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I’d taken no chances with birth control after what did or didn’t happen with us before, and I was never so glad. He was gripping my hips with a ferocity I loved, but I didn’t want it to be over yet. I slowed our pace, leaning over to kiss him. He caressed one breast, then the other as we fought to regulate our breathing through our unhurried kiss. If I could only kiss this man for the rest of my life, I’d die happy.

His skin was damp with a sheen of sweat from our lovemaking. I kissed his neck, then his chest as I moved off of him. He groaned. “Julia.”

I held out my hands and he took them, allowing me to pull him up. He stood in front of me, a god-like specimen of a man. “Lift me up.”

He quirked his brow at me but lifted me, a groan escaping me as our naked flesh touched right in the correct spot. “Take me against the wall.”

He looked at me, then at the wall. Without a second of hesitation, he carried me across the room and pushed me against it. It reminded me of his punishing kiss after I’d come out of the bathroom at the restaurant, but much, much better. Carter entered me, fast and hard.

“Yes, just like . . . that.” I dropped my head back, feeling his hand cushioning me from hitting the wall behind us. There was no more talking when Carter’s mouth found mine and he told me everything he wanted with his tongue. I clawed at his back, gripping him as he raced us to the finish line.

With a shout we both came, Carter’s lips finding my neck and biting gently as we supported each other while we came down from that heavenly high. My chest heaved, sweat dripping between my breasts. Holy. Hell.

Carter didn’t let go of me as he carried me into the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower. As if this night and early morning hadn’t been enough of a fantasy, Carter was about to make not one fantasy, but two come true.

“That was beyond words,” he said, breaking our silence.

“Yes, it was,” I agreed, my fingers playing with his hair. “Let’s just say that was our first time, whether that’s true or not.”

“Julia, drunk or not, there’s no way in hell I’d
ever
forget that, baby.”

I smiled, kissing him softly on his shoulder. “I want to taste you.”

He stepped us into the shower, putting me down on wobbly legs. “You’re going to have all the time you want to do those things, but first a shower and then some sleep. You’ve got to be exhausted.”

I yawned, proving his point, but I didn’t even care if I ever slept again if that was what I got to do in my bed instead.

I blinked my eyes open, the sun making me groan as it flooded through the blinds. I buried under the covers, wishing for the sun to go away. As I settled back into the sheets and closed my eyes, last night (well, this morning) came rushing back to me. I reached my hand over to feel for Carter, but all I felt was sheet. I ripped the sheets off of my head and looked around.
No. Not again. He didn’t leave this time, did he?

I stood up, looking around the room to see if I could see any of Carter’s clothing. Nothing. I grabbed a shirt and a pair of shorts, my stomach twisting. He left me. I looked on my dresser for a note. Nothing. I ran for my phone to see if there was a message. It was three o’clock in the afternoon, but there was nothing from him.

Choking back a sob, I flung open my bedroom door and headed for the kitchen. After all the walls we’d broken down, he wouldn’t have done this. Right?

I walked in and scanned the countertops. There was no note. His stuff was gone. Carter had left. Again. I slumped onto one of the barstools, allowing the built up emotions to release. I held my head in my hands, hot tears dripping onto the granite counter. I’d had such high hopes for our budding relationship. Maybe I’d been too trusting, too naive. Tracey had been right. He wasn’t going to commit to me; it was too much. The only thing he wanted from me was to satisfy his needs.

I heard the front door close, and I stood, my mind racing. Carter stopped when he saw me. “Julia? What happened?”

I shook my head, willing the tears away. He came back, his arms full of take out bags. Here I was, panicking and crying and thinking the worst, and all he’d been doing was getting us something to eat.

He dropped the bags where he stood and rushed to me, grabbing me. “What is it? Talk to me!” He lifted my chin so we were looking eye to eye.

“You were gone,” I cried, trying but failing to stop the tears.

“I . . . oh, shit,” Carter hugged me. “I’m sorry, Julia. I didn’t even think . . . I just wanted to get us some food to eat. I didn’t leave you a note. I’m an idiot. I didn’t leave you, baby. Not this time.” He wiped the tears from my eyes and kissed me softly. “God, I did this.”

I felt like a fool. Here I was, acting like an overly emotional disaster on our first real day at dating. “I overreacted,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” Carter lifted me and sat me on the counter, his hands resting on my leg. “Don’t you apologize. You woke up and thought I was gone because
I
did that. I made you feel that way. God, Julia. I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes, you do,” I sniffed. “I’m just being a ridiculous female right now.”

“Let’s start over,” he said against my lips. “Good morning, Julia. Well, afternoon.” He kissed me, making me forget for a moment that I had just acted supremely stupid.

“Good afternoon, Carter.” I looked up into his blue eyes and my heart tripped over itself. We had really happened. Carter had said he wanted to see me and figure out where this was going. We’d slept together, and he was still here.

“What did you get?”

