Read The Carrier (The Carrier Series Book 1) for Free Online

keys, waiting for my
head to tell my hands to open the door. Why couldn’t I move?
    After several seconds, I finally pulled down
the visor and checked my appearance in the mirror. Hmm,
not my best. But then again, I did just finish a seven-tour
day—what did he expect? If I was lucky, he found the wind-blown look sexy.
    Delton Corners was the largest ticket booth DBT
owned. It was the size of a small living room with rows and rows of windows and
a small ticket counter several feet from the front door. I nervously walked in
the back door—and there he was, facing the row of windows out the front of the
booth. He looked like he was about to do some kind of goofy dance, like he was
hearing some kind of funky music in his head.
    What was I doing out in the middle of nowhere
with this guy? I barely know him!
    I started backing up toward the door...he
hadn’t noticed me yet. But as my head was telling me to abort the mission, my
heart was telling me to move forward and explore a little more. He must have
heard my heart beating out of my chest because he suddenly turned around.
    “Couldn’t stay away, huh?” His smile was as
radiant as the sun. He was blinding me with his straight teeth and icy blue
eyes. The sight of Nolan’s muscled shoulders and arms bulging through the white
boat shirt began to stir up something exciting inside of me.
    “Yeah, well, Suzanne passed me a note after
study hall,” I teased, “so I figured I had to come see what you wanted.” I
could feel sweat building up in my palms.
    Stay cool, girl, stay cool.
    I looked away quickly to the floor—I couldn’t
get pulled in again. My brain turned to mush whenever that happened.
    “I’m really happy you came out here. I wanted
to see you again.” Nolan put his tablet under the counter and came around to
the other side.
    “I’ll see you at Lower One tomorrow, won’t I?”
Did I have the courage to ask what I really wanted to? I suddenly felt like I
wanted to see him every second of the day.
    “Yeah. I
guess you will.” His eyes were staring at me again. My stomach felt as though
it were on fire while my heart felt like it was playing a circus march on
steroids. It was the most wonderful feeling. I thought I’d never feel like this
again after graduation last spring.
    For my last two blissful years of high school,
I dated the quarterback of the football team and local hottie ,
Aaron. But last year when we graduated, he dumped me as we headed off to
different colleges. Breaking up came as quite a shock to my heart because I
really thought I was going to marry him. After a year of reflection, I realized
that probably most girls who fall in love with their high school boyfriends
think they have found “the one.”
    It’s a wonder how I made it through my first
year at UW–Stevens Point without falling into a deep depression. Aaron showed
up at the door of my heart, calling, emailing, and teasing me with the
temptation of getting back together. He also showed up at the door of my dorm
on several occasions, sending me joyfully back into love with him, only to
leave me lonely again. Each time, when I thought he’d found a place for me in
his heart, he’d stop talking to me for weeks at a time. At some point last
spring, he decided it was unhealthy to keep going back and forth like that, and
he broke it off for good.
    Before I knew it, two whole semesters of
college has passed like a blur across my brain.
    I knew this summer could end up being awkward
since we were both going to be working in the Dells for three months. But I
hadn’t seen Aaron at all this summer. He was a driver and tour guide for the
Original Wisconsin Ducks. The Ducks was one of the most popular attractions in
the Dells, aside from the waterparks . For a small
fortune, you could take your family aboard an authentic, WWII vehicle called a
Duck. The big, army green, twenty-passenger truck drove through the forests
around the Dells and then thrilled its passengers as it plunged