Back to the Drawing Board (31 page)

I wanted to come up with a witty response to his compliment, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to come up with anything other than “take me.” So I bit my lip and stayed quiet.

“Do you want this, Ms. Gibbons?” His fingers brushed over my sensitive skin, and I bucked against him, willing him to do it.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“More words, my love. What would you like me to do?”

“Touch me.”

“I
am
touching you.”

I growled in frustration, and he laughed. “Impatience. I like it. That’s a bad, bad girl, Ms. Gibbons.” With that, he smacked my right butt cheek, causing me to jump. Holy shit. No one had ever done that before. “Do you need more?”

Did I need more? My nerve endings were firing, sending urgent messages throughout my body. “Yes.”

“You like that word, Ms. Gibbons. I think you need a different one.” Carter smacked the other one.

“That’s . . . hot,” I managed to say. “Give it to me.”

“Better,” he said. “You’ll get rewarded now.” I gasped as he entered two fingers inside of me, finding the spot that made my eyes roll.

“Julia,” Carter made my name sound like it was five syllables. “I’m sorry. I need you now.” He withdrew his fingers and pushed inside me, shoving me across the desk with the force. He gripped my hips to keep me in place and took what he wanted. I could barely breathe I was so aroused and overwhelmed, all at the same time.

No more words were said. Flirtation was over. He needed me, and I needed him. I let go of the desk and reached behind me, capturing his head as he leaned over me. We turned our faces just enough to be able to kiss briefly before he wrapped one arm around me and kept his punishing pace. His hand caressed my breasts, first one and then the other. His hand snaked down my stomach, and when he began stroking me with the same rhythm, I flew apart, clutching on to him like I was drowning and he was my life preserver.

Within seconds, he shouted out, biting my shoulder as I felt him pulsating inside of me. He slowed his strokes but kept moving inside me, building another burn, a slower one this time.

“Carter,” I groaned. “I can’t even . . .”

“Baby,” he said, running his hands over my entire body again. “Hottest thing I could’ve ever imagined.” He withdrew and turned me so I was sitting on the desk, pulling me so I was right on the edge. It put me at just the right place for him to enter me again, and we continued our lovemaking, slower and more deliberate.

Carter looked directly into my eyes as he showed me how he felt with his soft caress. “My beautiful girl,” he whispered. “I can’t get enough.”

I looped my legs over his backside and pulled him closer, needing him, wanting him. I ran my fingers along his scruff and into his hair as our tongues tangled together while our bodies accelerated to another high.

“Let’s play a game.” We’d been in the car for about five hours and had several still to go. I didn’t mind, though, because we’d spent the time either talking or driving each other crazy. I was trying anything not to think about the things awaiting me in Denver. What had my parents told people? I knew they’d never want the truth to come out, so they’d make up some story. I was also nervous as hell at what Carter was about to do. The two days we’d spent in Oklahoma had been beyond amazing. We did manage to leave the hotel room a few times, but not for long. The only thing in my life I knew for sure right now was that I had Carter. Surprisingly, that was enough.

Carter lifted his eyebrow at me. “We’ve played ‘Never Have I Ever’ and ‘Twenty Questions,’ though I’m not sure we ever got to twenty. What now?”

“Two Truths and a Lie.”

“How do we play that?”

“We say three things, and you have to pick out which one is a lie.”

“What happens if we get it right?”

“A kiss.”

“Ooh, I like this game. What if we get it wrong?”

“A kiss.”

Carter rubbed his hands together. “So no matter what, I get to kiss you.”

“Yes.”

“This game rocks. Okay, you start.”

“If you play your cards right, I just may give you a kind of kiss that needs to be done in private.”

Carter shifted his eyes to me, and then quickly back to the road. “You expect me to
concentrate
now? You are a dirty little vixen, Julia Gibbons.”

We’d definitely found our wild side with each other in Oklahoma. I didn’t think I’d ever see a desk or a dining table the same way again.

I tapped my finger on my lips, trying to think of what I was going to say.

“Okay, here we go. You pick out the lie, okay? I ran away from home when I was fourteen, I once had a threesome, or I want to be part of the Mile High Club.”

Carter coughed. “Julia, you’re seriously trying to kill me here. And I don’t want to think about you sleeping with anyone else, much less two, so I’m going to hope that’s the lie.”

I clapped my hands. “You got it! That’s the lie. Good job, baby.” I leaned over the console and kissed his neck, licking my way up to his ear. I grinned when I saw his hands turn white on the steering wheel.

“Where the hell are we and are there any hotels? I can’t do this game with you. And wait? You ran away from home when you were fourteen? And you want to join the Mile High Club? Uhh, where’s the nearest airport?”

I laughed. “Patience, isn’t that what you told me? And yes, I ran away when I was fourteen. I packed a bag and got a mile away before I was hot and tired and went back.”

“I have no patience when it comes to wanting you.”

“Your turn.”

He slid his eyes over to me. “Okay. Here you go. I had a dream about having sex with you the first night we met, I cried the night my mom took me to college, or I wet my bed until I was ten.”

