Page 76 of I Think He Knows

As we stand so close together, practically chest to chest, the air suddenly feels thick and warm.

“You park back here?” Carter’s eyes dance as they move over me.

“You bought me a Tiffany ring?!” I shoot back.

He smirks. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Yes.” I glower at him. “Wait, no.”

He takes a sure, purposeful step forward, backing me into the fence as he places a palm flat on the chain link behind my head. He’s effectively caging me in.

“Hey, is this our first fight?” he asks, amused.

I’m gulping for air as I say, “What do you mean?”

“Well, if we’re going through the motions of a relationship, there’s got to be a fight at some stage.”

“Carter, be serious right now.”

A smile. “I am serious.”

“Why did you lie about the ring?” I poke a finger into his chest, and he reaches for it with his free hand, wrapping his fist around it. Now, I’m really trapped.

And oh my gosh, does he smell good today. He’s so close, I can feel the heat from his body, sense the thrum of energy radiating off of him.

“Because you didn’t want the truth,” he says calmly.

“I—what?” I try to shake my finger loose but he doesn’t budge, holding me hostage as he levels those scorching blue eyes on me.

“You. Didn’t. Want. The. Truth.”

“Of course I want the truth,” I scoff, trying to ignore the heat gathering in my belly. Our bodies are mere inches apart right now.

“Yeah?” Carter smirks.

“Yes!”

“Okay.” He drops my finger and steps back. Crosses his arms. “Here it is: I bought you a real diamond ring, but where it’s from and what it costs doesn’t matter. I bought it because Iwantedto buy it for you. End of story. I’m a grown-ass adult who made my own decision on how to spend my own money.”

“Well, that was a crazy decision.”

“No.” He moves forward a touch, his face dangerously close as he lowers his voice. “It was a perfectly rational thought process. I saw this ring and thought it was made for you. I wanted you to have something as beautiful as you are.”

My cheeks fill with blood and my heart begins to thump. There are no paparazzi here, no onlookers. Nobody’s watching us. He has no reason to act right now. It’s only me and him. “Carter…” I start, unsure.

“Fine,” he says lightly, narrowing his eyes at me in challenge. “Let’s go with last night’s story instead: I didn’t want the media to think I was a cheapskate, and a real ring was the safest bet. No personal or sentimental meaning whatsoever.”

I shake my head. “I… I don’t believe you.”

He suddenly pushes back from the fence, righting himself. The gesture frees me from my Carter cage and puts some physical space between us, but the smile he gives me is so electric, it lights up my entire body from the inside out. “You shouldn’t.”

25

CARTER

I’ve played a father before. In a thriller movie, where it turned out that the baby was not actually mine, and his mother was trying to kill me. It was a really heartwarming story.

I’ve also had a father. A man who, last I heard, had moved to Texas with his new girlfriend.