Page 36 of One Twisted Lie

“I shouldn’t. I have—”

“Oh, yeah. No. Totally,”he rushes out, tripping over his words.“Don’t even worry. It was a stupid suggestion in the first place.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I insist with more craps than I thought I gave. I pause, staring at my laptop. “Princess?”

It takes him so long to answer I’m almost afraid he’s gone.“Yeah?”

I take in a deep breath and stand, marching purposefully toward my desk, slamming my computer shut, and grabbing my keys.

“Meet me there in thirty.”

Chapter 18

Ozymandias

As pretentious as it sounds, I never imagined myself engaging in such a plebeian activity.

But here I am, in the middle of Central Park Zoo, surrounded by screaming children and stressed-out parents, hands in my pockets and anxiety in my gut as I wait for Carter.

I feel kind of like a tool in my hundred-dollar jeans and Ralph Lauren polo but, fuck me, I wanted to look nice. For Carter. I wanted to look nice for Carter.

Christ, what has the world come to?

I’m pleasantly surprised by how nice this is, though. They’ve strung lights around all the trees—red, purple, and green decorating the branches—and they’ve even made animal-shaped light sculptures. It’s peaceful and nice but then my heart drops to my ass.

Carter is here.

I’m still not used to the way my body thrums in his presence. I’ve never imagined I’d have this reaction to seeing him like it’s my birthday and Christmas all wrapped up in one.

He looks fucking awesome. Despite the warmish weather, he’s wearing a fucking dark green turtleneck like a prick, paired with tight dark jeans. He looks like a fucking snack, and I want to binge until I’m stuffed and ready to throw up.

He stops in front of me, pushing his glasses up his nose as he gives me an awkward little wave. “Hi.”

“Hey.”

I gulp. Do we kiss? I don’t exactly know how we’re supposed to greet each other. I mean, he’s had his cock up my ass, so all pretenses should be gone. But what if kissing is too much? I have no idea what our label is besides people who fuck. We might not have the type of relationship where we—

A pair of soft lips silence my thoughts. Like always, Carter’s taken the lead. His mouth is gentle on mine, the pressure so fucking familiar it makes my chest ache. I anchor myself to him with my hands on his shoulders, leaning into him as his hands land on my hips. He pulls away and the sweet, tender moment seems to be over too soon.

There’s a kind of thick tension when we part. I swallow nervously as I fake confidence and smirk. “Okay, enough. Just admit you love me already.”

He gives me a slow grin as he softly slaps my cheek. “Love you? I don’t think anyone can love you more than you love yourself.”

I sigh with relief at the familiar banter we’ve fallen back into. Good. Things were getting too intense. “Dick.”

“Ass,” he snorts, giving my hips a squeeze before dropping his hands. “So, shall we?”

I nod. “Yeah, let’s go.”

I pull out the tickets I bought online as we walk to the gate. The crowd pushes us against each other as we move through the entrance, and I think it’s some random trying to cop a feel when a hand lands on my ass. I’m about to punch someone before I realize that it’s just Carter.

I don’t know what to make of the fact that he’s so publicly claimed me, granted in front of a bunch of total strangers. His arm is sort of draped around my back with his right hand tucked into my back pocket. It’s a semi-possessive grip, like a sign for everyone to fuck off as he tugs me close to his side.

“So, the zoo?” he asks casually as if he hasn’t just rocked my world.

I shrug a shoulder. “I know it’s a bit childish.”

“Yeah, it is.”

---