She dropped her cell into her bag, avoiding his gaze. “I got held up.”
“Mmhm,” Carter hummed. “And here I was thinking that I was the most important man in your life.”
He was messing with her, but a part of him really wanted it to be the truth. His greediness for her was becoming ridiculous.
Peaches huffed and put her hand on her hip. “Delusions of grandeur,” she snipped back. “Besides,” she continued, “I wasn’t with a man.”
Carter’s jaw unclenched in unprecedented and unexpected relief. “I suppose I can allow your lateness to slide this time,” he deadpanned through a long breath that made pieces of her hair move. He shifted closer, lowering his voice in warning. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
She swallowed. “Or else what?”
Carter stared at her, stunned at her question, and hard as all hell that she was ogling the tattoos visible beneath the three-quarter-length sleeves of his Beatles T-shirt. “Oh, Peaches,” he whispered. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Something bright flashed within her eyes, but it was gone before Carter could identify it. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and shrugged.
“Not really,” she replied with an unimpressed scrunch of her nose. “Come on. We have work to do.”
A small laugh escaped Carter when she stormed past him into the park. He had to jog a little to catch up with her, but, once he did, he pushed his free hand into his jeans pocket and followed her lead.
“So,” he said as they made their way through the gates and across the cobbled path, “where are we doing this?”
She glanced up at the blue sky and smiled. It was a beautiful day, unseasonably warm. “I thought we’d sit by the boating pond. I know a great spot.”
“Great.”
As was always the case on a warm Saturday, the park was teeming with people and Carter found himself weaving from one side to the other to avoid being pushed or shoved by kids or dogs.
*
Kat noticed how out of place among the normal run-of-the-mill New Yorkers and tourists Carter appeared—not for any other reason than the fact that he was so striking in all his tall, tattooed, buzz-cut glory. She couldn’t help notice the admiring glances he got from the other women they walked past.
Kat had secretly been dreading meeting Carter outside of the library. She realized that technically, she wasn’t doing anything wrong by being with him in the park, but deep inside, she knew she was on shaky ground. She hadn’t told Beth, her mom, or Ben about the session, knowing she was bound to get some sort of lecture from one, if not all, of them.
Not that it seemed she’d have the opportunity to speak to Beth, who had been uncharacteristically quiet of late. Since Kat’s birthday, there’d been a couple of text messages but nothing more. Ben, to whom she’d been speaking when Carter had startled her, was also seemingly mystified by Beth’s weird behavior. Something was definitely up.
“You okay over there, Peaches?”
Carter’s voice pulled her back to the park. She looked up to see the top of his nose over his shades bunched into a concerned frown.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered. “The spot’s just over there.”
She made her way over to the grass and pressed a hand down to check its dampness.
“Here,” Carter muttered as he laid his jacket down. “You can sit on that.”
“The grass is dry,” Kat insisted.
He shrugged. “Just sit on the damn thing. It won’t kill ya.”
Kat dropped her stuff on the ground. “Thank you.”
Carter dropped down onto the grass, his arm grazing hers. He lit a cigarette leaning back on his elbows, blowing the smoke down his nose. Kat watched him furtively as he looked out across the water, glancing at the children climbing all over the Alice in Wonderland statue situated to their right. He looked devastatingly beautiful.
“I, um … I brought you something.” She reached into her bag.
He raised his eyebrows in expectation. She pulled out her hand to reveal a large pack of Oreos. He grinned and she threw them onto his lap.
“You shouldn’t have.” He chuckled.
She waved him off. “They’re more for me,” she muttered, seeing a questioning expression cross his face. “I know what a grumpy ass you can be without your Oreos, and I don’t need your attitude.” She smiled before delving back into her bag. “And no. I didn’t bring milk.”
Carter sat up, ripping the pack open. “I love these things.”
“I noticed.”
“You want?” he asked, holding the pack out to her while his tongue began doing indecent things to the white cream in the center of a cookie.
She watched, entranced. “Um, no, I’m good.”