“I didn’t miss you,” I said, looking out my window. “It’s not like I showed up at your office like a psycho ex, fresh off an overnight flight.”
Carter laughed and glanced at me. “Did they tell you what happened?”
I turned fully in my seat to face him. “No. What happened? The receptionist was being super vague.”
“I quit.”
Time screeched to a halt. “What? You’re joking.”
“I’m dead serious, Shelby.” Carter glanced at me again and I could tell it was the truth. “I’ll tell you the whole story later over some wine. Oh, I brought some good wine with me from home.”
“Hmm, how good are we talking?” I asked.
“So good, if I told you how much it cost, you wouldn’t agree to drink it.”
“Whoa. Maybe you should save it, now that you’re unemployed.”
He laughed. “Actually, I was thinking about applying as a farmhand at this adorable egg farm. The owner is kind of pushy, but she’s hot as hell, so I don’t mind so much.”
I put on a serious face. “Not so fast. I’m going to need a current résumé and two references, buddy.”
We laughed and I leaned against him over the center console. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and held me.
“I don’t know about you,” he said. “But I’ve been nonstop traveling and I’m starving. Could I tempt you with some breakfast?”
“Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes… but we can’t stop.” I buried my face in his muscular chest. “I should get back to feed my ladies. Then we can eat.”
His deep chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I’ve taken care of it already.”
I drew back to look at him. “What are you talking about?”
“When I was waiting for you at the farm earlier, I got everyone fed.” He shrugged. “I was shirtless too, positively glistening with sweat, butsomeonewasn’t around to see me.”
“You fed the girls?” I asked, my heart an ooey-gooey mess.
“Well, yeah.”
“Hey,” I said, all humor gone from my voice. “I seriously love you, Carter. I know I should have said it before, but you were leaving, so it seemed wrong. But if you’re here to make a real go at this, I need you to know right now I love you. I know it’s fast but it’s how I feel.”
His green eyes locked with mine. “Good. I love you, too.” He looked back at the road quickly. “Now I’m going to pull off at a diner so I can kiss you without killing us both.”
He pulled off into a diner parking lot, where we made out in the SUV like teenagers on prom night. Eventually, we managed to make it into the diner for a decadent breakfast. While we ate, Carter walked me through everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I told him about my journey too.
We laughed, finding it all funny now that we were back together and filling our bellies with tasty breakfast food. We sat beside each other in the booth, and there was a lot of leaning and touching. Nothing inappropriate. More like we just needed to keep feeling each other to confirm it was real.
After we ate, he drove us back to the farm while I cuddled up as close to him as I could get without actually climbing into his lap. Back at the farm, he took our bags into the house while I went to check on my birds.
Carter met me coming out of the chicken house. He looked good in the sunshine, eyes bright, hair blowing in the breeze. He walked with a languid grace like he was shedding the tension from his old life. I was feeling pretty damn good myself, like all the pieces of my life were falling into place.
“So what were you saying about working shirtless earlier?” I asked him.
Carter smiled and shrugged. “It was hot out here.”
“I’ll bet.” I ran my hands up and down his chest, grazing him with my fingernails.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “I kept hoping you would come back and find me like that.”
“Oh yeah?” I bit my lower lip, and his eyes darkened at the sight of it. “What were you hoping would happen when I came back?”
