Back to the Drawing Board

by L. L. Collins

Did I need more? My nerve endings were firing, sending urgent messages throughout my body. “Yes.”

  “You like that word, Ms. Gibbons. I think you need a different one.” Carter smacked the other one.

  “That’s . . . hot,” I managed to say. “Give it to me.”

  “Better,” he said. “You’ll get rewarded now.” I gasped as he entered two fingers inside of me, finding the spot that made my eyes roll.

  “Julia,” Carter made my name sound like it was five syllables. “I’m sorry. I need you now.” He withdrew his fingers and pushed inside me, shoving me across the desk with the force. He gripped my hips to keep me in place and took what he wanted. I could barely breathe I was so aroused and overwhelmed, all at the same time.

  No more words were said. Flirtation was over. He needed me, and I needed him. I let go of the desk and reached behind me, capturing his head as he leaned over me. We turned our faces just enough to be able to kiss briefly before he wrapped one arm around me and kept his punishing pace. His hand caressed my breasts, first one and then the other. His hand snaked down my stomach, and when he began stroking me with the same rhythm, I flew apart, clutching on to him like I was drowning and he was my life preserver.

  Within seconds, he shouted out, biting my shoulder as I felt him pulsating inside of me. He slowed his strokes but kept moving inside me, building another burn, a slower one this time.

  “Carter,” I groaned. “I can’t even . . .”

  “Baby,” he said, running his hands over my entire body again. “Hottest thing I could’ve ever imagined.” He withdrew and turned me so I was sitting on the desk, pulling me so I was right on the edge. It put me at just the right place for him to enter me again, and we continued our lovemaking, slower and more deliberate.

  Carter looked directly into my eyes as he showed me how he felt with his soft caress. “My beautiful girl,” he whispered. “I can’t get enough.”

  I looped my legs over his backside and pulled him closer, needing him, wanting him. I ran my fingers along his scruff and into his hair as our tongues tangled together while our bodies accelerated to another high.

  “Let’s play a game.” We’d been in the car for about five hours and had several still to go. I didn’t mind, though, because we’d spent the time either talking or driving each other crazy. I was trying anything not to think about the things awaiting me in Denver. What had my parents told people? I knew they’d never want the truth to come out, so they’d make up some story. I was also nervous as hell at what Carter was about to do. The two days we’d spent in Oklahoma had been beyond amazing. We did manage to leave the hotel room a few times, but not for long. The only thing in my life I knew for sure right now was that I had Carter. Surprisingly, that was enough.

  Carter lifted his eyebrow at me. “We’ve played ‘Never Have I Ever’ and ‘Twenty Questions,’ though I’m not sure we ever got to twenty. What now?”

  “Two Truths and a Lie.”

  “How do we play that?”

  “We say three things, and you have to pick out which one is a lie.”

  “What happens if we get it right?”

  “A kiss.”

  “Ooh, I like this game. What if we get it wrong?”

  “A kiss.”

  Carter rubbed his hands together. “So no matter what, I get to kiss you.”

  “Yes.”

  “This game rocks. Okay, you start.”

  “If you play your cards right, I just may give you a kind of kiss that needs to be done in private.”

  Carter shifted his eyes to me, and then quickly back to the road. “You expect me to concentrate now? You are a dirty little vixen, Julia Gibbons.”

  We’d definitely found our wild side with each other in Oklahoma. I didn’t think I’d ever see a desk or a dining table the same way again.

  I tapped my finger on my lips, trying to think of what I was going to say.

  “Okay, here we go. You pick out the lie, okay? I ran away from home when I was fourteen, I once had a threesome, or I want to be part of the Mile High Club.”

  Carter coughed. “Julia, you’re seriously trying to kill me here. And I don’t want to think about you sleeping with anyone else, much less two, so I’m going to hope that’s the lie.”

  I clapped my hands. “You got it! That’s the lie. Good job, baby.” I leaned over the console and kissed his neck, licking my way up to his ear. I grinned when I saw his hands turn white on the steering wheel.

