"You're telling me," I answered, my eyes wide as I stared down at the blunt instrument in my hands. "I wasn't expecting quite so..." I wasn't sure how to finish. Carter certainly had every reason to be confident in himself!
I couldn't finish the sentence, however, as Carter's hand, hooked around my pants, pulled them further down until they tangled up with my knees. "Come here," he murmured to me, pulling me towards him even as his fingers slid in between my thighs, picking up on my readiness and preparing me.
We came together, my pants clinging to one ankle for a few more seconds before they gave up the ghost and slid from my body down to the floor. Carter paused for a second to kick his own pants the rest of the way off, and then pulled me up tightly against him. With nothing between us, he pulsed against me, hard and eager and strong. I could feel his heart pounding, just inches away from mine.
"So," he whispered to me, even as his fingers resumed their position in between my thighs, exploring and wiggling and making it very hard for me to focus on anything at all besides how much I wanted him. "What's this make the two of us?"
"Together," I panted back, my body shifting on its own to try and pull him in deeper. I wanted him to take me, drive himself deep inside me and use me! I reached down and tried to pull him closer, but he held back for a second.
"And this is what you want?" His fingers moved faster.
"Oh, yes!" God, I was so close!
"And what is it that you want most?"
Thankfully, these questions weren't too hard; I didn't have the brainpower to answer any more difficult ones! "You!" I moaned out, my body giving in to his moving fingers, on the verge of exploding.
But just then, he pulled back his fingers from between my thighs. Instead, he reached back to curl both of his hands around my ass, drawing me forward.
"Then come get it," he ordered me, as I opened myself up to him and felt him finally pierce me, plunge inside of me!
Oh god, he was so big! At first, I had to grit my teeth as his hands on my hips, on my ass, kept on drawing me in. Either I was out of practice - which was true - or he was just huge - which was also true!
"Hold on," I panted as he pulled me down, taking me, but he just grinned, kissed me, and kept going.
And then, just as I opened my mouth, about to scream, I felt myself finally move to accommodate him! Still moaning, gasping, I kissed him back. My hips moved on top of him, his big, strong hands guiding me back and forth.
We kept on moving together, Carter eventually letting me lie down, rising up on top of me with his big arm muscles flexing as he shifted his body back and forth. He kissed me as we came together, both of us breathing heavily, grinning up at each other. Neither wanted to be the first to give in, to let our brain lose control as our body took over and reached the climax, the crest of the mountain.
I cracked first.
"Oh god!" I felt my concentration, my movement in rhythm along with Carter, slip away as my orgasm swept up over me. My muscles gave one last shiver and then failed me; I slumped forward on top of him, my fingers instinctively squeezing and clutching at him. I needed to hold onto him as my rock, the one remaining point of reality as everything else faded into background, whiteness. He held me, whispered something to me, but I couldn't hear his words. It seemed to go on for ages, a nonstop crescendo that roared inside my head and washed away all of my worry and thoughts and everything except the inner core of me, of who I am.
It ran on and on, but just as I opened my mouth to scream, unable to bear it any longer as I teetered on the knife edge between pleasure and crushing pain, I finally felt the rush of ecstasy begin to ease off. I pulled in a deep breath, gasping like a near-drowning victim who had just received her first breath of life-giving air.
"God," I whispered, looking down at Carter's smiling face, just inches from my own. "That was-"
"Amazing," he finished my sentence for me, smiling back at me as his body gently began to move against mine once again. "Ready for another?"
I just clutched at him and held on for dear life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
*
"I probably need to get home and feed Salem," I groaned out to Carter, some time later, "but I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to move."
"Too much pizza?" he asked, from where he lay next to me on the bed, one arm draped around my naked shoulders, casually reaching down every now and then to brush his fingers over my bare breast. "Need to work off those extra calories?"
