Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
CARO-LICIOUS
Ryder
The bathroom door closed, and I tugged my hands free. When I’d made the joke before about Caroline running and leaving me tied up, I didn’t expect it to almost be a reality.
I sat up and stared at the door Caroline disappeared behind as I massaged my wrists. Her expression was serious as she undid the restraints and slid off the bed. But I wasn’t surprised by her reaction. The weight of what we’d done had slammed down on me as it likely had her. Although my reaction was fucking elation, I guessed hers was a little more complex.
Part of me wanted to bust down the bathroom door and talk her out of her spiraling thoughts. But I knew Caroline, and she processed best when uninterrupted. Nothing I said would be helpful in that moment, and it was better to let her have the space she needed.
No matter how much it killed me to do so.
I watched the door for a few minutes, and when she didn’t appear, I managed to slide off the bed. My body was a little sore from being in the same position, with my arms pulled out to my sides and above my head for almost an hour, but the tension in my mus cles made me smile. I would let her restrain me every time if it meant I’d get to experience her again and again. Although I’d eventually go crazy not touching her. But what was a little insanity when I got my dream girl.
Since Caroline was occupying her main bathroom, I walked two feet down the hallway and quickly used the spare to wash up. When I came back less than two minutes later, her bathroom door was still closed.
I found my jeans and slipped them on. When I was reaching for the button, the bathroom doors finally swung open.
Caroline stood in the doorway with her chin high and no evidence of a freakout on her face. She wasn’t wearing anything, and I felt my cock give a little kick. A few more minutes, and I’d be ready to go again. God, she was more stunning than I ever imagined. Long legs and supple curves, her lips were swollen, and her eyes were still a little glassy.
I didn’t say anything, instead, I finished putting on my pants and found my black T-shirt on the ground as she stepped into the room and looked around.
“Where the hell—” she began to say, but her words quickly cut off. We both stopped and looked at one another. I thought the sound had been in my head, but it was obvious Caroline had heard it, too.
Her eyes went inhumanly wide when a voice carried down the hallway from the front of the house. “Care!”
We both recognized my mom’s voice instantly. I should have been nervous, but honestly, it was just fucking funny. What were the chances?
Frantically, Caroline looked around the room, probably searching for something to wear, but there was nothing there for her unless she dug through the drawers. And I could hear my mom’s steps echoing like she was getting closer.
Making a decision, Caroline yanked my T-shirt out of my hands and slipped it over her head. It was large through the middle but only long enough to barely cover her ass. As she hurrie d out, I stared at the lovely peek I got of the bottom of her ass, but she quickly spun and caught me.
Unbothered about where my eyes had been, she warned, “Stay here and be quiet. I’m so fucking serious.”
I raised my hands in mock surrender and nodded. Did I find karma hilarious in that moment? Absolutely. Was I going to make a scene in front of my mother? Hell no.
Caroline continued out the door and down the hallway. From where I was standing, I could see her at the edge of the living room, but hidden by the door, they wouldn’t be able to see me. Caroline brushed a hand through her hair and my T-shirt rode up enough that it showed off the side of her hip.
My mom stepped into view, and I caught a glimpse of her confused expression.
As much as Caroline was worried about what my mom would think, because I knew that was part, if not most, of her hang-up, I wasn’t concerned at all. Not only would it be hugely hypocritical since she was living with my best friend, but she also loved Caroline. Unless my mom knew something I didn’t, I couldn’t imagine a world in which she didn’t approve.
Other than me, and now Theo, Caroline was her favorite person in the world. We had that in common.
I had to strain to hear, so I positioned myself even closer yet still out of sight.
“Hey—what are you wearing?”
“Just a T-shirt, Nat. What’s up?” Caroline said quickly.
“I came by to—” my mom began but whipped her head in my direction. I was already hidden, but I scooted even farther back. “Oh, shit,” she whispered loud enough that I could still hear. “I’m interrupting, aren’t I?”
“A little.”
“Okay, just text me later,” my mom said, and there was a lengthy pause before I heard her receding footsteps. I chanced another look around the door and saw Caroline disappear into the en tryway. When the door closed, I allowed myself to breathe normally again.
I stepped out of my hiding place and smiled at Caroline’s irritation. Her dark-blonde brows were drawn together, and her hands were balled into fists at her sides. She brushed right past me.
