CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Carson

I came back with the scariest thing on my mind—the thought of seeing Amelia face-to-face. She was so down that I couldn’t bear seeing her and seeing how upset I had made her. I wiped my boots on the doormat and sneaked in.

“Uncle Carson!” Josh yelled as I walked past the door of the sitting room.

“Hi, Josh,” I called, pleased someone was happy to see me. I put my head around the door, grinning. Then I saw who else was there. Cayley and Amelia.

“Oh,” I said, brow furrowed. “Uh, excuse me.”

“No, Carson,” Amelia said. She looked me in the eye. “We have to talk.”

“Oh.” I swallowed. At this moment, the last thing I wanted to do was face her alone. But what did she want to talk about? “Okay,” I said quietly.

“Yes. We have to talk.” She walked past me and beckoned me after. I followed.

She led me upstairs. I thought for one tense moment we were going to her room, but instead we went to the study and shut the door. She looked up at me.

“Carson, I have something to say,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Amelia, I…” I ran a hand over my head. This was hard. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I have so much to say sorry for. I guess I don’t know how to start,” I chuckled. I didn’t know where to start.

“No, Carson,” she insisted. “I have to say sorry. But first I have to ask something.”

“What?” I said, curiously.

“Why didn’t you let me know you were a father?”

“What?” I stared at her. “Amelia. Wait. How did you know? Was it Brett?”

“No,” I said. “I found out.”

I didn’t want to ask how. I didn’t know what to say at all, actually. What did she think about the fact that I had been married? That I was a father?

“Amelia, I…” I frowned, pausing. “Are you mad about it?”

“Carson!” she laughed. She smiled in a way that made my heart thump. “Of course I’m not mad about it. Have you any idea…wait,” she said. “You don’t know what I thought, right?”

“No,” I said, honestly. I had no idea.

“I thought Leona was your girlfriend. That you were seeing someone else. Using me.”

“Amelia!” I was so astonished, I must have looked as if someone had just shot me. I closed my mouth and then hugged her. “My Amelia! How did you…I’m sorry!”

I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the rose scent of her. I couldn’t believe I had done that! No wonder she had been so mad at me! No wonder she had been aloof. Been ignoring me. “Amelia, I am so, so sorry.”

“Carson,” she laughed again, softer this time. “You don’t need to be sorry about anything. I’m sorry I suspected you. But really, you didn’t give me much opportunity for something else.”

I laughed. “I guess it looked awful,” I admitted. “Me going off, making calls, having commitments I didn’t talk about. Even being delayed! I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she insisted. “Just don’t do it again.”

I looked at that wicked grin. My heart stopped.

“You mean, I might get an opportunity to do it again?” I asked hopefully. She laughed.

“I intend to give you ample opportunity. Just don’t take it.”

I felt a laugh well up inside me and when her arms came around me we were both chuckling helplessly. It didn’t seem possible. It was two days after Christmas and I was in the arms of the woman I had loved for ten years.

My mouth moved over hers and I kissed her, slowly and gently.

She sighed and her sigh against my lips made my entire body shiver with longing. I kissed her again, my fingers stroking the impossibly soft skin of her neck.

“Amelia,” I breathed. “My dear, sweet Amelia.”

She laughed as my mouth moved down to her neck, a delicious giggle that made my cock hard. I leaned against her and pushed her back, gentle but firm, against the wall. I could barely control my need for her now; my whole body was shuddering and my heart pounded in my chest.

“Amelia…” I whispered again into that sweet, fluffy hair. I kissed her again and my hands moved to lift the soft pullover she was wearing. She gasped in sweet delight. I kissed her as I lifted it, my fingers brushing against the soft skin of her chest.

“We shouldn’t…” she whispered. “What if someone comes up?”

“I’ll lock the door,” I replied. I went to the door and locked it. Then I came back to her.

“Carson,” she whispered to me. “My dear Carson.”

I lifted her sweater and felt the soft silk of her bra beneath my hands and then I lost all control. My hands were not my own as I unfastened her bra and moved my mouth to her breasts. I sucked those sweet, hard nipples and then slid my hands down her chest to the fastenings of her jeans.

In something approaching a frenzy, I unfastened them, then slid them down her legs. She was breathing in great, sobbing breaths as I removed her panties and put my mouth to her sex, kneeling before her.

“Carson,” she said as she stroked my hair. “Oh, Carson…”

I was intoxicated with her. My whole body was throbbing as I breathed in the sweet scent of her sex and then I could hold back no longer. I had to be inside her.

Standing, I undressed myself faster than I could have believed and pushed her back against the only blank wall in the office. Then I slid into her.

She was moaning and gasping as I thrust in her, again and again and…

“Oh!”

I came. I hadn’t expected to come so soon. It crashed over me like a wave and I leaned against her, my heart thudding, my mind blank.

She kissed me and I kissed her and even though I had just spent myself, I could feel my body already freshly aroused as I smelled her and felt her softness.

I looked down into those gentle blue eyes and kissed her brow. My heart melted.

“Amelia,” I whispered. “I love you.”

I knew now, that I always had.

“Oh, Carson,” she whispered back. “I love you too.”