Watching Carter try to wiggle and worm her way out of my arms is a great way to wake up. If she could sink straight through the mattress and come out under the bed she would. Observing her through slitted eyelids, I suck my bottom lip between my teeth to hold in my laughter. She’s more entertaining than anyone I’ve ever known. When she’s around there’s never a dull moment and that’s important to me. It’s not easy to be the life of the party all the time. She doesn’t expect me to be. It’s a nice change of pace, because sometimes I feel like a circus monkey performing for my friends. Make me laugh, Nick. Tell a joke, Nick. Tell me that story about the time you...insert any of the ridiculous things I’ve done in my teenage years. But Carter doesn’t know anything about my past. She doesn’t know that side of me, other than what I’ve allowed her to see. For the first time in a long time, someone is finally getting to know me for who I am as a person and not Nick the football player or party animal.

When she’s free of the bed, I close my lids. She pauses, and I can feel her ice blue eyes staring at me. Is she regretting leaving the comfortable haven? I hope so. I wish I’d gotten a chance to feel her ass against my morning wood. I would’ve pretended to be “asleep” and she would have done the same, allowing me to enjoy the moment even more. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow morning.

I relax, watching television and dozing on and off until she comes out of the bathroom. She’s freshly showered, and the scent of her soap is driving me mad. Or maybe it’s her shampoo. Whichever one it is it smells like coconut and fruit. I’m hungry as fuck for a taste.

Glancing at her in the short towel has my dick standing at attention. Bending over to choose some clothes in the dresser drawers, she has me expelling a groan. Her ass up position has the towel resting just below the bottom of her cheeks. I know the skin along those two curves would be so warm and soft on my tongue. Damn. I hope she doesn’t turn around and look this way because there’s no hiding the tent I’m pitching now.

She eases the drawer slowly closed and creeps on the tips of her toes like something out of a movie. All that’s missing is the music to add a more dramatic feel to the moment.

When she exits the bathroom, her hair is dry, and she’s completely dressed. I was hoping she’d forget her bra or panties at the very least. No such luck, but she does look sexy in her cut off shorts and a fitted white t-shirt. I can’t see what her shirt says and since I want to get a closer look and another whiff of her delicious scent, I call her over.

She moves toward me, pausing beside my side of the bed. “What does your shirt say?” I question noticing the picture of the smiling tooth in the middle.

“Dentists have fillings too.”

I chuckle. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing?”

She rolls her eyes. “It was a gift for my birthday. I’m just trying to be nice by wearing it.”

My eyes scan over her shirt, noticing how faded the black writing is. This is not the first time she’s worn this. She obviously likes it and that makes my chest swell with pride because I’m the person who gave her this gift. I didn’t put my name on the tag because I went to that party with every intention of making sure we got a proper introduction and that we’d share an improper kiss. I imagined once I’d done that, she’d avoid any present I’d chosen. I figured if she knew it was from me, she’d never let herself wear it.

I love humorous t-shirts and have since I was a little kid. I have an extensive collection and I even shoved a couple into my duffel bag for this trip. I might have to break one out today, so we can match. I bet she’ll just love that. The corners of my lips creep to a smirk just thinking about it.

She bolts out of the way when I sit up, flipping the covers back. Rising to my feet, I tug my t-shirt over my head and drop it on the bed.

“Wh...what are you d...doing?” she stutters.

“Getting naked.” My hands move to the elastic waistband. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You can’t get naked in front of me,” she shrieks, holding her hands out in front of her palms up.

I drop my boxer briefs to the floor. Her hands cover her eyes while a gasp of surprise leaves her lips. “Really? Because here I am, naked and you know you want to see.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Okay, your loss, Candy. I’m going to take my shower now.” I pass by where she’s standing, her hands still over her eyes. When I’m three steps beyond her, I glance in the mirror on the wall and notice her hands slide down her cheeks, uncovering her eyes. She checks my ass out ogling it unabashedly until she catches my eye in the mirror. I wink, enjoying the way she turns a bright shade of pink, averting her gaze just before I enter the bathroom.

* * *

“Why won’t you tell me what’s on the agenda for today?” she asks when we step through the automatic doors of the hotel onto the sidewalk.

“Why won’t you let me surprise you?” I question back, slipping my favorite Boston University Terriers cap on my head.

“Surprises make me nervous,” she murmurs, her head buried in the bag hanging over her shoulder. She searches until she finds her pink mirrored shades, slipping them over her beautiful blues depriving me of seeing them for the time being.

“This is a fun surprise, I promise. Just trust me. If there’s anything I know how to do well, it’s have fun.”

She nods her head. “Okay, but if I don’t have fun then we do what I want tomorrow without complaining.”

“Deal.” I hold my hand out until she reluctantly shakes mine. “Let’s go this way,” I say, directing her along beside me. Like last night, we head toward Madison Square Garden, only this time the late morning sun is shining bright and the streets are full of yellow cabs. The sidewalk is filled with pedestrians, making it difficult to proceed at a steady pace.

We continue past the bar we drank too many shots at the previous night, both of us enjoying the sounds of the city. We’ve lucked out with the weather. The humidity isn’t as high as I expected, and the temperature is below average for mid-July. After we’ve covered a few more blocks we come upon some street vendors selling wares. Spotting some t-shirts, I move toward them on automatic pilot. It’s an addiction for me.

