Chapter 29
SHELBY
Carter’s lips were a soothing balm to my bruised soul. I had gotten into an argument with my brother, and I didn’t want to deal with the storm of emotions it had kicked up inside me. I had already been feeling raw after visiting the old farm. Then Shane came back and rubbed salt on my wounds.
Feeling terrible, I had run to where I would feel safe, which was where Carter was.
He hadn’t been in his room, but I didn’t mind waiting. Sitting on his bed, I had been surrounded by the scent of him, and it calmed me and helped me center myself. It was better than any incense or meditation.
Now my senses were filled with the real thing, not just the lingering traces of him left on his pillow.
He cupped my face as he kissed me, like he was treasuring me, like I was precious.
His lips moved to my cheeks to kiss away the tears that had started falling the moment he’d wrapped his arms around me.
His strength allowed me to fall apart, knowing he could hold me together.
Or if not, at least he could help me forget.
Carter took his time, leaving long, lingering kisses on my neck while his hands caressed me everywhere.
His touch was gentle but it left flames in its wake.
Up and down my arms in long strokes. Over my back, easing the tension in my shoulders.
Along my legs, but just on the outside. He was being comforting, not pushing for anything more yet.
I got the impression he would happily spend hours just like this, as lost in me as I was in him.
I, however, was ready for more, so I took one of his hands and placed it on my breast, which had been begging for attention. Carter groaned and nipped at my sensitive flesh. When he sucked on my earlobe, I turned into a gooey mess.
I lay back on the bed and he came with me, pressed alongside me.
Our legs tangled together and I felt his rock-hard cock throbbing against me, hot and alive.
His hips made little thrusting motions—I didn’t even think he knew he was doing it—but it was totally working for me, seeing Carter unable to control himself around me.
Our future was doomed for failure, but in the here and now, we were a match made in heaven.
I reached down to rub his cock through his jeans, and Carter growled into my neck. “Holy shit, Shelby, you’re going to make me lose it.”
I giggled and gave him a squeeze. “Isn’t that the point?”
He bit down on my shoulder, not hard enough to leave a mark but enough to make me jump. A shudder ran through me and I turned so my body was on top of his. I lowered my hips until I felt the hard heat of him pressing maddeningly against my clit.
I might have whimpered a little. It was difficult to tell over our panting and the pounding of my heart in my ears. I ground my hips over his, wanting to feel as much of him as I could through our clothes. Fire spread through me, radiating out from my core.
“Take off your shirt,” I told him.
Like a good boy, he did as he was told. “Now your turn,” he said.
I pulled my shirt up over my head. Carter sat up to kiss the tops of my breasts. He pulled my bra straps down to bare my flesh to him, and he licked and sucked at my nipples, feasting hungrily.
“Now your pants,” I told him, sliding beside him on the bed to give him room, but also to watch. It wasn’t exactly a strip tease, but I enjoyed the show anyway. I liked seeing how eager he was for me. It made me feel sexy as hell.
Carter pulled my pants off himself and kissed my skin on his way down—and on his way back up. He took extra time around the edge of my panties, teasing me but never giving my body what it was screaming for.
When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I told him to get a condom. He grabbed one from the bathroom and slipped it on. Again, I watched, all but licking my lips. Then he was back on the bed with me, kneeling beside me.
Carter hooked his fingers into the waistband of my underwear and slid them down my legs. He gazed down at my naked body, green eyes aflame, and my hips squirmed with need. I didn’t care if he saw how much I wanted him.
Grabbing his cock in his fist, he ran the tip along my entrance, just barely parting my lips and dipping into my wetness. He had only just started and I was already falling apart.
“Do it, Carter.”
His eyes met mine as he plunged into me. My eyes slammed shut and my head pressed back into the pillow. I inhaled sharply through my clenched teeth. My body began to relax as it adjusted to his size. My hips started moving of their own accord, knowing exactly what I needed.
Not to be outdone, Carter began moving, starting with slow, shallow strokes and slowly increasing his tempo. Lightning streaked through my mind, whiting out anything that wasn’t him.
He leaned his body over mine to kiss me, connecting us there too. I noticed him looking at my face, making me feel seen. He was here with me, in this moment, floating in a sea of bliss.
I put my hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. “Your turn,” I told him.
He seemed to understand exactly what I meant because he lay on his back for me.
His toned body was on full display, and his cock stood ready and waiting for me.
I climbed on top of him, positioning myself over him.
Once we were lined up, I lowered my hips onto him, feeling him fill me up inch by delicious inch.
