Carter Reed

His hand moved to my hair. He started brushing it back from my face. The light touches were comforting and the old emptiness started to ease away. He murmured, “Do you not know how beautiful you are, Emma?”


Jolted, I looked up and saw the somber expression on him. My chest rose, full of warmth again, and I couldn’t speak for a moment. I saw the love from him and it took my breath away.

His thumb rubbed across my forehead and down my cheek. He cupped my chin and smiled down at me. “You have always been beautiful, Emma. I worried about you when you were in those foster homes. I was glad when they placed you with that last couple. The Jones were nice to you.” When he saw my surprise, his smile widened. “Yes, even then I was watching and trying to help you. I asked the judge to move you to their home. He agreed that it would be beneficial for you. That was the only reason he approved the transfer.”

I let out a shuddering breath. Nothing should’ve surprised me anymore, nothing when it came to him. Then I murmured, my voice hoarse, “You thought I was beautiful?”

He flashed me a grin. “If AJ wouldn’t have killed me, I would’ve kissed you a long time ago.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Then he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

The hunger started in me and I opened for him. It wasn’t long until kissing wasn’t enough and he was shifting to lie on top of me. It was later, much later, that he asked about my friends in college. I curled against his chest and pulled the sheet to cover me. His hand caressed my stomach, running in small circles.

Feeling content, I murmured against his skin, “I don’t even talk to anyone I knew from college.”

He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “You became friends with Mallory after you graduated?”

I rolled over and looked up at him. “What are you doing?”

He laughed. His hand traced down the side of my face and his thumb rested on my bottom lip. “I’m trying to understand your life, Emma. I was given reports, but that didn’t tell me what you were feeling or what you were thinking.”

“I think you have the more interesting life.”

His eyes fell flat. “No, no I don’t. I took a lot of beatings from my old man, but I never left. I didn’t want to leave my best friend and his little sister. They were my family. When someone took that away, I did what I knew how to do. I beat them up. When that didn’t make it feel better, I killed them and you know the rest. My life’s not interesting at all.”

“I think you’re underestimating yourself.”

His thumb rubbed back and forth over my lips. He murmured, “I’d rather hear about you.”

As his hand ran down my neck and in the valley between my br**sts, I closed my eyes as he cupped one of my br**sts and caressed me there. I murmured, “I met Mallory at my first job after school. I got hired at The Richmond later and saw Amanda again.”

“Tell me more.” He moved down to kiss the valley between my br**sts.

Desire flooded me. My heart pounded against my chest. “Uh…we used to talk about guys a lot. All three of us. Mallory dated a lot of guys. Ben worshiped her, but she never gave into him. And Amanda,” my breath hitched as his tongue swept the underside of my breast, “uh, Amanda liked nerdy guys. She said it was the curse of having a wimpy dad.”

He moved further down my stomach. My hands slid into his hair and held on. I gasped, unable to speak. The ache between my legs grew with each nibble from him.

“It sound like you had fun with her?” His hand moved to my hip and he urged me to my side.

As I did, he settled behind me. My leg was lifted and he fit between them. His arm reached around me so I was held against his chest. He started to nudge inside of me. I couldn’t talk. The sensations were overwhelming me.

He murmured into my ear, pressing a kiss there, “Tell me about your friendship with her.”

I struggled to concentrate and gasped, “We laughed about our dates. And Ben.” He pushed further into me. My eyes closed and I rested my head against his. He began a slow rhythm.

His voice was husky as he murmured, “Why did you laugh about him?”

“Because he’s funny.” My throat closed off. I could only lie there as his fingers moved over my body and his hips thrust into me. “Carter,” I gasped again.

“What’s wrong?”

I heard his amusement. Twisting my head to the side, I caught his gaze. They darkened and a primal hunger burst over me. Pushing at his hips so he slipped out, I started to turn, but Carter grasped my waist. He lifted me over him and slammed inside of me in the same movement. There were no words after that. I folded over him, bending down so my chest was pressed against his as he urged my hips into a faster pace.

It was later, after we both exploded together and I was still curled over him. He was tracing my hair back, skimming his hand over my body in a soft caress before he’d move back to my hair and repeat the same motion. I was falling asleep when a thought came to me. “Do you have men watching Amanda?”