Wilde About Carson: The Brothers Wilde Series — Book Three

by Faircloth, Cate

  I spend days trying to figure out how I ended up here. And I try not to call him, he obviously had nothing to say before. He can’t have much to say now.

  Exactly a week later, I lounge around in the evening with wine and trash television. It helps me to see how messed up other people’s lives are. I text Forbes. She tried to get me to go out, but I declined. I’m not suitable for the public right now. So, my surprise isn’t forced when there is a knock on my door. In my sweats, I hobble over to the door and don’t check the eye hole before I wish I didn’t.

  “What are you doing here?” My breath hitches, chest goes warm and cold at the same time. My limbs tingle with the odd sensation of seeing Carson again.

  Standing here, beautiful and handsome for no reason. His jeans fitting him tight, his black shirt doing the same. He ruins me.

  “Emily, I’m so sorry. Please, let me talk to you?”

  I think it over for a few seconds and let him in. He brushes past me, his scent clouding me. I feel frozen up in my apartment with him back here, but at the same time I feel like I am thawing out.

  “Sit, please.” He goes to my couch and asks me to follow.

  I do, slow on my feet. Being near him again… I feel like I’m whole but hurting from all the tugging and pressing.

  “Emily I just want to say that I’m sorry, for… for not being able to… for being unkind. That’s what it was when I didn’t say anything to you after you told me how you felt. I’m so sorry.” He takes my hand in his, and I don’t want to pull it away like I would hope I would.

  I want him to hold me, forever. I want to hold him. but not…

  “I told you I love you, and you didn’t say anything. You walked away and don’t say it’s because I told you to because we both know you could have changed my mind.” My voice cracks, tears already falling.

  “I know, I was frozen. I had never been more scared in my life because I knew what it would mean. I knew that it changed everything.”

  “And now?” I wipe my face with a free hand and go back to looking at him.

  The intensity in his eyes, the tension in his jaw, and storm in his expression fades through me. “Now I don’t ever want to be afraid like that again.”

  I scoff, “And how do you propose that will happen?”

  “I don’t know, an actual proposal?”

  We both laugh slightly. “Doubtful,” I murmur.

  “Emily.” He takes both my hands and turns me to him, licks his lips, and glances around before focusing back on me.

  “I… shit I’ve never said this before, never thought you would be the first. Emily… when you told me you fell in love with me, I felt so sick because it was the best and worst news I ever heard.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Just wait.” He squeezes my hand.

  “Look, you loving me is a surprise because you know me so well. Better than anyone, better than I know myself. And you still managed to fall in love with me, somehow. And… it’s not a surprise that I love you, too. And not just as my friend, the person I’ve had for my entire life. It’s more than loving you, and it means more, it feels like everything to know that I get to be in love with you, too.” He smiles, and it makes me melt, literally, just right into him.

  I’m across the couch, in his lap, with his lips on mine in seconds. Fast, furious, the kiss takes my soul away.

  “I’m so mad at you,” I murmur against his lips.

  “I know, I’m sorry, baby.”

  “Baby?” I grin, cupping his chin.

  “Whatever you want me to call you… I’m so sorry.”

  He kisses me again. It seems like we kiss for hours, his taste merges with mine, and I fall into him, melt into him.

  We still have a lot to talk about, a lot to work through, but this is good for me, for now. We have been friends too long not to be able to patch things up easily. It’s probably the only reason we made it.

  “And I’m mad at you for quitting,” he says when we manage to separate.

  I sink into his lap with my arms wrapped around his neck. “I had to. Not just because of us. In fact, that was the last thing on my mind. But I knew we would make it together somehow, and I didn’t want to get fired in the wrong way.” I smile.

  “Yeah. Whatever.”

  “Don’t whatever me.” I giggle and kiss him.

  The kissing turns to more until we’re half-dressed headed to my bedroom and spend the next—what seems like hours—worshiping each other, getting reacquainted. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and I am very fond.

