Page 73 of Finding Carly
Carly couldn’t help but smile. She loved the guys’ banter. It was all in good fun and never malicious.
Elodie smiled at Carly, and Kenna gave her a thumbs up before they once again set off in single file to finish the tour.
By the time they got back to the ranch building, Carly was thirsty as hell, starving, and her face hurt from wind burn, the sun, and smiling so much. This was definitely an amazing day she wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
She and the other girls spent way too long at the souvenir shop. Carly finally decided on two T-shirts and a dinosaur bobblehead. The guys were patiently waiting for them out on the porch, and the second Carly got within reach, Jag snagged her around the waist.
“Did you leave anything for the other shoppers?” he teased.
Carly rolled her eyes and held up her bag. “Only one bag, see? I controlled myself.”
“No need, I was only kidding,” Jag said with a small frown. “If there’s something else you want, you should get it.”
“I’ve got everything I need already,” she said, not even caring how cheesy that sounded. “A great boyfriend and amazing friends. And memories of Monica and Pid’s wedding. And I got to stand right where famous people did,” she added.
Jag chuckled. “Which I can see was probably the highlight of the day.”
“Thank you for an amazing time,” she said, hugging Jag tightly. And that reminded her of Baker. She drew back and looked around. “Where’d Baker go?”
“He left,” Midas said. “Said he had stuff to do.”
“I wanted to talk to him more,” Carly said with a pout.
“Get used to it. That’s usually how he is,” Elodie said. “Here one second, thenpoof, gone the next.”
“I’m impressed he came at all,” Kenna said. “I mean, we invited him to our wedding, but as you all know, he didn’t show.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t because he didn’t want to be there,” her husband soothed.
“I know,” Kenna said without missing a beat. “I wasn’t complaining. I loved our wedding.”
“Me too,” Aleck agreed.
“I think it was his curiosity about Carly that tipped the scales for him showing up,” Slate said.
Carly glanced at Jag’s teammate. She didn’t know the man too well. “Me?” she asked.
“Yeah. He’s busting his ass to figure out who was working with your ex. I’m not surprised he wanted to meet you.”
Suddenly, Carly wondered if she measured up to the mysterious man’s expectations.
“Before he left, he told me how much he liked you,” Jag said, reading her mind.
“He did?”
“Said he was going to ‘stop fucking around and solve this shit.’ And that’s a direct quote. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t putting the effort in before now, just that meeting you made it even more personal.”
Carly nodded.
“I think it was the hug,” Mustang said, grinning.
“I can’t believe you did that!” Lexie shook her head. “He still scares the hell out of me. No way would I have ever made that move.”
Carly shrugged. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. If I’d thought about it, I probably wouldn’t have done it.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I think that man needs a woman’s touch more than anyone I’ve ever met,” Elodie declared.
“Jody,” Kenna said with a nod.