“Oh, come on, don’t you think?—”
She shushed me and walked into her bathroom then into her closet. I followed her and watched her open the blinds of a small window that looked out to the front of the house. Peeking over her shoulder, I watched my mom step onto the porch of my childhood home.
Caroline immediately relaxed and leaned back into me when she disappeared inside. Shocked by the display, I didn’t let that impede me from wrapping my arms around her waist and nuzzling into her neck. She smelled delectable, as always, but wearing my shirt, she also smelled like me and a wave of possessiveness I hadn’t foreseen came over me.
“That was really freaking close,” she muttered.
“Too close.”
She was silent, and I worried that she was getting lost in those spiraling thoughts again. So, I did what I could to combat them, brushing her hair over the opposite shoulder and kissing down her neck. Her shoulders started to shake, and I reared back. My first thought was “ oh, fuck, ” and my second thought was that I couldn’t imagine Caroline crying. Of course everyone cried, but it felt contrary to what I knew of Caroline for her to display that kind of emotion.
I gripped her hips in my hands and spun her around. She lifted her hand to her mouth, and I quickly realized she was laughing not crying. Her eyes were scrunched adorably, and she was trying to contain her laughter, but eventually it burst free. The sound bounced off the walls in the small room, and I couldn’t help but join in—it was contagious.
By the time I was able to stop laughing, my abs hurt as did my che eks. I straightened and wiped the few laughter-induced tears gathering beneath her eyes.
“I have no idea where that came from,” she said, resting her hands on my chest.
I brushed my thumbs over her cheeks and took a deep breath, still trying to catch my breath. “Lots of emotions bubbling to the surface,” I guessed. Caroline’s smile slipped just enough that I knew she agreed.
But I didn’t give her a chance to dwell on it. I leaned forward and slanted my mouth over hers. Sweet, willing lips met mine, and somehow, I managed to keep the kiss chaste even though all I wanted to do was scoop her in my arms and fuck her into her bed.
She licked her lips and stepped back. “Umm…well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
Neither of us had eaten enough during the tasting for it to be considered a full meal, and I had missed breakfast. Being edged within an inch of my life also worked up an appetite. “Yeah, I’m starving,” I said. “Are you cooking for me?”
“Ehh,” she muttered and walked past me, grabbing a pair of shorts from a shelf but not bothering to switch out my T-shirt she still wore. I smiled and followed behind her, shirtless and happy.
She strode down the hallway and beelined for the kitchen. Flipping on the lights, she didn’t stop until she opened the fridge. Across the kitchen, I leaned my forearms on the marble bartop and watched her.
“Is this your usual MO? Invite someone over, make them crawl across your bedroom floor, tie them to your bed, edge the ever-loving shit out of them, and cook them a big hearty meal afterward?”
She turned with a few ingredients in her hands and kicked the fridge closed with her foot. “Actually,” she said, setting everything on the counter and heading toward the pantry. “I usually kick them out.”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline which she noted when she walked out of the pantry with another few ingredients. “So, I should consider myself lucky then?”
She shrugged. “Yes, but anybody I let in my bed should consider themselves lucky.” Arranging the food in front of her, she shot me a smirk that made blood surge below my waist.
“No fucking doubt, pretty girl.”
“And,” she continued quickly, “for the record, I’ve never made someone crawl to me before.”
I covered my heart with my hand and feigned like I was touched. Although I did enjoy the idea that she’d done something with me that she’d never done with anyone else. What the hell, I felt special.
“I feel so special, ba—babe?” I caught myself before I called her “baby,” but the word came out more like a question.
She rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her lips. She opened her mouth to say something more but stopped. Reaching forward, she grabbed her phone and looked down at the screen.
“I—uhh—I have to take this. Do you want to start washing the veggies?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” I said, taking her place in front of the counter as she jogged outside.
“Hi, this is Caroline,” I heard her say before she shut the sliding glass doors. While I prepped the veggies, washing them and organizing them as I was told, Caroline paced back and forth across the patio.
I tried not to watch her, but I couldn’t help it. The longer the conversation went on the more I could see her excitement fade. Minutes later, she hung up the phone and squeezed it between her hands as she tilted her head up toward the sky.
