Beck went to the fridge. “Anyway, I already decided we’re taking the new guy out tonight.”
My head snapped up. “Tonight?”
“Yeah,” Beck said, grabbing a juice. “Dinner. Drinks. You know the place…The Hungry Buck, our favorite Supper Club. I told him we’d bring the whole crew.”
My stomach dropped.
“The whole…what?” I squeaked.
Violet perked up. “Oh, absolutely. Carson deserves a proper introduction to Buttercup Lake.”
Fiona nodded enthusiastically. “With cocktails.”
I stared at them in horror. “No. No, no, no. We do not need to do that. He’s only here temporarily.”
“He’s here until the end of September,” Beck said, laughing. “That’s practically a full-time resident.”
Carson spoke for the first time, voice calm, eyes still on me. “I didn’t mean to impose. Beck invited me. I can decline if it’s—”
“No!” my sisters said.
I glared at them.
Fiona coughed. “I mean… no, of course not. The more the merrier.”
Violet grinned. “And Siennalovessupper club night.”
“I don’t,” I snapped.
Carson’s mouth shifted slightly, not a smile, but that quiet near-smile he used when he found something amusing but didn’t want to encourage it.
Beck clapped his hands. “Perfect! We’ll leave at six.”
I went very still.
Beck noticed. “You okay, Sien?”
“Fine,” I said faintly.
Carson didn’t look away from me.
Not once.
And in that second, with my sisters smirking, Beck cheerful, Carson steady and unreadable, I realized something:
The next twelve hours had the potential to become significantly more dangerous than bears or wolves.
Because it wasn’t nature I was scared of.
It was proximity.
And the way Carson Reed seemed to see through me every time I accidentally met his eyes.
Beck tossed Carson a “welcome to the family” grin and headed for the dining room, leaving the rest of us in the kitchen.
Carson stayed exactly where he was.
So did I.
