Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Guess I’m kind of missing the Falls.”
“What?” Elliott’s brows pulled together. “All you did was whine and complain when we sent you there.”
“Oh yeah. I was convinced I was going to be miserable.”
“See?”
“But I really wasn’t, Elliott. It wasn’t that bad. It was actually…kind of great. You know, looking at my phone now, I have more names of guys from Fever Falls than I have of people I know in LA. They’re checking in on me to make sure I’m doing all right. They know I might never come back, or not much, but they just want to say hey.”
“You did make a lot of friends while you were there.”
Friends. He was right.
“Guess I’m not used to having many of those,” I confessed.
“Oh, come on. You have me and Dax.”
“It’s a little different with you guys. I can’t say I’ve had a lot of friends in my life.”
“Carter, I’ve seen how many guys you’ve gone home with.”
“Really? And do you consider every woman you go home with a friend?”
“Fair point.”
“You and Dax have been great to me, but it’s a little different since you’re also my bosses.”
“Coworkers now, mister.” He winked.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said with a smile. “You guys are my coworkers and friends. That’s not the same. And I’ve always had acquaintances and familiar faces that I run into at parties and galas, but friends? I don’t even know that I understood the concept until I started staying in Fever Falls.”
Elliott’s expression sobered, as though he was really hearing me for the first time. “Wow. That…that…”
“I’m not saying that to make you feel weird about asking me to come back here. I made that decision on my own. It’s just, there have been so many reminders of the things I’ve been missing since I left.”
Elliott rested his hand on my shoulder. “I get that, Carter. The way Dax talks about the place, it sounds like I definitely haven’t spent enough time out there to really get a feel for it. Maybe I’ll accompany you back sometime to see some of your new friends.”
My lips tugged into a smile at the thought. “That would be nice.”
“Good, now come on. Let’s get out there and mingle.”
I wished I’d told Elliott more. That it wasn’t just about the friends I was missing, but about the guy I missed most—Sawyer Burke. However, he already knew what we’d been doing, and I didn’t want him to feel like shit for being part of the reason we’d split.
As I chatted with other guests at the event, I couldn’t help but replay the fun times we’d had—those times we’d shared in the woods, the back seat of his car, his bedroom. My Naughty Sawyer. Oh, he knew how to be rough in just the right way.
And then there were the sweeter moments, when we’d be curled up in bed together, ordering food in since neither of us wanted to get up.
Why did just thinking about those times I was missing make me tear up?
We deserved more time than we’d had.
Cut it out. I pulled myself out of those thoughts and continued mingling. It was what I did best, after all. Well, maybe second to what I did best.
“Hey, Carter!” I recognized the voice immediately, and turned around from the circle I was chatting within to see Miles Gunner in all his grandeur. He had that familiar expression across his face, that cocky grin and narrowed eyes as he glanced me over, like he was imagining all the things we’d done together that time we hooked up. I hadn’t seen him since Sawyer and I had first started seeing each other, before we were technically even boyfriends.
“Looks like you need another drink,” he said, indicating my nearly empty cup.
I took him up on that, and we headed to the bar together. He told me he was at the fundraiser with his manager, whom Elliott had invited a few weeks earlier.
“Well, well, Carter James, you just keep circling back around to me,” he said with a smile as he offered me the vodka tonic the bartender had mixed for me, then took a sip of his Chardonnay.
“I think I should remind you who keeps approaching whom.” I winked, and his grin expanded across his pretty face.
Like me, Miles Gunner wasn’t much for games or leaving much to the imagination. I knew by the way he was looking at me that if I wanted him, he was mine for the night.
“You been getting enough sleep lately?” he asked. “You look exhausted.”
Wow. Just what I needed. It had been a big adjustment keeping up with everything Elliott and I had going on, so I knew I wasn’t looking as slick and sexy as Miles was used to seeing me. Not that I needed to hear about it.
I rolled my eyes. “Aren’t you a charmer? Next you’ll be complimenting the bags under my eyes.”