“Yeah,” Carter added, quieter. “Me too.”
“But it’s cool if I come and get a skull tattooed on my ass, right?” Mr. K asked.
“Well, he wanted to tattoo a dragon onmyass,” Carter said before I could respond one way or another. “So I’m sure he’ll be fine with a skull on yours.”
“Maybe I just wanted to touch your ass for an extended period,” I said, grinning at him.
“And you don’t wanna touch mine?” Mr. K asked. “I could be insulted. Where do you think he got his ass from?”
“Think we should line them up together and make them compare?” Trent turned to me, eyes sparkling.
I liked him, and I could see he was good for Mr. K. I’d never seen him smile so much in my whole life.
“I don’t wanna lose an ass contest to my own dad,” Carter said, playing with his coffee cup. But he was still smiling, one corner of his lips quirked as he popped the lid off the cup and then pushed it back on again.
Couldn’t stop thinking about what he was planning ondoingwith those lips later.
“I’d vote for you,” I promised, nudging Carter’s foot under the table.
He wassopretty when he blushed, and paying him a compliment was the easiest way to make him blush.
Carter hadn’t been paid enough compliments in his life.
“I’d vote for Frank,” Trent said. “So I guess it’s a tie.”
“Don’t worry, kid,” Carter’s dad said. “He’s only voting for me because he doesn’t wanna sleep on the couch.”
“What makes you think Aiden isn’t doing the same?” Carter asked, smiling the tiniest smile.
The whole table burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help falling a little in love with how relaxed and happy Carter was right now. I’d never seen him like this, but I would’ve liked to see more of it. Hedeservedto be like this, as often as possible.
By the time lunch was over, Carter wasstillglowing, cheeks flushed and a spring in his step now that he wasn’t strapped into a pair of ice skates he hated.
“Hey,” I said as we broke off from his dad and Trent, pausing in the street to look at him. “I’m so proud of you.”
Carter raised an eyebrow. “For?”
“Let’s see,” I said, raising a hand to count on my fingers. “One, going ice skating with your dad even though you hate it. Two, letting me kiss you in public. Three, keeping an open mind and getting along with a man who might be your new stepdad one day soon. Four, great ass,” I grinned, wanting to see him blush again.
Carter didn’t disappoint, turning a charming shade of pink instantly.
“You totally would’ve won the ass contest if Trent wasn’t afraid of sleeping on the couch,” I added for good measure. “But I just wanted you to know that like… you’re doing great. I think you’re doing great, anyway. There’s a whole lot going on under that perfect hair right now and you’re handling it well. I’m proud of you.”
Carter bit his lip, looking at me from under ridiculously long, dark eyelashes. “Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. He hadn’t heard this enough. I knew his dad was proud of him, it’d been obvious in pretty much everything he’d said today, but hearing the wordsI’m proud of youwas different.
If it was up to me to be proud of him, I was okay with being in charge of that.
“Thanks,” Carter said, so softly that I would’ve missed it if I didn’t see his lips move. “Can I, umm… this is stupid, but do you think I could…”
He reached out, brushing his fingers against mine, and my heart jumped straight into my throat.
“You have blanket permission to hold my hand,” I said.
He smiled so, so shyly at me as he curled his fingers around mine, and my heart shuddered to a halt at the thought that I was going to fall in love with him. One shy smile, one painfully sweet gesture at a time, I was about to fall head-over-heels for a man I definitely couldn’t keep.
I was training wheels. He’d need someone better-suited sooner or later.
