Текст книги "A Pound of Flesh"

Автор книги: Sophie Jackson

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Текущая страница: 23 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

Not that it achieved much.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all. Their conversations after Carter had left were uncomfortably stilted and curt, but they were conversations nonetheless. Kat had seen it, clear as day, on her mother’s face: she knew it was her presence that had forced Carter to leave. And, whether she admitted it or not, a part of her had to feel responsible.

Kat rolled onto her back, clasping her phone tightly to her stomach. Glancing out of the window, she saw the snow was still coming down. She couldn’t help but agonize about where Carter was and whether or not he was safe. She’d called the airport, but their flight booking hadn’t been altered. She’d no idea whether he had taken another flight home, but something within Kat told her he hadn’t. She’d decided after packing her bag she would leave Nana Boo’s and catch her scheduled flight the following afternoon. Nana Boo, of course, had urged her to stay, telling her that Thanksgiving should be with her family, but truthfully, being in the house with her mother, after everything that’d happened, simply didn’t sit right with Kat. She’d texted Carter telling him where she would be, should he return to her, and left.

Family or not, she needed peace, quiet, time to think.

Just like Carter had.

Jesus, what he must have felt, hearing Kat’s mother say the things she had. Eva’s words had bulldozed every single piece of confidence and self-assurance Kat and Nana Boo had helped construct around Carter the previous day and night. She closed her eyes. God, she just wanted to tell him she loved him.

No matter if he never wanted anything to do with her again, Kat needed him to hear it.

She allowed herself a moment to release a few more tears. They were tears for Carter and the pain he was no doubt in. Tears of the anger she felt toward her mother for doing that to the man she loved; tears for Nana Boo and the awful situation she’d unwillingly become a part of, and tears for her father.

Jesus, how she missed him.

She was so sorry he wasn’t there.

She was so sorry for everything. So sorry and so tired.

Before she could think any more about the shitty mess she’d found herself in, blissful, quiet sleep overcame her.

* * *

There was a noise.

Nestled on the edge of Kat’s consciousness, in a place between dark and light, and reality and dreams, there was definitely a noise.

In her sleep-induced haze, Kat flung her arm out to press the alarm on the digital clock in an effort to stop the—

knock knock knock

Blinking back the sleep gluing her eyes together, Kat sat up, disoriented, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings.

Nana Boo’s favorite suite. The Drake Hotel, Chicago.

With her now-dead cell phone still clasped in her hand and her clothes warm and damp from sleep sweat, she shuffled to the edge of the bed. She flicked on the bedside lamp, drowning the room in elegant light. She listened again, frowning in frustration, wishing her brain would shake itself awake so she could focus properly.

There was nothing.

Silence.

Of course there was only silence. Why had she expected anything else?

Maybe it had been a drea—

knock knock knock

Kat lifted from the edge of the bed and made her way across the bedroom and into the large sitting room of the suite, flicking lights on as she went. Who the hell? She couldn’t remember ordering room service. Cursing herself for not noting the time, Kat dragged her feet toward the door, rubbing her face while simultaneously fixing the nest-like hair residing on her head.

knock knock knock

“Hang on a second,” Kat called sleepily. “I’m coming.”

Ignoring the peephole and muttering about the numerous locks on the door, Kat was still talking toward her feet when she finally got the thing open.

“Sorry,” she apologized, suppressing a yawn. “I was asleep. What’s the prob—”

Kat’s words died in her throat when her eyes met the tall, unexpected figure standing before her. He wasn’t even standing, in fact; he was sagging against the doorjamb with water dripping from his chin and down the sides of his tired face.

His beautiful, perfect face.

“Carter,” Kat squeaked, dazed, unsteady on her feet, and still believing she was dreaming. “Where the– What are …”

Her eyes traveled down his body in disbelief. His clothes were saturated, clinging to his strong form, and the knuckles of his hands were white from the cold. His lips were tinged a dark blue and, as she stared at him with now-wide-awake eyes, she realized he was shivering.

“Jesus, you’re freezing,” she exclaimed, coming to her senses. “Come in and—”

“No,” he rasped, shaking his head and licking the water that subsequently fell to his lips. “I can’t.”

Kat’s heart stuttered. “Why?”

He kept his eyes to the floor. He shook from head to toe and made a pained noise that came from deep within him.

“Carter, you’re going to get sick,” Kat coaxed. “Please.”

“No!” he said loudly, too loudly for a sleeping hotel. “I need …” His chin dropped. “I have to say something first.”

