Back to the Drawing Board (25 page)

My dad was turning to Carter for advice. The intern. Wow.

“I’ll let him know to come see you both when we get back to the office,” I said, hanging up. I’d never seen my dad ask an intern their opinion on something. Carter was going to be stoked.

Mr. Adams and Bobby walked out of the office. “I’m going to walk Mr. Adams around the property and give him some updates. We’ll be back in just a few minutes.” Bobby indicated inside the office. “That boy you got there? He’s something else. Your dad picked a good one, that’s for sure. I could see his name on the big office before too long.”

I laughed. “He’s fantastic. My dad isn’t a dummy, as we know. See you both in a few minutes. I’ll catch up with Carter on what you guys are discussing.”

I opened the office door and stepped in. Carter was leaning over the plans, a pen hanging out of his mouth. God, I wished I could take a picture of him like this. His eyes lifted when he saw me. “Hey, baby.” He’d taken to calling me that over the last week, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make my toes curl every time. “They went out to walk the property.”

“I saw them.” I forced myself to stand a few feet away from him, when all I wanted to do was run my hands along his toned backside and into his sexy hair while I lost myself in him. Again. “That was my mom on the phone. She and my dad want you to come into their office when we return.”

His eyebrow lifted. “Oh? For what?”

“Remember that grocery chain you did some research on, that wanted to make their stores more green and modern? Well, they’ve contacted my dad and want to build a hundred stores across the country. So he wants to pick your brain.”

Carter’s eyes widened, just like I knew they would. “Really? Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe it. Yes, I interviewed him about what things he wanted and the direction he wanted to take his company in the next ten years. I had no idea the CEO would listen to my suggestions and want to do them.”

“I bet he found out where you were interning and came to us because of that,” I said. God, I was so proud of this man.

“You think so?” He looked so much like a little boy when he was excited, and I could just picture him as a child.

“Surely possible. I mean, we’re well known for green technology, but so are many other companies.”

Carter stepped closer to me, and the air in the room changed. “I think I have a problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I think I have an addiction.” He ran his nose along my neck, and then put his lips to my ear.

“An addiction . . . to . . . what?” It was hard to put syllables together when he touched me.

“You. All I can think about is leaning you over that desk, flinging the plans on the floor, and taking you from behind.”

I gripped his arms, my breathing sounding like I’d just run a few miles. The visual he’d just painted in my mind had me a puddle of desire and need, right here in this trailer on a job site. “Carter . . . my gosh. You can’t do that.”

“Can’t do what, baby,” he growled, his hands now running under my breasts. “This shirt clings to your body in just the right places, and those pants? God, I can see every curve of your ass and it just makes it so . . .
hard
not to do you.” He pressed against me, showing me just how
hard
it was not to continue what we both wanted.

“Torturing me,” I moaned as his mouth found mine, silencing us both. They could come back at any second, but with his tongue mixed with mine and our bodies writhing together, I didn’t care. Not one bit.

Thankfully I heard footsteps on the stairs outside and pushed him away, wiping my lips and forcing myself to stop panting. “I’m going to do that, someday,” Carter said, walking back over to the desk where he’d been just as the door opened. If he didn’t stop touching me, I was going to have to go home and take a cold shower. Or bring Carter with me and get rid of this issue.

I didn’t say much the rest of the meeting, my head in the clouds. Every once and a while, Carter would look over at me and smirk, then go right back to the professional conversation he was having. How did he do that?

By the time we got into the car to go back to the office, I was exhausted.

JULIA AND I BARELY MADE
it back to the office without having to make a pit stop first. But before we went into the office, I needed to reach across the car and take her lips one more time.

“I knew this was going to be hard,” she said, reapplying her lipstick with a small mirror. “But it’s impossible.”

I smiled at her. “I know. At least at work we’re busy.”

“Except you’ve made me lose my mind. I’m supposed to be working on something or taking a call, or focusing on
anything
, and I just can’t stop thinking about you.”

“I like that,” I said.

She laughed. “Well, yeah, but I
do
have work to do.”

“Oh hey, while I’m thinking about it, my parents are going to come visit next month. Could you help me think of some fun things we could do with them while they’re here?”

“I get to meet the parents?”

“Well . . . yes? As long as you’re okay with that?” I hadn’t thought that maybe she wasn’t ready for such a thing.

“Are you kidding? I can’t
wait
to meet the lovebirds! I have so many questions for them . . .”

I groaned. “Oh, no.”

“No, but that sounds fun. I’ll figure out some stuff we can do while they’re here. I have a question for you, also.”

“Shoot.”

“Would you . . . come with me to see Johnny this month?”

“Are you serious?”

“You don’t have to. I know it’s a lot to ask. We’d have to lie to my parents, and I know that’s a big deal . . .”

