Her nipples beaded and her sex tightened, electricity firing throughout her body. She could not remember the last time she felt so alive, so aware of her body, so needy. Wanting more of him, her fingers slid to the buttons on his shirt, fumbling to get them undone.
Suddenly, cold air rushed between them as he grabbed her hands and pushed her back ever-so-slightly. Groaning, she pressed forward, wanting to close the distance.
Sucking in a breath, he rasped, “Tara, babe, I’m sorry. This is my fault for letting it go too far, but I know we need to slow down.”
Embarrassment slammed into her, and she felt heat fill her cheeks. She tried to scramble from his lap, but his hands held her in place once again.
“No, you’re not getting me. I want this. I’m so fuckin’ hard for you I can barely breathe. But Colleen is just upstairs. What if we don’t hear her coming downstairs—”
“Her door is alarmed. If she opens it, we’ll know.” Her hands slid up to cup his jaws and she leaned forward to kiss him lightly.
His fingers squeezed her hips again, and he repeated, “Her door is alarmed?”
Her top teeth landed on her bottom lip as she smiled slightly and nodded. “She sleepwalks. Ever since she could crawl out of bed, I would find her everywhere. Sometimes standing over me while I was sleeping, which would scare the hell out of me.”
He chuckled, his face full of warmth. “I’ll bet.”
“One night, I got up to check on her, and she had only made it halfway down the stairs but had fallen asleep on one of the steps. She was old enough to unlatch the gate installed at the top of the stairs, but I didn’t think she could do it when sleeping. I was wrong.”
His eyes widened in surprise, and she nodded again. “Yep. Scared the hell out of me over that, too. So, even though I had a security system on the outside doors, my brothers came over and installed an alarm on her bedroom door. It beeps when it opens. Of course, that means I hear when she gets up to go to the bathroom at night, but that’s much better than having her fall down the stairs.”
“That’s smart.” He shook his head slowly. “I never even thought about a child sleepwalking.”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug, saying, “There’re lots of things you don’t think about until you’re faced with it. Believe me, parenting is trial and error. Sometimes, the best you can hope for is to not screw them up too much before they’re adults.”
He lifted one hand, sliding his fingers around the back of her neck, sweeping his thumb over her cheek. She wanted to close her eyes and lean into the warmth of his palm but battled the desire because she wanted to keep her gaze on his crystal blue eyes.
“I think you’re an amazing mother, Tara,” he said. “You don’t have to be around Colleen long to see that she’s cherished and cared for, smart and funny, and a really sweet little girl.”
His words washed over her, filling the cracks that sometimes appeared when she struggled being a single parent. She swallowed deeply, uncertain if she should bring Colleen’s dad up when she and Carter had just been hot and heavy.
“I can see you thinking hard about something, babe. Whatever it is, just say it.”
His gaze gave her courage, and she nodded. “It was Calvin’s decision to walk away from us, but I know in my heart that I would have taken Colleen and left him if he hadn’t made some serious changes in his life. I didn’t want my daughter to be raised by a man that considered her to be an imposition—an inconvenience. So, while I worry if I’m doing enough for her, I know that alone I’m stronger than I would’ve been with his weaknesses pulling at both of us.”
His smile curved his lips, and her heart felt lighter. “And that right there, Tara, is why you’re a wonderful mother.”
Sliding her arms around his neck again, she snuggled closer. She kissed the underside of his jaw and felt the quick intake of his breath. She continued to nibble little kisses until she met his lips.
As though his resolve snapped, he growled, banding his arms around her tightly, taking over the kiss. He fell back against the seat cushions, taking her with him. The two stretched out on the sofa, their bodies aligned perfectly—chest to chest, hip to hip, legs tangled together.
His weight was half on her, but she did not mind. Instead, her nipples ached, and her sex clenched as his pelvis pressed forward, the feel of his long, hard cock against her. She had not been with a man in over six years, but she could tell Carter’s endowments were well beyond what her ex’s had been. She had planned on taking things slow, but with the sexual electricity firing inside, all she wanted was to feel everything Carter could do for her. She pushed back on the idea that his previous partners would have more experience, refusing to give in to self-doubt. He was here, right now, with her, and he was not the kind of man to be where he did not want to be.
He thrust his tongue into her warm mouth, and she wondered if it was possible to spontaneously combust from just a kiss. His fingers slid under the bottom of her sweater and glided over her stomach, his palm resting just below her breast. If she thought his kisses inflamed her, nothing prepared her for the sweep of his thumb over her nipple. Her hips jerked as her sex weeped. He gently tugged the cup of her