  “Where the hell are we and are there any hotels? I can’t do this game with you. And wait? You ran away from home when you were fourteen? And you want to join the Mile High Club? Uhh, where’s the nearest airport?”

  I laughed. “Patience, isn’t that what you told me? And yes, I ran away when I was fourteen. I packed a bag and got a mile away before I was hot and tired and went back.”

  “I have no patience when it comes to wanting you.”

  “Your turn.”

  He slid his eyes over to me. “Okay. Here you go. I had a dream about having sex with you the first night we met, I cried the night my mom took me to college, or I wet my bed until I was ten.”

  Tears slid out of my eyes, I laughed so hard. “This game is so fun! Okay, let’s see. I say the lie is that you wet your bed until you were ten.”

  “Nope. I did. The lie was that I cried when my mom took me to college. Wait a minute! You thought I cried when my mom took me to college?

  I shrugged. “Well, you said you guys were really close, so . . . And wait. You had a dream about having sex with me after that night?”

  Carter nodded. “Yes. I was on the plane ride home and I woke up after having had a dream you were riding me. It was . . . hot.”

  “I had a dream about having sex with you, too,” I admitted. “I wonder if we actually did have sex and that was us remembering it.”

  “I sure as hell hope we didn’t, because if I can’t remember something that epic, I hate myself.”

  “We’ve had a lot of times to remember since then.”

  “Yes, but still. Okay, your turn.”

  “Wait! I need my kiss!”

  Carter grabbed my neck and pulled me to him, his eyes still somehow on the road as he inhaled my lips with his. Just as fast as he grabbed me, he put me back, my head reeling.

  “Your turn,” he smirked.

  “Alright. I had an imaginary friend as a child, Tracey and I stole some jewelry from a store when we were fifteen, or I was prom queen my senior year.”

  “You’re making this hard,” Carter said. “But since I get a kiss no matter, I’m going to say the lie is that you stole from a store.”

  “Nope. That’s true. We got away with it, too. But I felt guilty about it for years. I still feel guilty about it.”

  “So which one was a lie?”

  I laughed. “I wasn’t at all the prom queen.”

  “Really? I would’ve thought that you were totally the type,” Carter said.

  I laughed. “I’m not sure how to take that. Nope.”

  “Were you a cheerleader?”

  “Ew, no,” I scrunched my nose. “Dance team.”

  He smacked his leg. “You kill me. What was your imaginary friend’s name?”

  “Lori. And it was a man. I’d scare Nancy half to death all the time, telling her she was going to run Lori over in the car. Finally she said, ‘Tell that man to get in the car, or I will run him over!’”

  He puckered his lips, and I touched his facial hair. “Don’t ever get rid of this.”

  “So what would you do if I shaved?”

  “I would cry. And make you regrow it.” I kissed him quickly, and then sat back.

  Carter exited the highway. “I’m starving. Let’s pull off for awhile.” He pulled into a fast food restaurant and parked under a large shade tree.

  “We’re going in?”

  “I didn’t say what I was hungry for,” Carter said, grabbing me and kissing me breathless.

  I tapped my pen on the notebook in
front of me. “Okay, I think I’m done. Will you listen to it and tell me what you think?”

  Carter smiled. “Of course. It doesn’t matter what you write, Jules. Johnny loves you no matter what.” Ever since I’d found out about why Johnny was really in prison, I’d been consumed with trying to figure out how to make it right with him. I couldn’t call there, and I knew he wouldn’t call me after what I’d said while we were visiting. I was the only person he had, and I’d left him, too. What kind of sister was I?

