53. Flippy-Floppies
OLIVIA
“Are you embarrassed?”
The bob of my head is barely perceptible, but it’s there. My gaze drifts over the room, noting the unrelenting stares, the hands clasped under chins or pressed over hearts. Finally, it lands back on the man kneeling before me. “So embarrassed.”
“I told you I’d embarrass you,” Carter reminds me. “Would you like me to stop?”
“Please don’t,” I whisper.
“You know, I originally wanted to do this at the Stanley Cup Finals. But Cara said you’d be mortified, in front of twenty-thousand people and another seven-million viewers on TV.
I wouldn’t have minded, all those people seeing.
But I only wanted to embarrass you a little, not mortify you.
Cara suggested this might be a better option. ”
“I appreciate the consideration. I’d like to live to see the day, not die of embarrassment.”
Carter chuckles, rising to his feet. Stepping into me, he cups my cheek. “I know we’ve had our struggles. This relationship didn’t start as smoothly as I imagine most do. We’ve had to learn a lot along the way, but I personally think we fucking nailed it.”
He pauses to smile as I giggle.
“Until you, there was only hockey. I didn’t think it was possible to want anything more, to love someone…” He trails off, closing his eyes, and when they open again, his stare is unwavering, blatant need and desire running rampant, making those green eyes shine like the emeralds they are.
“The way I love you is inexplicable. It’s so much more than just wanting to be with you but needing to more than anything. I need you, because without you, something will always be missing in this life, just out of reach. Because you make everything better, and everything makes sense.
“You’re all the best parts, the cozy snuggles, the quiet conversations while we’re lying in bed, the sleepy mornings.
The way my whole body comes alive when I see you for the first time after coming home, the way your face lights up and you jump into my arms and hold me like you need me as much as I need you. ”
“I do need you,” I tell him quietly, stroking down the side of his face. “Everything fell into place the moment I gave in to what my heart was telling me I needed. I love you, Carter, even if I was afraid to in the beginning.”
“Before, nothing scared me more than the idea that I might fall in love,” Carter admits with a quiet chuckle.
“But nothing has ever scared me more than the thought that I might lose you. I know you like to say that I’m ostentatious, that I like to flaunt what I have, that I do everything with flair.
And you’re right. Because why the hell wouldn’t I?
I’m proud of every damn thing I have, and at the forefront of things I’m smug as hell about having earned is you and your love. ”
He looks down, turning the small box in his hand, and then meets my gaze, eyes sure and steady as they peer into mine. He drops back to his knee, gently prying the top off the box in his hands. “Are you still embarrassed about all the people?”
“What people?”
“That’s my girl,” he chuckles, slipping my left hand into his. “I fucking love you. So fucking much it’s terrifying.”
My hand shakes in his, and he squeezes, stilling the tremble.
“All I’m doing when I’m away from you is counting down the minutes until we can be together again.
There is no other option for me than a life with you.
I know it’s soon, but I don’t need time to tell me what I already know, that a forever with you can’t come soon enough.
Be my forever. Officially, because forever is all you’ve ever been to me. So…marry me, Ollie girl. Say yes.”
I don’t know what comes over me, but my face shatters with a grin. “Are you asking? It sounds more like you’re—”
“Demanding? That’s because I am. I refuse to be without you.
Absolutely refuse, because that’s the last place either of us belongs.
You’re mine. My best friend and my lover, my only version of forever, and I don’t intend on ever letting you go.
My only intention is to legally bind you to me for the rest of our lives. ”
“So romantic.” Dropping to my knees, I wrap my arms around his neck as he winds one arm around my waist. I’m well aware that the crowd is buzzing. This conversation has been going on for quite some time now, but I don’t care. “Are you sure you want to be tethered to me forever?”
There’s that grin I love, lopsided and arrogant, a man who’s never been surer of himself. “For-fucking-ever, Ol. Lock me up and throw away the key. I’m yours, baby. Always have been, always will be. And I’ll romance the shit outta you when we get home.”
My nose wrinkles, trying to quell the tears that keep rolling as I study his face, the fire in his eyes that never dims, the hope, the promise. “I love you so much, Carter.”
