Chapter 14
Carson watched the gentle sway of Allie’s hips as she walked away. There was no artifice in it. She wasn’t trying to entice him, but his gaze followed her, nonetheless. She wasn’t wearing anything other than a thong under that minimal fabric.
Yeah, not a thought likely to get out of his brain anytime soon. He’d seen her squirm in her chair a few times during dinner. Sitting across from her throughout dinner, knowing she was wet and virtually bare, had been excruciating.
His cock was hard as a pike. He’d been that way since Allie had been wrapped around him, rubbing her core against him. Her taste was branded on his tongue. Her sweet floral fragrance was stuck in his nose.
He’d barely tasted his food. His focus kept drifting to Allie.
Watching as she brought a forkful of food to her mouth.
Licking steak juice from her lip. It was all he could do not to swipe his arm across the table, knocking dinner on the ground and taking her right then and there on the hard surface.
He’d never reacted so harshly to a woman before, not even Jenny.
Allie challenged him at every turn. He looked forward to every time he saw her and talked to her.
Carson enjoyed her company. It was more than that.
She’d become important to him. He liked starting his day talking to her and ending it talking to her.
He’d laughed more in the past two weeks than he could remember laughing in his entire life. He forgot about his scars, pain, and shame when he was with her. That was until she looked at them and tried to touch them.
Carson wasn’t ready yet to tell her the history of his scars, but she was the first outside of his ex and teammates who had seen them. Allie never once shuddered at seeing them. She looked at them with pain, as if she experienced the pain with him.
He saw the curiosity in her eyes. She wanted him to tell her what had happened. She had even asked him, but every time he saw them, all he saw was his shame. The horror in Jenny’s eyes when she’d looked upon them. The fear in other people’s eyes that he passed on the street.
Carson shook his head. He refused to let his scars cause his downfall tonight. He had a beautiful woman waiting for him in the next room. That’s where his focus needed to be.
Allie was sitting, waiting for him at the dining room table like he’d told her.
Her eyes watching him were so full of caring.
Her smile was warm and inviting, though that might be because he was carrying cake and not directed at him.
Carson held two plates with two large slices of cake on them and set them down.
“I said I wanted a small one,” Allie half-heartedly protested even as her eyes glazed over staring at the offering.
“I know you love your chocolate. Don’t pretend you won’t eat it.” Allie had already admitted she was a chocoholic.
She took a small forkful and closed her eyes.
He could hear the little moan of pleasure from her as her tongue darted out and licked her lips as if trying to savor the last of the sweet.
Carson couldn’t say he’d ever enjoyed food like she seemed to.
He took a bite of cake—something he rarely indulged in—and tried to elicit the same emotion from food as Allie did.
It was sweet and spongy. Almost too sweet for him.
He was more of a salty fan than sweet. Neither option usually ended up on his diet, but he knew how much Allie loved chocolate, so he indulged her.
Allie opened her eyes and was about to take another bite when she saw him watching her. “What?”
Carson leaned forward. “You have something right here.” He swiped at a fleck of cake from the corner of her mouth but didn’t realize he had frosting on the tip of his finger and smeared a track down the side of her face.
Allie’s shocked expression had him grinning from ear to ear.
It had been an accident, but it was funny.
“Carson,” she screeched, pinching a piece of cake between her finger and thumb and tossing it at him. He easily dodged it.
“It was an accident,” he protested, but it fell on deaf ears when she came at him with a second assault and smeared a streak of frosting across his left cheek.
“There, now we’re even,” she announced.
“Oh no, we’re not.” Allie was not going to trounce him in his own home, especially when it had been an accident. Carson stood up, the chair legs scraping against the hardwood as he pushed back his chair.
Allie’s pupils dilated. She was as excited about the chase that was about to ensue as he was.
Allie sprang into motion. She was so quick, he almost missed it.
One minute sitting there and the next on the move.
She’d made it to the far end of the table by the time he reached her side.