“What about this?” Carter asks, holding up a blue one that says, The league should pay someone just to handle Tom’s balls. Does your mom need a job?

I laugh. “Candy, that’s perfect. Do you see one you want?”

“No, I think I’ll pass on the tees.”

“Okay, we’ll find something for you next.”

Once I’ve paid for my t-shirt, Carter shoves it down into the unknown depths of her bag and we move to the next cart to see what they’re selling. This one has mugs with names or initials. I spot one that says Candy and I know I need to buy it for her. When she’s on the other side of the display I quickly pay the ten dollars to the vendor before she wraps it in white paper and a small, black plastic bag.

When Carter comes back around to stand next to me, she holds her hand out for the bag. “I don’t want to make your bag heavy.”

“Nick, why do you think I brought this big thing?”

Handing her the package, I watch with amusement as half her arm disappears as she places it inside. We move on to the next cart, but there’s nothing we’re interested in, so we continue along the sidewalk, neither of us in search of anything in particular, but open to whatever might catch our eye. We’re together, the weather is gorgeous, we have all day to explore...today is full of endless possibilities.

“Are you thirsty?” I ask, ushering her through the door to a coffee shop.

“Yeah, I’d love an ice coffee, please.”

The line is short, and our drinks are in hand before we know it. She tries to slip money onto the counter before I do, but I catch her hand in mine. “Don’t insult me by trying to pay. I’ve got this.” She must see how serious I am because she smiles and nods before shoving the money in the front pocket on her shorts.

We return to our walk, choosing to take our drinks with us instead of staying indoors. Neither of us want to miss any moment we can be outside on this beautiful day.

After another block we come upon another vendor and this one sells leather wrist cuffs. Some of them are plain brown or black and some have designs pressed into them. Carter looks them over, taking her time. Her fingers trail over the distressed leather on a few, before she removes a brown one from the shelf, fastening it around her wrist. The design is Celtic and intricate. It looks like it belongs on her delicate arm.

“That looks great on you. Let me buy it.”

“No, I don’t want you to pay. I can purchase it myself.”

“I know you can, but just humor me, please. I’d really like to get this for you.”

Her teeth bite into her full bottom lip as she mulls it over.

“Come on. Don’t make a big deal out of this,” I urge.

“Okay, but no more presents or paying for things for me.”

“I won’t buy you any more presents, but I’m not going to promise I won’t treat you to lunch.”

“I have my own money.”

“I know you do, but I was taught to always pay for a woman, even if it’s not a date. As much of an asshole as my father can be when it comes to my future in MMA, he’s a great guy. He told me from the time I was old enough to talk that women were to be spoiled. He’s always bringing my mom gifts. Even if it’s the smallest thing, just to put a smile on her face.”

“That’s really sweet. My dad’s not really big on gift giving, but he does bring my mom flowers occasionally.”

I hand over a twenty-dollar bill and he gives me five back. I thank him, and we begin to stroll down the sidewalk again. We come to a small park between two buildings. If you can even call it that. It’s hardly more than a few benches, a fountain and some potted plants, but it will serve its purpose.

“Hey, let’s sit down for a few and finish our drinks,” I suggest.

“Sounds good to me.” We both sink down next to each other on the iron bench.

“Do you like getting flowers?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I’ve never gotten them before.”

“Your boyfriend never bought you flowers?”

“Nope, not once.”

“He sounds like an all-around piece of shit. He couldn’t make you come, he didn’t buy you flowers. What exactly did he do?”

She flushes at my brutally honest words. “Looking back, I’m not sure. I guess we were good friends more than anything.” She sips from her straw, her eyes darting around the crowd of people as they pass us by. “We were comfortable together. I thought that was a good thing. Little did I know, it wasn’t.”

“Wouldn’t being friends with your significant other be a good thing?” I ask.

“Yeah, normally it would, but I think we lost the attraction or passion - whatever you want to call it. All that remained was friendship and that’s not enough to build a life with someone. At least it wasn’t enough for him.”

“What about you? Would it have been enough?”

“Once upon a time I would have said yes, but I think my views were naive before everything that happened with Joseph. Now I know how important passion is and I’ll never underestimate the significance of it in a relationship again.” Her fingers brush over my chest unexpectedly making my pulse jump. “You had coffee on your shirt.”

“Thanks,” I say glancing down at my blue Patriots and Chill tee wishing more than anything that she was touching me because she wanted to...because she couldn’t help herself.

“What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever had a girlfriend for?”

Shit. This isn’t going to go over well. “I’ve never really had a serious girlfriend.”

“Never?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met anyone that I liked that much or couldn’t live without.”

“So all the girls you’ve slept with are just booty calls?”

“Some of them were, but some of them were girls I’m friends with and we used each other for sex.”

She scrunches her nose up. “I don’t think I could do that.”

“What? Have sex with a friend?”

“Yeah.”

“I think you’d be surprised if you tried it. And let me just say if you do ever want to give it a shot, I’m your guy.”

“You’ll take one for the team so to speak?”

“Hell yeah. No doubt about it.”

“I’ll keep you in mind, if I ever decide to give it a whirl.”

“Candy, you can give me a whirl any time you’d like.”