21. Holy Fuckballs #2
He nods, tucking his phone in my hands. “Address, please. So I can pick you up tomorrow for our date.”
“I—”
“Now, Olivia.”
I scramble to enter my address under the weight of his stare, and when I’m done, he sweeps me into the noisy hallway.
Tipping my face up, he presses a tender kiss to the corner of my mouth. “You’re absolutely fucking stunning, Miss Parker.”
Cara launches herself through a hoard of people as I watch Carter disappear.
She grips my shoulders and gives me a shake, making my head bobble.
“What the hell just happened? You guys were in there for, like, ten minutes.” Her gaze travels down, noting my flushed cheeks, my rumpled dress.
“Oh my God. You had sex in the fucking bathroom! I knew it!”
Her head cranks as she yells into the crowd. “ Garrett ! You owe me, Em, and Adam a hundred bucks each!”
“Fuck that!” he screams back from the abyss. “There’s no way she gave it up that quickly!”
* * *
It’s been three hours and I’m wondering when Carter’s going to cash in on the dance he made me promise him last night.
There’s no shortage of hockey players who want to dance tonight, that’s for sure.
I’ve been spinning around the dance floor all night with very few breaks in between, but the man I really want to dance with seems perfectly content to watch me from afar.
I’m exhausted, a little dizzy, and tipsy enough that I can’t stop giggling. If he doesn’t ask me to dance soon, I’m going to be asleep in the coat check closet.
All he’s given me is lingering stares, smiles hidden behind the rim of his glass, grazing touches over the small of my back as he leans around me at the bar to order a new drink. I’m on edge, which is exactly where he wants me.
“Your feet must be killing you by now,” Adam says as we sway back and forth, my hand in his. “Have you taken a break?”
“You guys don’t seem to have that word in your vocabulary.”
He laughs. “Fair enough.”
“I can’t wait to get home, throw these heels in a closet, and climb into a bubble bath.”
“With a good book and a glass of wine?”
“Maybe sans wine.” I’m sure my flushed cheeks say it all. “I’ve had my fair share tonight.”
Adam twirls me out and pulls me back in. Humor shines in his eyes as they lock on a spot over my shoulder. “I love making that man jealous.”
He moves us in a slow circle, positioning me so that I can see Carter, who’s perched against a wall with a handful of his teammates.
His eyes bounce around me and Adam, the positioning of our hands—which is pretty damn innocent; the man has a girlfriend, though she’s not here—before coasting back to me.
A crooked grin blooms on his face, pulling in his deep dimples, and he sets his glass down, straightening off the wall.
Adam chuckles. “About damn time. He’s been trying to convince us all night he’s in control.
” His blue gaze dips to mine, his smile so full of kindness.
“I’m really happy you two are giving this a go.
He’s been hung up on you since day one, singing nonstop, grinning like an asshole.
He’s so damn excited to spend time with you tomorrow.
The rest of us are excited for him to stop whining. ”
“Don’t listen to Adam,” Carter’s low voice rumbles behind me. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“He texted us all literally the second you drove away last night, Ollie; trust me.”
“All right.” Carter steps between me and Adam. “Enough of that. My turn.”
“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to cash in on your dance,” I say as he hauls me against his chest, one hand on my back, the other holding mine.
“I wanted to be your last.”
“Mmm. Your friends are tattling on you.”
His forest green eyes gleam. “Maybe they’re full of shit.”
“Maybe.” I twine my fingers in the waves at the nape of his neck. “But I don’t think they are. I think you missed me, and I think you bragged about last night to your friends.”
The corner of his mouth quirks. “Some of my arrogance is rubbing off on you.”
“I bet you’d like to rub something else off on me.”
Carter guffaws, and it feels like my single greatest accomplishment ever. “So naughty, Miss Parker. It must be the heels. The added height gives you added confidence.” His mouth dips low, hovering above mine. “But you know what happens when you’ve been naughty, don’t you? You get punished.”
“Mmm. By who? You?”
“Only me. Do you want to be on your knees when you get punished, or over my lap?”
My heartbeat thrums, settling between my legs, and butterflies erupt in my stomach, swirling so violently I feel dizzy. I need to go home before I accidentally beg this man to fuck me on the bathroom sink. I have higher standards than that.
Or do I? No, I don’t think I do.
“What’s the matter, Olivia? You seem like you’re wavering.”
My lips press together as my head wags. “Nope. No. I’m just…” I pull away from him, shaking my hands out before I press one to my forehead. “Tired. Super tired. I think I need to go home.”
Popping up on my toes, I kiss his stunned cheek, wave for good measure, and jet toward the coat closet.
Once I’ve said my good-byes to the future bride and groom, I brave the cold.
