Midnight Ballerina (30 page)

“Sure do, I plugged it into the GPS. Holland’s sleeping on the couch, right? I call dibs on your bed again.”

My eyes widened and now it was Carter’s turn to smirk. Yeah, there was palpable tension in the air and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Now Miller was glaring.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Carter. I only let you do that because you were exhausted after helping me move in and I slept on the air mattress in the living room. Remember?”

“Right,” he dragged out, making it seem as if something else happened in my bed.

“Well, you two should probably get going, I have tons of work to do. I’ll head home in a few hours and we can figure out something for dinner.”

“Sounds good to me.” Holland urged Carter toward the door and for the first time in a while, I was thankful for my sister. I know that sounded bad, but my relationship with her had just never been good. “Oh yeah,” she called over her shoulder, “I think you and Carter need to have a private talk later.”

Carter elbowed Holland in the side. “Way to keep that big mouth of yours shut. I told you not to bring it up.”

“Oops,” Holland replied sarcastically, pushing on Carter again after waving to me. “We’ll see you in a little bit.”

Well, that was interesting to say the least. By the look on Miller’s face, I’d say he felt the same way, with possibly a little bit of jealousy thrown in. I hated to think it, but the fact that Miller was jealous of Carter was funny.

He had nothing to worry about when it came to Carter.

“WELL, THAT WAS…a surprise.” Monroe laughed slightly before turning toward me. “I had no idea they were going to show up like that. It sort of ruins your plans for tonight, sorry.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” I grabbed her hand, pulling her toward my office. I was trying not to let her “friend” Carter get to me, but it was pretty damn hard. As soon as I heard the front door open, I got up from my desk to see who it was and saw this guy, immediately recognizing the way he looked at her.

It was the exact same way I looked at Monroe.

I had never been jealous before Monroe came along, I guess because I’d never felt like this for any other girl, and it was making my blood boil. “If you want, they can come too. That way I can get to know ‘em a little bit better. Or you can just hang out with them for the night. Either way is okay with me.” Not really, but I had to bite my tongue. I was trying not to be overbearing, especially since her sister was unexpectedly in town. Monroe didn’t talk about her sister much, but they were family.

“They can be included in our plans?” Her eyebrows scrunched together and I laughed.

“Um…yeah. I mean, I planned on you staying the night afterward and I definitely wouldn’t include them in
those
plans.”

“I would hope not. I’d rather spend at least some of the night with you too, so I’ll bring Holland and Carter with me.”

I collapsed onto my chair, worn out from the day already, having been out at a job site since seven in the morning. Monroe sat down on my desk right in front of me, dangling her legs back and forth, and tilted her head sideways. “So, tell me the truth. Were you really planning on driving me home? You know I can manage perfectly fine on my own, right? You can’t just up and leave. You have businesses to run.”

She made some good points, ones that I didn’t think about when I blurted out that I intended to take her home. Luke was pretty much set running Pure on his own, but Buchanan Builders was another story. “Well….”

A slow smile crept over her face and she leaned forward, grabbing onto both of my hands to pull my chair closer to the desk. “You’re jealous, aren’t you? I bet you said that just because you didn’t want me to ride home with Carter. Right?”

Damn, was it really that easy to figure out what I’d been trying to do? I didn’t like that Carter, plain and simple, and I really didn’t want Monroe spending more time with him than necessary. Trust had always been a big issue in my life, mainly thanks to my ma saying she would come back for me, time and time again, and never actually doing it. I knew that trust would be a big thing in our relationship, and it’s not like I was going to or wanted to stop Monroe from hanging out with whoever she wanted, but the idea of that being Carter was grating my nerves so badly it felt like my insides were on fire and I’d just met the guy.

I didn’t answer her but instead grabbed her feet and pulled them around my waist, sliding her body from the desk onto my lap.

“Are you trying to distract me?” she asked, moaning when my mouth landed on her neck.

“Not at all,” I murmured against her skin, and her throat vibrated with laughter. “What? I’m not.”

“Mmhmm. But are you really….” She pushed on my head and I fell back into my seat, her green eyes twinkling at me with amusement. I’m glad she found this situation funny because I sure didn’t. I guess I really was a brooder.

“Don’t pout,” she scolded, pushing back a stray hair and shifting slightly, which didn’t make me want to stop at all. “I was trying to ask if you’re really driving me home. I know you can’t stay because you have to get back here and handle things. And I know you wouldn’t want to miss the holidays with your family.” She paused, sighing loudly but I kept my mouth shut because I knew she wasn’t finished. I liked her babbling. It was cute, and most of the time I ended up getting a whole lot more information than I would any other time.

