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“I ain't leaving, Cat. Not this time.” At that, her eyes finally meet mine again.
“What I did was fucking deplorable.” I shake my head, taking a deep breath. “You deserve more than that, better than that. Me just jumping up and running away from you, leaving you in the gym like that...” Rubbing my eyes, I try to erase the image, not liking having it in my memory bank.
“I want you, Cat. But I didn’t think that I could be with anyone permanently. I didn’t think I was wired that way. I have always run away from anyone who gets close.” As I continue, she watches me, unmoving. “But I want to try. I want to try to be better and do better with you.”
She remains still, staring at me, like she isn’t sure what to say, so I slowly take a few steps closer until I’m within reach. She doesn’t pull away as I wrap my arm around her waist, feeling the electricity as I feel her warmth under my palm as it settles on the small of her back. The pull I have for her still there, still present, her chest rising and falling quicker at my touch.
She stays with me as I run my thumb up and down against her skin, her soft body making me ache for her. She feels so good in my grip, my hand is large around her frame, and I resist the urge to pull her against me. I want to go slow with her this time.
“I think you should go,” she whispers quietly to me, her mouth saying one thing, while her body tells me something totally different. But I nod. I know it isn’t going to be easy to win her trust back, and although I will leave her tonight, I am going to keep trying.
“Cat,” I start again, not sure what else to say, but I will say or do anything at this point so she knows how serious I am. “I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, perhaps not even at all. Shit, I don’t think I will ever forgive myself. But I would like to try again. We can take it day by day, hang out a bit…” My words drift off as I get caught in her gaze, her features soft, but still not giving me anything.
She doesn’t speak for a moment, and my ears hone in on a constant tapping sound I can hear in the background. My eyes divert from hers for a moment as I look around her spotless marble benchtop until they reach her kitchen sink. I see the tap dripping, in a constant rhythm that would drive me crazy. I remember her mentioning this.
“Carter, it’s late…” she says, and my eyes whip back to hers. I only nod again.
“I understand.” I give her waist a squeeze before I drop my hand and begin to walk backwards away from her, giving her a small smile.
“Lock your door after me, yeah?”
I still don’t know who the fuck touched her. That’s something I will pry from her at another time and then kill the man with my bare hands.
She nods, but remains still, standing in the kitchen, watching me walk away.
I may be walking away from her. But I’m not leaving her. Not again.
This time, I want to fight to keep the girl.
28
Catherine
I was surprised to have Carter turn up on my doorstep last week, and every day since then, the surprises kept coming.
The next day after his visit, a beautiful bouquet of white roses arrived for me, along with a smaller matching one for Ivy—which melted my heart a little. Her own father has never bought her a present, so she was super thrilled to receive something so special and immediately started asking when we can see Carter again. The colorful blooms are well suited to my interiors, and I wonder if he chose them specifically for that reason.
The following day, a box arrived addressed to Ivy. It turned out to be an ice cream subscription box, containing three different tubs with new flavors delivered each week until hundreds of flavors of ice cream have been tried. To say Ivy’s eyes bugged out of her head would be an understatement. And as I saw the pure joy on her face as she scooped into the Belgian chocolate flavor, my heart melted just a little more.
In the following days, we received a stuffed toy lioness and its baby cub, then matching mom and daughter shirts with his gym logo on the front, and finally a brand-new soccer ball and pink cleats for Ivy.
So, not only has he been consistently spoiling me, but my daughter as well.
Lost in thought as Maggie and I walk into the gym for our class, I nearly run into her back when she stops suddenly in front of me.
“Jesus Christ,” she murmurs, and I look at her and then follow her eyes until they land on Carter.
He’s training, shirt off, muscles sculpted even more than I remember, sweat coating his body and making it glisten. Every woman in the room is looking right at him, including my sister. Maggie is taking in his toned physique, and I wonder if I will need to wipe the drool from her chin in a moment. He looks good, too good. He always did, but now as I see him dancing in the ring, his muscles tensing and working as he fights with his opponent, it is clear he has been working hard. Really, really, hard.
The two of us stand there watching him, and he must sense me. Almost immediately, he looks around, spots me, then gives me a cheeky grin before winking at me, and calling five on his session. Breaking my stare, I glance around quickly, noticing everyone watching his every move, and my skin bristles. I don’t particularly like the attention focused on him, and unexpected flames of jealousy lick at my skin. I look back up to where he is and watch him as he jumps out of the ring, making his way over to us, and so does everybody else.
He has captivated the entire gym. I have to nudge Maggie in the back with my shoulder so she can actually stop gawking at him.
“Hey, ladies, good to see you,” he says to us both, but he’s looking straight at me. His eyes are smoldering, burning into my core, and the remaining ice around my heart has now all but melted.
“Hey, Carter,” Maggie says. “Getting a good workout in there?” she asks with a wide smile.
“I have a fight soon, so I need to make sure I am fit and ready for it,” he says with a nod to her before he looks back at me.
