No More Secrets: A Small Town Love Story (The Pierce Brothers Book 1) (21 page)

Summer’s tone had Carter on red alert.

The woman came to a halt in front of them in her five-inch stilettos. She towered over Summer and stood eye-to-eye with Carter.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your date?” Kira asked Summer, her sharp gaze never leaving Carter.

He heard Summer hiss out her breath. “Carter Pierce, this is Kira Nakano. We work together.”

Kira held out her hand to him as if she wanted it kissed. He shook it firmly instead.

“Hmm, rough. I like it rough,” she said, running her tongue over her teeth.

For some reason all he could think of was those Venus fly traps his mother used to grow.

Summer rolled her eyes. “Very classy, Kira. Don’t you have a director or an editor to haunt?”

Kira tore her eyes away from Carter and glared down at Summer. “Don’t get too comfortable at these events. When I’m senior editor, your presence won’t be necessary at all.” She stalked away, sending Carter another smoldering look over her shoulder.

“I feel like I need a shower,” he muttered.

“That’s the one I want to shove off a roof. I just haven’t found a building tall enough, yet.”

“You work with some very
interesting
characters,” Carter said.

“Coming from someone who was born and raised in Blue Moon, that means a lot,” Summer teased. “So there’s one last person I need to introduce you to, and then we can start plotting our getaway.”

She led him toward the center of the room where a small group of people clustered around a woman of medium height and medium build. Thanks to what Carter assumed was a very skilled plastic surgeon, her age was indeterminate. He put her on the low side of fifty, with a slick air of elegance. She was dressed simply, preferring to accent her black cocktail dress with bold jewelry. She wore her light brown hair in a sophisticated pixie cut.

Summer waited patiently for the conversation with some expensive suits to end. He saw the woman give her a subtle nod.

“I’d love to discuss this further, Raymond. Why don’t you call my assistant and set something up for next month?” she said, skillfully bringing the conversation to a close. “Lovely to see you,” she said, waving her audience off.

She turned her attention to Summer. “Now, what have you brought me, my dear?”

“Katherine, I’d like you to meet Carter Pierce. He’s the owner of the organic farm we’re featuring in the September issue. Carter, this is Katherine Ackerman, senior editor of
Indulgence
.”

She held out a slim, cool hand and Carter thought it wise to kiss this one.

“Summer turned in quite the article on you and your farm.” Her plum-colored lips tilted up in a practiced smile. “Now I understand her fascination.”

He could smell her perfume. A light scent that completed the subtle, elegant package. “Summer, dear, would you mind fetching me a drink?” she asked.

Summer accepted the empty glass that Katherine passed to her and winked at Carter as she hurried off toward the bar.

Katherine tucked her hand through Carter’s arm, and together they slowly wandered to a wall featuring a trio of abstract canvases. Carter was more interested in the exposed brick of the wall than the splashes and slashes of paint.

“Tell me, Carter, why does someone who looks like you do spend his days in barns and fields when you could be doing so much more?”

The question put his back up. “What’s more important than growing good food to feed people?”

She tilted her head to the side, and studied him. “Aren’t you unexpected?”

Carter wished Summer would hurry the hell back. He was saved from answering by a woman with wildly curling hair and a sequined tunic over linen pants.

“Katherine,” she said, extending both hands. “It’s so good to see you again.”

He saw it in the tightness around Katherine’s mouth. She had no idea who this woman was. He could almost hear her mind racing through contacts as she took the woman’s hands in hers.

Katherine leaned in for the double kiss on the cheek. “My dear, I’m so glad you could make it.”

“So am I. Especially if it earns me an introduction to your arm candy.”

“Mary Beth,” Summer rushed up to their little group, clutching a glass of champagne. “Katherine was just saying she hoped you’d be here so she could introduce you to Carter. Carter runs an organic farm upstate. Mary Beth just started a community initiative that helps buildings design and develop rooftop gardens.”

Carter offered Mary Beth his hand. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a fellow gardener.”

“Summer,” Katherine said, pulling her aside. “Would you mind taking care of something for me?”

