Chapter 5
Five
J osie was back at work the following day, trying to pretend her thighs weren’t killing her and that she hadn’t had her world rocked in more ways than one.
She hadn’t spent the night with Carter. He hadn’t asked her to.
Of course, he hadn’t tried to rush her out the door, but she hadn’t wanted to risk that happening.
Her pride couldn’t survive a hit like that.
So around midnight, she’d gotten up, gathered her panties, and headed for the door.
He’d walked her out, kissed her good night, and handed her back the damn shoe that had started it all.
Glancing at the numbers on the spine of the book, she grimaced.
It would be on the bottom shelf. Squatting down, trying not to whimper and trying not to remember the crazy acrobatics from round two that had turned her thighs to Jell-O, Josie put the book back where it belonged.
Before she could get back up, a long shadow fell over her.
Doris, she thought, and grimaced. But as she glanced up, she realized she couldn’t have been more wrong.
Carter stood there, grinning cheekily and looking totally at ease. Not awkward or embarrassed or even slightly ruffled at seeing her. The bastard.
“I need some help finding a book,” he said, just loud enough for Doris, who was straining every muscle in her body leaning closer, to hear.
“What is it that you’re looking for?”
“The Kama Sutra,” he replied softly, without missing a beat. “I looked it up, and you are supposed to have it, but I can’t find it on the shelf.”
She was going to murder him. “We most certainly do not have that book,” she answered. Not that they shouldn’t have. If it were up to her, there’d be a lot of books available in the library that Doris frowned upon.
He grinned. “Do you have anything along those lines? I’m really looking to expand my knowledge.”
Josie could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks. He did not need to expand his knowledge of anything. And if Doris leaned any further over that counter, trying to hear every word that he said, she was going to wind up flat on her face.
“We have a selection of books that might be to your liking. They’re on the second floor. Section H.”
“Which way is that? Can you show me? You may not realize this, but I don’t spend a whole lot of my time in libraries,” he replied.
The grin hadn’t left his face the whole time.
He knew exactly what he was doing. Every female in the building had drifted closer, like he had some kind of weird gravitational pull that attracted estrogen.
Josie sighed. “Come with me,” she said, trying to keep her voice as professional as possible.
“I did,” he whispered. The grin was gone, and the teasing light in his eyes just vanished. It was all heat and sex, and suddenly she just wanted to be back in his bed with her legs wrapped around him again.
Her knees wobbled as she rose to her full height, which still meant she could walk right beneath his raised arm.
She had to squeeze past him to exit the stacks, her breasts brushing against his chest, and his eyes on her the whole time.
Her nipples hardened beneath her blouse, and she thanked heaven for padded bras.
He knew exactly what that casual touch had done to her, but at least no one else did.
As she crossed the room, she could feel him behind her, walking just close enough to keep up, to occasionally brush against her, but not close enough for any casual observer to think anything of it.
She could also feel his eyes on her as she climbed the stairs in front of him.
More particularly, she could feel his gaze locked squarely on her ass.
When they reached the second floor, she led him down the hall, and when they were out of sight of prying eyes, grabbed his arm and tugged him between the stacks.
“What the hell are you doing?” She hissed.
“I wanted to see you,” he replied, completely unapologetic and unfazed by her temper. “Those few hours last night were not nearly enough.”
“Carter, you know I can’t be seen with you!”
He moved closer, his big body blocking her in, his arms caging her there. “Why not?”
He knew why. Everyone in town knew why. Because she was the one preacher’s kid who hadn’t lived up to the wild child stereotype.
Yet. Because her father was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fontaine, and everyone in town looked up to him.
And because if she did anything to make him look bad, he wouldn’t be angry, he wouldn’t disown her, he’d just give her that cold, steely stare and tell her how horribly disappointed he was in her.
Everything wrong she’d ever done in her life had been met with those words, and they just made her want to curl up and die.
“Because we both know that everyone in this town knows what you do. Women are like Kleenex for you, Carter. And with who my parents are, I have a higher standard to live up to than most people!”
His hands closed on her waist, tugging her to him, close enough that she could feel the hardness of him against her.
All the reasons she should be pissed, all the reasons that she should push him away and try to keep her distance, just faded from her mind.