Tears slid out of my eyes, I laughed so hard. “This game is so fun! Okay, let’s see. I say the lie is that you wet your bed until you were ten.”

“Nope. I did. The lie was that I cried when my mom took me to college. Wait a minute! You thought I
cried
when my mom took me to college?

I shrugged. “Well, you said you guys were really close, so . . . And wait. You had a dream about having sex with me after that night?”

Carter nodded. “Yes. I was on the plane ride home and I woke up after having had a dream you were riding me. It was . . . hot.”

“I had a dream about having sex with you, too,” I admitted. “I wonder if we actually did have sex and that was us remembering it.”

“I sure as hell hope we didn’t, because if I can’t remember something that epic, I hate myself.”

“We’ve had a lot of times to remember since then.”

“Yes, but still. Okay, your turn.”

“Wait! I need my kiss!”

Carter grabbed my neck and pulled me to him, his eyes still somehow on the road as he inhaled my lips with his. Just as fast as he grabbed me, he put me back, my head reeling.

“Your turn,” he smirked.

“Alright. I had an imaginary friend as a child, Tracey and I stole some jewelry from a store when we were fifteen, or I was prom queen my senior year.”

“You’re making this hard,” Carter said. “But since I get a kiss no matter, I’m going to say the lie is that you stole from a store.”

“Nope. That’s true. We got away with it, too. But I felt guilty about it for years. I still feel guilty about it.”

“So which one was a lie?”

I laughed. “I wasn’t at all the prom queen.”

“Really? I would’ve thought that you were totally the type,” Carter said.

I laughed. “I’m not sure how to take that. Nope.”

“Were you a cheerleader?”

“Ew, no,” I scrunched my nose. “Dance team.”

He smacked his leg. “You kill me. What was your imaginary friend’s name?”

“Lori. And it was a man. I’d scare Nancy half to death all the time, telling her she was going to run Lori over in the car. Finally she said, ‘Tell that man to get
in
the car, or I
will
run him over!’”

He puckered his lips, and I touched his facial hair. “Don’t ever get rid of this.”

“So what would you do if I shaved?”

“I would cry. And make you regrow it.” I kissed him quickly, and then sat back.

Carter exited the highway. “I’m starving. Let’s pull off for awhile.” He pulled into a fast food restaurant and parked under a large shade tree.

“We’re going in?”

“I didn’t say what I was hungry for,” Carter said, grabbing me and kissing me breathless.

I tapped my pen on the notebook in front of me. “Okay, I think I’m done. Will you listen to it and tell me what you think?”

Carter smiled. “Of course. It doesn’t matter what you write, Jules. Johnny loves you no matter what.” Ever since I’d found out about why Johnny was
really
in prison, I’d been consumed with trying to figure out how to make it right with him. I couldn’t call there, and I knew he wouldn’t call me after what I’d said while we were visiting. I was the only person he had, and I’d left him, too. What kind of sister was I?

I cleared my throat. “Johnny,” I began. “I wanted to thank you for what you’re doing. Carter told me everything. I’m sorry for what I said at the last visitation. I understand why you think you have to stay in there, but it breaks my heart at the same time. You don’t have to give up your life for me, Johnny. Isn’t there anything we can do? I’ll help you in any way I can. I didn’t understand the truth, and I wish you would’ve just confided in me. I love you, Johnny, and I miss you so much. I want nothing more than to take this all away from you. Please consider doing what you can to get out of there. I know you’re there for me, but please think about telling them what they want to know for me, too. We’ll figure out what we need to do together. Love you always, Julia.”

I looked over at Carter. “It’s great, Julia. We can send it as soon as we get home.”

“I’m a bad sister,” I whispered, turning to look out the car window. My heart felt broken. As much in love as I was with Carter, my brother was suffering in prison to keep me safe. It just wasn’t right.

“Julia, look at me.” Carter waited until I turned my face back to see him. “No, you aren’t. You love Johnny, and he loves you. He knows that you’re the only one that’s ever been there for him. Believe me. I was still in that room when you walked out. The only thing Johnny was worried about was you. It’s all going to be fine.”

“I want him out of that place,” I said. “What can we do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Carter admitted. “Johnny has to decide to give up the information he has. You have to understand that he may never do that, and you have to decide whether you’re going to be there anyway.”

I nodded. “Yes. I have to be. I can’t leave him. It was hard enough for me to make that ultimatum
before
I knew the truth of why he’s in there.”

“It’s all going to be okay, Julia. I promise.” Carter laced his fingers with mine. I hoped that was true.

“Come home with me,” Carter said.

I looked up from my suitcase. “You don’t want to stay here tonight?” We’d finally made it back into town after several detours along the way. It was late evening, and we were exhausted.

“No, that’s fine. I mean, move in with me.”

I froze, looking at him with wide eyes. “Really?”

All of a sudden he looked nervous. “I mean . . . we don’t have to. I just . . .”