Free Carter (Bourbon & Blood Book 3) by Seraphina Donavan Page A

against her neck, just before he nipped that same tender spot with his teeth. “You have to learn to be patient, cupcake… The longer you wait for it, the better it feels.”
    She started to respond but a noise from outside made her heart literally drop to her feet. The garage door was opening.
    “Someone’s here!”
    Carter sighed as he stepped back from her. “Which window do I need to climb out of?” The note of disappointment and anger in his voice was impossible to miss.
    “None of them! You just have to hide!” she hissed.
    “Where?” he demanded.
    “Just stay here,” she said. “No one has any reason to come up here to the bathroom.”
    He looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “I’m just supposed to stand here in the shower and wait for you to get rid of whoever it is? Did you forget that my truck is parked outside?”
    “I’ll lie,” she said decisively. “I’ll tell them that Bennett picked you up to help him move something and you’re coming back for it later.”
    He frowned at her then. “You came up with that really quick… been planning what you’d say for a while?”
    There was something in his tone that told her he wasn’t playing. He was pissed. Really pissed. “Carter, the only people who have the code for the garage are my parents and my grandmother. It sure as hell isn’t Nana back from Florida! I can’t tell them you’re here!”
    “No. Of course, you can’t,” he agreed reasonably.
    Carter was never reasonable. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said lamely.
    “I want you to say that you’re not ashamed to be seen with me… but we both know that’s not going to happen. I might not have a lot, Josie, but I do have some pride, and I don’t think I’m gonna let you take it from me.”
    “I can’t fight about this with you right now! They’ll be inside any second!” She didn’t even want to think about the kind of disaster that would result from her father finding a naked Carter Hayes in her house.
    “We’re not fighting about it, Josie. Just go. See your parents.”
    Josie got out of the shower and he turned the water off. He stepped out behind her and she handed him a towel. He took it without a word and began to dry his hair. It wasn’t just his pride. She’d thought that at first, but she could see it in his eyes. She was hurting him when it never even dawned on her that she had the power to.
    “Carter—.” She stopped, unsure of what to say to him. It didn’t change anything for her. She was still the daughter of the most upstanding minister in town, and every thing she said and did still reflected on him and the church. And Carter was so much more than anyone realized, including her, but in a town like Fontaine that would never matter.
    “Just go,” he said.
    Josie grabbed a robe from the back of the door and headed across the hall to dress. Sweat pants and an ancient t-shirt on, she headed down the stairs where her parents were standing at the kitchen door surveying the work in the back.
    “You didn’t have to hire Carter Hayes to fix the fence, Josie,” her father said. “I would have done it for you.”
    “He gave me a really good price,” she lied. It felt wrong. Everything about it felt wrong.
    “Well, it doesn’t look right,” her mother said. It was clear from Deborah’s sharp gaze that she knew. This clearly didn’t jive with her earlier admonishment to be discreet. She could see from her mother’s rigid posture and cold gaze that Deborah was livid. “That boy’s truck parked in front of your house will cause talk, Josephine.”
    Josie stiffened. “What does it matter? People will talk if they want to talk, either about me or about someone else! I hate all the gossip and judgement. You should too,” she said accusingly. “Maybe you need to write a sermon about people minding their own business?”
    William Marcum frowned at her. “Do not speak to your mother that way, Josephine!”
    “Don’t come into my