Bliss (8 page)

I lifted an old porcelain tea cup from one of the many shelves in Brass Kettles’ antique shop, studying the pale rose petals etched into its surface. Like me it was fragile, with one crack down the middle—like my heart. But it was still beautiful to the outside world. And I knew like the store’s owner that somebody would want it, flaws and all.

“That reminds me of the one my mum had back home,” Carter said. It was the first time his
accent was so apparent to me. Maybe it was the good looks that kept me from acknowledging I was dealing with someone from another place unlike my own. I wasn’t sure I’d never been there. But Eric made sure to tell me all about it our entire marriage.

I set the pot down, turning around to face him. “Your mum huh?”

“Ah, I see you do have a sense of humor.” He lifted the tea cup. “Yes, my mum. The few years I could stand to be around her. The rest were bloody awful.” He smirked.

“Ha, ha. Don’t think I forgot why we came here.”

I turned, knocking over a vase, it tipped swaying back and forth. Carter caught it in the nick of time putting it back upon the shelf.

“You’re a
klutz,” he pointed out.

“And you are an idiot. What are you doing marrying her?”
I studied myself in the giant mirrors on the wall, Carter’s smug face behind me.

“Why did you pick this old place?” He ran a hand across an old jewelry box. “Were you afraid to be alone with me?”

I shook my head, pushing my hair behind my ear.

“I was trying to figure out what kind of place you lived in,” he said. “Or if you owned a cat like all the rest of the single women out there.”

I reached for the cute little mouse figurine but stopped. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you care?” If he wanted to marry Ana, I couldn’t begin to understand why it mattered.

Carter moved closer. “I thought I made that clear. My career is important to me. And with the help of
the Agents
and Ana I’m pretty much a shoe in.”

“I’m going to tell her. And it doesn’t matter what you have to say because I’ve been thinking.”

Carter shook his head.

I didn’t care what he thought anymore. He
proved more and more how much of a pompous asshole he was. “This isn’t about you. It’s about me. I refuse to sit by and be friends with Ana anymore. Maybe it doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.”

Carter’ grabbed my arm. “Don’t be that girl.”

“What girl?”

“The weak one that lets every little thing get to her.”

I looked down at his grip. He let go.

“I’m weak if I out Ana?” I spun around before I slapped him.

Carter was behind me, in my ear, his teeth deviously grazing the skin on my neck. “Your better than that. Ana will get what she deserves, it’s called Karma.” His hands slid up my arms, stopping at my shoulders.

He knew what he was doing. He was no idiot.

An excitement started between my legs. He was that good at what he did, even the simplest of things. I couldn’t imagine what the whole shebang entailed.

“Sounds to me like she is getting what she wants,” I said.

“For now. Sometimes we have to make tough choices to get what we want in life. I’m not afraid to do that.” He inhaled, breathing in my perfume. “You smell amazing.”

I turned around. “Why are you doing this?”

Carter reached out, touching my hair. “I think you’re beautiful.” He stroked my hair, watching every stroke his fingers made as he waited for me to decide on the next move.

“That’s why
you’re marrying Ana?” I rolled my eyes. He pressed his finger into my lips before I could attack his poor judgment again.

I ran my hand down his neck, running my fingers across his throat, touching him
felt more amazing than I thought that it would. I trailed my fingers down his chest, wishing the white t-shirt wasn’t in the way of feeling the way his skin felt. And before I talked myself out of it I went lower.

“I want you to admit that it makes you mad,” he said.

I ignored him, letting my fingers slip lower until they met up with the bulge in his pants. And I was impressed.

“I’m not mad.” My fingers traced the metal on his belt buckle. “I’ve already been married.”

“Not to me,” he said, a playful grin formed on his lips.

“I was under the impression you weren’t that kind of guy.” Boy how I wished I could pull him free of the belt and the jeans that were holding him back. “But as long as there is something in it for you I guess you make exceptions.”

I stroked him through the fabric of his jeans with my palm. He grabbed me by the wrist. “You’re going to kiss me first.”

Before I
could object Carter knocked me into the shelves, rattling the fine china as he went for the kill. His lips pressed against mine, soft just like I knew they would be. His tongue worked its way into my mouth, stroking against my own, a sinful dance, we moved so beautifully together. And I wanted more.

I cupped the back of his head, to pull him as close as I
could get him. And the kiss continued, neither one of us cared if anybody was in the antique store, or if we were about to knock down the entire display of breakables. All that mattered was the way his hands were making their way down to my ass, and how great it felt when he pulled me closer, pushing himself against me.

