Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Carson eased onto his back, moving carefully and absorbing the now-predictable blast of pain that came with any movement. “He’s pretty confident he can find his way around for someone who’s never been here before.”
“He’ll find his way. How are you really?”
“Pretty sore today.”
“I’m sorry.”
He cupped her face and stroked her soft skin with his thumb. “Not your fault.”
“I’m taking a couple more weeks off from work,” she said. “My team is rearranging my schedule as we speak to make it possible for me to be with you and Ty until we’re all back on our feet again.”
“You’re not doing that because of me, I hope.”
“I’m doing it for all of us. We can’t just go on with our lives like nothing happened and think it’ll all be fine. It doesn’t work that way. We need time and space and quiet. We need some peace.”
“Yes, we do, and if you and Ty need some time to yourselves, I’d totally understand.”
“You would?”
“Sure I would. Whatever you need is fine with me.”
“What if I needed you here with me to help me figure out the way forward for Ty the way you did just now, answering his questions with so much care?”
“I was flying blind with that.”
“You did great.”
“Really?”
When she smiled at him like that, he felt like he was staring directly into the sun. “Yes, really. You explained things to him in a way he could easily understand and didn’t get impatient when he kept asking hard questions. I wish I could’ve recorded it.”
“Well, thank you. I’m glad you approve, and if you want me with you guys, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Glad that’s settled. I guess we need to go back to my place at some point, because Ty misses his home.”
“Whatever you want to do is fine with me. Do you think we should check on him?”
“Probably, but first I want to do this.” She raised herself on an elbow and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips that he felt in every cell of his body. “I want to do much more of that.”
He twirled a length of her hair around his finger. “I’m down with that plan.”
“Have we had the strangest start to a relationship in history?”
“Whereas I have zero experience with that, I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“Trust me when I tell you it’s as batshit crazy a start as there ever was.”
“But look at us, hanging in there anyway.”
When Ty’s footsteps on the stairs announced his return, Cresley pulled back to separate herself from Carson.
He wanted to moan from the loss of her heat and the bewitching scent that came with her.
“There’re no lizard tails in that fridge!”
“Oh shoot. We must’ve run out. I’ll order some more.”
“You’re messing with me, right?”
“Am I?”
Carson had lain awake during the night wondering if Ty would be permanently changed by what he’d seen and heard in that SUV. And while he was under no illusions that they were completely out of the woods, hearing him laugh was a huge relief.
He forced his aching body to sit up and then stand and function. His guests needed breakfast, and one of them would want coffee, and he didn’t want them trying to figure out where everything was on their own.
“Can we DoorDash doughnuts, Mom?”
“Did someone say doughnuts?” Carson asked.
“I did!” Ty pumped a fist in the air. “Mom, Carson wants them, too!”
“Then I guess I’m outvoted.”
Ty dove on the bed and grabbed Cresley’s phone to place the order.
“He knows how to order DoorDash?” Carson asked her.
“He knows how to put a man on the moon with my phone, but don’t tell him he can do that. We don’t want to test his full capabilities.”
“Wow, I’m impressed.”
“What kind do you like, Carson?”
“What are you getting?”
“What’s close?” Ty asked.
“They like Primo’s at the office.”
“Randy’s is only four miles away,” Ty said. “Is that too far?”
“Nah, that should be good,” Carson said.
“They’re my favorite. What kind do you like?”
“Surprise me.”
“Mom, are you having one?”
“Just one. Do not let me have more than one, do you hear me?”
“She says that every time, and then she has two,” Ty said with a giggle.
“Don’t be telling my secrets!”
“She gets pink raised with sprinkles,” Ty said in a loud whisper. “I always get her two.”
“That’s good to know. What do you get?”
“Chocolate raised, sugar raised and a strawberry jelly filled.”
“All my favorites.”
“I’ll get two of everything for us.”
“You’re pretty handy to have around,” Carson said.
“Mom says that all the time. What’s the address here?”
Carson recited it for him and marveled at how quickly he had it typed into the app.
“All set. It’ll be here in thirty-five minutes.”
“He never moves faster than when he’s ordering junk food on DoorDash,” Cresley said.
“Haha, I move faster when I’m playing hockey.”
“I can’t wait to see that,” Carson said as he followed them downstairs to make coffee.
