Chapter 21
SHELBY
Iwoke up with a start, not knowing where I was, what day it was, or where my panties were. The light coming in through the curtains told me it was midmorning, which was way later than I usually got my day started.
The memory of the night before, wild and hot, came trickling back into my confused brain. Carter surprising me with the sponsorship thing. Me getting overwhelmed. Him chasing me down and taking me to bed. My mouth on him. His mouth on me.
I reached to his side of the bed and found cool sheets, clearly long abandoned. Of course he had run out on me in the morning. But that didn’t make sense. This was his room. If anyone was going to sneak out, it should have been me.
I got out of bed to look for my underwear, and then I remembered he had torn them off me like good underwear grew on trees.
Admittedly, it had been sexy as hell. I was getting wet again just thinking about it.
But next time—assuming there ever was a next time—I would be taking my own panties off and folding them neatly beside the bed.
Carter wasn’t in the attached bathroom, either, but considering how late it was, he was probably downstairs having coffee or breakfast. Food sounded pretty great right then.
I had worked up an appetite last night. And here I thought farm work burned a lot of calories.
It had nothing on amazing sex. Parts of me were sore that didn’t even flinch at hauling feed or mucking pens.
It was a good sore, though. There would be no complaints from me.
I got my surviving clothing back on and straightened up in the mirror.
My hair told a tale of last night’s secrets, and I ran my fingers through it until it settled.
My makeup wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either.
I hadn’t put on much last night, so I didn’t look like a hungover Joker.
My clothes were pretty rumpled, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
I put my shoes on and headed downstairs to look for Carter. Mrs. Presley must have heard me coming down because she met me at the foot of the stairs and held out a cup of coffee.
“Wow, good morning, Mrs. Presley,” I said, taking the steaming mug.
“Good morning to you, too,” she said. “Carter asked me to make sure you got coffee this morning. But I didn’t want to wake you up. A good night’s rest is essential.”
“Carter? Where is he?” I took a tentative sip of my coffee, and once I was sure I wouldn’t scald my mouth, I took a much bigger gulp. Warmth spread through me, making me feel more awake. “This is delicious. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said happily. “And Carter said he wanted to let you get some rest, so he went out to your farm to do some chores.”
I froze mid sip. “He’s at the farm by himself? That won’t end well.”
Mrs. Presley smiled. “Oh, I think he’s getting the hang of things in this town. He made this year’s bake-off one for the books. And he didn’t even want credit for it. He did it all for you.”
“He’s just being nice,” I said, feeling embarrassed.
“No, he’s not being nice; he’s being sweet,” she said. “There’s a world of difference.”
I drank my coffee and made my way toward the sitting room. “There’s nothing going on, Mrs. Presley.”
“Says the girl doing the walk of shame from Carter’s room,” she said with a chuckle, following me.
“Mrs. Presley!”
“What? I wasn’t always this old.” She smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “And I know what it looks like when two people are falling for each other.”
My heart stuttered. I wanted it to be true but I also refused to let myself believe it. Obviously, I liked Carter. Last night wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t. And he obviously liked me well enough. But I doubted his feelings went beyond simple physical attraction.
He was only in town for a little while. I was a fun distraction for him, but this bubble would pop soon enough, and I needed to be ready for it.
“Would you like some breakfast, Shelby?”
Her question broke me out of my trance. “Thank you, Mrs. Presley, but no. Once I finish this coffee, I need to head back to the farm and make sure Carter hasn’t burned it down.”
“Let’s hope.” She smiled and shook her head. “Oh, don’t forget about the Easter eggs for tomorrow.”
I nodded. “I haven’t forgotten. I still need to decorate some of them, but they’re almost ready to go.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. The Easter Bunny will be at the town square and the kids need eggs.”
“You can count on me.” I put my empty mug down on the kitchen counter. “Alright, I need to shake a tailfeather.”
“Be sure to tell your man I got you your coffee,” she said with a grin.
I shook my head at her. “He’s not my man.”
“He’s your something.”
I considered what that meant while I drove back to my farm. The sexual tension was one thing, but feelings? A man like Carter would never really want a woman like me. I needed to nip that idea right in the bud.
He was a polished CEO. I wrangled birds.
And sure, his company was buying farms, but that didn’t make him a farmer.
We had fooled around, but that didn’t make us a couple.
I couldn’t let myself fall into the trap of believing we could ever be more than this.
The doomsday clock was tick-tocking down to our inevitable goodbye. Ignoring it would be a mistake.
But I could still enjoy the time I had left with him. A few more kisses, a little cuddling, maybe a hard fuck in the barn, where I didn’t have to worry about anyone hearing me. No one had been at the B&B, but I had still kept it down, knowing Mrs. Presley could have returned at any time.
