Just Add Heat (15 page)

His hands
were on my thighs, drawing them slightly apart so that he could put his own
knee in the space between. Once I realized what he was doing I pulled my knees
up and spread my legs so that he could fit inside them. He bent forward,
resting his weight on his hands that were on either side of my head. Seconds
later his lips touched my neck and I arched up, I couldn’t believe how
sensitive my skin felt. I moaned as he moved down to circle my own nipple,
pulling it into his mouth and causing a tugging sensation in my womb.

He moved
lower, raining kisses down my stomach and to the juncture of my thighs. When he
positioned himself there and touched my clit with his tongue my eyes flew open
and I looked down. It was the exact picture I had in my head yesterday when I
was imagining him kissing me. I guess that had been a memory too, but when he
started stroking me with his tongue I couldn’t think anymore. I could feel the
orgasm building while he used his hands to hold my upper thighs still as I
bucked against his mouth.

“Oh my
god.” I couldn’t hold back against the most intense orgasm I could remember.
Even as it was overtaking me I felt Carter move up and position himself at my
entrance, surging into me a moment later. I cried out as I was overcome with
sensation and I could feel myself contracting around him as he plunged in again
and again. All I could do was wrap my arms around him and hold on as I
exploded. After what felt like an eternity of sensation I felt him stiffen and
groan as he had his own release.

He relaxed
his arms, lowering himself back down on top of me and as I felt his weight
cover me I opened my eyes. “I love you, Carter.” I wasn’t just saying it
because I had just had mind-blowing sex. I said it because I knew it was true
down to the tip of my toes.

Chapter Fifteen

I knew without a doubt
that I loved him, I could feel it. My heart started beating furiously when I
saw the look on Carter’s face. He looked so happy that I felt guilty. Yes, I
loved him, but I immediately recognized that I still didn’t remember all the
time it took to build up to that love. That was all missing. I didn’t know what
else to say. Really, what could follow that?

“I love you, Justine.” I
tried to smile but I’m not sure if it came across the right way. Now that my
sex buzz was wearing off, I was coming to realize I may have acted too hastily
in sharing my feelings with Carter. I stayed under him for about thirty seconds
before the tension took over and took advantage of his position to scoot out
from under him. My nakedness suddenly felt awkward, so I covered my breast with
my arm.

I could
see the change in Carter’s eyes immediately. I sat up on the edge of the bed
with my back to him and grabbed for my tee shirt, pulling it on so that I could
escape the bedroom.

“I like it
when you wear my clothes.” His hand snaked over my still naked hip as he said
it, and I couldn’t help the goosebumps that broke out on my arms and legs. I
looked down and noticed for the first time that there was Darth Vader with
“Who’s your daddy?” written underneath. I hadn’t realized it was his shirt when
I put it on, but I guess it only made sense given how baggy it was on me. I searched
the floor for my panties but I couldn’t see them anywhere. After a few seconds
of looking around I decided to grab a fresh pair and pulled open my underwear
drawer only to remember it was Carter’s now.

He jumped
up from the bed and made it to my side in a second.

“Here, this is your
drawer.” He pulled open the drawer right next to it for me and grabbed a pair
of his own boxers out before shoving his drawer closed.
Okay
. Apparently he had privacy issues about his underwear. I found
that strange since he jumped up naked to show me my own.

“Thanks.”
I took out a pair of panties and yanked them on awkwardly, thankful that I was
wearing a shirt that fell lower than my butt.

“So, how
about dinner?” I asked, trying to extricate myself from the bedroom. Everything
seemed to be back to square one. I felt nearly as ill at ease as I had in the
hospital. The feeling of closeness and relaxation from earlier had been
completely wiped out by my own stupid hormones. I wanted to kick myself. At
least earlier, when I was feeling comfortable around him, I was remembering
things. The sex hadn’t done a thing for my memory.

He was still standing
right beside me, naked, so I bolted over to the closet to grab some Capri’s,
pulling them on at breakneck speed. I wondered how long I was going to have to
deal with this self-conscious feeling, knowing it was my own fault. I had
practically begged him to have sex with me. Uhg. I turned around to find Carter
pulling his jeans back on. A tiny sliver of me was sad that all that beauty was
being covered, but mainly I was happy he was dressed; it would make the rest of
the evening go so much more smoothly.

“So...dinner?”
I asked again.

“Sure.
I’ll be in to help you in just a minute.”

“No rush. I’ll just go
get things started.” This was worse than I thought. We were acting like
strangers after a one night stand. Where were the people who went to the
farmer’s market this morning?

I pulled out the bag of
asparagus from the refrigerator, dumping them into my largest colander and
rinsing them with cold water. Maybe I should have used cold water to snap me
out of my rash behavior a few minutes ago. I wanted to block everything out of
my mind and let myself get absorbed in the cooking process, but I had to plan
out my meal first. As I was standing at the sink and looking out the window I
had an urge to make chocolate mousse. Chocolate always made everything better.
I went to the pantry and made sure I had some dark chocolate before snatching
it up. I tore open the wrapper and broke off two squares and shoved them into
my mouth like medicine, tossing the rest onto the counter. Within a few minutes
I had all the ingredients out and the chocolate was melting. I had finished the
mousse and was dividing it into four dishes when Carter finally walked in with
damp hair. My stomach did a slow roll and I clenched my legs together. Hold it
together, Justine.

He looked at the mousse
and gave me a curious look without saying anything. “Do you not like mousse?” I
asked.

“No, I love it. What made
you make this?”

“It just
sounded good.” He nodded and walked around the island to stand by the sink.

