Page 24 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

“Why do you always need to argue with me?”

“I wouldn’t need to argue with you if you weren’t always mouthin’ off all the time.”

“Well then you shouldn’t have come to this thing!”

“No one told me you were fuckin’ coming! You think I’d show up if I knew you were gonna be here, Malibu Barbie?”

“Oh my God.” I buried my face in my hands. “You are the most annoying person I have ever met in my entire life.”

“You aren’t even gonna look me in the eyes when you say that?” he asked.

“You two gotta get a room already,” Brodie suddenly chimed up.

Sawyer smacked his shoulder and I quickly rolled my eyes. I could hear Lucas and Annie chuckling beside me and I avoided the urge to send them a scowl. Did people not understand that what I was experiencing was hatred and not sexual tension?

“Shut the fuck up, Brodie,” mumbled Sawyer.

For once, I agreed with him!

Sawyer thankfully shut his mouth and kept his eyes on the fire.

Annie and Brodie were busy talking about some new album that had just come out when I felt two big hands on my shoulders.

That time, I didn’t jump. Turning around, I grinned when I saw Carter there.

He took a seat next to me, his blue eyes glowing as he pulled me right into his lap.

I heard a huff come out of Sawyer’s mouth. Watching him closely, I saw him rub at the back of his neck. Whatever .

“What were you doing up there for so long?” I whispered. “Who were you talking to?”

He smiled at me. “Just talking to Mom. She just wanted to know I was okay. You know how she is.”

I could have sworn I heard Sawyer scoff in the background. But I did my best to ignore him. Why couldn’t he just shut up?

“Cute.” I smiled, pressing a quick kiss to Carter’s cheek.

One of his hands were tight on my hip, the other one on my bare thigh.

My denim shorts definitely weren’t helping to fight off the cool, night air.

Carter squeezed at my thigh, grinning at me.

He was getting handsy again. The murmuring around me let me know that everyone was lost in their own conversations and not paying attention. Hopefully.

“Carter,” I said with a giggle.

“What? You know it’s hard for me to keep my hands off you. Don’t forget: we’ve got that big bed, all to ourselves…” Carter said lowly, his lips brushing up against my neck. “Wanna go take a look at it again?”

“Carter…” I tried not to sigh. Disappointing him was too easy, and I didn’t want to do that to him when we were having so much fun. “I…”

“Come on, babe. We can leave these guys here and go and have our own fun.” Carter’s hands moved up my thighs more and more. For a second, I didn’t think he was gonna stop.

“I’m going for a walk,” Sawyer declared suddenly, his voice booming. He stood up, towering over all of us.

There was a sharpness to his voice that wasn’t there earlier – even when we had been in the middle of our argument. He looked right at me as he stood there. Dark eyes, sharp jaw, lips pressed tightly together. Why did he look so angry?

Carter held me a little tighter on his lap, his hand pressing into my exposed thigh. “You don’t have to announce it,” Carter said. “I think we’d all enjoy it more if you left, anyway.”

“Get fucked, Carter,” Sawyer said rapidly.

I instantly felt Carter tense up underneath me. I eyed him closely, sending him a look that hopefully screamed that it wasn’t worth it. Thankfully, he stayed put. The last thing we needed was a fight right next to a blazing fire.

“You want me to come with you?” Brodie asked.

“No,” Sawyer grumbled. “I just need some air.”

Sawyer stormed off into the darkness without saying another word. For some reason, I was left curious as to what was on his mind, because that little argument we had was one of the tamest in our long history of screaming matches. It couldn’t have been that fight that had him like that.

“What’s his problem?” asked Carter. “Doesn’t matter. Hopefully he falls into the lake or something.”

“Carter,” I scolded him, but he just sent me a chuckle in response. I was pretty sure Brodie had heard that from the look he had shot at my boyfriend.

“Anyway, what was I saying before that loser interrupted us?” asked Carter, his voice going low again. “Mm, yeah. That bed. How about we check it out?”

“The bed?” I repeated, very much aware of Carter’s lips on my neck.

“There’s so much space, Holly. We could have so much fun. I could do whatever I want to you…”

God, maybe it would have been better if Carter and Sawyer got into a fight. My heart raced and my skin got all hot, and it wasn’t from being so close to the fire. I could have sworn I felt Carter getting hard underneath me, too. I was very quickly feeling overwhelmed.

“Let’s go, babe.” He kept going. “Come on. We don’t have to be here. Come with me. I’ve been waiting so long to get you alone. To have some time to ourselves. Tonight is perfect. Come on.”

He shifted below me and I was left with no choice but to get to my feet as he stood up. Did he really want to do this? My heart was beating even faster as Carter held my hand and pulled me to him.

“Alright, we’re gonna head to bed early,” Carter let everyone know.

I stared into Annie’s eyes, hoping and praying that she could help come up with an excuse for me. But despite how long we had known one another, she still didn’t have the ability to read my mind. Damn it.

Lucas and Annie bid us goodnight while Brodie offered me a wave. No wave for Carter, of course. Carter squeezed at my hand, smiled down at me, and began to guide me away from the fire and back to the cabin.

Every step felt like I was getting closer and closer to something I wouldn’t be able to get out of.