There’s a fresh dusting of snow covering the sidewalks, kissing my toes, and my teeth clatter as I pull up the Uber app on my phone.
A lavish limo stops out front, idling by the curb, and when the driver opens the back door and gestures inside, my brows inch toward my hairline.
I point at myself, and he smiles, nodding.
I wave a flailing hand through the air. “Oh, no. You must have me confused with someone else. I’m about to order an—”
“Get in.” Carter tugs my phone from my hand, sweeping me toward the limo with his hand on my back.
“But I—”
“Get in the car, Olivia.” His leather-gloved thumb brushes my trembling lower lip. “Your toes are going to fall off, and I want to make sure you get home safe.”
“Yeah. Okay.” My head’s bobbing but my feet aren’t moving.
Carter gives me a gentle shove, his hands tight on my waist as he essentially lifts me off the ground and places me on the backseat. He slides in next to me, spreading his legs, and when he recites my address into a speaker, I resist the urge to snort.
“Are you checking to make sure I didn’t give you a fake address?”
“You wouldn’t do that. You like me too much.”
Rolling my eyes and crossing my arms, I stare straight ahead at the divider that hides us from the driver, pretending not to notice the way Carter lays his gloves in his lap and proceeds to fuck around on his phone.
But ten minutes in, he hasn’t paid me a damn bit of attention while I’m stuck in this steel box with him, and if I don’t get to be in control, neither does he.
“Are you seriously checking the sports updates right now?”
A sneaky smile tugs on his lips. “No.”
“You’re being an ass.”
“You don’t mean that.”
I sling one leg over the other. “You’re right. You don’t know how to look at or talk to me without losing control. I get it. This is easier for you.”
There it is.
He tucks his phone in his coat pocket and swivels my way. Electric green eyes drop to my lips, and as he moves toward me, my breath snags in my throat. “You saying I don’t know how to play the game, Parker?”
“Apparently not this one, Beckett.”
“Think you can play better than me?”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?”
His palm hits my collarbone, shoving me down to my back, and his hands slap to the leather seats, bracketing my head as he hovers above me. He drops his hips to mine, and the heat of his touch burns my skin as he skims his hand up my thigh, slipping it below my dress.
He trails slow, wet kisses up the columns of my throat, nipping the edge of my jaw, lingering at my ear. “Prove it.”
A raw ache unfurls between my legs as he pulls away, grazing his thumb over my silk panties, the throbbing nub below.
He sinks back in his seat, looking way too damn pleased with himself, smiling down at the motherfucking sports updates again.
The car rolls to a stop not ten seconds later, and before he can open his mouth, I jump out of the car, slamming the door behind me.
“Ollie,” he calls, chasing after me. I hate that it comes out a chuckle, and I hate even more when I slip on a patch of ice on my porch steps, sending me flying backward, right into his stupid, hard chest. “Did I win?” he asks, setting me down at my door.
“No,” I grumble, stepping inside my freezing house. I kick off my heels. “I haven’t kissed you.”
He’s doing a shit job at hiding that smug grin on his face. “We’re supposed to be taking this slow.”
“I know.”
“So no kissing.”
“Right.”
“Would it make you feel better if you won?”
“I don’t—”
Carter swallows my words with his mouth, his fingers plunging through my hair as my back hits the closet in the front hall.
His hand slides up my leg, beneath my dress, wrapping around my bare hip as I grind myself into him.
I don’t have it in me to care that the front door is open, and the poor limo driver is 100 percent getting a free show right now.
“Fuck slow,” he growls. “I can’t do slow. Not with you.”
God, I don’t want slow. I want to crack this whole thing wide open, the chemistry, the passion, the fire. I want to give him all of me and take all of him.
Carter pulls away, swiping his hand over his mouth, his breathing ragged and uneven as his gaze rakes over me. Something blooms there, something vulnerable and cautious. He clears his throat, gaze dropping. “I…I missed you while you were gone.”
With my hand on his cheek, I guide his gaze back to mine. “I missed you while I was gone too.”
There’s that megawatt grin, perfect teeth and deep dimples, and before he leaves, he dashes back down to the limo, jumps over the icy step, and returns a moment later with a small blue box that he presses into my hand.
He places a lingering kiss on my lips. “Sleep tight, Ollie girl.”
Once I’m makeup-free and warm and snug in my fuzzy socks and pajamas, I stand over the kitchen counter and lift the lid on the blue box. Inside is a cupcake, and the tiny flag that sticks out of the frosting tells me that it’s maple pecan, topped with maple buttercream frosting and bacon crumble.
There’s a small note taped under the lid:
I got you the most bacon-y one.
xo Carter