I decide to let the alcohol do my talking.
“Hey, baby,” I coo in her ear, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and tugging her against me and away from the shithead who thinks he can touch her. She turns around, her arms encircling my neck as she presses herself against me.
“Thank you,” she says in my ear as I lean down to hear her. “I was about to commit a crime.”
I chuckle softly, enjoying the fact she hasn’t told me to remove my hands from her ass. Her arms are still around me, and she moves against me to the music.
Restraint, Carter.
I’m trying, but it’s a helluva struggle.
She spins so her ass grinds against my cock. I let out a low hiss, my hands shaking on her waist. Her arms are around my neck again, pulling my face to her neck. My hands travel lower, exploring the way she feels tucked against me. My fingers dance along the hem of her short dress, her cleavage in my line of sight.
And oh what a glorious sight it is. What I wouldn’t give to taste her on my tongue. On my lips.
Fuck.
My dick aches with need as she grinds against me. Teddy could probably get me off just by dancing on me. In fact, if we don’t slow it down, I’ll be spilling my raging want of her in my damn pants.
Her hair is falling down in dark tendrils around her. It’s making my need grow.
“Teddy,” I growl against her ear.
Her answer is to bend over before slowing moving up, her eyes focused on me over her shoulder.
I really am a dead man.
Hastily, I tug her back against me, letting her ass continue its torture against my cock. Teddy isn’t innocent, something I find extremely attractive. Most women want to play sweet, but not Teddy. She gives it how it is, even if I don’t like it. And even if I fucking love it.
She spins to face me, her arms back to resting casually around my neck like they’ve been there a thousand times. There’s a twinkle in her eye that makes me smile. I lean down and let myself slip for just a minute, my lips skimming across the soft skin of her neck.
She smells like fucking freedom. A place I want to get lost in. A future I never cared about until she came along.
But I’m Carter George, and the only future I have will be carved on a piece of granite in a cemetery no one will ever visit.
I tighten my hold on her, living in this one blissful moment. These are the moments I’ve been searching for. The moments that make my shit hole of a life finally worth something.
I want her so badly my heart physically aches. I pull away and give her a smile she returns, no questions asked.
This is the first time in my life I’ve wanted something and couldn’t have it.
And it fucking sucks. She’s not a million-dollar deal. I can’t claim her then rip her apart like Carter 1.0 would have done.
Or I could but at the cost of her heart.
Day 17
Last night, I went to bed with blue balls. I didn’t make a move past that slip of a kiss on her neck. She didn’t push me. But Teddy likes to hit me with surprises. It’s something that fuels my fire. And I don’t mean to just “get her”. This is about more than that. It makes me want to get up every morning. It terrifies me at night as I think about leaving the world without her.
Not that I want to kill her and take her with me. I’m not a psycho. I just mean being alone for eternity. If we’re talking about believing in a higher power, I believe that while I’m roasting marshmallows in Hell, Teddy will eventually get married, have children, make some other man happy.
Am I a prick for not wanting her to have that with someone unless that someone is me?
This is the torturous shit that’s been plaguing me since she came into my life.
Fuck it. Maybe I should just ask a higher power.
Dear Diary, how the hell do I get the girl and beat this disease?
Send help.
* * *
-Carter
18
Teddy
I’ve been battling the sun shining through the window for an hour now. The thin white curtain does little to shield me from the sunlight.
I squint at the material. It reminds me of one of my grandmother’s old curtains. The sides of her curtains were worn thin from years of constantly checking the driveway, waiting for my grandfather to come home from the war. ‘Til death do they part.
I’m not sure I’d have the strength to wait that long for someone. Their love ran deeper than the time of their separation. Sigh.
I know deep down inside Grandmother Bruce would be happy I’m out here fighting for my own place in this world without my dad, but I’m running pretty low on fighting fuel at the moment.
Carter used it all up last night. We parted ways on the dance floor; me to go to the restroom and him to sit down. He kept rubbing his temples like another headache was stealing him from me. Even after we separated, I could still feel his lips on my throat like they branded a tattoo on my skin.
He was the last thought on my mind before I drifted off to sleep, and then during my restlessness all through the night. Bits and pieces of us dining, dancing, and his warm lips on my skin kept passing through my dreams. He’d be with me, then he’d disappear, and just when I got frustrated, he’d appear again.
Molly barks in the kitchen a few times. I throw the sheet off me and let my feet dangle off the loft bed. She must be hungry. I push myself to sit up when there’s a knock at my door.
“Yes,” I say with a yawn. “It’s not locked. You can come in.” I rub the sleep from my eyes and am surprised when my eyes open to find Carter standing in the doorway.
“Do you want to take a ride with me?” A smile spreads across his face.
“To where?”
“Just out and about. Nowhere in particular. I feel like driving today.” He shrugs.
My eyebrows knit in confusion. “Can you drive this big thing? What does Derek call it…the Beastmaster?”
His eyes crinkle with amusement. “Nooooo. I can’t drive this thing. We have my car with us, but you didn’t know that, did you? C’mon then. You’re in for a surprise.”
