His brows shoot up and his eyes sparkle, reflecting the light of the fire. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
I giggle as we start tearing at each other’s clothes. It doesn’t take long until we’ve stripped each other naked. I expect him to dive right in. Devour my mouth, my breasts. Take what he’s been waiting for all week. But he doesn’t. He motions to a pile of blankets to my right. “In case we need to cover up quickly.”
This man. He thinks of everything. He takes care of everything. He takes care ofme.
I’ve thought about things a lot today. About my feelings for him. About Amelia’s. About the secrets I’ve kept and am still keeping. About how forthcoming he’s been with me. About how I should trust him. Because deep down, I know he’s different. I think I’ve known from the beginning.
Tell him.
I inhale deeply, my nerves prickling, and blow out a long breath. “Carter, there’s something I have to tell you.”
His fingers press against my lips and he shakes his head. “Nothing you tell me will change the way I feel about you.”
“But,” I say against his fingers.
He withdraws his hand and replaces it with his lips, kissing away any words that were to come. I get lost in his kiss like it’s the very first one. Like we haven’t already kissed a hundred times. Like it’s not onlyourfirst kiss, butmyfirst kiss. As if no man has ever kissed me before. Because being with Carter isn’t like being with any other man. Being with him brings a sense of euphoria. Safety and completeness. Happiness and fulfillment. Being with him is like discovering heaven.
“There’s something I have to tell you too,” he whispers against my mouth.
He pulls back and looks into my eyes, and I instantly know what he has to tell me. He’s going to say he loves me. But unlike the others who’ve said it before, he’s going to mean it. He’s going to mean it with every look. Every kiss. Every delicate touch. And he’s not only going to say he lovesme, he’s going to say he loves my daughter. And I know with every fiber of my being that he’ll mean that too. Because over the course of only four short weeks, he’s become more of a father to Amelia than any man has.
I wait for the words to come, but they don’t. Instead, he says, “But right now, all I want to do is make love to you.”
My body quivers underneath him. I’m relieved he didn’t say it. Because I really want to make love with him too, and ifhe said those words to me right now, I fear I’d crumble into a ball of gooey emotions. There’s already this powerful, magnetic, physical and emotional charge between us. It deepens my desire. Heightens my senses. The energy between us is practically a life force of its own.
And as his lips find mine once again, I know one thing to be true. I don’t want to spend another minute away from him. I don’t want there to be thirty miles between us, let alone a thousand. I push aside the intrusive thought that warns me that staying here could endanger him. Endanger Christian. There has to be a way to make it work. Therehasto be. Because suddenly, I realize living my life without them would not be living at all.
I pull him harder against me, wanting nothing between us. No secrets. No ex-husbands. No air.
As if he understands the emotional turmoil I’m experiencing, he draws close to my ear. “It’s going to be okay, Kenna. Trust me.” He pulls back. “Do you? Trust me?”
I stare up into his eyes and nod. The sigh that escapes his lips tells me I’ve just given him the gift he’s wished for. His eyes become glassy. I grip the sides of his head with my hands and reaffirm with words, “With all my heart.”
His eyes close briefly. “Thank you,” he says, right before making love to me with such intensity I know neither of our lives will ever be the same.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Kenna
Hours later, spent, satiated, and one-hundred-percent fulfilled, Carter covers me with a blanket then stokes the fire. He returns, pulling the other blanket around him, then tucking in next to me on the air mattress that smells like sex warmed over.
He swipes a sweaty piece of hair off my cheek. “If you are going to Florida, I’m going with you.”
My adrenaline goes into overdrive. This was not at all what I was expecting him to say.
“What are you talking about? You want to help move us down there?”
“No, sweetheart.” He shakes his head. “I mean I’m going with you. To be with you. To live there. Or wherever you end up.”
I sit up, stunned. Not at the endearment—which I secretly love—but at his declaration. My words come out stilted and stuttered. “But… but… Christian. Your business. You… can’t.”
He sits up as well, working himself around the back of me, wrapping himself and his blanket around us in a cocoon.
“It’s why it took me so long to get back here today. I had a talk with my family. I’m going to leave the business. With how things are going, they’ll be better off with only three splitting the profits instead of four. Between that and selling the cabin, even if they’re forced to refinance, they’ll be able to pay off the loan much quicker.”
“But… what’llyoudo?”
I can feel his shrug. “Doesn’t matter what I do as long as I’m with you. I can work at Jiffy Lube for all I care. Hell, I’ll work two jobs.”
