A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(138)

He reached up to her aviator shades and pulled them gently from her face. “There’s my girl,” he whispered. “So, what do you think?” he asked with a chin tilt toward the house.

“It’s wonderful,” she answered. “It’s been so long since I’ve been to the beach.”

“I figured.” He scratched his chin and cleared his throat. “I remembered you talking about the beach, about your dad, how you hadn’t been for a really long time, and I thought you’d like it.”

Kat launched herself at him, nearly knocking him off his feet. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and kissed his lips hungrily. Carter wound his arms around her and held her closely, breathing every inch of her in, his entire body burning.

He staggered sideways, stopping only when his hip hit her car. He grunted into her mouth while their tongues were reacquainted and turned in a half circle so he could press her soft body against the car.

Her hands were on his face, gripping and caressing. Carter rubbed up against her like a damn cat. He hadn’t been inside of her since their one night together, and he was about ready to lose his f*cking mind. When his hips rotated into hers, she gasped and wrapped her legs around the backs of his thighs, wanting him closer. Carter obliged by grabbing her ass. He’d missed having her so close to him, so responsive. He licked and nibbled until Kat was panting and whimpering his name.

“We have to stop,” she breathed. Her body betrayed her words when she clutched his face, yanking his mouth back to hers.

“Why?” he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. “There’s no one for a few miles. If I wanted to f*ck you right here”—he shifted his hips, making her gasp—“I could.”

Her lips curved up against his cheek before she placed a soft kiss right in the center of it. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Carter looked at her questioningly. She was sensational with her swollen lips and windblown hair.

“For inviting me here, I mean. For knowing I would love it.”

“You love it?”

“It’s so pretty.”

Relief seized his racing heart. “You wanna see inside?”

With a quick kiss to her lips, Carter held on to her until her feet once again found the ground. Carter grabbed Kat’s suitcase and led her along the porch and through the front door.

She took hesitant steps along the hallway, glancing at the beech wood stairs leading to the first floor. She was quiet as she removed her jacket, making her way into the living room, with Carter following silently. She walked around, standing by the window that looked out onto the ocean and the sand banks covered in long, yellowing grass.

[page]Leaning against the doorjamb, Carter watched her. She was undeniably perfect, standing in his house. He’d thought the same when he’d first seen her in his apartment in the city, but somehow, this was different. His present was merging with his past, making him feel oddly at ease.

After heaving her suitcase upstairs to the bedroom, Carter returned to find Kat glancing at the eclectic artwork on the walls. He knew from seeing her own art collection that she appreciated watercolors, but his throat narrowed in panic when she stopped dead at a selection of black-and-white photographs littering the wall above the roaring fireplace.

“This is you,” she murmured, pointing to a picture of a young boy in shorts building a huge sandcastle.

“Yeah,” he answered, moving next to her. “I was seven.”

Her fingertips glided over his image. “You’re so happy. Who took it?”

“My grandmother,” he replied. “This was her house. The house I told you about—she left it to me.” He glanced around. “It was our place.” He gave her a one-shouldered shrug. “We came here a lot. Just the two of us.”