Kat’s knees started to buckle. This was it: what she’d dreaded the most. He was leaving for good. Her heart skipped several beats and her insides clenched in preparation for the devastating impact of his words.

She cleared her throat and exhaled. “Please let me say something first.”

She took his silence as acceptance, even though his eyes remained glued to the sumptuous royal-blue carpet below their feet. Closing her eyes and praying she was able, she began to think of all the things she wanted to say to him.

“I’m so sorry, Carter,” she started. “I’m so sorry for everything. I shouldn’t have brought you here. It was selfish of me. My mother was– Everything she said was bullshit, Carter, I promise you. She’s the only one who believes it. I hate her for what she said. I hate her for making you doubt everything I’ve ever said to you. And I don’t blame you. I don’t blame you for walking away because I would have done the same, and I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from the things you were so scared of. God, I’m just so sorry.”

Kat dropped her forehead against the door, terrified it was going to be the last time she ever spoke to him. But she’d said all she could.

“I’m sorry, too,” he uttered, making Kat lift her head. He was still looking at his feet.

“You have nothing to—”

“Let me fucking finish,” he snapped, squeezing his eyes shut. “I need to say this without you interrupting or arguing with me, okay?”

“Okay,” Kat agreed quickly.

“I have plenty to be sorry for,” he ground out through his teeth, pressing his clenched fist against the wall. “I’m—it’s—you’re, you’re … you’re everything to me, and I’m sorry I was such an idiot to have believed I was ever good enough for you.”

Kat pressed her lips together and cupped a hand to her mouth to stop the words of protest.

“I’m sorry I’m weak. I can’t—I—you wreck me, Kat. Things you say to me. The way you … love me. They do things to me, your words; they make me feel things no one else has ever made me feel. I’m sorry I’ve done shitty things, and I was a fuckup—am a fuckup. I can’t ever take my mistakes back. I hate that fact, but I can’t. They’re what they are and I’m who I am because of them.”

His body collapsed farther against the door frame. Kat stayed rooted to the spot, desperate to touch him, comfort him.

“I’m sorry I left,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have, I know I promised, but it was … so fucking hard.” He pressed his forehead against the wall. “I was terrified that– Christ, I knew I should have just stayed in the room and not listened, but I wanted to know what she– I grabbed my bag and left,” he admitted. “Snuck out of the house like the fucking coward I am. I didn’t know what else to do. The walls were closing in.”

“Carter.”

“I felt sick when I heard her say those things,” he continued. “Sick because I knew she was right. And I know you don’t agree, but she’s your mother, Kat, and she cares about you. She doesn’t want you with someone like me, and I get that, I really do. Shit, it kills me, but … I get it.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I figured it was better for everyone if I left.” His long lashes pressed against his cheekbones. “I shouldn’t fucking be here.”

He stood, motionless, silent.

All Kat heard was the pounding of her heart. Her skin was clammy and the knot of helpless terror in her gut tightened incessantly. “Then … why are you here?”

The corner of Carter’s mouth twitched. “Walking out of that door, Kat, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He pressed a hand over his heart. “When I left there was this pain, like a, I don’t know … It was– It took my breath away. And the farther I walked away from you, the more painful it became. I … I thought I was dying.”

She knew exactly what he meant. There’d been nothing but pain for her since the moment she’d realized he’d gone.

“I walked and walked,” Carter continued. “I was so mad with myself. I knew I had to keep going, and I tried. You have to believe me. I tried so damned hard. But, my heart. Jesus, it was– It was fucking breaking.”

He stood up as straight as his exhausted body would allow, and looked at Kat for the first time.

Their eyes met. His were aged, defeated.

“I hate that I’ve caused so much trouble,” he said miserably. “You’ve had to defend yourself against people who should be happy for you. I have issues, I’m an angry fucker, and I have a terrible temper. I still have shit I need to tell you about myself, and I have no idea where to start because I’m scared shitless you’ll run from me, and I know that makes me a selfish bastard for expecting you not to when I know that’s the best thing for you to do.”

“I—”

“Wait,” he interrupted, breathless, taking a wobbling step toward her. He was so close, Kat had to lift her head to look at him, her eyes level with the sharp edge of his rough jaw.

“Please, Peaches. I want”—he exhaled in frustration—“I want to do the right thing. I know I should walk away. I know I should have put my ass on a plane and gone home instead of standing outside of this hotel for four hours in the snow. I know you deserve better. I know all of that, Kat. But the truth is … the truth is …”

Kat closed her eyes, swaying toward him. She shivered when his ice-cold hand cupped her neck and moved to her cheek.

