Chapter 16 - Carter
The white-hot anger that I felt when I saw that maggot touching Vee practically blinded me. My heart was still thumping, even though she was in my arms now, on the way to my hotel.
“What was your ex doing here?” I finally managed to ask. My voice still had an edge to it, but it didn’t betray the blind rage that had consumed me at the hotel.
“I’m not sure. I think he followed me.” Vee shifted against me, pushing herself up and staring out the window. “I kept thinking I was seeing him wherever I was. I thought I was going crazy.”
“Yesterday,” I breathed. “Before you went home.”
Vee finally looked at me, her eyes full of surprise. She nodded.
“I saw you tense when you looked over my shoulder.”
“Ah,” she said. Sadness filled her eyes and I pulled her into me again.
“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“Thanks.”
Selfishly, her reply stung. I thought she’d want to talk to me. I wanted to be the one to comfort her, to save her from whatever was going on. But she just sighed against my chest, and I squeezed my arms around her.
It wasn’t about me. It was about her, and that creep that had been following her around.
“I’ll call my lawyer,” I said. “He’s a divorce lawyer, but we can see about getting a restraining order.”
“Do those actually do anything? I mean, he flew across the fucking country to get to me. He followed me to the airport, to my hotel!”
“Well, if you have a restraining order and he does it again, he’ll be arrested.”
“Right,” she said. She looked up at me, stretching her lips into a tight smile. “Thank you.”
I could feel her pain, but I was powerless to do anything about it. The car pulled in to the Ritz and I helped her to the elevators, taking her up to the top floor. Garrett, Maddox and I were sharing the top floor, each with our own suites. I opened the door to mine and led Veronica in.
She straightened up against me, opening her eyes wide and looking around the room. Finally, she looked at me, shaking her head.
“This place is insane!”
“I know,” I laughed.
“My hotel is an absolute dump!
I laughed again. “This is your hotel now.”
She smiled for the first time since I picked her up, and my heart grew in my chest. I still had residual anger coursing through my veins. I felt fiercely protective of her, and the thought of some other guy causing her this much pain made my blood boil.
I took Veronica’s hand in mine and led her towards the bathroom. There, I ran the water in the huge jacuzzi tub and dropped a couple of the hotel’s bath products into the water. Vee’s face softened as I turned to her. I slid my hands over her hips and pulled her closer, resting my forehead against hers.
She closed her eyes and took a long, shuddering breath.
“I’ve never had anyone defend me like that,” she whispered. Her hands squeezed around my biceps as she sighed. “Thank you, Carter.”
I made a noise and pulled her hips closer to me. “I’ll always defend you, Vee. No one will hurt you as long as I can do anything about it.”
She made a noise, leaning into me. I lifted my fingers to her chin to tilt it up towards me. She lifted her eyes and looked at me, and I saw the depth of her pain. My heart squeezed and my breath shortened as I started to understand what she was going through. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my lips to hers.
She melted into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing her chest against mine. Softly, we kissed, until Veronica pressed herself into me and her kisses became harder and more insistent. Steam from the jacuzzi was starting to fill the bathroom, and she ran her hands under my shirt.
Lifting it off overhead, Veronica sighed as she ran her fingers down my chest.
“I love you tattoos,” she said, tracing the black carvings across my chest. I took her fingers in mine and brought them to my lips, and then I unlaced the ties at the front of her dress. She pushed the straps off her shoulders and the dress puddled at her feet.
I groaned. “And I love you body.”
She kissed me again. Her lips crushed against mine as her hands reached down between us to undo my pants. When she pushed them down, my cock sprang free and she wrapped her hand around it. I groaned, hooking my fingers into her panties and pushing them down her legs. I kissed her shoulder, biting it gently as I wrapped my arms around her and ran my hands over her soft skin.
She shivered, running her hand up and down my cock. I trailed my fingers up her sides and over her breasts, feeling the hardness of her nipples under my thumbs. She closed her eyes, letting out a soft exhale as my fingers caressed her skin.
Interlacing my fingers in hers, I kissed her once more before leading her to the jacuzzi. I followed her into the tub, with suds and steam surrounding us both. I sat back against the edge of the tub and I pulled her to me. Our lips crushed together as she wrapped her arms and legs around me, my hard cock pressed between both our bodies. I pulled her hair, making her gasp and arch her back.
“You’re so fucking perfect, Vee,” I growled, kissing her neck, her clavicle, and finally taking her soft, round breast into my mouth. I pulled her hair gently and heard her gasp again as she ground her hips towards me.
But I didn’t want to fuck her. Not like that. I wanted her to know what she meant to me, what she was worth. I wanted her to forget anything bad had ever happened at her hotel.
Fuck, I mean, I wanted her to forget her ex even existed.
No, I didn’t want us to have sex like we had before.
I wanted to make love to her. I wanted to worship her body and show her how much I cared about her. I wanted her to come over and over until her legs were shaking and she was screaming my name.
So when Vee rolled her hips towards me, I just kissed her. I reached over and took a washcloth, pumping a bit of soap onto it. She watched me, legs still straddled across my lap, as I took the washcloth and slowly, deliberately started rubbing it over her body.
I started with her hands, her arms, moving towards her shoulders and over her breasts. The soap make her skin slippery and soft and she moaned as I ran my hands over her skin.
Picking her up easily, I turned her around and brushed her long, brown hair out of the way. I ran the washcloth over her back as she groaned, sitting against my legs and letting me take care of her.
When I dunked the washcloth in the water and wrung it out over her skin, I watched the suds wash clean as her body gleamed.
She looked fucking perfect.
With her back to me, she leaned back as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest. Her head rested on my shoulder, her eyes closed, as I continued to rinse her body clean. I held her close, with one hand across her chest and the other moving down her stomach.
When I covered her breast with my palm and growled into her ear, she whimpered and pressed her ass against me. I ran my fingers down her stomach as she spread her legs for me.
Touching her sweet little pussy underwater made my cock rock hard. She whimpered against me as the steam and sweat and water made our bodies slick. I ran my fingers through her slit as my other hand palmed her breast, and she shivered.
“Carter,” she breathed.
“Yeah, angel?”
“That feels so good.”
“I’m just getting started.”