Now? I’m an emotional wreck. “Yes, Sir. Thank you.”
He nuzzles the side of my head for a moment. “My very good boy. You’ve made me so proud this weekend.” He ruffles my hair again and sits back. “Help me up, please.”
I break position and stand. Carter holds his hands up to me. As I grip them, our eyes meet, and something deep inside my soul goes blissfully quiet for the first time…ever.
I instinctively know this man will be in my life for the rest of my life.
Turns out I’m good with that.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I’m standing at the front door, waiting, watching through the viewfinder for Susa’s arrival.
“She’s here, Sir,” I call out when she pulls into the driveway.
“Go on, boy. I’ll be right there.”
Despite my nerves I’m nearly vibrating with anticipation to see her again. I hurry out so I can open her driver’s door for her, basking in the playful smile she gives me when I do.
“Welcome home, Ma’am.”
Carter didn’t specify it had to be a capital-MMa’am, but it is, in my mind.
“Thank you,” she says. I offer her my hand to help her out. She’s wearing a black pencil skirt and a grey blouse, and her brown hair is down, straight, flowing around her shoulders. She’s wearing light makeup, and I suspect she was at a brunch this morning. Like Carter, she already looks like an attorney. If I didn’t know how old she is, I would think she was already graduated and in practice.
Once she steps out of the car, I open the back door to grab her overnight bag and laptop case from the backseat. I turn to find her wearing a playful smile and I know I’m blushing, but I can’t help it.
She’s barefoot and holding a pair of pumps in her hand. It’s not uncommon for her to drive barefoot when she’s wearing dressy shoes. In the house, she’s nearly always barefoot.
She rises up on her toes to kiss my cheek. “Thank you for carrying my things inside. You can put them on my bed.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
I turn and see Carter smiling from where he’s stepped just outside the front door. As I hurry past him, he whispers, “Good boy,” to me.
I set her things on the end of her bed, and when I emerge, Carter’s shutting the door behind her.
“So how was your birthday celebration?” she asks me.
“Good. A little over-imbibing, but Carter took good care of me.”
She wears a playful smile. “I’m sure he did.”
“I washed your sheets and remade the bed, Ma’am. And the towels. Everything’s clean.”
“Aw, thank you, sweetie. You didn’t have to do that.”
Yes, I did, because Carter told me to. Although I didn’t need Carter’s order to do it—I would have done it anyway. “You’re welcome, Ma’am.”
“Are y’all hungry?” she asks.
Carter smiles. “Worked up an appetite this morning,” he says.
“Let me go change clothes, and we’ll get started on dinner. It’ll take us a little while to put it together.
A few minutes later, she returns. She’s scrubbed her makeup off, pulled her hair up in a messy bun, and wears the oversized USF Bulls T-shirt over shorts. She looks absolutely adorable.
“God, I’m glad to be home. When I wasn’t at the conference with Daddy, Momma was all over me worrying about me.”
