15. Chapter 14 Katrina
M arch 2024
“So I was thinking we could check out a couple furniture stores,” I suggest, “that way I can start getting a sense of your style.”
Josie and I are walking down the hall toward her apartment with a tray of coffees from a local café balanced in my hand while she carries a bag of pastries in hers. We’d just come from an early morning yoga session we’d started doing at least once a week together and we’re now trying to figure out what to do for the weekend. I have no work to do on the pool, so I could start focusing on the house.
They’re set to close on the house in the next couple of weeks, getting keys the same day. After that, it’ll be full steam ahead. While design isn’t necessarily my strongest area, I’ve been able to draw up some rough plans for them and Liam has agreed to help once they close, giving him time to finish up some other projects. In the meantime, I want to get to know what they’re looking for, as I’ll be the one authorizing most of the design choices and execute them on my own.
“Sounds great!” She pushed open the door, stepping aside to let me in. “As you know, we brought a weird mix of stuff from Omaha. I miss my couch.”
I glance over toward the harsh, black leather couch, and laugh. I’ve only been at their place a handful of times but had always wondered about the story behind that thing. It’s so different from her warm, natural tastes, and is a lot colder than even Bryce’s tastes. Maybe he thought the industrial bachelor pad aesthetic was the only thing he could have.
“Don’t blame that on me!” Bryce’s voice calls from down the hall. He appears a moment later, dressed in gray sweatpants, and a loose black T-shirt, dark blond hair a mess of waves. “Your couch fell apart when the movers tried to load it. We had no choice. Plus, this couch followed me through several roommates.”
That makes sense. It’s a neutral, generic choice.
Bryce gives me a tired smile as his girlfriend rolls her eyes. When he moves into the kitchen and plants a kiss on her cheek, her smile is blinding. Even as he peers into the bag of pastries she’d just set on the counter.
“Are you free today?” I ask, turning my focus to him. “You could come with us. I want to get a sense of your combined tastes for the house.”
He makes a face of disgust. “Spend the day furniture shopping with you, Dalton? I’d rather swim the mile.”
Handing him his coffee, I stick my tongue out at him. “Jokes on you; I don’t know what that means.”
“It means he’d rather die.”
The warm, deep voice joining the conversation causes my breath to catch in my throat and my spine to straighten. Carter Abrams yawns as he makes his way into the room, fingers combing through messy brown hair. My gaze scans over his shirtless chest, taking in the sculpted abs and broad shoulders leading down to his muscular arms. His sweats are resting low enough on his hips that I can see the faintest glimpse of his Olympic rings tattoo.
I swallow to keep myself from saying something mortifying, but my mouth feels like sandpaper. The man has been starring in some pretty detailed fantasies since we met at the meet a couple of weeks ago. The last thing I need to do is let something private slip out.
“Morning!” Josie grins brightly, oblivious to the fact that her contractor and friend are speechless in her kitchen. “Kat has your coffee!”
Carter glances my way, a slow, easy grin tugging at his lips. Which only made the sexy man look adorably sleepy and now I’m worried my knees are about to give out. “Good to see you again, Kat.”
I hand over his coffee with a forced smile. “Here you go.”
Amused, he takes it, instantly taking a sip. “Thanks.”
“There are pastries, too.” Josie pushes the bag toward him. “We got a variety because we weren’t sure what you guys would be in the mood for.”
Without wasting a second, he goes through the bag. I look at Josie, hoping to convey the panic I’m feeling, but she’s already looking at me with a crease in her brow. Bryce, on the other hand, is looking at me with a smug smile as he sips on his own coffee.
What does he know that no one else knows? There’s no way I’ve been that obvious to him.
I look away, terrified he’ll be able to read something in my expression.
“What are your plans for the day?” Josie breaks the silence, directing her question toward the guys.
Bryce hoists himself up onto the counter, pulling Josie back between his legs. She goes willingly, leaning against him. “I’m taking Carter over to the pool to let him see the progress. Then we might get a workout in. Might even use the new pool. It’s not bad out today.”
There were still some small things to do on the deck and with the wiring, but the pool is usable now.
