Once we get to the safehouse I put us on lockdown – nobody in and nobody out. I’ve got alarms on top of alarms as well as bulletproof doors and windows. Unless someone drives a tank over this building, it’s Fort Knox secure.
I carry Cherry upstairs, and we head in one direction while Saint takes Jeanette to his room. I know that whatever she went through she’s in good hands with him, but my focus is on my girl.
I walk to the bathroom and carry Layla directly into the shower without bothering to undress either of us. I turn my back to the showerhead and flip it on so the cold spray hits me until it warms up. Once it’s warm enough for her I turn so the water hits her shaking body. I reach around and turn on all the other showerheads so that the enclosed space is filled with hot steam. I can feel her body start to relax as she warms up. I don’t know how long I stand there holding her, both of us in drenched clothes. If I had to hold her for eternity to make her better I would.
After a little while longer, she lifts her head and leans back into the water. I sit her on the high seat I had built into the shower. I stand between her legs and pull my shirt off and then peel off my sopping wet jeans and boots. I’m naked when I move back between her legs and go to take the ripped-up sheet off of her body. She puts her hands up as if to stop me, and I halt my movements. She looks me in the eyes like she has a question. “Layla?” I ask and then it’s as if she makes her decision. She moves her hands and nods as if to tell me to go on undressing her.
I take everything off her and then pick her back up. She wraps her arms and legs around me, her naked body molding perfectly to mine. My hard cock is trapped between us, but I’m doing my best to ignore it. She starts to wiggle her hips and, while I want to be as gentle as possible with her, I’m desperately in love with her and I’m only so strong.
“Just ignore that, baby. I’m gonna hold you for a bit.”
She leans back and looks me in the eyes. “Carter, I love you. I need you to love me right now too.”
“I do, baby. I love you so much.” I kiss her lips and she tries to deepen it. I let her.
“I need you to love me with all of you right now,” she says and grinds harder against my cock. “Please,” she whispers against my lips, and I’m done for.
I turn our bodies so she’s on the ledge of the shower seat again. At this height my cock lines up perfectly with her pussy.
I grab her face with both my hands and look deep in her eyes. “I love you so much, Layla. Don’t ever, ever do that to me again.” The tears running down her cheeks mingle with the drops of water from the shower. I lean down and kiss her full soft lips as my cock nudges her opening.
She grabs on to my shoulders, and I push home. Once I’m seated inside her, I just hold us there. I don’t move, I just enjoy the feeling of being inside her and having her safe.
“You scared the life out of me, Cherry. I thought I’d lost you and the baby. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Carter, please. Love me now, scold me later.”
“Fine, but I want answers.”
I pull my hips back and slowly rock back into her. “Heaven,” I whisper and wrap my arms around her body. Her arms come around my neck, and she clings to me like she can’t stand the thought of space between us. I feel exactly the same way. I plant my feet and start to love her with every inch of me. I rub my hands up and down her back, holding her tightly as we share our passion.
We reach our peak at the same time, our bodies so attuned. It’s a vital moment for both of us. It felt as though this time we needed to reconnect something that came unplugged. I don’t know what happened to her in that building, but for a few moments she was lost to me.
I kiss her lips, and as our breaths even out I look into her eyes again. “There you are,” I whisper, and I can see that she’s back with me.
After I washed us off in the shower, I took Cherry to bed and made her eat before she took a nap. We lay there naked for a few hours while she slept on my chest and I played with her hair. She clung to me the whole time, like I would suddenly have the need to be somewhere else.
“Wake up, baby.” I rouse her, and she opens her eyes. She’s so goddamn adorable when she first wakes up. “I brought you and the baby more to eat. And I’m ready for some answers about what happened.”
She looks at me reluctantly but slowly starts to explain. She tells me everything that happened from the moment I got the phone call to when I found her in the backseat of the car. I sit there and listen to everything. On the outside I look calm and collected, but on the inside I am a raging bull ready to tear this whole fucking place to shreds.
“Carter, I know the answer and won’t ask…”
“No. I’ve never fucking touched your mother,” I answer before she finishes her sentence. I need to erase all doubts in her mind about the lies her parents told her.
“I didn’t so much as shake her goddamn hand the first time I met her, and I certainly never fucked her. I don’t know what kind of delusional bullshit your dad is telling you, and most likely feeding your mom, but it’s lies. All. Of. It.”