Carter and Mary Beth talked fertilizer and irrigation for nearly twenty minutes before she had to take a phone call. He was debating the merits of another beer when he saw Alexi strut his way into the men’s bathroom.

It was an opportunity he wasn’t going to pass up.

O
n the hunt, Carter stalked into the men’s room after Alexi. The room was tiled from floor to ceiling in iridescent glass squares. The stall doors were murals of old Hollywood stars. Instead of urinals, a single long trough ran along the far wall.

Carter waited patiently for Alexi to finish at the trough.

When the man tried to get around him to the sinks, Carter simply got in his way.

“Do you have a problem?” His accent was heavily Slavic.

“Summer Lentz.” Carter said, his legs braced apart.

“I do not know who this is,” Alexi sneered.

“The woman whose ass you thought it was okay to grab tonight.”

Recognition began to dawn in Alexi’s eyes. “Summer, you say. She had no complaints at the time.”

Carter felt his ire start to bubble over. “As a matter of fact she did, and she expressed those complaints to you.”

Alexi shrugged. “Women play hard to get. It is what they do.”

Carter’s hands flexed on his hips, begging to be used. “You ever touch her or any other woman without her permission again, and I will ruin your career.” His tone was low, even, but the rage was there.

Alexi swallowed. “You are no one. You cannot touch my career.” He drew himself up to his full height, still an inch or two shy of Carter’s. “I touch who I want when I want.” He drilled a long finger into Carter’s chest.

“Wrong thing to say, asshole.” Carter gripped the man’s wrist and twisted. Spinning Alexi around, he shoved him up against Marilyn Monroe’s bee-stung pout. He had Alexi’s arm pinned behind his back at an angle that had the man whimpering.

“You ever touch Summer again, besides a polite handshake, and I will go to work on your face. First I’ll break your nose. Then I’ll shatter your jaw. And while your broken, mangled face is healing, who do you think will get all your jobs? All those campaigns?” Carter’s grip tightened and he gave Alexi enough of a shove that his forehead knocked against the stall door. “Do you understand me?”

Alexi was sweating and keening against the partition.

Carter gave his forearm an extra tweak. “I said, do you understand me?”

“Yes, yes!” Alexi gasped, spit flying from his mouth.

“Now, I want you to go out there and apologize to Summer. And if it’s not done to my satisfaction, I will find you and I will hurt you.”

The man gave a little whimper. “Okay. Okay. I will do so.”

Carter released him. “Now, go wash your fucking hands,” he ordered.

Alexi bolted for the sink, hands shaking.

“Well you certainly picked the right place for a pissing contest,” Quincy said mildly from just inside the door.

Alexi ran past him, bursting through the door as if it were an escape hatch.

Carter straightened his jacket. “Quincy,” he nodded, and strolled out of the restroom.

His mood improved significantly when he spotted a sweaty and shaky Alexi in polite conversation with Summer.

Carter swelled with pride when Summer merely nodded briskly, not giving him any hint of friendliness. She offered her hand. Alexi glanced around the room, and spotting Carter, waited for his nod before accepting it for a perfunctory shake. He hurried off in the direction of the exit, bowling his way through a pack of executives.

Summer watched him go, a frown on her pretty face. Carter wandered her way.

“There you are!” Summer said with relief. “I was worried you got bored and wandered off, or Katherine stole you away.”

“She didn’t catch on to our top secret relationship, did she?” Carter asked, stepping in closer.

“No, I think we’re in the clear for now.” Summer glanced over her shoulder.

“That was a nice save back there with Mary Beth, by the way,” he told her.

“Thanks. Usually Katherine’s assistant stays with her to help with names, but who knows where she disappeared to.”

“I was almost enjoying Katherine squirming after she made me feel like a piece of meat.”

“How dare she do that to a hot vegetarian,” Summer said in mock horror.

“Well, you were very impressive and quick on your feet. I hope she appreciates you.” Carter had a feeling she didn’t.

“I hope you’ll keep being impressed when I tell you the bad news.”

