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He couldfeelher pulsepoundingunderhislipsand he nodded. "Right now." With that, hesweptheroffher feetand placed heratopthe counter.Hershapelylegseffortlessly hookedaround him as hedesperatelytuggedatthe loose, flowy dress chosento keep cool in the tropical air. Shegaspedas he foundwhathe'dbeensearchingfor,herbodytremblingas he knelt before her, tasting her fully as she let out a whimper of pleasure and tossed her head back.
Her hands found his head and threaded through his hair as he enjoyed her.
In that moment, he didn't give a damn what came next. He needed her. He wanted her. And she was his.
Chapter19
Kaitlyn
All the warmfuzzy feelings of spending time with him on their vacation on the beach, tackling and overcoming painful memories and thoughts of the crash, talking about plans for the future where they build a luxury resort on the island... all those things could not make her feel more comfortable with the news she was keeping from him.
They'd grown so close that keeping secrets from Carter felt wrong, especially something this big. Something that would affect his life and hers no matter what happened.
Back at his place after their vacation, her discomfort with the secret continued to grow.
Carter sat next to her, where she was resting on the couch, and leaned in close. “Is everything okay? You seem a little off lately.” His hand touched her thigh, gently rubbing her leg, and she stared down at the point of contact, loving the way his hand felt on her and hating herself. How could she hide something like this from him? What made her so afraid that he would be upset? He'd been nothing but kind and understanding from the outset while she was the one that got angry and frustrated... and yet here she was, worrying that he would be the one to let her down.
“I think I'm okay, just have a lot on my mind, you know?” She hadn't heard from Fawn in a while, and she was worried about her friend.
That, plus the news she was unsure how to share, the impending HR issue that still hung over their heads, and everything else that they were going through left her unsure how to manage everything. Life had never been easy for Kaitlyn, but now things seemed downright impossible.
Carter slipped an arm around her shoulders and held her close. She leaned into his warmth, accepting his comfort, and wished that she could be more open and honest with him. Certain things might be easier if she was able to discuss them with someone else, but she couldn't shake the feeling that if she told him, bad things would happen. And she couldn't handle more bad things happening.
“Thank you,” she said instead, “for being here for me, for caring, for being so amazing.” Her heart ached as she longed to let the truth out.
Before he could respond, her phone rang and she took it out of her pocket. She recognized the number that phone had been calling from.
“It's Fawn,” she whispered, staring at her phone. Tears stung in her eyes as she looked down at the number, wondering if she had the mental strength to handle this phone call, to tell her friend that she could no longer give her money, that she was almost completely broke, her savings were drained, and there was no way she was going to ask Carter to make payments for her friend. And her plan with Devon had fallen through, so there was really nothing else that she could do.
She had already tried to come to terms with the fact that whatever happened next wasn't her fault. She had done everything in her power and given them so much money to free her friend. At some point they had to know the money would run out, so they must have some kind of plan. She could only hope that they would let Fawn go.
But before she could answer the phone call, Carter pulled the device out of her hand. Kaitlyn made a grab for it, but he lifted it back out of her reach.
“I thought we'd have more time before she called again,” he said as she glared at him.
“Are you crazy? Give me back my phone. I need to answer it.” She lunged for it, but he put an arm up, blocking her, and held the phone even further out of her reach by extending his arm out and back, away from her.
The couch squeaked in protest under them as she lunged again. “I'm not kidding, Carter. Give me back my phone.” Feeling helpless, Kaitlyn listened as the phone rang one more time, then went silent.
“I know it's important, and you know that I wouldn't do this if it wasn't serious. Please just trust me, Kaitlyn.” Something in Carter's tone of voice caught her attention, and she looked him straight in the eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to push away her anger and frustration.
How dare he take her phone away from her and keep it away?
Still, she did everything in her power to calm down and tried to listen to him with an open mind. After all, he'd done nothing to make her distrust him. And she had to trust that this time, too, he had a good reason for what he was doing, even if he seemed a little crazy.
Taking a deep breath, Kaitlyn focused on him. “Okay, what do you need to tell me?”
He stared at her, his gaze darting back and forth between hers as her belly began to tie up in knots. His Adam’s apple slid up, then down as he swallowed and he glanced away from her, scanning the room as if grounding himself.
“There’s no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come out and be blunt.” His attention swept back to her and she could feel the muscles in her body tensing up. “Fawn is lying to you. She's not being held captive. She's not being held for ransom. She's with her boyfriend in his apartment and they're scamming you.”
Kaitlyn couldn't believe her ears. She began to slowly shake her head, refusing to listen to this insanity. Why would he say this? Why would he lie about her best friend? Why would he tell her this devastatingly ugly lie?
“Why would you say something so awful?” She couldn't believe her ears or the pain she felt squeezing and twisting her heart. She could feel tears threatening and internally wished she wasn’t so on edge. She hated being such a crybaby and feeling so weak.
“I swear I'm not lying to you.”
Kaitlyn stood up and he mirrored her movements. She tried to shy away as he put his hands on her shoulders and held her close, ducking his head slightly to look her in the eyes as he spoke, “Why would I lie about this? I have nothing to gain.”