He pulled away
, teeth biting my neck, he pulled me by my skirt back to him. I was dizzy and excited. And he kissed me again, biting my bottom lip, his tongue circled, teasing mine. He kissed me like he couldn’t get enough. Not like somebody set to marry another girl.

His tongue swept
mine, sending me further off the deep end. Soon enough I would need an escort out. Never in a million years did I think some dusty antique store would be the place I fucked a man. But I was pretty sure that was just what was about to happen if we didn’t stop soon.

He leaned in, his chest crushing mine. “I want you.”

And he did the unthinkable, his fingers brushed against my stomach and toyed with my skirt, we looked at each other as if to weigh the moment. Were both of us willing to go there? He lifted my skirt, his fingers touching me, and he started rubbing through the cotton of my panties. I was wet, so turned on that I feared the worst if it didn’t take place.

We kiss
ed again, bumping into the dishes on the lower shelf. And then I broke away and look at him. “I want you too. But you’re marrying Ana.”

He grabbed my chin. “But I want you.” Another
devastating kiss and I was putty in his palm.

I pull
ed away licking his bottom lip before I turned away from him. I didn’t have it in me to let him fuck me head on. He drug down the panties he managed to drench by just being such a damn good kisser and so hot and pressed himself against me.

“I want to fuck you right here. With the old lady at the counter, anyone could
catch us,” he stroked my ass with his hands.

“So do it,” I moan.

His fingers moved to the front slipping inside me. I wished I would have stayed face to face with him so I could kiss him again. But I reminded myself that Carter was a jerk and this was sex nothing more. Who cared if my lips got another try?

His cock thumped
against my ass. And when I thought I couldn’t take anymore the bell on the door chimed and shattered our moment. Carter was back in his pants before I had a second blink.

I
made sure my skirt was down and kicked my panties off, lifting them off the ground. I would have never had the chance to pull them back up; the old couple was already coming down the aisle.

Carter politely smiled
at them; I smoothed his hair back and let him lead me by the hand out of the store.

We continue
d walking down the sidewalk hand in hand. I noticed, I wondered if he did.

I
found the courage to look at him. “That was close.”

Carter smiled. “Not close enough. We need to finish what we started.”

I couldn’t agree more. But one thing was bothering me and I needed to say something before I burst. “This doesn’t feel wrong?”

Carter rubbed
the back of his neck. “It feels right. It feels really fucking right.”

I
tried to let go of his hand before we were caught in public, but he squeezed mine even tighter. So I held on, maybe he didn’t care if we were caught. Maybe, just maybe everything that was happening meant more than he was saying.

“I’m not taking you back to my place,” I said. I couldn’t it would be t
oo strange.

“My place it is,”
he said, hailing a taxi cab.

“Get comfortable,” Carter said, tossing his keys on the coffee table in the middle of his
living room.

He lived as I expected. A rather simple space, tidy, a big flat screen in the
living room probably to watch some kind of sports and a kitchen with a pizza box and empty beer cans on the counter.

I sat down eyeing his laundry basket sitting beside the door.

“Are those Ana’s underwear?” I couldn’t believe I was in his apartment. And seeing his fiancé’s underwear was starting to freak me out.

I eyed the door, hoping it was locked and praying she didn’t have her own key, but who knew. He might have
gone that far, he seemed crazy enough. He was willing to waste his life on a girl just to get a career in Hollywood.

Carter sat down next to me. “Are you thirsty?”

I shook my head. The moment had come and gone. I wasn’t sure if it would be that easy to bring it back again.

“You know she asked me to be her maid of honor,” I said.

Carter’s eyes widened. “You don’t let up do you?”

“I’m sorry this is just really strange.” I looked away, and started biting my nails.

Carter took my hand. “What can I do to put you at ease?”

“Assure me that Ana is not going to come through that door,” I said. I studied the clock on his wall, watching the hand move.

“Ana is not going to come over,” he assured me. “She doesn’t have a key either.”

I sighed, relaxing a bit. Carter placed a hand on my leg.

“You said life with your mom was hell,” I said. When I was nervous my mouth ran. And I was asking things I probably should have stayed away from.

“That
it was. I was in and out of foster homes most of my life. She had a drug habit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told him. “Do you talk to any of your family back home anymore?”

Carter rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t discuss my life, anything you want to know I’ll just come right out and tell you. I’m fucked up, I have issues with woman, with relationships and trusting others.”

