Instead of the caution I expect to see reflected back after such a heartfelt fucking threat, Carly’s eyes warm with arousal and she smiles faintly. “God, that’s hot.”
Fuck, this woman.
I need to fuck this woman.
Fuck.
I growl low in my throat and grab her hair, fisting my hand and pulling her in for a bruising kiss. I’m tempted to push her in the floor and give her my cock right now, but I’m dimly aware of her sister in the kitchen.
Carly seems to understand she’s won this round, so she extracts her hand from my pants, leaving me in fucking agony, and steps back away from me. “Now, you go get your sexy ass in the shower while we make you lunch. We have a lot of decorating to do today.”
—
There are Christmas lights all over my apartment. There’s a tree lit with white lights and red and green ornaments. Garland hangs from my fucking fireplace, along with three stockings. Why there are stockings for Carly and her sister at my place, I could not tell you, but that’s where we are.
Now, as we walk through town toward the local movie theater, Carly loops her arm through mine and hugs my arm. “What a fun day. Wasn’t today fun?”
“I’m thinking of scrapbooking about it,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Whatever. You had fun.”
“He definitely had fun,” Laurel agrees. “You know what would make life even more fun?”
“A light dusting of snow?” suggests Carly. “Seriously, I’m disappointed in the lore of New England winter right now. It’s like 55 degrees. Where is the snow?”
Laurel nods her agreement. “Connecticut is failing you. You should move back to Chicago.”
“I can’t, unfortunately. Luckily I’ve found plenty to like about Connecticut.”
“I thought you said you could come back after the internship was over,” Laurel questions.
Carly pauses. “I did.” Now she glances at me. It’s the kind of look that makes me think I’m supposed to silently communicate something to her, but I have no idea what.
Laurel skips right over the weirdness. “Anyway, like I was saying, after the movie we should stop for milkshakes. I really want a milkshake.”
“Ooh, I like that idea,” Carly agrees. “See?” she says, nudging me. “My sister is brilliant.”
“Or hungry,” I suggest.
“No, she’s brilliant,” Carly decides. “You haven’t spent enough time with her to know, but Laurel is a total egghead.”
“Right, because you weren’t valedictorian of your graduating class,” Laurel says, rolling her eyes.
My eyebrows rise and I do a double take, looking at the bold blonde who promoted herself to girlfriend. “You were the valedictorian of your graduating class?”
Carly rolls her eyes dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. Way to have a big mouth, Laurel.”
Laurel leans forward to peer over at me. “She made a big speech and everything.”
“Stop,” Carly says, groaning.
“Does he not know you’re smart?” Laurel asks, appearing puzzled.
“We’re all smart,” Carly replies. Her tone is light, but she’s clearly getting annoyed. “Anyway, where should we go for milkshakes after the movie?”
Laurel frowns, but drops it. “I don’t know. I don’t live here.”
“We should totally change that,” Carly tells her. “I was telling Vince how you should totally move here.”
“Yes, I would love to leave the bustling big city to settle down in a town with a one-screen movie theater.”
“There’s a real movie theater in Plainville,” I tell her. “It’s not far from here. But, you know, since it’s a real movie theater, they’re not showing a Christmas movie that’s been out for years.”
“I like our little one screen theater,” Carly says. “The popcorn is cheap and they load it up with butter.”
“Carly thinks with her stomach,” Laurel advises me.
She does like food. I don’t understand how she’s so tiny. Mia was tiny, but she was never a big food enthusiast. “When she’s not using her massive brain,” I toss back, since it seems to annoy Carly.
It really does. She gives me a side-eye like she’s not impressed. What a weird thing to want to hide. Does she think I wouldn’t like a smart girl?
And how fucking smart can she be? She tried to get murdered by that Marine asshole.
Maybe she’s book smart, just lacking in common sense.
Though, she does seem to have common sense in other areas.
Before I can delve too deeply into Carly’s intellect, we get to the movie theater. There’s a small, quirky theater in town that’s usually only open on weekends, but they’re open tonight for a special screening of The Grinch. Carly, being a Christmas enthusiast, had to go.
The girls flank me once we get inside. We actually have to stand in line, which I did not expect. Why are people flooding the theater so they can pay to watch a movie they could buy for $10 and watch at home? This Christmas spirit bullshit is just nonsensical.
A pimple-faced kid with greasy hair and glasses sits behind the counter, selling tickets. He looks up as we approach.