Page 4 of Forever After All (Pine Harbour #2)

Carter

But when I grasp the handle and swing the door open, any annoyance I have dissipates when I am faced with Alice's ass and her long legs, sparkling away in that blue dress, under the fluorescent lights of the hotel corridor. She's so close that her ass is practically in my face.

Please, God, let this be how I die.

"Alice, what the hell are you doing?" I ask, confused.

She stands a little too fast and stumbles backwards, almost losing her balance. I snatch her around the waist and pull her into my side.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Ooooh. Hey. Wow. You're so muscly. Check you out." She enunciates her words, trying to make herself sound less intoxicated than she is. Alice doesn't take her eyes off mine, but she places a warm palm to the centre of my chest and she gives me a warm smile.

"Well done for having eyes." I chuckle at her, trying to crack a joke to disperse the tension in my body from having her this close to me. Fully aware that I’m only wearing boxers, there is not currently a lot of fabric separating the two of us.

"God, you're so full of yourself."

"Probably! It didn't stop you from finding my room, though, did it? Can't keep away from us hockey players, huh?" I grin at her, and she rolls her eyes in response.

"I think you mean ex-hockey player."

She certainly has a point. I retired at the end of the last season. I was a goalie for Saltern Glass—and a fucking good one too. But previous injuries meant I couldn't continue playing and I wanted to leave while I was still on top.

Being a retired athlete is weird. I currently have a lot of free time, a lot of free cash, and a lot of female attention. None of which I care about, if I'm being entirely honest.

"Alice, where is your room? Are you lost?" My arm is still steadying her around the waist as she sways in my doorway.

She shrugs in answer to my question.

"I don't know where my room is. I lost my key, I threw my shit all over the floor," she mumbles at me.

"I was trying to pick it up, but hit my head on the wall when I bent forward to pick it all up.

" She lifts a little bag with one hand, showcasing things roughly stuffed into it.

Phone, some twenty-dollar bills, lipstick, earrings, some other type of jewellery that I can't make out as it's as tangled mess, and a condom…

Hmm, interesting.

She presses the fingers of her other hand to her forehead and scrunches her eyes. I automatically reach my hand up to rub the small red bump that's forming on her head, and the urge to run my hands through her glossy brown waves is almost too much to handle.

"Do you want to stay here tonight? Well…this morning?" I ask without a second thought.

"Would that be okay?" She sighs in relief.

"Sure, Alice. Of course. It’s fine. Now, let me help you over to the bed so you can sit down."

"Ow!" She winces as I usher her into the room. I pause, wondering whether I have stepped on her or bashed her into the wall.

"These fucking shoes are killing me." She groans .

I sit her down on the edge of the bed and kneel in front of her.

"Hey, at least buy me a drink first!"

"Oh, hush. I’m trying to take your shoes off. Not have sex with you. Although, with that condom in your bag, I'd think you're the one hoping to get laid tonight, not me."

She reddens as I begin wrapping my hand around her ankle, and I undo the bow at the back of the shoe.

They are flat, which has gone in Alice's favour, as she'd have definitely broken an ankle if she was wearing anything with height.

The shoes have intricate bows that wrap around the ankle a few times.

I pull the first bow free, untangling it from around her leg.

She steadies herself on my shoulders so she doesn't fall backwards on the bed. I make light work of the second shoe.

"You good?" I ask as she releases her grip from my shoulders.

"I'm good. Better now." She gives me a small but genuine smile. One that I return. She flexes her toes into the carpet and lets out a small contented sigh.

Alice stands and rolls her shoulders backwards, forwards, and then rolls her neck in small circles. Her chin practically disappearing into her cleavage as she does.

I would like to disappear in there too.

"Just releasing the tension, you know?" she chirps.

I shrug my shoulders and make a pillow divider in the middle of the bed. The good thing about hotels, is that there are always more than enough pillows, and I don't need any kind of temptation from her whatsoever.

