Page 17 of Daddy's Double Surprise

I’d grown up in such luxury, with two very wealthy parents who did anything and everything they could to make life easier for my sister and me. When I learned Carter was a doctor, I assumed he had some ritzy home in Bel-Air or something, not this understated craftsman tucked away in Eagle Rock. Much more modest than I imagined.

“Alright, two seltzer waters with a squeeze of lemon and some crackers for milady.” Carter bowed at the shoulders playfully as he set the tray on his wooden coffee table. He joined me on the couch, pulling me closer to his body.

I knew the reason he invited me wasn’t to watch me fall asleep, but I yawned and covered my mouth. He pushed some hair off my forehead and pressed a kiss there.

“Long day?” he asked, but I had to shrug.

“I’m not even sure. I’ve just been super exhausted the past few weeks. I’m sorry. You probably wanted to come get me liquored up and bang me over the kitchen table or something.” My grin showed him I was joking, but I splayed a hand on his chest so he would know I wasn’t joking about wanting him.

“God, you ruined it all, didn’t you? And just when I was going to get lucky.” He kissed me and tickled my side as I giggled and arched into him, which reminded me of the other things I’d been feeling. My tits crushed against his chest and ached, another reason to complain, but I held that one back.

“Mmm, I’m so achy.” I pulled away from his kiss and he relaxed back onto the couch. “Like my whole body. I think it’s that flu I had. I’ve had no appetite and I’ve been tired and achy. Mom said you should check me out, but I was super embarrassed.” I reached for the seltzer water and sipped it. They’d been my salvation for the past week now. If I drank anything it was slightly carbonated, and crackers helped, but too many of them and they’d come right up. I couldn’t wait for the tummy bug to go away.

“Let me rub your shoulders then,” he said, nudging me away.

“You sure?” I didn’t come here to be pampered, but I wouldn’t mind the attention.

“Yes, I’m positive. Doctor’s orders.” Carter took me by the hips and angled my body so I was facing away from him. As he worked to loosen the tension in my shoulders, I finally started to feel relaxed. “Grieving is heavy emotional work, Sunny. It can take a toll on the body as much as the mind.”

“Oh wow,” I muttered as he hit a supersensitive spot on my neck. His fingers worked miracles on my core; I knew that much, but this was every bit as pleasurable.

“Your boss is working you too hard. You should say something.”

I heard the humor in his tone and said, “I know. What a jerk. Long hours on my feet, no sex breaks or anything.” We both snickered and he kissed the crown of my head.

“I’m so glad fate aligned our paths, Sunny. Life hasn’t always been good for me, and you brought something back to me I thought I’d never find.” Carter’s hands continued to work on my stiff muscles, but his words started to work on my heart too. I knew so little about him, and I’d poured out my heart to him about things that made me very self-aware and insecure. It wasn’t easy, but he was there for me.

“I’m glad too, Carter.” I touched his hand as he continued.

“You know you should talk to someone about Kira. It really helps.” That statement piqued my curiosity.

“It does? How do you know?”

For a moment he continued rubbing, but it was quiet. I felt like I asked a bad question or something, like it touched on a topic he didn’t want to talk about. In that long silence, I pictured Kira smiling at me, telling me the only way to get to know someone was to ask the hard questions. It was what she’d said when Chad had a temper tantrum one night and she called it a red flag. How many red flags had I ignored with him, and why hadn’t I seen them?

It made me wonder if Carter had red flags too, and I just wasn’t seeing them either.

“This isn’t something I want to talk about openly, but I feel like you should know, because maybe it will help you feel more comfortable talking with me.” Carter stopped rubbing my shoulders and walked around to sit on the other side of me, facing me.

His playful smile had been replaced by a somber expression, eyes drawn, lips pursed. He took both of my hands in his like he did at the restaurant and sucked in a breath. His chest heavedupward and then down as he blew it out. When our eyes met, I could’ve sworn I saw tears brimming in them.

“I was married once, years ago. We were happy and in love. Blissfully ignorant of the pain life can give a human heart. My wife, uh…” He cleared his throat and looked away, blinking rapidly, then he continued. “Misty gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We named her Hope. She was so perfect and amazing. And well…It’s hard to talk about.” His head hung and I squeezed his hand.

It was obvious what happened without him saying a thing. I could see it in his eyes. I knew that’s how this house was empty, how he knew grieving was hard on the body and that talking to someone could help.

“It’s okay, Carter. You don’t have to tell me.” I waited a beat then asked, “How did it happen?”

He turned back to me with the full weight of his sadness showing on his face. “Sudden infant death. Nothing anyone could have predicted or done. But it destroyed my heart and eventually the marriage too. Misty moved on, but I never did.”

The strings of grief wound their way around my heart and mind, binding us together in the shared valley of mourning. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into me, and he gripped my hips and tugged me onto his lap. We sat there holding each other for a long while in silence as our inner wounds cemented the bond. I heard him sniffle and said nothing. My own eyes welled up and I swiped tears away.

“I just hid from anything that looked like a relationship until you. You changed that, brought me out of my shell. I mean…I still think there is healing to do. I don’t know if I’ll ever want kids again. That pain was so paralyzing there are no words to describe it, and I don’t ever want to feel that way. But when we met and you took my breath away, I knew I could at least love again.”

There was something so bittersweet about him opening up to me. I’d always wanted to be a mother, but the pull I felt toward him in this moment told me if he and I were together, I knew I could live without that desire just to make his heart feel safe and whole. It was how I knew I was falling in love, and when I saw that same affection mirrored in his eyes I kissed him.

The kiss slow and passionate. Emotions fueled it, mixing together and wrapping around us in a warm envelope. My tongue languidly searched his mouth, his arms tightened around my body. Never in my life had I felt so seen or wanted. This man had walked through the fires of hell and confessed that I was his savior. How could I begrudge him the chance to show me his heart like this?

We kept kissing and it turned hungrier. I felt like I didn’t just want to feel his heart, I wanted to be inside it. I wanted to be so close that nothing could separate me from that nearness I was experiencing, not time or space, or even clothing. I tugged at his shirt, pulling it out of the waistband of his slacks, then I started unbuttoning it.

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