Chapter 24
Allie collapsed into a heap. Her skin was slick with sweat.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she tried to catch her breath.
That had been intense. Carson reached over, his breathing just as harsh as hers.
He pulled her to his side. Allie rested her head over his chest. His shirt was hot and sweaty, but she didn’t care.
“You alive?” he asked her.
“Barely,” she mumbled, feeling her eyes droop.
“I could take a nap.”
“Me too, though it’s getting kind of late. I should get going.” To be honest, her bones felt like mush, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to drag herself out of bed at this moment. That’s what multiple orgasms and intense lovemaking would do to a woman.
“Stay,” he whispered as his fingers stroked up and down her arm.
“I guess I could for a little bit.”
“No, the night.”
The night? Allie turned her head to rest her chin on his chest and look him in the eye to see if he was serious or not. He looked serious. “I can’t stay the night. I have to work in the morning. I don’t have a change of clothes, my toothbrush, hairbrush, nothing. No, I can’t.”
“You can leave early in the morning. We’ll even set an alarm. Please, I don’t want the night to end yet. I sleep so much better with you here. With your scent on my pillows.”
How could she say no to that? “Alright, I’ll stay.”
“I have a toothbrush you can borrow. It’s still in the package, and you can use my brush, or you can finger comb your hair.”
“I’ll finger comb it.” Allie got out of bed to grab her phone and set an alarm before coming back to Carson’s room.
He laid out a long-sleeved shirt for her on the foot of the bed.
She pulled it over her head and stuck her arms in the sleeves.
For it being long-sleeved, it was light.
No wonder Carson didn’t die of a heat stroke always wearing these.
She walked into the bathroom where Carson was already getting ready. He’d left her toothbrush on the counter still in the packaging. He had changed his clothes to a black long-sleeved shirt and dark plaid pajama pants.
They kept stealing glances at each other through the mirror until she finished with her teeth and finger-combed her hair as best she could before tying it back in a loose ponytail.
“You don’t leave it down?” Carson asked.
“No, it gets tangled up and ends up in a rat’s nest by morning. I either put it in a messy bun or braid it.”
“I love your hair down.”
“Thanks, but you don’t have to maintain it.” There was only one thing left to do before bed. “I’ll be right back.” She snuck into the toilet area to relieve herself. She didn’t let her brain work itself into overdrive thinking about what she was doing.
Carson wasn’t in the room by the time she came out. She crossed the room to the bedroom where the light was already off. But even in the dark, she could tell Carson wasn’t in bed.
Feeling a bravado she’d never felt before, she pulled the shirt off and with hurried steps, all but jumped under the covers.
Allie leaned over the side of the bed to plug in her phone and double-check the alarm time.
She winced at the hour countdown to when she’d have to get up.
She was not an early riser, but it would be worth it for more time with Carson.
Allie rolled back on the bed and started to get situated. She didn’t know where Carson had gone. It was quiet for several minutes when Allie felt the bed dip from Carson’s weight. “Sorry, I was locking up.”
She hadn’t even thought about that. “Did you soak your dishes?”
“I did.” Liar, but she wasn’t going to call him out. Let him deal with the mess on his own.
She felt him move closer to her, then Carson’s fingers traced along her back right over her tattoo. He didn’t say anything about her ditching the shirt. What man would complain about a woman sleeping naked in his bed?
“You don’t know what this tattoo of yours does to me,” he said, tracing the wings of her phoenix, a habit he had come to do a lot.
“Why is that?” Allie’s voice sounded drowsy, like she was half asleep, but really she was just that relaxed; his finger tracing was like a little massage.
“Because I have the exact same one in the same place.” What were the odds they would have the same tattoo in the same place?
Allie rolled over to face him. Her hand tucked up under the pillow and the other rested in front of her face. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“May I see it?” she asked softly.
Carson didn’t respond right away, as if her question had caught him off guard. How could he tell her about his tattoo and not let her see it?
Allie reached out and rested her hand on his chest over his shirt. She could feel his heat as if she were touching bare skin and not cloth in between them. She smiled sadly at him. “When you’re ready?”
Carson’s eyes closed, but he nodded, and Allie felt like she had just climbed K2. “I’ll show you, but please don’t ask about them.”
He wouldn’t hear a peep from her. “I promise.”
Carson nodded and started to sit up, only to halt when his phone rang. He rolled over, glanced at the screen, and cursed. Talk about bad timing. “Sorry, I have to take this. It’s work.” He grabbed his phone and answered as he climbed out of bed. “Hey, Charlotte.”
Charlotte? Why the hell was she calling at this hour? Allie knew she shouldn’t be jealous, but with all the secrets and her insecurities, she couldn’t help it.
Allie strained to hear the conversation, but Carson was in the living room and too far away to hear. Did she get up and eavesdrop or wait for him to come back to bed?
On silent feet, Allie slid out bed and tiptoed to the hall entrance where Carson couldn’t see her, but she could still hear.
“Not at all. Did you get something?” he whispered. There was a few minutes of pause. “Okay, meet me at Peppermill Restaurant. Eleven o’clock.”
Allie knew where that was. It was about fifteen minutes from her work. She worried her lip, wondering if she should follow him there tomorrow. It felt like invasion of privacy, but she wanted answers and felt she was owed them.
Carson hung up and headed back to the bedroom. Allie hurried back to her side of the bed, tucking the covers around her as Carson came back into the room.
“Everything alright?” Allie asked, lifting her head slightly off her pillow, striving to appear like she’d been attempting to sleep and not eavesdrop.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Carson hesitated, standing next to the bed and looking for a moment like he might give her some kind of explanation for his sudden disappearance, but then he must have thought differently. He lifted the comforter and climbed into bed next to her. “Work stuff.”
“Everything okay? Seems pretty late for work stuff.”
“Yeah, nothing that couldn’t have waited until tomorrow. Now, where was I?” He pulled her closer and started kissing her, probably trying to distract her. She hated to say it was working, but it would only work for so long. Tomorrow, she wanted answers.
“Not there,” Allie giggled when his kisses started trailing down her abdomen. “But I’m not complaining.”