Playing With Fire (Guarded Hearts) (8 page)

Carter looked up at me and smiled. He leaned down and started kissing my left breast. He kissed around it in a circle, then pulled my nipple into his mouth. I let out a moan I didn't even know I had in me. He moved onto my other breast and did the same thing. "Carter!" He kissed down my stomach and when he reached my pants, he kissed all along the waistband. He looked at me as if he was asking for permission. "It's okay."

With that, he eased my pants and my panties off of me. He hadn't said anything. He was just looking at me. Then, he came up and pressed a kiss on my lips. "I love that you trust me with this and I do believe this is another first, Miss Stevens."

"I do believe it is, Mr. James."

He ran his hand down my body till he got to where I'd been aching for him all night. He ran his finger between my wet folds and slowly stroked me. It felt amazing and I knew he could tell how much I was enjoying it by all of the sounds I was making.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, he leaned down and I instantly knew what he was about to do. As soon as his tongue touched me, I screamed. "Oh my God!" He laughed, but kept going. He kept his tongue there and, at the same time, his thumb found my clit. I felt what I only guessed that had to be an orgasm rocking through my body.

I could feel myself shaking, and the waves of pleasure that were rocking through me felt like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was the most amazing feeling I'd ever had, and I was glad that it was with him. After I caught my breath, I looked over at him. "Carter, that was amazing."

"I'm glad, baby." I knew I should do something for him. The truth was that after everything Chris had been doing, I was scared. "Do you want me to…?"

He looked up at me and smiled
.
"Baby, tonight was about you. I saw how scared you were when you looked at me just now. If you're not ready, it's okay."

"Carter, are you sure? I know that guys have needs."

"My only need right now is a cold shower, and coming back to you in my bed." He kissed me and then went off to the bathroom. I hoped he really was okay with this.

Carter

She was asleep when I got back in the room. I loved being able to do that for her tonight, and I knew how much it meant that she let me. I hated that she felt like she owed me, though.

As much as I would've loved for her to do it, I saw the look on her face. I wanted her to know that I didn't expect something in return, like everyone else in her life always had.

I climbed in beside her and wrapped my arms around her. She let out the most content sigh I'd ever heard. Then she said, almost too low for me to hear it, "I love you, Carter."

She loved me? Was she awake?

"Maddy, are you up?" Nothing. I couldn't believe she loved me. I wished it were tomorrow already. I was going to give Maddy the best birthday ever.

*  *  *

When I woke up, she was still asleep in my arms. I slipped out from underneath her and went to work. I made breakfast and put up the couple decorations I bought yesterday.

There was a Happy Birthday banner that I taped to the kitchen counter, and a couple streamers. There was also a pile of presents on the counter. I couldn't wait for her to get up. I knew she was going to be surprised. I heard my bedroom door open and I was thankful that everyone else was still asleep. I wanted to be able to share this just with her.

When she saw everything, the look on her face made all the running around yesterday worth it. She put her hand over her mouth as she drew in a breath. "Carter, what is all of this?"

I walked over to her, put my arms around her, and whispered in her ear, "Happy birthday
,
beautiful." I moved my head to the side and kissed her. Then I felt wetness on my cheeks, and pulled back to look at her. She had tears running down her face
.
"What's wrong, baby?"

She leaned in and kissed me again, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing her body into mine. "Carter, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. How did you know it was my birthday?"

"Nicole told me about it on Thanksgiving. Why didn't you tell me?"

She let go of me and went to sit on the couch. "I haven't celebrated my birthday since I was three. My mother died on my fourth birthday and my father always blamed me. A drunk driver hit her when she went to get my birthday cake. When she didn't come home that night, my father told me I killed her. He started drinking after that and couldn't even
bear to look at me. Then when I was put in the foster homes, no one cared. I eventually just stopped celebrating it myself. When I started dating Chris, I thought maybe he'd want to celebrate it with me. He told me I was already used to not celebrating it so why change it now."

I hated him with every fiber of my being
.
I didn't understand why she ever stayed with him. I needed to talk to her about this.

"When I walked out here and saw all this, I thought I was dreaming. You're the most amazing person I've ever known." She leaned in and kissed me again. I'd never get tired of this. Maddy had been through so much. All I wanted to do was make every day from now on special. She started to look around and that was when she saw the presents. "You got me gifts?"

"Yeah. When I stopped by the mall yesterday, I gave Holly some money to get you some stuff." I heard footsteps coming toward us. My dad, Ant, and Holly came in the room. They all said happy birthday to Maddy and gave her hugs. "Is everyone hungry? I made breakfast."

Ant looked at me and scowled. "I'm not trying to get sick, dude. I'll pass."

I heard Maddy giggling. "I have to say, he made me breakfast before and it was really good."

I put my arm around her waist and pulled her against me. "See, the birthday girl likes my cooking."

"Hey, all I said was your breakfast was good. I don't know anything about the other stuff." Everyone starting laughing. I loved how well she fit into my family.

After we ate breakfast, we all sat in the living room and gave Maddy her gifts. Holly did really well. She picked Maddy up a new pair of boots, two shirts, a jacket, and a pair of jeans. I'd never seen her smile this much. She thanked us and gave out hugs to everyone.