  I cleared my throat. “Johnny,” I began. “I wanted to thank you for what you’re doing. Carter told me everything. I’m sorry for what I said at the last visitation. I understand why you think you have to stay in there, but it breaks my heart at the same time. You don’t have to give up your life for me, Johnny. Isn’t there anything we can do? I’ll help you in any way I can. I didn’t understand the truth, and I wish you would’ve just confided in me. I love you, Johnny, and I miss you so much. I want nothing more than to take this all away from you. Please consider doing what you can to get out of there. I know you’re there for me, but please think about telling them what they want to know for me, too. We’ll figure out what we need to do together. Love you always, Julia.”

  I looked over at Carter. “It’s great, Julia. We can send it as soon as we get home.”

  “I’m a bad sister,” I whispered, turning to look out the car window. My heart felt broken. As much in love as I was with Carter, my brother was suffering in prison to keep me safe. It just wasn’t right.

  “Julia, look at me.” Carter waited until I turned my face back to see him. “No, you aren’t. You love Johnny, and he loves you. He knows that you’re the only one that’s ever been there for him. Believe me. I was still in that room when you walked out. The only thing Johnny was worried about was you. It’s all going to be fine.”

  “I want him out of that place,” I said. “What can we do?”

  “I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Carter admitted. “Johnny has to decide to give up the information he has. You have to understand that he may never do that, and you have to decide whether you’re going to be there anyway.”

  I nodded. “Yes. I have to be. I can’t leave him. It was hard enough for me to make that ultimatum before I knew the truth of why he’s in there.”

  “It’s all going to be okay, Julia. I promise.” Carter laced his fingers with mine. I hoped that was true.

  “Come home with me,” Carter said.

  I looked up from my suitcase. “You don’t want to stay here tonight?” We’d finally made it back into town after several detours along the way. It was late evening, and we were exhausted.

  “No, that’s fine. I mean, move in with me.”

  I froze, looking at him with wide eyes. “Really?”

  All of a sudden he looked nervous. “I mean . . . we don’t have to. I just . . .”

  I crossed the room so fast and jumped into his arms that he struggled to catch me. “Carter McIntyre, I love you. You just never cease to amaze me. Yes. Absolutely yes.”

  “I didn’t know if you’d rather stay here, but my lease is new, and I can’t get out of it yet, so that’s why I suggested you move in with me.”

  “My parents own this place,” I said. “So yes, I’d happily give it back to them.”

  “Not tonight, though,” Carter said, nuzzling my neck. “Tonight we make good use of it and get some sleep. I have to go to the office tomorrow.”

  Dread settled in my stomach. “Are you sure, Carter?”

  He frowned. “What else do I have to say to convince you?”

  “I just don’t want you to regret it,” I said. “I don’t ever want it to be a point of contention between us, that you gave it up for me.”

  “After I saw what I saw, I’m not sure I’d want to stay there even if you were going back. I’ve had this company up on a pedestal in my mind for years. I can’t stand by and allow them to think the way they’ve treated both of their children is acceptable to me. Johnny is part of you; therefore he’s part of me now, too.”

  I nodded, my throat too thick with tears to answer. What did I ever do to deserve this amazing man in my life? He lifted me up, making me squeal in surprise. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m getting that serious look off of your face and taking you into the shower, where I’ll make you think something different altogether.”

  “Which is what?”

  Carter unbuttoned my shirt, flinging it on the floor. He then made quick work of my jeans. “All you’ll be thinking is, oh my God what is he going to do now, and I love it, give me more.”

  After that, there was no more thinking or talking.

  I STEPPED OUT OF THE elevator, straightening my tie. It was reminiscent of the same thing I’d done many months ago, the first time I came here hoping for the job of a lifetime. Boy, how just a few months could change everything. My outlook on this ‘amazing’ company and the people that led it had changed significantly, and Julia had become everything to me. That wasn’t to say I wasn’t worried about where I would go from here, but I had faith that it would all work out. With my parents’ and Julia’s backing, I had nowhere to go but up.

  Julia and I had talked to my parents last night in between our other activities. She’d laughed and giggled with them, and I could tell immediately they were going to be close. When she’d handed me the phone and went to grab us each a beer, my mom’s voice had been thick with tears when she expressed her love for Julia already.

