"Hey."

"You're awful quiet tonight."

He grunted.

"You okay?"

"Fine."

Laughter erupted behind them. Conversations rose and fell.

Carter looked up at the sky. "Hard to believe it was just last night we were layin' on a blanket lookin' at the stars." He drained his beer. "Seems a lifetime ago."

She put her hand on his arm.

He faced her. There was that punch in his gut again. "You look beautiful by firelight, Macie. So goddamn beautiful you make me ache."

"Carter-"

"I want so much to...shit. I can't be here right now." He spun on his heel and pitched his beer bottle in the trashcan.

He said, "See ya'll tomorrow," and half-heard the shouted goodbyes as he let dust devils and bad memories chase him home.

Chapter Twenty-seven.

Feeling stung by Carter's behavior, Macie returned to her chair by the fire, anxiety replacing her earlier relaxation.

The discussions among the group were less raucous. The four bull rider wannabes stumbled to their tent on the other side of the house. People were starting to yawn. The campfire burned to a pile of red embers.

Suddenly Colby grabbed Channing's hand and jerked her to her feet. "We're goin' to bed. 'Night."

Keely snickered. "Didja notice he didn't say they were going to sleep?"

"I heard that," Colby shouted over his shoulder.

"Yeah, well remember we can all hear you. Keep it down tonight, Tarzan and Jane. Those two, I swear. Everyone in three counties knows when they're doin' it."

"I heard that too, Keely McKay," he barked again. "Get your smart butt in the camper before I whip it."

"Fine. But I will remind you I am an adult." Keely and Amy Jo argued all the way to the horse trailer.

Cash and Gemma doused the fire, said goodnight and disappeared into the house.

Macie remained outside alone, but she wasn't tired. She tilted her head and studied the night sky. It was as beautiful as always, something she'd taken for granted. She knew she'd never look at the stars the same.

Carter. It'd surprised her he hadn't shown up right away to welcome his family. She hadn't seen him until supper. Even then he hadn't said much. He drifted into the background. No one seemed to notice his withdrawn behavior.

Unless...that was his normal behavior with his family. The distant one. The quiet one.

Now that she thought about it, it was kind of weird, Carter living on Gemma's ranch, when the McKays owned tens of thousands of acres. Surely they could've found someplace for him to live and work. He had family there. Roots there.

But were those roots strangling him?

His words, I'm nothing like my brothers, echoed in the back of her mind.

Along with, there's no place for me on the home place.

Even with all his family surrounding him, having a shared history, and a constant connection, did Carter suffer from the same sense of displacement she did?

She never felt displaced when she was with him. She suspected he felt the same. But she hadn't really been with him tonight, not like she'd wanted. Not like he'd wanted, apparently, since he'd left.

Macie climbed in her car and drove to his place.

The lights were off in his trailer, a glow spilled through the cracks in the wooden slats of the barn.

He was working. Big surprise. He was always working.

Well, the time had come for a little play.

Rather than sneak inside his sanctuary, she shouted, "Carter?"

No answer.

"Carter, are you in there?"

"Macie?"

"Uh. Yeah. Can I come in?"

"No! Shit. Hang on. Just a second." Unfamiliar shuffling, creaking, and crashing noises sounded, followed by, "It's clear. You can come in now."

Macie skirted piles in the darkened walkway and didn't look up until she'd reached the main portion of the barn.

When she saw Carter, her heart skipped a beat. He looked so...raw. A powerful male, his sweaty chest bared. Ripped sweatpants hanging from his hips, drawing her attention to his ripped abs. His hair was damp and curlier than normal. His lips were full, a little pouty, his jaw rigid, and his eyes...his eyes.

Lord God almighty his eyes were absolutely savage.

She couldn't think straight.

"Why are you here, Macie?"

The guarded look on his face said he expected her to say I'm here for hot sex, baby cakes, strip.

And seeing him standing there, all tough and masculine and yummy-it was tempting to be flip and reduce this...need to be here for him tonight into nothing more than a physical act. But at some point in the last few days, things between them had gone beyond physical. So, she simply said, "I missed you."

The energy drink in his hand stopped halfway to his mouth. "What?"

"I missed you." She took a step toward him. "Surprised?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. Look. I know you were upset tonight. I don't know why, and I'm sorry I didn't notice until right before you left." Another step. "But I'm here now, in case you want to talk about it or something."

Carter's eyes devoured her. Then he threw the drink can over his shoulder and charged. A hand dove into her hair and his mouth slammed down on hers. Hot. Hungry. Greedy. Achingly familiar.

During the consuming kiss, Carter's body was plastered against hers, yet as he ate at her mouth, his fingertips softly caressed her face.

She moved her lips a fraction of an inch. "Carter."

