Chapter 70
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Cassidy
THE SOUND OF rain pounding on my window, along with the unending laughter of my child, woke me with a start. I threw the covers off my body and sat up, my heart racing until I remembered that Carter was here.
I took a few seconds to listen through the closed door, wondering when that had happened. I could only assume Carter had closed it so I could sleep. I climbed out of bed and sneaked down the hall to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and hair before following the sound of voices.
Arriving at the kitchen, I laid my hand over my chest, the scene so unbelievably adorable, it was almost as cute as a kitten hugging a puppy. Maverick was kneeling on a chair at the counter, whisking batter in a bowl while Carter stood at the stove, cracking eggs over a pan.
“Mom,” Maverick exclaimed. “I’m helping Carter with breakfast.”
“I see that, baby.” I closed the distance between us and he lifted his head for a kiss. I hoped he always wanted to kiss me in the morning. “You’re doing such a good job.”
“Hey, what about me?” Carter challenged.
“What about you?” I said.
He tugged me to him and covered my mouth with his. I mumbled against his lips in an effort to break our connection, but he slid his hand to the back of my head to hold me to him.
“Good morning,” he whispered once he released me.
I narrowed my eyes at him and his response was a smug grin, so wagged my finger and shook my head. “Behave.”
“So, if you kiss Mommy, does that mean I can still kiss Katie?” Maverick asked.
“Busted,” I mouthed.
Carter flipped the eggs and then faced Maverick. “Here’s the deal, buddy. Mommy and me are gonna get married, so it’s a little different.”
“You’re gonna get married?” he asked.
“Carter,” I warned.
“Yeah, buddy, we are.”
“Mav, will you please go to your room for a minute?” I said. “Uncle Carter and I need a second.”
“Okay, Mama,” he said, and jumped off the chair. He left the bow on the counter and headed to his room.
“Are you kidding me with this?” I snapped.
“What?” Carter slid the eggs from the pan onto a plate.
He’d made himself comfortable in my kitchen and he looked good there. Damn it!
“You didn’t think this might be something we’d discuss first and then decide how to tell Maverick together?” I crossed my arms. “You had no right to blindside me like that.”
Carter flipped off the burner and leaned against the counter, thus beginning the first of many epic stare–off battles. His slow.
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sexy smile ultimately solidified my loss. Unable to continue to look at him in all his glory, I picked up the bowl Maverick had left and began to whisk the hell out the pancake batter.
Babe
Whisk, whisk.
“Cassidy.”
“What?” I swiped the whisk around the side of the bowl and they began to beat it again, but found them gently removed from my hands and set next to the stove.
“The batter’s done.”
“Okay.” I stepped to the sink and washed my hands.
“Cass, you need to look at me, baby.”
I grabbed a towel and faced him, glancing up at him as I dried my hands.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. We should have talked about it
“Thank you.”
“How would you like to proceed?”
“I think we should just move past it,” I said.
Carter frowned. “We’re not movin‘ past it, baby, so let’s figure out what we want to say to May.”
I set the towel on the counter. “Excuse me?”
Carter lit the stove again and started the pancakes. “I say we head down to the courthouse next week and take care of the legalities, I can have Mack draw up adoption paperwork, then we can talk to our families and go from there.”
“I’m sorry, can you back up a little?” I requested.
“How far?”
“Carter Michael Quinn, you do not get to talk over me on this! I have not agreed to anything, especially considering the fact you haven’t actually asked me anything…” I let out a frustrated squeak. “Stop looking at me like that!”
“Like what, baby?”
Carter had always had this annoying tactic of barreling over me with his dominant personality and he’d usually get his way, but I was older and wiser now and wasn’t going to let him do it to me again. “Get out.”
He chuckled and flipped a pancake.
“I mean it, Carter, get out of my house.”
“And why would you want me to do that?” he challenged.
“Because you’re being…” I lowered my voice, “…an overbearing ass! Out or I’m calling Jaxon.”
“Why would you call Jaxon?”
“Because he’s the only one I can think of who has the power to bodily remove you.”
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Carter chuckled. “Call him, then”
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I imffed and nuned away from him, making a valiant attempt at removing the nonstick coating from one of my baking sheets. Not the smartest thing I’d ever done, but I needed somewhere to focus my annoyance.
Carter ser the pan at the back of the stove again and turned the water off, handing me a towel. “You done?”
“No
“Babe, you’re not gonna call Jaxon and I’m not going anywhere. We’re gonna talk about this and then it’s done.”
