Chapter 25
Awake
Carter
I woke up with all my senses addled. The sunlight streaming through the window told me I wasn’t in my room. The smell of eggs and bacon confirmed I wasn’t at home because I seldom made breakfast. And the warm body next to me told me I wasn’t alone. And it was a huge body. Certainly not Vic’s.
Then my eyes snapped open as everything suddenly came back to me.
No way.
No way it happened.
But it happened. I knew it did.
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
When my traitorous lips curled into a smile, shocking the hell out of me, I started to panic.
What are you doing, lips? Stop smiling.
“Hey, guys,” Shelly shouted. “Breakfast is almost ready.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, determined to get that smile off my face before I—
“Good morning,” a deep voice rumbled, and I felt the large body stretching against me. Or under me since I was wrapped around him like a koala. My arm was thrown over his waist. My head lay on his chest. My leg was entangled with his, touching certain throbbing parts that made my pulse quicken.
I pulled my hips further away because my dick was hard as stone and mumbled a barely audible, “Good morning.”
“Do I smell eggs?” Tye said, raising his head. “I’m starving.”
“I’m making pancakes, too,” Shelly shouted, sounding cheerful. “Feel free to use the bathroom, guys. It doesn’t smell like puke anymore.”
“Do you want to go first?” Tye asked me, lowering his head to look at me. I nodded and jumped out of bed, hurrying toward the bathroom before he could notice my boner. After I’d washed my face and swallowed half the toothpaste to make the taste of alcohol go away, I joined them in the kitchen. Tye was sitting on a bar stool and laughing at something that Shelly said, which sounded like “I hate you, by the way.”
“All yours,” I muttered, sitting beside him and avoiding his eyes. Of course, I meant the bathroom, not… myself.
“Thanks,” Tye said and headed to the bathroom as Shelly approached me.
“Thank you for staying,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I don’t know what I would have done without you guys.”
I hugged her tight, realizing she had showered while we were asleep.
“How are you feeling, Shel?” I said, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.
She made a face. “Not good, Carter. And I probably won’t be for a while. I fucked up, and I know it, but I’ll try to fix it.”
“You can do anything you put your mind to,” I said, caressing her hair. “And whatever you need, I’m here for you. You know that, right?”
She nodded, wiping away a stray tear. “I know. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”
At that point, Tye returned and sat beside me, smelling like toothpaste and soap. When his leg brushed against mine, my face warmed, but I kept my eyes on my plate.
“I slept like the dead,” Shelly said, looking at us from under her lashes. “How did you two sleep?”
I choked on my eggs as Tye chuckled, throwing a piece of toast at her.
“Probably not as good as you, vixen.”
“I bet,” Shelly murmured, pouring maple syrup over her pancakes. “You lucky son of a bitch.”
Tye glanced at me, but I wasn’t lifting my gaze off my plate, not in this lifetime.
Or ever.
After breakfast, I went to the bathroom to get dressed. I was trying to button up my shirt, which wasn’t easy with all the buttons missing, when Shelly threw another shirt at me.
“It belonged to my ex. You can’t go to work with your shirt ripped to shreds.”
I bit my lip, trying not to think about how it came to that.
“It’s not exactly in shreds,” I muttered, looking for the nearest exit.
“Right,” Shelly said, smiling widely. “Of course not.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling awkward.
“Look… I… I can explain.”
She laughed. “And I would love to hear it, because whatever you two were doing sounded hella hot.”
She left before I could find an appropriate answer, but what would be the point anyway? She wasn’t stupid. And Tye and I weren’t exactly quiet last night.
Last night. Fucking hell.
Thorsen
After breakfast, we dressed in a hurry because Chief Bibb only needed an excuse to fire someone, so we didn’t want to be late. Once on the street, Shelly sped off in her car, while I walked up to Carter just as he opened the car door.
“Mind if I ride with you, partner? My car is still out of commission.”
That piece of crap was still in the shop after it broke down, but for once I didn’t mind.
“Sure,” Carter replied, looking at the sky with a frown. “Fuck, it’s going to be a hot day today.”
