Carter pushed back his chair and stood up. “I’ll walk you to the car.”

“What did I just say about leaving the house?” Rome retorted.

“I’m walking her to the end of the driveway, Rome. Calm your shit.”

“At least put on a hat.”

“Yeah, I’ll produce my hat out of thin air, thanks.”

“Harold has one at the bottom of the stairs, on one of the hooks,” Marlena then said. “You can use that one in case there’s anyone around. We haven’t had a flux of cameramen in a very long time, but just in case they’re around, it’s better than nothing.”

Not really, I wanted to say. Nothing could disguise Carter. He stuck out like a sore thumb anywhere he went.

“See you later, Leah!” Rome called out to me on my way into the house.

“See you, Rome,” I called back.

Carter followed closely behind me as I walked down the stairs and to the front door. Moving past me suddenly, he grabbed Harold’s trucker hat on one of the hooks on the wall and opened the door before I could. Smiling charmingly at me, he waved me out.

“Just being a gentleman,” he explained when I shot him a puzzled look.

“Didn’t think you had it in you,” I joked as I slipped out.

He fitted the hat over his head, and it looked damn good with his longish hair poking out of the sides.

“You look like a Southern man now,” I teased, hiding my smile.

“Bless your heart,” he replied in a thick Southern accent. “That makes me happier than a tornado in a trailer park.”

I burst out laughing. “A tornado in a trailer park?”

He shrugged, dropping his surprisingly spot-on accent as he replied, “I’ve met my fair share of Southern people. Some of them say the weirdest shit.”

“I bet.”

He walked alongside me on my way to the car, and we were all smiles despite our awkward as hell night. All I could think about was that damn kiss and how incredible it felt. He appeared distracted by thoughts too, and I had a feeling we were both thinking the same thing.

“I like your car,” he then remarked, staring at my dented to shit baby.

I glanced at it too, feeling my chest billow with pride. I saved that baby up cent after agonizing cent. “Yeah? Better than your Lamborghinis?”

He scoffed. “My Lamborghini has nothing on your fat ass car.”

“That’s right.”

“Did you buy this big boy with all these marks and dents?”

I studied the body for a moment. “Uh…some of them.”

He traced several of the long lines against the driver’s side, looking at me with furrowed brows. “Someone key it?”

I shrugged absently. “Yeah, I got keyed a while back.”

“Fuckers.”

“I deserved it. I kinda parked the car in the disabled parking spot.”

He bit his lip to stop from smiling. “You think some handicapped person keyed this?”

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. Melanie and I saw the tape when we went to the security team in the shopping centre. It was this perfect video of this miserable old man with a cane, and he was whacking it against the car before he keyed it. He got away with it.”

“Bastard.”

“I told you I deserved it.”

Leaning against the car, he said, “Just a little bit.”

“I got a ticket for it too. Talk about karma.”

He laughed. “A ticket on top of having your little beast keyed. No good, Angel.”

I unlocked the door, painfully aware of how hard he was staring at me. “The ticket thing hit me hard. I don’t really care about what a car looks like.”

“You were never about the looks,” he replied softly. “It was refreshing. It still is.”

I glanced at him wryly. “My poverty is refreshing to you? That’s nice to know.  But giving you a look over, I don’t see bling hanging off of you either.”

He shook his head. “No fucking way. After what we grew up in, I couldn’t give a fuck about things. I don’t even have a Lamborghini.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Until you learn how much insurance costs for one. Rome will go broke with his car garage.”

I laughed. My skin prickled as he then pushed off and grasped the top of the car door, leaning closer to me. “I’m sort of on a fucking high right now,” he whispered down to me, his breaths hitting my face, smelling minty and delicious. “I’m not sure I can wait until the afternoon to see you, Leah.”

“Well, that’s not up to you, is it?” I joked. “I have a really horrible dick of a boss and I can’t get out of this shift. So, it’s kind of unavoidable.”

“Certainly you don’t put up with his shit. I know you.”

“When it comes to people paying me money, Carter, I have to put up with their shit,”

“Well, I liked how you spoke to Alyssa, by the way. She’s a bit of a diva, and she deserved being put in her place. Just in case you feel like you stepped out of line, you should know you didn’t.”

I shrugged. “Even if it was out of line, I think she needed to hear it. Doubt it’ll stop her whining.”

He shook his head. “No, it won’t. Rome will have enough of her soon, I’m sure of it. It’s usually the way with him.”

“You know,” I then said quietly, taking a careful step closer to him, “she sort of looks like Melanie, right?”

He grinned down at me, those blue eyes bright. “She’s pretty much her replica. A duller version, really.”

“I knew it! Is he hung up on Mel?”

“If he is, he isn’t coming out with it.”

I frowned, rolling my eyes. “They’re both such babies.”

He chuckled. “So, are you coming back?”

“Um, I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“Because… I’m freaked out by this.”

He cocked his head to the side. “What’s this?”

I motioned in his general direction. “You. I don’t know if it’s wise to come back and see you again.”

His beautiful eyes narrowed in thought. “Have I scared you away with what I said?”

I hesitated. No point beating around the bush, or pretending I was Miss Confidence that had moved on. Honesty was the noble route. So, I answered with, “Yes.”