“The truth is,” he whispered, his lips by her ear, “I’m so damned scared to walk away. I can’t. I’m hopeless without you.”

Kat clutched his forearm, rested her head on his biceps, and released a soft, pained sound of relief.

His nose glided up her temple. “I’m yours. You have to know that. Christ. Tell me you know.”

“I know,” she whimpered. “I know.”

Carter’s body fell into Kat’s, pushing her back, stumbling into the hotel room. She managed to shut the door with the edge of her foot as he buried his face into her neck and began to shiver uncontrollably, mumbling garbled words into her skin. His arms wrapped around her waist, gripping her tighter than he ever had before.

“Kat,” he croaked. “I– Kat. Don’t make me go. Please.”

“Never,” she promised ardently.

His body shook violently.

“Let’s get you warm. Please, let me help you. You’re so cold.”

He stepped back reluctantly so she could unzip his jacket, which she pushed off his shoulders. He stood silently, looking downward, water dripping from his chin onto the floor, as she began to undress him. Wordlessly, and with his top half bare, and gooseflesh puckering every inch of his skin, Kat took his shaking hand and led him to the bathroom. Leaving him by the door, she switched on the five large showerheads, turning them to warm. She removed his boots and socks, unfastened his jeans, and helped him out of his underwear before she took off her own clothes.

As naked as they were together, there was no sexual charge, no fizzling atmosphere, no desperate hands or manic kisses.

With her palm in his, Kat guided him into the shower, moving so the water hit his body first. As they stood under the stream, she turned the temperature up gradually, not wanting to shock his body with the heat.

She pulled him into her arms. “Let me make you warm.”

He wound his arms around her, dropping his face to her shoulder. He shook his head against her neck. “I couldn’t leave. I know I should have, but I couldn’t.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

“I’m so scared. Fuck. I’m so scared.” His voice broke. He pulled her closer, his large frame dwarfing hers, making her spine bend backward.

“Don’t be scared,” she insisted, rubbing his back. “I’m here.”

Carter tried to move closer. “I can’t lose—I—God. It hurts to even think about it.” His voice became hoarse. “Help me,” he begged. “Help me. I can’t …”

“Carter,” Kat urged. “Calm down. Please.”

While holding them both upright and maneuvering as best as she could, she managed to guide them both down to the shower floor, a mass of heavy limbs that never unraveled or lost contact. She’d never seen him this way before. Every barrier she’d ever come up against, every last piece of his armor that remained—the cockiness, the indifference, the anger, and the hate—was disintegrating before her, leaving his body with every drop of water that hit him, running off his trembling skin, and disappearing down the drain.

She cradled him, pulling him closer, winding her arms around his inked shoulders and her legs around his waist, while he pressed his coarse cheek against her chest. His shoulders quaked and heaved with gasps and hiccoughs.

She heard him moan at the same time his body shook.

Oh God.

He was crying.

She ran her hands up his back and neck, trying to calm him while struggling to keep herself together. “You’re all right, sweetheart.”

“I need—I need to …”

She kissed his neck. “Tell me what you need.”

“Jesus, it’s … it’s, it’s here.” He grappled for her hand and pulled it to his thundering heart. “I’ve never felt anything like it.” He licked his lips. “It hurts.”

“Your heart hurts?”

His face collapsed.

Kat watched the hot water fall down his face.

“It’s yours. All of it.” He blinked his sodden lashes. “I know now.

“Kat, I …” Carter lifted his head and, with his nose at the side of hers, his arms wrapped around her, and with the steam of the water cocooning them both, he opened his mouth, gazed into her eyes, and breathed, “I … I … love you.”

31

With her eyes flickering over Carter’s terrified yet expectant face, Kat found herself without words. Hell, what she had for him within her heart, mind, and soul was beyond words. Over and over she opened her mouth to say something, something momentous or meaningful, but found that his confession had left her entirely dumbstruck.

He loves me.

“Carter,” she breathed, closing her eyes. “I love you, too.”

His hand moved to her neck, skimming her wet skin tenderly with the tips of his fingers, tracing the pulse point in her neck she knew was going crazy.

His stare remained fixed on her collarbone. “My Peaches.” He pressed a soft, wet kiss to her throat. “You’re mine,” he said with his lips at her jaw.

