Page 16 of Smartasses
Chapter SIX
Cuddled up next to Carter, her head tucked into his shoulder, Aubrey refused to open her eyes despite the morning sun beating against her eyelids. That meant she most definitely was not going to get up, walk through the open connecting door into her room, and answer the damn phone that wouldn’t stop ringing. She knew well and good who it was, and she wasn’t ready to retreat from the fantasy of being with Carter yet.
Did that make her selfish, considering who she was, who he was, and what she’d done? Probably, but she was fixing her mess by being his cover story. That had to count for something.
Not nearly as much as honesty.
Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to block out her guilty conscience and the sound of the ringing that had started again. She just wanted to pretend for another few minutes that the here and now was all there was.
“You should probably answer that before they send a search party,” Carter said, his voice a rough rumble that was way too sexy for first thing in the morning.
He wasn’t wrong. She let out a sigh and opened her eyes under protest—although the sight of a mussed-up Carter wasn’t a bad one. Really, it was damn good. His hair was too short to be tousled, but he managed to look just-woke-up sexy even with the pillowcase wrinkle across his cheek and especially because of the scruff covering his square jaw. Yep, that hadn’t-shaved-in-a-few-days look really needed to make a comeback.
Focus, Aubrey Marie.
“Everyone was meeting up for breakfast and then deciding who wanted to go into Orlando and who wanted to stay on board.”
He rolled over onto his side, propping his head up with his hand and looking down at her, his gaze sliding over her like silk. “Which one are you doing?”
“Hadn’t made up my mind.” But was staying in bed an option because she was very much into that idea.
He hooked a finger under the sheet covering her from shoulders to toes and inched it down. “Stay on board with me.”
“But I could go ride roller coasters.” Never mind that the buzzy feeling in her stomach and the way every nerve was pulled taut had her already feeling as if she was approaching the crest of a loop-de-loop.
“Looking for thrills?” He tugged the sheet down farther.
She held her breath as it slid over her already hard nipples, and they puckered even more in the cool air. Still, his gaze stayed on her face even as he kept drawing the sheet down lower and lower so slow it was as much a torment as a turn-on until it sat low on her hips, the fact that she wasn’t completely bared to him making her think about her impending nakedness even more.
“We can’t stay in bed all day.” Maybe just most of it with breaks for eating.
Carter slid his fingertips across her bare skin, just above the sheet. “Why not?”
Her stomach growled. Correction, it didn’t make one of those cute little roars. It was more like the sound of an underwater violin being played by a sea witch, all twangy high notes. Embarrassing? Only utterly and completely. Carter’s hand stilled, but his lips twitched as he tried to hold back a laugh. Then it happened again. She sounded pretty much exactly like one of her gran’s dogs before they went outside and ate half a yard’s worth of grass.
“Pretty soon, that’s going to get even worse,” she said because it wasn’t like she could blame the weird sound on anyone else in the room. “I need to refuel.”
He gave her a quick kiss and got out of bed, which gave her the very best view of his ass. Shit. She was going straight to creeper perv hell, but not staring wasn’t an option—especially not when he turned around, hands on his lean hips, and gave her the full Monty. Thinking became optional.
“How long do we have before your friends send out a search party?” he asked, no doubt more than a little aware of how good he looked and exactly what he was doing to her.
The phone in her room started ringing again. God love her friends, but she was going to have to kill each and every one of them. “Not long enough, but we can make up for that after breakfast.”
“I’m coming?”
“Yeah,” she said, tossing the sheet the rest of the way off and getting out of bed. “This is your official invite. You can work on your Iowa accent.”
“Midwesterners don’t have an accent,” he scoffed.
She started at him in Southern. “Bless your heart.”
Two incredible—and sadly separate—showers and about twenty minutes later, and they were walking into the dining room headed straight for the big round booth Liv, Kendall, Benjamin, and Grace seemed to have claimed. It wasn’t until they were tableside getting the full top knot-to-toes perusal that it hit Aubrey just how obvious it was what had happened between her and Carter. Both of them still had damp hair, he definitely had a tiny bite mark at the base of his throat, and if anyone looked at the hem of her shorts, they’d never miss the beard burn on the inside of her thigh.
Liv took one look at them both and said, “Imagine you two rolling in late together.”
“Our rooms are right next to each other.” The lie came out sounding exactly like what it was.
Benjamin covered his chuckle with the absolute worst impression of a sudden coughing fit ever as they all got up from the table.
