Page 66 of Above All Else
“Sometimes I forget you went to medical school.”
“I didn’t learn that in school, June.” He opened the door and waved me along, his hair dripping in a blink of an eye. “Our brain searches to confirm what webelieveto be true. You’re experiencing a disruption in that belief because I’m not the monster I portrayed myself as.”
What did that mean?
Has Carter gone to therapy before?
Is that his ‘friend’?
I opened the door and stepped out—the heavens crying like my soul.
Rain splashed against my lashes, wetting my face and shirt. My shirt stuck to my shoulders as I put my hands over my head like a makeshift umbrella and ran to the overhang near the bistrodoor. “Wow.”
Our laughter echoed down the strip, the serious conversation pushed to the wayside as we watched others run to their vehicles through the puddled parking lot.
“That was a mistake. We should have waited.” Carter ran his eyes over the front of my shirt, lingering on my chest, then waist.
“Look at you.” I raised an open palm down the space between us. His khaki pants darkened at the bottoms, and his white button-down shirt stuck to him like a second skin contouring the defined muscles beneath.
He glanced down, grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and shook it out as though it would dry before stepping inside.
“I don’t think that’s going to work.” I laughed, and he glanced up, our eyes clashing. “What?”
“Your laugh.” He swiped at the hair stuck to my temple. “I’ve missed that sound.”
Butterflies hit my belly, and I swallowed them down as I walked around him, my back rigid. “And I’m starving.” My skin crawled like a million ants had taken up residence across my body, itching to feel his hands all over my body while my mind warred.
Carter hung his head, cracking my heart in two, then followed me inside. “Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll order.”
A brow perked up. “And you know what I want?”
“It was easy. I just had to decipher the ‘chattering teeth’ language.”
My lips curled into a sarcastic smirk. “Okay.” I took a seat at the furthest table.
The woman behind the counter took his order, her dimples stressed and deep as she spoke to him, a flare of pink on her cheeks, her lashes fluttering.
Was she flirting with him?
Of course she is.
Carter is...
My eyes ran down his tall frame, the shirt hugging the muscles on his back, his pants cupping his round butt. The tight khakis made his legs look like every day was leg day at the gym.
Smoulderingly handsome.
The flutters in my belly died out as my stomach clenched, my jaw echoing the displeasure in my belly.
Was he flirting with her, too?
I stood and met him at the counter with a smile. “Can I have extra cranberry, please?” Carter glanced down at me as my hand touched his forearm, his brows squeezed together as his gaze lingered.
The girl’s smile vanished as she gave a hesitant nod. “Yeah. Of course.”
“Thanks.” My fingers fell from his forearm, and I grabbed the cups from his hand. “What would you like to drink?”
“Coke if they have it.”