Page 61 of Leah

“Because you mentioned he was a dick, and dangle money in front of a dick, and they’re yours.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “The old money trick, huh?”

He winked. “It works like a charm. Anyway, hurry up.”

“Wait, whose car are we taking?”

Did I seriously ask that?

Was I about to leave with Carter?

“Mine,” he said. “Leave yours in the employer’s parking lot, and I’ll drop you off back here when we’re done. We gotta go. Pretty sure people spotted me walking across the street to get here, and I’m a little paranoid.”

So much for staying away.

My heart was beating riotously as I went to the backroom again and hurriedly grabbed my bag. I felt flushed everywhere, hardly able to absorb this sudden development.

Carter hadn’t left—he had come for me.Oh, my God.

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should let Melanie know what just happened, but I resisted at the end. She’d find out eventually. For now, I liked the idea of spending some uninterrupted time with Carter.

You got this, Leah. I told myself.It’s just another harmless dose of Carter…

So long as we weren’t entirely alone in a bedroom with a bottle of vodka.

Eighteen

Leah

We made our “getaway” in one of the black BMWs he’d taken. The windows were very tinted, but he still wore Harold’s trucker hat as he cut through traffic.

There was always something enormously sexy watching Carter drive. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. Maybe the concentrated look on his face. Or the way he dragged his teeth along his bottom lip that made me want his mouth on mine. Or that I had a perfect view of his protruding biceps, a classic indication of how strong he was.

It was probably a combination of all three, really.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

“Anywhere you want,” he answered. “Somewhere discreet. You won’t like what happens if we’re discovered.”

“That bad?”

He nodded, frowning. “Oh, yeah.”

I couldn’t imagine. I mean, I’d seen the cameras in front of Marlena’s house back when they started to get huge, and that alone was overwhelming. Anything worse and I cringed to think.

He glanced at me. “Know any spots?”

“Um,” I thought for a moment. It wasn’t like I had a brain map of “hiding spots” to dig up. “Well, the only thing that pops up isourhiding place.”

It took him a few seconds before he understood, and he smiled widely at me. “The creek?”

I nodded, feeling my face warm. “If you want.”

“Absolutely.”

The drive there wasn’t long, but even after all these years, I’d never returned to the outskirts of town. I felt a little anxious, and my stomach sank when we passed the trailer park we grew up in. I didn’t turn my head to look at it, but I saw, in my peripheral, Carter’s head turn. He looked stone-faced, but I caught him gripping the steering wheel tighter.

“Pretty depressing,” he remarked quietly under his breath.

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