After getting the pillows and an extra blanket for the bed, I turn around to see Alice trying to wrestle with the strings on the back of her dress.

"You okay there?" I tilt my head to the side, observing what she is doing.

"Please get me out of this fucking torture device before I throw myself out of a window." She huffs in frustration, hopping around, trying to contort herself to reach the back of her dress.

"Well, that's very dramatic Alice. But I'll definitely try to help."

I—way more sober—can undo the knots with ease.

I will never understand women putting themselves in contraptions like these.

Now I understand why she said torture device—it is indeed pure torture.

All in the name of looking good. But let me tell you, this woman standing in front of me now would look good in a garbage bag.

The strings have marked the skin on her back, leaving little red indentations in their place.

I look away as the dress drops to her feet, because as much as I want to see her naked, I know that if she wasn't drunk then she would be going to her own bed and not mine .

I'm also not a fucking asshole. Unlike Matt, I know how to be a gentleman.

She trusts me enough to be here, and I'll to prove to her exactly why she can.

"Let me know when it's safe to look," I say in the direction of the bed.

I’m met with silence.

"Alice?"

Nothing. There is no reply. That is, until I hear snoring.

I shake my head, chuckle to myself, and pick up her belongings from the floor.

Carefully folding the dress, I place it on the chair just inside the hotel room door.

I head for the mini bar and pull out a bottle of water to set down next to her for the morning. I am quite confident she'll need it.

Looking over at the bed, Alice is sprawled right in the middle of it, sheet draped over her, waves of hair cascading over the pillows. Even louder snores start escaping her mouth.

I make a note to tease her for this in the future. But for now, I walk over to one side of the bed, because she definitely isn't fucking staying in the middle, because I am not sleeping on the floor. My knees won’t take it.

I slide one arm underneath her knees and the other arm under her shoulders and pull her towards me, so I have enough room to get in on the other side, making sure that the sheet stays in place.

Walking around the bed, I stub my fucking toe right on the end, and bite my knuckle so I don't audibly shout and wake her up. Hopping around for a few seconds before making my way to the other side. Crawling into bed, I pull up a blanket, and glance across the bed to Alice.

I can't believe Alice is in my bed.

Before I know it, I drift off into sleep again.

I jolt awake because my cock is in someone's hand—and it isn’t mine.

I hear groaning and a shocked gasp from the other side of the bed before the hasty withdrawal of the hand. The warmth of Alice’s touch makes me want to come in my boxers, but I try to see the humorous side of it.

"Good morning, Alice. Are you always so forward? At least buy me a drink first." I chuckle remembering Alice saying a variation of the same thing only a few hours ago.

"Carter?" I hear a little squeak from the other side of the bed. I force my eyes open and see her facing me. Eyes wide with terror. Alice clasps her hand around her mouth, and I can see the dread on her face .

If it is even possible, she looks more beautiful this morning.

"Were you expecting someone else?" I feel irrationally annoyed by thinking about her in bed with someone else, even though I have no right to be.

"Oh my god! Did I? Did we? Shit." I hear a small panic in her usually calm tone.

"Shit, shit, shit," she says over and over again. Alice starts trying to move from the bed and before I can even think about the consequences, I jut my arm out across her stomach, pinning her to the mattress. The softness of her brushing against my forearm.

"Shh. Go back to sleep, Alice. It's early." I instinctively pull her towards me and regret it immediately.

"No, no, I have to go." She shrugs me off and jumps out of bed, gathering her stuff as she does.

"Alice, wait," I call out, and prop myself up in bed just in time to see her shuffling out of the door, holding her dress up around herself, that gapes at the back.

Wow.

She was in that much of a rush to leave after thinking we slept together that she didn't even do up her dress. She couldn't get away from me fast enough.

I must have completely misread the chemistry between us.

I sigh, slightly defeated and roll over to chase sleep again.