“Do you need me there?” I try to sound casual as I pick at the croissant I pulled from the bag. “Or you good to give him the update?”
The amused smile is back on his face. God, he can be cocky. “I think I can handle showing my business partner our business. Especially because I know our contractor has been keeping him updated on every little change. Is there a reason you want to come with us, Kat?”
Why did I let Bryce become my friend? Things were so much easier when we were at each other’s throats.
Josie nudges his leg, shaking her head. “No, absolutely not. Kat is not working today. We’re going shopping.” She turns to me. “I already texted Mia; she wants to come. I figured after that we could all get dinner, giving Kat and Carter some time to get to know one another better.”
When I look over at Carter, he’s already looking at me. He winks when my gaze meets his. The simple, playful gesture has heat flooding my cheeks in a way I know will be hard to ignore. It was one thing when he was in Georgia, but now that he’s standing before me, it’s harder to ignore.
“Oh, yeah, they should absolutely get to know one another better.” Bryce smirks around his coffee cup.
Carter glares at Bryce, and I realize I need to get the hell out of here.
“Wait, what?” Josie looks between the three of us with a furrowed brow. “Am I missing something here?”
“I’m going to run home and change!” I reach for my bag that I dropped by the counter. Carter seems interested in his second, or maybe third, pastry. “I’ll pick you up in an hour, Josie?”
She looks from me to Carter and then back again before nodding. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll have Mia meet us here.”
“Perfect. Let me know if you need anything.”
“We won’t need anything,” Bryce calls as I open the door. I turn to glare at him, but he just shrugs. “What? I’m serious. It’s your weekend off.”
“He’s right, Kat,” Carter adds. “Just enjoy the day with Mia and Josie. We’ll be fine.”
Nodding, I wave before stepping into the hall and closing the door behind me. Logically, I know they’ll be fine, but I still wish I were there to answer even the dumbest question they could have. This is the first time Carter will see the pool in person since we broke ground, and I’m itching to know what his opinion is. I want to make sure he likes it, that he’s happy with the direction it’s going in, and how can I know that if I’m not there?
I’ll just have to trust that one, or both, of them will tell me if there’s something I need to know. They have to know I’ll fix it; make any changes they need. Whatever it takes for them to both be happy with the result because I care about them more than I’ve ever cared about any client. I want their dream to happen.
“O h, my god,” Josie practically screeches as soon as she slides into the backseat of my car; Mia taking the front seat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” I demand, trying to calm my beating heart as I pick a playlist for us to listen to.
“Kat!” she screeches, reaching up to swat my arm. “Stop messing around!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Josie!” I glance at Mia, who looks just as confused, before turning to look at the redhead. “Why are you acting like you’ve just met your favorite boy band?”
“Because you like him!” Dread fills me at her words. I figured she knew or had her suspicions confirmed by Bryce, because that man knows. I don’t know how he knows, but he does. “You like Carter!”
“What?” Mia gasps from the passenger seat.
Okay, well, there’s one person who doesn’t know. Wait . . . does Carter know?
I look back at Mia to see her mouth agape in shock. “How am I just now finding this out? When did Josie find out?”
“I don’t know!” I groan, and then quickly clamp my mouth shut after realizing what I just said. I’d literally just confirmed it.
“Mia.” Josie leans up between the two seats. “Mia, you should have seen them this morning. There were so many sparks flying, I thought our apartment would catch on fire.”
“Oh, shut up.” I roll my eyes. “There were no sparks.”
“No,” Josie insists, “there totally were. Carter couldn’t stop staring at her and she kept peeking glances at him. It was really cute.”
“You forget I have a boyfriend,” I remind them both. I straighten up in my seat, turning back to look ahead of me. If I drive, I’ll be distracted from this conversation. At least, I hope that’s what’ll happen. “There’s nothing happening between me and Carter.”
Mia waves my comment off. “That relationship is over. You’ve been over him for a while. Answer me this: If you ended it right now, would you feel like you need time to move on?”
I stare down at the steering wheel, thinking the question over for just a second before I sigh and shake my head. “No.”
