Tired of watching the rowboats on the lake, I closed my eyes and let the sun bake into me. The stone edge of the fountain was cool under my butt, a nice contrast to the warmth of the day.

“Looks like there are two angels at the fountain today.”

I was already shaking my head at Carter as I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“You’re sure?” He grinned. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep trying.”

We’d been texting so much that I was worried my memory of him had been skewed. That happened sometimes when a guy acted different over text than in person. All it took was one look to reassure me that I was all in on this fling.

“I’ll promise not to take any marks off, but if you veer off flattery and into ass-kissery, there’s no helping you.”

He chuckled. “Noted.”

A faint breeze blew across the Bethesda Terrace, and the treetops behind Carter swayed. It was a perfect day.

“You know, we keep meeting in the city’s green spaces. Are you sure you aren’t some form of woodland creature?” I asked.

“Woodland creature? No.” Carter bared his teeth. “Werewolf? Maybe. You’ll have to see me at night to know for sure.” He winked.

I had to give him credit for creativity and thinking on the fly. “Nah, this isn’t a teen romance. There are no werewolves here.”

“Not a teen romance? What are we doing here, then?”

I closed the distance between us and wrapped my hand around his neck. “We’re very much adult.”

Our kiss wasn’t chaste. It had been a few days since we’d met, and although we’d ended that date on a relatively restrained note, we’d exchanged hundreds of messages since then. The more I learned about Carter, the more I wanted him. I needed to show him what was on my mind.

The way his lips met mine, he had been entertaining similar thoughts. He possessed me, wresting control from me, and I gave it up willingly, letting him take us where he wished.

I pressed my body against his. He was more solid than I expected, his shoulders even broader than they looked. My mind went into overdrive picturing him stripped of his clothes, pressing me down into bed, taking me.

“Fuck,” I whispered as I pulled away. Instead of sating my desire, it flared into an inferno. “Maybe that was a bad idea.”

The look Carter gave me nearly melted my panties.

“You’re telling me. How am I supposed to walk in public now?”

I looked down and died. The lip bite that followed was automatic, not intended to tease him even more. At least, that’s what I would say if he asked.

“I wish I could take care of that for you,” I murmured.

We weren’t even close to alone. It was a sunny day, and as one of the most recognizable landmarks in Central Park, the Terrace was packed. The people closest to us were studiously ignoring our presence.

“Looks like we’ve already pissed off some people,” Carter said, his voice betraying the laughter that hid under the surface. “Let’s start walking. It’ll go down by the time we get out of the crowd.”

He took my hand as I kept an eye on things. It was my duty to check how obvious Carter’s situation was, and I took it seriously. Very seriously.

By the time we reached the path, he was no longer hard, but he still had an impressive bulge.

How the hell had I missed that the other day?

“Where are we off to?” I asked. “Just walking around?”

“We have reservations,” he said. “And I know you’ve lived in the city for a while, so I’m sorry if you’ve already done it a thousand times, but it’s been a while for me and it’s such a nice day that it seemed like a natural fit.”

I prodded him further, but he refused to give up his plans.

As much as we’d chatted over texts, there was still so much I didn’t know about Carter. I didn’t usually bother learning too much about my flings. When each man only got three dates, it grew tiresome asking the same questions over and over again. That meant it was a novel experience for me, and I was genuinely interested in the answers.

“Do you have any siblings?” I asked.

Carter nodded. “One brother. Logan. I actually just dropped Rex off at his place to look after while we’re out.”

“That’s smart. Are you two close?”

“Always have been. We did everything together growing up. He’s the younger one, but the bastard got extra testosterone in the womb or something because he was always a monster for his age. People thought we were twins. The trouble we got up to is legendary in our town.”

I contemplated the answer. “I wish I had that.”

“Only child?”

“Yeah. My parents wanted another, but they took eight years of trying before they even got me. They always called me their miracle baby.”

Carter squeezed my hand. “That’s sweet.”

I smiled, always a little bittersweet at memories of my parents. “They were sweet people. They gave me everything they had.”

“Are they…” Carter trailed off, voice uncertain. “It sounds like you’re talking about them in the past tense.”

A piece of fluff sat on the path, and I kicked it out of the way before I answered to give me time to collect myself. I wasn't the only observant one.

“They passed away in a car crash when I was eighteen.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Carter said. “Car crashes are terrible things.”

His face was tight. I had heard many people give condolences throughout the years, and there was more to his voice than the typical lip service.

He never told me how he got his limp. In fact, he’d so deftly turned the conversation away that I hadn’t even noticed.

I had experience with that. It took a lot of trust for me to divulge my parents’ accident. Only because I felt comfortable with Carter had I not steered the conversation in another direction.

He’ll tell me about it when he’s ready.

There was nothing worse than someone prying into the details of a traumatic event just to satisfy their own curiosity.

“Yes, they are,” I said simply.

We walked in silence for a time. It was comforting, holding hands with Carter and allowing the sounds of the park to fill the air between us.

“We’re here,” he said.

“We are? But we barely walked anywhere! That was five minutes, tops.”

We’d walked on a path along the lake past drooping weeping willows and the iconic light posts. As we rounded the lake, we approached a large building perched on the side. A red-and-white striped canopy carried golden letters that said, “Central Park Boathouse.”

“Have you ever taken a rowboat out on the lake?” Carter asked.