I chuckled at myself. The barn-sex daydream came up a lot while I was bored working the farm. It was common enough. Nothing to be ashamed of. But the idea had gotten a hell of a lot hotter now that it was Carter’s face I saw in the fantasy. His chest, his lips, and his burning green eyes.
It wasn’t even impossible. He was literally already on my farm. If he was actually doing work, well, that was even sexier. Doing chores wasn’t exactly foreplay, but it certainly freed up the rest of the day for more pleasurable activities.
Before anything fun could happen, I would have to check on any work he had done, but after that? I could ask him for help with something in the barn. We didn’t actually need to hide away. The birds didn’t care if Farmer Shelby was getting split like a cord of firewood under the wide-open sky.
I supposed I would just have to see what kind of mood Carter was in this morning. I assumed he would be in a good mood after last night. I certainly had a spring in my step.
The farm looked intact as I drove up to it. That was a good start. Carter was walking through the grass, followed by a flock of ducks. It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. I gripped the steering wheel, deciding maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.
Should I just tell him I liked him? Or would I just make a fool of myself? He had to know already. I wasn’t in the habit of getting naked with guys I didn’t like. So did I even need to tell him?
And then what? He moves into the farmhouse and we have a hundred babies? No. So what the hell was the point?
I got out of my van, torn in every emotional direction. This was why I avoided relationships. They complicated life to the point of driving a girl crazy.
Carter saw me approaching. I waved at him with a smile I couldn’t suppress. “Look at you,” I said. “You’re like a real farmer.”
He nodded but there was no smile in his expression. His brow was furrowed and it looked like he didn’t want to look me straight in the eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, panicking. “Are all my ladies okay?”
“They’re fine,” he said quickly. “They’re all fed already.”
“Thank you so much for doing that,” I said. “But what’s going on?”
“I have a question for you and I need an honest answer, okay?” Carter’s gaze met mine, burning with intensity.
Was this the conversation I’d been hoping to have with him? Was he going to reveal he had feelings too? Were we about to head to the barn?
I pulled back to look at him. “Okay, sure.”
“Were you the one who trashed my company online? Did you make that post that went viral?” He looked like he was holding his breath, waiting for my answer.
Funnily enough, I couldn’t breathe either. My lungs felt paralyzed while my heart galloped madly like it might be able to escape this awkward conversation. How did he know?
I considered denying it but there was no point. “I was going to tell you, but it never felt like the right time.”
Carter nodded, his face solemn. “My team tracked you down. I didn’t want to believe it.”
“Really?” I asked gently. “Even after knowing what happened when Allory came into my life?”
He held up his hand to stop me. “Oh, I totally believed you posted it. I just couldn’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m not ashamed of what I posted,” I said. “It’s all true.”
“All the more reason to tell me,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve been chasing my tail around here, trying to fix this PR nightmare, and it was you the whole time.”
“Yes, but in my defense, you were the enemy up until the last couple days.” I drew my shoulders back and met his gaze. “I had no reason to confide in you. And, yeah, I like you, Carter, but you’re still a stranger to me.”
“We weren’t strangers last night,” he growled.
“Yes, we were,” I challenged. “What’s my middle name?”
That stopped him short. Carter’s head tilted while he searched through his memory. “Samantha?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Will you tell me what it is?”
“Nope.”
Carter ran a hand through his hair. “I know we’re just getting to know each other, but still, I guess I thought…”
What did he think? Finish that statement!
He didn’t.
“So now you’re mad,” I said, crossing my arms.
He sighed and started pacing. “I’m a lot of things.”
The ducks watched him walk back and forth, following him with their eyes curiously.
“Now maybe you can understand why I didn’t want to be in your social media stuff,” I said. “I knew I had to tell you the truth first.”
He grunted like it was the first time he had seen the connection. “Well, thank you for that, I suppose.”
“Thank you for taking care of my birds.” I nudged a rock from the dirt with the tip of my shoe.
“For the record, I didn’t know you when I posted about you.
I might have gone too far calling you a bad bunny bastard.
The stuff about your company? Well, I stand by all that.
My opinion of you has changed. My opinion of your company hasn’t. ”
Carter sighed. “For the record right back, I’m really trying to run the company more ethically than my father. And I didn’t mind so much when it was you calling me bad bunny. I just don’t like when the people online do it.”
Silence grew between us.
“So… what now?” I asked.
“You don’t have to worry about the social media thing anymore,” Carter said. “As for me, I should get back to my room to touch base with everyone back at headquarters. Then I’ll know what I’m doing next.”
I nodded, biting my lower lip to keep the emotion off my face. “I understand. You have your responsibilities and I have mine. Thank you again for letting me sleep in and feeding my animals.”
Carter said, “You’re welcome,” but it sounded a lot like goodbye.
He got in Tyler’s truck and drove away. I watched him go, wondering if he would ever be back.