“It’s all right, it’s normal. Don’t worry about it. Just lie back and relax.”
I did as he said, trying to let myself relax. He gently opened my legs and eased the warm cloth between them, cleaning me. He said nothing, just watched me as I closed my eyes. He lay down on the bed beside me and pulled me against him, holding me in his comforting embrace. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“I’m okay. It hurt a little.”
He pulled me closer, our bodies melding together, and met my lips. After we parted, I rested my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes, letting myself fall asleep to the feel of his fingers dancing along my hip.
20
Hope
We’d had an amazing day together. We went to the zoo, wandered through the stores downtown, and then ate lunch. We stood hand in hand as we waited for the elevator to lift us to our floor, then we both wandered down the hall to the apartment door. I watched Carter slide the key in the lock, then he held the door open for me to walk through, coming in behind me.
“I’m going to go change,” I said, giving his hand a squeeze and heading to my room.
“All right, I’ll order the pizza.”
We parted ways, and by the time I had changed and made it to the couch, Carter was already relaxing with his feet up on the coffee table. He wore black sweatpants and no shirt; my eyes trailed over his hard muscles. I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and pulled a fifty from my purse. He had paid for the entire day; there was no way he was paying for dinner too. I set the water on the table and held the money out for him to take. “What’s this for?” he asked, looking up from the magazine he was reading.
“Dinner. Please take it.” I shook it, waiting for him to accept it.
He ignored me, burying his face back in the magazine.
“If you don’t take it, I’ll have to force you to take it. Please, Carter.”
He chuckled to himself. “How are you going to do that?” He continued reading and ignoring me.
I sat down beside him, not saying anything, studying his face. “Carter, come on.”
“Hmm.” I scooted over closer to him, holding the crinkled fifty-dollar bill, and rested my hand on his abs.
“What are you doing?” He continued reading. I slipped my hand into his pants, dropping the fifty there, and went to remove my hand, but he was faster. He dropped the magazine and placed his hand over the top of mine. I looked down to where our hands met. His other hand coming up to my chin, he tilted my head back so I was looking at him. While his eyes studied mine, he leaned down and brushed my lips with his. “Don’t start, cause if we start, I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop.”
Looking up into his eyes I whispered, “Maybe I don’t want you to stop.”
A loud knock interrupted the moment. I felt his hand loosen around mine, and I pulled my hand from his pants. “Get the door,” he said under his breath, sitting back against the couch.
“I, um, need the money,” I said, biting my lower lip.
He gave me a sexy smirk. “Go ahead,” he said, holding his hands up in front of him in an innocent gesture. I looked down to his lap, where I could see the firm outline of his hard cock through his sweats. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I got up from the couch and went to my purse before heading to the door. With pizza in hand I returned to the living room and set the box on the table. I went to sit down and that was when I saw a white envelope with my name on it laying where I had been sitting on the couch. “What is that?” I asked.
“It’s for you, open it,” he said while grabbing a slice of pizza from the box.
I studied him for a moment and then I carefully picked up the envelope. Peeking inside, I saw a single slip of paper. I pulled it out carefully and gasped at what sat there. A boarding pass in my name to the Dominican Republic. “What is this?”
“We are heading to the Dominican Republic for the weekend. I wanted you to come, so I purchased you a ticket.”
“Carter, I can’t go. I have to work,” I said, looking down at the ticket in my hand. “Plus, I can’t afford to pay you back for this. There’s no way,” I said, shaking my head and holding the ticket out to him.
“What if I told you I’m paying for it and that I got you the weekend off?”
I couldn’t look at him for fear I’d cry, so I just kept my focus on the ticket in my hand. “I don’t know what to say.”
He stood and walked over to me. He reached out, his hand caressing my cheek. “Say yes,” he said, looking into my eyes. “Just say yes.” He stepped away from me and walked into the kitchen.
I looked again at the ticket, then stood and went to follow him, but he returned holding two napkins in his hands. I looked up at him and into his eyes, thinking for a moment. “Yes, but on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That you let me pay you back when I can.”
He leaned down, his mouth covering mine hungrily. “Okay. Let’s eat and then I’ll help you get packed.” He kissed me again and then we sat down and ate.
21
Carter — Present Day
“Sir...Sir?” I felt a hand shake my shoulder, pulling me from my memories. The flight attendant stood in front of me. “I’m sorry, sir, but we are going to be landing soon. You need to secure your laptop and place your seat in the upright position.”
I nodded and looked down to my screen. I was supposed to be working on some documents, but instead I had spent the last couple of hours remembering the past.
After I had passed through customs, I turned my phone on while waiting for my cab. Almost instantly it started to ring. I pulled it from my suit pocket, glanced at the screen, and frowned. Hunter’s name flashed across the screen. “Hello?”
“Carter, it’s me. There is a bit of a problem. I just got a call from Autumn. Hope is over at our place.”
