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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Suki

SIX MONTHS LATER

“What are you wearing, Mrs. Stanton?” Carter wraps his arms around my waist from behind and I lean back into him, smiling. “I’m not sure I want other men seeing this much of my wife.”

He nuzzles my jawline, a couple days’ worth of beard growth sending a little shiver through my body.

We’re at the very private Hawaiian vacation home of Carter’s team owner, billionaire Hudson McClain. It’s paradise—a tropical compound with nine bedrooms, twelve bathrooms and two pools. Carter and I renewed our vows on the beach at sunset two days ago with all our family and many friends in attendance. This afternoon, we’re alone on the balcony of our suite, which has a sweeping view of the ocean.

“What, this?” I tease, turning to face him. “Just wait ’til you see the dress I’m wearing to dinner tonight.”

Having a husband who openly lusts after my body has built my confidence up a lot. Today I’m wearing a black bikini with a Hawaiian print wrap skirt that has a slit all the way up the side of one thigh.

“Yes, that, you vixen.” He tugs on my ponytail. “You want to be my wife; you better put a shirt on. You’re dressed like you want to be my whore.”

“Maybe I want both.”

He kisses me, squeezing my ass. His erection presses against me and I murmur a laugh into his mouth.

“Apparently twice this morning wasn’t enough for you?”

He hums and dips his head to kiss one of my full breasts. “I see these and all I can think about is you riding me the other night while they bounced in my face.”

I groan, my body reacting to his mouth on my skin. “I wish we could do an encore right now, but we’re supposed to be downstairs in two minutes to leave.”

“They’ll all understand why the newlyweds are late.”

“Yeah, probably. Including my dad.”

That sobers him right up. He moves back with a grunt.

“I don’t get him. He sleeps with his wife, right? Why does he expect me not to sleep with you?”

I put a palm on his chest. “Because I’m his daughter. And it’s not that he expects that; he just doesn’t want it thrown in his face. If we show up late and my hair is a mess and my cheeks are flushed, that’s kind of a dead giveaway. And you guys are just starting to get along.”

Carter laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “So him not trying to fight me anymore is us getting along?”

It was only one time, but it did happen. Carter and I went to visit my parents a few months ago for their anniversary party. My dad had too much to drink and got all puffed up in front of his brother and friends. It took my brothers taking him aside and telling him Carter could a hundred-percent kick his ass to make him finally back down.

“He got to walk me down the aisle and he’s happy about that.”

Carter nods. “Hopefully that was enough for him to not stab me and toss my body overboard when we go fishing tomorrow.”

I give him a look. “You’ll be fine. Let’s get down there.”

When I turn to walk back inside, he smacks my ass. “Seriously, though, put on a shirt. I don’t want to be hard in front of your parents.”

I smirk playfully. “Seriously, no. That sounds like a you problem.”

“Do you like it?” Charlotte smiles as she shows me the vase she made at the little pottery studio we’re at.

“I love it.”

“It’s kind of ugly.”

I lower my brows. “No, it’s not. It’s very organic. It reminds me of an ocean wave.”

“I could paint it blue.”

“I think you should.”

“Check mine out.” Dex holds up a mask he made by pressing a slab of clay to his face.

“Oh, I should have done that!” Charlotte grumbles.

“Well, let’s make you one, girl,” he says. “I’ll help.”

My three closest friends have become family to all of us. They’re over for dinner all the time, and Harry is teaching Olivia how to cook. Carter even invited Dex and Harry to his bachelor party, which meant a lot to me.

Several of his teammates are here with us. Four of them and two non-hockey-player friends were his groomspeople. My bridespeople were my brothers, Dex, Harry and Mara. The girls were all junior bridesmaids.

Our wedding was perfect. This time, Carter and I wrote our own heartfelt vows. I slid his ring back onto his finger. Back home, I borrowed it for a few days and had it engraved with the words “At Last” because our song is “At Last” by Etta James.

He added a beautiful band to my existing ring, and I cried when I read the engraving, which says, “At Every Table, I’ll Save You a Seat.” His thoughtfulness in using one of my favorite Taylor Swift Lyrics melted me.

Carter is sitting at a table with some teammates, looking engrossed in a conversation with Bash. He catches my gaze and motions for me to come over.

When I get to their table, Carter wraps an arm around my waist, resting the side of his face against my side.

"She gives amazing advice,” he says to his best friend. “Tell her about it.”