“Does it involve extending the time between now and when I get to peel that dress off of you to see what you’re wearing underneath?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “It’s your own fault. If you hadn’t impressed Katherine with your ‘whole package,’” she waved her palm in front of him. “Then we’d be able to sneak out before the show.”

“What does my
package
have to do with not being able to sneak out?” His package was currently straining behind his zipper at the idea of stripping Summer naked.

“She wants us — mainly you — to sit in the front row with her.”

“I can tell by the look on your face that this is important, but I’m not exactly clear on why.”

Summer laughed. “The front row is VIP-only. Usually at these events I don’t even get to sit. I stand in the back. You and your sexy-as-hell-everything just bumped a buyer for Saks and a Tony-nominee.”

“I feel like you’re still not speaking English.”

“Have you ever watched the Victoria’s Secret runway show?”

What red-blooded man hadn’t? “I think I’ve seen bits and pieces of it.”

“You’ll be one of the people in the front row that the cameras are constantly panning over.”

Carter swore. “This isn’t going to be on TV, is it?”

Summer patted his shoulder. “No, but there will be photographers and videographers capturing your handsome face.”

“I should have just waited for you at your place,” he grumbled.

“But if you were waiting for me at home, you wouldn’t know that the only thing I have on under this dress is a very pretty, very sheer thong.”

He made a move to grab her, but she danced out of his reach and around another column.

He snagged her wrist and pulled her back against him in the dimly lit corner, the brick blocking them from the rest of the room. “You play dangerous games and think you’re safe because we’re in public.”

She was breathing heavily. Her breasts rose, her lips parted.

He nuzzled against her neck. “You know what I could do to you here?”

She shook her head and angled her chin up, giving him more skin to tease.

“I could push you against this pillar.” He nudged her forward until her hands met coarse brick. He kissed her behind the ear. “And I could slide my hand up your dress.”

He gripped her shoulder and held her in place while his free hand roamed down between their bodies under the hem of her skirt.

“Carter!” A sharp whisper. A warning.

He skimmed his fingers down the gauzy material, following it from back to front. “I could slam my fingers into you right here.” He pressed the pads of his fingers against the wet spot they found. “I could make you come.”

“Carter.” This time his name was a dark plea on her lips.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her face as his fingers worked in a tight little circle, teasing, tempting. She shuddered against him.

“I could do all that.” His lips brushed against her ear. “But I won’t.”

Carter withdrew his hand and smoothed the layers of her skirt. “Yet.”

Summer blew out a breath. “How do you do that?” She spun around and thumped him soundly on the chest.

“Do what?” He secured her hand, brought it to his mouth.

“Make me forget where we are and what I’m supposed to be doing. How do you make all that disappear so all I can think about is how empty I am without you inside me?”

It was Carter’s turn to groan. He tried to adjust his erection, but it did nothing to relieve the pressure that had built so rapidly. He had wanted to tease her, not lose all control.

Now, she was watching him, cocky and proud of herself.

“You will be punished,” he growled.

“We’ll see. In the meantime, I hope you can control that before all those cameras are on you in the front row.” She smiled innocently.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I really like this mean, manipulative streak you’ve got going on,” Carter sighed. “Now, please go away so I can get my blood back up to my brain. I can’t look at you in that dress right now.

C
arter was able to pull himself together in time to take his seat on an uncomfortable bench between Summer and Katherine. Thankfully, he had the foresight to grab one of the gallery programs. He held it, rolled up, in his hand and could use it to cover his crotch in case the situation got out of control again.

“Remember, don’t smile, don’t check your phone. Ignore the cameras. Just look at the clothes and frown like you’re intrigued,” Summer whispered in his ear as the lights dimmed.

“You owe me so much for this,” he whispered back.

“I intend to pay up,” she promised.

The show served as a distraction from how much he wanted to touch her. Lights pulsed in time with club music as model after model strutted down the raised runway dressed in clothing no normal woman would be caught wearing to the office or out to dinner.

The flashes from cameras were blinding. He didn’t know how the models didn’t get stunned by the light and trampled.