  Julia had told me this morning before I left that she was going to get in contact with some connections she had across Denver about a new internship for me. I suggested maybe even Colorado Cares if they did such a thing. She’d smiled, and I knew she’d been thinking of my extreme jealousy over Colby. I was over that now. She was mine.

  I was up for looking at other places for my internship and subsequent job, but I wanted to do whatever she felt comfortable with. She’d lived here her entire life, and if she wanted to stay, I was staying, too.

  Brandi smiled at me as I walked past. I wondered how much any of them knew about Julia. My stomach rolled with nerves. Her parents had no idea that I was in love with her or that I was going to leave their company. I made it to my cubicle and looked around, seeing if I had anything there I wanted. I snagged a GSJ pen, just for a memento.

  “Hey, Carter.” Ethan clapped me on the back. “How are you doing?”

  “Hey, man,” I smiled. “It’s good to see you.”

  “You too. You guys get everything worked out?”

  “Yes, thankfully. I’m about to meet with her parents, and I’m scared shitless.”

  His eyes widened. “What are you about to do?”

  “I love her.”

  Ethan’s mouth dropped. “Really?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “So, you’re going to do what? Quit?”

  “I’m going to tell them how I feel about her, and then I’m going to quit.”

  He whistled. “Shit, man. I don’t envy you at all. How’s she doing?”

  “Now, she’s great. We’re going home to Florida for Christmas. I think it’ll be good for her to be out of here for a while. Plus, I’ll get to see her in a bikini. That’s a bonus itself.”

  He laughed. “Man, I’m so happy for you. You’re a different guy than you were when I first met you. Good luck in there. I’ll miss you around here, that’s for sure.”

  “Keep in touch, okay? I think we’re staying in the area, at least for now. We’re both going to look for other opportunities. I love it in Denver, and she grew up here, so it’s home for her. And now, for me.”

  I shook his hand and took a deep breath. I headed for the closed office door, knowing that her parents were both waiting for me but that they had no idea what I was about to say.

  When I knocked on the door, both of their voices echoed ‘come in.’ I knew the time was here. I was doing this, and I felt at peace about it. For the first time in my life,
I was confident in what I was doing. This job might’ve made me an architect, but Julia had made me a man I could be proud of, one that had learned what was truly important in life.

  “Welcome back, Carter,” Mr. Gibbons said, outstretching his hand. I took it, smiling over at Mrs. Gibbons. “How are your parents?”

  “They were great. They enjoyed their time in Denver. Neither of them had ever been here. Thanks for giving me the time to spend with them.”

  “You’ve been doing great work here, Carter,” Mrs. Gibbons said. “We’ve been noticing your dedication and drive, and we know we made the right decision in having you here.”

  This was it. I needed to get to the point. “I appreciate your kind words. It was a dream come true to get this internship. Thank you for the chance to be here. I wanted to talk to you about a few things this morning.”

  The smiles that were on both of their faces were about to disappear if I predicted correctly. “Go ahead, son.”

  “First, the most important thing I need you to know is that I disagree with the way you handled things with your daughter. I know I’m no one here, but what I witnessed here that morning made me question your professionalism and lose a lot of respect for both of you. If that’s how you treat your family, it makes me seriously doubt your ability to respect your employees and customers. I know I’m young, but I’ve learned a lot about what’s important. A job is just a job. Family has to come first, because at the end of the day, that’s all we really need. It took me a long time to figure out where my priorities should be, but now I know. My parents taught me to be honest, hardworking, and to stand up for what’s right, so that’s why I’m here this morning.”

  Their faces contorted with shock as they registered my words. I held up my hand to stop them from responding, and they both closed their open mouths.

  “You should know something. I’m in love with your daughter. When I walked out of here that day and didn’t help her, I made the wrong choice. I loved her then, and I’ve probably loved her since the first time I met her. We’ve been seeing each other for months. That day you broke your child, the only one you have left.