Page 35

CHAPTER 35

ROMAN

A few days later, the stress of a chaotic shift slid away, and a smile bloomed as I pushed open the door to Carson’s room and stopped. A smile bloomed at the sight before me. Everything I ever wanted was laid out before me like a veritable buffet of all my hopes and dreams.

Mama dozed in the recliner with her e-reader on her lap and her reading glasses sliding off her nose.

Carson, although injured, slept peacefully with a book on… I chuckled… German Romanticism, forgotten on his lap. His sleep-slackened right hand held another book. One I recognized easily as Margot’s current obsession… The Boxcar Children. The books had been mine as a child, and now they graced Margot’s bookshelves.

But the sight of my little girl snuggling into Carson’s left side, his arm wrapped around her protectively, made me melt inside. I didn’t believe I’d ever been this happy.

Pushing the door open further and stepping into the room, the door’s hydraulics gave a small hiss. Carson’s eyes flew open. The warrior in him came to life, and his demeanor changed immediately. Gone was the injured man I loved, replaced by the warfighter the Navy spent millions to train. All before the barely audible snick of the door closing died from the room.

His gaze met mine momentarily, then he glanced down at Margot. His eyes closed as he sucked in a deep breath. I moved toward them.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” I whispered.

“You didn’t really,” he said, and I cocked my head in disbelief.

“Okay, you’re right. You startled me. It’s because I’m laid up. All my senses are hyperaware right now. Can’t let anyone get the drop…”

“You’re in the hospital, who…”

“Maybe the pediatrician from the other day.”

His tone wasn’t mean or accusatory. He could’ve been reciting the weather, but I could see the wariness in his eyes.

Before I could formulate a response, he said, “Sorry. That was uncalled for. You don’t owe me an explanation. Back to you startling me, if I’d been expecting you or one of my teammates, I wouldn’t have been so quick to wake.”

I would address the Gunnar situation once we were alone. Instead, I focused on the last thing he said.

“Do you ever fully sleep?”

He nodded, but a sleepy little girl’s yawn interrupted us before he could respond more fully.

“Daddy?” she asked.

“Hey, punkin,”

She reached for me, and I picked her up, cuddling her to me. I took a deep breath of her hair, filling my lungs with her sleepy scent. Her hair usually smelled of peaches and something that I could never place, but today, the masculine scent of Carson mingled with hers, and I sighed.

A groan came from the recliner, and Carson and I smiled at each other as Mama awakened and stretched.

“Oh, my goodness. What time is it?” Mama asked as she stood, looking toward the windows.

I laughed, “Send you to watch over the man, and what do I find? You, snoring like a grizzly.”

“You hush. None of us got any sleep while this one,” she jerked her thumb toward Carson, “was lost in the wilderness. We’re just catching up on what we missed out on.”

“My apologies, Amelia,” Carson said.

A knock sounded at the door before opening. Carson’s teammates shoved into the room. My usually outspoken little girl looked around shyly, then wiggled out of my arms to stand before the three men. Her hands found her hips, and she stared up at them.

“Where’s Misser Adam?”

“Margot Adrienne!” Mama yelled.

Finlay dropped to his knee and said, “Well, see, Little Miss, he’s in Virginia, but I’m Finlay.”

“Yeah, and?”

Carson and the others burst into laughter while Mama and I did our damnedest to corral my spitfire daughter.

“Princess, come here.”

Margot stuck her tongue out at Finlay and ran to Carson while Foster and Alex continued their hyena impersonation. I moved to caution her, but she eased up on the bed without jostling him in the least. He pulled her up next to him, and I swallowed at the sight of them together. The way he was with her. It was so natural. She took to him that first day like his mere presence in her life opened her up and gave her a sass and confidence she’d not had before.

“Princess, that wasn’t very nice.”

“I wanted to see Misser Adam.”

Carson looked at me, and I shrugged. I had no clue what was going on. Yes, Adam had been super sweet to Margot after Brock and Carson left the restaurant, but it wasn’t anything special.

“Carson, why don’t you let me remind my granddaughter of her manners while you and Roman talk with your teammates?”

“No! I’m staying with Carson.”

“Margot,” Carson said on a sigh.

Tears gathered in Margot’s eyes, and I moved to intervene, and he shook his head. “You never called me that before.”

“You’ve never acted like that around me. It wasn’t nice, and now you need to go with Nana. You can come back to see me tomorrow…”

“Okay.”

“ If you apologize to Mister Finlay for being a brat.”

Her little face screwed up in that stubborn pout, and where I would’ve been arguing with her, he waited, watching her. Without another word from him or her, she kissed his cheek and slid off the bed. A war waged, and here was the battleground. She stared at her feet until she sighed so big her shoulders rose several inches. A loud grunt came from her as she exhaled, squared her little shoulders, and lifted her chin.

She marched right up to Finlay, looked straight up at him, and curled her finger. He kneeled, and she said, “I’m sorry for being a brat. I just wanted to see Misser Adam.”

“I get that. I’m a bit of a brat, too. Just ask Carson and Mister Adam.”

Her eyes grew big as saucers. “Big people, big as you, can be a brat?”

Foster and Alex squatted next to Finlay, and Foster said, “Finlay is the biggest brat I know.

Alex added, “That’s saying something because Foster has a lot of kids.”

He held his hand up, and Margot counted his fingers by tapping hers to each of his one at a time.

“Daddy!” She turned to me, her eyes rounder than ever as she pointed toward Foster and said, “He gots five kids!! That’s a lot.”

“It is.”

“Margot, get your bag. It’s time to go home.”

“Yes, Nana.”

Mama leaned over and kissed Carson’s cheek. “You’re a miracle worker. Keep this up, and I’ll call you the Margot Whisperer.”