“Don’t we all?” I said.

“I’m sure, not everyone wants to admit it though.”

I admired him for being so honest. He didn’t have to tell me, he could keep it a secret and forever hide from the world if he wanted to. “I don’t think
you’re so bad.”

Carter rubbed his bottom lip. “So
you’re saying you’re a bad judge of character are you?”

I shoved him. “
You’re too hard on yourself.”

“I don’t think I would say that. Ask all the woman that claim I emotionally fucked them. I bet they wouldn’t agree with you.” Carter tilted his head to the side, brushing my hair from my shoulder. “
You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said back.

We kissed.

“Is that why it doesn’t bother you, marrying Ana?” I crossed my arms studying his blank stare. “Are you planning on emotionally fucking her as well?”

His smile slowly grew. “How about you let me worry about that and let me fuck you.” He nipped my body lip pushing me down on his sofa.

I laughed, holding onto his
t-shirt as we fell back. How could you argue with such a guy? Even when he said the ugliest things I still wanted him. I was sure everyone did.

And if after this I was as he put it emotionally fucked, so be it. The adventure was worth the risk. I wanted Carter Sterling to fuck me, even if he was damaged and going to hurt me in the end.

At least that was what I was saying right now.

When I kissed him again he caught my lip in between his teeth,
I grabbed a hold of his hair, keeping him there. I slipped my hands underneath his shirt, enjoying the way his skin felt against my fingers. Carter groaned against my mouth, he tore his shirt over his head ending any curiosity about what was underneath.

He was flawless, my hands explored his perfect body, he was
gorgeous the perfect amount of muscle under tan skin. And the tattoos on his arms added the extra bad ass sex appeal that made him even hotter to look at.

He hiked up my skirt, and my body ached knowing he had perfect access.

“God, your beautiful,” he said, his voice low as he looked at me.

I believed him as soon as he pressed himself against me, he was turned on, and as he lowered himself down onto me I closed my eyes enjoying the feel of him pinned between us, hard and thick.

God how I wanted him, every part of me needed him, I wiggled beneath him rubbing against him begging him to erase the distance his jeans were putting between us.

Warmth
spread between my legs, I squeezed my thighs against him. A pleasurous shiver climbed my body every time he touched me. I could feel my heart beating, faster and faster every move he made.

He stole another kiss, settling between my legs, I moaned against his
mouth; even his brilliant kiss couldn’t hide the sounds escaping me. Carter worked his hips, and I was his prisoner willing to do whatever he wanted. He circled his hips again, and I dug my nails into his back.

He kissed me harder, his thumb grazing my neck, and then my breast, teasing me with
just a light touch before his hands slipped further, finding the curve of my waist and then my wiggling hips. He pinned me in place for just a moment, giving me another delicious tease of his hips and then his hands were around my thighs pulling me against him. He pushed against me.

“Are you ready to give in?”

I laughed, to turned on to argue with him. “I already have.”

He undid his belt, and before I let him do the rest I helped him with the zipper, freeing him from his jeans, his dick springing free. I stroked him,
but for only a moment because he was ready for the next step.

He tugged
me down the couch until his head was between my legs. His tongue on my clit in seconds, he slipped two fingers inside, licking and sucking. I wrapped a leg around his neck as he works his fingers inside of me hitting just the right spot, I threw my head back blown away that I was already about to lose my shit.

He wasn’t kidding when he said he fucked like a god.

He knew I was losing control and he wasn’t stopping.

I bit my lip, concentrating on work, anything to keep my mind from letting go. I thought about old people, and prostate exams. But the sight of Carter Sterling eating me out and doing such a great job at it, I wasn’t sure about my endurance anymore.

I squeezed Carter’s shoulders as his tongue plunged in and out. He did more than talk a good game when it came to his mouth.

W
hen there was nothing left on earth that could keep my orgasm from escaping I wriggled and squirmed getting loose. Carter wiped his mouth, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You ok?”

I was more than okay. I was ready to explode. “I want you to fuck me, I can’t stand it anymore.”

With that I tugged him back down. The warm
th of his chest against mine made the moment even more real and even more welcomed. Carter was like nothing I ever expected.

He slipped a condom from the pocket of his jeans and fidgeted with the wrapper. And just when I
thought I couldn’t take anymore and that my patience had run its course he grabbed hold of my thighs.

And then he stopped
.

“What?” I said, sliding a hand through my hair. I wasn’t sure if it was medically possible to give a woman blue balls but I was closing in on something similar.

