Pinkie Promise (Carter Ridge Book 1)

We started off on opposite sides of the bed.

At first we were lying side by side, Hunter’s chest rising heavily as he stared unblinkingly up at the ceiling. But after five minutes of being more awake than we’d felt all day Hunter had reached his hand out to mine and gently locked our pinkies together. We turned to look at each other and in a matter of seconds he’d encircled me in his arms, pulling my front up against his chest and wrapping my thighs around his abs. He crushed my mouth with his, sounds of pain and relief vibrating through his chest.

“Is this okay?” he’d murmured, shifting me higher up his body.

I’d nodded eagerly and he rolled me onto my back, kissing me impatiently, as if he hadn’t had me in his arms all evening. He gave me a warning growl when my hands started skirting his deeply cut V and then suddenly my back was to his front, my wrists locked down under his forearms. He leaned forward so that he could kiss me from behind and then, when I started to bonelessly submit to his touch, he’d pulled away with a grunt and buried his face in my hair.

I didn’t think that I’d be able to fall asleep, my body so painfully aware of the man pressed up behind me, but when I open up my eyes I realise that I’ve just had the most amazing sleep of my life.

Hunter’s arms are still wrapped tightly around me, his bare forearms pressed against my belly under my shirt and his chest heaving steadily against my shoulders. I move the tiniest inch and his grip immediately intensifies, loosening only when I go back to laying still. The thick muscle between his thighs is digging halfway up my back, a long hot brand that makes my thighs press together.

Hunter’s hips suddenly thrust against my ass and he grunts himself awake. His breathing is immediately laboured and his hold on my belly becomes firmer, his stubbled jaw pressed against my temple as he takes a deep, chest-swelling inhale.

“Fallon,” he murmurs in his rough morning voice. His arms shift from around my middle and his palms settle on both sides of my waist, squeezing me indulgently as he rubs his erection between my cheeks. “Fallon, you awake?”

“Yes,” I squeak, as he flattens his hands over my stomach and pushes me against him. He rubs one of his palms all the way up my body, between my cleavage and up my throat until he’s gripping at my jaw, and then he gently turns my face to look up at his.

I squirm without meaning to, his eyes so much darker and more dangerous looking when he’s pressed up against me at God-knows-what in the morning. His stubble has grown in the night and his skin looks even more tan against his sheets.

“Hey,” he says quietly, leaning down to kiss my lips. My eyes flutter closed and I reach back with one arm to stroke at his jaw. He releases a contended groan at my nervous petting and a warm feeling sparkles wildly through my chest.

And the sensation only gets warmer as Hunter slides his digits beneath the hem of my top, making me whimper quietly when I feel just how hot he is. He rubs his big warm palm firmly up my belly until he’s growling into my mouth as he roughly massages my breasts. The sensation is so intimate, so unfamiliar, that I become slack in his hold, enabling him to roll me quickly onto my belly and start grinding hard against my ass. The hand on my jaw slips loosely around my throat and the palm rubbing my breast begins squeezing frantically.

“First time waking up like this,” he grunts, knocking my knees apart with his so that he can position his thick quads between my thighs.

“You feel like a seasoned professional,” I whisper breathlessly, and he huffs a laugh against my cheek.

“I wanna have you so bad,” he murmurs, gripping his hands around my hips so that he can pull my behind up against his straining length.

“Really?” I tease. “I never would have guessed.”

He grins and bites his perfect teeth into the side of my neck, making my whole body drop limply into the soft sheets of his bed. He groans into my throat and shoves my thighs further apart.

“Move in with me,” he rasps, making me smother another giggle into his pillow. His gravelly morning voice is making my stomach pound dangerously. I try to push myself up from the bed but he keeps me firmly in place without needing to flex one damn muscle.

“I need to go, I have things to do,” I tell him, wriggling.

He grips his fingers into my ass and murmurs, “Squirming like that ain’t helping me wanna let you leave.” I fall still against the mattress and he mumbles, “Actually, that ain’t helping either.”

I try to roll onto my back and he lifts his torso so that I can. Then he settles his bodyweight back down on top of me and strokes gently at my cheek.

“I don’t want you to go,” he tells me simply, looking straight into my eyes.

“I need my laptop so that I can stress-email every other member of the English department, and you literally have work to go to, Mechanic,” I remind him, although, really, I don’t want to go either.

The real problem here? I’m terrified that I’m about to fall in love with him.

I’ve only known him for two months but he’s treating me so good that it feels like I’ve known him for two years. Because of that, I need to put as much distance between us as possible right now.

But first I give myself a little treat, by roaming my palms over his beautiful chest.

“The shop’ll be closed if the roads haven’t been cleared. And I won’t drive you back to the condo if they haven’t been, either.”

