Page 95 of Ly to Me

“Well then, let’s see how good her poker face is,” his dad said, beaming as his gaze slid between us.

Carver lifted his cards and angled himself so he wouldn’t see mine since he was sitting so close to me. His dad explained a few of the rules, and Carver pitched in when he felt I needed more direction. Before I knew it, we were three games deep, with plates half-empty on the table, and nothing but sheer happiness surrounding all four of us.

At some point, Nora’s song came back on the radio, and that’s when we both realized we’d skipped most of prom, but truthfully, I’d do it all again just the same. His parents had moved into the kitchen to clean up from dinner, having refused our offer to help, leaving Car and me alone in a bubble meant just for the two of us.

Right when a slower song came on, Carver leaned in and pushed my hair over my shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s go,” he said softly.

My hands fumbled in my lap. “Go…to prom?” I asked, studying his tuxedo jacket tossed over the back of the chair, then his cuffed sleeves. When I noticed two of his shirt buttons undone at the top and his tie resting loosely around his neck, no longer knotted, he chuckled.

“No.” He shot up from his seat and grabbed my hand, pulling me up after him. “Dancin’.”

Before I could get a word out, he was pulling me through the back door, and I silently thanked myself for removing my heels because if I hadn’t, I would’ve surely tripped several times with the speed Carver was tugging me along.

He abruptly stopped and spun me in his arms with an impressive dance move I had no clue he was capable of.

“Hands here,” he directed, shifting my hands from his upper arms to around his neck, forcing me to almost stand on my toes.

Under the light of the stars and the moon, Carver’s eyes glowed, the iridescence in them outmatching anything in the sky. His forehead fell to mine, both of us lost in each other.

“I—” he started, then cleared his throat. “I think you look really beautiful.”

A gnawing pit formed in my chest, but it wasn’t painful or unwanted. It was…something I couldn’t and shouldn’t ever think about feeling. Something no one like me deserved to have.

“You could have put anyone in this dress and said the same thing,” I teased, and his lips turned down.

“No, sweetheart. It’syouthat’s beautiful. The dress is just…extra.”

“You shouldn’t have bought it for me. And now that we clearly aren’t goin’ to prom, I think you should bring it back tomorrow. I saved the tags.”

He shook his head and pulled back. “The dress was made to be worn by you. I want you to keep it. Forever.”

Those words twisted my gut. I settled my head on his chest, and he started swaying us both to the dim music funneling out from inside.

“Car?”

“Yeah, Ly?”

I tried to sift through my feelings, the right words somewhere on the tip of my tongue, but my throat closed when I opened my mouth. I snapped my lips shut and focused on the hairthat fell to his nape, twining the strands between each finger methodically. The silence stretched, but neither one of us spoke, too caught up in simply holding each other to care to talk anymore.

Our bodies were saying it all—

I love you, Carver Roland.

Forever.

33

Lyra

The Secret

My eyes fought against the burning rays of the midday sun as Carver carried me back inside the house. He set me down in the hallway bathroom on shaky legs, then took one look at the buckle of my knees before he lifted me back into his arms.

The countertop looked hard and daunting as he stepped up to it, and I let out a soft whimper at the thought of my ass trying to settle on it. “Don’t worry, I got you,” he assured me, then gave me a slight smile. “I need you to reach between us and unbutton my jeans.” I scowled, and before I could open my mouth, he added, “We’re taking a bath.”

I pursed my lips, but the thought of warm water soothing my muscles and sore bottom made me reach into the small space Carver created between us so I could do as he said. He kicked his clothes and stepped into the small tub, maneuvering the lever with his knee, refusing to put me down. It was something I might have appreciated more had he not been the reason for the way my body had become weak, just like my heart.

“How’re you gonna fit in this tub with me?”