"I'm not done kissing you." And he absolutely destroyed her with the ferocity of his need. Finally, he gentled his kiss. "I can't believe you're here."

"I can't believe you left early. I thought you'd be happy that your family was here."

"I am. But I know my place in the McKay clan."

"Which is?"

Carter rubbed his cheek along her hairline. "I'm the quiet one."

She considered that. "I'm the last person who knows anything about family dynamics. But I'm glad you're not the quiet one with me."

"Why?"

"I never have to guess how you feel. Granted, I don't always like it, but you don't hold back anything."

"That's the first time anyone has ever said that to me."

"It's true. So tell me what's wrong."

Carter sighed. "When I'm with you, I feel like I'm really me. I don't have anything to prove. You just let me be who I am. That's not always the case with my family. And tonight, maybe it was childish, but I hated that I couldn't show them..."

"What?"

"Show them who I am when I'm with you."

"Oh yeah? A bossy sexual deviant?"

She felt him smile against her temple. "Maybe. But I couldn't. Then I got really selfish and didn't want to share you with them either. You're mine, and I know even sayin' that is just plain wrong."

Wrong or not, his words sent a thrill through her. "Since they're not here, how about if you show me instead? Remind me of who I am when I'm with you."

"Of my bossy sexual deviance?"

She brushed her lips over his collarbone, tasting sweat and mineral spirits on his hot skin. "If that's what you want. I didn't come here for sex, Carter. I just wanted to be here if you needed me."

His hoarse laugh vibrated on the top of her head. "Oh, I need you, all right."

"For?"

"Never mind. You're not here for my sexual deviance, remember?"

"But I am if that's what you need from me tonight." She placed another tender kiss on his pec. "Show me who you are with me. I'm yours tonight to do or be whatever you want. You already know I can't say no to you. I don't want to say no. When I'm with you, I feel like I'm really me too. Tell me what you want."

Carter sought her mouth, kissing her, toying with her lips. Then his breath tickled her ear. "What I want? Well, I don't want to talk; I want to feel. You. Me. Us. Nothing matters beyond what we are together. I want your mouth on me, Macie. I want to see my cock slippin' between these sweet, sweet lips. I want to wrap my hands in your hair and feel you suckin' me deep, suckin' me hard. And when I can't stand how good it feels, when I'm about to explode, I wanna come on your tits."

A flood of moisture burst in her panties. "Oh wow."

"You rethinkin' that 'whatever' comment?"

"No." Macie placed her hands on his head. She looked directly into his eyes and repeated, "Whatever you want."

Carter growled.

In one fast movement she yanked her camisole tank up until disappeared over her head. Her shorts hit the dirt and she was buck-assed naked before him.

Macie licked her way down his torso, stopping to taste his belly button as she slid his sweatpants to his ankles. She dropped to her knees and gripped his muscular ass. She let her tongue tease his plump cockhead, until his cock jerked and clear fluid leaked out. She lapped at it like candy.

Carter rifled his fingers through her hair and sighed.

She opened wide and sucked that delicious male hardness halfway. Released it, and sucked it all the way in.

A strangled groan echoed above her.

She took her cue from Carter on how fast he needed her mouth moving. If he started to thrust his hips into her face, she increased the pace. She lost herself in his clean, salty taste. The erotic pull of that hard silken skin over her tongue and lips. The slick feel of her saliva coating his shaft and the excess running down to glaze her face and neck. His heady masculine scent enveloped her in a musky cloud of need as she reveled in this closeness. The tantalizing sounds of his unrestrained pleasure as she gave him this intimate kiss.

"Macie. You have no idea how fuckin' fantastic it feels."

She looked up at him. Carter's neck was arched; his head thrown back in abandon. Those blue eyes were squeezed shut and he was slack-jawed. The muscles in his stomach quivered as his chest rose and fell rapidly. His arms shook from the effort to hold her head gently.

He was stunningly beautiful lost in passion. She'd never seen anything so powerful. She'd never felt so powerful.

Macie was wet everywhere, her mouth, her chin, her neck. Especially between her thighs.

Carter pumped a little faster. She increased the suction. He groaned, pulled out completely and fisted his hand around his cock, keeping one hand tightly clutching her hair. "Ah. Shit. Yes. There it is."

She watched as white spurts arced in the air and splashed on her chest. Warm at first, then the fluid cooled as it slid down her sweat-coated skin. She looked up at Carter, who was watching everything with heavy lidded eyes: his hand slowly pumping his spent cock, his come splattering on her breasts and dripping off her nipples.

Macie licked her chafed lips.

"Don't move." He sidestepped her, and she heard clanking, fabric rustling. Then from behind her he said: "Lay back. I put a blanket down."

Macie's heart raced as he propped himself on his elbow next to her. The lust-filled look in his eyes hadn't dimmed one iota. "Carter-"