“Do you want me to trim
the asparagus?” He looked at me questioningly. I felt I had to do something to
break the tension I had caused, so I decided that interacting with him might be
a good idea. I had to admit that I was feeling comfortable with him now,
after-sex weirdness notwithstanding. I don’t know if it was all the memories
coming back or if somehow my mind just
knew
him. Either way, I figured I should take the first step.

I looked at the huge pile
of asparagus.
What had I been thinking to
get so much?
“We can do it together, make it go faster.” He smiled and I
felt better immediately.

We stood there snapping
stems for a few minutes, not speaking, but it wasn’t so bad. I was getting over
the after sex embarrassment, so things were pretty good in my head. That was
until I picked up a stalk as thin as a stick of incense. Ooh, a baby slipped in
here. A baby. My mind immediately went into full meltdown mode.

“Shit. You
didn’t wear a condom,” I yelped at him accusingly. My stomach dropped. I didn’t
even know where in my cycle I was right now. My heart started hammering in my
chest. This hadn’t even happened to me in high school.

“It’s okay, you get the
shot. I’m not an idiot.” Oh my god, was he implying that
I
am an idiot since I didn’t think about it until right now? I
could feel a good freak-out building up. I think Carter must have been sensing
it too, because he took my hand with his free one and linked our fingers. “I
wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. Ever.”

His words
made me feel better, but I still felt stupid for not thinking of birth control
before I jumped him. That is not the way I am. I have always been scrupulous
about things like that. I looked down at our joined hands and felt a little
better. I had someone who honestly cared about me and my wellbeing. That was a
first. Well, besides Cheryl, of course. How ironic that the only two people I
could recall actually caring about my life were my best friend and her younger
brother. Strangely enough, I hadn’t been thinking of Carter as Cheryl’s little
brother. He was his own entity to me now. The past couple of days had allowed
me to see him in his own right, and I really liked what I was getting to know.
Even without remembering our history together, I could see that we were a good
fit.

“Thanks
Carter. I’m sorry; my head is all over the place.” I left my hand in his for a
second more before I withdrew it to finish our task. He didn’t say anything but
turned back to the dwindling pile of vegetables. Once they were all trimmed and
cleaned we washed up and I went back into chef mode.

“Could you
chop some garlic?” I asked as I separated the asparagus into freezer bags.

“Yep.” He
pulled a huge head of garlic from the bowl on the counter and pulled out my
favorite knife.

“Do you
like cooking?”

“Love it. Plus, it’s nice
to be able to spend time in the kitchen with you.” He smiled at me and I felt
my familiar butterfly friends start flapping around in my stomach.
Is he for real?
He seemed to be my
perfect mate. It was also nice to realize we were passing the awkwardness of
the bedroom and would probably not have to have a “talk” about what happened.
Well duh, I guess this isn’t the first time we had been together. It was just
feeling so new to me that I was expecting to have to go through all the new
relationship crap.

My phone
rang just as I started to measure the rice. “Will you start heat up some olive
oil, Carter?” He nodded and I walked over to my purse. It was my mother.

“Hi Mom.”

“Justine,
how are you doing today?” She sounded genuinely concerned. It felt nice.

“I’m doing
a lot better. I started to remember some things. First thing this…” She didn’t
even let me finish my sentence.

“Oh good.
I knew you would get over it soon. Listen, I’ve just been invited to Phoenix
for the week to stay with my friend Tina, and Sue is out of town visiting her
daughter, so I need you to watch Monique for me. I’m driving to the airport
tonight, so I could just drop her off on my way. You’re at home, right?” What
the heck? I didn’t even like her cat, she was a spoiled wretch.

“Uh Mom,
she doesn’t get along with Lucy. She’s always chasing her and swatting her.”
Not to mention how she treats me.

“Well maybe you could
keep them separated or something. It’s only until Sunday.” Was she crazy? That
would be a full time job.

“I don’t
know. I’m not really up to pet sitting right now. I still don’t have my memory
back and I don’t know how Carter would feel about it.” I looked over at him to
see him raising his brows at my conversation.

“Well,
you’re my last resort, Justine, and as my daughter I would think that I would
be able to depend on you when I need help.” She sounded huffy and I felt
defeated, it was just like I felt living with her growing up.

“Fine, you
can bring her.” I gave in. I couldn’t say anything that would change her mind
anyway. “What time will you be here?”

“Well, I’m still a little
way outside of
Austin
,
so I should be at your house in less than an hour. Bye.”
She was almost here.
She hung up before I could say another word.
There was no way the trip was
this
last minute. I felt used, a common sensation from my youth.

Geez. No
“thank you” or even “please” from my mother. She just assumed I would watch her
cat for her no matter the inconvenience to me. Or Lucy and Carter. Why was I
such a pushover?

I set my
phone down and looked over at Carter. “My mom is dropping off her cat in an
hour. She’s going to
Phoenix
for a week.”

He walked
over to me and touched my bad cheek. His fingers felt cool. “Don’t let her get
to you. She doesn’t deserve to have that kind of power over you.” He dropped
his hand and smiled. “We’ll take her cat to a kennel and board her for the
week, she wouldn’t know the difference.”

I snorted
out a half laugh. “I like the way you think.” I looked over the kitchen
realizing that she was due to arrive at about the time we were going to eat.
“Do you mind if we put off making the food until after she’s gone? I don’t want
her ruining our dinner and I really don’t want to invite her to eat with us,
not that she would since she’s on her way to the airport, but still.”

“No
problem. Nothing’s been started yet anyway.” I sat down at the island and
Carter grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and sat down beside
me. Uh oh. I could feel the “talk” coming on after all.

“You told
me you love me.”