." I set my books on my desk and looked to where he sat on my bed. "I was thinking dinner at the Italian Amigos might be fun."

"I agree." Carter nodded.

"And maybe follow that up with shakes from Charlie's Food Hut." I sat on the bed beside him.

"Their strawberry shakes are your favorite."

I nodded. Then leaning closer to him, with a smirk on my lips, I said, "But first, I think it would only be right that I thank my tutor properly, since without his help I never would have gotten the A in the first place."

Carter's face lit up and a small smile lifted his cheeks. "And how will you be thanking your tutor?"

I leaned closer, looking at his lips, and whispered, "Like this." Then I kissed him. And even though I'd been able to kiss him several times over the past couple of weeks, my body still reacted like it had the first time. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. And when his lips slowly grazed my bottom lip, coaxing my mouth to part, my stomach muscles clenched followed by a low swooping sensation as I let myself just get lost in this amazing guy whom I got to call my boyfriend.

My actual,realboyfriend.

I ran my fingers along his smooth jaw, and he threaded his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck.

"Maybe we should just stay here," I mumbled after a moment. "I think this might be better than dinner and shakes."

Carter chuckled against my mouth. "Maybe we'll just have to order in."

"Good idea."

He shifted our positions, so he was leaning against the wall at the head of my bed and I was straddling his lap, and then we were kissing again.

We had already previously decided what boundaries we wanted for our physical relationship for now, so I knew I didn't need to worry about Carter pushing me to have sex with him before I was ready—but that didn't mean I couldn't enjoy all the other fun things we could do before the big step.

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