The last few days had taught me I enjoyed this position more than I knew. I kept gravitating toward it, and once again, it was working for me. Planting my hands on his chest, I rode him hard.
Carter’s strong hands clamped down on my hips, pushing himself deeper inside me, building the embers into a roaring bonfire. Up and up, the heat became too much, and I burst into flames.
My whole body shook as I came. Carter covered my mouth with his hand to stifle my cries, and that just made me come harder.
As I clenched around him, he came undone too, bucking his hips up and grunting. We came together, lost in time and lost in each other.
I collapsed onto the bed beside him, panting and boneless. He got rid of the condom and came back to me, pulling me into his arms. I lay against his chest, still rising and falling quickly from the physical exertion. We had a hell of workout.
My senses slowly returned and I remembered where we were. “Oh, no,” I moaned, covering my face. “Was I too loud?”
“There’s no such thing as being too loud,” Carter said, rubbing my back with his hand. “I want to hear every little sound you make.”
“Sure, but what about everyone else in the B&B?”
He chuckled, the sound a rumble in his chest. “I can’t say for sure, but if I was a betting man, I would say the couple other guests staying here are out on the town square, getting involved in whatever is happening out there today.”
Relief filled me. “You’re probably right. They’re doing the races today.”
“What, really?” Carter tensed with interest.
“Calm down, Mr. Competitive, it’s like sack races and egg and spoon races. It’s mostly for kids.”
“Oh,” he said, relaxing again. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Yeah, it’s not as popular as the bake-off, but there are prizes for the little ones and more good food for the adults to indulge in.” I ran my fingertips over his chest, tracing random ridges of muscle and playing with his chest hair.
The sex had been amazing but this felt so much more intimate, lying next to each other, naked, no barriers between us, just holding each other and being together. No screens, no noise, no distractions. Just the two of us in our own little bubble.
“So listen,” Carter said slowly, and I got the feeling our sweet little bubble was about to burst. “Not that I’m complaining at all, but do you want to tell me what prompted this visit?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But just know that you can talk to me if you want. I won’t be able to go again for at least twenty minutes. So we have time.”
I laughed and slapped his chest. “I got upset over nothing. My brother came back from visiting my parents in Georgia.”
“I heard,” Carter said. “It must have been a hell of a vacation.”
“Oh, it wasn’t,” I said, scooting up so I could look at Carter while I talked. “My parents put him to work around their house, taking advantage of his visit for some home maintenance repair.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? I know it’s not necessarily a restful vacation, but it’s nice to help out your parents, isn’t it?”
“Sure, but while they put him to work, apparently, there was a lot of complaining about me,” I said. It was the truth. Shane and I hadn’t fought about the strained relationship with my parents, though. That was a white lie to hide what we had really been arguing about.
Shane was furious when he found out who I’d been kissing in Tyler’s truck. He might have been less upset if it had actually been Tyler. Carter Allory was the bad guy to Shane, much like he had been the bad guy to me when Carter first showed up in Ferris, looking too polished for his own good.
Unlike me, Shane hadn’t gotten a chance to know Carter like I had—and not just in bed or in the shower.
My time on the farm with Carter had revealed a depth to him I doubted many people ever got a chance to see.
I wasn’t sure even Carter knew he had that side to him before he came out here to play farmer.
Once he stopped playing and actually got his hands dirty working with me, it turned out Carter was more than just a barking CEO, ordering people around and exploiting people. He was a hard worker and he got right in the mud with me.
“Why were they complaining about you?” Carter asked.
“They think I’m overreacting, not forgiving them for selling off the family farm.
They claim I was the one who broke up the family, not them.
” I shook my head. “They never even told me they were thinking of selling. We didn’t even have a single conversation about it before the deal was done, and there was no talking them out of it.
They knew damn well I was supposed to take over that farm.
They had insisted. And then they went behind my back and changed my whole future without even a second thought. ”
“Yeah, I can see why you haven’t forgiven them,” he said, grabbing my hand and holding it gently, giving me comfort. “It would be like if my father insisted I work for Allory, which he did, but then sold it right when I got out of business school.”
“Exactly. You get it. For some reason, they can’t understand.”
He put his forehead to mine. “Maybe they choose not to understand. Denial is real and it sounds like that’s what’s happening there.”
“It must be nice,” I said with a sigh. “Sometimes I wish I could just ignore things I don’t want to think about. But for me, it’s all I end up focusing on.”
Carter kissed my head and pulled me into his arms for a real hug. “And that’s what makes you you. And I wouldn’t want to change you in any way.”