“You can come to my game this weekend. When is it again, Mom?”
“Sunday at three.”
“I’ll be there.”
“If you feel up to it,” Cresley said.
“I’ll feel up to it by then.” He opened the cabinet above the coffeemaker and instantly regretted the stretch required to reach the can of coffee.
“Let me get that,” Cresley said.
“I’ve got it.”
“You have to take it easy, Carson. That’s how you’ll heal.”
“This is taking it easy for me. No workout this morning, no work, no nothing but hanging out with you guys and getting fat off doughnuts.”
“Doughnuts don’t make you fat,” Ty said.
“Yes, they do,” Carson and Cresley said together.
“You guys don’t know nothing.”
“Anything,” Cresley said.
“Same thing.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Does this house have a TV?” Ty asked.
“A couple of them.” Carson pointed to the family room. “Right in there. Let me know if you need help.”
“I won’t need help.”
“He’s more tech-savvy than I’ll ever be,” Cresley said as she took a seat on a stool at the island in the middle of the huge kitchen.
“He’s so much fun to be around,” Carson said.
“Aw, thank you. I think so, too, but I kind of have to think that.”
“No, he really is. If you’d asked me a few weeks ago if I’d look forward to spending entire days with a seven-year-old, I would’ve said hard pass. But he’s…” He covered his heart with his hand. “He’s such a great kid.”
She smiled. “He’s perfect in every way, if I do say so myself.”
“He really is. Well done, Mom.”
“Why thank you.” She studied the phone she’d placed on the counter in front of her. “Is it weird to be scared to look at your own phone?”
“After the day we had yesterday, it’s not weird at all. I noticed one hundred and twenty-six unread messages when I glanced at mine last night. So I’m scared to look, too.”
When Cresley’s phone rang, she grimaced. “It’s Teagan. Time to face the music.”
She put it on speaker so he could hear, too.
“Hi there.”
“Thank God you’re okay. We were so worried.”
“We’re fine. Sorry to worry you.”
“Oh please, as long as you guys are safe, that’s all that matters. We’ve gotten a thousand calls and messages checking on you. Suffice to say, the whole world was worried.”
“Awesome,” she said, pulling a face that made Carson chuckle.
“There’s media outside your house,” Teagan said, “so you’ll want to steer clear of there until they get tired of waiting for you and move on.”
He poured coffee for both of them and put creamer on the counter before he eased into the seat next to her.
“I assume you’d like me to put out a statement that says you, your son and friend are safe and sound and asking for privacy?”
“That would be perfect. Thank you.”
“What else can I do for you today?” Teagan asked.
“Buy me some time away from it all. I need to be home for the next little while.”
“Understood. D&G checked in last night. They asked for the fitting ASAP so they can be ready to go when you come back to work. If you can accommodate that at some point, they’ll come to you.”
“Early next week, I’ll make that happen.”
“They’ll be thrilled.”
“Pass along my apologies for the drama and the delay.”
“I’ll do that, but they know it’s not your fault.”
“Hopefully, it’s all behind us now that he’s in jail where he belongs.”
“I sure hope so. Please call me if there’s anything at all we can do for you.”
“I will. Thanks for the support.”
“You got it. Stay safe.”
“That’s the plan.”
Cresley ended the call and opened her message app. “Holy shit. It’s up to seven hundred and twenty-two messages.”
“I thought mine was bad at two hundred and thirty-two. Everyone I’ve ever met has texted me, along with a few numbers I don’t recognize.”
“Probably media. Welcome to being famous.”
“Oh joy.”
She laughed at the face he made. “Sorry about that.”
He put an arm around her and brought her in for a kiss. “More of that makes it all worth it.”
“I’ve got plenty where that came from.”
“Don’t get me fired up. It would probably kill me.”
“We can’t have that!”
“Soon, though. Very soon. We’ll pick up where we left off.”
“I’ve thought about that a lot since you got hurt and wondered if we’d ever get back to where we were before.”
“So have I, and let me assure you, all the equipment still works.”
She sputtered with laughter. “Well, thank goodness for that.”
“You know it, baby. Get your rest while you can, because the minute I can move without feeling like I’m getting stabbed again, it’s back on.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
The doorbell rang, and Ty let out a shout. “They’re here!”
Cresley got up to go with him.
“Wait,” Carson said. “Let me. We don’t want to give away your location.”
