Chapter 39
SHELBY
My sanity might have snapped after two flights in a day, topped off with losing my luggage, because there was no way Carter was standing here in the Louisville airport baggage claim. There was no way he was kissing me, holding me, making little groaning sounds that sent heat through me.
But if this was a hallucination, I didn’t want it to stop.
I heard someone clearing their throat behind me. With a growl, I broke the kiss with Carter and turned around. “What is it, Lucas? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”
The airline employee flinched back like I might hit him. “Sorry, it’s just that they’ve located your bag.” He rolled it out from behind his counter and then quickly retreated back, like I might take his hand with me when I grabbed it.
The remaining anger I felt drained out of me. “Sorry, Lucas,” I said. “Thank you.”
He nodded and disappeared into a back room, waiting for me to leave, I assumed. Fair enough. I got grouchy when I traveled, and I might have taken out some of that frustration on poor Lucas.
Bag secure, I kissed Carter again and then pulled back. He leaned down so his forehead pressed to mine, and we looked into each other’s eyes. The joy that filled my heart was like a drug.
“How are you here right now?” I asked.
“It’s a long story,” Carter said with a smile. “For now, just know Lila told me and I’ll explain the rest of my very long trip to you on the drive back to the farm.”
“She kept telling me she was running late. I kept sending her pictures of sad cats.” I grinned and shook my head. “Well played, you two. Very sneaky.”
Carter took my bag and my hand and led me outside. His car was parked at the curb, with an attendant looking after it. I didn’t fully understand what was happening there, but I couldn’t think about anything but Carter. My eyes stayed glued to him as he got us on the highway to head back to Ferris.
“I meant to surprise you at the farm,” he said, eyes on the road.
“I wanted to surprise you at work,” I said, smiling. “Great minds think alike, I guess.”
“I missed you,” he said simply, and the words pierced my heart.
“I didn’t miss you,” I said, looking out my window. “It’s not like I showed up at your office like a psycho ex, fresh off an overnight flight.”
Carter laughed and glanced at me. “Did they tell you what happened?”
I turned fully in my seat to face him. “No. What happened? The receptionist was being super vague.”
“I quit.”
Time screeched to a halt. “What? You’re joking.”
“I’m dead serious, Shelby.” Carter glanced at me again and I could tell it was the truth. “I’ll tell you the whole story later over some wine. Oh, I brought some good wine with me from home.”
“Hmm, how good are we talking?” I asked.
“So good, if I told you how much it cost, you wouldn’t agree to drink it.”
“Whoa. Maybe you should save it, now that you’re unemployed.”
He laughed. “Actually, I was thinking about applying as a farmhand at this adorable egg farm. The owner is kind of pushy, but she’s hot as hell, so I don’t mind so much.”
I put on a serious face. “Not so fast. I’m going to need a current résumé and two references, buddy.”
We laughed and I leaned against him over the center console. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and held me.
“I don’t know about you,” he said. “But I’ve been nonstop traveling and I’m starving. Could I tempt you with some breakfast?”
“Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes… but we can’t stop.” I buried my face in his muscular chest. “I should get back to feed my ladies. Then we can eat.”
His deep chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I’ve taken care of it already.”
I drew back to look at him. “What are you talking about?”
“When I was waiting for you at the farm earlier, I got everyone fed.” He shrugged. “I was shirtless too, positively glistening with sweat, but someone wasn’t around to see me.”
“You fed the girls?” I asked, my heart an ooey-gooey mess.
“Well, yeah.”
“Hey,” I said, all humor gone from my voice. “I seriously love you, Carter. I know I should have said it before, but you were leaving, so it seemed wrong. But if you’re here to make a real go at this, I need you to know right now I love you. I know it’s fast but it’s how I feel.”
His green eyes locked with mine. “Good. I love you, too.” He looked back at the road quickly. “Now I’m going to pull off at a diner so I can kiss you without killing us both.”
He pulled off into a diner parking lot, where we made out in the SUV like teenagers on prom night.
