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it I’d bought today into my suitcase. Not only had the store been named Carter’s, but inside I’d found a tiny navy suit with piping down the sides of the pants that looked almost exactly like Carter’s pilot uniform. I couldn’t help myself. I was at the register before it even registered in my brain that I was buying clothing for a baby I had just decided I wanted to try to have.
Outside the store with my bag in my hand, the sun seemed to shine brighter. The air breathed a little easier. My head and heart that had spent weeks in turmoil, finally came into perfect alignment. Oh my God. I was going to have a baby. A baby. With a man I was crazy in love with.
Feeling freed, I did what every well-bred Texas debutante would do. I went shopping. The strip mall had a dozen other stores, and I hit each and every single one of them. My bags were almost too heavy to carry by the time I reached the last store—an Army Navy store where I found a set of antique Airman wings.
Looking down at the folded suit with the wings pinned to the lapel, I could actually visualize a little dimpled boy wearing it as his Daddy held him proudly. His Daddy. Lost in dreamland, I almost forgot Carter was on the phone.
“Perky, you still there?”
“I am. Sorry. But I’m thinking that I’m going to hold off on telling you anymore about my day. I would much rather show you what reminded me of you.”
“Does that mean I’m going to be seeing you soon?” I heard the hope in his voice, and it made my palms sweat with excitement.
“It does actually. I was hoping we could meet up.” I finished zipping my suitcase and plopped down on the bed.
“Say the word. Where and when? I’ll divert my flight to Dubai in the morning if I have to. Hijack a 757 full of Arabs to Texas if you have some good news for me.”
I knew he was kidding, but there wasn’t much I would put past this crazy man. “Where will you be on Monday next week?”
“Hang on…let me check my phone.”
Thirty seconds later, he was back. “I’ll be in Miami Monday.”
That had to be another sign. “The airport we met in?”
“That’s right. I have a layover for the night, and then I’m heading back to Brazil again. Sounds like fate to me, beautiful. What do you say? Is it a date? Meet me in Miami. Same bar it all started at. I’ll book you a ticket that gets you in as close to when I land as possible?”
I took a deep breath of courage in and let out the rest of my fear. “Yes. I need to see you. I have a few things I want to talk about. But I also miss you like crazy.”
“You got it. You’ll have a ticket by morning.”
We talked for another hour after that. I didn’t tell him about my purchases or the decision I was pretty sure I made. All of that needed to be done in person. But toward the end of the call, I said, “I bought something today that reminded me of you.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“You know, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I have something that reminds me of you, too. I didn’t buy it though. I sort of stole it from you before you left.”
I was lying across the hotel room bed diagonally, staring up at the ceiling and flipped over to my stomach. “What could you possibly….” Then I remembered what I thought went missing in the dryer when I’d washed my dirty clothes at home. All of my bra and panties were sets, and my red bra seemed to have been missing the matching underwear. “Oh my God…you didn’t.”
Carter took a deep breath in over the phone, and I knew he was sniffing. My hand flew to my mouth. Oh my God. “You have them over your face right now, don’t you?”
His response was a cross between a moan and a groan.
“Oh my God, Carter!” I giggled. “You’re certifiable. I cannot believe you stole my underwear!”
“Really? I would have thought it would be something you would come to expect by now.”
“I suppose that’s true.” I bit my lip. “Do you…”
“What are you asking me?”
“You know…”
“Damn right I do. But I want to hear you ask me anyway.”
Carter was definitely much more aggressive in the dirty talk arena than I was. That was something I probably needed to work on if I was going to be in a long-term relationship with a pilot, and we would constantly be separated. So I pushed past my normal comfort zone. My voice was low, it actually sounded kind of sexy. “Do you…touch your cock when you smell me?”