He tapped my leg. “I’m not fucking you on my couch.”

“Why not?” I watched him sit up, and untangle his jeans from his legs and tossed them on the floor.

“Because that’s boring, and I want the first time I’m inside you to be mind blowing,” he said.

Oh dear sweet god, I wasn’t
sure my legs could withstand moving to any other location in his apartment. But I did my best, and let him pull me from the sofa, lost in a fog.

I
gripped his tattooed bicep slinking across the room wiggling free of my clothes on the way. We were both naked and ready, and as I turned around I noticed just how ready Carter was.

He stroked
himself, a slow smile forming on the lips that were just between my legs, and he walked over to me, closing the distance.

From the way he
looked at me I figured he was about to kiss me, but instead he spun me around and pressed himself against me. His lips sending chills up my spine as he laid kiss after kiss on my skin.

“I think this is a form of torture,” I breathe.

“Of the best kind,” he said slapping my ass.

He lifted
me up and carried me into his kitchen, knocking down the pizza boxes and toaster in the process and the fact that he didn’t care made everything happening even hotter.

And he
took me from behind; with no warning he plunged deep inside me, bending me over his counter. I twisted and wiggled, working against him, sliding up and down his dick like it’s the last one on earth. Like I am doing a special dance, a sex fueled dance that is about to pay off big with me having the best orgasm of my entire life.

“I like how
you’re working your hips,” he whispered in my ear, pumping even faster to keep up with me.

I moan
ed even louder when his hand wrapped around my hair, and the other one slipped between my legs playing with me. I grinded against him for the last chance to make him go before me and just when I was about to lose it he stopped and pulled out. He snapped the condom off and tossed it in his sink.

He guided
me to my knees. And before I knew what was happening I was taking all of him in my mouth. I work hard on Carter, my only goal making him cum. It wasn’t anything I was used to; I was turned on at the thought of him finishing in my mouth.

He grabbed a hold of my shoulders. “Alright.” I stood up, and
he bent me over his counter again, and in seconds he was inside me.

I match
ed every thrust he made, working my hips, his hands on my waist; he took over pulling and pushing me against him. He tightened his grip, biting down on my shoulder and pounded me harder.

Just when I
thought he was about to cum he stopped long enough to get me on the floor. He tackled me like a linebacker, a sexy linebacker and coaxed me on top. And I obliged, happy to have my hands all over him, happy to watch him watch me as I fucked him to completion, because even if he was fighting the inevitable I was determined to make him or die trying.

“
You’re not going to win,” he said, jaw tense, he was focused and I didn’t know why. I kept riding him like a horse to the finish line.

“I beg to differ,” I said, breathless hardly able to produce the words, my legs starting to burn from the cardio.
What a way to workout
.

Carter
shook his head, closing his eyes and threw his head back. “It’s not going to happen.”

I slow my pace, pressing into his chest with my palms. “What are you talking about?”

Carter licked his lips, running a hand across my stomach. “I never give in that easily.”

I moved faster, enjoying the glorious joy of seeing him start to crumble.

“It’s mental, I don’t know what it is,” he avoided my gaze.

I stopped. “Sit up.”

“What?” He asked. “I told you.”

I wag
ged a finger at him until he was inches away from my face. I smoothed his hair, running my fingers against his jawline, enjoying the feel of his five o’clock shadow against my fingertips. And I kissed him, a slow kiss that deepened until I could feel Carter’s fingers squeezing my flesh, he pulled me closer.

I started moving again, this time he was more relaxed and our lip lock never ended. A few more jerks of the hips and he
let out a glorious groan.

Everything
slowed; I pressed my head into the space between his shoulders, pressing my lips into his neck. I stroked his hair. “Never say never, Carter.”

He smiled, out of breath, and
dropped back on the carpet. “Holy fuck.”

I admired his relief, the same relief I had when I learned to let go.

There was a knock on his door. We both looked at each other not saying a word. Carter pressed a finger to my lips. “Who is it?”

There was a silence before Ana answered. “It’s me. What are you doing?”

Carter traced a few fingers through my hair, moving my hair out of my eyes. “I was sleeping. Hold on.” He drew me in, his lips on mine.

“Where am I going to go?” I asked,
touching my mouth. The thought of lying in the middle of his floor kissing him sounded fantastic but Ana was right outside.

“I’m not done with you,” he said. “Let me try to get rid of her.”

Another knock on his door. He stood up, and hopped into his jeans. I found my clothes. “I can go. It’s obviously not a good time.”