Eventually, we managed to make it into the diner for a decadent breakfast. While we ate, Carter walked me through everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I told him about my journey too.
We laughed, finding it all funny now that we were back together and filling our bellies with tasty breakfast food. We sat beside each other in the booth, and there was a lot of leaning and touching. Nothing inappropriate. More like we just needed to keep feeling each other to confirm it was real.
After we ate, he drove us back to the farm while I cuddled up as close to him as I could get without actually climbing into his lap. Back at the farm, he took our bags into the house while I went to check on my birds.
Carter met me coming out of the chicken house. He looked good in the sunshine, eyes bright, hair blowing in the breeze. He walked with a languid grace like he was shedding the tension from his old life. I was feeling pretty damn good myself, like all the pieces of my life were falling into place.
“So what were you saying about working shirtless earlier?” I asked him.
Carter smiled and shrugged. “It was hot out here.”
“I’ll bet.” I ran my hands up and down his chest, grazing him with my fingernails.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “I kept hoping you would come back and find me like that.”
“Oh yeah?” I bit my lower lip, and his eyes darkened at the sight of it. “What were you hoping would happen when I came back?”
His strong hands gripped my hips and pulled my body against his.
He hardened against me and my core ached to feel him.
“Something like this,” he said and took off his shirt, revealing the hard lines of his body.
I had just a moment to drink him in before he kissed me, crashing his lips into mine like he couldn’t hold back anymore.
I melted into him, and Carter’s hands caressed my sides. When I thought my legs would completely give out, Carter picked me up like I weighed nothing, then threw me over his shoulder. “I’m taking you inside.”
“Take me wherever you want to,” I said breathlessly, literally swept off my feet.
Where Carter took me was the bedroom. He stripped off my clothes piece by piece, kissing and licking at every inch of skin he revealed.
His lips and tongue left trails of fire in their wake until I was naked and glowing with desire.
Carter removed everything he was wearing, but he did it much more quickly.
When we were both fully bare, he pulled me into his arms again, skin on skin, and kissed me.
We tumbled into bed together, ready to go.
The entire drive back from Louisville had been foreplay and I didn’t want to wait any longer.
Using both hands, I stroked his cock from base to tip.
My whole body clenched at the heat of it.
I lay on my back and parted my legs for Carter, watching him the whole time.
He grabbed a condom from his jeans and put it on.
The sunlight filtering through the curtains cast us in blue shadow, highlighting all the best parts of him.
Carter positioned himself over me. His thick tip probed into my center, dipping into my wetness. I gasped at the sensation that jolted through me. My whole body was like an exposed nerve, raw and sensitive to the slightest touch.
Carter kissed me again, and I clasped his hips impatiently to pull him forward. He buried himself inside me with a growl like a wild animal, and fire scorched through my veins. We froze together, joined as one, both overwhelmed.
Then Carter started to pump into me, with slow strokes at first. Anything faster might have fried my senses. He kissed me as he fucked me, and his hands found my breasts, running his palms deliciously over my sensitive nipples.
My heart galloped and my breath came in fast pants. Carter went faster, deeper. He reached down to circle my clit with his thumb, not breaking his pounding rhythm. Every thrust sent me higher into the stratosphere, putting pressure right where I needed it.
My orgasm crackled through me like two thousand volts of pleasure. Every part of me sang with it. My back arched and I cried out, awash in endless bliss. Carter thrust all the way into me one last time. His hips jerked and he groaned, finding his own release right alongside mine.
Carter disposed of the condom and collapsed beside me, a panting mess. I wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled at him. “I love you, Carter.”
He smothered my smile in kisses. “I love you, too, Shelby.”
As silly and insecure as it might sound, it was comforting to hear him say it back. After the sex was when the I love you mattered. It was easy to love someone before and during. But would they love you tomorrow?
“So,” I said between breaths. “Does this mean you’ll be sticking around here for a while?”
Carter rubbed my back in long strokes. “I’m here for as long as you’ll have me.”