When she pulled open the glass door and came back inside, I braced myself. But she didn’t say anything. She hardly looked at me as she slid her phone across the counter and surveyed the work I’d done.
“Thanks,” she said quietly .
My heart hurt seeing her dejected, and I wanted to yell at the person on the other end of the phone.
She pulled out a knife and a cutting board from the cabinet next to the fridge. “Want to talk about it?” I asked.
Her knee jerk reaction was to shake her head, which she did, so I changed the subject. She gave me instructions on how to help, and I chopped vegetables as she started the chicken on the stove top. We cooked in amiable silence for a while, but when I placed the cutting board full of vegetables next to her, she sighed.
“That was the owner of one of the largest companies in the city,” she said, flipping the chicken. “He called to tell me that they would be going with someone else to plan their huge fiftieth anniversary party. When I asked why, he said that I was too young and didn’t have as much experience as the other event coordinator.”
The desire to yell at the dickhead reemerged. Caroline was capable in all things, but she was especially talented at her job. I’d witnessed it firsthand how detail-oriented, efficient, and thoughtful she was. It was a killer trifecta, and that dumbass didn’t know what he was missing.
“What an absolute asshole. Does he need a firsthand account of your insane skills and talent? I’d be happy to call him back and let him know all my thoughts. But I’m not sure you want to work with such a lovely person anyway.”
She glanced over at me, and I caught the beginnings of a smile. But it didn’t stick around long. She turned back to the chicken and arranged the veggies in the pan around it.
“You’re right, but it’s not the first time it’s happened, and I know it won’t be the last either. It just sucks because I started my own business and worked my ass off to get where I am, yet it won’t ever be enough for some people.”
Reaching up, I squeezed the back of her neck and slid my hand down her back. “People suck. You’re incredible, and I know i t doesn’t mean much, but I’m proud of you. You’re more than enough.”
Her hand holding the tongs froze, and she slowly looked up at me. Deep blue-gray eyes bounced between mine, and the emotion that settled behind them disappeared with a few blinks. Every time she reinforced the barrier between us, my stomach sank a little more.
But lucky for us both, I wasn’t easily deterred. And I knew exactly how to find that levity again.
I walked into the bedroom and found my phone on the bedside table. As I headed back down the hallway, I connected to the speakers positioned around the living room and kitchen and cued up the song.
I pressed play and the first notes of one of Caroline’s favorite songs reverberated through the speakers. Well, I wasn’t sure it was one of her favorites, but I knew it would make her feel better and lift her spirits if nothing else.
Dropping my phone, I smiled and started swaying to the music as Caroline slowly turned around. She braced her palms on the counter behind her and watched me with a raised brow. When I started lip-syncing and grabbed a wooden spoon to use as my makeshift microphone, I caught my first glimpse of a smile.
So, I ramped it up a little bit. I slid out from behind the counter with my free arm in the air and really started to sell it. Dancing and lip-syncing my way over to her, that smile grew. When I woke up that morning, I never imagined my day would lead to me lip-syncing Fergie shirtless in the middle of Caroline’s kitchen, but life was funny like that.
She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her lips to try to hide that smile I was working so hard for. “I can’t believe you even know this song.” She had to almost yell to be heard over the music, but that was the only way to listen—at a volume that could possibly produce hearing loss .
I stopped and straightened. “Umm…this is a classic. Who doesn’t know this song?”
“Okay, well, how do you know that I like it?”
“You and my mom have listened to it more than once. Mostly when you’re both wine drunk, but that’s beside the point.”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed off the counter and took a step toward me, narrowing her eyes. “One last question: how old were you when this song came out?”
I chuckled and shook my head. Instead of answering, I grabbed another spoon and thrust it into her hands. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to,” I said. Because she was about seventeen at the time, since I was six, and that wasn’t something I wanted to call attention to. Twenty-three and almost thirty-four felt a lot less dramatic.
I didn’t give her a chance to respond. The music picked up, and I lifted the spoon to my mouth, pretending to scream sing into it. It took a little more coaxing, but Caroline couldn’t resist. She lifted her own spoon and started lip-syncing.
Eventually, the memory of her earlier phone call was miles away. The music and laughter were cathartic and brought a much-needed levity. And for a while, we were just us.