Last night was hotter, I thought, but I kept it to myself. I also reminded myself to turn it down a notch, hoping that one of my functioning brain cells would pick it up.
Once in the car, I reached for the seatbelt and tugged, only to realize it was stuck. Either that, or my brain was so fried that I forgot how to use the damn thing.
“It’s broken,” Carter said, leaning over me. “You have to pull and then release it. It’s the only way it works.”
I watched him do it, his face so close to mine that I could count his eyelashes. His scent overwhelmed me, making me feel woozy. Then his eyes found mine—for the first time today. A faint blush spread across his cheeks, making me smile. Then his lips twitched as if he was about to smile, too. It was faint, but it was there. Just a promise of a smile.
So, I kissed him. Fuck it. I kissed him. The promise of a smile made me do it, so I did it. I was about to pull away when he cupped my jaw and kissed me back. Hard. Rough. As if he meant it. Really meant it.
So, we kept kissing for a while. Too long, probably. He unbuckled his seat belt, and then we resumed kissing. I pushed my seat belt to the side, so it wasn’t in my way, and then we kissed some more. Someone honked at us, but we kept kissing. Someone whistled in passing, but we kept kissing.
Finally, Carter stopped because I couldn’t, tearing his lips away with a tortured groan.
“Fuck,” he gasped, pressing his palm against his erection with a grimace of pain. “Enough!”
I grinned, shifting my legs so my hard dick would hurt a tad less, as he put on his sunglasses.
“Your loss, babe,” I said, tossing a piece of gum into my mouth as he started the car.
He was equally eloquent.
“Drop dead. Babe.”
When we finally arrived at the station, ten minutes later, everyone was already there, including Shelly.
“Is that a hickey, Carter?” Adam said with a smirk. “It looks good on you.”
Carter flipped him off, not bothering to look in his direction. “Nice try, dickhead.”
Passing by Carter’s table, I lowered my head to whisper in his ear and inform him of a certain fact unknown to him.
“You really have one. More than one, if memory serves.”
He looked at me wide-eyed as I grinned at him before heading to my desk. When I passed by Jordan, he nodded in greeting, but only after glancing at Carter fearfully. I was glad to see that Jordan looked relatively unharmed. He had a shiner on his left eye, and his lip was split in a few places, but other than that, he seemed okay. Adam was his own obnoxious self, and I couldn’t see not one bruise on that lucky bastard.
“Whassup?” Adam said as I passed by him, his face impassive.
I waved at him, accepting his unspoken peace offering. Clearly, he wasn’t the type to hold a grudge—against me, at least. Carter was another matter.
Speaking of Carter, I looked in his direction, only to see him averting his gaze when I caught him staring. I grinned and sent him a text.
Me: At least try to look inconspicuous.
He read it and blushed, then texted mem back.
Carter: I don’t know what you mean.
Me: I bet you a kiss that you do.
Carter: C.B. is standing right behind you.
I put on my most charming smile and stood up.
“Has anyone seen Chief Bibb?” I said, a touch too loud. “I need to talk to him urgently.”
When I turned and saw him standing behind me, I smiled widely. His left eye was twitching, which wasn’t a good sign.
“Chief, what a surprise! I was just telling everyone how I need to talk to you, and there you are.”
He smiled too, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“And what did you want to talk to me about, Thorsen?”
“The Bethesda case,” Shelly cut in, throwing a folder at me. “I’m not your secretary, Thorsen.”
I grabbed it and nodded at her, grateful for the backup. When I looked at Carter, he was staring at me with a strange expression on his face, and it made my smile drop. He never looked at me like that before. Was it good? Bad? God, I had no clue.
“Thorsen!” Chief Bibb bellowed, making me flinch. “In my office. Now.”
I headed there when I got a text that made me stumble. I blinked to clear my vision, but the words remained the same.
Carter: How about that date?
I didn’t dare look at him in fear he would change his mind, so I typed in a quick reply.
Me: Tonight?
Five seconds later my phone pinged with a text.
Carter: Too long. After work.
I collided with a door before I could text him back.