Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?”
“Claiming the upper hand again,” I said.
His eyes widened, and his smirk returned. “So cruel, Carter James. Tempting me only to deny me.” He relaxed his arm down, back to his side.
I turned to him, sliding my hand over his crotch. “I can be really cruel, but I always promise to make it worth it.”
He growled softly as he moved closer to me, almost like he was going to kiss me, but instead, his cheek pressed against mine, and he took another whiff of me before pulling back.
“So, game on again?” he asked, and we grinned together.
“Game on.”
CHAPTER TEN
Sawyer
There’s this guy Julian…he’s fucking beautiful, and he keeps flirting with me. I don’t get it. I’m not used to attention from someone like him.
~ Sawyer’s Journal, 19 years old.
After our discussion, I’d walked Carter home. I’d been nervous and unsure how to act, but I tried like hell to let go of all the stress and just let myself be. I didn’t know exactly what Carter and I were doing, but I wanted to do something with him. I wanted to explore the overpowering need I felt around him.
As we’d said our goodbyes, I’d pulled him to me and bit into his neck. Carter had whimpered, and then it was my turn to take a step back and deny him. Two could play that game.
A few days had passed. We hadn’t seen each other since then, but I’d become obsessed with two things—porn and talking to Carter.
Obviously, I wasn’t new to porn, but I’d been watching different shit than I usually did, trying to see how it all made me feel. I never thought I’d want to be the one in control, losing myself to this wild, sexual energy I’d never known lived inside me, but I was realizing there was a whole lot I didn’t know about myself—that I’d never been given the freedom to explore or allowed myself to see.
Julian had been my first, and with him, there’d been no question that I’d go along with whatever he wanted to do. After him, it had taken me a long time to screw around with a guy again, and when I did, I went back to what I knew, which hadn’t been a whole hell of a lot. I’d never taken the time to explore sex and figure out what really made me tick.
God, the choking thing in the park had gotten me hard. I wasn’t sure I wanted it to go any further than it had. It had made me feel powerful in a way I never had, and also close to someone in a way I never had—I knew Carter was only giving me that because he trusted me.
He gave me the space I needed that week and didn’t ask to see me once. We talked every damn day, though—all day.
What are you having for lunch?
Oh, we got this new book in…
I think this guy just blew his boyfriend in the store bathroom.
Look at this photo of how Jace’s dog lies down. He’s so weird.
We texted about the most random shit, and hearing from Carter became part of my routine. I didn’t know if I was chasing him away by taking my time, but I realized I would be sad if I was. I’d teased Carter about liking me, but I was quickly beginning to like him. That scared the shit out of me because no matter what, Carter and I were still different. If we kept this going, I would want things on different terms than he might, and I didn’t know if I could do it any other way.
But I was pretty sure I wanted to do this with him…that I wanted to explore whatever the fuck it was Carter James was doing to me.
It was Friday evening, and this time when I picked up my cell, rather than texting him, I called. Stupid as it was, I held my damn breath as I waited for him to answer. He could have been out with someone—he had every right to be, but I hoped like hell he wasn’t.
“About time, slow-ass. I was beginning to think you’d never call,” he said instead of hello, and damned if I didn’t find myself smiling.
“You know me. I have to think everything through.”
“And did you?”
“Yeah, and I…” I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. “I want you.”
Carter sucked in a sharp breath, as if he couldn’t believe I’d admitted it. Before he could speak, I continued, “That wasn’t easy for me to say.”
“I know. I can’t believe you’re saying it to me—which is obviously weird, because who wouldn’t want me?”
A laugh jumped out of my mouth. Fucking Carter. “Well, I’m waiting to hear if you’re going to say it back, because people don’t usually want me.”
I hadn’t meant for it to sound so depressing, or like I was down on myself. I really wasn’t. I knew I was a good-looking guy, but I was also finicky, and maybe a little judgy, a bit uptight, and I didn’t let people in.