Page 8 of Further To Fall

“Geez, don’t talk my ear off or anything.”

I grinned back at her, but it had a slightly feral edge. “It’s not something I enjoy talking about. And, honestly, there’s not much to say. She cheated. Repeatedly. I ended it. Now, I avoid that shit.”

Lines formed between Carter’s brows. “What stuff?”

She wouldn’t even say the wordshit. I fought the laugh that wanted to surface. “I don’t date.”

Her jaw dropped. “At all? Like the sugar?”

This time, I couldn’t hold in my laugh, she looked like someone told her Santa wasn’t real. “Just like the sugar. No chicks during training. Well, other than for relieving some tension.”

Carter’s cheeks flamed. “Um, well, whatever works for you.”

I grinned. She was so fucking innocent, I really hoped this city didn’t ruin her. “Listen, I really am sorry, and I’d love it if we could start over.”

“Start over?” She said it as though she were speaking a foreign language and was unsure of what the words meant.

“Yeah, fresh slate. You’re like Liam’s sister, and I think it would mean a lot to him if we got along.” Carter worried her bottom lip as she silently took my measure. It didn’t seem like things were going to go in my favor, so I reached out, awkwardly patting her hand. Damn, her skin was even softer than I had imagined. Her eyes jolted to mine. “Please, give me a chance. I promise I’m not usually this much of an ass.”

“Okay.” The word came out as a whisper.

“Great.” I forced myself to remove my hand from the warmth of her skin. “Why don’t you let my first act of goodwill be teaching you some self-defense?”

Carter quirked her head to the side. “Self-defense?”

“Yeah. Liam said you’re going to be working in a not-so-great area, so it couldn’t hurt.” I threw it out there casually, but I was going to make sure this girl could defend herself. The neighborhood her school was in was no joke.

“Ummmmm…” She nibbled on her bottom lip as her eyes traveled over my shoulders and torso. My dick twitched in response. I needed to tamp that bastard down. Carter was not a hit-and-quit type of girl, and that was all I had room for in my life. “I really don’t think that’s necessary,” she continued.

I tilted my head down to make sure she met my eyes. “Please. It’s something I can do for you to make up for being such a jerk.”

Her shoulders slumped just the tiniest bit. “Okay, fine. But fair warning, I’m not the most coordinated person.”

“You don’t have to be, most of the moves are super simple.”

“Okay.” She was still gnawing on the side of her lip, and I had to stop myself from tugging it from between her teeth.

“It’ll be awesome, you’ll see.” I tried to reassure her. “My training is always hellish this first week, so how about a week from Thursday?”

“Yeah, that should work. Classes start on Monday, so it’ll have to be after school.”

“That’s fine, we can meet at my gym.” I slipped my phone from my pocket and handed it to Carter, a zap of electricity coursing through my arm at the contact of our fingers. Being in such close physical proximity to this girl was going to mean playing with fire. “Program your number in, and I’ll text you the address.”

“’Kay. Thanks—for the cupcakes, the apology, and teaching me to kick booty,” she said as she tapped the screen of my phone.

“Just never call it teaching you to ‘kick booty’ again, and you are most welcome.”

Carter handed back my phone. “Deal.” She blushed again. “And I’m sorry for insulting the size of your manhood, I was really mad.”

I let out a choked laugh. “We’re all good, Firecracker.”

“Firecracker?” she asked, her head tilted to the side in that cute-as-fuck way of hers.

“I think Firecracker is a fitting nickname. You’ve got some fire in you.”

Her lips tipped up. “Firecracker, I like it.”

As I walked to my car, I realized that my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and I couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

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