"If you do anything more to me, I think you'll end up breaking my body forever," I told him, although I couldn't stop my skin from jumping up in little goosebumps at the thought of yet another round. We'd already managed to practically soak the sheets beneath us with sweat from our exertions, and Carter still seemed to have more energy! I didn't know from what well he drew this seemingly endless strength, but he was certainly putting it to good use.
After an hour or so, my stomach had started rumbling loud enough for even Carter to take notice. "I think it's trying to tell me something," he commented, sitting back.
I reached down and grabbed for him, drawing him back on top of me. "Ignore it. It's just annoyed that you keep poking it from below."
He smirked at the comment, but still rolled off of me. "How about pizza?"
"I'll say yes to anything that involves us not having to get up and get dressed," I answered, making his grin widen. He grabbed for his pants, dug out his cell phone, but didn't dial a number.
"Something wrong?" I asked after a minute of waiting for him to place the call.
"Oh. No, I just got caught up in reading all of these messages." He glanced up at me over the phone. "You really weren't kidding about the drunk and crazy thing, were you?"
I hit him with a pillow. "Ass. Order me some pizza, or you won't get to have any more sex for the day!"
In response, Carter put on a piteous, hangdog look that made my heart melt, even as I laughed and swung the pillow at him again. "Stop trying to guilt me!" I told him, laughing.
He couldn't hold the sad expression for more than a couple seconds. "Fine, fine, I'm ordering!" he insisted, placing the phone up against his ear.
The pizza arrived in short order, and Carter wrapped a towel around his muscled hips long enough to go downstairs and collect it from the delivery boy. I took advantage of his momentary absence to throw myself down on his newly vacated spot in bed, doing my best to soak up all the residual warmth that he left behind.
"Hey now, taking my spot?" Carter exclaimed when he returned, now accompanied by the delicious smell of hot, fresh pizza (and garlic bread sticks, at my insistence - I'd just burned a lot of calories, and I needed to make them up!). "Give it up!"
"Only if you give up some pizza!" I answered, rolling over to let him in.
We devoured the pizza in bed, Carter not even caring when I dripped a bit of tomato sauce onto his sheets (I hurried to lick it up, but he still noticed). Afterwards, the two of us just lay together, curled up in each other's arms and listening to our mingled breathing.
It was only then that I finally thought of Salem, still alone at my apartment and probably going crazy as he wondered what had happened to me. "I really do need to get back and check in on him," I insisted. Carter wasn't moving to stop me, not exactly, but his hands didn't seem to be in any hurry to release me, either.
"Well, I suppose that I do need to let you go eventually," he finally gave in, although he still hit me with the puppy-dog eyes as I pulled away from him and started searching for my scattered clothes. "But don't think that I'll let you slip away for too long."
"Trust me, I'm pretty sure that I'll be crawling back anyway," I answered, pausing for a moment to let my eyes roam across his still-naked, still-amazing body. God, how did the man find time to keep himself in such good shape? If it wasn't for the lust that was clear on his face whenever he looked at me, I'd be feeling like a lump of lard right about now.
"Good." Carter watched me for a minute longer as I struggl
ed back into my clothes (maybe that pizza hadn't been such a good idea, after all), and then spoke up again. "But really, Becca. Can we put some of that fear behind us?"
I swallowed as I turned to him and nodded. "Yes. I'd like that, I think."
He stood up from the bed, moving forward and taking my face in his hands. He was still gloriously naked, but that didn't phase him in the slightest. "Don't think. Do it. Feel how good we'll be together."
Just the touch of his hands on me, his fingers pressing against my bare skin, his lips just an inch away from mine - it all set me off. "I can feel it," I murmured up to him, tilting my head back to meet his lips as they descended.
He kissed me slowly, savoring the feeling, as if we hadn't spent the last few hours getting to intimately know every single inch of each others' bodies in bed. "Do you work tomorrow?" he asked softly after we parted.
"Well, I'm not scheduled to do so - but I need to figure out how we'll introduce de St. James' sculptures into the gallery, where we'll make space, whether we need to throw some sort of party..." I watched as Carter narrowed his eyes at me. "...but I'm sure that I can find a bit of free time, in amid my work."
