30. CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY
M ICAH
Carly’s in a great mood when we head back to the hotel. I guess her talk with Tate must have been good, because she laughs at all my jokes in the car, even the really stupid ones. And the minute we get into my hotel room and I close the door behind her, she’s on me, her lips capturing mine with the fury of pent-up hunger.
Passion erupts throughout my body, sinking my goodwill. My hand grips her waist, and I have to fight every instinct so I can push her away.
‘“Wait, Carly.” I tear my lips away and her mouth attacks my neck. She nips a sensitive spot and for a second, I forget how to think and breathe and speak. Her teeth score the edge of my skin, biting down slightly before suckling hard enough to leave a hickey.
“Oh, baby.” God, she’s so hungry for it and it’s making me lose it.
My cock is already at attention, my hips unconsciously seeking the juncture of her thighs. And then her tongue traces down a very sensitive line in my neck and I purr.
I fucking purr for her.
I need to get a hold of myself.
“We need to talk.” Somehow the words end up gasping out of my mouth, even though I have no recollection of saying them.
“About what?” Her voice is as hurried as her movement, her fingers shoving underneath my shirt, her palms smoothing over my heated skin.
“Stuff,” I tell her hoarsely, not knowing what I’m talking about or how I even managed to get those words out. “We need to talk about stuff.”
If you ask me exactly what that stuff is right about now, I have not the slightest idea.
Her kisses make my mind flail, her naughty tongue making a weakling out of me. As she licks my pulse, my knees shake. All the blood rushes from my head down south.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I want her pussy in my mouth. I can smell it from here, her desire. I can feel the desperation in her shaky hands as she attempts to tear off my clothes. I want to give her the heat she so desperately seeks, to stoke the fire inside her.
I want to fuck her till we both can’t move.
But there’s a reason I can’t do it. I don’t know the reason yet, but I know there is one pushed to the back of my mind by a wave of impossible lust.
But fuck it, I need her right now.
More importantly, she needs me.
I pick her up in my arms, seeking to carry her to the closest surface. I don’t have the presence of mind to find a bed right now, but as I walk, my ankle hits a side table, and Carly whispers, “Sorry.”
That’s not enough to stop me though. I keep moving, bumping into things, eyes slightly unseeing due to the sheer force of the desire pumping in my veins. But it’s not until I nearly face-plant into a flower vase, that I finally stop and take a breath.
I pause, tense up my whole body, and bury my face in her hair.
Breathe, Micah. Think. Fuck. You’re not a fucking randy little teenager led around by your dick. Take a second and think about what you’re doing.
So I stand there, in the middle of the God-knows-where, and do breathing exercises like a fucking newb. In. Out. In. Out.
When I come back to myself, it’s to find Carly with her shoulders shaking, her face buried in my chest.
It takes me a second to realize what she’s doing.
“Are you laughing at me right now?”
“No,” she says even though her voice is watery and she snorts too. And when she pulls back actual tears of mirth are rolling down her cheeks. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at… the situation.”
“The situation.”
“Yeah. It’s funny, isn’t it?”
I shake my head but crack a smile. It may not be funny right now, but from the outside looking in, it is kind of a funny situation.
She chuckles a little more wiping the tears out of her eyes, and then she wraps her arms around my neck. “Okay. So are we good now?”
She trails her finger down my chest and gives me a come-hither look. I shut my eyes trying to block out the images she sends storming through my brain.
“Actually, we need to talk about something first.”
“What is it?” she asks.
“Carly I… shit, I’m not good at this.” I take a deep breath. “I’ve just… I guess I’ve just recently realized that I care about you. A crap ton. And I wanted to let you know that before we have sex. This isn’t... what we have isn’t just regular sex to me. I’m not really sure what it is, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before. I care about you, Carly. I really do. I’m a selfish man by nature so that might rear its ugly head here and there. And this whole might fall apart at any point, because who the fuck even knows what we’re doing? But whatever happens, just remember that I do care about you. Okay?” That’s what I want to tell her. I wanted to tell her that before we have sex again, so she wouldn’t think I was doing the same thing as all those other men, those idiots who used and tossed her aside.
Idiots like I used to be.
She doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me for a long time with a fathomless look in her eyes that I can’t decipher. Annoyance? Sadness? Pain? Humor? I don’t know.
But then she gives me an even more mysterious sad little smile and then cups my face pulling my lips back to hers. This time I don’t stop her. I can’t even if I wanted to.
We take it slowly this time. I break off the kiss so I can safely navigate us to a bed. And then I lay her down like the princess she is. I take her lips again, teasing her tongue into a gentle unhurried dance. And then I pull back and kiss her closed eyelid, the tip of her nose, and her lips.
I care about you, Carly. I try to instill that thought into every touch and every embrace. I really, really do.
What happens next isn’t the wild and furious sex we usually have. It’s the exact type of sex that I would see in movies and roll my eyes at because it was just so unrealistically sappy. I would even call it boring.
But nothing is boring about what’s going on here. The two of us are filled with so many emotions, and we try to communicate them with tender touches, and kisses, and sucking, and loving.
Our bodies express everything our mouths can’t do properly. We don’t stop when we orgasm. We don’t even know when the waves rise and fall. All we know is finding pleasure in each other and a mutually assured connection.
A connection is all I can call it now because I don’t really know what I feel for her.
But the depth of it scares me.
Declan and I finally have our talk the next morning. It turns out that he’s about to make me a job offer.
“My father wants me to restore a series of national buildings back in New York. I want to enlist you as our lead architect on the project. Or if you’re ready we can take on your entire firm.”
I widen my eyes when he tells me. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he says. “I wouldn’t tell you if I weren’t serious. Are you not interested?”
“No, I am. It’s just something of this scale… I mean you realize that I’m just getting the firm off the ground again, right? And you haven’t even seen my portfolio.”
“Well, I heard you talking about it the other day to Hal and you seemed to know your stuff. Besides, I know you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Is he going to give me the role just because he knows me? That doesn’t sound like Declan.
But it turns out that’s not what he meant at all.
“I know you’re too arrogant to do something you’re not good at and put this much effort into it. It’s why you destroy all the businesses that you only had middling success in and those you have no interest in too, just for shits and giggles. Because deep inside, you hate being mediocre at anything. For you to put all your effort into reviving an architecture firm despite the obstacles in your way indicates not only passion but talent.” He cocks his head. “Or am I wrong?”
I nearly fall over. I’m surprised that Declan managed to read me so well. Especially since he still doesn’t think we’re friends.
“No,” I tell him. “No, you’re not wrong. But Declan I had no idea you were paying such close attention to me. You do care after all.”
“The nature of the job means you’ll have to do the planning with me in person.” He completely ignores my words, moving straight back into business. “Which means you’ll need to be in Laketown because I don’t plan on leaving my pregnant wife and daughter alone.
“I don’t mind staying here for a few more months,” I answer quickly, too quickly because Declan gives me a knowing look.
“What?” I say defensively. “It’s not forever. Just a few months.”
“Right,” he snorts. “Be careful. That’s what I say too. But Laketown has a way of sinking its teeth into you and making itself your forever home.