Page 85 of Collision

“I’m not ready to go home today,” he murmurs. I have to agree. I’m not even close to ready yet either. We’ve spent the past two days camping at the same spot I took him the first time. It’s been the perfect getaway from the craziness of our lives.

Since Paul confessed to everything, Carter’s company has been in complete upheaval. Dr. Hutton has been charged with reckless endangerment for putting his research participants at risk. At least for now. They’re still trying to find evidence proving his involvement in Carter’s attack. Unless we’re able to find something concrete to prove Hutton orchestrated the threats and assault, there’s not much we can do. In the meantime, his entire research study was shut down. They’ve been digging into every aspect of Hutton’s team to determine who was complicit in forging data.

Carter’s been working entirely too hard to figure out if any other programs had been altered and what research teams were affected by the alterations. He feels responsible for not seeing what Paul was doing. The guilt has been eating him alive, and I finally forced him to take a couple of days off. His boss thought it was a good idea, even though there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done.

While he might be healed physically, Carter still struggles with nightmares. When they happen, he’s usually wrung out after he wakes up. Yet, he still goes to work as if nothing has happened. It’s killing me to see him hurting this much.

“I’m not ready either. We’ve got lots of time before we need to leave, though. It’s only ten,” I say.

“True. Maybe we could hike up to the waterfall this afternoon and have lunch by the water.”

I grin at his suggestion. The first time we went up there, he grumbled and griped the entire hike. Now, he’s asking to hike up there. I don’t say that, though. Mainly because if I made fun of him, he’d take back his offer. “That sounds perfect.”

He snuggles deeper into me and lets out a contented sigh. Nothing will ever compare to this feeling, this overwhelming sense of rightness at being with the person meant for me.

In my vision of the future, I imagined I’d be content with my life. I never thought I could be this deliriously happy with anyone. Who knew the right man could change everything?

“Is that a phone?”

Carter tilts his head to listen. The rhythmic vibrations make both of us dig through the tent to figure out whose phone is ringing.

He pulls his phone out, showing me his mom is calling. We don’t have a great signal out here, but it’s enough to call someone if there is an emergency.

“Hey, Mom,” Carter answers. His eyebrows raise as surprise registers on his face. “Are you sure? I can’t believe she didn’t tell anyone.”

Carter’s laugh has so much love behind it I can feel it vibrate through the whole tent. “Okay, Sam and I will pack up and head to Sonoma.” He pauses to listen. “Yeah, maybe three hours? We’re definitely going to need a shower before we see anyone.” One more pause, and a smile stretches across his face. “Sounds good. See you soon.”

He hangs up the phone, and happiness radiates from him. “Natalie had her baby. She didn’t tell anyone she went into labor yesterday and surprised Mom and Dad with a picture of the baby today.”

I laugh. “I can only imagine what your parents’ faces were like when they got that text.”

“I know. Mom said Nat’s ready for visitors now, so is it okay if we get packed up now?”

“Of course. If we’re quick, we can have everything packed in twenty.” With that, we hurry to break down our camp. Now that Carter has a better idea of what he’s doing, we get things packed faster than I estimated, and we’re on the road fifteen minutes later.

When we get back to Carter’s house, we shower together, both of us focused on getting clean as quickly as possible. I still take advantage of the moment to ogle Carter’s perfect ass. It’s just so round and juicy.

“Stop staring at my ass. We don’t have time for any funny business,” he grumbles.

I laugh. “But it’s just so bitable.” I pinch one of his cheeks, and he startles, swatting my hand away. He tries to scowl at me, but his growing erection is enough to tell me he’s not too angry at me.

“You can bite me later. After I get some baby snuggles.”

“Okay, okay.” I surrender.

We take Carter’s car to the hospital in Sonoma since our camping stuff is still in my truck. It’s a quick drive over there, and once we get inside the building, Carter follows the instructions from his mom to find Natalie’s room.

The whole Ellis clan is in the waiting room on the labor and delivery floor. Seeing them here makes me smile. I love that Tucker and Natalie have this kind of support. There will never be a lack of babysitters for their kids whenever they need it.

Adam sees us first and strides across the room to say hello.

“How is she?” Carter asks.

“Beautiful. Tired. Happy.” Adam smiles.

“Good. Can I go see her?” The excitement in Carter’s eyes makes me want to laugh.

“Yeah, Mom and Dad are in there with Katherine right now.” Adam gives us Natalie’s room number, and we set off down the hallway. The door is open when we get there, so we walk right in to see Tucker holding a tiny bundle in his arms.

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