No More Secrets: A Small Town Love Story (The Pierce Brothers Book 1) (19 page)

Summer shook her head, letting him gently ravage her with his lips.

“This.” He slid his hand under the skirt of her dress and with a deft thrust, stretched two fingers inside of her. Summer felt her knees buckle at the invasion. Her thighs quaked as they tried to close against Carter’s legs, but he merely moved in closer, forcing them farther apart.

He grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. “Open for me, beautiful,” he whispered against her. His tongue and fingers entered her.

“I love how you touch me,” she whispered against him.

Without breaking contact with her mouth, he freed himself from his jeans and brought the head of his cock to her wet center. He lifted her onto the edge of the table, spreading her legs wide.

He let her grip his shaft and guide it between her damp folds. Back and forth, she worked him with her hand sliding him against her until she trembled. His tongue rubbed against hers in a kiss so carnal it scared her.

“I thought about taking you like this,” he murmured, moving his lips over her jaw, down her neck. “Then I thought about bending you over the table.”

His voice caught as she brushed her thumb over his sensitive tip.

“What did you decide?” she asked, biting his bottom lip.

Carter growled low in his throat.

“This.” He pulled back just enough to drag on a condom before lifting her in his arms.

He kicked a chair out from the table and as he sank down onto it, he sank into her. She gasped against his throat.

“God, I love how you fit me,” he whispered, lips skimming her throat.

Summer’s legs hung over the sides of the chair, toes skimming the floor. Carter adjusted, shoving his jeans down further so he could open his legs.

She moaned at the friction it caused inside her.

“So perfect. So beautiful. Hold still a minute, baby.” He held her hips in place when she started to move. “I just want to feel this. Feel you surrounding me, belonging to me.” His fingers dug into her hips with the effort to stay still.

Summer shivered. She was so full.

“Let’s take this nice and slow.”

Carter untied the knot in her denim shirt and slid it from her shoulders. He dipped his thumbs under the thin spaghetti straps of her white dress.

“Did I mention that I’m not wearing a bra, either?” she murmured, pressing kisses to his face.

His hands stilled on her waist.

“I’m glad you didn’t tell me until now, otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted through dinner,” he said, trailing his mouth over her collarbones.

He slid the straps from her shoulders and Summer held her breath as the material clung to her breasts for a moment before slipping down her body.

The candlelight flickered from behind her, casting shadows everywhere. But she could still see Carter’s eyes. The hard glint of need when he leaned in to softly nuzzle at her breast.

Summer sighed and ever so slowly rocked her hips forward and then back. Carter moved inside her, with her. He ran his tongue over one sensitive tip and then the other. His strong hands lifted her so he could move with her.

“Slow, Summer. Slow,” he whispered, his breath hot against her skin.

She rode him slowly in the candlelight until the wave of pleasure took them both to the peak before sending them drifting, spiraling down to earth.

––––––––

T
he morning arrived too quickly for Summer’s taste. One minute she was wrapped in Carter’s arms, and the next she was opening her car door, saying good-bye.

“Text me when you get home, okay?” Carter reminded her for the third time.

“I will. And we can talk tonight?”

“Nine o’clock,” Carter nodded.

Summer swung her bag into the passenger seat and turned around to face him. She wrapped her arms around Carter’s waist one last time.

“I don’t know what to say. How to tell you ...” she pressed her face into his chest.

His arms enfolded her again and he brought his chin to the top of her head. “Just say ‘I’ll see you soon.’” He was right. She fit him just right.

Summer nodded and sighed. “Okay, one more kiss.”

Carter obliged and gave her a kiss that scorched her to her toes.

“See you soon, honey,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose and her forehead.

“See you soon, Carter.” Biting her lip, Summer pulled back and slid behind the wheel.

Summer slipped on her sunglasses, and blowing him a kiss, pulled away.

S
ummer had expected to feel a bit of relief returning to the city, back to her routine. Back to everything that was so familiar to her. Instead, she was antsy and distracted. She spent her first week — and a better part of the second — back bogged down in the work that had piled up while she was gone and sneaking out of events to call Carter.

