Chapter 13 Carter #2
Rey didn’t say anything else as he continued to caress his body with the soft washcloth.
He rested his other hand over Carter’s heart, palm flat on his chest. Water droplets trickled along Carter’s arms and chest whenever Rey would run the cloth along his collarbone and shoulders.
They tickled a little, but not enough to force Carter to move.
If he could stay there forever, he would.
By the time the water cooled off and both of them were a little shriveled, Carter couldn’t even open his eyes.
Airborne again, Carter found himself wrapped in a warm, soft towel as Rey dried him off. Then, the cool sheets on the bed sent a shiver through him as Rey covered him with the comforter. He curled into a ball underneath it. “Rest now, sweetheart. I won’t be far.”
Carter moaned in protest. He wanted Rey to join him, but he was too far gone to stop Rey from leaving and, within seconds, Carter was out.
He didn’t know how long he slept, but by the time he came awake, the sun had dipped low in the sky and streaks of orange decorated the wall across from the bed.
Stretching, Carter sat up, the comforter dropping into his lap.
He could hear Rey moving around downstairs.
The sound of a pot being set on the stove told him his mate was in the kitchen.
A giant yawn stretched his mouth wide as Carter left the bed, stopping when he saw he wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.
But he saw Rey had placed a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring and a simple cotton t-shirt on the chair near the window.
Smiling softly, he padded over to it and dressed in the clothing, but he had to roll up the legs of the pants several times.
The drawstring kept them from falling around his ankles.
I’m downstairs in the kitchen, little wolf.
Rey’s voice in his head surprised him and Carter halted, shocked.
Then he remembered what his parents had told him as a pup.
Mates could talk to each other telepathically if they both claimed each other with a bite.
Carter remembered he’d done that at the height of his climax.
The only other pack member he’d ever be able to speak to telepathically would be his alpha.
He wondered how far apart they could be from one another.
He navigated the stairs and entered the kitchen area, where he approached Rey from behind, sliding his arms around Rey’s waist in a tight hug.
“Did you sleep well, sweetheart?” Rey asked.
“Uh huh,” Carter said, his cheek resting on Rey’s broad back. “I forgot we could talk to each other in our heads. The only time I’ve done that was with Alpha Elijah, Cole’s dad, and it was a long time ago after my parents died.”
Rey hummed and nodded, still working on cutting some fresh garlic.
“With Kasey, and previously his father, we can talk several miles apart from one another. Never truly did any tests to see the true distance, but I know when I’m out on patrol, deep in the woods, I can hear Kasey when he’s at his home.
I believe mates can only communicate across a short distance. I’ve never really wondered how it works before, maybe it’s brain waves or electrical waves. Like radios can only pick up a signal within a certain number of miles.”
Carter nuzzled at Rey’s broad back with his cheek. “Maybe we should try it some time.”
“Well, I don’t intend on being that far apart from you any time soon, sweetheart, so we’ll have to back burner that for a while.”
“While you were resting, I set up your computer monitor and docking station for you, if you want to get your laptop going and play some of your game.” Rey patted Carter’s hand where it rested on his belly.
“Figured I’d make something simple, so dinner is spaghetti, salad, and rolls. It won’t take long to fix.”
Carter didn’t want to release Rey, but he knew his mate needed to cook. “Okay,” he said, stepping back.
He started to leave to check out the computer setup, but Rey stopped him. “Come here, mate,” Rey said, pulling Carter into an embrace, tilting his head enough to capture Carter’s mouth in a deep kiss.
Moaning, Carter pressed tightly to Rey, opening his lips instantly and surrendering to the slow invasion of Rey’s tongue.
Rey kept the passionate kiss brief, but it still stole Carter’s breath, and he couldn’t stop panting.
Bemused and aroused, Carter wandered down the hallway to the office, pushing the door open wider.
Rey had set everything on the desk in the room, and it appeared, after Carter inspected everything, that despite his mate’s claims about not being technical, Rey had still connected everything properly to the docking station.
Carter sat down and hit the power button on the laptop.
Excitement trickled through him when the familiar sound of its booting up came through the speakers.
It would take some time to set it up, but Carter knew everything he needed and every password to do it.
He lost himself in the comfort of familiarity, installing program after program.
World of WarCraft would take the longest since it would require the software to install decades’ worth of updates and expansion packs.
Then, of course, there was the add-on software to help with rotation and gameplay.
He also needed to install the chat system he used to speak with his guild while playing.
A peacefulness even the bath with Rey hadn’t conjured filled Carter. Sometime later, he felt a touch on his shoulder. “Carter.”
Jumping, Carter jerked his head toward Rey, who he hadn’t noticed had come into the office. “Oh, have you been standing there long?”
Rey smiled. “Not long, sweetheart, but dinner is ready. Come eat. You can come back when you’re done.”
“Okay,” Carter replied, standing from the desk.
“Did I set everything up right?” Rey asked on the way to the dining table.
“Yep! Thank you for doing that.”
Rey held out Carter’s chair for him, gesturing for him to sit. “It was nothing. I figured it might be nice to have it already done when you got up.”
A large salad bowl sat in the center of the table, with tongs for serving into smaller dishes. Rey grabbed Carter’s bowl and filled it. “You don’t have to serve me,” Carter said, frowning.
“Sweetheart, I don’t have to do a damned thing, but I want to.
I enjoy taking care of my mate.” Rey set the bowl near Carter’s dinner plate and went over to the island to pick up a heaping dish of spaghetti.
