“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Carson peered over her shoulder. “That sandwich almost looks too pretty to eat.”
She gently shunted him aside. “I’ll get the plates.”
They didn’t talk much while they were eating.
After they finished, Carson said, “Best lunch I’ve ever had.” He grinned. “The appetizer was tasty too.”
She blushed.
“As much as I hate to eat and run, I gotta git.” He snagged her hand. “Walk me out to the truck and make me all sorts of promises about when I can see you next, because if you don’t, I’m afraid I ain’t gonna leave.”
Outside Carson leaned against the driver’s side of his truck and pulled her close so she rested against him completely. Then he scrambled her brain with a kiss so steamy she felt him getting hard against her belly.
That’s when he broke the kiss and rubbed his damp lips across her temple. “Thank you for today but when can I see you tomorrow?”
Ridiculously pleased, she said, “I could come to your place tomorrow night and cook you supper?”
“A hot woman and a hot meal? Gonna be another great day.” He pecked her on the mouth and moved her aside. “I’ll hafta draw you a map. My place is a little hard to find.”
Carolyn waited as he dug around for a piece of paper and a pencil. He pressed the paper against the window and sketched out a very detailed map and handed it over.
“Easiest way to get there. I wrote my phone number on the bottom if you get lost, not that it’ll help ya since you’ll have to drive into Sundance to find a pay phone.”
“I’ll find you.”
“Good.”
She stayed in the driveway until he pulled onto the road, watching him go. After his truck was out of sight, she returned inside and wandered to the sun porch. She crawled onto her bed and sighed. The sheets smelled like him. She may never wash them again.
Chapter Eight
Carson
Exhausted, Carson sat on the tailgate, drinking beer number two and smoking his third cigarette when Cal pulled up.
His twin hopped out of his truck and ambled over. “That bad, huh?”
“Yep.” Cal knew Carson only smoked when something weighed on him. Strange as it sounded, smoking always cleared his head.
And the shit going round and round in his brain wasn’t making a bit of f**king sense.
His brother grabbed a bottle of Coors out of the paper sack, and sat opposite him on the old stump. “What’s up? You’ve been awful damn secretive this week.” He twisted the cap off the bottle and drank. “Speaking of…I covered for you with Dad today.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“You were trackin’ down parts.”
Some piece of machinery was always busted so Carson wasn’t surprised their dad hadn’t asked specifics. “Thanks.”
“I reckon what goes around, comes around.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll remember that.” He took another drag and held it in his lungs before blowing it out.
“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on with you?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause you’ll laugh your ass off, then I’ll hafta to beat on you and I don’t feel like mixin’ it up today.”
Cal shook his head. “There’s a first.”
“Fuck off.”
He laughed. “And you’re touchy about it too. Gotta be a woman involved.”
Carson ground out his smoke before helping himself to another beer.
“Come on. Gimme something. Quit actin’ like a girl with the ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ bullshit and start talkin’. You tell me everything because you know you can tell me anything.”
No lie there. Maybe it was some twin bond crap, or the fact they’d lived together and worked together, but he and Cal never kept secrets from each other.
But Carson couldn’t force the words out.
When he heard the sarcastic voice cooing about those sweet and sentimental words being so tightly wrapped around his heart, he said screw that and blurted, “I’m in love with her, okay? Can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t f**kin’ think without my thoughts turnin’ to her.”
“Who?”
He sent his brother a fiery look. “You know f**kin’ who.”
“Jesus, Carse, you can’t be. It’s the whole forbidden fruit shit that’s convinced you it’s love and not lust.” He pointed with his beer bottle. “Take her to bed. That’ll get her outta your system.”
“Already did that and it’s just made it worse. Or better. Fuck if I know.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Bein’ with her…it’s different. I feel different. It’s like nothin’ that happened to me or anything I did before I met her even matters anymore.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
They drank in silence.
After a bit, Cal said, “So what’re you gonna do?”
“Drink until I pass out.”
“Great plan. If you pass out, I ain’t carryin’ you inside.”
“Then what good are you?”
Cal laughed. “No one else would put up with your shit, so you’re stuck with me until I pass you off as someone else’s problem.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”