I helped her carry her stuff into my bedroom and as soon as I shut the door, she shoved me against it. She crushed her lips against mine, and I was so surprised and turned on that I let out a groan. She slipped her tongue into my mouth and started playing with my hair.

I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her up a little. She wrapped her legs around my waist. The sounds that she was making were turning me on so much. If I was this turned on just from kissing, I didn't know what I'd do whenever we decided to have sex.

I carried her over to the bed and lay down with her. I started kissing her all over her neck. I needed to stop this. She wasn't ready, my family was down the hall, and I had a major case of blue balls. "Hey, where did this crazy girl come from?"

She looked up at me and smiled. She was adorable. "I've never felt so cared for by anyone, Carter. I always shied away from people because I thought all they'd do is hurt me. I've been scared to let someone touch me ever since I was a kid but, with you, everything just feels right. You make me feel like it's enough to just be who I am."

I didn't know what to say to her. I was so glad I had that effect on her. "It is enough just to be who you are. I want you to feel safe with me. I'm not going to judge you or try to change you."

She wrapped her arms around me and we just lay there for a while.

"Hey, I have one more thing to give you."

She looked up at me. "Carter, you've already done so much."

"The day isn't over yet, baby. We're going out tonight."

"We are? Where?"

"It's a surprise. Speaking of surprises, wait one minute." This was the gift I was most anxious to give her, but I'd wanted to do it in private. I took the velvet box in my hand and went to sit back down on the bed. When she saw the box in my hand, I swear she almost had a heart attack. "Calm down. I'm not proposing." A vision popped into my head of Maddy and I standing in front of an altar. I could see myself marrying this girl one day. I handed her the box. "Open it."

When she did, she gasped and put her hand over her mouth. I took it from her and lifted it out of the box.

I moved around behind her and fastened the necklace around her neck. It was a white gold chain with a double heart pendant. "Carter, it's beautiful."

"The guy at the store said it's a symbol for two people in love. They are two hearts that will forever be intertwined."

"I love it."

I love you.
I couldn't bring myself to say it to her, although I wanted to. I didn't think she was ready to hear it yet, even though she said it to me last night in her sleep.

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and talking in my room. Once it got a little later, I told her we had reservations for dinner and she started to get ready. When she came out of the room, she had on the new pair of jeans, one of the shirts, and the jacket that Holly had gotten her. She looked beautiful, and I was excited to finally be taking her out.

Chapter Five

Madison

Carter looked gorgeous! He had on
black button fly jeans that hung just low enough on his hips, and that smirk that made me want to drag him back to his room.

"I'm ready to go."

He walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the lips. "You're so beautiful." I couldn't help but blush. "Are you excited?"

"Yes, I haven't been out to dinner in a really long time." He frowned when I said that. I never really knew how bad I had it with Chris until Carter came into my life. He took my hand and we started to leave.

We pulled up to the restaurant and Carter led me inside. He gave the hostess his name and she smiled at him. She led us to a booth in the back of the restaurant, gave us our menus and then left, but not before she slipped Carter a piece of paper. What the hell was that?

He looked down at it, laughed and threw it on the floor under the booth. Was he going to mention it? He looked up at me and saw that I was watching him.

"Yes, she gave me her number. As you can see, I put it where it belongs. I'd say that your number is the only one I want, but you don't have a phone."

I laughed at him and then opened the menu. Wow. Everything was so expensive! "Carter," I whispered, "it is really expensive in here. Are you sure about this?"

He laughed at me. "Maddy
,
I work four nights a week and I make pretty good money. Order whatever you want, okay?"

"Okay. I've never been anywhere nearly as nice as this. Chris and I only went out to dinner once and it was to this place called Chili's...and he had me order from the two-for-twenty menu." I saw Carter clench his jaw. I should really stop bringing him up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's okay. I'm not upset with you. I just hate how he treated you." Since the booth was a semi-circle, he was able to scoot over toward me. He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. "You deserve the world, baby, and I wanna help give it to you if you'll let me."

The waitress came and took our orders, and then it was just Carter and me. What was going to happen when we went back to school? I wasn't sure I'd get the answer I wanted
,
but I needed to ask. "Can I ask you a question
,
Carter?"

"Sure."

"What's going to happen when we go back?" I was crossing my fingers that he wanted to be with me as much as I wanted him to.

"That's up to you, Maddy."

Why is it up to me? I mean, a relationship is a choice that two people are supposed to make together. I hope he is not gonna slip in some condition for us being together.
"What do you mean?"

"You have all the power in this situation. I want to be with you, I want to have you by my side, and I want to wake up to you in my bed. As long as you're willing to break it off with Chris, though. I can't be your secret."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I hated that I had tried to keep Carter a secret. He was so much more than that. I knew it hurt him that I did that, and I was surprised he went along with it at all. I never really understood why he waited for me, either. It was not like he was in short supply of available girls. I saw the way all of them around campus looked at him.

He didn't want them, though, he wanted me. "I don't want you to be my secret, Carter. Would you be willing to give me a couple days when we get back, though?" I didn't know how he was going to take this. "Chris can be…temperamental. I just want a couple days to tell him and make him understand it's over."

"Maddy, I need you to tell me the truth about what's going on with you and him."

He really wanted to have this talk now? I wasn't ready to tell him everything. I'd been letting him in little by little, but it was going to take time. "Carter, can we have this talk later? I really don't want to ruin the night."