She nodded, rubbing her cheek against his. The feel of his skin on hers made parts of her body clench and twist in subjugation.

“Every part,” she whispered passionately.

“Jesus,” he murmured by her earlobe. “It’s so– I don’t even have words.”

She knew exactly what he meant. Theirs was a love beyond words, beyond reason, beyond even the two of them. It was indescribable, inexplicable, but unbreakable and unyielding. Their connection, their bond, was sixteen years in the making. Even though they hadn’t known each other and had gone about their lives from one monotonous day to the next, they’d still been a part of each other, a silent, integral part that would always be, for as long as they both lived.

They were both powerless to stop it or deny it.

A surge of awesome strength swept through Kat’s body, pumping adrenaline through veins already hot from Carter’s declaration. It was an uplifting sensation, one she’d not experienced for a very long time. For the briefest of moments, with Carter in her arms and determination filling her from head to toe, she was truly unstoppable.

* * *

Kat kicked the quilt from off her feet. She was sweltering and, as nice as having Carter’s body pressed against her was, she had to move to cool down.

Glancing at the clock, Kat wiggled out of the bed—where she and Carter had been asleep for the last five hours—pulling her T-shirt off and turning the thermostat down from hot-ass sauna to just warm enough. She hurried to the bathroom, where she splashed some cold water on her face and pulled off her sweats, changing them to a small pair of sleeping shorts.

Kat’s skin immediately began to cool down. With a glass of water in hand, she wandered back into the bedroom to find Carter, still on his back, wearing only his boxer briefs. She smiled when she saw he’d kicked the quilt off, too. His hard stomach lifted and dropped hypnotically as he breathed.

He cracked an eye open and rubbed a palm down the center of his glistening chest, as she lay back down at his side. He looked deliciously rumpled.

She trailed her fingertips through the hair on his stomach. “Hey.”

He turned his dopey, pillow-creased face toward her, smiling lazily. “Hey.”

“How’s your heart?”

He reached for her hand and placed it on the left side of his chest. “You tell me,” he said, piercing her with an intense stare.

Kat bit her lip. “It’s pounding.”

“It always is when you’re near me.”

She took his wrist and did the same, placing his large hand over the top of her left breast. Unhurriedly, Carter lifted onto his elbow, watching his hand and her face with childlike wonder.

“It’s flying.” His gaze moved from his hand, leisurely up the curve of her neck, stopping hungrily at her lips before it rested resolutely on her eyes. His silence made the hair on the back of Kat’s neck lift and tingle, while the air around them began to thicken and buzz.

“Do I do that to you?” he asked, tracing the gooseflesh along her arm.

“Every time you look at me.”

The tips of his fingers danced lightly along the lace edge of Kat’s bra. Her chest heaved at the sensation and her eyes fluttered closed of their own volition. With featherlight touches, Carter moved his hand over to her right breast, tracing every curve, caressing lightly, while purposefully missing the places Kat was desperate for him to touch.

Shifting his body closer, Carter began to draw languid figure eights up toward her collarbone, mapping its shape and pressing against the pulse points in the valley of her throat. It was such a simple thing, for him to touch her that way, but Kat was unable to hold back the soft whimper slowly building with every brush of his gentle hand. His index finger dropped from her throat and meandered knowingly, erotically, down between her breasts, over the fabric of her bra, to the soft skin of her stomach.

Kat held her breath when he reached her belly button. He circled it twice before his finger dipped into it teasingly. Unable to hold her head up any longer, Kat lay back against the pillows, giving herself over to her senses, while Carter continued his wonderful exploration of her more-than-willing body.

“Your skin is so soft here.” His hand skimmed the waistband of her shorts. “So soft.”

Kat gasped when his lips pressed onto the same spot, and purred when Carter’s tongue licked along the trail his finger had just taken.

“Carter,” she moaned.

“What is it, baby?” He moved gradually so his body was leaning over hers.

Kat’s hands moved from his hair, finding his broad shoulders that flexed powerfully under her palms. His chest pressed against her.

“I miss your lips.”

His thumb skimmed her jaw, as his stare burned across her mouth.

“Please.” The word escaped Kat’s lips as a wanton whisper.

Desperate need bubbled below the surface of her skin. The inevitable explosion of passion, always so present when she was with him, was only one touch away.

“Tell me what you want,” he said gruffly. “Keep looking at me like that and I swear to God I’ll give you anything.”

“Kiss me,” she begged. “Just kiss me.”

