Wildest Dreams (Carter Ridge #2)

Prologue

Aisling

Four years ago

I pull up in my car outside of the glossy black walls of the condo and stare wide-eyed at the scene in front of me.

My bed is outside of the building.

My bed is outside of the building.

“Oh no, no, no,” I whimper, quickly hopping down from the driver’s side, pristine white trainers hitting the blacktop at a fast clip. My car keys dangle loosely from the fingers of my left hand as I slip my phone from my pocket and swipe through a barrage of notifications.

How on earth could I have possibly missed it?

When I finally find the notification that I’m looking for I press the heel of my palm against my forehead, internally squealing.

“They changed the delivery time?” I whisper in defeat to no-one in particular, aghast at the prospect of having to carry a multiple-part queen-sized bed into my condo all on my own.

My twin brother Connell has an apartment on the floor below mine, but right now he’s at his first official freshman week of Carter Ridge University’s Division I football training, meaning that he’s about to be so busy that he might not even be coming back to the condo tonight. As much as I would love to use my baby sister privileges and wrangle him into bringing my bed up to my room for me I don’t want to bother him during his first week of college football when it’s his dream to play in the NFL – especially when, knowing Carter U’s track record, being on the team here is one-hundred percent going to make his dream a reality.

Sniffling, I click the lock button on my cell and hold it limply as I stare at the bed.

It stares back at me, looking way too smug.

So maybe I should have been more on top of tracking the delivery, but how was I to know that they would bump up my slot – and not just by a couple of minutes but by, like, four whole hours?

I fold my arms across my chest, car keys jangling as I drum my fingers against the soft cotton sleeve of my baby pink jumper.

There are no two ways about it. I’m going to have to carry the pieces into my building, solo.

Silently weeping, I pocket my phone and my keys, reassessing the situation in front of me.

I had been exclusively counting on the delivery drivers to help me get my new purchase inside the condo, onto the elevator, and then, ideally, unwrapped and placed exactly where I needed them to be in my currently-bedless bedroom. Carrying multiple extremely large wooden panels on my own was not something that I had anticipated happening after my first morning of cheer practice as a Carter U freshman.

The perks of being the heiress to the real estate family who owns the condo that you’re about to spend your four years of college living in? If you want to upgrade your bed from princess sized to queen sized, they’ll put that cute little princess bed into storage for you and totally give you free rein to decorate your room to your heart’s content.

But the downside of being the heiress to the real estate family who owns the condo that you’re about to spend your four years of college living in? Your parents are crazy busy and live nowhere near the beautiful mountainous small town that you chose to move to.

If only they’d been able to stick around for a couple more days so that they could help me shift this thing.

But whatever. I’m a big girl. No time to dwell.

I flip my ponytail, roll up my sleeves, and give a piece of bed-frame its first shove.

Oh my God, did they drop this thing in wet cement? Immediately panting, I move around to a different corner of the frame and wrap my hands around the edge of the headboard.

On one, two–

I release an unintentional squeal. The bed doesn’t budge one millimetre.

Okay, so this thing weighs about fifty thousand tonnes. I swipe my wrist across my forehead and crouch into a small squat, but not before glancing up at the dark thunderclouds overhead, ominously warning me to get pushing, pronto.

I just need to get each piece of the bed inside of the building. That’s my starting point. Just shove them inside as quickly as I can and then when Connell gets home–

I push against one of the panels with all of my strength, the impossible strain making my whole body tense and burn. I moan, gritting my teeth, and continue pushing as hard as I can, borderline growling with exertion by the time that I hear a deep voice rumbling behind me.

“Need some help with that?”

My palms are already sparkling with perspiration, and when I glance over my shoulder they become a hundred times slicker. They slip on the plastic wrap encasing a piece of the carved wooden frame and I fall onto the blacktop, dark gravel instantly biting into my palms.

There’s a guy standing about ten feet away from me, watching me from under the brim of a worn-in khaki baseball cap. He’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt that’s stretched wafer thin over his broad chest, and a pair of matching grey running shorts that his swollen thighs are protesting out of. He’s got to be at least six-four, but I’m so dizzy right now that he might be taller. His face is tan and strikingly handsome, and it looks as though he hasn’t shaved for a couple of days.

And he’s got the biggest biceps that I’ve ever seen.

From the sheer size of him he could honestly be anywhere from the age of eighteen to twenty-five, and with the heavy rise and fall of his chest as we watch each other I can only assume that he’s just finished a brutal work-out session.

His eyes do a slow sweep of my body before he averts his gaze, blushing crimson.

Interesting.

With slightly shaking arms I push myself up from my bent over position, wiping my palms on the thighs of my grey leggings as I stand to my feet.

