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My breath catches in my throat. “That’s not what I meant.” I pause and attempt to calm my heart, but my heart is rarely calm around Carson Ford these days. “I like it.”

“Are you sure?” He releases my wrist and I immediately miss his gentle touch. He’s close enough I can feel his warmth. One step forward and our bodies would collide into one another. “I don’t want to make you feel uneasy or anything.”

“Too late,” I murmur, my involuntary drive to breathe suddenly ceasing to exist. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

His forehead creases and concern washed over his gray irises. “I make you uneasy?”

Shit.“Not in the way you meant.”

He doesn’t look any less concerned. “In what way do I make you feel uneasy?”

“In every other way,” I laugh, shaking my head at myself. I’m already too far into this, I have to explain now. Although, I’d much rather the floor open up beneath me instead. “You don’t make me uncomfortable, if that’s what you were worried about.”

His eyes slowly search mine, as if he’s contemplating his next move. Like he’s asking me for permission. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding and wet my lips as he reaches for my wrist again. This time, he lifts my hand in between us now. “May I?”

I don’t know what he’s doing, but I nod anyway.

He takes half a step closer, the distance even smaller between us now. He uncurls my fingers, pressing my hand against his chest, palm flattened over his heart. “Do you feel that?” he murmurs, his eyes burning holes through mine.

His heart pounds hard and fast beneath my palm. “Yes,” I breathe. A warm tingling sensation washes over every single nerve ending in my body.

“You make me uneasy too.” A ghost of a smile dances across his perfect lips. “You make me uneasy in a way that feels as though my heart is going to burst through my chest. In a way that feels like my brain can’t remember how to function properly. Like I don’t know how to regulate my breathing.” The corners of his mouth twitch, his hand shifting away from mine. “So, yeah. You make me uneasy in the best way possible, Trouble.”

A shallow breath escapes me and my lips part, drawing his attention to my mouth. He lifts his hand and slides his knuckles beneath my chin. “So do you.” The pad of his thumb is soft against my chin, tipping my head back farther as he takes another fraction of a step closer to me. “Carson,” I whisper.

“I’m going to kiss you, Andi,” he admits, his voice hoarse. “If you don’t want me to, now would be the time to tell me.”

My breath catches in my throat and my lungs constrict. “And what if I do want you to?”

“Fuck,” he groans. His nostrils flare as he sucks in a deep breath. He runs his thumb across my bottom lip. “You’re going to be my undoing, Trouble.”

“Are you guys going to kiss?” Tella’s voice shatters the moment, immediately severing the electrical current flowing between us. “You totally look like you’re going to kiss.”

Carson whips his head to the side, the same moment I pull my hand away from his chest and take an abrupt step backwards. “Tella. What are you doing in here?”

“I could ask you two the same thing,” she retorts, raising an eyebrow at her uncle. She’s only six, but the sass this girl has is frankly admirable.

Heat blooms across my face. “Carson was looking at something on my face.”

Carson raises an eyebrow at me while simultaneously stifling a grin. “Yeah, she had a chin hair that needed to be plucked.”

“Gross,” Tella says, crinkling her nose as she scrunches her face. “Matteo wants to show you guys the frogs.”

“On our way!” I chime, my voice unusually off pitch as I begin to move farther away from Carson. I step around the couch and breeze past Estella as she heads to the bathroom.

Carson is right there with me. “It’s a shame she interrupted,” he murmurs as we step out onto the patio. My footsteps are light, my heart thrumming in my chest.

“Yeah,” I glance at him as a smirk pulls on my lips. I shoot him a quick glance over my shoulder. “I guess I’ll just have to get that chin hair myself then.”

Carson chuckles. “Nonsense,” he says with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes just as we reach Matteo and Caleb. “We can pick up where we left off later.”

“What took you guys so long,” Matteo lets out an exaggerated sigh.

“Yeah, whatdidtake you so long?” Caleb questions, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

“She had a chin hair,” Tella calls out from behind us as she skips through the yard. “Show them the frogs before they hop away!”

Caleb looks even more confused. “Chin hair?”