After All - Romancing Manhattan

“No, not necessarily. It just occurred to me, that’s all.”

“Next time,” he promises and kisses my rounded belly. I don’t have a flat stomach like Sienna. I’m not a stick figure. It’s something I’ve grown to accept about myself.

Carter doesn’t seem to mind in the least.

“Oh my,” I murmur as he kisses down my pubis and spreads my legs wide before nudging his shoulders between them and settles in, in that way he does, to pay respects to this part of me.

“You like this.” It’s said with the confidence of a lover who’s been there before and knows what he’s doing.

It’s sexy as hell.

I have to grip onto the pillow when he slips his tongue through my folds and up to my clit, where he lazily circles and waits for me to lose my damn mind.

It doesn’t take long.

Then, rather than leaving it at that, he sinks a finger inside me, wraps those lips around me, and tugs gently.

And I rear up off the bed, doing my best to not call out his name, in fear of waking Gabby.

She’s a ways away, but I don’t want to risk it.

“I fucking love the way your body responds to me.” His voice is rough now, heavy with lust and yearning. “It’s a damn miracle every time. I’ll never get enough of it.”

“Can’t help it,” I pant and reach for him, needing him over me. In me. “Your fault. Now come up here.”

“I won’t turn that down.” He grins, showing off the dimple, and rests between my legs, brushing my hair off my cheeks as he nudges me with the head of his cock. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

“Pretty good idea.” I kiss him lightly, glorying in the weight of him. “I want you, Carter.”

“More,” he demands, his hands fisting in my hair, and I know exactly what he wants.

“I need you,” I reply. He slips inside me, hard and smooth, and stills, watching me with his hot blue eyes. “Only you.”

“Damn right.” He kisses my palm and plants it over his heart as he moves, picking up the pace as if he can’t control himself. He’s a man possessed, chasing after his own release. My hips are moving, rising and falling with him. He pulls my legs up around his hips, higher, so he can push even farther inside me and I go blind as my release washes over me.

I bite his shoulder to keep from crying out, and Carter buries his face in my neck, groaning as his own release washes over him.

Once we’ve found our breath, and I can see again, he rolls to his side, tucking me in against him and kissing my hair.

“Oh yeah, you never said what I have to agree to,” I remind him. I feel him smile.

“Mine,” he says simply. “You have to agree to be mine.”

“I already am.”

Chapter Thirteen

~Nora~

“Are you mad at me?”

I stare at Christopher across the table at our favorite restaurant in Manhattan. We’ve just ordered our greasy burgers and fries, and he’s sipping on a Coke, watching me with worried hazel eyes, his brows lowered.

“I mean, sort of,” he admits. “No, you know what? We’ve been friends for a long time, and I’ve been with you through a lot of shit, so I’m just going to be brutally honest here.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah, I’m mad. I’ve never pegged you as the kind of friend who would drop the people closest to you just because you have a boyfriend.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded.

“What in the hell are you talking about? I’m here with you right now.”

“I’ve barely heard from you in a month,” he points out. “And that was only because I happened to pin you down in the hallway of your apartment. You never text me unless I text first. I just never expected this from you, and it hurts my feelings.”

Seems all I do is hurt people’s feelings these days.

“Okay, that’s fair. You’re right, and I’m sorry. I’m never home, and I haven’t reached out to you, and I’m truly sorry for all that. I didn’t mean to do that, and I’m not the type of person to abandon my friends for a man.”

“Could have fooled me,” he says, sulking into his Coke.

“Well, now you’ve pointed it out to me and I can fix it. And I promise, I will fix it, Christopher. You’re my best friend, and I adore you. That’s how this works, right?”

“Yes, that’s true. I’m not trying to be a dick here, I was just worried about you, and happy for you. You look really good for the first time maybe since I’ve known you.”

“I’m doing really well,” I say with a nod and sit back as the waitress delivers our food. I reach for the ketchup and squirt a trough of it next to my fries, then a spiral on my burger and pass it to Christopher, who does the same.