All she could think about was how it had felt to be consumed by him.
“Carter, I can’t.” She managed. “Not here. Someone will see.”
“Dammit, Josie. I’m not that bad,” he snapped. “They’re not going to make you wear a scarlet letter!”
First, he was referencing Hester Prynne when Carter reportedly never picked up a book in his life. Second, he was that bad, and they both knew it.
“Yes, you are. Melissa Pelfrey. Natalie Simmons. Carly Masters…and they’re just this year!”
“Just because I go out with a woman doesn’t mean I sleep with her,” he protested.
“Did you sleep with them?” she demanded.
He didn’t answer, just stepped back from her, shoved his hands in his pocket, and stared straight ahead. She wished she hadn’t asked the question, but it was too late.
“I’m not going to be added to that list of women who chased you around this town like a fool. I’m perfectly willing to keep seeing you, Carter. I want to. But not at the expense of my reputation.”
Carter stared at her for a minute, unable to really process what he was hearing. “This isn’t Victorian England, Josie!”
“It’s Fontaine, Kentucky, Carter Hayes, which amounts to the same damn thing,” she replied sharply. “If you don’t want to continue this?—”
“That’s not what I said,” he interrupted.
The thought of not seeing her again, of not tasting her or touching her, or having her tiny, curvy body straining beneath him…
Yeah, that wasn’t an option. Somehow or other, the little firecracker had gotten under his skin, and until he figured out how to get her out of his head, he’d just have to play by her rules. Even if they did rankle.
He took a deep breath, tried to calm the tides of both churning anger and stupidity-inducing lust. It stung his pride and, if he were honest, it hurt his feelings a little to be told he was essentially too much of a whore to be seen with. How the hell did that happen?
“Fine, you want to keep this a secret? We’ll keep it a secret. We’ll sneak around like everyone else in this damn town does.”
Josie nodded, clearly satisfied that she had his balls tucked neatly in her handbag. “Then get out of here. I need to finish work, and Doris is all over me.”
Carter shuddered. “Please don’t phrase it like that. The idea of Doris all over anyone is enough to shrivel my dick for life.”
Josie responded with an eye roll as she thrust a book at him. “Go check that out. If you don’t leave here with a book, heaven only knows what people will say.”
“I don’t have a library card,” he protested. “I just came in here to mess with your head…and to see if you’d come over tonight.”
“Get one. And yes. I’ll be there at seven,” she said softly as she moved past him and headed back to work.
Standing there holding a book, Carter looked down at the title. Hard Enough: Overcoming Erectile Dysfunction. He was still laughing as he carried it to the counter and dutifully checked the book out, just as he’d been told to.
Doris gave him the side eye, staring at the book and then at him.
“It’s for Emmitt,” he offered. “People always wonder why he’s so hateful. Nothing stays a secret forever in this town.”
Doris clucked her tongue. “That poor boy.”
Carter bit his cheek to keep from laughing. “We’re all praying for him, Doris. Every last one of us.” Emmitt would kick his ass, but it would probably be worth it. Oh, hell no. It would definitely be worth it.
It was just after six when Josie pulled into her driveway.
She was scrambling, running late, and in a foul mood.
Doris had cornered her before she left for the day, informing her that she felt Josie’s job performance was subpar.
They both knew that Doris’s real complaint was that she and Josie did not share DNA.
For years, every single person working in that library had a family connection to her.
She resented the city council taking over hiring in what she viewed as her own private domain.
Walking up to the front porch, Josie heard the television inside and frowned. No car in the driveway meant that her father had dropped her mother off for a visit. Great. Just great. That was the last thing she needed.
Forcing a smile, she let herself into the house that her grandmother had all but given to her. Yes, she paid rent, but it was a pittance. Meanwhile, her grandmother was living it up in a retirement community in Florida with a new boyfriend every week.
“Hi, Mom. I wasn’t expecting you,” she said.
Deborah Marcum smiled. “Does that mean you have plans? Maybe a hot date?”
Yeah. She was never having that conversation with her mother. I’m going to put on the sluttiest thing I own and let Carter Hayes bend me over his couch . Yeah. Never. Going. To. Happen.