42. Be My Baby-Doggie Mama #2
“I wouldn’t mind dancing,” Adam says with a hopeful smile. “Maybe I’ll meet someone.” He frowns. “No, wait. Maybe I’m not ready.” His head wags and he brings his beer to his lips. “No, I’m not ready. I’ll stay at the booth.”
I squeeze his arm. “You’ll meet someone when you’re ready, and she’ll be perfect.”
“Yeah,” Garrett calls over his shoulder. “If Carter can find someone, it’ll be easy as pie for you, bud.” He hesitates. “Fuck. Now I want pie.”
“ You’re single !” Carter hollers.
“Yeah, by choice.”
Carter smacks Garrett’s hat off his head. “No, because you’re annoying!”
“ You’re annoying!” Garrett hooks his foot around Carter’s knee, and when he goes tumbling to the living room floor, Carter brings him with him.
“Children,” Emmett mutters as the two of them wrestle. “So embarrassing.”
Adam’s head bobs. “The irony is that I’m the youngest.”
“Definitely the most mature though,” Emmett replies, sipping his beer.
“Oh, definitely.”
I’d like to say this right here—the boys bickering, rolling around—isn’t typical, but it is.
The most embarrassing part is that I find it— ugh, I don’t even want to say it —endearing.
Don’t ask me why; I have no idea. All I know is that this group of men loves each other so much, and watching them be total goofballs is such a stark contrast to the intimidating way they carry themselves on the ice.
“Your boyfriend’s a jerk,” Garrett mumbles when I take a seat beside him on the couch. He’s trying to fix his hair but it’s no use, so he stuffs his hat back on his head. “You should run while you still can.”
Jennie sinks down between us, slinging one leg over the other, and Garrett’s turquoise eyes widen, staring at the strappy black heel bouncing next to his knee.
“Hey. Hi.” He drags his palms down his thighs. “Do you have enough…do you want some more…Let me give you some space.” He rockets to his feet, knocking his hat off his head when he shoves his fingers through his hair. “Anybody want another beer?”
I snicker-snort, nudging Jennie. “Garrett might be scared of you.”
“As he should be. I could kick his ass from here all the way back to the east coast if he so much as looked at me wrong.”
I don’t at all doubt it. Jennie and I have been taking horseback riding lessons together since mid-March, courtesy of her blackmailing her brother.
Not only have I learned she’s almost entirely a female replica of Carter—confident and lacking a filter—she’s fierce as hell too.
I get to ride a horse every Wednesday after work, but more importantly, I’ve found an incredible friend in Jennie.
We’ve still got an hour to go before our ride comes, so the boys lose themselves in a game of beer pong, one I’m not allowed to play because Carter says I cheat, but he’s just a sore loser.
When he takes a ping-pong ball off the head for the third time, I know something’s up.
He climbs the stairs, muttering something about checking the plumbing of all things, and I give him two minutes before I follow, locating him on the balcony, leaning over the railing.
He’s been off all afternoon since we got back from Hank’s, and I think I know why.
Leaning beside him, I nudge his shoulder with mine. “Hey, you.”
He kisses my forehead. “Hey, princess.”
I follow his gaze, looking out at the sea of evergreens, the caps of the mountains that seem nearly blue from here. Carter’s not really looking though. I can tell by the way his gaze never wavers, the small crease between his brows.
I slip my hand over his. “You’re worried about Hank.”
His shoulders drop with his sigh. “He’s getting older. He doesn’t get around on his own the way he used to. And that bruise…What if he hadn’t been able to get up? And why didn’t he call any of us? He’s so stubborn sometimes.”
“He likes his independence, Carter. He’s fought for it.”
He sighs again, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I worry one day he’ll need me and won’t be able to reach the phone. Maybe I should hire a nurse to come in and help him with things a few times a week. Is that a good idea?”
“It’s a great idea, but it’s a conversation you need to have with Hank.”
“He does whatever he wants. He’s stubborn.”
“Mhmm. Like someone else I know.”
Carter chuckles. “Will you talk to him with me? He listens to you more than me.”
“Of course I will.” I brush a wave off his forehead. “Are you ready to go back downstairs?”
“Can we stay here a few more minutes? I like when it’s just me and you.”
When I nod, he pulls me into him, my back against his chest as he hugs me to him, his chin on my shoulder. The late-April air is warm, especially after the winter from hell we had, but it’s nothing compared to the heat of him when he holds me.