“Julia,” I interrupted her. “I’d love to meet him.”

“Are you sure?”

“He’s your brother. He’s an important part of your life.”

“But going all that way, and seeing what you see with these people in prison . . .”

The elevator dinged open. “I said yes. We’ll figure out what to tell everyone,” I whispered as we walked a few feet apart down the hallway.

“Julia, I’ve got some messages for you. Hi, Carter,” Paige came up, effectively stopping our conversation. She looked between us, then focused on Julia. “Carter, Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons want to see you.”

“I know,” I said. “Thanks, Paige.” I headed for my cubicle, dropped my briefcase on my desk and took a deep breath.
Time to focus
, I told myself. Julia had me all sorts of rattled. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this with her; trying to be in a relationship with her. We hadn’t labeled anything to this point, but it was an assumption. We spent every waking moment together. I couldn’t believe how . . . happy I was, being with her. It still scared me to death, and I doubted what I was doing many times a day. But one look at her face, smiling with that dimple at me, and I was a goner.

“Hey man,” Ethan appeared behind me. “How’s it going?”

I was thankful Ethan knew what was going on because sometimes I just needed to be real with someone. “It’s great, man. How are you?”

He nodded towards Julia’s office. “Things good?”

I blew out a breath. “Beyond good, Ethan. But I’m afraid to think that way.”

“Why? She’s an amazing girl, Carter.”

“Oh, I know that. I just don’t know that I deserve how good she is. Plus, it’s stressful to worry about what happens if and when her parents find out. I mean, it’s not possible for us to hide forever. What if we decide we want things to be more serious? Then what?”

Ethan nodded. “I can understand that. It’s a hard situation. At some point, if you two decide this
is
serious, you’re going to have to be the man and go talk to her parents. They like you and respect you, and will appreciate you being honest with them rather than sneaking behind their back.”

“What if they fire me though? What if they won’t let me apply for a position here after my internship is up?” I’d posed this same question to Hayden several times already. It was my worst fear in all of this.

“Well,” Ethan started, looking around to make sure no one could hear us. “That’s a chance you’re going to have to take, Carter. You’re going to have to decide which thing you want more. Because if it’s this job and not Julia, well then you have your answer on whether or not this is going to get more serious.”

I had nothing to say to that, because I knew it was true. I felt like I had to make a choice between what I’d wanted for years and what I’d just recently discovered, and which one was more important. I thought about what Julia said about me wanting a job more than happiness, like Ronan. I knew what she meant, but at the same time, wasn’t it good to have a goal, a dream for a career? A career that could provide for me and . . . her?

“I have to go meet with the Gibbons. Thanks for listening, man. I appreciate it.”

“Always. I don’t envy your position, but I think what’s meant to be will be.”

I sighed. In a way, I knew he was right. But I thought back to my parents; they were meant to be but spent eighteen years without each other. That was a hard pill to swallow.

Summer was quickly turning to fall with the days getting cooler and cooler as the weeks flew by. I was both scared and excited about my first winter in Colorado. I couldn’t believe I’d lived here over two months now, most of those spent being delirious over Julia. We’d gone shopping for my ‘new winter wardrobe’ as she called it. I’d let her dress me in layer after layer, with sweaters, jackets, and boots now a part of my regular wear. I wouldn’t be wearing flip flops in November like I would in Florida.

With my help, GSJ had secured the contracts to design and oversee the construction of the one hundred grocery stores. I hoped I would still be there to see the completion of that contract, but I was almost halfway through my internship, and the project wouldn’t even be started until after the new year. The Adams project was moving right along, the contractors pushing to get the majority of the construction done before winter hit.

Julia and I firmed up our plans to go see her brother after my parents visit. Within a week’s time, I’d introduce my girl to my parents and meet Johnny. I was nervous, not only for the pure reason of meeting him, but because we had to lie to her parents to go. I’d told the Gibbons my parents would be visiting, and I wanted to have a long weekend to spend with them. I left out that they would already be gone when we went to Oklahoma.

While my folks were here, we were going to do an early Thanksgiving, and I planned on inviting all of my Colorado friends over to meet my parents. They were arriving later after traveling a full day on flights from Florida. I missed them terribly and wished my siblings could come, but was also glad my parents got time to themselves while my grandparents had the kids. They were staying with me, of course, and I wasn’t sure what to do about Julia continuing to stay with me or not.

“I’m heading into the office,” Julia said, coming out of my bathroom wearing a form-fitting sweater dress, knee-high boots, and carrying a knee-length coat. Her long hair was hanging in waves around her shoulders, and her cheeks were still pink from our morning lovemaking.

I groaned, flinging the covers off of me and standing up. “Julia. You come out of that bathroom looking good enough to eat and expect me to let you just
leave
? I have an idea.”