  My body is very fond of his touch, his lips, him inside me… I may never want to leave this bed.

  When we finally finish, for the time being, we shower together, a first for us but very entertaining. My shower is small. We agree to try again with his bigger shower. We have so much time ahead of us, it makes me smile like a goon.

  “What?” Carson is looking at me in bed watching me smile.

  “Nothing just… what do we do now? I mean, we conquered our fears, you forced me to stop being mad at you with orgasms. So, what do we do now?” I kiss his chest aimlessly as I make my way up his torso.

  “We do anything.” He shrugs pressing his hips at me.

  I laugh as he rolls us over onto our sides.

  “That’s so vague.” I kiss him, our lips tugging away slowly at each other. I rub my nose against his and laugh. I think we used to do butterfly kisses like in the seventh grade or something.

  “Well, we can make more promises. I see you smashed the other.”

  I frown at the memory. “Yes, but it’s still there. Only a few pieces fell.”

  He smiles and playfully tosses me off him when he reaches for the picture and pen.

  “We can use the same pad, so?”

  I sit up, he stares at my bare chest, and I snap to get him to look up at my eyes. He smiles unapologetically.

  “So, I guess we talk about loving each other now.” I bite my swollen lip. Every part of me feels swollen, full of him, the surface graced by him.

  I feel like I am practically seeing stars.

  “Right. But not something sappy. Something true, like we would say it because look…” he scoots closer to me and pokes at my ribs until I smile, “… I’m not popping out a huge engagement ring or promising a wedding and babies and… shared mortgages. But I’m giving you me, and I get you. For a long time, that’s going to work. We’ve been friends our whole lives, we have to figure out how to be a couple without adding anything on to it.”

  “I agree.” I smile, he said it perfectly. Sure, a year ago I was seeing wedding bells but not now.

  “But I will get you expensive gifts and stuff, that much I can do.” He kisses my cheek close to the corner of my mouth.

  “That’s fine…” I take the note with a smile and tap at it with the pen.

  “We’ll get a new picture frame,” I say.

  “Of course.”

  We go back and forth for a little while before agreeing on something. I write it this time, so we can see both our handwriting. His is small and swoopy, mine is even smaller but with breaks for every letter. When we agree on something, it takes forever to write it because we can’t stop kissing and groping like crazed teenagers.

  But we gather our heads, or hands, and make another promise of hopefully many to come. It ends up being sappy, said before, but perfect for us.

  We will never stop loving each other.

  Epilogue

  Carson

  “You barely made it one year, you have many to come.”

  “Shut up, Evan. You don’t know the first thing. All they do is cry and scream, Malia cries more and screams even more. It’s exhausting.”

  “Get the nanny to take care of it.” Fletcher belches aloud.

  “We don’t have a nanny, idiot.” Brant exhales, he looks tired. Old as hell too. Like a dad and like our Dad.

  We’re at Malia’s first birthday party. Flew all the way to LA to
be there with everyone. Alec wasn’t keen on it, but Brant did the same for him. I think they bond more being dads and all.

  “Whatever. Maybe you should change that.”

  We all go back and forth in Brant’s huge living room. It’s late, so Cora is putting Malia down, and Mia is with her. The day went by fast, filled with backyard fun and cake the kid won’t even remember. As long as she’s still cute, I don’t mind taking the trips to see her.

  “Dylan, I’m surprised you brought company.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” He shuts that down.

  In the past year, we’ve all got plenty of stuff to dodge. Well, not me, but Dylan is at wits end with some girl he won’t talk about, Evan is still in cahoots with a new international client, and Fletcher had some bad PR stunt. I didn’t pay much attention to it as every football player has one. But since we don’t hear from Grayson or Isaac, I have no idea about them. Holden has been dodgy at work, but I try not to pay much mind to that either. I guess I don’t care much about anything other than my own life unless I have to. Oh, I guess Jeffrey is also still pretending he isn’t married.