“I need a shower. Give me thirty?” I jump down from the bed and grab my robe off the hook. With him standing in my room, it suddenly feels smaller and intensely hot.
He turns sideways to let me pass through the door. “Hurry up, buttercup,” he teases, swatting my ass as I squeeze between him and the door.
Within twenty minutes, we’re standing at the rear of the bus, waiting for the back hatch to lower. My eyes are fixed on the door as it slowly reveals the ‘surprise’ awaiting me. “Wow, Carter. Look at her. She’s beautiful. May I back her out?”
His Adam’s apple bobs up and down with uncertainty, but he’s a brave man because he dangles the keys in my face. “Sure. Why not?”
I take the keys from his fingers and stand on my tiptoes, kissing him quickly on the cheek. “Thank you. I promise, I’m a good driver.” I race up the ramp and slide into the driver’s seat. I adjust it for my long legs and angle all of the mirrors for my height before pressing the ignition button. “Oh, baby. She purrs like a lover being stroked,” I say as he joins me in the passenger seat.
“Yes, that would be the appropriate analogy.” He laughs loudly.
I back her out nice and gentle, despite the temptation rushing through me to floor the gas pedal and open her up. We pull up next to the RV, and I regretfully place her back in park.
“Chinese fire drill?” I ask, feeling my cheeks redden with my bold challenge.
“You’re on, sister.” He throws open the door and bolts toward the front as I dart around the back. We both slide into the other’s seat and shut the doors at the same time. “Looks like it was a tie.”
“That’s OK. It’s early in the trip. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other times to beat you coming up.”
He throws his head back and laughs loudly. He’s still laughing as we drive out of the RV park and into the morning rush hour traf
fic.
As we wait to enter the highway, he lets the top down and a hot wind blows across my face.
“We’re heading to the Grand Canyon next. Does that excite you?” he asks, glancing over at me.
“I’ve been there before. My family took me when I was ten. I was bored the whole time.” I unwrap the hair tie from my wrist and throw my hair up into a messy bun. Sweat is already trickling down my temple, and it’s not even 9:00 AM yet.
“Bored? I can’t imagine being bored at the Grand Canyon.”
“We didn’t do anything special. I wanted to go rafting, maybe ride a horse down to the basin, or do one of those plane rides, but no. My dad would only take us to the horseshoe overhang. I was so scared I couldn’t go out on it. If I remember correctly, I peed my pants when he tried to drag me out onto the overlook.”
“He dragged you? I don’t know your dad, but that’s a dick move.”
We get on the highway and see a sign for Lake Pontchartrain. I point to it, and he changes lanes for the causeway.
“Then you do know him. My dad isn’t Ward Cleaver. He’s a doctor. One of the best in neurosurgery. And he’s a teaching doctor at that. He pushes his students hard, and I was no exception since he was paying for my private education.” I lower the seat back and let the warm sun shine on my face.
I close my eyes and see my father’s stern face. “He used to quiz me the night before tests until I could answer every one of the questions he made up from my books. Even if I fell asleep, he’d shake me awake and continue on. My father is a hard man, but a great doctor. I’m his greatest disappointment.”
We enter onto the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and drive over the open expanse of water. After a few minutes, I can’t see the shoreline. I’d hate to be on this during a storm.
“I take it singing isn’t something he supports?”
“The entertainment business isn’t a noble profession in his eyes…saving lives and getting the chance to play God every now and again is.”
We leave the causeway and get off onto a regular street, just passing through the neighborhoods. Many of them look to be still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“Did you follow in your dad’s footsteps or forge your own path?” I squint at him in the bright sunlight.
“I took over my father’s business when he passed a few years back. This apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” he replies, sighing loudly. “My dad was also a ruthless son-of-a-bitch. I learned from the best then added my own twisted endings. From his deathbed, he warned me to change my ways, but like any son at the peak of his career, I was too stubborn to listen.”
“And so now you’re listening? Jaunting out across the country performing good deeds for those in need—what changed?”
A quick smile plays about his lips. A slight dimple appears in his cheek when he twists his lips a certain way. “What do you mean? Nothing happened. The stress of my last big deal started weighing on me. I developed headaches. Derek suggested a vacation to relax and here we are. End of story.”
“I don’t believe you. It’s too easy and clean.”
“Fine. You win,” he answered with a soft laugh. “I’m a few weeks from dying, and this is my last adventure. My last hurrah, if you will. I’ve traveled all over the world but not this country, and it seemed like a great idea.”
“And now you try to bullshit me? I’m disappointed if that was the best story you could come up with.”
We stop at a red light. “I promise you, no bullshit. It is what it is. I’m sorry if it’s not glamorous enough for you. I really am de-stressing. The New York real estate market is a beast. I’ve conquered it for years, but it’s taken a toll on me.” He turns slightly toward me and takes my hand in his. “I’m ready to slow down. Find someone of my own who doesn’t want just my money and my penthouse on Fifth Avenue. This is me clearing my head and leaving the asshole behind. I call it the rebirth of Carter George, 2.0.”
