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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Suki

The hearing was set for ten, but we’re still sitting in the hallway outside the courtroom waiting at 10:35 a.m.

Carter shifts in his seat beside me, checking his watch again. Even though he got home in the middle of the night, he was already in the kitchen when I got up at six thirty this morning, coffee brewed and breakfast cooking.

The girls didn’t know about this hearing, so they were their usual morning selves. Olivia was ready to go early, Charlotte was running late and Hallie had to give Darling a dozen kisses and hugs before walking out the door.

Carter did school drop-off, then he came home and dressed in a dark suit with one of the ties I got him for Christmas. I’m wearing black pants and a simple green blouse, my hair in a knot at the nape of my neck.

I pat his knee reassuringly and he takes my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. Neither one of us could eat and we both drank too much coffee; it’s hard just sitting here and feeling helpless.

Carter nodded toward the girls’ father, Chad, when he sat down in a seat on the other side of the hallway. He’s average-looking, dressed in khakis and a dress shirt. Charlotte looks like him.

It’s all I can do to ignore him. I want to go ask him how he could ignore his own children. I’d miss the girls if they were gone for a weekend. I can’t even fathom not seeing them for years. He’s a failure as a parent and as a human.

Finally, a bailiff opens the courtroom doors and Carter’s attorney, Michelle, stands up, gesturing for us to follow.

I sit in one of the rows of benches for spectators. Carter and Michelle sit at one of the tables facing the judge’s bench and Chad sits at the other table, a man who must be his attorney beside him.

I’m trying to calm my racing heart with deep breathing when the door to the judge’s chambers opens and she walks out. Everyone stands while she walks to her seat and then she tells us to be seated.

Carter sits stiff-backed as the judge talks about reports from counselors and teachers and filings from the attorneys. She asks Carter some questions and then asks Chad some questions.

I’m shocked to learn that Chad’s wife already has three kids and is pregnant with another one. If the girls are sent to live with him, there will be seven kids in a three-bedroom home.

“We could use some of Rachel’s life insurance money to buy a bigger house,” he tells the judge.

Carter doesn’t move. His attorney told him not to show any reaction to anything, no matter how outrageous. I know it’s taking all his self-control to stay silent.

“I can’t order money locked up in trusts to be distributed to you,” the judge tells Chad. “If your attorney advised you that was an option, you were misinformed.”

Chad clears his throat. “I thought that money was for the girls to be taken care of.”

“Mr. Stanton put all the money into trusts for the children.”

Chad looks over at Carter. “Well, I’m not a millionaire like him.”

“Money aside,” the judge says, “I’ve decided the children should remain with Mr. Stanton and his wife. If Mr. Bailey wishes to come to Cleveland to visit the children, he may do so, with those details to be worked out between the parties. Mr. Bailey will also get two uninterrupted weeks of visitation every summer at his home if he wishes. I also want him to be allowed regular phone contact with the children. To have access to pictures of them and to receive communications about their grades and activities. Are you willing to do those things, Mr. Stanton?”

“Yes. Thank you, your honor.”

“All the teachers and counselors have said the girls are doing well with you. Keep doing what you’re doing. And Mr. Bailey, had you been active in the children’s lives before their mother’s death, my decision may have been different.”

The hearing ends then, with Carter hugging Michelle and Chad looking disgusted. I breathe a huge sigh of relief, smiling when Carter comes toward me, opening his arms.

“Thank God,” he says softly. “We did it.”

We hold onto each other for a solid minute, and then he pulls away and leans his forehead against mine. The excitement I felt when he kissed me on Christmas returns.

“Let’s go home,” I say softly.

“I want to take you on a date,” Carter says when we’re almost home. “Maybe Mara or Dex would be able to babysit. I can find someone else if not.”

“Mara, Dex and Harry will fight over who gets to do it. If they’re not busy, all three of them will come.”

“If you want to, so will you.”

I wrinkle my brow, confused. “So will I what?”

“Come.”

My lips part and my face warms.

“I want you so fucking bad, Suki. It’s all I can think about.”

My whole body heats in response to his words. A relationship isn’t in the cards for me, but sex? I’m not meant for the abstinent life.

“Do you mean after we go on a date--or now?” I ask.

“Both.”