“I ran across what looked like a good Mexican place, so I got us a smorgasbord of things. I hope you like it! I even got margarita mix at the liquor store. You have a blender, right?”

“I
love
that place! Was it El Tarasco?”

“Yes! It was busy in the middle of the afternoon, so I figured it must be decent.”

“Yes, I have a blender.” I hopped down and walked over to the bags, my stomach rumbling at the aroma emanating off of them. “Yum, I’m so hungry.”

Carter grabbed me from behind and pulled me to him, kissing my neck. “I’m sorry for upsetting you. I don’t ever want to be the reason you cry.”

I reached back and touched his cheek and down his facial hair, breathing in the intoxicating smell of him. “I freaked out. I should’ve just called you. It’s okay.”

“It’s
not
okay. I deserve to be smacked.”

I turned in his arms. “How about kissed instead?”

We ended up reheating our Mexican food.

I kissed Carter’s sleeping face, smiling when he grabbed me and pulled me on top of him. Neither of us had on any clothes, as had become standard with us.

It had been a week since the night Carter and I had the huge breakthrough, and things were amazing. We’d somehow made it all work week last week without mauling each other in the office, but it had been tense. Sexually tense, that is. We’d told Ethan and Paige just so that they could kind of let us know if we were crossing the line. I thought Paige was going to pass out in glee when I’d told her. She’d been trying to fix me up for months. Heck, years.

He’d been staying with me, or me with him every night. That man could
cook!
I made a mental note to thank his mom when I met her. We’d spent so much time talking after work that I felt like he opened up to me, and me him. We drove separately to work of course, and I usually left first.

“Rise and shine,” I whispered in his ear, licking his lobe.

“Have I told you lately how much I love waking up to this?” Carter’s hands roamed my body, igniting a trail of fire.

“I think yesterday,” I said into his neck, placing kisses all along the sensitive skin.

“And the day before that,” he teased, biting my shoulder.

“We can ride together today,” I said. “Since we’re going to the Adams project first, no one will notice that we’re coming in together.”

“I’m excited to see what they’ve started,” Carter said, flipping us so I was on the bottom. “But first, I’m excited to see something else.”

I groaned as he touched me, readying me. I could get used to waking up this way every day.

I pulled the car onto the job site, making note of the many work trucks I saw across the expansive area. There were concrete trucks pouring slab and workers moving it around to make sure it was level. I parked in front of the office, a trailer on the edge of the property.

“Not much happening yet, but that’ll change quickly,” I said out loud. Carter nodded, stepping from the car in his crisp black pants and light grey dress shirt with a black tie. I momentarily got distracted thinking about that body in my bed this morning. The things he could do to me with it were beyond amazing.

“You coming?” He stuck his head back into the car and then smirked at me. “Whatcha thinking about in that gorgeous head of yours?”

I shook my head, stepping out of my door. “You have me all messed up in the head.”

I knew he wanted to touch me, but he refrained. “Good. I like that. But you’ll have to keep your hands off me now, Ms. Gibbons. It’s time to work.”

He held the office door open for me, and a heated look passed between us. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I had that man; it was never enough. Tracey was a little concerned how hard and fast I was falling for him, but I had it all under control. As long as we could get through the next few months until his internship was over and he could get hired full time, then we wouldn’t have to hide anymore.

“Good morning, Christopher,” I said, shaking his hand. Carter followed, and the foreman of the project, Bobby, went into his explanations of what was happening now and the projected timeline for the next stages of development.

I knew I should be listening, but I couldn’t stop watching Carter. He was in his element, talking animatedly with Christopher and Bobby. He loved this job. His hands were flying as he was describing something, and his eyes were bright and alive. His laugh was infectious, and the passion he had for what he was doing rubbed off on everyone in the room.

I still wondered if he was a long-term kind of person, but I certainly wasn’t going to ask the guy I’d been seeing just over a week how long he planned on continuing our relationship. I had to be happy with where we were and how far we’d come already, and let the rest fall into place when it was time.

My cell rang and I saw it was the office, so I excused myself and stepped outside, leaving Carter with the other two men. He was beyond capable to handle it.

“This is Julia,” I answered.

“Hey, sweetie.”

“Hi, Mom. What’s going on?”

“Where are you?”

“We had a meeting with Adams on the property this morning.”

“Carter’s with you?”

I smiled, thinking how her question had two meanings. “Yes, he is. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Your dad must’ve forgotten you had a meeting, and he was looking for Carter. He wants to get him involved with something else we’re working on.”

A pang of jealousy zipped through me. They were going to take him from me? “We’ll be back in about an hour probably. Maybe a little more.”

“That’s fine.”

“What is the project he wants him to help him with?”

“Carter did some research on a grocery chain when he was in school as part of his portfolio. That chain has come to your dad wanting to build over a hundred stores across the country, so he wanted Carter’s input on what he learned about the company and what his thoughts were about it.”