He pulls off his khaki baseball cap and sweeps a large hand back through his hair. It’s thick and dark-looking in the pre-thunderstorm light, although the sides are closely shaven in a no-nonsense military cut. His eyes stay trained on the blacktop until he’s confident that I’m no longer bent over, and then his eyes flash back to mine, curious and unflinching.

“Looks like it’s going to rain. You trying to lift those?”

His voice is deep and rough, with a quiet country intonation. He glances at the bed-frame behind me and takes one tentative step forward.

“Yeah,” I admit, my voice light and breathless. His gaze slides back to mine and his chest lifts a little higher.

“Want some help?” he asks, taking another slow step forward. He has a kind of lazy cowboy swagger combined with a quiet, understated confidence. “Name’s Tanner, by the way. I live around here.”

My eyes widen involuntarily and I stare up at the condo in wonder. How have I been living here for almost a week and not bumped into this gorgeous guy until now?

Reading my mind he breathes out a quiet laugh.

“No, not this building,” he says. “I live around here .”

He tips his head to the side, in the direction of the imposing mountainous ridges that Carter Ridge is named after.

“I’m from Carter Ridge, I mean.”

My breathing halts and my eyes widen, unblinking.

Because one thing about me?

I love small towners.

I mean, in theory at least. Technically, before I visited Carter Ridge I wasn’t sure that they even existed. It’s my biggest secret, something that maybe even Connell doesn’t know, because to me small towns encapsulate everything that I have ever wanted, but could never have.

Tradition. Comfort. Privacy. Intimacy.

And most of all? Beyond the beautiful porches, up through the forest and into the mountains?

Something wild .

“You’re from Carter Ridge?” I ask breathlessly, resisting the urge to fan myself.

His eyes rake me up and down, and he widens his stance, cheek dimpling lazily. “Yeah. And you’re new in town.”

I blink, enchanted, and clutch a hand over my chest. “How did you know?” I breathe.

He huffs out a laugh and rumbles quietly, “Trust me, I’d remember you.”

In the next second a cloud breaks overhead and a few rogue droplets begin speckling the soft fabric of his shirt.

He glances down at his big barrel chest, swiping his palm over the tiny wet marks. When they don’t disappear he sighs quietly, rubbing more firmly.

I perch gently on one of the higher edges of the bed-frame, letting out a shaky exhale as I watch him stroke himself.

“Look, uh…” His voice is so deep that he has to clear his throat, flexing out a large hand before raking it through his hair again. “Don’t mean to impose. But if you don’t have anyone to help you get those inside, I can take a look at them for you, if you’d like.”

As much as I would love to spend my morning watching this gorgeous, small town muscle mountain carrying things for me, I can’t help but think that the wooden frames will be too heavy for one guy on his own.

“That’s super kind,” I tell him honestly, “but I think that this is more of a two-man job.”

He watches me for a moment before rumbling, “No such thing.”

His eyes hold mine for a couple of seconds, before he tips his chin at the headboard leaning against the wall of the condo.

“Want me to give it a try?”

I don’t think that it’s possible, but I also kind of want to see if he can do it.

I twist my lips, trying to hide my smile, and I nod. “Yeah, okay.”

I can tell that he knows that I don’t think he can do it because by the time that he’s finally two feet away from me he’s subtly rolling his shoulders in preparation. When his gaze catches mine his mouth lifts in amusement.

“Can you, uh…?” He looks down into my eyes, humour and heat sizzling in the air between us. He tentatively holds out his khaki cap, silently asking me if I can hold onto it for him.

“Oh, sure, of course,” I breathe out, trying to not burst into flames when our fingers accidentally brush against each other.

It’s like a zap of lightning. Coarse against soft.

Tanner grunts, quickly averting his gaze.

I re-cross my legs, swallowing nervously.

Tanner moves over to the headboard, leaning back slightly as if sizing it up, and then he crouches down so that he can get one hand positioned beneath it, the other firmly gripping the top. With one deep guttural sound he suddenly heaves it up, turning it ninety-degrees so that he’s holding it vertically. Then, when he’s sure that he’s holding it steady, he meets my eyes and gives me a jerk of his chin.

“This is fine. Thought it was gonna be heavy.”

I try to subtly pick my jaw up off the floor.

He nods his head toward the entrance of the condo and says, “Want me to take these inside? I can drop them in the foyer for you, if you want. I’ll do it fast, save them from the rain.”

I blink up at him curiously, watching the rain sparkle on his cheekbones.

I mean, having him carry them inside for me would be super helpful…

And it doesn’t exactly hurt that he’s, like, totally gorgeous…

“I’d love that. And that’s so considerate, thank you,” I say to him, getting to my feet and jogging to the front door. I swipe my key against the fob, opening it up for him.