It should bother me more that I wouldn’t need to get over my boyfriend of two years, but I feel like I’ve spent the last six months doing that. Not only is the relationship at a dead end, but I’ve turned around and am actively trying to find a new road to take while he’s still stuck where he is. I need to just end it.
“Then there’s no harm in admitting that you have a crush on someone, or that you find them attractive,” Mia comforts. “If anything, it might mean that you should end it sooner than you initially planned.”
There’s a charity event coming up that Will wants me to attend with him; I could end it that weekend. The only downside is we’ll be under a microscope, both from his colleagues and my parents. Two weeks after that, I’m supposed to drive up so we can go on a date. There’s nothing special surrounding it, just something Will feels like we should do once every couple of months. it’s just a date. I can wait that long to end it.
But I will end it that day. It’s not fair to me, or him, to keep pretending it’s anything more or anything worth saving.
“I will. I’ll end it,” I promise them both. Speaking the words aloud makes it feel firmer, more concrete. Even though I don’t give them a specific date, I have it in my head and I know I’ll stick to it.
“And then you’ll ask Carter out!”
Turning on my signal to exit the parking lot, I laugh, and look at Josie in the mirror. “Calm down, girlfriend, let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. There are a lot of reasons that’s a bad idea.”
“Name three,” Mia challenges.
“Okay, fine! First, he’s a client that I’m working for. Second, he lives in another state. Third, he’s not even interested in me.”
“Okay, first of all, is there any rule that says you can’t date a client?” I shake my head at Mia’s question, because it’s not something that has ever come up. “As long as you keep things professional, and I know you both will, then you should be good. Second, he’s moving here in less than a year. That’s a stupid excuse, and he’s just as close to you as your current boyfriend is.”
“And third,” Josie pipes up from the backseat. “The idea that he’s not interested is just ridiculous! We were all at dinner that night after the meet. We saw you two giving each other heart eyes.”
I groan. “We were talking, not giving each other heart eyes.” There’s a momentary pause before I find myself weakly asking, “Wait, do you think he likes me?”
In answer to my question, I’m met with more piercing squeals from both Mia and Josie this time. They immediately start talking over one another, trying to fill me in on all the things I need to know about Carter, but I can only partially listen. I’m so wrapped up in this idea that there could be something more between the two of us, but I’m worried about what will happen if I pursue something like that.
The rest of the day is spent with the two of them feeding me little tidbits of information about Carter. His favorite color is jade green; he always puts the creamer in before his coffee and makes a big deal about it; he broke his leg when he was ten and claims it was Bryce’s fault; his family is small but loud; his Olympic rings tattoo is low on his right hip. A bunch of information I don’t need, but I find myself filing it away for future reference. These are all things that come from people who know someone well, and I crave to know more about him, but also want to discover those things myself.
L ater that evening, everyone is scattered throughout my rental in comfortable clothes. Mia had just opened the second bottle of wine and we were discussing some of our favorite TV shows while the guys cooked dinner. It was going to be a simple spread of finger foods—things that I had an inkling Carter’s coach wouldn’t like so much. Apparently, he and Bryce had a solid workout, so he felt he could cheat a little.
With a wineglass in hand and comfy sweats on, I’m surprised by how easy it is for me to be myself among this group. There’s no need to hide my dorky obsessions or present myself a certain way. Who I am is more than enough. The saying 'show up as you are' has never been true to me until this moment. My smile is wide and hasn’t diminished in the hours since they got here. Bryce is making something that involves fried cheese and I’m excited about it. Mia is talking about a new yoga class she wants us all to try, and it’s all just so easy.
These are the kinds of connections I’ve waited my whole life for. Even though they’re fleeting, and I’ll be gone in a couple of months, I long to hold on to them as long as I can. When Carter and Bryce start bringing food over to the large coffee table, I’m surrounded by foods I’d never be comfortable eating in front of Will or my parents, knowing comments about my “less than ideal” figure would be made.
Here, though, I reach for a mozzarella stick, sharing a grin with Carter because our hands brush as we go for the same one. Ever the gentleman, he hands it to me before reaching for another one. It’s all so easy.