Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Carter grinned, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it made my dick perk up.
“Game on, Sawyer. Game on, indeed.”
And then…then we got back to work. He didn’t flirt with me, and he took control, organizing my process in a way I hadn’t thought of before. The whole time I was trying to guess when the next sexual innuendo would come, and how he would flirt, and making myself crazy as I tried to figure out how I would respond to whatever he said.
It was then I realized Carter was an evil, evil man because he knew exactly what he was doing by not flirting with me after what we’d just said. He was trying to drive me crazy, to shake me up, and damn it, his plan was working.
“So are we going out to dinner, or what?” I asked him when we finished with the books.
“Did you just ask me on a date?” He fluttered his eyelashes.
“No.” Did I? And if I’d asked him on a date—a real one—would he have said yes? Or would it all become a joke and about sex?
“Liar.” Carter winked. “Yes, we’re going out to dinner. I thought you’d never ask.”
I never thought I’d ask either, but damned if there wasn’t a part of me that was really glad I did.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Carter
Was it a date?
Between all the joking and flirting, I was a little lost as far as understanding what we were really doing.
I wasn’t into dates, aside from brief stints here and there, and Sawyer had made it perfectly clear he didn’t date guys like me. However, there was something awfully datey about sitting together in a restaurant other than Fever Pitch, having a typical conversation. We chatted just as we had while we were unboxing books at his store—about nothing of consequence. I talked about some of the clients Dax and I were working with, and he talked about some recent issues that had come up at his store. All the while, I could tell he was on edge. It was different than normal, though. Not the anxiousness I would somehow detect with Sawyer—the way his jaw would tighten or his lips would press together—but something else. It was more like he was eagerly waiting for me to make my next move. To challenge him the way we’d discussed before.
“Game on.”
“I can take it.”
Sawyer Burke could take it whenever he damn wanted it.
“You were right about this steakhouse being a good place for a first date,” I said as I cut into my steak. I checked his expression, curious what he thought about my using the word again, but the uncomfortable silence made me go on. “Relax. I don’t mean a romantic date or anything like that. Just in the traditional sense of getting to know each other.”
“You can just say you want to date me, Carter. It’s safe to admit that all the messing around and blowing me has really been because you secretly want me taking you out on nice dinners, introducing you to my family, and talking about buying a timeshare together.”
It was impossible to miss the way he was smirking, as if he’d discovered that while his anxiety might have been around my teasing about sex, mine was about something more substantial—commitment.
“Aren’t you clever?” I said, feeling like we were in the middle of a chess match and he’d just shouted “check.”
He shrugged. “I have my moments.”
“Hard for people to notice them when you don’t speak up more often.”
“Better than talking all the time without really saying anything.”
Touché. He was definitely keeping me on my toes tonight.
“Just making general observations and keeping the conversation moving,” I said. “Someone has to do something to liven this ‘up-and-coming’ town.”
He adjusted his glasses and looked me up and down as though assessing me.
“What?” I asked.
“What you just said. I notice it from time to time. You take digs at Fever Falls, but you can’t tell me you would have stuck around this long if you didn’t actually enjoy it.”
“I would talk shit about anywhere I lived. I’m the worst toward the things I enjoy most. Haven’t you caught on to that already?” I winked. “But in all seriousness, I was surprised by the community here. Not to fault Los Angeles. It’s been home for me ever since I first moved there. It’s so big, you have your circles you float between, but here, feels like the longer I stick around, the more it’s like I know everyone. So many friends, even more acquaintances. It’s refreshing, particularly seeing how the community comes together for events and charities.”
His eyes widened, as though he found my response refreshing.
“I didn’t realize how much I could miss your hazel eyes until you actually started looking at me.”
It was an honest observation. They were brown closer to the pupils, transforming into blue out toward the edges of his irises. I couldn’t tell who I was most frustrated with—myself for not having noticed them sooner, or Sawyer for having withheld the proper look that would offer me a true appreciation of them.