Apparently, I had been standing there for a long time because Carter exited the house and when he saw me, he came over.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"I think maybe I should stay the night on Alex's couch or something.”
Carter studied me. "You don't seem drunk."
I shrugged. "I still don't feel completely there."
"Let
me give you a ride."
"That's not necessary, really," I said.
His expression turned annoyed. "Are you going to always say no to everything I offer you?"
I felt put on the spot, and rightly so. He was being nothing but sweet and kind, and I was pushing him away. I had a good reason for it, but he didn't know that reason and so I could see it was hurting his feelings. Knowing it would make me a bitch to refuse him, I agreed to his offer, and let him guide me back to his car.
On the ride to my house, I decided that if we talked about the stories Alex told about his childhood, it would help me keep my hormones and check. "That story about you being arrested naked on the beach was hilarious."
A smile came to his lips. "Yeah, well what my dad failed to mention, was that I was there with a girl, and my ex showed up and stole all our clothes while we were skinny-dipping in the ocean."
As it turned out, my strategy of distraction through childhood stories was failing because one, I was now thinking of Carter naked, and two, I was wanting to scratch out the eyes of the girl he'd been skinny-dipping with, and his ex.
We drove along the coastline a little further before I realized this wasn't the direction of my home. Then he turned, pulling off into an overlook. The moon was high and bright, and the road was quiet.
I looked at him as my nerves flittered, not from fear, but from anticipation of why we were here by ourselves.
Carter turned off the car and then undid his seatbelt. He turned his upper body toward me. "Look at the moon over the ocean."
I looked out the window to see the large bluish ball hanging over the water, casting a beautiful glow.
"It looks like that last night on the cruise,” he said.
He was right. The way the waves shimmered under the moonlight brought back that night in full form. All the yearning and sexual frustration filled my body. My nipples hardened and my prussy clamped tight as need roared through my body.
Carter took my hand and squeezed it. "I've had a lot of adventures in my life, Jess, but that week, that night with you, tops them all. It was the most magical night of my life."
I was an idiot to resist this man because I knew millions of women all over the world would die to have a man talk to them the way Carter talked to me. It would be so cruel of me to dismiss it like I'd been trying to do all night.
I looked down at my hand in his. "Me too,” I admitted, although I was unable to look him in the eyes when I did.
"Really? Because most every moment I've been around you, it seems like maybe you have forgotten."
My heart clenched and I felt guilty for making him think that.
"The truth is, Jess, there isn't a day that has gone by since then that I haven't thought of you in some form or another. Sometimes it's a memory of one of the walks we had, and sometimes it's that last night. I relive that night a lot."
My gaze jerked up to his, surprised at his candor, even though I knew this was the type of man he was. "A lot?"
He nodded with a sheepish grin. "The memory of you has gotten me through a lot of lonely nights."
How was it possible I'd be able to resist this man?
"I don't know why you are resistant to me just, but I'm a patient man, and I’ll wait for as long as it takes."
As it turned out, it didn't take him long. I gripped my fingers in his shirt and tugged him to me as I fused my lips to his.