* * *

Kat’s mouth, pink, wet, and soft, entranced Carter. They’d kissed a million times, in a million different ways, but her request seemed so fucking huge that, for a split second, he could do nothing but stare. A divine image of her mouth around his dick immediately flashed before him, simultaneously drying his throat and weighing his body down to hers in seconds.

Skin to skin, flush and warm.

Carter tried to calm himself but struggled. Fact was, his body didn’t feel like his own. It was as though something had taken it over, like it was being controlled by something.

Something bigger. Something incomprehensible.

He closed his eyes and exhaled a soothing breath.

Who was he kidding? Kat had taken him over. Kat had control over him.

She’d had a hold on him since he was eleven years old. And if he hadn’t realized it before, he sure as shit knew now that he’d loved her every second, minute, and hour of those sixteen long years. He’d lost himself to her on a lonely, dark street one heartbreaking night in the Bronx, and now he finally understood that he’d never, ever truly found himself again.

Sixteen years. Five thousand eight hundred and forty-four days.

Jesus, how had he survived without her for so long?

He loved her, desperately, and, truthfully, it terrified him. He’d missed her without even knowing her and fantasized about her whenever he’d begun to lose himself to the bullshit surrounding him as he grew up. If he weren’t so hypnotized by her, Carter would have laughed at his own blindness and the ridiculous denial he’d immersed himself in since Kat had come back into his life.

As subtle as it was, her body writhed underneath him. Her legs shifted against the mattress and her hips lifted, rocking toward him, seeking out any type of friction. She was exquisite. He opened his mouth, gasping into her. His entire body shook when he pressed his lips to hers, and he grunted when she pulled him down, deepening the kiss quickly.

Their tongues met, reunited, touching, tasting, and rubbing together, inside her mouth, then inside his. Carter gripped her waist with one hand and her face with the other as their passion began to snap and sizzle. Sweet Jesus, the heavy ache pounding between his legs was torturous. He ground his hips against her stomach, showing her what she did to him. Not that she would ever understand. She had no comprehension at all.

He’d been such a damned fool to think he could ever get away without speaking those three words to her. The three words he’d never uttered to another human being in his entire fucked-up life. They’d taken his ass by surprise, but the relief that came with them was more freeing than any parole board’s release letter could ever be.

He moved his mouth from her lips to her jaw and down her neck. She bent backward, curving under him so that he could access any place he wanted on her gorgeous body. He began with her chest, yanking the straps of her bra down the tops of her arms so he could pull at the cups, releasing her to his eager hands and demanding mouth. With his eyes closed, Carter began to lick, suck, and tease, tugging her between his lips. He moaned when she scratched his back, pulling him closer while whispering her need for him.

Carter let his lips caress her hip, the soft flesh of her belly, all the way to her panty line peeking temptingly from beneath her shorts. He wanted her on his tongue. He wanted to feel her in his mouth and make her come so hard she’d see stars. He wanted to devour her, bury his entire face in that shit and never come out for days. He wanted her gasping and soaked. He wanted—

“I missed you,” Kat breathed.

Astounded by the pained expression on her face, Carter rested his chin against her hip.

“I missed you while you were gone.”

Carter’s heart fractured. “I missed you.” He brushed away the stray hair lying on her cheek. He shook his head. “God.” He kissed her. “I was a fucking fool to walk away from you.”

Walking away from her was as close to being burned alive as Carter imagined he would ever get. The pain had crippled him, rendering him immobile.

When the boys had visited him in Kill and tried to explain how Max had fallen apart when Lizzie left, Carter had struggled to understand. Now he knew exactly what pain his friend had been through—was still going through.

Carter never wanted to feel that pain again. He doubted very much that he would even survive it a second time.

“I know why you did it,” Kat whispered. “And if you walking away helped you realize that you love me,” she continued in a hushed tone, “then I’m happy you did.”

Christ, she was right. He’d walked away and cracked into a thousand pieces, bare, with nothing to hide behind. Realistically, Carter couldn’t refute admitting his true feelings had been inevitable. And now that his finely executed punk-ass demeanor had been thoroughly fucked, Carter at last accepted just how exhausting it had been.

“Carter.” Kat reached for his hand and placed his palm flat against her heart. “Show me,” she whispered. “Show me how much you love me.”

As his eyes scoured her face in question, Carter’s brain flashed back through all the times they’d come together, thinking about the ways in which he’d touched her, kissed her, moved inside of her. Show me.

At the beach house.

On the sofa.

