Page 65 of Hometown Hottie

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NOVA

After breakfast and a ton of cleaning up, the girls and I were finally alone again, lounging around the pool. Jessie had her phone in her lap where she lay with only her legs in the sun, another cocktail on the table next to her as she texted with Vance.

Harriet was on her stomach in the full shade of a patio umbrella, scrolling through emails and pretending that she didn’t notice the eye rolls we were all giving her whenever she looked up. I loved my friend, but she really needed to learn how to disconnect.

Amber was on the other side of the pool, her whole body in the sun as she tried to soak up as many rays as she could before we left tomorrow night. As I looked around, I realized how lucky I was to have had this weekend with them. It’d been great catching up and shutting out the world.

Not so great was how I currently felt about hooking up with Carson. Last night, with the sun setting over the lake and the pleasant buzz of alcohol in my system, it had felt impossible to resist the attraction.

I didn’t regret what we’d done, but I was conflicted. Cassidy sat next to me with a book in her lap, but when I let out yet another heavy sigh, she finally glanced at me. “Okay. Out with it. What’s bugging you?”

“Carson,” I said, keeping my voice down but also knowing that the others were so wrapped up in their own worlds right now that they probably weren’t listening. Even if they were, it would be okay. These were my friends.

It was just that I’d really prefer to confide in only one of them at a time, and Cassidy was closest to me these days. She was also the only one who’d seen Carson and me together consistently since he’d come home, so I figured she had a bit more insight into our situation at the moment.

She pursed her lips at me. “Why is he bugging you?” Her eyes suddenly went wide. “Was it not good last night? Did he do something wrong? Does he have a bent carrot? I keep seeing commercials about that.”

“No,” I said quickly. “Nooooo. It’s not that.”

The tension that had been tightening her features melted and she smirked at me. “So it’s bugging you because it was good?”

“It was great.” Still an understatement. “It’s just, uh, it didn’t feel like a hookup.”

She frowned. “If it didn’t feel like a hookup, then he definitely did something wrong.”

A blush burst out across my cheeks, racing down my neck and making even the tips of my ears feel hot. “Not like that. Let’s just say it exceeded my expectations. By a lot, but it didn’t feel like a hookup because it felt like more, which is why I’m conflicted today.”

Her eyes narrowed and confusion set in. “Were you expecting it to feel like only a hookup when it’s been years in the making? Just yesterday, you told me that you like him, so obviously, it was going to feel like more. Have you spoken to him at all about what it meant?”

“Nope.” I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. “We didn’t get around to it, but I don’t know, Cass. It just feels like it’s one thing to crush on him and maybe even to hook up with him casually, but actually falling for him? Trying for something more?”

“Isn’t that what you said you wanted, though?”

Why, yes. Yes, it is. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make sense of all the thoughts racing through my head. “I want it. I just don’t know if I can have it. Or if I should have it. He’s Ryan’s⁠—”

“If you finish that sentence by saying that he’s Ryan’s best friend, I’m going to stop you right now. I thought we’d established that Ryan doesn’t get a say in this. Don’t get me wrong. That boy rocked my freaking world last night, but that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly on his side. You do you, Nova. If that means that you do Carson, then so be it. Ryan will have to adapt and survive.”

I doubted my brother was going to see it that way, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t have a point. I just had to learn to accept it—and to face my own feelings instead of hiding behind Ryan’s.

At the end of the day, the guys came over again for dinner, and my heart skipped about a million beats when Carson walked in. His dark hair was tousled and windswept again, but I’d heard from Jessie that they’d spent the day racing around on the lake.

Wearing navy blue shorts and a fitted white T-shirt, he was so gorgeous that I wanted to jump on him and claim him as my own. It definitely didn’t help that I now knew what it felt like to be claimed by him as well.

My entire body filled with heat as his eyes met mine, those greens so much more vivid today than I’d ever seen them before. For a moment, our gazes locked. My nipples strained against my bra, my breathing quickened, my heart raced, and my panties caught fire.

A slow grin hooked on Carson’s lips, like he knew exactly what was happening inside me and couldn’t have been happier about it, but then my brother walked into my field of vision and it all crashed and burned.

Ryan smiled as he accepted a beer from Jessie, I tuned back in to the girls’ conversation about our plans for Memorial Day tomorrow. As I turned away from Carson, Cassidy resumed the argument she’d been having with Amber before the guys had arrived.

“You’ll get a better tan on the boat than on the deck,” she said. “Besides, I’m willing to bet that I’m a better water skier than Ryan, and I can’t wait to see him trying to beat me.”

“Actually, I need to head home in the morning,” he said, glancing at me with an apologetic smile on his face. “So do you, sis. I’m afraid our time here has come to an end. Mom and Dad need us to get back.”

Disappointment raced through me. I’d been planning on staying with the girls until tomorrow night and was hoping to spend some more time with Carson. When I glanced at him, I could tell he was disappointed too but he hid it fast.

“Okay,” I said, trying to mask my true feelings about it by forcing myself to sound conversational. “I guess we’ve had our fun. I want to stay, but if they need us at home, they need us at home.”