Chapter Nine
Dinner went well. The food and service were stellar, as she’d come to expect, and the company couldn’t be beat. She even managed to eat her own meal before it grew cold, thanks to Carter’s offer to help feed Audrey. Watching Carter interact with the baby melted her heart faster than any romance novel she’d ever read. He was so patient and caring. She really didn’t know how she’d gotten lucky enough to find someone like Carter.
Once they finished, Carter insisted on paying and they walked out together. Upon reaching their vehicles, she secured Audrey in the backseat and closed the door. She turned to find Carter gazing down at her and realized she didn’t want the evening to end. She wasn’t ready to return to her cold and lonely apartment. She opened her mouth and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Do you want to come back to my place?”
Carter’s reply was instant. “Yeah. I’d love to.”
“Okay then.” She gave a firm nod. “Just follow behind me again. We’re only a few blocks from my building.”
He kissed her softly. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
She climbed into her vehicle and waited until Carter had done the same before she pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. With her tummy full and the soothing vibration of the vehicle, Audrey conked during the short ride.
Within a matter of minutes, they’d arrived and Eliza was carrying a sleeping baby and leading Carter into the building. With a strong man by her side, she didn’t feel quite so nervous about their surroundings. She knew he’d never let anything bad happen to them. Even so, she held Audrey tight and stayed on guard until they’d made it upstairs and behind closed doors. If Carter noticed her cautious behavior, he didn’t say anything.
Once they’d made it inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. “So…” She flipped on the lamp by the sofa. “This is my apartment. It isn’t much, but it’s home.”
Carter glanced around the small living room and kitchen combo. “It’s fine. Believe me, my house would be bare if Mom hadn’t decorated for me.”
She tried to envision the secondhand furniture and worn carpet through new eyes and found the apartment lacking. However, she comforted herself with the knowledge that although she might not have the best or fanciest possessions, her home was clean and tidy. She turned her attention to Carter. “Have a seat and make yourself at home. I’m going to lay Audrey down and then I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the bedroom she and Audrey shared and laid the baby down in her crib. Almost immediately, she realized she hadn’t thought things through. She’d invited Carter home without considering where they would sleep. They couldn’t be intimate while Audrey slept in the same room. That wouldn’t work.
Unable to think of a satisfying solution, she covered Audrey with a light blanket and left the room. She joined Carter on the sofa, sitting close enough for their thighs to brush. Heat poured off him, warming her side.
He put his arm around her. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah.” She leaned into him, relishing his strength. “Everything’s fine. Audrey’s sleeping like a champ and you’re here with me. I’d say things are pretty great.” She smiled up at him and got caught in the intensity of his gaze.
They gravitated toward each other until their lips connected and lingered. The kiss started slow and soft, but quickly grew heated and passionate. Unlike the other times they’d kissed, this one was full of intention. She didn’t need to ask if he wanted to stay the night, she could taste the answer on his lips. His need echoed the desperate yearning coursing through her veins.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him while he plundered her mouth and kissed her senseless. She buried her fingers in his short hair and put her all into showing him how much she desired him and how badly she needed the comfort only he could provide. In his arms, she could finally let go and trust someone else to take care of her for a change. She had no doubt he would be a generous lover, but she couldn’t wait to get firsthand knowledge.
He eased her backward until she was lying on the couch beneath him and pressed hot, moist kisses down her throat, nipping and sucking as he went. When his mouth reached the collar of her shirt, impatience blasted through her. She yanked the offending garment off over her head and kick-started a chain reaction that led to them tearing at each other’s clothes, desperate to reach skin. In a matter of seconds, they were naked and back in each other’s arms, kissing as if their lives depended on sharing oxygen. When the need for a deep breath became too strong to resist, she tilted her face up and sucked in much needed air.
Carter turned his attention to her throat, running his mouth down her neck and through the valley between her breasts. He palmed her chest in his large hands and circled her taut nipples with his thumbs. "I want to take my time with you," he said, kissing down her stomach. "I want to taste every inch of your body and make you feel so good, but I don’t think I can wait. I want you too much.”
“Later,” Eliza said. “We can do all those things later.” She wasn’t patient enough for all the bells and whistles either. She yearned to wrap her legs around him and feel him thrusting inside her with all his might, scratching the itch he’d sparked months earlier. She’d been alone for so long, and was so attracted him, it wouldn’t take much to drive her up and over the edge of bliss.
A brief moment of self-consciousness struck her as his mouth lingered over the swell of her lower stomach and the stretch marks that had never quite faded after her pregnancy, but all negative thoughts about her post-baby body vanished the second he moved lower and licked a hot, wet stripe up the center of her sex.
The first touch of his tongue to her clit stole her breath and made her muscles tighten in anticipation. He played her body like a piano, pushing all her keys until her back bowed and her channel spasmed in pleasure. She shivered and moaned, shocked and awed at how fast he’d worked his magic on her.
Once she stopped trembling, he prowled back up her body. He paused at her chest and took one of her nipples into his mouth. The heat and slick glide of his tongue teasing over and around her sensitive flesh kicked her libido into overdrive. Her body tensed once more, her muscles tightening, and her core quickened in response to the new stimulation. Her breasts had always been one of her hot spots and that had only gotten stronger after having a child.
She clutched his head in one hand and his shoulder with the other, and closed her eyes, letting the sweet sensation roll through her. After only a moment, Carter pulled back and blew of a stream of cool air over her damp nipple. The contrast between hot and cold made her shiver. She opened her mouth, ready to demand he have mercy on her and give her what they both wanted. Before she could get the words out, he switched sides and gave her other breast the same treatment.
By the time he released her nipple with a wet pop, she was all but drowning in desire. She tugged at his hair, demanding his attention. “Come up here.”
He obeyed her request without question, moving over her and claimed her mouth once again. She wrapped her legs around his lean hips and rocked against him, trying to get his hard, thick length where she needed it most.
Carter groaned into her mouth. He reached between them, took himself in hand, and guided his swollen crown through her slick folds until he found her entrance, and sank inside her with one long, slow glide. They moaned in unison and stared into each other’s eyes as he started to move, rocking back and forth. His dick dragged against her sensitive inner walls, teasing her G-spot with nearly every thrust. Although tempted to close her eyes and let the pleasure wash over her, she couldn’t take her gaze off him, his face screwed up in concentration, brows drawn low over his heavily-lidded eyes. She wanted to see him lost in pleasure and know she was the cause.
She started pushing up into every thrust in an effort to take him even deeper. He swiveled his hips in a circle, grinding against her, and she couldn’t help the breathless moans he dragged out of her despite her best efforts to stay quiet. Her muscles tightened in preparation for another orgasm, the low buzz of sexual energy growing stronger every time he speared deep and touched all the long-neglected hot spots. Her stomach quivered and the tension coiling inside her snapped, and she came with a strangled cry. One hard spasm after another rippled through her channel and squeezed Carter’s cock.
He redoubled his efforts, powering into her harder and faster, chasing his own release while her body quivered around him. Just when she thought she couldn’t take another hard stroke, he buried himself balls deep and ground against her, his hips working in a tight figure eight. A guttural groan poured out of him as he trembled and spilled inside her.
She clung to him, sated and exhausted. “That was amazing.”
“You’re amazing.” He kissed her softly. “I don’t know how I’ll ever keep my hands to myself now that I know what it’s like to make love to you.”
“Who said you’ll have to?” Now that she’d had a taste of him, she definitely wanted more.