I felt tears of frustration well up in my eyes and fisted my
hands at my side,
“Cassidy,” Carter sighed and pushed away from the counter. “I didn’t mean to make you cry”
“You know I only cry when I’m pissed. I can’t out talk you when m flustered, and doing that to me in front of Maverick was totally unfair.”
He wrapped his arms around me, despite the fact mine were still at my side. “I know. That wasn’t my intention, I just didn’t want you to say no.”
“I haven’t been asked anything to say no to!”
Before Carter could charm me further, my phone pealed, and I stepped away from him to grab it, seeing Kevin’s name pop up on the screen. “Hey, Kev.”
“Hey,” he said brightly. “We on for tomorrow? I never got a response.”
“Ohmigod, Kevin, I’m so sorry. Yes, definitely. Seven, right?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.” I hung up and set my phone back on the counter.
“Mom, can I come out now?” Maverick called.
Crap, I’d forgotten about Mav.
I jabbed a finger at Carter. “Conversation shelved but not over, got it?”
He gave me a cocky grin. “Yeah, baby, got it.”
“Come have breakfast, honey.”
“Whoo hoo!” he sang, and rushed to one of the stools at the island.
Carter set pancakes and eggs in front of him while I grabbed syrup, and then we joined Maverick and finished our breakfast without any drama.
“Maverick, go wash up, okay?” Carter said, and Maverick jumped down from the island.
“Hands and face, please,” I called to his back.
“Okay, Mom.”
“How about we hang out, watch a movie, or play a game?” Carter suggested.
“It’s not like we can go anywhere I guess.”
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“That’s the spirit,” Carter droned, and smiled. “An I forgiven?”
“Yes, of course you are.”
He kissed me, and we went about our day.
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Monday was a typical Monday, I guess, with the added bonus of pouring down rain again… in June. That was the Pacific Northwest for you. Carter had offered to take Maverick for the day, rather than me taking him to daycare, which meant, I got an extra hour of sleep that morning, which made for a happy Cassidy. And Maverick was beside himself with excitement to do “man stuff.” I didn’t know what “man stuff” would entail, but Carter assured me there would be burping, farting, and general uncleanliness involved, so I left it at that.
I’d had a rather long day at work, considering I was forced into a meeting with several other analysts and we had to video conference with our New York office. Good God, I hated meetings, but we were being “introduced” to the new Vice President of Accounts and we all had to look like we cared. It was exhausting. The new guy seemed nice. Thomas Dale was British and attractive, I think… at least that’s what I was told. We were having issues with the feed, so New York could see us, but we saw them for all of five minutes. The office girls were all aflutter with him, but all I cared about was the stack of work waiting for
- me.
I’d been back at my desk for almost an hour when I got a phone call from the new VP. A little strange, since I wouldn’t have much to do with him, but I took the call anyway.
“I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your time,” Tom said.
“No problem,” I said.
problem.”
“Do you have any feedback for me?”
“On what?”
“The meeting, how it went. Perhaps something you feel needs to change.”
The question was strange as I had nothing to do with his department, but there were always ways to improve working conditions.
“Yes, actually, I have a few ideas.”
“Excellent,” he said. “Why don’t you shoot me an email with your thoughts and I’ll look them over. I’ll be visiting next week, and I’d love to take you to lunch if you have time.”
I pushed a stack of files aside. “I have no idea what my week will be like, but I don’t typically have much time for lunch.”
“Well, I hope you’ll find the time for me. I must run, but have a lovely day, Cassidy.”
He hung up and I sat staring at my phone for a second, a little shocked by the strange conversation. I shrugged and formalized my ideas as I moved through my day. Before I left, I sent a quick email to Tom and then shut down my computer.
I arrived home to find Carter had cooked. Seriously, I was loving this side of him. I hated to cook, so if he wanted to take that on,
I was all for it. The only issue I had was I was dancing in less than an hour and I never ate before a strenuous workout, so Carter wrapped it up and set it in the fridge for later.
“Maverick usually comes with me on dance nights,” I explained as I slipped off my shoes and hung up my raincoat. “So, you’re free.”
“I don’t want to be free,” Carter said.
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“You don’t mind watching him?” I asked, walking, into my bedroom.
“I was thinkin‘ we’d both come with you.”
I glanced over my shoulder with a snort. “You hate ballet.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Since when?” I grabbed my dance bag and a clean leotard and tights from my drawer.
“Okay, I still hate ballet… but I love watching you.”
I grinned. “It’ll bore you, honey. Trust me.”
He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “Why are you doin‘ this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you weren’t dancing anymore.”
I made sure my toe shoes were in the bag and frowned at Carter. “I never said that.”
“Maverick did.”
