“Always.” I sucked her finger into my mouth, loving how it made her eyes heat and then flutter. My lips innocently found their way exploring up the length of her arm, making a pit stop at her wrist, and then the inside of her elbow, and then her shoulder as her breathing turned ragged. I nudged her head to the side, relishing in the erotic little sound she made as I razed my teeth over that perfect soft spot at the base of her neck, and then my tongue was running over the skin, soothing the mark my teeth had left.
Her voice was raw with want. “I missed you all day.”
“I missed you more.” I greedily consumed her mouth as her lips met mine. “Mmm, how delicious.”
She giggled breathily, “Me or the brownies.”
I gave her ass a hard squeeze. “Both, of course.”
Her smile broke the kiss. “Good answer.”
“Come upstairs with me—I have a surprise for you.” I dropped low, and she immediately sprang up onto my back—wrapping her arms around my neck while I pulled her legs around my waist.
“Oh look, I’m like your little spider monkey.” She giggled, referencing the girly movie we’d watched the night before.
I chuckled, “I am going to pretend like I don’t know that reference.”
She laughed. “I know you loved it, don’t lie.” I headed upstairs, not admitting that she might be a teensy tiny bit right. Honestly, I didn’t really care what movie she wanted to watch, because what was even more fun than watching the movie with her was seeing how long she could focus on the screen, while I focused on her.
As I carried her upstairs, Sara peppered my neck with feather-light kisses that made me chuckle. “That tickles.” I complained, not put out in the slightest as I set her down in the hallway. “Okay, no peeking.” I slipped a hand over her eyes and shuffled her into the room—with her giggling and making dramatic noises like she was about to fall over,she wasn’t, I had her every step of the way.
“What’s it gonna be?” Sara chimed silly as ever while I pulled my hand away, but after a moment, she finally turned to me, wincing apologetically. “What exactly is the surprise?”
I grinned nervously, nodding to the clothes. “Give it a second. It’ll come to you.” Her face contorted while she mulled it over, and then her expression shifted as she sucked in a sharp breath, realization flooding her as she reached for a garment. I could tell she was trying not to get too excited before I confirmed it.
“Oh, my God.” Tears immediately started rolling down her cheeks as she fingered the fabric, and my heart pounded, wondering if I’d fucked up. Maybe this would all be too painful. Maybe this was a mistake. “Carter, are these my mother’s clothes?” She turned to me, a mixture of disbelief, heartbreak and relief simultaneously painting her expression. “Where did you get these? How?”
“Is it too much?” I asked, gripping my neck. “If it’s too much, we can have them moved to storage.”
“No.” She quickly answered. “I’m just in shock. I can’t even believe you were able to get these back?”
I shrugged. “It’s not all of them, but I was able to track down a fair amount.”
She buried her face in the clothes, her voice muffled as she inhaled deeply. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thank you doesn’t even seem like a big enough word, but thank you, Carter.” I rubbed her back as she turned and sheltered in my embrace to weep. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You’re the sweetest, most thoughtful husband I could have ever asked for.” She sniffled.
I rested my chin on the top of her head and smiled to myself. “I’m really glad you like it.”
Her voice wobbled again as she lifted her head. “Are we in your mother’s closet? Oh Carter, did you put our mother’s clothes together?” She looked up at me, brows crunched, cheeks wet.
I cleared my throat and shrugged. “Our mothers were best friends, and I figured their clothes might enjoy each other’s company.”
“That might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” Sara pulled me down for a soft, emotional kiss that made everything in my world right.
I brushed my thumb over her slightly swollen lower lip with a gentle smile. “There’s one more surprise, this one is your wedding present.”
“What?” Her mouth fell open? “Carter, you’re all the wedding present I need.”
I chuckled. “That may be so, but I have a sneaking suspicion you’re really going to like this.” I reached into the pocket of my suit and presented her with a blindfold. “No peeking.” I murmured, and her eyes heated as she gave me a nervous butdevious little look before she took the blindfold and slipped the silky thing over her eyes without an argument.Noted.
We had been slowly testing the waters in all kinds of ways these last few weeks, and that would be a fun one to exploreverysoon.
Blindfolded, I carried her caveman style to the opposite side of the manor, over toourwing of the house, and into the new addition I’d somehow managed to keep her out of for the last several weeks now.
“Surprise.” I set her down in the sun-drenched room and nervously tugged the blindfold off.
“You built me an art studio.” She breathed, turning in every direction to take it in—I’d spared no expense. The corner of her mouth hiked up in curiosity. “I know I don’t have to tell you this, but there’s a dozen other rooms in the house that could have been converted.”
“None of them were perfect.” I admitted, “So I had to start over.” I’d made the studio to fit hereveryneed, and I’d also built a beautiful outdoor area just beyond the long wall of floor to ceiling windows. Beyond the covered patio was all new landscaping to give her something pretty to paint, but if I was being honest, I knew she’d look just perfect sitting out there amidst all the flowers, framed likemyownpersonal painting. “All the windows have blinds inside the glass.” I explained, and grabbed the remote, showing her how to open and close them. “If you need to, you can actually get it pitch black in here.” I pointed to the ceiling. “There’s also a custom ventilation system—keep those pretty little lungs of yours in good shape.” She rolled her eyes, and I grinned and slid a moving wall open to show her how the space could expand if she needed it.