I grin, loving the way that his deep voice reverberates through my body. “You can carry me piggy-back style,” I say teasingly.

He laughs down at me and shakes his head. “Fine. You got more essays left to submit this semester or something?”

“Yeah, although technically they’re all done. I just need to proof-read them. And then I have thesis revisions but I’m so ahead on that I literally don’t have to look at it until January. I meant what I said yesterday by the way, about you going to your parents’ for Christmas. Like, no way am I going to be the thing that prevents that from happening. I don’t want you to think I’m depending on you for company. Dependency…” I trail off, shaking my head. I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it to him before, about how I hate being at the mercy of other people. Everything that I told him yesterday explains why I’d rather not be in that kind of situation again.

When I look up at him he’s frowning slightly, his jaw ticking and his eyes aflame. Then he looks quickly away from me, as if he was going to say something but thought better of it.

He settles himself heavily onto his back and I can’t decipher the hard look on his face. Without glancing down at me he wraps his arms around my waist and drags me up so that I’m lying on top of him.

I prod at the stubble on his tan jaw and he gives me a lazy smirk.

God darn it. Why are country boys so damn cute?

“I’m going out tonight by the way,” I tell him, flipping my hair subtly over my shoulder.

His smirk instantly drops and he sits us bolt upright.

“I’m sorry, what?” he asks, his voice deadly calm.

“It’s a cheer thing, end of term and all,” I say absently, moving to get off of him and being secretly thrilled when he shoves me right back down. His arousal practically impales me as he forces my lap on top of his.

“Where are you going?” he demands.

“One of the sorority houses, seeing as half of the team can’t get into the bars.”

He watches me long and hard before gently easing me off his lap and getting up to rip open his curtains. Whatever he sees makes the large muscles in his back tense up. He curses roughly as he shoves them closed again.

“Have the roads been cleared?” I ask, overflowing with this golden sunshine feeling at the knowledge that Hunter wanted to keep me here for the rest of the day. That Hunter wants to keep me, period.

He climbs on top of me, his jaw working hard. “Yeah,” he grunts. “Still don’t want you goin’ over there in any neck-breaker heels or anything,” he mumbles against my throat.

I stroke my fingers into his hair and he releases a rumbling exhale.

“When I pick my outfit maybe I’ll send you a photo,” I whisper.

“Baby,” he murmurs into my neck, before leaning up and kissing me gently. When he pulls back he says, “Over Christmas I might take my siblings to the rink, get them comfortable on their blades for the first time. If you want…” He shoves one of his hands through his hair and then drops it to my waist. “If you want, I could bring you with us. I only take one sibling at a time, it’s not like I’ll have the whole bunch,” he laughs, although his cheeks start flushing red and he glances down as if he’s getting nervous.

“Okay,” I agree, loving the idea of seeing Hunter teaching his baby siblings how to skate. I also secretly want him to teach me how to skate, but I save that thought for another time.

“Yeah?” he asks, tilting my chin so that I can look up at him. He’s wearing a sleepy half-smile that has my heart doing crazy things.

“Yeah,” I whisper back, before pulling him down for one more kiss.

*

A champagne cork shoots across the living room and I let out a tipsy yip as I duck out of its way. Aisling throws a pillow from our sofa over to the girls in the kitchen, and they scream and scamper, laughing profusely. I look back into Ash’s little compact mirror and finish my coating of mascara as she switches up the song on the playlist, blasting it out of the speaker on the countertop.

“How was last night?” I ask her as she tosses her cell and stands up on the couch to catch the rogue cushion being thrown back at us. She’s wearing a strapless baby blue mini dress, silver stilettos, and the biggest pair of diamond earrings that I have ever seen in my life. She sinks back down next to me and we share an amused look.

Aisling was at her boyfriend’s last night and, from the aggressively hot outfit that she’s wearing for our cheer Christmas party, I can tell that she isn’t pining too hard for him right now.

“I mean, I kind of want to kill him,” she laughs, rolling her eyes and downplaying her emotions. “Like, at first I didn’t mind that he’s such a dog because he’s also really good at spoiling me, but now that we’re ‘exclusive’ and his phone is still pinging off every five seconds… I don’t care if he’s already been drafted – he has a girlfriend, so his past hook-ups shouldn’t be pursuing him anymore. He let me scroll through his DMs, and he isn’t even responding to them, but it’s getting to the point where his popularity is downright annoying. I knew what I was signing up for with him but I think that we’re reaching the end of the rope.”

She runs her fingers through her hair, laughing humourlessly as she shakes her head.

“I knew that I should never have said yes to being exclusive with him. Honestly, I think that the most important lesson that I’ve learned from this is that it isn’t just the guys that you need to keep your guard up around – it’s the girls too. If I hadn’t met you at cheer when we were freshmen, Lord knows what I would do.”

