53. Flippy-Floppies #2
Carter flips me over, pressing my chest to the wall as he slowly draws my zipper down until I feel his hot breath dusting down my spine, kissing my skin.
Strong hands grip my waist, my hips, as my dress falls to the floor, taking my panties with it.
He lifts me, depositing me on the edge of the bed, and I pull at his belt buckle, guiding his pants and boxers over his thick thighs.
When he ditches them behind him, he falls to his knees at my feet.
Carter drops his face to the space between my legs, and I feel the cool dampness of his tears on the inside of my thigh. My heart breaks when his gaze lifts to meet mine.
“I was so afraid, Olivia. Terrified. Watching you walk away from me and not being strong enough to stop you in that moment, to be honest with you, to ask you to be patient with me so we could work through it together…I didn’t feel like I deserved you.
You deserved more than me, than what I gave you.
And I’m sorry I couldn’t be the person you deserved.
” His eyes fall, followed by his face, as if he still thinks himself unworthy, as if he doesn’t forgive himself for a situation that was beyond his control in the first place.
And that won’t do.
I stroke two fingers down his cheek, tipping his face up to mine. “I love you through the perfect moments, and there are so many, but I will always love you through the imperfect ones too.”
His eyes shine with appreciation, overflowing with love.
“I thought I lost you forever and I…I…” Fear steals his words, makes his stare seem so dark and far away as he shakes his head ever so slightly.
He blinks, and a tear rolls down his cheek.
“I couldn’t. I can’t. I won’t . I won’t ever lose you, Ollie. You make me better than I was before.”
I don’t believe that, not for one second.
This man on his knees before me was always the man I know now, the one I love so wholly, so endlessly.
I think he was just cautious about who he shared all these special parts with.
I’m so lucky and grateful to be the person he chose, the one who gets to see him, know him, all of him.
His long fingers wrap around my waist, gripping me tightly as he peers up at me from beneath his lashes. “I was lost before you, Ollie, and I’d be lost without you. You’re my best friend.”
“And you’re mine.” Curving my palm around Carter’s neck, I guide him up my body. “Now come here and love me, Mr. Beckett.”
“Yes, Mrs. Beckett. One round of sweet, sweet lovin’, coming right up.”
“Only one?”
“Oh, baby. You’re not going to sleep ’til the sun comes up.”
I expect hard and rough, a symbol of his need, the ferocity with which he’s missed me, missed this.
But that’s not what he gives me, because like he always does, Carter gives me all parts of him.
And tonight, he’s soft and tender, savoring each moment as his fingertips dance over every inch of my body.
His lips move with gentle precision down my neck, across my collarbone, over the plains of my belly and the curve of my hips, igniting my skin and leaving a trail of need so raw it makes me tremble with lust.
I lace my fingers through his silky, rumpled waves, curling and tightening, and pull his face from between my legs where it feels like he’s been lapping for hours instead of only minutes. Wonderful, amazing, toe-curling minutes.
With a moan and a shudder at the way he licks my arousal off his lips, I whimper out my next words, my plea. “I need you. Please. Now. I need you, Carter.”
“You have me,” he whispers, the weight of his body settling over mine.
He parts my legs, hiking one around his hip as his cock pushes at my entrance, and my nails bite into his shoulders as I cling to him. Carter brings his mouth to mine, searing me with a mind-blowing kiss, swallowing my gasp as he thrusts slowly inside me.
“I love you.” He kisses the tears that fall freely from my eyes. “And I’m gonna love you for the rest of my life, and after that too.”
* * *
“Liv, Liv, Liv, Liv.”
Poke, poke, poke, poke.
“Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, Ollie.”
Poke, poke, poke, poke.
I make a grumbly sound, 100 percent not a word, and slap at the finger currently poking at my cheek.
“C’mon, sleepy bear. Wake up, Ollie girl.”
“I just fell asleep,” I mutter, cranking one sleepy lid, squinting at the sun pouring through the glass doors over Carter’s shoulder. He shifts until his smiling face is the only thing I see.
“You’ve been sleeping for four hours.”
“Four hours?” I flop onto my back, spreading my arms out wide. “Well, if I’ve been sleeping for four hours, surely it must be time to wake up.”
Carter’s morning chuckle is one of my favorite sounds, deep and rumbly, raspy with sleep, although he’s clearly been awake much longer than me. His attitude is remarkably chipper.
He rolls on top of me, spreading my thighs, smearing the wetness between them. He hums appreciatively, dipping his fingers, making me bury my head in the pillows as I moan. “Hmm. Seems like you were waiting for me to wake you.”
I don’t know if I’m more surprised or disappointed when he rolls off me, tugging me up too.
“Come on. Up you get. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
I grab a pillow and smack him in the side of the head. “It’s rude to start something you’re not going to finish.”
“Oh, I’m gonna finish. About ten times over, and then you’ll really need to sleep.” His grin is all devil, but then he tugs on my hand again, towing me toward the balcony. “I wanna show you something.”
“Show me what? And why do we have to do it on the balcony? Can’t we stay in bed? And why do we have a busy day? It’s a holiday.”
Carter shoves me down to the lounger, in front of an impressive breakfast spread and his half-closed laptop. I go willingly, because there’s bacon, and also, I love him.