“You’re going to have to be quicker than that if you’re going to catch me. ”
Oh ho, a challenge! Carson felt like a bull that had just seen red. He darted around the table after her. Allie squealed and started running again, but he had the advantage this time.
She rounded the table, her head looking right and left, probably seeking a safe place to hide from him.
But it was too late. Before she could make up her mind, he pulled her up in his arms, snaking them around her waist, and lifted her off the floor with ease.
If it weren’t for his injury, he could have lifted her higher off the ground, but he wasn’t going to think about that right now.
“Carson, put me down.” Her protest was weak since she was laughing so hard. She wasn’t even struggling to get out of his arms. He set her on her feet and turned her in his arms.
He brushed her hair off of her face and cupped the sides of her cheeks. The chocolate smear still predominant on her face.
“I win,” he proudly announced.
“And what does the victor get?” she asked, sounding breathless. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her gaze lowered to his lips.
Carson pulled her close and sealed his lips over hers. Allie groaned against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him flush to her.
His lips trailed to the corner of her mouth, licking the frosting on her skin. He didn’t mind sweets like this.
“I think you missed a spot,” she husked, her eyes closing as her head tipped back giving him full access.
“Oh yes, I see that.” His lips dragged down to the column of her throat. Allie purred, the sound vibrating against his lips as her hands curled against the material of his shirt.
They stumbled back against the table. Carson pulled back to look down at his plate for a moment before looking back at Allie as a thought came to mind. Her eyes followed down to the cake then returned to him.
She held still as he reached down and swiped a blob of frosting onto his finger and smeared a path from the bottom of her chin down the column of her throat. He kissed and licked from the column of her throat and worked his way up making sure to lick up every trace of chocolate.
When it was all gone, Carson held his finger up near Allie’s lips, waiting for her to open them and take his finger in her mouth and lick the excess still on the pad.
Her tongue darted out and took a small taste before pulling the digit in, swirling her tongue around it, and sucking the chocolate off of his finger.
He cock turned to lead in his pants. He felt the pull of her lips as if she were sucking his cock.
Allie released his finger slowly, watching him with a heated gaze.
“We should get this dress off of you. I’d hate for you to get chocolate all over it.”
“It would be a shame. It’s Sandy’s dress, and she might be upset with me.”
“We can’t have that.”
Allie turned in his arms, scooping her hair out of the way to drape over her shoulder. “Do you mind helping me?”
He didn’t have to be asked twice. “It’s a dirty job, but I think I’m up for the task.” It was easier said than done. The zipper was miniscule. Almost too small for his large fingers as it was concealed under a flap of material. He was finally able to grasp it with his finger and thumb and lower it.
Carson lowered the zipper to the end, just above her rear.
The material parted to reveal she wasn’t wearing a bra, but there was something bright and colorful on her back.
He parted the rest of the material and inhaled a quick breath when saw a phoenix tattoo on her left shoulder blade.
It was an array of oranges, reds, and yellows with blue eyes that seemed to peer straight into his soul.
He didn’t know how he’d never noticed it before. Her backpack on their hike must have concealed it. It covered her whole shoulder blade yet looked dainty on her tanned flesh.
Carson reached out and traced one of the fiery wings with his fingertips.
Allie shuddered under his touch; gooseflesh rose in his wake.
She had no idea what seeing that tattoo did to him, and he wasn’t going to bring it up now.
It would raise questions, and she’d want to see it, and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
Carson pushed the rest of the material from her shoulders down her arms; Allie helped pull the fabric over her arms and pushed the material over her hips. She stood before him in only her heels and black lacy thong.
Allie started to turn around, but Carson placed his hands on her arms to hold her in place. He was fixated on her little bird and traced over it with his tongue.
His hands came around her side to her front and cupped her breasts. He’d seen little teases of these beauties during their get-togethers. They weren’t large, just under a handful.
The nipples turned into hard diamonds under his touch. He plucked and tweaked her nipples, loving the moans from Allie’s throat. Her hands reached back to grip the sides of his thighs as her pert ass ground against his cock.