Perdie’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Then, thinking fast, she gave him a sultry look. “I do admit to having feelings towards you. Sexy ones. And steamy ones. And naked ones.”
“Objection, your honor. Illegal wordplay.”
She paused and laughed a little to herself. “Fine. I can’t admit that I like you because...” She glanced out the window. “Because... I think no matter what, once you really get to know me, I’ll do nothing but disappoint you.” The words startled even her.
His eyebrows knitted together. “Why would you think something like that?”
Despite herself, she thought about the last few days ignoring Carter and the relief when he’d responded to her texts earlier. Her heart thumped. “Because it’s thrilling chasing someone. And it’s thrilling sneaking around in the office. And it’s thrilling playing these games. But at the end of the day, I’m a flawed person like anyone else. Except I’m not willing to change. People find it very frustrating about me.”
He rubbed his chin. “Nothing about what you’re saying scares me.”
She leaned back, pushing against the seat of the car. “Look, my mom wasn’t around very much when I was a kid, and when she was, she wasn’t about to waste her time on me. I was messy and disorganized and overly sensitive.”
“Sounds like a normal kid,” said Carter.
Perdie sat in contemplation. “You wanna know why my favorite color is fuchsia? When I was eight years old my mother trained as a personal color consultant. Do you know what that is?”
Carter shook his head.
“It was this popular thing in the eighties where a consultant would drape you with different colored fabrics to see which colors suited you best, and then the grouping of those fabrics determined your ‘season.’” She held up her free hand to make air quotes. “Well, my mom got into it late. And she did my colors.”
He laughed. “Don’t keep me in suspense. What’s your season?”
“Bright winter, but that’s not the point. The point is, it was one of the few things she did with me. I never forgot it. Afterwards she gave me a swatch of my best colors. And thirty years later, I still only wear the colors on that swatch. I have it in my purse right now.” She dug into her handbag and pulled out the tattered packet of colors. “This is how little I’m willing to change. Completely unadaptable. Stuck in my ways, and I didn’t have anyone to teach me how to be any better than that. So...”
“You think that’s going to scare me off?”
She sighed. “You said so yourself. You’re a rule follower, Carter. You followed the yellow brick road and it took you to Yale and Harvard and a white-glove defense firm. I barely graduated law school. Half the people at Joy and Schulz can’t even stand me. They think I’m a huge bitch. And you know what? They’re right. I’m fighting tooth and nail for a sliver of recognition that maybe I don’t even deserve. Everyone likes you a hundred times more than me already, and you barely even had to try. You naturally give people what they want. It’s like your secret talent or something. Your secret weapon. God knows it’s working on me.” She lowered her lashes at that last line. Her heart was beating fast after sharing so much about herself. She wasn’t used to doing that with anyone but Lucille.
His voice was quiet. “Is it? Is it working on you?”
She bit her lower lip, breathing in deep and silent for a long stretch. But the silence between them was loud. She lifted her gaze. “It’s time.”
He tilted his head, face innocent. “Time for what?”
She stretched her free hand over her head grabbing onto the headrest and smiled. “Time to fulfill the second clause of our oral agreement.”
The side of his mouth curled up. Then he gave a brief incline of his head. “Lift up your shirt first and give me a peek. I wanna put forth my best showing and I need some encouragement. Are you going to screenshot this?”
“Maybe.” She glanced out both side windows, ensuring privacy, before pulling up the hem of her shirt, revealing one side of her lacy fuchsia balconette.
His breathing grew more ragged. “Pull it down, a little bit...do it for me...show me a little bit more...”
Her finger climbed up the lacy top line, and then she hooked it into the bra and yanked down the material to expose her nipple. The crisp air in her car heightened the intense tingling of her skin.
Out of view of the camera, she could tell his hand was starting to move in his lap, his lids growing heavy. When she flicked the taut point of her nipple with her finger, he let out a groan, his hand moving faster.
“Carter...”
But he was staring at her too intently on the screen to respond.
“Carter.”
“What?”
She licked her lips. “Angle the camera down.”
“Oh...”
Her chest went tight when the camera lowered to his leisurely stroking hand, a thick, heavy cock encased inside. Of course it was huge, she’d touched it before, but it was also so perfectly formed. Mostly straight but with a slight curve and well proportioned, pink but ruddy and swollen with blood, one vein trailing up the shaft, similar to the veins crawling up Carter’s muscular forearms. He stroked it slowly, patiently...in no rush at all... Her mouth began to water.
Could a dick be sexy? Like really sexy? Because somehow Carter’s dick managed it.
She swallowed, attention glued to the screen. “Okay, amendment to the second clause. Will accept the real thing in lieu of dick pic. Later today.” A thrill ran through her at the thought.
Carter lifted the screen, his hand still working below. She almost protested but kept her mouth shut. “I am...agreeable to this amendment.”
With the realization that her shirt was still up, and her hand was hooked into her bra, she slowly tugged the hem down, clearing her throat and straightening up. Jesus Christ she had really forgotten herself in the moment.
She almost jumped when a message popped up on her screen, pausing her view of Carter.
L: OMG P, HAVE YOU BEEN ABDUCTED BY ALIENS? PS WE ATE ALL THE BANANA PUDDING PPS I ORDERED MORE BANANA PUDDING
She closed out of the message, returning to Carter. “Shit, I lost track of time. I’ve got to get back to brunch.” She let her head fall against the headrest in pure frustration, but then she straightened again. “I will see you very soon.”
He gave her a nod. “See you soon.”
When Perdie returned to the inside corner booth to collect whatever was left of Noah and Lucille, her insides were thrumming. It was like she could feel the endorphins coursing through her veins. She might actually feel something for Carter. And he might actually feel something for her. Or at least, it certainly appeared that way. And they were going to do...something about it tonight.