“We have to do it on the balcony because this is where the food is. But more than that?” His gaze coasts over me, shining with adoration.
“I fell in love with you on this balcony. I fell in love with the way you slept peacefully next to the fire. I fell in love with the way you gazed with wonder at the sky, the millions of stars. I fell in love with the way you opened up to me, let me see you and let me show you me too. I fell in love with the way we laid here, your body wrapped in mine, all the times we’ve made love here, and when I asked you to make this house yours.
I fell in love with you over and over again, and I keep doing it every single day, right here on this balcony. ”
My heartbeat skips, and I lift his arm, snuggling into his side. “Okay, you got me. I love this balcony. In fact, those are all excellent reasons for us to stay right here all day long and never leave. Don’t you think?”
Carter props his feet on the coffee table and sets his laptop in his lap. When I spy the screen, I sit up so fast I knock it off his lap, lunging across him to catch it before it can fall to the ground.
“How do you feel about a fall wedding?” He takes a sip from his steaming mug, then offers it to me, ignoring the way my jaw hangs.
“A fall wedding? Like, this fall?”
“Mhmm. This fall.”
“But that’s so—”
“Soon.” His brows rise. “You got a problem with that?”
“I just…I…no. Are you sure that’s what you want? You’ll be so busy with hockey. And we don’t have to rush. If you want—”
“I don’t want. I don’t want to wait because I don’t want a life where you’re not in it.
My world only spins so beautifully because of the way you’ve opened my heart and made me feel like myself again.
I didn’t know who I was anymore after my dad left.
All I was was tied into being a hockey player, a leader.
That’s all I knew how to be. Until you showed up and reminded me I was capable of so much more, that I had so much to offer.
So, fuck me, I wanna marry you right now, but that seems unrealistic and definitely impulsive—we should probably invite our family and friends—and there’s a week in November where we don’t play for four days, so fall seems like a good time, if you’re open to that. ”
“I’m-I’m—” A little speechless, it seems . “I can do that. If we can find a venue and everything on such short notice.”
He spins his laptop back my way. “We’ve got four appointments today to look at venues that all have that weekend open.”
My jaw drops. Again. I’m not sure it’s ever actually closed since this conversation started. “But it’s Canada Day. It’s a holiday.”
“Listen, you know I don’t like to boast—” he does a courtesy pause for my eye roll and snort, “—but being rich and famous affords me certain privileges, like looking at wedding venues on a holiday Monday.” He pokes my cheek.
“And also, Cara’s been lowkey planning our wedding since I took her with me to design your ring back in May, and you have three dress appointments booked before they leave on their honeymoon. ”
“But they leave on Saturday.”
His expression tells me he’s sorry, or, more likely, he pities me. Because nobody wants to spend three days with Cara trying on dresses. I feel like I’ve just finished doing so, except it was a month-and-a-half-long endeavor to choose her dress, and the scars are still fresh.
“Listen, it was hard to reel her in once it all started. And honestly, I got kinda scared, so I let her run with it.” He gestures at the screen.
“She set up all these appointments and we just have to choose which one we like best. Then she said, and I quote, ‘Leave the rest to me.’ She kinda cackled while she said it and did that creepy thing where she drums her fingers together.” Carter shudders, then shrugs.
“So I agreed and got the hell outta there.”
“Okay.” I snuggle into him, laying my head over his chest. “Show me where we’re going today.”
He smiles so brightly that I smile too. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Every venue is gorgeous, of course, but my favorite thing is the way his face lights up as he talks about each one, what he likes best about them and which one he thinks I’m going to like the most, his hands moving wildly while he speaks.
When he’s done, he closes the laptop, sliding it onto the table and pulling me into his arms.
“First appointment’s in two hours,” he hums against my neck.
“Ah. So we can put forever on hold for another round of fun?”
“Forever started the second you said yes on midnight all those months ago, the second my lips met yours for the first time. I have every intention of spending the rest of my life the way the year started, with me loving on every bit of your sassy little body. Everything begins and ends with you and me and the way you make my heart pump wildly and my stomach do flippy-floppies.”
“Flippy-floppies?”
He nods, his nose rubbing against mine. “Fucking flippy-floppies, Ol.”
Carter pushes me to my back and climbs on top of me, straddling my hips. With my wrists in his hands, he pins my arms above my head. His face dips, the tip of his nose ghosting up my neck until his lips find mine.
“I don’t think I have slow and gentle in me today, Ollie.”
“Is that right?” I gasp as his teeth bite down on the delicate spot on my neck, just below my ear.
“No. I’m gonna love you hard today, and I’ll only know I’ve done my job right if I have to carry you down to the car when we’re done. That all right with you, princess?”
“Every way you love me is perfect.”
He chuckles softly against my skin before he sinks inside me. “That’s good, ’cause I love you in a million different ways, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing you how.”
I brush the waves off his forehead and press a tender kiss to his lips, drawing out the soft side of this man a little longer before he becomes the feral animal I love just as much. “I love you, Carter.”
His crooked smile pulls those dimples in, lighting my soul. He sits back on his heels, pulling me onto his lap, never severing that connection as his fingers sink into the hair at the nape of my neck and his tongue takes my mouth.
“Thank you for choosing me, Ollie girl. I couldn’t have imagined a better life.”