“What is she doing there? I left her at home. She said she was going to pick up the girls from her parents. Is everything okay? There isn’t anything wrong with her or the girls, is there?” I could feel panic rising in my chest at the thought of being so far away and them needing me.
“Did you tell her where you were going?”
“Yeah, she knows the situation with these clients. I really wanted her to come with me when I had to leave early, but she refused.”
“Autumn says she told her that she thinks you are seeing someone. She said she saw a message on your phone earlier tonight from Felice.”
“Hold on.” A funny feeling came over me. There had been no messages from anyone when I had left.
I quickly checked my texts and, sure enough, there sat a string of messages from Felice that I hadn’t seen, probably because Hope had gotten to them first. It was very much unlike her to check my phone.
“Fuck. Mike contacted me a bit ago. They want to adopt a child and asked that the next time I was in town I look over the paperwork while I was here. She’s been messaging me over the past two weeks, asking what documents I needed, and apparently, she messaged me sometime tonight and said she was looking forward to seeing me. Hope must have seen the message while I was in the shower.”
“So you didn’t tell her you were going to be seeing them while you were away?”
I was silent. It had been wrong not to tell her, but I didn’t want Hope to worry. I should have told her, but I didn’t want to fight with her tonight or ever over something and someone who meant nothing to me. “Fuck no, I didn’t.”
Hunter was silent and then he cleared his throat and asked me a question I never in a million years thought he would ever ask me. “Carter, is something going on?”
“Are you serious? Are you seriously asking me this right now?”
“All I know is Autumn told me she is really upset, Carter. She says she thinks your marriage is over.”
“Are you at home?”
“No, my flight heads out in a couple of hours. I got things wrapped up early.”
“Call Autumn back and t
ell her not to let Hope leave. Fuck the meeting, I’m coming home.”
“What about the clients?”
“My marriage is more important than some fucking clients, Hunter. I’ll tell them an emergency arose back home and that I will be back here for the original scheduled date. Tell Autumn to keep her there and to not tell her I’m coming.”
“No problem.”
As soon as I was off the phone with my brother, I turned back around to return to the ticket agent. I needed to get home to my wife.
22
Autumn — Present Day
“Were you really done with Trent at this time?” Autumn asked, taking the last gulp of her tea.
“I was. I was so completely in love with Carter; it had just taken me that long to fully realize it.”
“So, the day Trent showed up at the bar, what did he come to say?”
“Well, he was sent by my father to bring me home. He wanted me to go with him, to sit down together and tell our parents that the marriage wasn’t going to happen, but I refused. I had nothing to say to my father.”
“And so he left, just like that.”
“Yes, he too had other plans for his future. He had apparently already met someone else, but what I didn’t know was that my father had other ideas.”
“Want more tea?” She stood up from the floor and grabbed my mug.
“Yes, please.” I got up from the floor and went over to refill the popcorn bowl.
“You said that your dad never liked Carter. What caused that?
“Well, it was all because of a business deal between my father and his. He blamed Carter’s father for the loss of the sale of his company. So really it wasn’t Carter he didn’t like. He just needed to get to know him. Plus, my father ended up finding out that it was really Trent’s father that made the original deal fall through, not Carter’s father. King Enterprises wanted to own my father’s business at any cost. Once my father found out the truth, he started hating Trent.” Autumn and I started to laugh.
The phone rang, startling us both. I glanced at the time; it was almost midnight. I frowned at Autumn, but she shrugged her shoulders. “It might be Hunter. Sometimes he calls this late.” She smiled, grabbing the phone. “I’ll be right back.”
“Hello?”
“Hey, baby, it’s me. I spoke with Carter. He is on the next flight out. He said to keep Hope there. He asked that you don’t tell her.”
“Okay, she’s spending the night. It’s too late and she was too upset for me to let her drive home.”
“How is she doing now?”
“Better. I’ve got her talking.”
“About?”
“I asked her to tell me how they met.”
The line went quiet. “Hunter?”
“Yeah, well, no judging. I wasn’t always how I am now.”
I started to laugh at him; he sounded nervous. “I already guessed that.”
“Great, I’ll see you soon, beautiful.”
“Before you go, how many women have you been with?” I asked seriously and then giggled into the phone.
“One. You’re the only one who matters, so you’re the only one I count.”
I laughed into the phone, and after we said our goodbyes again, I hung up and headed back out to the kitchen. “It was Hunter calling to say good night.”
A look of sadness came over Hope’s face. “That is sweet that he does that. I remember Carter used to do that when the girls were really young. Lately though he hasn’t bothered.”
“All right, none of that. So he bought you a ticket to the Dominican Republic. What happened next?”
We grabbed our mugs of tea and the bowl of popcorn and sat back down on the floor together, and I listened once again.
23
Carter — Thirteen Years Earlier
I walked back to our lounge chairs. Felice had decided to join the group at the last minute and so she and the guys were all off playing beach volleyball with a bunch of people they had met earlier that morning when we had arrived at the resort. I set our drinks on the table between our chairs, and I peeked at Hope, who was lounging with her eyes closed.