I laugh at his eagerness. “We do have cause for celebration.”

The Navigator speeds up as he presses on the gas pedal. He looks over at me, hunger swirling in his dark-brown eyes.

“It’s been a while for me, so I’ll have to pace myself.”

My heart soars as he confirms he hasn’t been sleeping with women while traveling. “How long?”

“More than six months.”

“Yeah, same.”

I’m wearing my blouse with the top two buttons undone. I reach for the third one and unfasten it. Then, the fourth.

“Oh fuck.” Carter looks over at me. “Don’t make me wreck the car.”

“I thought you might like a preview.”

“I’ve had two months of previews every time you walk out of the shower in one of those tank tops. Or wear my jersey. You wore a black V-neck shirt once that I jerked off thinking about for days.”

“A shirt?” I smile. “You’re easy, Mr. Stanton.”

“It was more about your tits in the shirt. Your tits are unbelievable.”

He turns onto his street, the tires squealing. I can’t keep myself from smiling; I had no idea I had this effect on him.

Before he turns into the driveway, he’s pressing the button for the garage door opener. He slides to a stop in the garage, practically flying out of the car.

I open my door and step out, and he meets me in front of the passenger door. He takes my face in his hands and kisses me, backing me against the car door. His tongue brushes over mine, his erection pressing into my belly as we kiss each other like it’s the last kiss we’ll ever get.

We’re both breathless when we pull apart, and Carter sweeps me up with an arm behind my knees. He carries me into the house, Darling trotting toward us happily.

“I don’t care what he destroyed or ate. We’re ignoring it,” Carter murmurs.

He races up the stairs, not even winded, when he kicks the bedroom door closed and sets me on the bed.

I push myself right back out of it, finishing the last of the buttons on my blouse and dropping it to the floor with my shoes and pants. He’s stripping off his clothes at the same time; he’s down to boxer briefs when he walks over to the closet and comes back out with a box of condoms in hand.

He tosses it on the bed and takes me in his arms again. I gasp from the feel of his warm, taut body against mine. He groans as he unfastens my bra and takes it off, cupping one of my breasts and kissing my neck.

I’ve never been with a man his size. He’s tall, broad and rock hard. I slide my hand to the front of his boxer briefs and stroke my hand down the front to size him up.

Wow. He’s huge there, too. His ragged groan empowers me to run my hand up and down his length again.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

He puts a leg between mine, forcing me onto the bed. I lie back and he pulls my underwear off in a fluid motion, then bends so he’s over my thighs, slowly working his way up them with kisses.

Gasps, moans and half giggles spill from my mouth as he tickles and teases me. When he runs the tip of his tongue down my seam, I cry out. It seems to urge him on, and soon he’s licking and sucking like a starving man.

He holds nothing back, using his mouth and fingers to work my body right to the edge. But instead of letting me tip over, he stops, takes off his boxer briefs and rolls a condom over his erection.

He fills me up before he’s all the way in, stretching me. But it’s still good, and I spread my legs wider. Once he’s all the way in, he closes his eyes, then opens them and kisses me softly.

“Tell me if I do anything you don’t like,” he says.

“Just don’t stop.”

He pulls out and pushes himself all the way back in, both of us groaning with pleasure. I wrap my legs around him and he picks up the pace, building me up with every thrust.

It’s beyond good. It’s bliss having this massive man focused entirely on fucking me. Just the sight and sound of his pleasure is bringing me close to coming.

“Yes, like that,” I say, my voice breathy. “Don’t stop.”

He does exactly what I want. The only sounds in the room are our bodies slamming together and our heavy breathing.

“Oh, God.” I grip his back tighter as I reach the edge, crying out his name as I come. “Carter! Please don’t stop.”

I come hard, the orgasm extended by his powerful groan as he thrusts into me a final time and comes, too. We’re both breathless when he rolls off me, picking up my hand and kissing the back of it.

“That’s the way everything should be celebrated,” I say, my voice relaxed and happy.

“Hell yes. You make me crazy in the best way.”

“We just consummated our marriage,” I say, realizing it as the words come out.

“I’m not sure it took. We should probably do it again.”

I laugh, propping myself up on an elbow so I can see his face. “If it’s that good every time, we can do it as many times as you want.”