She had gotten a lot of compliments on her “glow” when she returned, which she told everyone had to do with the fresh air and sunshine. Not a sexcation.

Hmm, a sexcation. She scribbled a note to herself to see if any of the other big monthlies had covered that topic before.

She was rapidly becoming an expert on them. They had planned to wait two weeks before seeing each other again. They hadn’t even made it one full week. He met her at the train in Rhinecliff on a Thursday and they spent the entire night making love in a motel.

Dinner came from the vending machines. Carter put her back on the train at six the next morning and it was back to work for both of them.

They had done it twice now.

The second time, there had been a delay at the station and Summer arrived at the office in a panic having missed two morning meetings. It was a warning from the universe, she decided. Focus on work. Stick with the plan.

To cheer herself, she opened the email Joey had sent her a few days ago.

––––––––

T
o: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

You’re officially Blue Moon famous. Let me know next time you’re in town and we’ll go to Anthony’s house to make sure he’s never heard from again.

––––––––

T
he email contained a link to the The Monthly Moon story, which skirted the rules of good journalism by speculating that while Summer had left for Manhattan, it wouldn’t be long before she returned to their fair community to permanently end her search for a husband after one of Blue Moon’s most eligible bachelors won her heart.

It included a bulleted list of her qualifications for a good man and how Carter Pierce rated in each category. The only category he didn’t rank highly in was “chiseled jaw.” An asterisk educated the reader that his jawline was unable to be properly measured due to his beard.

Joey Grier was quoted as saying that Summer was looking forward to starting a large family.

The article ended with, “In related news, Ms. Grier is looking to rekindle her high school romance with Jackson Pierce. It looks as though two of the Pierce bachelors are officially off the market.”

Summer rolled her eyes. If her father thought what she did for a living was a disgrace to journalism, he would be horrified by
The Monthly Moon’s
coverage.

She turned her chair to take in the view out the window.

She had felt off-balance ever since returning to the city. It was harder than she imagined to divide her time between work and a personal life. She wasn’t exactly used to having a personal life, having dedicated so much of herself to her goals since college. 

She was just getting used to a new normal, Summer told herself. She could make it work.

“Must be nice to have time to just sit and do nothing,” the cat-like voice of Kira Nakano purred.

All five-foot-ten-inches of her leaned against the wall of Summer’s cubicle. Everything about her was sharp. Candy pink nails that her manicurist shaped into points and black hair that hung to her shoulders in a razor’s edge bob.

“What can I do for you, Kira?” Summer said, her tone as sweet as sugar.

“I just wanted to stop by and see how you’re doing since your vacation.” She examined the talons on her right hand.

“I was on an assignment,” Summer reminded her.

“I just assumed it was a vacation, since you’ve had so much trouble getting back into the swing of things,” Kira said, pasting a phony look of concern on her face. “Missing those meetings earlier this week?” she tut-tutted. “Since you weren’t there, I thought I’d get you up to speed. Katherine gave me the piece to do on Sylvia Van Brennan’s new album.”

Summer smiled sweetly. “Oh, the two hundred words on her holiday album? How nice. I bet that will keep you busy for a while.”

Kira’s eyes narrowed. “I’m also coordinating the anniversary issue contributors. Gosh, isn’t that something you did last year?” She tapped a pink nail to her chin. “Maybe Katherine is just realizing that you don’t have as much to offer as she thought you did.”

“I guess that’s for Katherine to decide,” Summer answered shortly. “Maybe you should go remind her how invaluable you are.”

Kira glared at her. “You’re tan. All of that farm work is going to give you sun spots. You should see a dermatologist.”

“Thanks for stopping by,” Summer said. “You’d better run along now. You don’t want to get behind with all your special projects.”

“Ladies.” Nikolai Vulkov sauntered into Summer’s cube.

“Nikolai.” Kira gave him a frosty nod before strutting out.

Summer shoved her hands through her hair. “Ugh! That woman makes me want to push her off a rooftop and then hit her with a bus.”