  “I’m tabling this conversation. Carson, tell us about your forbidden love.” Evan throws a beer cap at me. I catch it and throw it back.

  “It’s not really forbidden. We’re just friends.” I smile, maybe I blush with them all looking at me, and they hound on me for it too.

  “Really?” Fletcher laughs, and they all agree.

  “A year later, and you still use that line,” Dylan spells it out.

  I smile and shake my head at their obnoxious behavior. I’m glad Emily stayed with the new company. I would never hear the end of it with Holden especially. But it’s good for us. We focus at work and spend the entire day thinking about each other before we get home and ravish each other.

  “I guess it’s a habit.” I stand and retire myself from the conversation to find my little habit.

  After a lot of searching, I get to her eventually in Malia’s nursery. I stand by for a second. She looks like an actual dream in her frilly purple gown and low neckline. I have to ask nicely to get her to wear a low neckline. Over the year, I’ve had to learn to ask nicely for a lot of things. Like sex, it isn’t always just walk in the house and go for it. There are rules now, boundaries—but it’s still just as hot as ever. She moved in with me when her lease ran out, it was an easy decision. We practically lived together already. And I can’t tell her what not to do, not that I ever would, but when I almost did, I got an earful. And I still don’t get to choose the music when we are driving.

  “Hey,” I interrupt her cooing session with Malia. She’s a bundle of pink in her nighttime onesie.

  “Oh hey, I was just dying over this little baby.” She makes noises and kisses at her fluffy cheeks.

  “Uh huh, remember what I said about babies.” I kneel on the plush green carpet. Her nursery is a mix of green and white, the stuffed animals bring in more color.

  “Yeah, whatever. Maybe my IUD slips, not my fault.” She sings and bounces Malia.

  I frown at her until she turns to me and smiles. “I’m kidding. Mostly.”

  I chuckle. “Okay, where is her mother?”

  “Bathroom break. She gets them when she can.” Emily stands up. “I told her I would help change her. Timothy is already asleep with Mia in the other room.”

  I nod at her, watching her change and dress Malia before setting her down in her crib, and without her crying too.

  “She likes me.” Emily squeals under her breath and bounces over to me.

  I laugh as she jumps into my arms. I hold her and swing her around as I kiss her and then set her down.

  “You look beautiful today.” I kiss her. “You look beautiful every day.”

  “Aw, thanks. You look all right.” She straightens the collar of my blue button-up shirt.

  “I look amazing. You wouldn’t be with me if I weren’t so handsome.”

  She cocks her head at me and mocks disagreement. “Don’t forget about the money, Carson. That’s what matters.” She giggles. I smile at her joke and kiss her instead.

  We kiss like we’re alone in the room, but babies don’t count. I love kissing her, holding her, I just love her.

  “Can we go now?” She groans when I kiss the edge of her mouth.

  “Yeah, we can go now.”

  “I mean really go like back to the hotel with some cake.” She smiles, and I watch as it lights up her hazel eyes.

  She stopped wearing those damned contacts, finally. I smile back at her and then kiss her once.

  “Yes, we can go with cake.” I laugh at her, and she gets so excited.

  “I love you. So much.” I kiss her forehead and hug her close to me.

  “I love you, too.” She giggles. “A lot.”

  I get her out of there and bring her cake. We go back to the hotel where I can spend all night worshiping her. It’s my favorite thing to do.

  I have a lot of new favorites with Emily and a lot of the same ones, but nothing can top all of them put together. Everything with Emily… it’s storybook. Too perfect. I get to have my best friend with me by my side all the time. And I get to love her too. So much it hurts, so much it heals.

  Despite everything, we made it through. And we’ll make it through even more. Together. With all our promises and our inside jokes and meaningless fights, we have each other, and I know it’s forever. I really get to do the impossible.

  I get to love my best friend and not just that—she loves me too.

  The End.

