36. Like Olivia, But Tall & Minus The Boobs #2
“Perfect.” Because I’m slightly terrified to be alone with a child. I don’t know if I can be trusted with a little person’s life.
I help Olivia into the front seat, leaning over her to click her seat belt in place, which is unnecessary because she’s an adult and all. It’s an excuse to get close enough to smell her. And she smells delicious, like fresh-baked banana bread, same as always.
“I wanna eat you up,” I murmur in her ear. “We’ll pick up your bag after lunch, hot stuff.”
“Hot stuff.” Alannah giggles from the backseat. “Auntie Ollie, I’m dude and you’re hot stuff . Carter’s so funny.”
Forty-five minutes later, I’m six pieces deep in one of the three pizzas at our table, I’ve lost count of how many wings I’ve eaten, and I’m highly impressed at the way Alannah tries her damnedest to match me bite for bite.
“Holy cow.” She licks her fingers before placing both hands on her stomach. “You can really eat.”
I look at the pile of chicken wing bones in front of her. “So can you.”
“Yeah, but I just finished a killer hockey game, worked my butt off, and scored two goals. What’s your excuse?”
“My excuse is I just watched Auntie Ollie coach hockey and now I need to devour something.”
Olivia’s boney little elbow gets right up in my ribs, making me keel over with a grunt. Kristin snickers from across the table and Jeremy drags two hands down his face.
Alannah scrunches her nose up. “Huh? I don’t get it.”
“I’m a big boy who needs all the food he can get.”
“Yeah, you’re huge! Auntie Ollie’s a little baby pip-squeak compared to you!” She gives Olivia a pitying smile. “No offense. You have to be careful you don’t crush her when you hug her, Carter.”
Yes, when I hug her…
“Can you hold him?” Kristin asks Jeremy, passing baby Jem off as she stands. “I need to use the bathroom.”
“Sure,” he replies, but the second that baby is in his grasp, he stands, leans over the table, and plops him into my unsuspecting arms.
It’s a fucking miracle I don’t shriek.
I mean, a baby? I don’t know what the hell to do with a baby.
I hold the little chunker at arm’s length. He’s still gnawing on that damn hockey skate, drool dripping down his chubby arm. He blinks up at me with these huge blue eyes, gurgles, and giggles.
“Oh shit,” I whisper, chuckling. “You’re kinda cute, little buddy.”
Olivia’s elbow hits the table, cheek resting in her palm as she shoots me her wide, dopey grin, so beautiful.
“Do we look cute?” I ask, snuggling Jem into my side. He presses his wet mouth to my cheek in something like a super-sloppy raspberry.
“So cute.” It’s more sigh than words as her chest deflates.
“Oh. My. God .” It’s Kristin, back from the bathroom. Well, not fully back. She’s two tables away, feet glued to the floor while she flaps at the air. She dashes over and whips her phone out of her purse. “Can I take a picture?”
I nod as Alannah shoots up from her seat and rushes around the table, screaming about how she needs to be in the picture. When she joins us, she wraps her arms around me and Jem, gluing her cheek to mine.
Kristin takes about a hundred pictures before she waves Olivia in, and then Jeremy, who comes begrudgingly, but not really.
Then she asks the waiter to take a picture of us all, except she calls us her family and I’m part of it.
Olivia blushes and I kiss her warm cheek before smiling once more at the camera.
Because fuck yeah, this girl is my family.
“We should have a sleepover,” Alannah says as we head out to the parking lot.
“One day, maybe. Like, if you wanted to. I know how to make pancakes.” She beams up at me as her dad takes her booster seat out of the back.
“We can crush up Oreos in the batter. Auntie Ollie says they’re your favorite cookie, and they’re mine too. ”
“Deal. You make Oreo pancakes and I’ll make Oreo brownies. We’ll have an Oreo-themed slumber party.”
Her face shines like a freaking lighthouse. “Really?”
“Really-really. I’ll check my schedule and we’ll pick a day.”
“You’re the best,” she tells me, amping up my ego as she crushes me in a squeezing hug.
“Seriously, you’re a saint,” Olivia says to me two minutes later when we’re packed into the car, finally alone for the first time in way too long. “You were amazing with her. And don’t worry about the slumber party. I’ll get you out of that.”
“What? Fuck no! Oreo-themed slumber party? That’s like my dream come true, right after you.”
“You want to babysit my niece?”
“Fuck yeah. She’s fun as hell. We’ll take Jem too.” Lacing my fingers through hers, I bring her hand to my lips, sweeping a kiss across her knuckles. “I loved today. I’m glad I got to meet your family.”
“Me too. Thank you, Carter.”
“But I can’t wait to be alone with you.”
“Mmm.” She snuggles up to my arm. “Big plans?”
“ Huge plans. And by huge, I mean my dick.”
“Trust me, I knew exactly what you meant.”
“Destroying your little baby pip-squeak body,” I add, using Alannah’s words from earlier.
And that’s exactly what I start doing the second we walk through the door, throwing Olivia over my shoulder and carting her up the stairs.
“I’m gonna lick every damn inch of this flawless body,” I whisper against her lips as I start working on her jeans. My mouth closes over her hip bone, enjoying the way her fingers sink into my hair, scratching at my scalp as I leave my mark on her.
Pushing her backward until her ass hits the bed, I fall to my knees. With her foot in my hand, I start nibbling on her ankle, working my way up the inside of her leg nice and slow, driving her crazy, until she’s wrapping her legs around my head and begging me to lick her.
“Greedy girl.” I kiss the wet spot in the center of her panties. “Look; you’re already wet.”
“Carter.” It’s a warning, a demand. “Take them off and get to work.”
I laugh against the apex of her thigh. “I love getting you worked up, bossy girl.”
Hooking my thumbs in the waistband of the pale blue satin, I start inching them down her legs. I don’t pause when my phone starts ringing on the bedside table, because I’ve been craving this fix for six fucking days and I’m gonna get it.
“ Carter .” Olivia’s moan is a breathy combination of desire and irritation, because that phone won’t fucking stop, and she starts reaching for it.
“Leave it.”
“But what if—”
“ Leave it ,” I growl, ripping her panties off.
Her head falls back with a gasp when the tip of my tongue flicks out over that taut, pink bud. “Ohhh, yes.”
And my phone rings again.
“For fuck’s sake.” Tearing myself away from the only place I want to be, I grab my phone, not bothering to check the name first. “ What ?”
“Carter? I…I’m sorry.”
I sink to the floor, running a hand through my hair at the broken, shaky voice on the other end. “Adam? What’s wrong, buddy?”
“I just…I just got home.” Adam sniffles and my heart races.
“And?”
“And I…Courtney was…she was…” His voice cracks as he whispers out a barely audible fuck .
“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know who to call.
I don’t know what to do. I don’t think I can drive, but I can’t stay here.
I need to get the hell out.” Each word comes out faster than the last until it sounds like he’s on the verge of a panic attack.
“Okay, man, take a breath.” I wait until I hear that staggered inhale. “Tell me what happened.”
“I caught Courtney in bed with someone else.”