The very first time they were together, soaked from the rain, desperate, on his bed until dawn.

He’d loved her so much even then.

Without even knowing it, he’d shown her what she meant to him by using his body instead of his shitty, inadequate words. When the sensation of having his body inside of hers had been so overwhelming and he’d been unable to find his rhythm through the thick clouds of need, he’d simply breathed her in, kissed her languidly, or touched her in places he knew made her moan his name.

Those had been his favorite moments. Connected together but not moving. No frenzy. Just being. Those were the moments Carter was most at peace.

He brushed her hair back and kissed her. He was gentle, his mouth pressing into hers only a little, while his tongue whispered across her lips, tender and loving.

You’re so beautiful, his kiss said. You make me breathless.

The moan from Kat’s throat told him she heard it, felt it. He placed his hand on the back of her neck, lifting her to his mouth. She never resisted. She was incredible in her generosity. Pulling off his boxer briefs, he moved over her, shifting down her chin, kissing her throat, and licking her chest. He nibbled and grazed his teeth across her stomach. His hands slid up her thighs, opening them.

I’ve wanted you forever.

Her hands fisted the bed when he laid small kisses from one hip to the other. Kat bent her knees and rested the balls of her feet on his shoulders. He caressed the crease where her thighs met her body and spread her legs farther, as they beckoned Carter forward, her bare skin aching for his mouth. He kissed the top of her cleft, seeing the sparkle of the wetness lying there. Gently, pushing her lips back with his mouth, he let his tongue seek out her swollen heat and began winding it in slow circles that made her eyes roll and her spine arch.

Holy fuck. She was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. His fingers moved, slipping easily along her sodden skin, teasing and asking for more with every dip, twist, and stroke. Little by little, Carter pushed two long fingers inside her and moaned into her skin when she cried out and swiveled her hips against his face. She was so warm. He pulled them out and pushed them back in while he sucked and licked her.

“More.”

I’d give you the fucking world.

He hummed and pushed his face closer, shaking his head from side to side, purring against her flesh when her nails scratched deeply across his scalp. His tongue moved faster and his fingers slid deeper, as sounds started to erupt from her, breathless and begging.

“Oh my God. You’re going to make me come.”

Yeah, he fuckin’ lived for it. She pulled at his shoulders, tugging and pushing while her hips ground against him, drenching his chin. She whimpered and called out, nonsensical words pouring from her mouth until her orgasm snapped and shook through her body. Carter gripped her thighs when they slammed shut around his head and she tried to move away from his voracious mouth. He devoured everything she gave him until she was begging him to stop.

I’ll never stop loving you this way.

Eventually, Carter lifted his head and gazed up at her and the glow washing across her gossamer skin. Her chest heaved heavy, spent breaths. He prowled up her body, lathering her skin with kisses, needing the warmth to keep him grounded. He knew he had to be gentle, tender. The fog of lust had started to descend, hot, frenzied, and hard, but he breathed through it. Right then, chest to chest, her hands gripping his shoulders and her thighs around his waist were enough to calm him.

He moaned into her mouth when she kissed him, tasting herself on his lips. He rested his hands on the bed next to her ribs with his cock trapped between their bodies, wet, wanting, and thick. Every time she moved, she rubbed its entire length, driving him insane, making his hips shift and rotate. He grunted when she bit his neck.

I’m yours to mark.

She lifted her legs and placed her heels on his ass. They both grabbed for him, their desperation slipping through. Carter let go first and watched as Kat guided him, rubbing the tip of his cock along her wet flesh. He sighed, furrowing his brow, enraptured. Coming together that way made Carter’s bones weak. She was soaked and so soft. Carter pushed his hips a little closer, a little harder.

Carter pulled her face to his, nibbling on her plump bottom lip. Kat’s hand pushed so that—for one incredible moment—he slipped inside. The euphoria that always came with their unions blazed up his back and sent his hips into a frenzy.

“My sweet girl,” he whispered across her throat and slowly began to push into her tight warmth. “That’s it.” A little farther. “Oh fuck.”

He lifted his head and pushed, little by little, until he was completely enveloped by her. He was home. A small sob escaped her, but Carter caught it between his lips. The urge to thrust deep and hard clawed at the base of his spine, and his knees moved upward, pushing her thighs wider apart so he could get farther inside. Their fingers entwined by the sides of her head as Carter pulled back, releasing a long groan of breath. He chanced a look down to where they joined and panted at the sight of her all over his cock, glistening and beautiful.