Page 56 of Stand Your Ground

Maven huffed, picking her wine glass up so forcefully it nearly sloshed onto my rug. “Fine. But I want some kind of details even if he doesn’t make it to date two.”

I shot her the Cheshire Cat grin. “You sure about that?”

“You horny little witch.”

“Guilty as charged.”

Fortunately, the conversation shifted after that, away from my parents, my sister, and my nameless date. But while I worked on rings and Maven filled me in on how she and Vince were doing, my mind couldn’t help but race.

But it wasn’t my family drama I was consumed with.

It was the fact that I was going on a date with Carter Fabri…

And what the hell it meant that I was excited to see him again.

Flying Colors

Livia

“…and that’s why I can’t ever show my face at a Chili’s again.”

I blinked at Carter over the rim of my cocktail glass, lips twitching. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Oh, but I only wish I was,” he said. “Listen, I thought it was the smoothest line in the book at the time.”

“To tell the waitress she hadjalapeño eyes?! Carter, what does that even mean? Like her eyes were… spicy?”

“And green!”

“Oh, my God.”

“It gets worse.”

“Can it possibly?”

“As she stared at me with the very same blank stare you have right now, I followed up her silence with, ’So, this Triple Dipper, can I get it with the egg rolls, sliders, and your phone number?’”

“Carter…” I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head, shoulders bouncing as I tried to fight the laughter that was impossible to contain.

“Admit it… that’s kind of slick.”

“Like an oily car salesman.”

Carter grinned, boyish and unguarded, the firelight dancing in the gold flecks of his eyes. Although our evening had started with him quite tense, he was relaxed now — loose in his seat, fingers curled casually around his whiskey glass, one anklehooked over his knee like this was just another night out with the guys.

But it was a test, and another lesson — one I was finding myself enjoying more than I anticipated.

In the week since I’d last seen him, I’d been so busy with work I’d barely had time to think about anything else. We’d had two Osprey players in our chairs, a new set of veneers rush-ordered for a local newscaster whose wedding photoshoot got moved up, and one of my regulars decided mid-cleaning that she wanted to “just try” a full Invisalign consult — during my lunch hour. On top of that, my associate called out sick three days in a row, leaving me to juggle our packed schedule solo. I’d been running on caffeine and that post-orgasm high Carter had left me with.

But that hadn’t been the only thing I’d taken home that night.

He’d also gotten under my skin with his whole comment about not taking on the world alone. Whenever I wasn’t focused on work, it was hard not to let my thoughts drift to the sincerity in his eyes, to the careful caress of his hand against my jaw.

And when those thoughts did pop up, I smacked them down like a basketball I was guarding the net from.

Two-million dollars.

Eggs frozen.