I give her a little “aw”, genuinely touched.

She waves her wrist quickly, wafting away the sentimentality. “I know, I’m sappy, I’ll shut the hell up now.”

“No no no–”

Ash picks up a shot-glass from the coffee table and stares at the sparkly red liquid, the crushed candy canes around the rim giving it an extra festive feel. She tentatively sticks the tip of her tongue into the glass and then pulls a face that sends us both into hysterics.

She passes me a shot of my own and we tip them back in unison.

“Can I just… say one more thing?” she asks hesitantly, poking at the candy rim so that she doesn’t have to meet my eyes.

I nod vigorously, the red liquor warming my veins.

She glances over her shoulder, her fingers running over her diamonds, and then I watch her eyes pool with tears, making me scooch forward and wrap my arms around her.

“I can’t trust anyone Fallon,” she whispers. “Not even the girls on the damn team.”

I know the problem before she even says it. “Who was messaging him?”

She frowns at her lap before mouthing Whitney.

My jaw drops open and she scrunches up her nose.

“Whitney? As in, the girl who replaced me as the head flyer?” I hiss, pressing my fingers hard into my temples, unable to comprehend a betrayal by someone on your own team. Especially when, as the captain of Carter U’s comp team, Ash is close with all of the girls on the squad.

Seeing as Ash just assigned Whitney the position of the comp team’s star flyer my brain is fizzing like crazy over the idea of her betraying her.

I feel like I’m forgetting something but the sparkly liquor is making my thoughts hazy.

“I know,” she whispers, smoothing out her dress as we walk to get one last drink from the kitchen. In my light state of tipsiness it takes me a second to realise that Blair, the girl who dropped me so good that I ended up getting multiple concussions, is standing right next to us at the counter.

My cheeks heat up, feeling a little betrayal of my own.

Our eyes meet and neither one of us knows what to do. She offers me a small unsure smile, her brow creasing with guilt, and I give her a tiny smile of my own, not exactly sure where we stand with each other. After a few seconds of nervous eye contact she takes a glass from the tray and takes her leave.

“Speaking of betrayal,” Ash murmurs, and I give her a let’s not even get into it look as we prop ourselves against the dark counter.

With her connections, Blair’s position on the team was a guarantee, and there’s nothing I can do about what has already happened. Plus, I can join the events team seeing as I was only barred from doing comps and, with my aim to now get a grant from the literature department instead of from my sport, I technically don’t have anything to complain about.

Aisling hasn’t reached that kind of enlightenment yet though.

“I want to kick Whitney’s ass off the team,” she says casually, giving me a naughty little smile as we take a sip on her extremely expensive champagne. “Obviously I can’t, because we need her for Elite, but seeing all of the messages really stressed me the hell out, and then he started stressing out because I was stressing out…” She rolls her eyes. “I just set myself up for disappointment after disappointment. Like, going into it with him, I literally knew that we wouldn’t last. And it’s not even fair to him because he isn’t encouraging it – being hot can be such a curse sometimes.”

She laughs wetly and then covers her eyes with her hands. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and give her a comforting squish.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she murmurs, and in the very next second a big warm presence presses up behind me.

I turn my head and Connell is bearing down on me, a frown on his face as his eyes flick between his sister’s face and mine. The cheer squad and the football team are getting a fleet of Ubers to take us to the sorority house, so Connell’s teammates are filing into our living room as they wait for the girls to finish getting ready.

I haven’t spoken to Connell since I argued with him about my grant and, now that he’s looking down at me like an all-knowing big brother, I have guilty eyes and a sad pout on my lips.

“What’s she crying for?” he asks me gruffly, flicking his chin over to his sister.

“Nothing,” Aisling says immediately, her head snapping up. “Everything’s fine. I was being stupid.”

I purse my lips, not wanting to explain a secret that isn’t mine to tell.

Connell narrows his eyes on us and Aisling subtly shakes her head at him, telling him not to press it.

“Nice earrings,” he comments. “When did they happen?”

She scowls up at him. “Just an early Christmas present.”

He scowls back down at her. “You sure it wasn’t an apology present?”

Aisling’s eyes widen and I feel my cheeks getting very hot.

“He better not be buying your loyalty, Ash,” Connell says quietly, his words making me wince even though he doesn’t mean them maliciously.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Connell presses himself up behind me, reaching his arms around the both of us and squeezing us into a bruising football-player hug. Aisling fervently swipes under her eyes.

After a minute she pulls back and says, “I’m gonna check my make-up and then I wanna get extra tipsy. Make me something strong,” she orders him as she slips around us and jogs over to our bathroom, looking flawless in those shimmering heels.

I wriggle to get out of Connell’s grip but he simply turns me around, his expression hard and sure.