"Good. Don't ignore the lesson that de St. James passed on to you."
I blinked innocently up at him. "And what lesson might that be?"
His hand curled around my ass, pinching it just enough to make me yelp and squirm with a grin. "Don't get too caught up in work. There's plenty more that you can be doing - and I'll do my best to make sure that you have a lot of fun."
I didn't doubt him for a moment.
Still smiling, Carter followed me downstairs as I reluctantly left behind his amazing, massive bedroom. Even thinking about my own bed back in my apartment, small and cramped and not nearly as soft and luxurious, slightly depressed me. And as an added bonus, this bed happened to have Carter James in it! A naked, handsy, warm Carter James, who couldn't seem to keep his hands off of me...
"Excuse me," I said, pausing at the front door as I looked down at the foreign pair of hands that had slipped forward to wrap around my chest.
"Oh. Sorry. You're leaving, right. Forgot for a moment."
I didn't say anything, but just kept looking down at the hands. They didn't seem to want to relinquish their grip.
Carter sighed, spinning me around for one final kiss. "So what are we?" he asked, after tasting me.
"We're going out. Dating." I smiled up at him, happier than I could remember feeling in years. "Together."
He nodded. "Good. Don't forget it."
Finally, I forced myself out of Carter's house. I drove back to my own apartment, although try as I might, I couldn't shake the silly, stupid-looking smile on my face. Even Salem's meowing when I opened my apartment door made me beam even more.
"Oh, Salem, I'm with Carter! We're together! We're an item - and I'm not scared at all any more!" I cried out, bending down and sweeping Salem up into my arms. I spun in a circle, holding his warm, furry body against me. He meowed again, but put up with this new humiliation for at least a few seconds before growing too annoyed and starting to paw at me to get himself back on solid ground. Even back down on all fours, however, he still hung around me - although it was probably more because he wanted food than because he had absorbed any of my exuberance.
I ladled out some wet food into his little food bowl for him, grabbing a yogurt out of my fridge. Only two days past the expiration date - it was probably fine. "You know, Carter's next test is going to have to be meeting you," I told Salem, looking down at him as he shoved his bewhiskered face into the food bowl. "Won't that be fun? Another human for you to torture and intimidate into waiting on you hand and foot!"
Without lifting his face from the food he was presently inhaling, Salem purred, as if he already approved of the man.
I finished off the yogurt - apparently I still had a bit of room in my stomach, even after eating more than half of a pizza and several bread sticks - and headed for my bathroom. A long, hot shower and then bed, I told myself. That was all that I needed to make this day end on a perfect note.
Of course, even as I stepped into the steaming water, I couldn't help but wish, already, that Carter was there. With his big arms and broad shoulders, it would be a bit tougher for him to fit in the shower alongside me, but I didn't imagine that he'd raise any protests about being pressed up so closely against me...
Sighing with happiness, I climbed out of the shower, toweled most of the water off of my body, and headed off to bed. I still had a lot of work left - my comment to Carter hadn't been an exaggeration. I did still need to figure out how to spin this de St. James thing to make sure that we got the maximum publicity, that the introduction of his works registered as more than just a little blip on the radar of the art scene.
But, I decided as soon as my head hit the pillow, I could tackle that starting tomorrow.
I closed my eyes, once again imagining Carter lying in bed beside me. He would drape his big, strong arm around me, pressing his fingers gently against my back and rubbing them back and forth in slow little circles, his chest slowly rising and falling in counterpoint to my own breathing...
Already, I felt my eyelids starting to droop, consciousness slipping away from me. But even as I drifted off to sleep, I smiled, knowing that my dreams would be sweet.
Carter and me. Carter and Becca. Becca James.