“Then why am I still waiting for an answer here?”
“Hmm.” I pull him closer, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I thought demands didn’t require answers?” My chest stretches at the heartbreakingly beautiful smile that decorates his handsome face. “I love you, Carter. There’s nothing I want more in this life than to spend it with you.”
His throat bobs with a hard swallow, mossy eyes dancing in the golden glow of the ballroom. I watch as they gloss over, and when he blinks, a single tear rolls down his right cheek.
“Why are you crying?” I ask quietly, catching the tear with my lips.
He doesn’t answer. Not me, anyway.
“ She said yes !” Carter scoops me up around the middle, clutching me to his chest as he springs to his feet and spins me around. “She’s gonna be my wife!”
He sets me back on the ground, slips the most stunning diamond on my finger, tips me backward, and claims my mouth with a kiss that’s nothing but possessive and wild, frantic, filled with all the love we’ve been missing this past week.
And I know without a doubt in the world that we’ll never have to go without again.
* * *
Carter wasn’t joking about not taking no for an answer. The limo was waiting out front of the hotel, my luggage stowed inside. The second Cara and Emmett took off, we followed.
Carter all but threw me in the backseat, repeating how much he wants to go home. And, well…home sounds pretty good to me.
He’s looking awful cute and shy as he punches in the new code to the front door: 1215 .
“December fifteenth,” he says, pink creeping up to the tips of his ears under the porch light. “The day we met.”
I take two steps inside and stop, mouth falling open as I look around.
My heels drop from my hand, clattering to the ground.
I trail my fingers over the frames littering the hallway wall, filled with photos of us and all the amazing people in our life.
I turn back to this incredible man, catching him staring at the word scrawled in wood hanging overtop of the photos: family .
“When did you do this?”
“Friday.” He takes my hand, tugging me toward the stairs. “Come on. There’s more.”
He brings me to the first spare room, revealing a small office with a desk and a leather chair, a loveseat and a floor lamp with one of those pod coffeemakers and a canister full of tea bags and decaf coffee pods. My workbag leans up against the legs of the table, and my laptop sits on top.
Carter rubs at the back of his neck. “You’re always sitting on the floor around the coffee table, planning and marking. I thought maybe you’d like—”
I cut him off with my lips on his. “I absolutely love it. I’m not going to ask how you got my things, but I’ll assume Cara was involved.”
His chest puffs with pride. “I was in your room as soon as you two left for Whistler.”
That explains literally everything. Cara was waiting for me when I finished work on Thursday.
The car was already packed, and off to Whistler we went so we could be up at the butt crack of dawn on Friday for a spa day.
No complaints here, though. The bags under my eyes were puffy as hell, as Cara so kindly reminded me several times via prodding fingertips.
Carter leads me down the hall to the bedroom, his hand tightening around mine as he opens the door. It’s always been a beautiful room, but now…
By the fireplace I love to curl up beside and read on cool nights are three large pillows, a basket with blankets, and a side table with a stack of my books.
A dresser that matches Carter’s, though this one is shorter and wider with a large antique mirror on top, rests against a wall that was previously empty, and inside is my clothes.
Carter gestures to a beautiful glass vase filled with sunflowers, pink roses, and orange daisies. “The florist called it ‘Hello Sunshine.’” He scratches at his temple, eyes bouncing between the flowers, me, and the floor.
“You’re not playing shy right now, are you? Not Carter Beckett. Not possible.”
He grins down at me as his arms pull me in. “I wanted you to feel like you were home.”
“I’ve always felt like I’m home with you, Carter. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we have.”
“I want to give you everything.” The words are quiet and sincere as his hands trail up my back, fluttering over my zipper. “Absolutely everything.”
“You’re all I’ve ever needed, I promise you.”
His breath catches in his throat as I push him gently against the wall, my fingers working the buttons of his shirt while my tongue finds his.
I run my hands over his torso, feeling the way the muscles flex beneath my touch, and I sweep over his shoulders, down his arms, until his shirt falls to the floor.