Page 24 of A Kiss for Carter (The Laws of Love 3)

Stifling a bubble of laughter, she lifted her lips and kissed him with a ferocity the Judith of yesterday would not have believed herself capable of.

Man, oh, freakin’man!!!

If he’d thought hand-holding had been a turn-on, think again.

The pressure of her lips, the wild tangle of their tongues… her hands roaming up his back, over his hips and pressing into his butt cheeks… and things were hotting up down below faster than a six-burner barbecue.

He tried to back off on the kiss, just for a moment, to regroup and claw back a skerrick of self-control…

But then with a little moan, Judith did some wicked rotational thing with her hips.And suddenly his cock was galloping full tilt for the finish line.

Holy fuck NO!—No way… nothere…

Desperately he wrenched his lips from hers.Stumbled backwards.

She stared at him with a mix of puzzlement and hurt.He’d never want to hurt her, but neither did he want… Oh, Christ almighty, it had almost got very messy.

Wrapping his jacket around himself, he shook his head.“Shit, sorry, I—it’s just—”

His cheeks were on fire.Miserable humiliation slugged him and all he wanted was to crawl under the nearest shrub and hide from her gaze.

He wasn’t a real man.Real men had control over their libido.They didn’t almost blow on a kiss.

She stepped back.He tried to grab her hand and missed.

“Did I do something wrong?”she asked

“No, it’s not you,” he said desperately, “it’s me, I’m—” He tried to find words that wouldn’t give the whole miserable game away.“Could we just, you know, take it slow?Get to know each other a bit better, first.”

Judith’s spine snapped straight.“Absolutely.Of course.”Her voice was thin and strained and polite, as if she was talking to a stranger.With a flick of her hair, she turned and started walking.He followed, tried again to grab her hand but she was swinging her bag by the strap, and it banged into his leg.He stifled a yelp.What the frig did women put in their handbags to make them hurt that much when they bumped you?

“I didn’t explain myself very well,” he muttered miserably.

She stopped on the path and said, “It’s okay Carts.”She sighed.“Look, to be honest, this is a bit silly, isn’t it?I mean, I’m only four weeks out of a long-term relationship, and I’m trying to seduce you behind a tree.I obviously misread the signs.I’m totally rusty about all this dating business to be honest.”Her laugh was as paper thin as her voice.“Just forget I did that.Please.”

“I loved it… honestly.”He reached out and this time located her hand and lifted it, with the bag still attached.They both stared at it, and he felt her tug of resistance and quickly released it.Hand and bag dropped like a weight.Like the weight around his heart.

Judith looped the bag over her shoulder.“How about we meet at yoga next Friday, have a drink afterwards, just get back to where we were before.”

His shoulders sagged and she must have noticed because she said, “Hey, it’s okay.Really.I’m not upset.”Her tone was soothing as she rubbed his arm.He felt like one of her patients, and realised how good she was at making people feel better.

“I like you.I really do,” he pleaded.

“Thank you.I like you too.”She said so airily it almost disappeared before it reached his ears.

She started walking and silently he fell into step beside her.

In the darkness his mouth moved as he searched for words.I very nearly came when you kissed me; my brain seems to have lost control of my dick…variations came and went… No freakin’ way could he say any of them.

So, he said nothing at all.

It was Judith who finally said, “I really should be getting home.”

His heart bleeding with the realisation that he’d blown probably the most important date of his life, Carts replied politely, “Of course, I’ll walk you back to your car.”

---