Page 25 of 40 and (So Over) Fixing It
She growled. “Be still and stop being an ass, Carter.”
He froze, obviously startled. She wasn’t sure what reaction she expected next, but it definitely wasn’t deep masculine laughter. The sound restarted the tingles in her belly.
“I am being an ass, aren’t I?”
She reached for the antibiotic ointment on her desk. “You most definitely are.”
“Here, let me do that.” Retracing his steps, Carter took the ointment out of her hand, applied it carefully, then added a bandage to her palm. “There.”
“That whole procedure took far longer than it had to.” Because it had been interrupted with an apology and a kiss. The hottest kiss she’d had in…well, maybe since Stephen had died.
No, not maybe. Definitely.
The thought of her husband brought a brief flicker of sadness, but Erin pushed it away. Stephen would want her to be happy. Worry over his reaction had never kept her from dating; it was the refusal to accept anything less than she’d had with him that had kept her single all these years. She’d known true passion; she wouldn’t settle for a cheap copy.
Which made her reaction to Carter even more confusing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever apologized to anyone more than I’ve had to with you,” Carter said, his grin wry when she glanced up at him.
“You’ve never apologized to anyone more than once? I find that hard to believe.”
He rolled those pretty blue eyes. “I’m sorry, Erin.”
She grinned. “Better.” Standing brought her a little too close for comfort to his hard body, but she did it anyway. “Even better would be if you stopped doing things you needed to apologize for.”
“I would if you’d stop getting to me.”
Something feminine inside her preened at his admission—not that she’d share that with anyone anytime soon. She didn’t even want to share it with herself. This whole thing was ridiculous. Weird. And yet she couldn’t deny that just being near this man brought her alive in a way she hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. Yes, sometimes that “life” was irritation, but not always.
Example a: the butterflies that still fluttered in places she really shouldn't be thinking about right now. She sucked in a breath, filling her lungs with the scent of him once more.
No, definitely not always.
“It’s hard to stop when I don’t know how I’m getting to you.”
“How are you not?” Carter shook his head. From the corner of her eye she saw his hand rise, squeeze shut, then drop back to his side. “I don’t know how you do it either; just that you do.”
“I’ll keep that in mind from now on.”
“Do.” This time his hand rose all the way, his fingers brushing tendrils of her hair back behind her ear. “Being close to you is dangerous.”
“Probably shouldn’t have admitted that,” she murmured. It was the same thought she’d had earlier, but she found it gratifying that she wasn’t the only one to have it.
Definitely not something he needed to know.
Carter cleared his throat, stepping away from her. As she watched, he retreated to the door. Before he could disappear, she found herself calling out.
“Carter.”
He turned. “Yeah?”
Her mind blanked for a moment, staring into eyes that were far too distracting. And then she remembered her thought and smirked. “I accept your apology.”
ChapterEleven
Thursday started out quietly. Carter took care of some business early; then he and Thad spent the rest of the morning working up an appetite with a hike in the woods. There really was nothing like autumn in the Smoky Mountains. The cool mountain air warmed as they wandered among the trees and scaled over the craggy rocks—well, Thad did more scaling than Carter did. Brilliant colors decorated the trees even as the crisp crackle of fallen leaves crunched beneath their feet. Carter basked in the time spent with Thad totally away from the stresses of home and the demands of their life back in New York, watching his son blossom in a whole new environment. There was nothing better than that.
By the time they returned to the house, they were more than ready for a brunch of omelets and toast. Carter cooked, and the smell of bacon frying lured JD to join them. They devoured the food in half the time it took to make it, and Carter and JD were starting on cleanup when Lily walked into the kitchen, her phone to her ear and a disgruntled look on her face.