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“No, he didn’t. He said I don’t do it as often as I like, but I still dance.” I studied Carter’s expression. He looked irritated. “Kevin’s working out a new routine and I’m helping him with it. He’s doing some showcase in September and his regular partner’s in San Francisco until August.”
He scowled. “Does he do shit like lift you above his head while his hands are on your pus-”
“Carter!”
“Just answer the question.”
“Ohmigod, no I won’t. You’re taking this to a level it doesn’t need to go.” I closed the distance between us and laid my hand in the middle of his chest. “Now, go amuse yourself while I get changed.”
He backed away, but I could see he didn’t like it. I changed quickly, threw sweats over my dance stuff and walked into the living room.
“May, take over the game for a bit, yeah?” Carter said, rising to his feet.
“Okay,” he said, and focused back on the television.
Carter slid my bag from my shoulder, his other hand at my waist, pushing me gently back toward my room.
“What are you doing?”
He closed us in and wrapped his arms around me, leaning down to kiss me as he guided me to the bed. Without warning, the front of my leotard and bra were pulled down, exposing my breasts. I moaned when Carter drew a nipple into his mouth, then focused on the other one.
Cupping my breasts together, he gently blew on the sensitive nubs before giving them each a gentle nip and righting my clothes.
“What are you doing?” I rasped.
I wanted my mouth to be the last thing you remembered before he put is grubby hands on your body.
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“Ohmigod.” I bit back a groan. “You’re an idiot.“,
“Mom!”
“Just a second, buddy,” I called. “We’ll be right out.”
“Can I have some juice?”
“Sure.” I wrinkled
my nose. “Do you see why we can’t do this?”
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“We’ll have our time,” he promised.
“I’m a single parent, Carter. I don’t have those times often, if ever.”
“Well, you’re not a single parent anymore.” He slipped his hand to my neck and squeezed. “We’ll make time.”
“Easy for you to-”
His kiss cut off my retort and my focus was once again drawn to what he could do with his tongue. Good lord, the man could kiss. He rolled a nipple between his fingertips before breaking our connection and dropping his forehead to mine. “You gonna remember who your man is?”
“And who’s that?”
“Cassidy,” he growled.
Two could play this game. I slid my hand to cup him on the outside of his jeans, smiling when he hissed against my neck. “I had a feeling you’d be big.” I breathed. “Wasn’t quite expecting that though.”
He chuckled. “You know exactly what to say to a man.”
“Just speaking the truth, Carter.” I smiled. “You’re almost as big as Kevin.”
“What the fuck!” he bellowed, and knifed off the bed.
I dissolved into giggles and I heard him swear again, and then his hands were at my waist and I was being tickled mercilessly.
“Carter!” I squealed.
“Say Uncle, Cassidy.”
“You know Kevin’s cup is an extra–large.”
He squeezed my middle again and I squealed.
“Say Uncle!” he demanded.
My door popped open and Maverick stood at the threshold looking worried as he asked, “Mom? Are you okay?”
Carter released me immediately and I sat up, waving Maverick over. “I’m fine honey. Uncle Carter was just making me giggle.”
Maverick let out a sigh of relief and rushed to the bed. “What were you doing. Uncle Carter?”
Carter grabbed Maverick and pulled him onto the bed, starting the tickle attack he’d just laid on me. “This”
Maverick howled with laughter and I couldn’t help but join in the fun.
“Okay, okay,” Maverick cried in between laughs. “Stop!”
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We stopped and the three of us lay sideways across my bed trying to catch our breath.
“Can we play Hot Wheels now, please?” Maverick asked.
Carter had showed up with a little video game surprise for Maverick, which now firmly placed Carter in the favorite of
anyone category.
Carter chuckled. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We moved as a group into the living room and I grabbed my bag purse, and keys. “Bed time eight o’clock,” I ordered, leaning down to kiss Maverick. “No arguments.”
“Okay, Mom.”
“I’ll just walk your mom out, Mav,” Carter said.
“K”
Carter walked me to the door and laid another kiss that had my breath coming in short bursts. “Mine,” he decreed, as he cupped my breasts and kissed me again.
I giggled. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Cassidy.”
“Don’t worry, honey, you’re the only man to cop a feel since I stopped breastfeeding. Relax.”
He sighed. “I can still come with you.”
“And risk a fall because I’m worried you’ll kill Kevin if he touches me somewhere you don’t approve of?”
“I don’t approve of him touching you at all.”
“I rest my case.” I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him again. I’ll see you later,”
“Drive safely.”
“No. I’m going to ram my car into a tree.”
“Cassidy,” he hissed.
“Love you,” I called, and headed to my car.
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