Niko pressed a kiss to her cheek. “She has that effect on most people.”

“You never ... with her ...?” Summer demanded.

Niko put his hands up. “I don’t sleep with every beautiful woman I meet.”

“You think snide nastiness is beautiful?” Summer snorted.

“Not everyone can be as sweet as you,” he teased. “So I see you survived farm life.”

“I have. And had a pretty good time doing it. How was Paris?”

“Same old, same old.”

Summer grinned. “Jet-setting off to Paris for a shoot and then on to Blue Moon Bend. I can’t wait to see you on the farm.”

“Oh, like you’re so at home there.”

“I told you. I had a good time.”

Niko’s eyes narrowed. “Uh-huh. And what did you say Old MacDonald’s name was?”

“Carter. Carter Pierce.”

“You slept with him!”

Summer jumped up and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up!” she hissed.

He dragged her hand down. “I knew something was different about you,” he said triumphantly.

“Will you keep your voice down?”

He laughed. “Ms. I Have No Time for Relationships when it comes to models and investment bankers goes and falls for a farmer!”

Summer groaned and sank back in her chair. “Just what’s it going to cost me to get you to keep your big, fat mouth shut?”

“Smuggle some vodka into the barnyard for me and we’ll call it even,” he smirked.

“You are insufferable.”

“That’s why the ladies love me.”

“I’m throwing up now.”

“It’s good to have you back.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get out. Leave me to my misery,” Summer sighed.

––––––––

S
he got home at the reasonable hour of nine that night and gratefully changed out of her work clothes into Carter’s shirt. Summer had stayed late to get a jump on a few projects. Her conversation with Kira had reminded her of the dangers of taking her eye off the prize. If she slacked off, even just a little, someone would always be there to step into her shoes and take what she had worked so hard for.

She poured a glass of wine and carried it and her veggie stir-fry to the couch. Into the third week and she was still eating like a vegetarian. It really wasn’t bad. And if the diet had the positive health benefits it was supposed to, the sacrifice of bacon and burgers would be worth it in the long run.

She scrolled through the comments on her blog, noting that many of them were asking about Carter and the farm. Summer hoped she would do them justice in the article. The article that was due to Katherine in exactly two days.

She had a solid draft, but wanted to take another pass at it with fresh eyes to make sure she was telling the best story she could.

Her phone signaled an incoming video call.

Carter.

She was already smiling as she answered the call.

“Hello, handsome.”

He was on the couch, too, in his Pierce Acres t-shirt.

“Nice shirt,” she grinned.

“I could say the same for you. I’ve been looking for that one.” His voice soothed away the stress of the day.

“Oh, this old thing? I borrowed it. It smells like you.”

“Right off the farm me or after shower me?”

Summer held the collar up to her nose and sniffed. “A little bit of both. I like it.”

“How was your day?” Carter asked, leaning back against the cushions.

“It wasn’t bad.” She thought of Kira and Niko and decided not to mention either conversation. “Lots going on for the next issue. How about you?”

“You know I can read you like a glossy magazine, right? I’m not buying the ‘it wasn’t bad’ answer.”

Summer smiled. “Really? What am I thinking right now?”

Carter raised a dark eyebrow. “Honey, get your mind out of the gutter and tell me about your day.”

She did, sparing him her wish to toss Kira off of a building. “How is it everyone can look at me and know that we had sex?”

“If you figure it out let me know because Gordon Berkowicz told me I had a ‘healthy glow’ and Bobby took one look at me when I dropped off her delivery and started laughing.”

“Did she say why?”

Carter shrugged in equal parts annoyance and amusement. “She said I was whistling and had a ‘big, stupid smile’ on my face.’” He held up his fingers as quotes.

“Awh, poor baby. Are those mean Mooners picking on you?”

“Yes,” he frowned. “Come save me from them.”

“I wish I could, but it looks like I’m going to be stuck in the city until I come see you for the shoot.”

“If the motel is off the table — and I know how much you love animal crackers and stale candy bars for dinner — I was going to suggest I come to you.”