“I’m going to miss you.”
“I know, pumpkin. Me too. But the nice part about play-offs is it’s never more than two nights away from home.”
“I think I was getting used to it, the partial loneliness.” I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth.
I don’t want him to think I’m lonely or unhappy; nothing could be further from the truth.
I’ve learned to treasure what little time we have together, the nights I get to fall asleep in his arms, and we’ve made the most out of those fleeting moments.
But they swept Arizona in four games, which means the boys have been here in Vancouver for a few extra days before their next round.
“Sleeping with you so many nights in a row has spoiled me, that’s all. ”
Soft lips touch my cheek. “I hate leaving you, Ollie. I’ve never been so eager for the off-season. No hockey, no school, just me and you. You’re gonna be so sick of me come September.”
I snuggle deeper into his hold. “Impossible.”
Carter’s breath dusts over my neck, each inhale more staggered than the last as his fingers methodically brush my arm. He’s anxious, but since we’ve talked about Hank, I’m not sure why.
“When are you going to move in with me?” The request is a gentle, timid whisper against my shoulder, making my entire body tingle and warm, right down to my toes.
I twist in his hold, the golden glow of the spring sun shining on his unexpectedly bashful expression. “Move in with you?”
Carter nods, pulling me down to the lounger with him when he sits. He runs an anxious hand through his messy mop of hair before twining his fingers with mine.
“I love you,” he starts with the phrase he loves to repeat at least a hundred times a day.
“I love you so much, and I know it’s soon, but fuck, Ollie, I just really love you.
When I’m gone, all I can think about is cuddling you on the couch, or falling asleep with you in my arms, or you walking around the house in the morning wearing nothing but my T-shirt with your sleepy smile, your curls trying to escape from your messy bun.
When I get off the plane, you’re the first person I want to see.
And when I’m home…I want you to be home too. I want us to be home together.”
How did I find this man? How did I get so irrefutably lucky? Carter’s the best thing in my life with the way he stormed in, tore down walls I didn’t know I had, lit my whole world up like a burst of sunshine. And I can’t imagine anything better than being home together.
“What if I want you to move in with me?” I don’t. My tiny house feels like it’s bursting when Carter’s inside. His legs dangle off my bed and my kitchen only has the capacity to hold enough food to last the man two days, at most. More than that, it doesn’t quite feel like my home anymore.
But I like to tease him, and when he’s nervous like this, a little humor goes a long way in diffusing his tension.
His lids fall shut with the exhale he forces through his nose. Emerald eyes dance with amusement when they meet mine. “But where will I park my five cars?”
I roll my eyes and shove his shoulder, but he keeps going.
“We won’t be able to fit our doggie on the bed, and we’ll have no room for all the babies I’m going to put inside you, ultimately destroying your vagina beyond repair. But worst of all…” He drags his mouth across mine, voice low, thick. “No fireplaces.”
I can’t help but look at this man of mine, who I’m so devastatingly in love with, and the picture he paints of the life we’ll lead together. And I know without a doubt, despite the small handfuls of months we’ve been together, it’s what I want.
Carter brushes a fallen strand from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “I don’t want you to watch my dog while I go away. I want to get a dog with you . I want you to be my baby-doggie mama.”
“Baby-doggie mama?”
“Yeah. And eventually real-baby mama.” His searing gaze holds mine as he cups my face. “I love you, Ollie, and what I want more than anything is to make a home with you. Say yes.”
“Say yes? Is that a demand?”
“Yes.” It’s more snarl than word.
I bite back my smile. “Okay.”
“Okay?” His grip on my face tightens, eyes bouncing between mine. “Is that a yes?”
“I didn’t think I had a choice where demands were concerned.”
Carter’s grin is detonating as he shoves me to my back and crawls overtop of me like an animal on the hunt who’s caught the scent.
I push his unruly waves off his forehead, threading my fingers through his silky locks. “There’s nothing I’d love more than building a life with you here. So, yes. A thousand times yes. I’ll move in with you.”
Carter buries his tongue in my mouth, but before I have time to enjoy it, he yanks me off the couch and dashes down the stairs with me in his arms.
“ She said yes !”
The volume in the room promptly dies, and I drop my face to my hand as every surprised gaze lifts to us.
“You’re getting married?” Garrett finally asks.
Carter’s face scrunches. “What? I mean, eventually, yeah, but…” He drops me to my feet, spreads his arms wide, and does a spin. “ Olivia’s moving in !”