Page 80 of Right in Front of You

I shook my head. “Sometimes I wish you’d go back to your smutty pick-up lines.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew that it wasn’t you then,” I whispered shaking my head. “When you’re like this with me, all caring and talking about the future… it freaks me out a little.”

“You? Freaked out? I thought out of the two of us, you were the one in control. And you’re a doctor, which automatically means that you have everything together, more than average folk. More than me.”

Boy, was he ever wrong!

“I’m not in control. I’m way out of control, Carter Clark. Especially when it comes to you.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was Carter or me, who moved in closer. I closed my eyes as soon as I felt his breath on my face. His lips were just as warm but held more emotion. I felt them invite me into his heart. He cradled my face with his hand, tilting my head to that perfect angle so that his tongue could dart inside my mouth with ease. If I’d thought the air was too cool earlier in the evening, it must had changed because right now, I felt perfect. It was just what we needed to cool the growing heat between us. He nipped my lower lip with his teeth and I squirmed, feeling my body slowly lie back on the blankets as Carter hovered above me. The night was filled with cricket sounds, a howling owl, gentle swooshes of water against the yacht, and our pounding hearts. Carter kissed me deeper. His lips maneuvered mine with ease, as if he were telling me a story that he’d be here for me, always. They were needy and desperate to let me in. And I tried. I tried so hard to give him everything that my mouth had to offer and prayed that it would be enough.

His hands traced my curves, gently touching the sides of my breasts and venturing lower to my hips, the tips of his fingers reached underneath my shirt, tantalizing my skin. I got lost in the way my body could so easily mold into his, the way he could be so supportive despite his own injuries, but not too overbearing. How had he overcome his burns so easily? He still had scars that would remind him of the fire his entire life, the way I knew the scars on my knees would always remind me of my pain, but they didn’t seem to bother him.

As I felt him grow hard against me, his hands meandering over my thighs, I pulled back. “Carter, I can’t give you what I know you want.”

“What is it that you think I want?”

“You want… I’m…I’m scared.”

“What are you afraid of, Molly? Talk to me. We don’t need to do anything if you don’t want to. I’m more than happy just to be here with you, kissing you. There’s no pressure for anything.”

“I do want you, Carter. I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone in my life. But I’m scared.”

“Are you afraid of me?”

I shook my head.

“Is it because you’re a virgin? And I mean that in the most respectable way, Molly. There’s nothing wrong with waiting, and if you don’t think I’m the right guy, you should push me away right now. But if there’s a slight chance that I am, then I’ll wait for as long as we need to.”

“I want you as much as you want me, Carter, but I’m not a virgin.”

He pulled back, a little bit shocked.

“Oh, well, that’s not a problem. I’m not a virgin either. I just assumed because you’ve never mentioned being with another guy… I mean, it’s none of my business—”

“It’s not like that. I haven’t been intimate with another guy.”

He looked at me with confusion.

There it was. I’d said it. The truth was slowly spilling out of my lips.

“Molly?”

“I… I’m not a virgin.” I heard my voice lower to barely a whisper. “But it’s not exactly by choice.”

It took a moment for Carter to register what I was trying to tell him. I saw the expression on his face shift from happiness to one of pain. He kept shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe what I was telling him.

He then did the unexpected and took me into his arms, cradling my whole body against him. It felt so good to be held by someone who cared so much, but would he understand? Could he get past the fact that my body had been violated?

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that your first experience wasn’t wonderful. I’m sorry that some asshole hurt you that way and that you don’t know what making love should feel like. It should be gentle, affectionate, nurturing, and pleasurable. It should connect you to that other person on a whole new level, for the rest of your life.”

Wow.

I just stared at him. At his gorgeous brown eyes full of trust and worship, at his round lips, and the tiny fragments of discolored skin on his right cheek from the burn. I stared at him and couldn’t believe how hard my heart was beating for this man.

“I hope the man who hurt you isn’t in your life, because if he is, so help me God, I will castrate him.”

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