The light turns green, and he shifts facing forward again, slowing releasing my hand like it’s the last thing he wants to do. We enter back onto Interstate 55 South.
“OK. I’m sorry I doubted you,” I say, my apology heavy in my throat. “The Carter George I’ve read about doesn’t match up with the Carter George I know. That’s all.”
He flashes a quick smirk in my direction. “Well good. My re-birth is working then.”
My eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Is this all a PR strategy to clean up your image?”
“Nah, I don’t give a damn about public relations. You take me at face value or don’t take me at all. I really don’t care.”
I glance at the steering wheel and watch his hands tremble. He’s not telling the whole truth, but that’s OK. I’m a stranger invading his vacation. We’ve got plenty of time to figure each other out because the one thing I know is that I’m not going anywhere without him.
19
Carter
My phone buzzes in the console with a text. “That’s probably Derek. Can you reply to him?”
Teddy picks up my phone and swipes across the screen to wake it up. “Oh my God, Carter,” she shrieks in disbelief. “You have 481 text messages. Aren’t you going to respond to them?”
“The only messages I reply to are from Derek. He’s all that matters to me right now.”
“Yep. It’s Derek. He says we’re fueled up and ready to roll when you are.”
“Text back and let him know we’re almost there. Maybe another thirty minutes or so.”
I exit the interstate and merge onto Highway 18 which winds along the Mississippi River. The muddy waters churn with barges. Teddy’s face is flushed red from the heat and sun, so I raise the roof and turn the air conditioning back on.
We drive in silence for a while, enjoying the view until she sighs loudly.
“Are you OK?” I lean over and put my hand over hers.
She rolls her head to look at me. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Well, for starters, that was the saddest sigh I think I’ve ever heard. Secondly, you’ve been quiet for a while. I thought you were just loving the ride, but that sigh tells a different story. Are you all right?”
“I’m worrying about things I have no business worrying about. That sigh was my mental pep talk to let it go.”
“Tell me what you’re worrying about. Maybe I’ll have some insight into your troubles.”
“If you really want to know, I was worrying about you or your business, to be honest. Aren’t you worried about your company? Or your employees? Is it falling apart at the hands of whoever you put in charge? I mean 481 text messages tell me something is wrong.”
“Teddy, my company will be fine. If they run it to the ground then they’re the ones out of a job.”
“How can you be so laissez-faire about it? Don’t you care about your people? They have mortgages, children to support, and bills to pay.”
I don’t even know how to respond to that. Why does she care? She doesn’t know me or my business, much less any of the people I have under my care. I ruthlessly choke the throat of the businesses I take over for my people. That’s why I poke and prod every last cent out of them in every deal I barter.
So I can fund the secret savings account each and every employee has with my company. My dad knew living in New York was expensive. He knew most of our employees lived paycheck to paycheck to fund taxes they had no voice in creating. We pay them well, but emergencies happen. So Dad started to stipend a secret savings account for them. They each get $500 per quarter with compounded interest. Hell, most of our older, loyal employees are millionaires and don’t even know it. They find out when they quit or retire.
I slam the steering wheel with the base of my palm. “I care. Trust me. I care too damn much. But the real question here is why do you care? Are you worried about my billions in hopes that you’ll be granted some the minute I give in and taste that sweet pussy you keep prancing in front of me?”
“Fuck you. Fuck you to hell a
nd back, Carter George.” She turns her shoulder away from me, her back acting as a wall between us.
She’s shutting me out.
A few minutes later, I pull over into an empty parking lot off the side of the road. “Hey, listen. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
She removes her seatbelt and jumps out of the car, walking away from me.
“Teddy Bear. Don’t walk away.”
She flips her middle finger in the air at me as her hips sway, taking her farther and farther away from me in the warm Louisiana morning.
Damn it.
I run after her, wrapping my arms around her when I finally get to her. “You’re a runner,” I whisper in her ear. “I know this now, and you’re not running away this time.”
I hold her tightly as she squirms to be set free.
“You’re hurting me, Carter.”
I loosen my grip just a little bit and turn her around to face me.
“Teddy, sweetheart. Look at me.”
Her jaw tightens as I lift her chin with my index finger.
“You drive me crazy. Do you know that?”
She shakes her head. Her stormy green eyes look everywhere but into mine.
“My head swims when you’re within a foot of me. My heart pounds against my chest, sometimes so hard, I swear it’s going to crack my ribs. I want to do everything possible to make you happy, but I have no fucking clue what that would be.”
“I don’t need your money to be happy. I grew up rich and spoiled. I already know that’s not where happiness is found.”
The dejected look on her face cracks my heart. A tear breaks free from the corner of her eye and slowly rolls down her cheek. Jesus Christ.
I pull her into me, cradling her face in my hands. My thumb swipes over the trail where that one tear fell. I can’t fucking stand the ache any longer. I can’t stand the constant warring in my head when I think about wanting her and hurting her when she learns our forever is only six months tops. All I know is that I need her. Every single delicious part of her. Fuck death and fuck the greedy bastard within me.
Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology Page 70