“Right,” Cresley said as she sat back down.
“Wait for me, Ty,” Carson said as he walked slowly toward the door. How long would it be until he didn’t feel like he was walking through quicksand with every step he took?
Ty bounced with excitement while he waited for Carson to get the door.
The young man on the front porch handed over the box to Carson. “Nice crib.”
“Thanks,” Carson said as he shut the door and handed the box to Ty, who took off running toward the kitchen.
In the minute it took Carson to catch up, Ty already had powdered sugar all over his face.
Laughing and shaking his head, Carson returned to his seat at the counter and picked a sugar doughnut from the box. “You’d better not eat all of mine, too.”
“I will when you’re not looking.”
“He will, too. Last time, he ate them all before I got one bite.”
“Piglet,” Carson said.
“Oink-oink,” Ty replied. “Don’t get in the way of me and my doughnuts.”
“I’m seeing a whole new side of you.”
“Wait till you see me with pizza. It’s bad.”
He was the cutest little guy, and Carson was truly thrilled to have him around—a thought that never would’ve crossed his mind until Ty came along.
But everything was different now, and as he sat in the kitchen with them, eating doughnuts, drinking coffee and simply being together, he knew a kind of contentment that had eluded him in the past. In a million years, he’d never expected to find that with a single mom and her seven-year-old son, but now that he had had them in his life, the only thing that seemed to matter was keeping them close.
His phone rang with a call from Julian.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“How’re you feeling today?”
“I’m all right.”
“Glad to hear that. Dad wants all of us at a meeting in fifteen minutes, and he’s wondering if you can attend remotely.”
“What’s it about?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Are we being ambushed with their romance?”
“I sure as hell hope not.”
“Send me a link or call me.”
“Will do. Isla is bringing you the dinner she made yesterday.”
“That’s nice of her.”
“She wanted to help. We all do. Let us know what you need.”
“We’re good. Ty DoorDashed doughnuts, so we’re all high on sugar over here.”
“I see how it is. If there’s anything I can do…”
“You can stand down, Jules. All is well, and we’re hoping it’ll stay that way now that Marlon is locked up. We’re ready for some peace and quiet.”
“I’m sure you are. I’ll check in later to talk smack about Dad after the meeting.”
Carson chuckled. “I’m here for that.”
“Mattie will send you a link, or we’ll call you in.”
“Thank you—I think.”
“Haha. Peace out.”
Cresley returned to the kitchen for more coffee—and a second doughnut. “Why does something made entirely of fat have to be the best-tasting thing on the planet?”
“Don’t moan like that. You’re giving me ideas.”
Her face flushed with an adorable blush that had him crooking his finger to bring her toward him.
She stepped between his legs and shared a bite of doughnut with him.
“Oh wow, that is good.”
“Right? It’s so unfair that all the good stuff is bad.”
“Eh, life is short. Eat the doughnut.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to fit into designer clothes and have your photo plastered around the world. Every pound shows.”
He ran his hands over her ribs to her waist and down to cup her ass and draw her even closer to him. “Every inch of you is absolute perfection.”
“That’s kind of you to say, but do not let me have another doughnut, no matter how much I beg and plead.”
“I’ll do what I can to protect them from you.”
“Thank you.”
Carson told her about the meeting his father had requested in a few minutes.
“How do you feel about that?”
“Surprisingly fine.”
She rested her chin on the top of his head. “It feels good to be held by you.”
“Holding you has become my favorite thing.”
“Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.” His hands moved over her, exploring every exquisite hill and valley, making her shiver and him tremble as she pressed against his hard cock.
“You’re supposed to be resting and recovering.”
“I am.”
“No, you’re not,” she said with a laugh.
“I’ve never felt better in my entire life than I do right now.”
“Carson… Seriously.”
“I’m so serious.”
“You didn’t want that. Remember?”
“That feels like a thousand years ago now that all I want is you—and Ty.”
“You’re making me swoony.”
“It’s the sugar.”
“It’s you.”
“I’ve never made anyone swoony before. Should I be concerned?”
“No, you should keep doing it as often as possible.”
He looked up at her. “I’d be happy to.”
She kissed him with sugary lips that made him greedy for more of her sweetness. The kiss went from lips to tongues to desperation in about ten seconds flat.
“Ew,” Ty said.