Tanner carefully manoeuvres the first large piece of wood into the glossy entrance of the condo and, with an almost smile, he murmurs, “No problem.”

He sets the headboard gently against one of the dark ruby walls and briefly surveys the foyer before looking down at me again. He jerks a thumb back toward the entrance.

“Want me to grab the rest for you?”

He’s so to-the-point that I can’t help but smile. And after searching my eyes, he slowly allows himself to smile back.

And his smile ?

It’s the most handsome smile that I’ve ever seen.

“Yes, please,” I say gently, following him tentatively to the doorway.

I watch from my sheltered spot as he trudges toward the largest piece of bed-frame, braces his muscular thighs, and hauls it upright.

By the time that he’s carrying in the final section of wood, the light rain outside has turned into a pretty heavy fall downpour.

He carefully sets the wooden panel beside all of the other pieces and then he stands to his full height, watching me from under his lashes. He wipes his palms against his shorts, staying silent as we watch each other.

I glance down at the pieces of my soon-to-be bed now sitting patiently in the luxury foyer, then outside at the late September rain.

Then I slide my eyes back up to meet his.

He looks down at his cap hanging loosely from my fingers. Under the heat of his stare I dangle it a little more provocatively.

“You got a name?” he asks suddenly.

I swish my ponytail. “I have two, actually.”

His mouth curves into a smirk before he gives me another sweeping once-over. “What, a first name and a surname?”

I’m fully smiling now. “Yeah.”

Tanner shakes his head but he’s smiling too.

“Right,” he says. “So this is what I’m thinking, ma’am–”

A surprised laugh escapes me. “Ma’am?” I repeat, my chest all warm and sparkly.

He watches me carefully as a handsome smile lifts the corners of his mouth.

“I don’t know your name yet, do I?” he rumbles, before teasingly adding, “What would you rather me call you? Sugar?”

My chest shakes as I laugh, heart racing as he smiles down at me.

“So, look,” he says, shoving his fingers through his hair. “I’m gonna assume that you don’t wanna sleep on your new bed down here in this foyer tonight. But I also don’t wanna step out of line and come across as inappropriate… but I’m gonna offer anyway. Unless you’ve got a mover coming in here in the next few hours that I don’t know about, I’d be more than happy to... if you’d like me to, I can…”

He tugs at the neckline of his shirt, a red flush beginning to spread up his cheekbones.

“What I’m trying to say is, with the bed, if you want… because it’s heavy for you… not that you’re not strong, because you’re in, like, fuckin’ beautiful shape–”

Wow, he’s adorable.

I breathe out a laugh and decide to put him out of his misery.

“Yes,” I tell him, a little dimple popping in my cheek. “That would be really great. I’d love you to help me carry it upstairs.”

“Yeah?” he rasps, searching my eyes to make sure.

I nod. “Yeah.”

“To your room?”

“Yes, please.”

He takes a deep inhale and we watch each other for a few long moments, the gentle patter of the rain the only breach in the rich silence.

And deep down? I’m secretly really excited at the thought of having this unbelievably tall and handsome small town boy – who blushes at the thought of going into a girl’s bedroom – in my new bedroom.

He wraps his fists around the nearest panel and jerks his chin at me politely. “After you.”

Without another word I brush past him, heading toward the condo’s glossy elevators.

I hear a grunt as he hauls my bed-frame off the floor and then his heavy footsteps as he follows behind me.

I smile to myself as the elevator doors ding open.

How funny. I’d wanted to spend the day with my brother, hanging out with him and all of his football buddies like I did back in high school. But it’s starting to look like something way better has just fallen into my lap.

The reason why I picked Carter U as my college in the first place is because there’s nothing that I want more than a small town life. Sure, there have been upsides to being a prep school girl but at the end of the day that’s never the lifestyle that I wanted – mainly because of the people that I’ve always been surrounded with.

Because those hotshot prep school boys who got the best athletic training and scholarships?

They’re the biggest players that you’ll ever meet.

I mean, I would know, seeing as my brother Connell was one of the biggest players of all. But even though I love him, I don’t ever want to be caught up with someone like that – hence why at school I was the biggest player of all.

Never caring, never settling down, and never getting hurt.

Because if you’re the heartbreaker? You can’t get your heart broken.

I step inside the elevator and smile up at Tanner over my shoulder.

He steps in right behind me, his chest swelling as he returns the smile.

What a cutie , I think to myself as I press the button to my floor. A total sweetheart too. Definitely not a player.

I bite into my bottom lip as the doors slide closed.

In twenty-four hours I would wish that I’d never met him.