Half asleep, I frowned for a moment, wondering if I was getting too far ahead of myself. We'd only just started officially dating, after all, despite all the flirting that we'd previously engaged in together. No need to rush this forward. After all, I could afford here to take my time, exploring each new step together with Carter instead of seeing this as a mad dash for the finish line.
And to think, I hadn't even yet told Portia! Even in the darkness of my bedroom, I nearly reached for the cell phone right there, intending to text her - but my fingers paused before opening the app to send the text. As soon as Portia read this news, she'd be blowing up my phone with questions.
Tomorrow, I told myself, setting the phone back down. I'd tell her tomorrow.
For now, all I wanted to do was lay back, sleep, and dream about Carter holding me, kissing me, loving me. He'd seen my craziest side, my wild texts, and still wanted me.
We had a future together - and I couldn't wait to take my time in exploring it together with him.
The End - for now...
Keep reading to see what's next for Becca and her friends in the Art of Grace Series, Book 3:
Partying with Grace
Don't miss the next Art of Grace novel!
Sign up for my mailing list now, and you'll be the first to hear about Becca's next adventure!
Click here to sign up, or copy the following link:
http://smarturl.it/Westlake
Check out the first two chapters of Becca's next adventure!
PARTYING WITH GRACE
Read on now!
Chapter One
*
"I hesitate to say this, in case something goes wrong," I called out, holding up my glass of wine, "but I think I need to just put it out there. I am, right now, happier than I can remember feeling. Ever."
"What, ever?" Portia Skye burst out next to me, almost spitting out her own mouthful of wine. "What about when you got engaged? For the next week, you were practically floating on air! Or how about the time that you got your college acceptance letter after it spent a week getting bounced around and lost in the mail? You couldn't even stand, you were so happy that time!"
The smile on my face didn't slip, even as I smacked Portia in the ribs with my elbow. "Happier than that," I told her, doing my best to fight the little note of irritation that wanted to creep into my voice.
Despite the hit from my elbow, Portia turned to frown at me, rotating sideways on her tall bar stool. She wobbled a little but kept a tight grip on her wine glass, a skill she'd mastered after many hours of practice. She didn't look the slightest bit winded from my elbow blow.
/>
In fact... I reached down and rubbed at my elbow, wincing a little. That hit probably hurt me more than it hurt my best friend. Portia had an annoying habit of paying regular visits to the gym - which probably explained why every single inch of her body appeared fit and trim, while I tended towards the more... chubby... side of the spectrum. I probably hit her right in some muscle group that I couldn't even name, my elbow just bouncing right off.
"Becca, I'm thrilled for you that you're happy," Portia said, pointing a finger at me like a lecturer, "but I just want to be accurate, here. That's all."
I sighed. "Portia, those other times, I was really happy for a short little bit of time, because my life had just changed. But this time, I'm not happy because something's changing. I'm happy because it's all staying the same!" I paused for a moment, trying to find the right way to explain this new feeling.
Fortunately, the man sitting on the other side of the table from us finally opened his mouth and helped me out. "Portia, she's happy because she feels like her life is in the place that she wants it to be." His eyes rested on me, and his whole face lit up as he smiled warmly. "Isn't that right?"
Looking back at his smile, I practically felt my insides melting. Carter James. Not only was he possibly the single sexiest man I'd ever laid eyes on in my life, in person or anywhere else, but he was sticking up for me! Dating me! And, unless the leg rubbing against my own under the table belonged to someone else, planning on doing some very intimate things with me later tonight.
"That's exactly right," I agreed, after I realized that I'd been staring into Carter's warm brown eyes like a lovestruck puppy for a little too long. "I'm happy because finally, it feels like everything is working out for me. And for once, I can't think of anything that I'd want to change."
Next to me, Portia regarded me cannily for another second - and then her face split into a smile, and she set her wineglass back down on the table. "That's what I wanted to hear!" she exclaimed, sweeping me up into a hug. "And I'm so happy for you!"
Sculpting Grace: A Light Romance Novel (Art of Grace Book 2) Page 18