  Page ahead for a sneak peek of Wilde About Dylan – The Brothers Wilde Series Book Four

  Sneak Peek

  Wilde About Dylan – The Brother’s Wilde Series Book Four

  1

  Dylan

  I still ask myself why I bother coming to these things at all. Plenty of leaders don’t show up at their company functions, so I don’t know why I should. It might be that deep down, I love my family and this company. And it’s easier when we’re not actually within the walls of the building. I took a long leave after Dad died, longer than anyone else. It has been over a year since he passed and the memory—

  “You drink too much.” Evan. I could pick his nasal voice out of a landslide.

  “That’s subjective.” I turn the cold glass around, empty with no more gin. It’s my drink of choice since I can have it during the workday, and the smell is undetectable.

  “Right.” He drops next to me. I stare forward at the old wood walls, and he stares at me.

  I figure I’ve had enough of the company parties. I could pick out a uniform for it and stick with it. But since this is for Christmas, we were all obligated to be festive. So black slacks and a white dress shirt fit the bill for me. Evan is probably the only one out of all of us who would wear red.

  “Holden is getting ready for the silent auction,” he tells me. I nod in response, not particularly interested in keeping tabs on everyone. That’s for the party planners and PR assistants to do.

  These things are mainly for fundraising anyway. We charter for charities, so these events get all the money in the same room and raise funds for the charities we own and represent. The silent auction is one of them including having to buy a plate to attend.

  “And Carson?” I ask, motioning to the bartender. He comes back quickly with my refill.

  “Um, off somewhere with Emily, I think.” He does some tapping on his phone. I see him out of the corner of my eye.

  When I finish the drink, I decide it will be my last and tip the bartender even though it’s an open bar. We use the same galleria in the hotel downtown that we own land shares for.

  I chuckle to myself. If we’re not working, Carson is always with Emily. He has been doing that for the year they’ve been together, ‘officially’ been together. When we got back from the birthday party for Malia, we all got back into our normal routines. But the year was silent, normal. And now it’s been three years since Dad died. Three long
years that still make it feel like it only happened yesterday.

  “He’s always off somewhere with Emily.” I manage a small smile.

  I stand, rubbing the edges of my beard down when I do. Evan regards me cautiously with this look in his eye that I ignore.

  “True. But did you see who Emily brought?” He follows me when I weave through the crowd to go back to our table. I shake my head at him waving over my shoulder for him to leave me alone.

  I lied though. I saw what Emily brought. What and not who.

  Because I’m not sure Forbes Walters is an actual person. She is mean just for fun. She looks at me like I brought the plague. With her being Emily’s only friend besides Carson, we cross paths a lot. We have since college when they first met. But recently, I see her a lot more, and she seems to hate me even more. I never had a problem with her until I found out she has some invisible problem with me.

  “She’s gorgeous, a real spit-fire, though.” Evan sits next to me at the table leaning back like me. Our legs spread, he nudges my knee, and I nudge him back. We go back and forth like kids for a few seconds.

  “That’s… her business.” I turn my attention to the live jazz band. They seem to be having way more fun than me. The employees are too, though, chatting each other up, hovering over the silent auction. We got good things this year—cruises, trips—it’s good in my opinion.

  “Whatever.” He shrugs and picks at the first course of the dinner set off by the waiters walking around.

  “Why don’t you go bother one of your other brothers?” I murmur.

  “I’m older than you, you know. I get to bother you if I want. Eventually, you’ll tell me what it is that’s bothering you, though.” He smacks and chews through one of the mini… whatever they are. I cringe at him and roll my eyes. He laughs.

  They have all tried their hand at getting through to me by pestering me about acting weird. I don’t feel like I’m acting weird, but I know I haven’t been myself for a while. Actively knowing I’ve been down and not knowing what to do about it is worse than the denial they are accusing me of. First, it was growing the beard. They acted as if they’ve never tried themselves. Maybe that’s what they’re fussing over, not being able to. Or it’s probably me, and not wanting to be all smiles, not that I ever was before.