“Beginner’s luck,” Carson said, and she laughed.

Mama and Margot kissed my cheek and left, promising to bring Carson, Foster, Alex, and Finlay food the next day.

“Y’all are hornin’ in on my homecooked meals, and I’m not sure I like it,” Carson said.

“Tough shit. Alex and I are single. No one cooks for us…”

“Excuse me, but I believe y’all are at my dinner table more nights than some of my kids,” Foster reminded them.

Things settled down for a while after that. We sat around talking and laughing. They did most of the talking, well, mainly Finlay. I mostly listened, but I definitely contributed to the laughter. I loved getting this sneak peek into Carson’s found family. I’d gotten a small taste with Adam after Carson and Brock were… spun up is the term I believe Adam used.

Spun up.

Insanely appropriate, given the way things happened that day. Everything had been happy and celebratory, and with one call, all our plans were put on hold while the needs of the Navy spun us into a tizzy as we shuffled everything to accommodate them.

The door opened, pulling me from my thoughts as a nurse came in. “There you three are. We’ve been looking all over for you.”

They groused as they said their goodbyes and allowed the nurse to usher them back to their rooms. A small smile danced on Carson’s face as he watched them go. As soon as the door closed, shutting out the world and leaving us alone, he turned to me.

“Does that door have a lock?”

I smirked. “Why? You have something in mind?”

“So many damn things, doc.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“Well, you making good on the promise you made me the other day, for starters?”

I moved to the door, flipping the lock, before returning to his side. “I vaguely remember that promise.”

“Vaguely, huh?”

The raspy sound of his voice zinged through my veins, making my dick take notice. I cleared my throat. When I spoke, the words came out thick and slow, laden with the lust pooling in my crotch.

“Yeah, vaguely. There’s this other thing…”

“What other thing?”

I sat down on the edge of the bed next to his hip, and my arms bracketed him as I leaned in. “The most amazing kiss I’ve ever received,” I whispered.

Our lips met. Soft, barely there touches at first, but every feeling and thought I’d ever had of being with him surged forward, turning the heat from a smolder to an inferno, burning brighter and hotter, robbing the room of air.

I pulled away from his lips. Fucking hell… his lips. And that beard that’d left my face raw. And the twin blue flames that stared back at me when my gaze met his.

All of it combined… I couldn’t describe how it made me feel, not even if someone had a gun to my head.

“You okay, doc?”

I nodded. Taking a slow, deep breath, I replied, “You devastate me.”

“Well, that’s… yeah, I don’t know how to respond to that.”

“In a good way. You always have. You laid waste to my soul, to everything I thought I knew about myself.”

“Well, I’d love it if you laid me.”

I gasped at his words. Then laughter erupted from us both, and the warrior I knew him to be disappeared behind the soft pink blush that crept up from beneath the collar of his shirt, over his neck and face.

He groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands. “I can’t believe I said that.”

Leaning forward, I captured his lips, exploring but not allowing myself to get lost. When he moved to deepen the kiss, I shook my head as I kissed my way to his ear.

“Uh-huh. You’re not going to distract me. Not this time,” I murmured in his ear.

Nipping at his jaw, I continue down his neck with soft sucking kisses. When I reached fabric, a frustrated sound vibrated my chest, and I looked up at him. The connection between us sparking and crackling like a downed electrical wire.

“This would be a whole lot easier if I weren’t laid up.”

“This would be easier if you were naked.”

A soft hum filled the space between us, but I couldn’t tell you which of us it came from. It lived in the space between us, mingled with our breath, and supercharged the feelings zipping across our gazes.

The blue of his irises were blown wide, nearly eclipsed by the black at their center. They burned so hot they melted my core. I approached puddle status as we gazed at one another.

Bringing my hand to his cheek, my thumb brushed over his lower lip. My soft gasp got stuck as he sucked the digit into his mouth.

“What do you want? What dark, dirty fantasies live in that gorgeous mind?”

“You, Rome. I just want you.”

My hand slipped to his throat. His Adam’s apple caressed my palm as he swallowed.

“Do you want me to suck your cock? Hmm?”

The breaths dancing across my face came faster and harsher.

“Or do you want me to straddle your lap and feed you my cock?”

That puffy bottom lip got caught between his teeth as he groaned.

“Or do you want to bury yourself inside me?”

A sigh whispered passed his lips.

“Hmm, no, I don’t think that’s what you want at all.”

Lifting his chin with my thumb, I stared at him as I brushed my nose against his.

“No. I think what you want, what you need , is me spreading you open and taking you. You want my cock, don’t you, Carson? You want me to push into you and fuck you until your eyes roll back in your head.”

A whimper escaped my warrior, and I leaned into him, whispering, “That’s what I want, too. I want to fuck you senseless until neither of us know our names or where one of us ends and the other begins.”

“Yes,” the word gushed from him.

I took his mouth, pressing him back against the raised bed. I took what I wanted, giving him what I knew he wanted. What he needed.

A lack of oxygen made spots dance in my vision, so I wrenched our mouths apart and yanked back the blankets covering his legs. I peeled him out of the ball shorts he wore, watching and salivating as his cock, bounced free. Pre-cum dribbled from the tip, and the smell invaded my senses.

Everything about him intoxicated me. Forget liquor or drugs. The taste and smell of Carson Wilcox was my addiction. The feel of him was the only thing that could compete.

Moving around, I looked up at him, our gazes locking together as I ran my tongue from base to tip, digging my tongue into his slit and drinking down that salty, pearly essence I’d longed for since the day I realized what a blow job was.

He carded his fingers into my short-cropped hair, gripping it tightly only to let go. Pulling away from him, I encouraged his roughness. Not because he needed it, because I think he did, but because I needed it.

“Do it. Grab my head and fuck my face. Take what you need.”