He placed it on the table as well and then added some of the spaghetti to Carter’s plate. “Eat up.”
The salad was romaine lettuce, and there were grape tomatoes, shredded carrots, cucumbers, and croutons.
Carter poured some of the Italian dressing from a little steel container over the salad, then picked up his fork.
He found himself hungrier than usual, devouring the salad quickly.
Everything tasted amazing together. But the spaghetti made Carter moan aloud.
“Good?” Rey asked, amused.
Carter nodded emphatically, stuffing another bite into his mouth. The pasta sauce had so much robust flavor. “I wanna bathe in this sauce,” he mumbled around the bite in his mouth.
Laughing, Rey replied, “I’ll let Grace know how much you like it.”
“Grace?”
“Grace Blackfoot. She’s the one who makes it. Her parents set up a farmers’ market every month in the park. People come from several towns over to sell or shop.”
Carter heard affection in Rey’s tone when he mentioned Grace. “Did you use to date her?”
Rey’s brows went up. “Grace? No. She’s my cousin.”
Choking on a bite of food, Carter grimaced, staring down at his plate. “Sorry.”
Rey grinned. “It’s okay, Carter. I like that you’re jealous.”
“I wasn’t jealous,” Carter said.
Tapping Carter’s bare foot with his own, Rey reached out his hand, resting it palm up on the table. Carter set his hand on Rey’s, and Rey entwined their fingers. “Just so you know, I have never been with anyone in the pack. I didn’t want just a bond mate. I wanted my true mate.”
Carter frowned. “You never had sex before me?”
Chuckling, Rey squeezed Carter’s hand. “Though I wish I could say I was that magnanimous, sweetheart, no, I was not a virgin before last night. But I refused to settle down with anyone who wasn’t my true mate.
There were a handful of people here in Senaka, not packmates, I spent time with, but things grew complicated when they wanted more.
So, when I needed release, I would go out of the area. I didn’t want to lead anyone on.
“That was a decision I made about a decade ago, and all of the people I was involved with before have moved away from Senaka.”
“Oh.” Carter knew being jealous of Rey’s past lovers was dumb. It wasn’t like he’d been celibate until he’d met Rey. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Rey asked, staring into Carter’s eyes.
Carter nodded. “I’m okay. I…” He frowned. “Any way I say it will make me sound like a petulant child.”
“You never have to temper what you say around me, Carter. I will never judge you for how you feel. Tell me.” Rey rubbed his thumb over one of Carter’s knuckles.
“I… I’m glad that I won’t have to see any of them,” he mumbled, cheeks heating.
“That doesn’t sound petulant to me,” Rey said. “No one likes to think of their lover with someone else. It’s part of human nature. We may not be entirely human, but we have the same feelings and traits as humans do.”
Carter gave Rey a relieved look. All his life, pack members and even people he worked with had called him immature and emotional and had made him feel as though being him wasn’t enough.
The simple acceptance of who he was from Rey astonished him, and the possibility of ever losing it twisted his insides.
Nick loved him, took care of him, but he’d never fully accepted Carter.
Sometimes Nick hadn’t been able to hide his impatience when Carter had told him about another jerk who’d broken up with him or used him.
That was part of why he hadn’t told Nick about Darryl.
He hadn’t wanted to disappoint or burden Nick for the thousandth time.
“Thank you,” Carter whispered, blinking heavily.
Rey lifted their joined hands, leaned over the table far enough to kiss the back of Carter’s palm, and then released him. “Eat up. After dinner, you can show me the game you like to play, hmm?”
Smiling broadly, Carter nodded, eager to spend as much time with Rey as possible.
He helped clear off the table after they finished.
They worked in easy companionship, with Carter rinsing dishes while Rey loaded the dishwasher.
Another complete 180 from anyone he’d ever had in his life.
In all his previous relationships, he’d been the one to clean everything after dinner while his current boyfriend would grab another beer and plop down in front of the television.
He also loved the way Rey seemed to never stop touching him.
Little brushes of their arms against each other, a warm hand on his lower back whenever he passed a dish to Rey, a gentle caress of fingers to Carter’s nape.
Every touch sent flutters through Carter’s chest and into his belly.
No one had ever been so attentive to him in the past.
When they were done, Carter dragged Rey down the hallway to the office and showed his mate all about World of WarCraft.
Rey never appeared to get bored or annoyed as Carter chattered about the various storylines and his guild mates.
It was late by the time Carter wound down, a yawn breaking through a sentence about one character in the game named Sylvana.
“I think it’s time for bed, sweetheart,” Rey said, standing and holding out his hand.
He tipped his head toward the office door.
Carter agreed and logged out of the game, shutting down the laptop.
He took Rey’s hand and followed him out of the office and upstairs.
“You take the bathroom first. I’m just going to go double-check all the doors are locked and turn out the lights downstairs. ”
Shrugging, Carter stripped down to his boxer briefs, tossing his clothing over the recliner in the corner.
Rey gave a little growl at the sight of Carter nearly naked but turned and headed back to the first floor.
Carter brushed his teeth, washed his face, then crawled into bed, face-planting into the pillow on the side farthest from the door.
He was almost out when he heard Rey return, enter the bathroom, and turn the water on.
The fog of sleep claimed Carter just when he felt the bed dip and Rey’s scent enveloped him a split second before those broad, muscular arms wrapped around him, pulling him close.
Carter snuggled into Rey’s chest and slipped away with a sigh.