Carter stands up, kisses me and walks away, going over to the table where Hallie and Mara are working on something.

“What’s up?” I say, taking Carter’s seat.

Bash looks miserable. He has dark circles under his eyes and the corners of his mouth are turned down. I thought he looked bad because he’s been drinking so much more than usual here and he’s hungover. There must be something else going on.

He sighs heavily. “Right before we left for this trip, I found out an old friend got engaged. It’s the younger sister of my best friend growing up, her name’s Lainey. And she’s marrying this absolute douchebag.” He shakes his head. “It makes me sick.”

“Do you and her have a history together?”

He looks away. “Not really. She made a move on me once, but I put her in the friend zone because she’s Eric’s sister.”

“So this is just brotherly concern on your part?”

“Yeah, I mean...I care about her. I don’t want her making the biggest mistake of her life.”

“What does her brother think about the guy she’s marrying?”

“Eric?” He scoffs. “He doesn’t get it. He says Shane’s changed from when I knew him in high school and he’s great for Lainey.”

“But you don’t think so?”

“Hell no.” He shifts in his seat, looking like he wants to go run some sprints or something to burn off extra energy. “Lainey’s only twenty-four, she doesn’t need to be getting married yet.”

“How often do you see her?”

He shrugs. “I go home in my offseason and for holidays. A few times a year, my brother and a big group of friends from home come to my games and she’ll be there.”

Carter returns, setting a pina colada with a little pink umbrella in it in front of me and a bottled Corona in front of Bash. I look up and smile at him.

“Do you feel like you can be honest with Lainey about what you think of Shane?” I ask.

He balks. “She won’t listen. That girl’s so stubborn I couldn’t even convince her the sky’s blue. She’s got a temper, too.”

I sip my drink, thinking. There are no easy answers for this one.

“I’m not sure there’s much you can do,” I say. “But if it were me, and I cared about her, I’d still try. I’d have a private, in-person conversation where I shared the things her fiancé has done in the past few years that you’re concerned about.”

He takes a long pull on his beer. “There is nothing from the past few years. It was all stuff in high school.”

“Oh.”

“He’s a fucking asshole and she’ll be so unhappy with him. He’ll want to get her knocked up right away with a little receding-hairline Shane Jr., and then she’ll really be stuck.” He shakes his head and takes another drink. “Fuck it. Might as well just drink ’til I don’t care anymore.”

Bash is very agitated. I meet Carter’s gaze and see concern there. I know what’s going on, but I’m not sure he does.

“So...do you think it’s possible that maybe...you might have some feelings for Lainey?” I say.

“Me? Fuck no. No way. That’s insane. I just don’t want to see her stuck with that douchebag for the rest of her life.”

“Right.” I clear my throat. “I think you should talk to her as soon as you can. In person.”

“Yeah, maybe. Someone has to talk some sense into her.”

Carter goes over to him and claps him on the back. “You want to go to the bar and grill next door and get something to eat?”

Bash shakes his head, then finishes his beer. “This group activity thing is a cool idea, but I don’t feel like being around anyone right now. I think I’m gonna go back to my room and take a nap.”

“Okay, man. Let me know if you need anything,” Carter says.

Bash looks at me and says, “Thanks, Suki. It feels better just to talk it over with you.”

“You don’t have to do anything here you don’t feel like doing. We get it. Just take care of yourself, okay?”

He nods. “Thanks. I’ll be at the luau thing tonight.”

Looking like a dejected puppy, he walks away. Carter puts his arm around my waist.

“I’m worried about him,” he says. “This doesn’t seem like something he should be so worked up over.”

I wrap my arms around him. “The issue is that he’s in love with her, babe.”

Carter gives me a befuddled look. “No, he’s not. You heard what he said.”

“I also read his tone and saw his expression and heard his irrational reasoning for being against the marriage.”

Brow furrowed, my husband seems to be considering. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m right.”

“He better get his ass to his hometown and see what he can do about it.”

“He at least needs to talk to her.”

“Yeah.” He kisses my forehead. “Do you know how happy I am that I never have to deal with that shit ever again?”

I laugh. “What, love shit? I’m sorry to break this news to you, but you will still have to deal with love shit even though we’re married.”

“No, I mean single-people shit. I’ve got my girl and that’s all I’ll ever need.”

My stomach flips over the sweetness of his words. I stretch up on my toes to kiss him. “You keep playing your cards right and we’ll have to go back to our room for some married-people shit.”

He grins. “I love married-people shit.”