“I’m sorry,” we both say at the same time. His mouth ticks up into a half-grin.

“No, I’m sorry,” he says. “I have no fucking right to try and give you advice about money.”

“You were right though,” I argue back. “I should’ve listened to you from the get-go. Literally all I’ve done today is mass-email my ex-professors so that I still have a shot in the dark at maybe getting this grant.”

He hands me our bottle of champagne and I take a little willing sip. I pass it back to him and he drains half the bottle.

I roll my eyes and laugh.

“I’m still sorry, Fallon. What you’re doing takes guts. When I knocked on your door a million times last night and you didn’t answer, I thought that you were never going to forgive me.”

I stare up at him, confused, and then my cheeks get a little pinker.

“Oh,” I whisper. “I didn’t know that you came by last night. I… I wasn’t at the condo.”

He watches my face carefully before his chest suddenly swells. In a deep voice he says, “Hunter?”

I nod.

“Right,” he says, before glancing down at my body. “Are you okay?”

I blink up at him. “What do you mean?”

He looks over his shoulder before giving me a secretive isn’t it obvious? look. “Like… Hunter Wilde is a big guy, Fallon,” he says, laughing nervously as he takes stock of my body. “You know what I’m saying.”

“Oh my God,” I groan, before laughing with embarrassment. “Connell, for one, you’re huge too, and you’ve tried to get with me before.”

He gives me a cocky grin. “Don’t try to butter me up, Fallon. I know that Hunter’s got twenty pounds on me.”

We both laugh as I try to fan away the heat from my cheeks.

“We, um… we didn’t actually do anything like what you’re thinking. I was only staying over because the weather got crazy and he didn’t want me on the roads during the blizzard. I know the whole ‘hockey captain’ thing gives him that player vibe but he’s, uh… traditional. Respectful. You wouldn’t even believe how gentlemanly he’s being with me.”

Connell nods, his expression more serious now. “Good,” he says, his voice confident and sincere. “You look hot as hell by the way.”

I glance down at my outfit – a pretty lilac mini dress, matching with Aisling’s blue one – and I prop my hands on my hips, cocking him a happy cheerleader pose. “Thanks,” I say, and he crushes me into another laughing bear hug.

“Let’s not argue again,” he says, as we all begin filing out of the condo. He gives me a grin and adds on, “Second baby sis.”

Aisling locks her arm with mine as half of the cheer team and the football squad squishes into the dark elevator.

“Well, this is safe,” I say dryly and Connell snickers as the door tries to close again.

Ash still has music blasting from her cell and, tipsy on champagne, we scour her playlist for our next target. By the time that we’re in the back of the Uber I’m so excited for my night out that I really wish I’d invited Hunter. I slide my phone from the side of my panties and tap on the screen so that it lights up.

I ignore everything on the home screen except the six texts from Hunter, smiling secretly to myself as my eyes scan over his messages.

Instead of texting him a response, I pull up the camera app and hold my phone an arm’s length away from me. Connell is sitting directly across from me and he smirks, shaking his head, already knowing what I’m doing.

“You’re gonna drive him crazy,” he says to me.

Then he elbows one of his teammates in the ribs when he catches him staring at my legs.

I squeeze my chest up with my free arm and look up at the camera as the flash goes off, before zooming into my own cleavage as I check the pic. I bite at my thumb, giggling because I’m nervous and excited.

Then I attach it to the Messages app and shoot it off to Hunter.

Three seconds later Hunter is calling me, making me bite back a laugh and arch my neck against the headrest.

I click the answer button.

“Baby,” Hunter grunts, his breathing hard and laboured down the line.

“Hey,” I whisper back to him, smiling at the sound of his voice. “How’d your shift go?”

He inhales deeply and I hear the sound of metal unzipping in the background. “I only just got back to my parents’ house. Needed to finish up this car ’cause the owner’s picking it up on Monday.”

“My strong hardworking man,” I whisper teasingly.

He groans through the speaker and I hear a door lock click shut. “You drunk, baby?” he asks, his voice painfully deep.

“No,” I lie, smiling when he laughs down the line.

“Wish I could be with you right now,” he murmurs, sounding exhausted. “Text me when you get home?”

“You’ll be asleep,” I say, bouncing slightly as the Uber brakes to a stop.

“Baby, the thought of you going out looking like that, without me by your side? I’m not gonna be sleeping for a damn month.”

I step carefully down onto the snow-scraped driveway and then I hold Aisling’s hand as we begin walking on our heels up the sorority steps.

“I gotta go,” I tell him as we enter the house, before whispering teasingly, “Have a nice long shower.”

He lets out a sexy pained laugh that has my heart thumping wildly. “Baby, I swear to God. ’Bouta be the longest shower of my life.”