Page 51 of Maid of Dishonor

“Itwasyour shirt,” I correct. “You gave it to me.”

“Mm-hmm,” he says absently; he’s staring as I pull the shirt over my head, and when I emerge again, running one hand through my hair, his eyes are still on me.

“Do you like my suit?” I say, because that’s what he’s looking at now. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

“It’s…yeah. It’s cute.” His gaze lingers, and his throat bobs as he swallows before looking away again. I can’t quite conceal my smirk when I see that.

I may be “one of the guys” to him, but he likes how I look at the moment.Vindication.

I mentally roll my eyes at my inner drama queen, telling her to stop being so petty. I allow myself three seconds to imagine how good it would feel to have one of those moments from the movies where the girl gets out of the pool in slow motion, looking all sexy and everything, before I’m forced to acknowledge that I’d probably trip and faceplant instead.

This will have to do. I’d rather go check out the barbecue anyway.

“Let’s go get food,” I say to Carter, whose gaze is now on Vance, whose gaze is currently—oh, hey. His gaze is on me. I give him a little smile before looking back to Carter. “Come on,” I say, nudging him. “Food.”

“You’re right; he’s checking you out,” Carter says, his eyes narrowed.

“I know. I’m not sure what to do with that kind of attention, and I don’t want it from the other guys on the team in case it gets weird.”

There’s silence for a second, and then Carter says, “Theotherguys?”

Crap. I said I don’t want it from the other guys, implying that Idowant male attention fromhim. Crap, crap, crap.

“Yeah,” I say, pretending to misunderstand. “You know, in case things went badly and then it got weird to spend time together?” Then, moving on before he can reply, I say, “Let’s go see if the burgers are ready.”

Carter’s jaw flexes as he treats Vance to one last glare before following me. “Hey, wait,” he says, catching my arm and pulling me gently to a stop. “Wait,” he repeats. He looks down at me, his eyes anxious, as he says, “Are we okay?”

I sigh. “Yeah,” I say. “We’re fine.”

“Really?” he says, looking skeptical. “Because you don’t sound convinced.”

I step closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Yeah,” I say softly as his arms encircle me again. “I’m sure. We’re good.” And we are. We’re as good as wecanbe, anyway. As good as I can be while unrequited love is still swirling around in my chest. As good as we can be while I’m pressed up against his naked chest—a move that I suddenly realize is very intimate. I push that thought aside, because it will just seem weird if I randomly break away.

“You’re gonna need to cut out all the growly stuff with Vance, though,” I say. “Or with anyone else who wants to look at me.” Usually I appreciate the protective vibe, but today it just hurts. It’s an imitation of something he might feel if he had feelings for me, and I don’t want that reminder.

Carter grunts but doesn’t disagree, so I take that as an assent.

“I missed you,” he says after a second. And is he…sniffing my hair? “This was probably the worst week ever, and I’m pretty sure it was because you weren’t around.”

“I am the best part of your life,” I joke lightly, but my insides have gone dangerously gooey and mushy at his words, which is not helpful for the whole getting-over-him thing.

He’s quiet for a second before saying, “You wanna know something lame?”

“Always,” I say, stepping away once more.

Carter rubs the back of his neck and gives a little embarrassed laugh. “I almost bought some of your peach shower stuff a few days ago.”

My eyes widen. “Why?” I say, starting to grin.

He shrugs, and—holy cow—heblushes. “I don’t know. I missed you. And you always smell so good.”

My jaw drops a little, which I’m sure is just a great look on me. But honestly, can I be blamed? Does he even realize how that sounds? Does he realize how romantic that seems? Isn’t that basically the equivalent of me spraying his cologne on my pillow?

Not like I do that.

Anymore.

Okay, fine. I did it once, and it gave me a headache. So now I just leave the cologne spraying to him.

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