My eyes rolled up her body. She wore a white bikini that set off the tan of her skin. I took in the soft curves of her body, and when my eyes hit her breasts, I could see the outline of her nipples through the top. We hadn’t had time to be with one another again before leaving, and I was dying to feel her again. I had loved hearing her moan my name as I sunk into her.
She rolled onto her front, propping her cute little ass into the air. I couldn’t help but look. I wished we were the only ones by the pool. I wanted to run my hands over that cute ass. “I’m just going to jump in the pool to cool off,” I said and took off toward the edge. I wasn’t even hot, but I needed to calm my throbbing cock, and the more I stood watching her, the worse it was getting.
After dinner we had grabbed a couple late drinks at the bar. A bunch of us were still sitting in the lobby, laughing and talking. I was in the middle of a story when I felt Hope’s hand dance along the back of my neck. I looked down into her eyes. They were filled with a longing that needed to be satisfied.
“Guys, I think you’ll have to excuse us. We’re going to turn in,” I said to the group, winking at Hope. I caught a look of jealousy from Felice as I grabbed Hope’s hand, pulling her with me.
The warm air blew over us as we walked hand in hand in silence to our room. I slid the key card into the lock. Once inside, I leaned against the corner of the wall and watched as Hope went around to the end of the bed and slipped out of the little white sweater she wore. She ran her hand along the bottom of the king size bed and looked up at me innocently.
“Something wrong?” I questioned.
“There’s only one bed. I meant to mention it to you earlier.”
“Is that a problem? You don’t want to sleep with me?” I asked, watching as a soft smile formed on her lips. “What is it?”
She shook her head, not saying anything. She turned that beautiful face away from me and opened her bag, pulling out her shorts and a tank top. I pushed off the wall and walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against me. “What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for bed,” she answered, running her hands along my forearms.
“I don’t think you’ll be needing these,” I whispered in her ear, taking the clothes from her hands as I ran my tongue along the rim of her ear and took her lobe in between my lips. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the side. I studied the creamy flesh of her neck before I placed my lips on her skin. “You sure you want to go to sleep?”
She shrugged her shoulder. I didn’t expect her to answer. We had only been together once, and to be honest, I had gone so easy on her, I didn’t expect her to want to do it again. Keeping her in my arms, I walked around in front of her and pressed my lips against hers. “Lie back.”
Hope
I slowly backed up until the backs of my knees hit the edge of the bed. I could see a burning in his eyes and this take-charge look. I sat down on the bed, placing my hands at my sides, and looked up at him.
“Lie back, Hope.” This time the command was stronger than before.
A funny flutter hit my stomach. I could feel the sex pouring off him already. He pushed me back, and I had no choice but to lie down. His hands left my shoulders and ran down my chest, his forefingers and thumbs lightly pinching my nipples through my top. I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip as his hands continued to trail down to my waist. “Take this off,” he commanded, tugging on my shirt.
I reached up and opened the buttons down the front, slipping out of the shirt and letting it lay beneath me. “And the bra.” His eyes were piercing into me, demanding. This was a Carter I didn’t know, but the feelings my body was giving off told me that I liked this side of him.
I watched as he pulled his shirt off and I lay staring up at his hard chest, muscles rippling. “Can we shut the light off?”
He chuckled, “Nope, I want to see every inch of you. Take it off.”
My face went red as I brought my hand up to the clasp between my breasts. Anytime we had fooled around in the past, when we dated, it had always been in the dark. Even a few nights ago, it had been dark. He had never seen me in the light, and suddenly I was afraid he wouldn’t like me. He leaned over me, his hands on either side of my head, and studied my eyes. “Take it off,” he growled.
I pinched the clasp between my fingers and felt a cold rush of air against my breasts as the material from my bra fell away. My face was on fire as his eyes left mine and traveled down my chest. He leaned down and ran his tongue over my hardened nipple, his eyes meeting mine again.
His hand reached down between my legs, his fingers dancing over the material of my jeans. “Take these off.”
He stood up and let his shorts drop to the floor. I could see the outline of his hard cock through his boxers. I undid the button on my pants and slid them off. Then I lay back against the bed and again he leaned over me, giving both of my nipples a little lick but not taking them into his mouth as I secretly hoped he would. He kissed his way down my stomach. Every kiss I felt myself flinch. I was throbbing and was already soaked, and he had barely touched me. He knelt onto the floor and threw my legs over his shoulders.
“Do you want to feel what it’s like to be kissed here?” His fingers danced over my wet panties.
I closed my eyes and arched my back as he continued to tease me through my panties.
“Answer me. Tell me what you want,” he said, pressing his thumb onto my throbbing clit.
“Yes.”
“Yes what? You want to know what it feels like to be licked and sucked?”
“Yes.” My breathing was becoming erratic. When he pulled my panties to the side, I could feel the cold air hitting my wet skin.
The Malone Brothers Boxed Set Page 26