“I mean, I know we just started dating, so I wouldn’t expect you to leave them,” she continued. “Plus, that’s a super long drive and so boring. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to drive all the way there and then all the way back, and then how would I get home? I guess I could get someone to drive me back but then I would be putting that person in the same situation and I just wouldn’t feel right. I think it’s best if I just drive my own car home and Holland and Carter can ride back together, or Carter can ride with me or whatever. I don’t know why my mom thought it was necessary to send my sister down here to retrieve me. I’m a big girl.”

“Are you sure about that?” I squeezed her waist, which I could probably wrap my arms around twice if I tried. She nodded her head. “I get that you could go by yourself.” Preferably not with Carter, I added mentally. “But I
want
to take you home and I don’t give a shit that our relationship is new and what people think. No one else matters when it comes to
our
relationship but you and me. Got it?”

She was silent for a minute, making me wonder once again if things were moving too quickly between us. Maybe I’d overstepped by saying that I was driving her; maybe she wasn’t ready for me to meet her parents. I wasn’t used to being in situations like this. But then she finally answered me and I completely forgot about that nagging voice in my head.

“Got it.”

“All right, then. Now, since we won’t be able to do
everything
that I planned for tonight, how ‘bout we get started?” I leaned forward to kiss her, but she stopped me with her hand, pushing on my chest.

“You aren’t the only one that has plans, Mr. Buchanan.” She slid backward off my lap, went to my door to lock it, and I started to argue until she moved to sit in front of my chair on her knees, one hand moving to pull down the zipper of my pants, and I groaned when she took my dick in her hands. “See? I can make some pretty good plans too, right?”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I murmured right as she took me into her mouth and the rest of the world ceased to exist as I buried my hands in her hair.

YEAH, THIS WAS not a good idea. At all. I should’ve just cancelled the plans for tonight and rescheduled them for some other time. I was trying to concentrate on the movie but it was impossible. Every time Monroe moved an inch closer in my direction, Carter would start talking about the good old times, drawing her back to him. I knew he was doing it on purpose and it pissed me off. Plus, there wasn’t exactly a ton of room in the back of my truck so we were already in tight quarters.

“This whole date you set up was pretty sweet of you,” Holland said from the other side of me, and I was a little relieved to have something to take my mind off of Monroe and Carter, who were now talking about the time they went to prom together. Yeah, I really didn’t want to hear that story. “Sorry we ruined your plans. If we weren’t here, things could get pretty hot and heavy.”

“Um….” I wasn’t sure how to respond to that so I turned back to look at the movie screen I had set up by the pond where I’d taken Monroe on our first date. It was one of those big giant blow up ones, and we were watching it from the back of my truck, complete with popcorn, beer, and of course, her milk duds. I’d already known about her obsession, but Amelia pulled me aside on our “double date” and told me that was the key to Monroe’s heart. I doubted it was that simple, but if it made her happy, that was all that counted.

“You better watch out for Carter. He still has it bad for my sister, which is the main reason he came.”

I grunted in response, already having known that myself. It was clear to just about anyone. “Don’t worry though. Monroe was never serious with Carter, more just friends than anything, really. I think she’s completely oblivious to how in love with her he is.”

“And how would you know?”

Holland frowned, blinking her eyes rapidly. She and Monroe were almost complete opposites when it came to looks. Where Monroe’s head barely reached my chest, Holland was almost as tall as me. She had blonde hair that drastically contrasted Monroe’s dark, almost black locks, and she was stick thin. Monroe had some curves on her that I loved. Holland was more Tanner’s type, definitely. She actually reminded me a bit of Marissa.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I just know you and Monroe aren’t that close, so how would you know how she feels about him?” I glanced over at Monroe, who was now watching the movie, and Carter was sitting there staring at her, looking like a lost puppy dog.

“Listen, I know Monroe and I aren’t close. That’s mainly my fault. I wanted to hang out with my friends when I was younger, not with my nerdy sister who acted like dance and books were the only things that existed. Okay, that came out a little harsh.”

I didn’t respond because I sensed that there was one thing that was similar between her and Monroe, and when she continued on and on, I knew that I was right.

“I just mean that Monroe’s not much of a people person. She’s always been quiet and that’s okay. Me, on the other hand, I like need to have people around me all the time. You know, this is actually the first time I haven’t had a boyfriend since I was twelve. That’s a big accomplishment, but it’s also saying a lot about me.” Her legs were now swinging back and forth, and I guessed she wasn’t too crazy about not having a man in her life. “It’s actually pretty surprising that Monroe has a boyfriend. Carter was her only one that I know of and even that wasn’t anything special. He took her for granted, I think. My sister’s special and I think he had to make a stupid mistake to realize it.”

“She is pretty special.”

“You’re not much of a talker are you? Most people would be asking what the mistake was or ‘why do you feel like you need a man all the time, Holland?’ But I can tell that’s how you operate. You and Monroe are actually a lot of like but you kind of balance each other out.”